I am proud to be a Canadian Sasquatch and proud of  the Canadian values of diversity, multiculturalism, compassion, equality, and our rights and freedoms.  I am also proud of our prime minister, Justin Trudeau, who has remained polite, professional and focused in the face of personal and national attacks from Drumpf and his minions.  This is not to say that we don’t have our foibles because we do.  But here are 151 facts about Canada that you may not know.

Despite the fact Canada is more than 150 years old, the country is much younger than many other nations.

Still, a lot can happen, and a lot can change, in a century and a half, and our country has metamorphosed many times over that period.

As Canada hits its 151st birthday, here are 151 things to know about Canada’s weather, climate, land, history and people.

1. Canada’s coldest temperature: -63^oC

Canada’s coldest day on record is also North America’s coldest day. And it was terrifyingly cold.

The small Yukon hamlet of Snag recorded a temperature -62.8° C on 3 February 1947. It was so cold, in fact, the joke was that the meteorologists couldn’t toast the new record because their alcohol was frozen at the bottom of their thermometers.

The frigid air was so still that exhaled breath made a hissing noise, and lingered in the air for several minutes. Dogs could be heard barking from kilometres away, and exposed skin froze in less than three minutes.

2. Hottest temperature: 45^oC

Two communities share the dubious honour of once having been Canada’s hottest-ever places.

On July 5, 1937, at the height of the Great Depression, Midale and Yellowgrass each reached a daytime high of 45^oC, almost 20 degrees above either town’s average July highs.

16. Canada is the world’s second most tornado-prone country

Canada sees the second largest number of recorded tornadoes per year: Around 80-100, according to Environment Canada. However, those are just the tornadoes that are confirmed by investigators, and doesn’t count tornadoes that may have gone undetected or uninvestigated in the more empty parts of Canada’s enormous geography.

Even so, that’s well behind the United States, which records 1,000 to 1,200 per year.

17. Canada’s strongest earthquake: West Coast, 1700

Canada’s strongest-known earthquake was an estimated Magnitude 9.0 monster that destroyed at least one village in what is now British Columbia, and caused numerous other deaths when it struck in the Cascadia Subduction Zone, just off the B.C. coast, in January 1700.

Aside from First Nations accounts, it also appears in records in Japan, where people marked a small “orphan tsunami” that had reached the island from all the way across the Pacific.

37. Humidex is a Canadian invention

Thermometer says 25^oC, but it “feels like” 30? Meteorologists try to account for that using humidex.

Short for humidity index, it’s actually a Canadian invention, in use since 1965.

38. Canadians also invented the UV index

Another Canadian invention is the UV index, a measure of the strength of the sun’s rays on a given day (UV stands for Ultra-Violet).

First developed in 1992, it was adopted worldwide by the World Health Organization and U.N. Environmental Program.

42. Canada’s national animal: The mighty beaver

The beaver was declared a symbol of the nation in 1975, after centuries of playing an important role in Canada’s development.

Its pelt made it the target of fur traders and trappers, fuelling the growth of the Hudson’s Bay and North West companies, with some 100,000 pelts being exported per year, such that the animal was almost wiped out. Now in no danger of extinction, they’re found in every province and territory.

48. Churchill, Man., is the polar bear capital of the world

The Manitoba port of Churchill has a good claim to being the capital of a polar bear kingdom that stretches across the Arctic region, with the bears a top tourist draw as they roam the shores of Hudson Bay waiting for the water to freeze.

The bears are found all across Canada’s northern coasts, though they are under pressure due to climate change, which is shrinking the sea ice on which they rely for hunting. They are considered a vulnerable species.

54. Second largest country by land area: 9,984,670 km²

We’ve got a lot of land! Canada owns the second-largest chunk of real estate on Earth, at around 9,984,670 km².

That puts us slightly ahead of China and the United States, though still way behind Russia, which is around 17,000,000 km² in area.

55. Longest coastline in the world: 202,080 km

Canada has the world’s single largest ocean coastline, at around 202,080 km according to the measure used by the CIA World Factbook.

If that sounds a little longer than it looks, keep in mind Canada owns numerous islands, including its sprawling Arctic archipelago. Those islands actually account for more than half of the total coastline, according to the Canadian Encyclopedia.

56. Canada owns a LOT of the Arctic

A large part of Canada’s territory is included in its Arctic archipelago, a collection of more than 36,500 islands, 94 of which are larger than 130 km².

According to the Canadian Encyclopedia, it’s also the largest collection of High Arctic territory held by any nation, with the exception of Greenland, which is mostly ice-covered.

These are 11 of 151 facts about Canada.  Click through the Weather Network article for the other 140.  While you’ll see poutine listed as a Canadian “delicacy”, there is another equally well known delicacy which is very sweet and very tasty, especially if you are a chocolat lover — Nanaimo Bars which originated in the BC city of Nanaimo.  Feast your eyes and salivate!  In addition to the traditional bar, my personal favourites are raspberry, mint and Bailey’s Irish Cream (not shown).

Happy Canada Day

Bonne Fête Canada

This is almost identical to last the last two years’ Memorial Day articles.  I did not see how I could express my position more clearly.

You may ask why I, as one who opposes war almost by definition, would want to celebrate the day in which we honor those military service people, who have given their lives in service to America.  From my earliest days as an antiwar activist opposing the war in Vietnam, I have believed that it is as important to honor the warriors, as it is to oppose the wars.

They took an oath to obey and honored it.  They had nothing to do with the decisions.  I have no doubt that, if those who died in our Revolutionary War, for example, can look at today’s Republican wars for hate and greed, they are shedding tears over the senseless waste of life, but honoring their comrades as they fall.

Now, unlike Veterans day, Memorial Day is not intended as celebration of those who served and survived.  Nevertheless, to all veterans who read this, thank you for your service.  I thank God that you are not among those whom we honor today.

Finally, if you are in the service now, you have the hardest decisions any US service person has ever had to make.  I consider your lives far too precious to spend defending Trump’s personal profit or Russia’s national interest.

RESIST THE REPUBLICAN REICH!!

VOTE!!

Photo credit: Tux the Dapper Gent

In the time I have available, I don’t think I can improve on last year’s Easter message, so here it is again, with one small addition. Whether or not you are a Christian, I respectfully invite you to join me in the celebration of the my faith’s most central holiday, even though many of its traditions are borrowed.

Jesus was a fascinating man.  He associated most closely with the social rejects of his day.  He respected people with faiths different from his.  He did not burn their religious writings or try to prevent them from practicing their own forms of worship.  Sometimes he used them as an example of what is right, like the Good Samaritan.  He had a heart for meeting the needs of the poor, and admonished us to care for them.  His concern  for the rich was that their own greed would blind them.   He had no trouble getting along with sinners.  He met people at the point of their need, and accepted all, except for the religious hypocrites who used their position to enrich themselves at the expense of the poor and to force their own piety codes, which they often ignored themselves, onto others.  Those were only people Jesus condemned.  Sadly, they are still among us. If we are followers of Jesus, our faith will help us to follow the example of what he did.  Of course, none of us is perfect in that way.  God knows that I fall short every day.  It is important to know that those who preach the things Jesus was against, but condemn those who contend for the things Jesus supported, are not followers of Jesus.  They are pseudo-Christians. Authentic Christians try to follow Jesus’ example.  Pseudo-Christians helped install a serial pussy-grabber in the White House.

And now, for your listening pleasure:

RESIST THE REPULICAN REICH!!