Canadian banks ranked soundest in the world

U.S. has fallen to No. 40 in World Economic Forum list

Canada has the world's soundest banking system, closely followed by Sweden, Luxembourg and Australia, a survey by the World Economic Forum has found as a financial crisis and bank failures shake world markets.

The World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Report based its findings on opinions of executives and assigned banks a score between 1.0 (insolvent and possibly requiring a government bailout) and 7.0 (healthy, with sound balance sheets).

Canadian banks received a score of 6.8, just ahead of Sweden (6.7), Luxembourg (6.7), Australia (6.7) and Denmark (6.7).

The Woman Whisperer

This video is a funny ad, but I would REALLY like to see "The Man Whisperer"

In space nobody can hear you sing

This bit came about as a result of those long hours between star systems, and too much Andorrean Ale in 10-Forward!

Link to the webpage for the Hi Fidelity Quartet

Spray-on latex condoms…because sex isn’t messy enough already

Warning: this post acknowledges the existence of sex, sex acts, and implies that people engage in sex

Ever been in the middle of an intimate rendezvous and wish you didn’t have to fumble with the noisy, hard-to-open packaging condoms come wrapped in? Well how about getting rid of the packaging all together and just spraying on a condom? This is the thing for you.

Rabbis oppose California anti-gay-marriage initiative

Proposition 8 is stirring great fervor this election season, as supporters and opponents of gay marriage gear up for their Nov. 4 duel at the ballot box. Now comes the latest group to weigh in — the Board of Rabbis of Southern California.

The board — a collection of leaders from the Reconstructionist, Reform, Conservative and Orthodox movements — this week declared its opposition to the measure, which would amend the California Constitution to define marriage as only between a man and a woman. Leaders of the board said they wanted protect the civil rights of gay and lesbian couples.

The early bird beats up the protester

The Denver police union is selling T-shirts that poke fun at protesters at last month's Democratic National Convention, but the main target isn't laughing.

The back of the shirts reads, "We get up early to beat the crowds" and "2008 DNC," and has a caricature of a police officer holding a baton.

The diary that fell to earth

Pages from a diary that mysteriously floated down to earth went on display at a museum in Israel on Sunday.

The diary holds the words of Ilan Ramon, Israel's first astronaut, who was killed along with six other astronauts when Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated upon re-entering the atmosphere in February 2003.

The book survived temperatures of more than 1,000 degrees Celsius as Columbia tore apart while it re-entering earth's atmosphere

The 37 pages found fell 60 kilometres to the ground, landing in Palestine, Tex., named after the biblical region of Palestine.

United we vote for the environment

VoteForEnvironment.ca was designed by Canadians who believe that we must start to reduce our fossil fuel pollution now to save the planet from dangerous climate change.

The Harper Government’s collusion with the Bush White House to obstruct progress on climate change at recent international summits does not reflect how Canadians want their leaders to behave on the world stage. Harper and the Conservative Party are simply not in step with what scientists say is needed, and with economic benefits of dealing with climate change.

All the other major Parties have programs that seriously address our critical climate concerns and are talking about them in this election.

Have Craigslist and inner tube - will travel

In a move that could be right out of a Hollywood movie, a brazen crook apparently used a Craigslist ad to hire a dozen unsuspecting decoys to help him make his getaway following a robbery outside a bank on Tuesday. He then made his escape in an inner tube on the Skykomish River.

Wave power

The world's first commercial-scale wave-power station has gone live off the coast of Portugal. This footage shows how the 140m-long snake-like devices work.

From a distance, they look like nothing more than thin red lines on the horizon, easily lost amid the tumbling blue of the Atlantic Ocean. But get closer and the significance of the 140m-long tubes, 10 years in the making by a British company and now floating in the sea off the coast of Portugal, becomes apparent: they are the beginning of an entirely new industry in the hunt for clean power.