Thinking of moving?

The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) announced Monday that Vancouver is the best city in the world to live, followed by Vienna, Austria and Melbourne, Australia.
The EIU -- the business arm of the U.K.-based weekly economics magazine -- ranked the living conditions of 140 cities around the world based on five broad categories; stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure.

With a rating of 98 out of 100, with one being "intolerable" and 100 being "ideal", Vancouver topped the charts, "benefiting from strong Canadian infrastructure," according to the study's authors.

Two other Canadian cities, Toronto and Calgary, ranked in the top 10. Toronto ranked fourth, followed by Perth, Calgary, Helsinki, and Geneva. Zurich and Sydney tied for ninth.

Story.

Vancouver:



Toronto:



Calgary:

This event has gone to the dogs

If you're a dog lover, don't miss North America's largest love-in for dogs, appropriately called Woofstock, taking place at Toronto's St' Lawrence Market next Saturday and Sunday (June 13-14). Meet like-minded people, enjoy some great food, enter your dog in some great contests, etc. For more information, click here.

Only in America

America, the (armed and) beautiful.

A Kentucky pastor is inviting his parishioners to bring their firearms to church in order to celebrate the Fourth of July. A gun will be raffled off and patriotic music will be played. How better to honour America's deep belief in God and weaponry?

The Story.

The war on sanity

Am I the only one who doesn't believe that North Korea is dangerous? Seriously, I don't know what all the hoopla is about. Does anyone actually believe that those in charge are anxious to have their country destroyed and for them to die an ugly death or be imprisoned for life? Does anyone not believe that would be the only possible result if they fired missiles at anyone? They aren't as loony as some would have you believe. Even if they were, I'm sure they're instinct for self preservation would trump any delusions they may have.

And the same thing goes for Iran.

When the U.S. spent trillions of dollars over decades on developing ridiculous numbers of nuclear weapons--enough to destroy the entire world many times over, I'm sure they didn't think of themselves as insane. But if today a country develops a single nuclear weapon, they're painted as individuals so unstable that they're apt to start a war with any of their neighbours at the drop of a hat. Give me a break. The United States has always been the most aggressive state since it's rise to power and even now should be feared more so than any other. If they can go to Iraq for no reason at all, what is beyond the realm of possibilities?

Not a bad return for 10 days!

I've been remiss posting about my stock transactions. I raved to you about Suntech (STP) in this space. It is a solar power component manufacturer. I bought some shares exactly 10 days ago at $12.61 (U.S.) and sold them a few minutes ago for $17.69.

I apologize for leaving you out of the loop and promise to do better. However, if you've been following me (and the stocks I've recommended), you would have picked some up. Other stocks I've had my eye on are:

Highveld Steel and Vanadium (HSVLY), a company in the quickly expanding South African economy
Tata Motors (TTM), Indian auto producer of the world's cheapest car
Seagate (STX) disk storage producer
Akamai (AKAM) internet data performance company
VMWARE (VMW) specialize in server virtualization
SOHU.com (SOHU) Chinese internet portal and gaming concern