A great Q&A at Marginal Revolution:
Marginal Revolution: Why does America have inferior raw ingredients?: "Mostafa Sabet, a reader, writes:
I agree with your point [TC: my link] about raw ingredients and wonder why the richest nation in the world has such crappy raw ingredients? We can afford it and obviously people can tell the difference. Sure it won't affect the McDonalds' and freezer section food, but why does it go all the way downstream unless you pay exorbitant amounts of money for it? When I was in Egypt, not exactly first world, the raw ingredients were far superior to the ones here. Any ideas?

A tough question, I see a few major hypotheses:" Read it all!

Hmmm sounds an awful lot like MegaTrends (Naisbitt) channelling from the 90s: Wired 13.02: Revenge of the Right Brain: "But let me be clear: The future is not some Manichaean landscape in which individuals are either left-brained and extinct or right-brained and ecstatic - a land in which millionaire yoga instructors drive BMWs and programmers scrub counters at Chick-fil-A. Logical, linear, analytic thinking remains indispensable. But it's no longer enough.

To flourish in this age, we'll need to supplement our well-developed high tech abilities with aptitudes that are 'high concept' and 'high touch.' High concept involves the ability to create artistic and emotional beauty, to detect patterns and opportunities, to craft a satisfying narrative, and to come up with inventions the world didn't know it was missing. High touch involves the capacity to empathize, to understand the subtleties of human interaction, to find joy in one's self and to elicit it in others, and to stretch beyond the quotidian in pursuit of purpose and meaning."

I like the grassroots approach: SmartChristian Blog | THE CHRISTIAN BLOGOSPHERE CONVENTION (GodBlogCon)

EURSOC: The New Wave: "Egeland�s comment also reflects a certain European view that contends that the state, and in this case a universal state, should be responsible for the welfare of humanity. Not surprisingly, this view is not shared by the United States, which looks far more to private and community-based actions to resolve social problems. Given this context, Egeland�s complaint was seen as most directly attacking the United States. And if you�ve worked in the UN/NGO community you�d know that this sort of assumption would not be wholly off the mark.

This leads us to the second event. While American diplomats derided Egeland�s slip of the tongue, the US engaged in an activity that said far more than any words could regarding the new international order. Without any concern for the UN, the US proceeded to set up a core group of nations to deal with the disaster. Partners in the group were Australia, Japan and India. It is this alliance that will matter most to the US in the future. The four big Pacific democracies, three with strong Anglo-Saxon histories, will most likely develop into the central alliance of the twenty-first century."

Thomas Sowell | Fourth estate or fifth column : "Too many in the media today regard the reporting of the Vietnam war as one of their greatest triumphs. It certainly showed the power of the media -- but also its irresponsibility. Some in the media today seem determined to recapture those glory days by the way they report on events in the Iraq war."

The Scotsman - International - Self-doubt leaves French feeling down in the mouth

City Journal Winter 2005 | The Real Engine of Blue America by Steven Malanga: "The electoral activism of this New New Left coalition-- public-employee unions, hospitals and health-care worker unions, and social-services agencies--has reshaped the politics of many cities. As the country's national political scene has edged rightward, thwarting their ambitions in Washington, these groups have turned their attention to urban America, where they still have the power to influence public policy."

Michael Novak on Bush on National Review Online

BLACKFIVE | Aiding and Abetting the Enemy: "I just read yet another distorted and grossly exaggerated story from a major news organization about the 'failures' in the war in Iraq. Print and video journalists are covering only a small fraction of the events in Iraq and more often than not, the events they cover are only the bad ones. Many of the journalists making public assessments about the progress of the war in Iraq are unqualified to do so, given their training and experience. The inaccurate picture they paint has distorted the world view of the daily realities in Iraq. The result is a further erosion of international public support for the United States' efforts there, and a strengthening of the insurgents' resolve and recruiting efforts while weakening our own. Through their incomplete, uninformed and unbalanced reporting, many members of the media covering the war in Iraq are aiding and abetting the enemy."

It's a fine day for a second Inauguration:
Power Line | President Bush, once more once: "...the speech on citizenship given by Theodore Roosevelt (at the Sorbonne!) in 1910 retains its currency:

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. "

Dean's World - Soon: "Still I find myself thinking: what gift would I like to give my new child? What one lesson would I like him to take away from his old man as he goes through life? Well that's easy, and it's the same thing I'd hope my oldest son would take with him through life:

Never be afraid to question anyone or to think for yourself. On the other hand, never be afraid to be wrong, or to admit to being wrong, and never let a bully make you feel stupid for being wrong. For that matter, never let yourself be bullied period.
Truth. Truth above all else. Truth about yourself, truth about others, truth about the world we live in. But truth about yourself first and foremost. Without the truth, we have nothing.

If we can't always know the truth (and we can't always), the quest to seek the truth, to come as close to it as we can, is always worthwhile."

The Japan Times Online: "Wearing red boots and pointy black hats, Japanese revelers paraded down a Tokyo street Sunday as a brass band played 'Happy Birthday' in honor of a fictitious robot boy.

The parade was part of the nationwide festivities honoring Astro Boy, a childlike robot created on April 7, 2003, according to the original 1950s comic book by Osamu Tezuka.

The event, in Takadanobaba, Shinjuku Ward, was held on the eve of the robot's birthday to allow for a weekend celebration. It attracted 270 participants who dressed up as Astro Boy and other characters from the comic book."

China builds up strategic sea lanes | The Washington Times | Nation/Politics - January 18, 2005: "The report reflects growing fears in the Pentagon about China's long-term development. Many Pentagon analysts believe China's military buildup is taking place faster than earlier estimates, and that China will use its power to project force and undermine U.S. and regional security.

The U.S. military's Southern Command produced a similar classified report in the late 1990s that warned that China was seeking to use commercial port facilities around the world to control strategic 'chokepoints.' "

Telegraph | News | First signs of protest in world's top secret state: "The first known visual evidence of dissent within the world's most secretive state emerged yesterday when video footage taken in a North Korean factory showed a portrait of the dictator, Kim Jong-il, defaced with graffiti demanding freedom and democracy."

Golden Age for Online Films: "Now that the presidential race has come to a merciful end, with pundits and politicians picking through the results for meaningful bits, it�s time to examine the impact of lesser-known election players. Though it may not have altered a single person�s vote, This Land, a hilarious online animated film from an outfit called JibJab Media, spawned a cottage industry of digital movie Fellinis hoping to make their mark in the nascent world of online short films. In the process, these films revitalized an online segment that many had abandoned in the last few years. Thanks to the prevalence of low-cost video editing software, high-quality home video cameras, and the increased adoption of broadband, coupled with high-traffic, high-interest events such as a presidential election, the short film is experiencing a renaissance. �We have a very fervent and prolific audience,� says Blair Harrison, CEO of iFilm.com, a leading online film site."

OpinionJournal | Featured Article | Dr. King and I : "Today, in the distant corners where terror is raging, many teenagers hold views on America similar to those I once held. The enemy has an arsenal, but also a narrative. According to that narrative, the world's superpower represents only one race, and its history is a single tale of intolerance, arrogance, and domination. The war against this enemy is impossible to win without defeating that narrative. To tell American history in its entirety is to disprove the fabrications about who an American is. To tell the story of the Civil Rights Movement is to tell the story of how arrogance was made to give way to justice by none other than a man who advocated peace. Against the grim and infallible image that is painted of America, this will be a truer portrait: colorful and human."

Information management - How to use Gmail as your second brain: "If, for example, you wanted to store a paragraph and URL for a resource you saw in a newsletter or discussion list, you might take a text editor like TextPad http://www.textpad.com/ or BBEdit http://www.barebones.com/ (Mac users) and highlight, copy and paste, saving the snippet into a .txt text file in a folder named 'My Brain' on your hard drive. Once Copernic indexes your brain, information retrieval becomes incredibly easy.
Another method you can use to store and retrieve snippets of information, knowledge, experience and resources can be done through a separate web email account. I tend to move around a lot from computer to computer so this is the preferred method that I use:"

Favorite Stevie Songs | Stereo Describes My Scenario - High Fidelity:
"I was around here piddling around, trying to think of a good theme for the first playlist of '05 (knowin' I need to be workin on these stories...). I was about to go with Guilty Pleasures, but I'll save that one. We'll open it up with something nice healthy. This is my personal Stevie Wonder greatest hits...although I'm not sure how I'd sequence them on an actual CD. Not sure if I'd wanna finish on a down note or an up note. Eh. We'll see.

Superwoman (Where Were You When I Needed You)
Don't You Worry Bout A Thing (I can't WAIT until I can play this one.)
Knocks Me Off My Feet
I Was Made To Love Her
Golden Lady
Superstition
They Won't Go When I Go
Love Having You Around
Heaven Is 10 Zillion Light Years Away
It Ain't No Use
Contusion
I Wish
Knocks Me Off My Feet
Summer Soft
Joy Inside My Tears
All Day Sucker
As
Blame It On The Sun
Lookin' For Another Pure Love
Ribbon In The Sky"

OpinionJournal | Extra| Conservatives on Campus: "A 2003 survey by the Independent Women's Forum found that anywhere from one-quarter to one-third of students had felt forced to check 'their intellectual and philosophical honesty at the door in order to get good grades.' A brand-new American Council of Trustees and Alumni survey finds that half of all students--not just conservatives--at the top 50 colleges say that profs frequently inject their political views into courses, and almost one-third think that they have to agree with those views to get a good grade."

hong kong 

danieldrezner.com :: Daniel W. Drezner :: A very important post about... food p@rn: "You got all four major food groups. You got beef, pork, mayonnaise and butter.

'You got everything ... yeah,' said Hardee's CEO Andy Puzder....

On one hand, it's inspiring late-night ridicule as a heart attack on a bun, as talk show hosts such as David Letterman jest. One showed a picture of faux doctors performing defibrillation on an imitation Hardees owner.

'They actually had somebody play me on a TV show, and I had a heart attack,' Pudzer said. 'I even thought that was good. My ex-wife wanted a copy.' "

Yes, it's 1961, a year to dream big dreams in the Flats...
Project Pluto: " To carry out the tests, Livermore built a special facility in a desolate stretch of Nevada desert close to where the lab had exploded many of its nuclear weapons. Designated Site 401, the facility -- built on eight square miles of Jackass Flats -- rivaled Project Pluto itself in ambition and cost."

TCS: Tech Central Station | At Risk In the Universe... Always: "In 1976, the year we in the United States were busy celebrating our bicentennial, an earthquake hit Guatemala City, killing 23,000 people on February 4. On May 7 and 8, a quake in northern Italy killed 900. On June 26, a quake in Indonesia killed 9000. On July 28, a quake leveled the city of Tangshan, China, killing 242,000. On August 17, an offshore quake jolted Mindanao, in the Philippines, causing a tsunami that killed over 5000.

Okay, enough. These are just a handful from history's pages. You get the picture.

Or maybe you don't."

TCS: Tech Central Station | Rocket Man: "Congreve tested, adapted and greatly improved the Indian rockets and worked on formulations of the primitive 'solid fuels' that would propel a missile with their 'slow' explosions. He eventually developed rockets of various sizes with sheet-iron casings and conical or ogival warheads. They were not very accurate. Stability and 'guidance' were achieved by a 15-foot stick protruding from the rear (the weight of this 'guidestick' was supposed to keep the rocket pointed skyward). But the biggest had a respectable range of almost 2 miles - just about the range of the first generation Palestinian Kassams.

In a fascinating confluence of military technology, yet another Englishman had been perfecting a new type of artillery shell during the 1780s and '90s, designed to explode in the air over the heads of troops, raining down shot or deadly shards of metal. The shell was tested and finally adopted by the British Army in 1803, and the last name of the young army officer, Henry Shrapnel, would become a standard military term to this day."

THE WORLD QUESTION CENTER 2005
"Rather than pretend we will soon know it all, I suggest we might adopt instead the attitude of the great fifteenth century champion of science, Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa. Cusa titled his major work On Learned Ignorance. A complex and poetic fusion of mathematics, scientific speculation and Catholic theology, Cusa puts forward in this book the view that we can never —even in principle—know everything. Only God can do that. We mortals, confined within the world itself can never see it whole, from the outside as it were. But while we cannot know it All, Cusa insists we can know a great deal and that science and mathematics will take our knowledge forward. Our ignorance then can be ever more learned. Not omniscience then, but an ever more subtle and insightful unknowing is the goal that Cusa advocated. In the humble snowflakes Ken Libbrecht studies we have the perfect metaphor for such a view—though they melt on your tongue, each tiny crystal of ice encapsulates a universe whose basic rules we have barely begun to unravel. "

RONALD WILSON REAGAN: A Business Oriented Retrospective