Canadians and Japanese equally happy

  Leger Marketing surveyed about 53,000 people in a total of 58 countries. Leger asked participants whether they were unhappy or happy in 2011. The happiest country was Fiji. People there no doubt enjoy the weather and beaches and laid back life style.
   Canada ranked 23rd. In spite of the poor economy and disasters in Japan they tied with Canada. An even bigger surprise was that Afghans were happier than Americans.
   No doubt some countries that are relatively well off have unhappy people because expectations are high. This may explain the Afghan U.S. anomaly. Relatively, the situation in Afghanistan is probably not as bad as it has been. In the U.S. unemployment, and the general economic situation has been worse than earlier and looks bad for the future.
    Canada's net happiness score was 47 per cent much above Afghanistan at 35 and the U.S. at 33 per cent. Fiji  the happiest country had a net happiness score of 85. The score is the result of subtracting the percentage of happy people from unhappy people. For more see this article. Among Canadians those in Alberta are the unhappiest! This result perhaps also shows that happiness is based upon expectations rather than ones actual conditions. Alberta is relatively well off and booming compared to many other provinces.

Dandelions

This is a snippet from the CBC.
Actually dandelions are not native to North America but were brought here as a food source. They actually taste good but in Japan they make coffee out of the dried roots. Dandelions also make a good wine. I can still remember tasting a very nice dandelion wine made by Hungarian immigrants when I lived in Toronto decades ago............Maybe an enterprising Manitoba farmer can sell dandelion roots to Japan as coming from the land of Margaret Laurence since she is also popular in Japan.

And this brings me back to dandelions, and a farmer named Raymond Loo.

Loo is selling the flower's roots on the back of Anne of Green Gables (CBC)
Loo has been making connections in Japan over the last few years, working to tie together two of P.E.I.'s most successful industries: agriculture and Anne of Green Gables. He believes he may have hit on a winner with dandelions.
Loo has a contract with a Japanese company to provide about 1,400 kg of dried dandelion root, which the company will roast and grind to make a coffee-like beverage that is popular in Japan. The sale is possible because the company will be able to market the drink as coming from the land of Anne, who is an extremely popular character in Japan.