Far from exposing mediocrity and incompetence, the games have challenged lazy assumptions about what kind of country we are - not just to foreigners but to ourselves.

BBC: Brand GB �C a good games

But the iMac is a bold departure from the mediocrity that has marked the company's products in the 1990s, and a hopeful sign for millions of Mac fans.

WSJ: Apple Unveils iMac, A Fast and Potent PC With Sleek New Look

Once seen as a messiah destined to save U.S. soccer from perennial mediocrity, Adu rose to fame at age 14 by becoming one of the youngest players in decades to appear in a professional U.S. sports match.

WSJ: Freddy Adu Is Headed to Brazil

The stimulus bill's spending on infrastructure may have been doomed to mediocrity from the start.

ECONOMIST: The historic infrastructure investment that wasn��t

Game designers are willing to incorporate almost any new technology to get their titles to stand out from the sea of mediocrity.

FORBES: Desktop fingerprints

Just as important, game designers are willing to incorporate almost any new technology to get their titles to stand out from the sea of mediocrity.

FORBES: Desktop fingerprints

They had the idea after Olga Block came to Arizona from her native Czech Republic, looked for a school for her daughter and was horrified by the mediocrity and low expectations at American public schools.

ECONOMIST: An Arizonan model