Things I've Learned: Ted Harrison & Canadian Geographic's National Bird Project

I'm nearing the end of my second week of internal medicine, so it figures that most of the things I've learned this week have been medicine related. I find that learning through patient cases is really the best way to remember things. Between learning about administering concomitant steroids to suppress the inflammation flare that occurs around four days after the initiation of antibiotic treatment of PCP pneumonia, and seeing a textbook lateral decubitus x-ray of intraperitoneal free air, I did come across a few neat non-medical things which will hopefully be of interest to people!

1. Ted Harrison -- This week's news reported the death of Ted Harrison on January 16, 2015, at the age of 88. He is a Victoria artist (my mother remembers meeting him at the Sidney Fine Arts Show several years ago) who moved from his home England to the Yukon, where he remained for 26 years, creating vibrant and beautiful paintings inspired by the northern landscape and culture. Ted Harrison also illustrated several books, amongst which is the famous Robert Service poem The Cremation of Sam McGee (it tells the story of a prospector who freezes to death in the Yukon, narrated by the man who cremates him). Looking through some of Ted Harrison's paintings has gotten me super enthused to be travelling to the Yukon this summer!

   

   View of British Columbia by Ted Harrison, displayed in the David Turpin Building at UVic
   (http://uvac.uvic.ca/collections/art_for_loan.html)

2. Canadian Geographic's National Bird Project -- Canadian Geographic has embarked upon a quest to designate an official national bird for Canada by 2017. I spent some time perusing their website, which has great fact sheets on Canada's bird species. So far the forerunners are: common loon (1019 votes), snowy owl (737 votes), Canada goose (339 votes), black-capped chickadee (326 votes), and gray jay (233 votes). I think I'd vote for the snowy owl, given that its range spans every province in Canada and that it is unique to our northern climate (in contrast to many of the other birds, which are also found in many American states). The one reservation I have is that most people I'm sure would continue to see the snowy owl as a symbol of Harry Potter rather than Canada -- don't get me wrong, I love Hedwig, but a less popularized bird might be a better choice. Which bird would you pick to represent Canada?

   

   hawks in the incredible bird gallery at the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa
   (from L to R: sharp-shinned hawk (m & f), Cooper's hawk (m & f), Northern Goshawk (m & f); below: ruffled grouse)

3. sesquicentennial -- This word means the 150th anniversary of an event -- e.g. The sesquicentennial of Canada's confederation is approaching in 2017 (hence the desire to commemorate the occasion by designating a national bird!).
   
4. global gasoline prices -- I came across this interesting chart today, which gives a regularly updated representation of average gasoline prices by country. On the low end of the scale is the Middle East and on the high end are the European countries (which is a bit ironic because Europe is neighbouring the Middle East...but alas, we all know the price of gas is not determined by geography).

   

   the US and Canada are more widely split than I'd expected
   (http://www.globalpetrolprices.com/gasoline_prices/)

What's something interesting that you learned this week?