Angel >> The real-life Shangri-la Earlier this month, a group of National Geographic explorers found the storied Shangri-la, the utopian Himalayan paradise, in what may be the deepest gorge on earth. Featuring majestic waterfalls and lush flora, not to mention a rare horned beast known as a takin, the area is considered highly sacred by the Tibetans and was declared by one of the explorers to be "probably the most romantic landscape I've ever seen." This angel, however, seems destined to become an insect in the future: it's only a matter of time before a super-resort/casino begins developing Shangri-la as the vacation destination.

Insect >> Reduced bus service in -20°C weather The whole plan was too good to be true: the government wanted to promote Quebec's bus-building industry, so the MUCTC bought the first 252 buses to come off the assembly line from home-grown Nova Bus corporation. Now we discover the wrinkle in the deal: the damn things don't work. Not surprisingly, they konked out just in time for the worst winter weather. It's enough to transform even the most ardent environmentally conscious public-transit cheerleader into a booster for the global economy: buy your buses from Mexico for all I care, as long as they can run in the cold.