Hi Hooooooooooooo!

A few weeks ago I got pointed at The Economist's study of relative 'Quality of Life' in nations around the world. I was immediately struck by the top five; Ireland, Switzerland, Sweden, Luxembourg and Norway and wondered what it was which made them so great - what was the common feature to each of them? Apart from geography, not much is the same; aside from being Democracies in the Western mould, political and economic systems are different in each. What, I wondered, was the thing that all those countries had in common? Could it be that they're all hefty beneficiaries of Eurozone support and loans? No, because Switzerland isn't. Could they all be refusing to give back that money from WW2? Nope once again. What then, I asked myself. What?
Then it struck me: The little people.
Be it Leprechauns, Kobalds, Gnomes or The Smurfs, all these countries have legends of benevolent dwarves who cheerfully work hard and help people in trouble.
It's a sobering thought that quality of life is built on the backs of perspiring midgets and piles of fairy gold, but facts don't lie.

Monday lunchtime at the movies

As it's slow over lunch today until I get the next bout of hecticness, some links. Movies, all work safe.

This has to be the coolest thing I've seen all day.
Al-Jazeera proving that they encourage debate more than, say, Fox news. And GWB wanted them bombed?