You All Knew It Already

Sometimes I just post the obvious to support my contention that I live in the greatest country in the world. You can breath the air and drink the water and avoid the craziness that permiates most of this planet. All the while actually enjoying to watch the spazzes in other nations from a smug and safe distance. Take THAT Zimbabwe! And all of you can see below that our animals get the best TV reception of any other hooved creatures on the planet. Suck on it again Zimbabwe.


"Let's say you had unlimited resources and were able to pick one country in the world to visit. Where would you go? Canada, right? Right? No? Well, then, you're out of step with the rest of the world, according to a recent global survey conducted by Anholt-GfK Roper Nation Brand Index. Canada, which I sometimes like to think of as America's Hat, drew the top response to the statement, "I would like to visit this country if money were no object."After Canada, the most popular countries for a theoretical visit were, in order: Italy, Australia, Switzerland and France. The United States ranked 10th out of 50. I hadn't realized the world was so full of fans of hockey and maple syrup. Canada's ranking "surprised a lot of people, but Canada has a lot going for it," said Xiaoyan Zhao, a senior vice president at the polling firm. "Canada doesn't have glamorous cities like Paris or London or Rome. But Canada was ranked No. 1 for natural beauty." Iran filled the bottom spot in the poll. Saudi Arabia and Nigeria were Nos. 48 and 49, which makes a lot of sense -- unless you're looking to do a little duty-free shopping for crude oil. The next least-favorite destinations were Estonia and Lithuania. Who knew the world was so filled with Baltic-phobes? I suspect that the respondents simply know little about the two small countries and, thus, skipped over them as possible destinations. That's what Zhao thinks, too. "Lithuania and Estonia are primarily suffering from low visibility," she said. "We had some other very small nations, like Ecuador, that also scored very low. "It's not that people have negative opinions about them; they just don't know them." The Estonian capital, Tallinn, and the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius -- both founded in the Middle Ages -- are quite beautiful. They both have old-town sections included on the UNESCO World Heritage List and feature a wonderful architecture, many great museums and historic sites, and a well-educated populace. Although Toronto is one of my favorite cities, given the choice I'd certainly opt for a trip to Tallinn or Vilnius. Actually, I love visiting Canada. Perhaps our proximity has caused me to take it for granted. And as long as you don't bad-mouth Gordie Howe or William Shatner, Canadians, as a rule, are a friendly folk. On this, the world agrees with me: To the statement, "If I visited this country, the people would make me feel welcome," the top response, again, was Canada. The next-friendliest countries were Australia, Italy, New Zealand and Spain. The countries perceived to be the least-friendly were Iran, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, the United Arab Emirates and China. The world ranked the United States 25th for perceived friendliness. Idiots."



http://www.columbusdispatch.com/live/content/travel/stories/2009/05/24/STEP24.ART_ART_05-24-09_F1_6EDSTD3.html?sid=101