"Spaghetti sauces" or "How Howard Moskowitz changed the food industry"

I’ve just had a look at the TED homepage Mr. Newman talked about in his blog. And while I was browsing the various themes, one special talk captured my attention- a man talking about spaghetti sauces. Considering that spaghetti are my main source of nourishment I HAD to listen to this talk named “What we can learn from spaghetti sauce”.

Malcolm Gladwell, a man with a haircut similar to Einstein’s, is a writer, who has published two best-sellers and also writes for the “New Yorker”. In this 17 minutes long monologue he talks about Howard Moskowitz, a psycho-physicist, who revolutionized food industry.

Howard Moskowitz was the first one to realize that it’s not enough to produce food in one style. There have to be many flavours of one product to please all American people. Gladwell tells how Moskowitz came to this idea, about his struggle to spread it and about his success. Gladwell says, not only did Moskowitz enriched the market with many sorts of product variations, but he also taught us three very important lessons:

• Firstly, Moskowitz claims that the consumers don’t exactly know what they want.



• Secondly, he tried to show that products aren’t better just because they are more expensive or mainstream products. People should choose the products that suit them, no matter how cheap or unpopular they are.



• And lastly, he made the food industry realize that they have to try to please the individual people and not only the majority.

Gladwell seems to be deeply impressed by Moskowitz’ doings and by the way he managed to make people happier with industrial food. In my opinion, this topic is a little too trivial to name it an "idea worth spreading", however, I loved listening to Gladwell. He obviously has excellent rhetorical skills and, in addition, is funny, too.

Have fun checking out the site!

Here on Earth summary- Is Peace a Dirty Word?

The topic of debate is why the word peace recently acquired such a bad reputation. The discussion is based on a report by Daniel Zwerdling, an NPR Weekend Edition commentator, who is also guest in the show. He explains that people in Fairmont, Minnesota try to support the passing of a bill that would create a Department for Peace and Non-Violence. Interestingly, a lot of people question the value of such an agency. Therefore, the moderator Jean Feraca, her guests and listeners discuss the issue of peace and try to figure out the pros and cons of such a Department.

Morton Perlmutter, emeritus professor in the School of Social Work, points out that there is no clear definition of the word “peace”. Most people would describe it saying what peace does not mean, but still they hold a strong opinion about the term. Permutter claims that the word “peace” triggers certain memories and associations in everyone of us and although those memories might be irrational we consider them to be true and trustworthy. That shows especially in the fact that much more people would support the very same Department if it had a name not containing the word “peace”.

According to Daniel Zwerdling and Morton Perlmutter, there were many highly respected people in society who supported proposals for a Peace Office, like the founding fathers. Even the Independence Declaration displays the priority peace had over war. Neil Breitbarth, the Republican leader in Fairmont, responded that the Declaration primarily meant war and was never assumed as a pro-peace statement. His claim, however, was refuted by Perlmutter, who stressed that the content of the document wasn’t meant to create war.

The opponents of a Peace Department, like Breitbarth and a listener named Bill, argue that such a department is pointless, since keeping peace is part of the State Department’s job. A new department would merely take away money from other departments and is too expensive, anyway. In addition, they point out that peace is a utopian idea, that doesn’t work in practice. There will always be war and enemies and the nation can’t stop them with a bunch of people asking for peace.

The supporters of a Peace Department, on the other hand, criticize the opponents for not having read the bill attentively enough. They say the bill highlights that the Department would only take 2 % of the budget and doesn’t do the same work as the State Department. Judi Poulson, chairwoman of the Women’s Peace Club in Fairmont, adds that such department could support the police on domestic level. She also reassures the opponents that the Department is a patriotic agency that definitely supports the American soldiers. It wouldn’t make America defenceless, but would try to seek a solution good for everybody. Accordingly, the Americans wouldn’t loose anything, but gain friends and allies they certainly need.

By and large, one got the sneaking feeling that the discussion was supposed to convince the people of the idea of a Peace Department. Otherwise there would have been the same number of opponents and supporters as guests and the moderator would have been far more neutral. There wasn’t an explicit outcome of the discussion and yet the listener understood that the supporters prevailed.

Prohibition in America

I’ve watched a video clip about prohibition in America. Unfortunately, the videos at this site are of poor quality, since they are very old. That’s why I also did a little research on the topic of prohibition.
http://www.history.com/media.do?action=listing&sortBy=1&sortOrder=A&topic=U.S.%20HISTORY


In January 1920 the 18th Amendment went into force, forbidding the trade, transport and possession of alcohol. This step was meant to create better people, but in fact it encouraged bootlegging, smuggling and the legendary Speakeasies, where liquors were sold illegally. Al Capone got mixed up in these activities and soon got the best known gangster in America. Soon it was clear that the so-called “Nobel Experiment” didn’t work and polls revealed that the Americans wanted back their right to drink whatever they chose. As a result, in 1933 the 21st Amendment went into effect and annulled the Prohibition law.

http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/snpmech2.htm

Here you can find more information on Al Capone, or play Al Capone Jeopardy:
http://www.alcaponemuseum.com/

If you are interested in further information on prohibition, there is a whole book about it which is appropriately named: “The Long Thirst” http://www.amazon.com/Long-Thirst-Prohibition-America-1920-1933/dp/0393055574