There’s nothing like The Economist’s “Special Christmas Issue.” Mine arrived in the mail yesterday. Alongside all the regular news articles on peacekeeping in Haiti and the Turkish economy are a series of lengthier pieces on topics such as the history of Romans in China, Odessa (“city of faded charms”), graffiti, cranberries (“red, round, and profitable”), and — I’m not making this up — mule-packing (“an old pastime lives on”). For next year, maybe they can do a thorough investigation into asparagus ice cream.