Click HERE to see this thread with all of the graphics, features, and links.

Now on to the positive (and sane) side of things.. Here are excerpts from the Gulf News report (Dubai):

http://www.gulf-news.com/images/2004/01/12_poll.jpg
Many feel 2004 will be a better year

Hopes, aspirations, fears and convictions were uncovered in a Gulf News online poll which ran for nine days beginning December 30, 2003

Will 2004 be a year of promising hope? Or will it be like last year - scarred with upheavals? Well, a good 60 per cent sounded hopeful that 2004 will be a better year.....

Putting aside manmade and natural disasters, let us take a peek into a more entertaining world.

J.K.Rowling's hero Harry Potter bagged first place on the list of Arts & Entertainment Personality of the Year. The illusionary character accumulates a 'real' majority with 33 per cent of the votes.

Following in second place are the on-off-on again couple Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck, bagging a total of 21 per cent of the votes. The Disney/Pixar's animated lost fish Nemo found his way into voters hearts as he came third place with a respectable 17 per cent.

Well, after all, in reality 'real' characters do not always have to rule.

But that is not the case in sports. Who else would be voted the Sports Personality of the Year except that heart throb of the football pitch, the Real Madrid mid-fielder David Beckham. He was voted in first place with a total of 32 per cent of the votes.

The Formula One champion Michael Schumacher has raced his way to second place with a total of 25 per cent of the votes. Golfer Tiger Woods was in third place.

On the scientific frontier, it seems that we are still fascinated by the world of the unknown. A total of 48 per cent of respondents voted the mission to Mars the most significant scientific event of 2003. The separation of the Iranian twins, Laden and Laleh Bijani, came in second place.

Good health triumphed over the worries and instabilities as 68 per cent of respondents hold the conviction that an outbreak of an epidemic similar to the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) will not take place.

In conclusion, it is difficult to say whether we will be wealthy or wise - but definitely healthy.

Here is a link to the full article:
http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/Opinion.asp?ArticleID=107778

thats so long im not going to read it.. but congratulations

Hey, if you have other Harry Potter-related newsies, please feel free to post 'em here!

Here's another one from sportsillustrated.cnn.com..

Poof!

PHILADELPHIA -- Well, sometimes the magic works and sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes, when things fall just right, you end up looking like Harry Potter. And sometimes, when they don't, you look like Mrs. Potter, my third-grade teacher, who was nothing to look at, believe you me...

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/writers/john_donovan/01/12/eagles.viewpoint


Pop culture top Google, Yahoo!

Pop-culture sites including music and movies were the most sought-after Internet sites in 2003, according to search engine operators Yahoo! and Google.

The companies analyzed the search terms that appeared most often on their sites, and found that file-sharing software KaZaa was tops. To the recording industry, KaZaa means illegal music downloading.

YAHOO:
After KaZaa at Yahoo!, Harry Potter, "American Idol," pop singer Britney Spears and rapper 50 Cent were the top searches.

GOOGLE:
Rival Google does not rank its top searches on an annual basis, but a spokeswoman says the most popular searches included Spears, Harry Potter, Iraq and the film "The Matrix."

http://www.delawareonline.com/newsjournal/business/2004/01/12coffeebreak.html