Recommended reading / viewing / listening

Romney’s way / The sexual marriage / The Mexican crimefighter / Fear of divorce / Mistletoe’s secrets

Most of these great items come from my Twitter feed or Facebook news feed. Follow me on Twitter and on Facebook for more fascinating videos, articles, essays and criticism. Read past recommendations from this series here.

1. No votes, but things seem to be going Romney’s way
By Steve Peoples | Associated Press | Dec. 21
“[H]is preferred scenario is looking more plausible now, thanks to Ron Paul’s helpful ascent, Newt Gingrich’s slide and fractures among conservatives who have not rallied behind an alternative to Romney.”

2. Sex And Marriage: The Secret To Better Sex With Your Spouse
By Margaret Paul | The Huffington Post | Dec. 20
“Love-making in long-term relationships is the result of loving energy flowing between two people. If something is blocking this loving energy, the sexual energy between them often gets blocked as well.”

3. iProtest
By James Leong and Lynn Lee | Activate :: Al Jazeera | September 2011
“Activist Debby Chan takes on one of the world’s favourite brands in her fight for workers’ rights.”

4. A Crime Fighter Draws Plaudits, and Scrutiny
By Damien Cave | The New York Times | Dec. 23
“Like a boxer or wrestler, he treats his tough-guy image as a necessary tactic. In Tijuana, he punched a dead cartel gunman in the face as bystanders watched.”

5. Is Fear of Divorce Keeping People from Getting Married?
By Belinda Luscombe | Healthland :: Time | Dec. 22
“A new study suggests that young cohabiting couples are saying ‘I don’t’ so as to avoid the heavy toll of divorce”

6. Using Gmail’s Canned Responses
By J.D. Biersdorfer | Gadgetwise :: The New York Times | Nov. 2
“If you are tired of sending out the same e-mail response from your Gmail account … the Canned Responses feature from Gmail Labs can save some time and typing”

7. What’s the Deal With Mistletoe?
By Christopher Beam | Explainer :: Slate | Dec. 14
“How the plant came to be associated with Christmas kissing”

8. Sinaloa cartel OK’s Mexico’s newest drug ballads
By Galia Garcia-Palafox | Associated Press | Dec. 21
“The songs are filled with unusually explicit lyrics about decapitations and torture, and praise for one drug gang in particular: the Sinaloa cartel and its bosses, Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada and Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman.”

9. My too-demanding overseas job makes me want to go home
Troubleshooter :: The Yomiuri Shimbun | Dec. 16
“There are so many things I want to do but haven’t done yet in the country where I live and work now, so I’m reluctant to leave everything behind. As a result, I feel mortified about using my sickness as an excuse to go back to Japan, and can’t forgive myself. What should I do? ”

10. The destruction of the Buddhas of Bamiyan
Witness :: BBC News | March 22
“When the Taleban were in control of Afghanistan they decreed that the largest standing statues of Buddha in the world were un-Islamic. It took them several weeks to destroy them using high explosives.”

**************

TUNES

My soundtrack for today included:
1. NADIE LLORE Pepe Castillo & Cuatromania
2. JONNY’S BUGALU Grupo X
3. LA NATURALEZA Ismael Miranda & Andrés Jiménez
4. MENTIROSA Louie Ramirez & Ray de la Paz
5. BALCON DE SANTIAGO Compay Segundo
6. MALAGUENA SALEROSA Chingon
7. EL WATUSI Ray Barretto
8. JUVENTUD DEL PRESENTE Tito Puente
9. GUAGUANCO CALLEJERO Ibrahim Ferrer
10. TUMBAO PA’CHANGUITO Orlando “Maraca” Valle

Author: Fernando Ortiz Jr.

Handsome gentleman scholar, Civil War historian, unpretentious intellectual, world traveler, successful writer.

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