Canada

Seeing as the Canes will be playing a team from Canada, I decided I better learn something about the country. At this moment in time I know absolutely nothing about it. (This is where World History fails me. They teach me all this crap about the Phoenicians and Babylonians, but yet they don't teach me anything about our neighbor to the north, Canada. I believe it's more important to know about the countries that surround us currently, rather than ancient civilizations before the time of Christ. But, sadly I am not elected to the school board.)

So, to learn about the country to my north, where do I go? Google. Where else?
Google Search Result #1: Introduction to the Government of Canada Official Website (man, that is a really long name)
The site gives me a lot of links which I am WAY too lazy to check out.
Search Result #2: canada.com
Apparantly this is Canada's online news source. Learned facts: Condoleeza Rice says the US is "comfortable with border security co-operation with Canada". Good to know.
Search Result #3: CIA - The World Factbook - Canada
Looks like the CIA's facts on Canada. Learned facts:

"A land of vast distances and rich natural resources, Canada became a self-governing dominion in 1867 while retaining ties to the British crown. Economically and technologically the nation has developed in parallel with the US, its neighbor to the south across an unfortified border. Canada's paramount political problem is meeting public demands for quality improvements in health care and education services after a decade of budget cuts. Canada also faces questions about integrity in government following revelations regarding a corruption scandal in the federal government that has helped revive the fortunes of separatists in predominantly francophone Quebec."

How interesting. This site also tells me that Canada is somewhat larger than the US, and that there are 1,331 airports in Canada.
Search Result #4: Yahoo! Canada
Canada's version of the Yahoo! homepage. I don't think there's any difference between the US version.
Search Result #5: The Atlas of Canada
An atlas. Need I say more?

So my search to learn more about Canada has failed through the first five sites on Google. Therefore, I will go to Wikipedia, even though my teachers insist that it is not a good source to use because anyone can edit it, yadda yadda yadda.
Wikipedia: In the first sentence of the article I learn that Canada is the world's second largest country. (See? What do my teachers know?) It is also a parliamentary democracy, and a constitutional monarchy. The country name is believed to be derived from a Huron-Iroquois word meaning "village" or "settlement". Canada is composed of ten provinces and three territories.

So, the lesson in all this is 1) Google isn't that great 2) Wikipedia does give you information 3) I have way too much time to do this sort of thing.

Now, I should probably look up the Edmonton Oilers... nah, I've already expended too much energy for a Sunday.