One-hundred is a most popular number, highly self-sufficient and is effective at exploring new ideas and approaches to existing ideas. And it feels comfortable being alone doing what it prefers to do for its own reasons. Since this column is my 100th column to be published in 100 weeks on Whitewater News, I’m marking the occasion to show respect for the number 100.
There are a few facts about 100 such as: the most points ever scored in a NBA game, 100 by Wilt Chamberlain; the tallest apartment building of 100 floors is in Chicago and the world’s fastest man is Tim Montgomery who ran 100 meters in 9.78 seconds. For the NHL’s 100th anniversary, a book was compiled of the 100 most impactful moments in league history. We can’t forget about Connor McDavid who recently surpassed the 100-point mark in the hockey season making it back-to-back 100-point seasons.
Many cultures have thought in terms of base 10, probably because we have 10 fingers. Each wire on an abacus represented a power of 10. US President Donald Trump campaigned on a promise of instant change but after his first 100 days, he acknowledged that change doesn’t come quickly to Washington. As the numerology number 100 conveys, energy that’s self-determined, independent, and has infinite potential, why then, wasn’t Trump successful?
A centenarian is a person who lives to or beyond the age of 100 years. In 2012, the United Nations estimated there were over 316,000 centenarians worldwide. As life expectancy is increasing across the world, and the world population has also increased rapidly, so does the number of centenarians. One-third of babies born in 2013 in the UK are expected to live to 100. If I thought I had a chance of making It, I would alter my diet, curtail any thoughts of the opposite sex and become a full-time couch potato. Not that it is relevant, but a supercentenarian is a human (or an individual species) who has lived to the age of 110 or more.
A few more gems from a list of the ‘100 Interesting Facts’ were: most soccer players run seven miles in a game; the only two animals that can see behind itself without turning its head are the rabbit and the parrot and the only nation whose name begins with an “A” but doesn’t end in an “A” is Afghanistan. I feel because I never wrote a full paragraph before retirement that it should qualify for the list too!
There is one number that is the exception. It is called the 23 enigma. There is a belief that all incidents and events which happened on the 23rd of any month are somehow tied into a centuries-old plan. This belief is associated with the Illuminati Trilogy. Some mysterious examples are that it takes 23 seconds for blood to circulate throughout the entire body, Julius Caesar was stabbed 23 times when he was assassinated, and William Shakespeare was born on April 23, 1564 and died on April 23, 1616. The letter W has 2 points down and 3 up and is the 23rd letter of the alphabet! My Sheila, mysterious herself, falls into this 23 enigma: She was born on the 23rd of a month. My own name (Bob) has only three letters, two of which are the same. Should it not count for something, as the W did?
One hundred years ago in 1818, it was the official re-opening of the Whitehouse, after Canada supposedly burnt down the original — according to Donald Trump. As well, the 49th parallel formed a border between US & Canada, Chile gained independence from Spain and Felix Mendelssohn, at age 9, performed his first concert.
And 100 years from now, only speculation though, predictions say that, “Under the high emissions scenario, 2118 would be a year of hell,” and also, “There would be an unthinkable level of sea rise that erased many major cities and some nations from the map.” Places as far flung as South Florida, Bangladesh, Shanghai and parts of Washington, D.C., could be engulfed by rising waters. In fact, more than 80 percent of the cities could see at least a 50 percent reduction in the number of nights that go below the freezing mark.
For Canada, somewhat luckier than some, the St. Lawrence region will have more precipitation (25 per cent) but also milder temperatures, meaning Montreal and Toronto will probably turn into a Chicago, which will turn into a muggy Mobile, Alabama. According to NASA, the hardest hit will be Western Canada, particularly the prairies and the boreal forest. And Vancouver, after thousands of years of suffering through the rain in the summer, will see a lot less.
I’m pretty certain I won’t live to 100 years old or ever see that infamous light at the end of the tunnel, but the good news is that I will be able to write hundreds of more columns before I throw in the towel.
