movie: Papa Hemingway in Cuba

I liked the supposed line from Hemingway - 'consider carefully the weight of your decisions, consider every consequence.'

Sadist nation?

It is sad and shocking that America has rewarded American Sniper with record box office revenues of $100 million on opening weekend. Its sadistic scenes mentioned here, seems to have been an attraction rather than a deterrent.
But this has been a theme with top draw directors like Clint Eastwood and also Ridley Scott who show unspeakable brutality under the guise of 'realism' and reap a bonanza. It appears that violence has replaced sex as the key to a top seller.

What happened to MH-370, the Malaysian airlines plane?

As I write this, the search continues...
With hundreds of satellites from various countries in orbit around the earth, I wonder why the satellite images in the area in that time slot as it flew on its rogue trail cannot be scanned using recognition algorithms and images of the plane extracted.
Here is my guess. It was a murder-suicide. One of the pilots killed the other, locked the cockpit door, disabled the transponder, set the plane on auto-pilot after directing it towards the Indian Ocean.
When it ran out of fuel, it crashed into the sea.

Why were the Boston Marathon bombers' families silent?

I read a comment in a newsgroup that bears repeating - It is worrying why the bombers' families never told police who they were when the videos were first released. Did they not know? Perhaps the MIT police officer's life could have been saved.

Why were the police so late to the scene?

Despite the large number of mass shootings in recent years, never once has the police been on time to engage the gunman - not in Aurora, Columbine, Virginia Tech, and not Newtown.
One remembers TV images of police hiding behind their cars at Columbine, even while the shooting was happening inside.
In Newtown, the police department at 3 Main Street is just 2 miles from Sandy Hook Elementary school. Certainly there would have been patrol cars close by the school - why didn't they react sooner?
There needs to be an investigation as to the true timeline of events and whether there is a reluctance to go into a dangerous zone.

According to the BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-20738998), the timeline reported by police is:

But at about 09:30, Lanza forced his way into the school, police now say, contrary to earlier reports that he had been let in.

....
Newtown police were notified of shooting at the school over their radios at 09:36.
"Caller is indicating she thinks someone's shooting in the building," a police dispatcher said.

"The shooting appears to have stopped," the police dispatcher radioed at 09:38, according to the New York Post. "There is silence at this time. The school is in lockdown."

Did someone really take 6 long minutes to dial 911? And when did the police arrive?

Romney missed on Benghazi

Watching tonight's second presidential debate, Obama skirted the question on why security wasn't beefed up - instead, he turned it into a question on finding out what happened.

Is a subscription to Angie's List worth it?

Is a subscription to Angie's list worth it?
I hesitated before paying the $18 charge - reduced from $39/year due to a Groupon promotion.
I don't think it is worth it from my preliminary dealings with it. Frankly, it seems more like a yellow pages except it isn't free.
Here is one experience we had:
Was looking for great value window well covers. I searched for 'Window well covers' and got too many search results - 101 results. Their highest rates provider has just two member reviews. Called the two highest rated providers.  Called 'Just Windows Ltd' - John said he does not do window well covers - go to the store he impatiently said.
So I went back to Angie's list and IM-ed support.
Jayce L: Thanks for your patience. I've found several highly rated companies close to home. I'm sending those listings to your email now.

He sent me a landscaping company, a animal removal company, a plumbing company. This was junk.