The Shrine

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>Whether it be the latest on Iraq, or the Israeli raid on the Hamas Militant, to the Robert Baker and Maryland sniper trials. The world quite frankly isn't a very comforting place right now.

Do we truly revel in Sorrow this much? I need some uplifting news, something that doesn't make me want to go outside and knock down a giant snow phallus in frustration. Seriously, someone better announce they've found a cure for Cancer or something very soon. I need good news of that kind of proportion. About the only bright news I've seen recently was Christopher Reeve's interview on CNN. Damn he's one tough MOFO.</div>

<div style='font: 11pt georgia; text-align: left; '>Go to Canada where the Breaking News is new speedbumps.</div>

<div style='font: 11pt georgia; text-align: left; '>Oh thats right you ARE in Canada, how do you think we feel? Heh..can I move there? :)</div>

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>Well, I have codes in animal crossing for Baloon Fight and Wario's Woods, two extremely fun NES multiplayer titles. Good enough news for you?</div>

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>Vancouver is the second best city in the world to live in (the first is Zurich). Also, they'll be getting the 2010 winter olympic games.

<B>The rankings are compiled with New York City as a baseline, and they compare such factors as political stability, international relations, economic freedom, culture, transport and access to schools and health care. The study's authors said Vancouver and Zurich were neck and neck during the evaluation.

For example, in the cultural category, which judges limitations on personal freedom and media censorship, both cities scored a perfect 10. Vancouver scored very high on ease of entry and exit, while Zurich's strict employment regulations and the strictness of visa requirements caused it to score low. Zurich beat out Vancouver on risk of natural disasters, on the other hand, because Vancouver lies on a fault line that puts it at risk for earthquakes.

"It's a positive message from a retention and attraction (of employment) perspective," said Ted Singeris, head of Mercer's Vancouver office.</B>

Toronto, Ottawa, Calgary, and Montreal all ranked high.

In Sports; Sergei Fedorov says he and Anna Kournikova were married

In technology: Wireless communication technology to see a major increase in speed. (kind of important for us because Canada relies much more heavily on telecommunications technology than any other country except maybe Norway or Sweden).

In fact the only bad news is something about a 4 year old boy who was killed by a Rottweiler.</div>

<div style='font: 11pt georgia; text-align: left; '>Someone buy me a gamecube..I wanna play animal crossing</div>

<div style='font: 11pt Dominion; text-align: left; '>statistics show that bad news give much higher ratings than happy news. Read the New York Times or something..I always love to read the Tues/Thurs tech sections</div>

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>You said it Tess, and that's why the world will continue to be a shithole, ppl glory in others misery.</div>

<div style='font: 11pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light"; text-align: left; '>Only in the US. We're the only guys with a fear-driven news system.</div>

<div style='font: 11pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light"; text-align: left; '>Why? You won't play GTA:VC, and you're too busy playing AC2.</div>

<div style='font: 11pt georgia; text-align: left; '>Sure I would, for about a week :)</div>

<div style='font: 11pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light"; text-align: left; '>$200+ is not worth a week's worth of gameplay.</div>

<div style='font: 11pt georgia; text-align: left; '>heh I know..I just wanna check that game out</div>

<div style='font: 10pt verdana; text-align: left; padding: 0% 10% 0% 10%; '>Says who?</div>

<div style='font: 11pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light"; text-align: left; '>Well, generally speaking. It's not like that in Canada.</div>

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>Look at the front page of the Toronto Star, Globe & Mail or the National Post and more than likely the news there is Grim.</div>

<div style='font: 10pt verdana; text-align: left; padding: 0% 10% 0% 10%; '>Uh, what? I read some of the British press sometimes, and while there certainly are different biases, there is the same focus.</div>

<div style='font: 11pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light"; text-align: left; '>Of course there is. Tony Blair is in league with Bush, so the media follows suit.</div>

<div style='font: 11pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light"; text-align: left; '><a href="http://www.foxnews.com/">Fox News</a>:
Terrorist Blast Kills 20 in Philippines (Main Headline: Terror)
Southern Baptist Missionary Among Philippines Dead (Dead)
Many Rebel Factions Could Be Behind Blast (Blast)
Ashcroft: Arrest a Blow to Al Qaeda (War)
Hussein Says U.S. Will Lose War (War)
U.S. to Protest North Korean 'Incident' (War)
Missing Woman Discovered Dead (Dead)
U.S. Foils Weapons Smuggling Plot (Weapons)
Stalker Tips (Stalking)

<a href="http://www.globeandmail.com/">Globe and Mail</a>:
Annan: Iraqi moves 'positive' (Main Headline: Positive)
Bank of Canada raises key rate (Economy)
Surgeons perform telerobotic surgery (Medicine)
Sampson finally sees son in Saudi jail (Family)
Timing of estrogen therapy crucial (Medicine)
Letter from Duhouk (Family)
Bring them back? (Science)</div>

<div style='font: 11pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light"; text-align: left; '><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/">BBC News</a>:
Russia says Iraq veto possible (Main Headline: Veto)
US condemns 'reckless' N Korea (Condemns)
Bush hails 'al-Qaeda killer' arrest (Killer)
Ugandan soldiers executed (Death)
Rwanda tourist death arrests (Death)
Sniper chief faces ethics inquiry (Sniper)
Shepherd shot by Israeli army (Death)
Saddam vows victory over US (War)

I'll admit it's not as bad as the US, but it's still there. Unforunately, the UK is learning our habits.</div>

<div style='font: 9pt ; text-align: left; '>Gonna have to agree with Sine on this one. Shock and fear sell better in the US than here</div>

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>Maybe that's why the only paper I buy is the Globe! I hadn't looked today.</div>