So what do we get for recognizing Communist Cuba?

Nothing.  Obama, now he gets into the history books.  The lefties, who write the history books, run the schools, and control the MSM, love the idea.  They will give it a good press, possible for the next fifty years.  So Obama did it for him, not for the country.
   Diplomatic recognition is desperately important to the Castro regime.  It means the Americans will give up attempts at regime change, something that we have tried in the past.  Rumor has it the CIA tried to kill Fidel with a poison laden cigar back in the day.  Now, with embassies established in Havana and Washington,  all the Cuban have to fear is nasty diplomatic notes, rather than a second Bay of Pigs. 
   Charles Krauthammer groused that Obama gave the Castros diplomatic recognition with out demanding any concessions from the Cubans in return.  He has a point.  On the other hand, what concessions, short of shutting down the communist police state, do the Cubans have to make?  They are broke, their people barely have enough to eat, they lack natural resources, they have nothing worthwhile to export save cigars.
   So Obama, grabbing for his place in the history books, hands the Castros a fantastic bennie. 

What is the business model of radio stations??

I mean like what do they do to make money?  We got stations up here that never run ads.  Never do news or weather, never even do a station break.  Never play new music.  They play a reasonable mix of older pop music, some of it a half century old. 
   How do they make enough money to pay the rent and the electric bill? 
   Could it be that Clearchannel bought them up and has plans for the future, but for right now they just keep them on the air to avoid loosing the license?

Strange, I never heard of any of 'em before today

TV news is full of the Allan Gross story.  The Cubans released Gross from a Cuban jail and allowed him to return to the US.  As part of the deal, we released three Cuban spies held in US jails.  I'm happy for Gross, and his wife, and the rest of his family. 
  Funny thing, I never heard of Gross before this.  Lame stream media at work again.  Nor had I heard of the spy cases that got us three Cuban spies.  More good lame stream media work.  Keeping the public informed.  All the news that fits, we print. 

Ruble falls. About time too.

The Russian ruble is down to 80 rubles to the dollar today.  It was at 64 when the markets opened in the morning.  Lots of financial talk about why.
  I'll tell you why.  The Russians have nothing to sell to anyone except crude oil.  The only reason to have rubles is to buy stuff from the Russians.  Nobody else will accept rubles, 'cause there is nothing you can do with them.  I'm surprised it took the banks this long to wise up.  Now that the Americans have vastly increased their oil production, everyone would rather do business with the Americans, who are reasonable honest, and aren't threatening to invade their customers.
   For that matter, I don't understand why any bank would loan the Russians money.  They don't have the income to pay off a loan, they defaulted on their loans only  a few years ago, and Russian courts won't support foreigners who sue Russians to get  their money back.  Loaning to the Russians is worse than playing the derivative market.  At least US courts will enforce derivative contracts, which is more than Russian courts will do. 

130 Casualties in Pakistan

Al Quada attacked a school.  My sincerest sympathy for the Pakistani parents who lost children.  There is nothing worse than losing a child.  I hope the Paki's took the gun men alive.  Some rigorous interrogation is in order.   

Turkey Soup

Makes enough to last for weeks.  But heh, what else do you do with that leftover turkey carcass in the fridge?  You can just pitch it, but soup is so easy. 
   Put all the bones, and the rest of the turkey into a big pot filled with water.  Bring to a boil, and let it cook for four hours.  Put in a bit of onion and chopped celery for flavor.  Bell's Poultry seasoning, maybe a tad of pepper, couple of bay leaves.  No salt. 
   After four hours the meat is cooked off the bones.  Let things cool a bit.  Fish out the bones and pitch them.  Cooked bones like these are bad for pets, they splinter into jagged pieces and do bad things to pet's insides when swallowed. 
   Finish the soup off with some veggies, carrots are good for color, peas, celery, baby corn, or real kernel corn or mushrooms.  And some rice.  Let it cook at close to a boil until the veggies are tender and the rice is soft.  Taste.  Salt sparingly if needed.  Add salt last, in case it becomes saltier than expected from adding things like bouillon cubes.  Serve.   Or let it cool and you can reheat it the next day and it will be good.
   All the grownups liked it and even had seconds.  And I still have plenty left.

Your Mileage May Vary (YMMV)

They are just learning about this over in Europe.  The advertised European emissions and fuel economy numbers for automobiles are way way better than what the cars get on the road.  Economist article goes on and on about how the car makers cheat, including programming the automobile microprocessors to recognize the start of an emissions test and switch over to an ultra clean mode for the duration of the test.  The Economist writers seen surprised to find a gap between "objective" testing and real world driving. 
   Over here we figured this out years ago.  Your Mileage May Vary has been a cliche for a long long time.  It seems to take the Euros longer to catch on.