Monday, February 26, 2018

Dry Tortugas Flag - Key Way West Isles

 
The Dry Tortugas flag has, but of course, a 'Tortuga' upon it.  The Dry Tortugas is the oldest part of the 50 states.  The shell has 13 areas for the 13 original colonies.  Likewise there are 50 scales for each of the 50 states.  There are three starfish on the flag as well.



The islands were named by Ponce de Leon himself.













Image Credit: https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/100765



Saturday, February 24, 2018

A Seven Pointed Expansion: Rock, Paper, Scissors with Lizard, Spock, Devil, and Love








An expansion based upon the game Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock as introduced at large to the public.  In this case the two new items are Love and the Devil.   Using the sign language love gesture and Illuminati Devil sign. Love looks like hang loose symbol but with index finger expanded.



New rules for Love to win

1. Love beats the Devil, period.

2. Uhura's Love overcomes Spock.

3. Love gets carved into a Rock.



New rules for Love to loose

4. Lizard People ignore Love.

5. Scissors cuts a heart (love) in two.

6. Dear John letter (paper) breaks a love bond





New rules for Devil to win

7. Devil controls the Lizard People.

8. Devil uses a paper to write a mean message.

9. Devil runs with Scissors to hurt people.



New rules for Devil to loose

10. Spock's Logic outwits the Devil

11. Rock and Roll blocks the Devil's negative power

12. Love beats the Devil, period.



The addition of Love and the Devil reduces the chances from the original 1/3 with Rock, Paper, Scissors to 1/7.  This game is an additional level of complexity based on the game created by Sam Kass and Karen Bryla. The seven hand gestures make up Heptagon which is basically seven overlapped Star Trek icons.







Friday, February 23, 2018

Monaco Exclusive Economic Zone Flag

Monaco like all nations with an international coastline has an Exclusive Economic Zone flag.  The flag is based upon the variant flag of Monaco but has EEZ colours of black and green substituted.  It maintains the white version diamonds of Monaco's flag.

Diamond Pattern Flag is Based on Monaco's Arms: Iron Man 2 - 2010
The diamond flag/arms appeared briefly in Iron Man 2 - 2010.  


Map Credit:

http://www.marineregions.org/eezdetails.php?mrgid=21790&zone=eez








Monaco Contiguous Zone Flag

Like all nations with an international coastline, Monaco is entitled to a Contiguous Zone.  Subsequently the Contiguous Zone flag is needed as well.  The Contiguous Zone is an international zone and partially under the rule of a particular nation.  In this case Monaco's security forces and coast guard reign supreme, yet it considered international waters.

This flag is based upon the variant flag of Monaco.  Monaco's primary flag is a match for the flag of Indonesia, and secondly like Singapore.  Monaco is the Singapore of the West, or rather Singapore is the Monaco of the East?  Finally Monaco's flag is also an upside down version of Poland, or rather Poland is an upside down flag of Monaco?

Monaco as it Appeared in Iron Man 2 - 2010 with Flags


Map Credit:    http://www.marineregions.org/

Sunday, February 18, 2018

Braille Letter Z Flag, Zebra

The Braille flag for the letter Z is orange and blue.  The colours represent the number 25.  However Z is the 26th letter in the alphabet.  This is because the letter W was shifted to position 40, consequently Z gets a one spot upgrade to position 25 instead of its natural position of 26.  By fateful coincidence, as the capital Z and N which are the same shapes at different orientations, the BRL dots coded to Z and N are in the same dot pattern coded at different orientations.

Braille Letter Y Flag, Yankee

The Braille Letter Y Flag is represented by the colours orange and green, which are coded to 24.  Y is normally coded to 25, but since W was sifted to position 40, Y is upgraded to position 24. 

Braille Letter X Flag, X-Ray

The Braille Letter X flag uses the colours orange and yellow.  Together these colours represent the number 23, but X is the 24th letter of the alphabet.  But this is how the Braille alphabet flows since W was shifted to position 40.

Braille Letter W Flag, Wiskey

The Braille flag for W is a little different.  The colours code for position 40, since green in 4 and white is 0.  Normally W is the 23rd letter in the alphabet, but since Braille was created by the French, Mr. Braille, it was added later after it was widely adopted and spread the English speaking world.  Another neat fact is that it is of the few brl symbols to resemble one of the famous Tetris pieces. 


Braille Letter V Flag, Victor

The Morse code for V has four elements, 3 dits and one dah.  Likewise the Braille letter for V has for elements: three in a line and one by itself.  Since V is the 22 second letter of the alphabet it gets two oranges that unite to make a whole orange flag.  Remember 2 is coded to the colour orange since orange is dominantly recognized as the 2nd colour of the rainbow/spectrum.  Ironically the Braille V erroneously spells out the letter L, and L is usually associated with the a loss or loser. 

Braille Letter U Flag, Uniform

The Braille U flag is composed of an orange and red field.  Orange is coded to 2 and red to 1.  This makes the number 21, and U is the 21st letter in the alphabet.  The brl dots are black because the assigned contrast indicator is black. 

Braille Letter T Flag, Tango

Tango is the one of the neat Braille letters that looks like a Tetris symbol.  Here the flag for the Braille letter T has an orange and white field.  Since orange is the second colour of the spectrum it is coded to 2 and white is coded to 0 as it represents all colours.  Black is included because it is the assigned contrast minority indicator.

Braille Letter S Flag, Sierra

I is 9th letter of the alphabet, and an easy way to remember this fact is to think of the I-9 assassin droid from Star Wars.  Nine is assigned the colour pink as pink is final number before the zero reset.  So red is combined with white to give the pink colour of completion.

Braille Letter R Flag, Romeo

The 18th letter in the alphabet is R.  Consequently the colours coded to 1 and 8 are used, which is red and black.  Remember the 1st colour of the rainbow is red which is 1 and 8 is coded to black.

Braille Letter Q Flag, Quebec

Q is the 17th letter of the alphabet, consequently the colours coded to 1 and 7 are used.  Since red is the 1st colour of the spectrum it gets 1, while violet is the 7th colour.  The Braille dots are in white since white is the assigned contrast indicator for red.

Braille Letter P Flag, Papa

Since P is the 16th letter of the alphabet it gets the colours coded to 1 and 6, which are red and indigo respectively.  Remember that red is the 1st colour of the rainbow while indigo is the 6th colour of the rainbow.

Braille Letter O Flag, Oscar

Red is coded to 1 and blue is coded to 5.  This represents the number 15, and the letter O is the 15th letter in the alphabet.  Thus the Braille O flag is represented by the colours red and blue.

Braille Letter Flag N - November

The Letter N Braille flag is red and green. The first colour of the rainbow is red; consequently red is assigned the number one.  Green is the fourth colour of the rainbow; consequently green is assigned the number four.  The brl dots are white because white is the assigned contrast indicator.

Braille Letter M Flag, Mike

The colours red and yellow code for 1 and 3, which represent the 13th letter of the alphabet - M.  One is red since its the first colour of the spectrum while yellow is the third colour of the spectrum. 

Braille Letter L Flag, Lima

The Braille Letter L Flag is red and orange.  Red is coded to one while orange is coded to orange.  Together they make up the number 12, which is the number that L represents.  The neat coincidence about the brl letter L is that the dot pattern mirrors the shape of a lower case L.  But the bad thing about that is the confusion with the number 1.  Is it a 1 or an l?  What were they thinking! A possible solution would have the keys and computer display the lower case L as it is in cursive. 

Braille Letter K Flag - Kilo

The Braille Letter K Flag is all red with the two dots associated with the letter K.  Since K is the eleventh letter in the alphabet the coded numbers to 11 are all red.  

Braille Letter J Flag, Juliet


The Braille J Flag is red and white.  Since J is the 10th letter it is represented by the colours coded to red and white.  Red is coded to one while white is coded to zero.  Since red is the 1st colour of the rainbow it gets a 1.  

Braille Letter I Flag - Igloo

The Braille Letter I Flag is mostly pink because the pink is assigned to the number 9 and I is the 9th letter in the alphabet. 

Braille Letter H Flag - Hotel

The Braille Letter H flag is mostly black since the 8th position is assigned to the colour black, with its contrast indicator is white.

Braille Letter G Flag - Golf

The Braille Letter Flag for G is mostly violet.  The reason being, violet is the 7th colour of the rainbow and G is the 7th letter of the alphabet.

Braille Letter F Flag - Foxtrot

Since indigo (dark blue) is the 6th colour of the rainbow and F is the 6th letter of the alphabet, the Braille Letter F flag is indigo (dark blue).  The assigned contrast indicator for indigo is white, which is why white is included.

Braille Letter E Flag - Echo

Since E is the 5th letter of the alphabet and blue is the 5th colour of the rainbow, the Braille Letter E Flag is blue.  Red is included since it is the assigned contrast indicator for azure-blue.

Braille Letter D Flag - Delta

Since green is the 4th colour of the rainbow and D is the 4th letter of the alphabet, the Braille Letter D Flag is mostly green.  Yellow is included since it is the assigned contrast indicator for green.

Braille Letter C Flag - Charlie

Since yellow is the third colour of the rainbow and C is the third letter of the alphabet we have letter C Braille Flag.  Blue is included as it is the assigned contrast indicator for Braille.

Braille Letter B Flag - Beta

The Braille Letter B Flag is mostly orange since orange is the second colour of the rainbow.  Black is the assigned contrast indicator. 

Braille Letter A Flag - Alpha

The Braille letter A-Alpha flag uses the first colour of the rainbow, since A is first and red is the first visible colour.  The single dot represents the 1st position of the feels that any Braille:Night Writer-Reader will recognize.

Braille Flag Chart


Oddly it may seem strange to have a Braille Flag chart.  But going back to Braille's roots it is a secret code made for people who could see, as the original form was known as knight writing for military operations so that one could read without light.

Braille flags follow the code set by standard Braille, but uses the colour code as established by the order of the rainbow.

Thursday, February 15, 2018

Vexilloids in Swiss Army Man - 2016

Red Pennant Type Tape Flag? Swiss Army Man 2016
Swiss Army Man is the unauthorized ninth Harry Potter movie,  Harry Potter on The Isle of Loneliness, aka... Swiss Army Man.  In this movie Harry Potter is magically transported through a trans-dimensional portal to another region of the Grand-Harry Potter Multiverse.  Unfortunately when Potter crosses into this nearly Earth-like universe that is nearly parallel to our own universe, our heroic magician suffers from amnesia.  The reason being is that Harry is under the spell of Horpus Corpus, which renders a person in to a quasi-deceased yet living state of animation.  This spell was originally designed to turn people into secret undetectable weapons, since they would appear as lifeless corpses, during the Great War of Wizards and the Golden CompassersHorpus Corpus gives the quasi-dead person certain superhuman abilities: a strong action karate strike, the capacity to store water in their lungs, the ability to shoot items from ones mouth like a bullet, and many other tactical uses.  But there is one distinct and stinky side effect, an absurd amount of flatulence, which can be used as a flamethrower.

A Hand Made Craft Logo Harry Potter IX: Swiss Army Man
In this movie Harry befriends a socially shy person by the name of Hank.  When Hank comes across Harry, Harry makes a noise when answering his name that sounds like "Manny."  Since Harry is under the spell of Horpus Corpus, he can not recall his true name.  Subsequently Harry allows Hank to call him Manny, which Harry comes to believe that is his name.

Overall Swiss Army Man: Harry Potter Episode IX is a fantastic visually stunning journey into the mind of man.  Not your typically isle of survival movie.  Nor does it bear resemblance to the other Harry Potter movies.  However this film runs on the rhythm of a dream like self help movie for those on the lonely fringes of society.   It is definitely a new, bold, fresh movie that breaks down the formulaic structure of Hollywood.  It takes a big risk, yet this little gem has gone under the radar of most Potter heads.

The over arching theme is to choose life over suicide.  Rather than being direct, the movie hooks you on the desperate situation of Hank.  Later, the magic of the Harry Potter universe makes a thunderous entrance, as Harry's karmic, positive dharma comes to the aid of Hank.  Most suicide prevention movies or P.S.A.s are way too direct and tacky, often ending up making the situation worse.  But in Swiss Army Man, a new approach to choose life over death with a touch of Potter magic unhinged from J.K. Rowling makes itself present.  The end result is to help another fellow human overcome the ugly pull of self inflicted death.  In the end, love and friendship help save the day as in all Harry Potter movies.  After saving this life, Harry's karmic dharma kicks in and sends him back to the portal, as propelled by his magically enchanted orifice.


It is rumored that a sequel is in production: Swiss Army Girl, which is to star Ms. Granger. 

Wednesday, February 7, 2018

Terabithia Concept Art & Teribithian Vexilloid - Movie 2007


Flags on club houses and flags on castles are a must!  In the movie Bridge to Terabithia, flags appear on the concept art within the movie and in the intro sequence.  Here the imagination of a 5th grader runs wild! 

Here is the professional concept art of the Terbithian Kingdom castle.  Surely if this movie was made today, there would have been a video game adventure released.  Oops, I said to much.  
Here is the imagined Terabithian with vexillum in the traditional Roman Empire manner. 



US Flag in Bridge to Terabithia 2008

The US flag appears in film Bridge to Terabithia 2007.  It appears in several fashions.  You can see on one of the history broadsides in the classroom. 


A table top US flag appears on the teachers desk, next to the globe.  Here the star of the movie Leslie Burke appears on her first day of school.  In a way changing schools is like a jumping across the universe into another dimension, whereby bonds are broken and new ones are formed.  Anyone who has changed school districts knows what this transdimensional feeling feels like.




Here is the US flag appears on dad's keys.





Arms for Terabithia - 2007



The arms of Terabithia from 2007 feature sword and pencil, with a winged foot.  There were two versions of the shield.  The first appeared on the Tree House Castle.  One can just barely see the pencil and winged foot.  It also had swords upon it.

After the safe bridge was complete, a new dazzling coat of arms was used, with a motto "Nothing Crushes Us."

The ending ember of love, hope, and friendship though the human hearts is theme of this book of the highest caliber.





Flags in Bridge to Terabithia - Movie 2007


The Bridge to Terabithia movie is based upon the book originally written in 1977 by Katherine Paterson.  It was a cutting edge book for its time, and most importantly, it sewed a golden thread of hope in the wake of life lost for grieving children.  The book touches upon the deepest and heartfelt themes of life, and provides a certain kind of refuge for the soul.  The golden ember that shines brightest in this book is the imagination of childhood, underscored with friendship, set against the backdrop of bullying at school.

Paterson created a bridge of compassion for all and any to enter.  Terabithia is a unique kingdom unbounded with love, creativity, and grace.   

As with all 5th grades across the United States, the study of the 50 states and the 50 state flags are a focal point in all social studies classes.  In the movie Bridge to Terabithia 2007 a few of the state flags can bee seen hanging on the wall.
The kids' drawing for the state flags of Hawaii, Washington State, New Mexico, Texas, North Carolina, Tennessee, Louisiana, Mississippi, Delaware, California can be easily discerned.  Also included is the flag of Guam, Washington DC, and Puerto Rico.   Just behind the teachers' head is the state flag of Maryland.