Ultimate Battle of Canada and the USA

Pawwed Rig

Illinois. Idaho looks the same as a half dozen others

Montage of Feck

Feel the ILLINOISE.

Barna77

Illinois
Because of Ferris Bueller

Arghus

Illinois.

Idaho very samey.

Omackeral

Flawless victory for Illinois!

cj maxx

Ohio, I've relatives there

y0ssar1an22

Idaho, cos i get the impression there are eagles in loads of flags

Omackeral

There are only 3 spots left in Round 3. Who'll take the first of them?

Minnesota



VS

Massachusetts

cj maxx

y0ssar1an22 wrote: »

Idaho, cos i get the impression there are eagles in loads of flags

We have to refresh our browsers more often y0s

cj maxx

Minnesota, I dislike mass.

Pawwed Rig

Massachusetts

Also Starring LeVar Burton

Minnesota, because DUCKS FLY TOGETHER!

Mass.

Minnesota is too Christmassy.

eyerer

Massachusetts

A vote for Irish America :pac:

y0ssar1an22

cj maxx wrote: »

We have to refresh our browsers more often y0s

did we make a boo boo?

y0ssar1an22

Massachusetts. i think it looks class

Clarabel

Minnesota. Looks line Christmas and who doesn't love Christmas

Necro

Minnesota cos what LeVar said

eyerer

Seems like a close one this time

Omackeral

eyerer wrote: »

Seems like a close one this time

It's 4-4, next vote wins...

Clarabel

Also Starring LeVar Burton wrote: »

Minnesota, because DUCKS FLY TOGETHER!

What ****s

Ummm ducks

ArnoldJRimmer

Lets go with Minnesota, just for the hell of it

sKeith

will go Massachusetts

Omackeral

Minnesota goes through on a sudden death vote.

Gonna leave it there for tonight. We have two ties outstanding from this stage, which we'll resolve before lunch tomorrow and then we'll get cracking on Round 3!

y0ssar1an22

sKeith wrote: »

will go Massachusetts

2 minutes too late!

Also Starring LeVar Burton

Clarabel wrote: »

What ****s

Ummm ducks

M.T. Cranium

The symbol on the flag of Nunavut is an "inuksuk" which is a marker for trails in the arctic wilderness made out of stones. This has become a cultural symbol of the Inuit people. The word is pronounced inookshuk. The plural is inuksuit. The people are Inuk singular and Inuit plural, the term Eskimo having been retired to the cultural hall of shame, and the language they speak is Inuktitut. The term "Eskimo" is derived from a native language (Cree) and apparently means eaters of raw meat, which explains perhaps why the term is now considered pejorative; Inuit has worked its way into common usage since about 1980, except in U.S. linguistics where Eskimo is still used. One of Canada's professional football teams is the Edmonton Eskimoes; this is about the only public use of the term allowed nowadays. A skit on SNL involving Sarah Palin back around 2008 made reference to Eskimoes in a humorous way, without any vast storm of controversy. This was making fun of her reputation as "Caribou Barbie" at the time.

More background trivia -- until recent times, the areas now called the Northwest Territories and Nunavut were all just the N.W.T. and there was no separate political entity for the Inuit people. The old N.W.T. had three districts, Mackenzie district is now most of the N.W.T. that exists today, Keewatin territory was the mainland part of present-day Nunavut and Franklin territory was the arctic islands. For cultural and political reasons the border between N.W.T. and Nunavut was drawn through parts of the western arctic islands not inhabited by Inuit people.

The N.W.T. is populated by a mix of (mostly) white settlers and the Dene aboriginal people. Nunavut is more exclusively Inuit with a smaller percentage of settlers.

The Yukon territory existed throughout all of those changes in the N.W.T. with its present boundaries. The native population there was smaller before southerners swarmed in during the gold rush era (1898 to 1902 mostly), so the current population is largely non-native. There are somewhat separate "Eskimo" types of native culture in the western Canadian arctic, northern Yukon and Alaska known as Inuvialuit and Inupiat, and the term Eskimo is still somewhat used in American parlance in reference to the last of those. The "Yupik" who inhabit parts of western Alaska and northeast Siberia do not consider themselves Inuit but are considered related by anthropologists. The various groups became separated out before European contact by the northward expansion of the mainland Dene tribes and a period of colder climates that forced the eastern Inuit people to migrate south to obtain food, as the whale populations of the arctic seas declined and vanished. Groups of Inuit were still moving south through Labrador and northern Quebec when European colonists arrived. This plus the hostility of established native populations limited the southward advance to the north coast of Labrador and a few villages along the northeast coast of Hudson Bay now in Quebec province, and a group of islands in southeast Hudson Bay There is quite a genetic disparity between the natives we used to call "Indians" and "Eskimoes" probably derived from different Asian sources during the distant era of original human settlement of North America.

The southern border of the territories west of Hudson Bay to Alaska is the 60th parallel of latitude giving rise to the expression "north of 60" to refer to arctic Canada. However some parts of Nunavut are islands in Hudson Bay that lie south of 60. The regions are not all arctic either, some parts of the Mackenzie valley and the Yukon have a subarctic climate and quite warm summers comparable to Ireland. The tree line runs through northern Yukon and then southeast between Great Bear and Great Slave lakes, and continues southeast to run around the entire body of Hudson Bay even down to latitudes similar to Ireland. This is the combination of influences of very cold water in Hudson Bay which is frozen from November to June, and the proximity to the source region of arctic air masses which flow out of Nunavut south into Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The climate is quite cold even south of the tree line, I've seen (from a plane trip) ice on large lakes in early July in SK at latitudes similar to the Hebrides in Scotland.

One final note, these three are territories and not provinces because some of their constitutional powers are limited compared to Canadian provinces, in other words, the federal government pays more for various services in the north than in the provinces. But they still have local self-government and operate to some extent like provinces. I think the U.S. equivalent (Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam) are in a similar blend of autonomy and direct federal administration. There is no real push for provincial status in part because there is no political payoff, statehood for PR would give them two senators, probably not a huge prize but in our case, the Senate is an appointed body equivalent to the UK House of Lords and has very limited political powers beyond the review of legislation. Canadians call the Senate the "taskless thanks." Unlike the U.S. territories these Canadian territories are considered integral parts of the country and not "overseas" but the U.S. had those too before statehood was given out to various parts of the west. So the residents of these Canadian territories already have full citizenship rights unlike Puerto Ricans or Samoans. They could move anywhere within Canada that they chose to live. Despite the harsh climate very few Inuit move away from the north and there are more cases of southerners moving north than vice versa. I won't be one of them, five months of winter is already four too many for my liking.

cj maxx

y0ssar1an22 wrote: »

did we make a boo boo?

That contest was done and dusted by the time we voted

Omackeral

Will have the remaining Round 2 matches up within a little while folks

Omackeral

We start today’s action with two flags that had to claw their way through the last round.

Alberta



VS

Wyoming

Necro

Wyoming for me. Can't beat the old bison on a flag

Wuff Wuff

Wyoming

just a better flag

Also Starring LeVar Burton

Wyoming, because I miss stopping in to Bison Bar for a Whiskey Sour

quickbeam

Wyoming. For the buffallo.

Clarabel

Buffalo buffalo buffalo

davetherave

Alberta is a nice coat of arms, it has the mountains, the hills, the wheat hills, a good range of colour.

Fr Tod Umptious

Alberta - weather's good there in the fall

Barna77

Alberta.
It's my land

Pawwed Rig

Wyoming

Omackeral

Wyoming’s bison galloped into a 5-0 lead and couldn’t be caught.

Omackeral

There’s only one spot left in Round 3. Will it go to Canada or the US of A? You decide.

Northwest Territories



VS

VS

Connecticut

Also Starring LeVar Burton

Northwest Territories, the other one is sh*t

Montage of Feck

Both remind me of posh school crests, but I'll go with with our friends from the northwest territories.

sullivlo

Northwest territories. The other one is gak.

Zaph

Northwest Territories, the Connecticut one is a bit hard on the eyes

Fr Tod Umptious

NWT - A few tweaks and it's very like a Cavan GAA flag.




Connecticut is just typical US state boring s**t blue background and a seal flag

quickbeam

NW Territories, as for the disembodied wolf head.

Pawwed Rig

NW Territories although they could have thought of a better name

sKeith

N.W.T. please. nice wolf

Omackeral

Northwest Territories picks up the win! We’re down to the Sweet Sixteen already folks. Round 3 will kick off later on