Commentary on the ugly meter, US energy independence and Canada, the Euro dilemma explained, debating deflation, food fear, and Shaw's food bank drive.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Los Angeles Times -- Daum: Beauty in the eye of the app
The urge to judge -- someone's face or their way of life -- has become less a transitory impulse than a way of life.

Related.

Cabaret -- If you could see her through my eyes

The great Chinese moral vacuum.

Financial Times -- A blind prophet speaks of trouble in China
The idea of a blind seer is not new. In ancient Greece, Tiresias, the blind prophet of Thebes, warned Oedipus he would end up killing his father and sleeping with his mother.

TD Economics makes a big guess at what rising US energy independence will mean for Canada. (ed’s note: how do you spell pipeline to Asia).

Pdf below -- Rising US Energy Independence and Canada

European partners. Thanks to David of London.

A few thoughts on deflation. (ed’s note – rapid credit growth is a very bad thing and has been allowed to persist because of the wealth it created was defended as the market always being ‘right’).

Economist -- Jim Grant and the Gold Standard
EVEN if you don't agree with any of it, it is worth reading Jim Grant's entertaining speech to the New York Federal Reserve about the gold standard. 

Related.

Financial Times -- Our central bankers are intellectually bankrupt
The financial crisis has fully exposed the intellectual bankruptcy of the world’s central bankers.

The history of our fear of food. Thanks to Katherine of Toronto.

canada.com -- Book review: Fear of Food
When Bill Clinton was rushed to hospital complaining of chest pains on Feb. 11, 2010, the press reflexively recalled his hedonistic dietary past: the burgers, the barbecue, the cinnamon rolls.

Related. Thanks to David of Victoria.

youtube -- Shaw Fill the Food Banks 2012
Help Fill the Food Banks just by watching this video and sharing it on Facebook and Twitter.