Saturday, November 30, 2019

Stop Sign Codons for Protein Genesis

Street signs are a special kind of vexilloid.  Although they are not made of fabric they convey information in a manner like a flag.  Street signs are even held of the ground like flags.  Instead of poles, they have a standard type big boy erector set kind of 'pole.'

Perhaps the most famous kind of street sign is the stop sign.  Its unique eight sided octagonal shape is distinguished.  In the image above the stop sign motif is combined with bioalchemy.  Bioalchemy is the cool term for biochemistry.

The three standard stop codons are made into street signs: UGA, UAA, and UAG.  Also a mnemonic is added.  UGA's mnemonic is U Get Ata'here.  UAA's mnemonic is U Are Ata'here.  And finally, UAG's is U Are Gone.

Also note the start codon for proteins is AUG, which is like saying "Aye You Guys!"  There is a dated saying like this with PBS's Television Workshop from the late 1970s.  More famously from the Goonies, this was Sloth's catch phrase...sort of.  I think he said Hey but were changing it to Aey, it's a mulligan.

Below is the Elemental Table of Proteinogenic Amino Acids:



Thursday, November 28, 2019

Amino Acid Tyrosine Flag: Y Flag or Tyr

The Tyrosine flag uses the colours orange, light blue, pink, and black.  The orange and cyan stripe along the hoist refer to the number 25.  Reason being orange is coded to 2 and cyan is coded to 5 in colour metrics.  Together these numbers represent the 25th letter of the alphabet, which is also the one letter abbreviation for Tyrosine.

The pink square field indicates that Tyrosine has an alcohol component in its R-Group.  Since oxygen is usually red and hydrogen is white in most models, when you combine those colours they make pink.  The seven black dots indicate that amino acid Y has seven carbons in its R-Group.  And since there are four black dots in the corners of the pink square this indicates that Amino Acid Y has a ring structure.  In fact it is aromatic.

Tyr is the three letter abbreviation.  And Tyr was discovered in 1846 by German chemist Justus von Liebig in cheese.  Although is has an alcohol as a component, you will not get drunk from consuming this amino acid.

Tyrosine gets its name from cheese, since tyri is Greek for cheese.  Thus nick names for this cheese could be: Cheesine, Kraftosine, Velveetisine, Cheddarsine, Quesosine, Formagiosine, Cheezusine, Kasesine (German), Syrsine (Russian), Jabanisine (Arabic), Pomaisine (Vietnamese), Ostsine (Swedish), Sajtosine (Hungarian), Juustosine (Finnish), and Jabinisine (Swahili).

τυροσίνη=Greek for Tyrosine


Amino Acid Tryptophan Flag: W Flag or Trp

Happy Thanksgiving.  It's the most popular amino acid of the them all: Tryptophan.  Today several million Americans will invoke the name of Amino Acid W, better known Tryptophan.  It will be name dropped on the television news today.  Yet, very few will remember that it is only one of 21 other amino acids that will be consumed today.

The flag for Tryptophan uses the colours orange, yellow, white, and blue.  It fills up the square field completely and harmoniously.  There are 9 carbons in the R-Group, thus there are 9 white dots.  The field is blue because the R-Group contains a nitrogen.

Along the hoist is an orange and yellow stripe that refers to one letter abbreviation for this amino acid: W.  Orange is coded to 2 and yellow is coded to 3 in colour metrics, because orange is the 2nd colour and yellow is the 3 colour of the common spectrum.  Together these number make 23 and W is the 23rd letter of the alphabet.

Freddy Hopkins discovered this famous Turkey Day amino acid in 1901.  Fred was from the UK.




Amino Acid Valine Flag: V Flag or Val Flag


The Valine flag uses the colours orange, black and white. The white dots on the black field indicate three carbons make up the functional R-Group.  The dots also illustrate the geometric arrangement of the atoms in the branched V shape.

The orange stripes along the hoist relate to the number 22, because V is the 22nd number.  Reason being, orange is the 2nd colour of the common rainbow.  Thus it reads 2 and 2.  Also black is the assigned contrast indicator.  If the thin black contrast stripe was not present it would appear to be one orange block. 

 Amino Acid V was discovered by wonder biological alchemist Hermann Emil Fischer in the year 1901, Germany.

Valine is an essential ingredient to maintain stemcells that make blood.


Wednesday, November 27, 2019

Amino Acid Selenocystine: U Flag or Sec Flag

The flag for Selenocystine uses the colours orange, red, and black.  The single black dot represents the lone carbon in the R-Group.  The orange and red stripe refer to the Selenocystine's single letter abbreviation: U.  The stripes indicate the number 21 and U is the 21st number of the alphabet.  Red represents 1 and orange represents 2, together they make 21.

The orange field is unique for amino acid flags, since only one R-Group uses this rare transitional element.

Amino Acid U was discovered by a New Yorker, Thressa Stadtman sat the National Institutes of Health. Its discovery dates back to 1954 but name dates to 1959.




Amino Acid Treonine Flag: T Flag or Thr Flag

The flag for Threonine uses the colours orange, black, white, and pink.  It was first discovered in 1936 by an American from South Carolina, William Cumming Rose.

The black and white stripes relate to the one letter abbreviation for Threonine, which is T.  Since the letter T is the 20th letter of the alphabet the colour metric for 20 is used: orange represents one, while white represents zero.

Since this R-Group has two carbons, there are two black dots.  Also the field is pink as to indicate there is an alcohol in the amino acid T.  Pink is used to represent alcohol because in most models oxygen is usually red and hydrogen usually white: together, red with white makes pink.




Amino Acid Serine Flag: S Flag or Ser Flag

The flag for Serine uses the colours red, hot pink, pink and black.  The pink field indicates it has in alcohol attachment on its R-Group.  Alcohol simply consists of an oxygen with a hydrogen.  Usually oxygen is red in most diagrams and models while hydrogen is white.  When you mix white with red you can get pink.  Since there is only one carbon on the R-Group, there is only one black dot.


Emil Cramer of Germany discovered Serine in 1865 within silk. Consequently Serines name is based upon the Latin word for silk: sericum.   Thus nicknames for Serine: Silknine, Metaxiline (Greek), Seidenine (German), Soiesine (French), Shelkisine (Russian), Sutrasine (Indonesian), Sedasine (Spanish), Setasine (Italian), and most importantly Seesine (Chinese)





Amino Acid Arginine Flag: R Flag or Arg Flag

The flag for Arginine uses the colours red, black, blue and white.  The horizontal stripes along the hoist code to the number 18.  Reason being red is coded to 1 and black is coded to 8 in colour metrics.  The field is blue, so this indicates that Nitrogen is in the R-Group.  Amino Acid R has three Nitrogens in its R-Group.  The four dots also indicate that there are four Carbons on the R-Group.  The position of the dots also indicate that there three of the Carbons are connected while one is on its own.

A team by the name of Ernst & Ernst discovered amino acid R in 1886.  It was discovered in yellow lupin seedlings in Germany.  Since this amino acid had a silvery colour when studied by team Ernst they get it a silver prefix name.  Thus the fun nick names for this amino acid would be:

Silvernine = English
Yinine = Chinese
Kumisnine = Kazakh
Silbernine = German
Platanine = Spanish
Mongonine = Mongolian
Zilvernine = Dutch
Argentinine = French
Srebronin = Polish
Ngeinine = Thai
Chaandeenine = Hindi
Asiminine = Greek
Grumusine = Turkish
Bacnine = Vietnamese
Ginine = Japanese
Euninine = Korean
Hopeanine = Finnish
Ezustnine = Hungarian
Roopanine = Bangla
Zilarranine = Basque
Fidanine = Arabic
Pilaknine = Filipino



Amino Acid Gultamine Flag: Q Flag or Glu Flag


The flag for Glutamine uses the colours red, yellow, purple, and white.  The field is purple since the R-Group has nitrogen and oxygen.  Nitrogen and oxygen are usually represented by blue and red.  But since this amino acid has both the field the mixed hue: purple. The two white dots represent the two carbon atoms as well.

Along the hoist are three stripes: a thick red and purple stripe.  These stripes code to the number 17, which reflects the letter Q, which is the one letter symbol for Glutamine.  The three letter abbreviation is Gln.



 

Amino Acid Proline Flag: P Flag or Pro Flag


The flag for Proline uses the colours red, blue, white, and black.  The white dots represent the number of carbon atoms in the R-Group.  But for Proline a blue dot is included since this amino acid P makes a ring structure with the root group.  Usually only carbons are represented by dots, but since Proline bends back to the root at the Nitrogen atom its gets representation on the field.  Proline is special indeed, it is the only amino acid to do this.

The red and dark blue stripes on the hoist code to the number 16, which represents the 16th letter of the alphabet P, which is one letter abbreviation for the amino acid.  Proline also has a three letter abbreviation: Pro.

Amino Acid P was discovered in Germany in 1900 by of Richard Martin Willstätte.


Amino Acid Pyrrolysine Flag: O Flag or Pyl Flag

The Flag for Pyrrolysine uses the colours red, cyan, green, and white.  This amino acid is not found in humans, but only in prokaryotes.  Since the R-Group has 10 Carbons, there are 10 dot (4+4+2=10).  The field is green since it is in a class of its own.  It has a ring structure, oxygen, and nitrogen. The nitrogens of the R-group outnumber the oxygens, thus it is a green colour rather than purple. The red and cyan stripe related to the number 15 in colour metrics.  And the letter O is 15th number of the alphabet and the single letter abbreviation for this amino acid.

This amino acid was recently discovered in the USA 2002 by Joseph A. Krzychi and Michael K. Chan.  Usually the codon UGA is usually a stop signal for making a protein, but for special bacteria and archaea, UGA codes for amino acid O.  Effectively this newbie amino acid is only 17 years old, as of 2019.  But in the big picture, it is an ancient building block (much older than than the modern human form) that has been used for millions of years by prokaryotes, especially those that make methane. Accordingly when people try to ignite their flatulence, they can thank these microscopic critters that live in your gut. 








Amino Acid Asparagine Flag - N Flag or Asn Flag

The flag for Asparagine uses the colours red, green, white, and purple.  The two white dots represent the number of Carbon atoms in the R-Group.  Since the field is purple this means that the R-Group has Nitrogen and Oxygen.   Reason being Nitrogen is usually represented by the colour blue, as the sky is blue and Nitrogen is the most dominant gas.  Oxygen is associated with red since blood turns bright red when oxygenated.

The two vertical stripes by the hoist are red and green which is colour coded to the letter N, which is the one letter abbreviation for Asparagine.  Asparagine also has a three letter abbreviation: Asn.  Red is coded to 1 and green is coded to 4.  Together they make 14; and N is the 14th letter in the alphabet.

Asparagine was first discovered in France in 1806 by two French chemists: Louis Nicolas Vauquelin and Pierre Jean Robiquet.  As amino acid N suggests it was discovered in asparagus.  Asn was in fact the first amino acid that was isolated.





Amino Acid Methionine Flag: M Flag or Met Flag

The Methionine flag uses the colours red, yellow, black and mustard-yellow.  The vertical stripes along the hoist refer to letter M, which is the single letter abbreviation for this amino acid.   The letter M is represented by red and yellow since these two colours make up the number 13 in colour metrics and M is the 13th letter in the alphabet.  Red is the first colour of the rainbow, so it represents 1.  Yellow is the third colour of the rainbow, so it represents 3.

Methionine has sulfur in its R-Group.  Consequently the field in mustard-yellow.  Pure sulfur power is yellow, and if you ever smelled that rotten egg smell, it is due to this amino acid.  These sulfur amino acids make up proteins in our hair, and if ever got a perm you would have smelled that eggy stink.  It comes about in the breaking of sulfur bonds in ones hair.

Methionine is famous in biology class because the codon is a START signal to create a new protein from the 22 known amino acids; or rather a protein-fairy from the known 22 fairy fibers.  Once the protein (fairy) is finished it will do cellular magic and make life possible.





Amino Acid Leucine Flag: L Flag or Leu Flag

The Leucine Flag uses the colours white, red, orange, and black.  The vertical stripes by the hoist refer to the 12th letter of the alphabet, which is L.  And L is the one letter symbol for Leucine.  Leucine also has a three letter abbreviation: Lys.  Why do the colours red and orange represent L?  Since red is the first colour of the standard rainbow it represents the number 1.  Likewise the second colour of the typical rainbow is orange.  Put them together in colour metrics and they represent 12.

On the field are four dots that reflect the number of carbon atoms in the R-Group, which gives each amino acid its personality.  The pattern is also reflective of L's structure.  The bottom dot represents this amino acids connection to the root of COCON, while the upper part represent the branching pattern outwards.  Note that Hydrogens are ignored in this flag as well.

The primary disease associated with amino acid is Maple Syrup Urine Disease, which is an inherited disease.  People with this disorder can not break down branched amino acids like Leucine, among others.  This can lead to death if not treated properly.  The treatment is a careful diet regulation and ultimately a liver transplant.




Amino Acid Lysine Flag: K Flag or Lys Flag

The flag for Lysine uses the common colours of red, white, and blue.  And no, these colours don't run.  But they can dissolve in water.  The square blue field indicates that Nitrogen is present in the R-Group.  There is only one Nitrogen to be exact.  Also the four dots indicate four Carbons in the R-Group.  The patterns also demonstrates the singular long chain structure.

Along the hoist are two vertical red stripes and one thin white stripe.  This pattern refers to the fact that the official single letter symbol for Lysine is K.  Why not 'L'?  Because 'L' is taken by another amino acid: Leucine.  To decode the hoist stripes, K is coded to the number 11 because it is the 11th letter of the alphabet and the number 1 is coded to red.  Why red?  Because the first colour of the standard rainbow is red.  Thus two red stripes symbolize 11.  And white is assigned contrast indicator, so the white stripe brings contrast, otherwise it'd just look one one red block.

K'lysine was discovered in 1902 by two German alchemists Emil Fischer and Fritz Weigert.  Fischer is perhaps more famous for his eponymous Fischer Projections of molecules.  Just think of the those diagrams as having fishing lines between atoms and such.  Emil is also the founder-highest of high alchemists of IUPAC, since it was his idea.

Lysine became famous in 1993 in the movie Jurrasic Park.  It was mentioned as the kill switch, which was a required supplement needed for their survival.  So when they cloned the dinosaurs the Jurassigineers disabled the dinosaurs metabolic ability to make Lysine.  But as you know, nature has a way of overcoming barriers. Life made it to Hawaii long before humans did, after all.



Amino Acid Isoluecine Flag: Ile Flag or I Flag

The Isoleucine flag uses the colours pink, white, and black.  The black square field indicates there are neither Nitrogens nor Oxygens in the R-Group, only Carbon (Hydrogens are ignored).  The order of the dots also reflects the structure.  The lowest dot represents the connection point to the COCON root.  The two dots along the fly indicate the two carbon stem, while the dot next to pink stripe represents the short, one carbon stem.

The white and pink stripe reflect the letter I.  Reason being I is the 9th letter in the alphabet and the number 9 is represented by the colour pink in colour metrics.

Isoleucine was discovered in Germany in the year 1903 by Felix Ehrlich.  Perhaps the most famous disease linked to amino acid I is Maple Syrup Urine Disease.  Although the name may sound funny, the consequences are deadly if not treated properly. As the name implies, MSUD, is when ones urine smells like maple syrup.


Amino Acid Histidine Flag: His Flag or H Flag

The Histidine flag uses the colours black, white, and blue.  The square blue field indicates it has Nitrogen in its R-Group (2 Nitrogens to be exact).  The four white dots indicate that there are 4 carbons in the R-Group.  Since carbons are the 'most important' atom in living system, they get chief representation in dots in Amino Acid Dice Symbols.  The vertical white and black stripe along the hoist represent the letter H.  The letter H is represented by white and black stripe, because H is the 8th letter of the alphabet and 8 is represented by black in colour metrics.  The four white carbon dots in the corner also indicate that this amino acid has a ring structure, thus making aromatic whereby electrons are shared in dreidel like fashion.

Histidine was first discovered in Germany in 1896 by two doctors: Albrecht Kossel and Sven Gustaf Hedin.  The three letter abbreviation is His, but for gender equity sake you can also use Her.  H is often used as 'proton shuttle' which means its like a UPS delivery relay runner for protons.   

Histamine is the most famous cousin of Histidine, a slightly modified version of the amino acid Her.  After all a female UPS driver can work just as hard and fast a male UPS driver, and without the obsessive need to check sports scores.   


Amino Acid Glycine Flag: Gly Flag or G Flag

The Glycine flag uses the colours white and purple.  The larger white square field towards the fly indicates that there are no carbons in the R-Group.  In fact only a single hydrogen atom makes up the R-Group.  Essentially it is a single amino acid stem COCON with a hydrogen attached to it, make it the Solo Hydro Amino Acid.  Amino Acid flag usually dice like pattern in the field but Glycine is blank.  If you ever played with a chemistry model kit, hydogens are usually coloured white, thus a blank white field.  Likewise white light from the Sun is formed from the fusion of hydrogen into heavier elements.

The purple vertical stripe indicates the letter G, which is the single letter symbol for this amino acid.  Why is purple associated with G?  Because the seventh colour of the rainbow is purple and the letter G is the seventh letter of the alphabet.

Glycine was discovered in France in the year 1820 by Henri Baconnot.  Braconnot was one of the early pioneers who was able to turn wood, cotton, and straw into table sugar.  He also discovered that fungi contian chitin.  




Amino Acid Phenylalanine Flag: Phe Flag or F Flag

The Phenylalanine flag uses the colours blue, white, and black.  The field has seven white dots to represent the seven carbons on the R-Group.  Usually this amino acid is listed as having nine carbons, but the two carbons on the CONCO stem, since they are all the same. The black field indicates that there is no Nitrogen nor Oxygen in the R-Group.  Along the fly are white and blue vertical stripes.  These stripes indicate the letter F, because the single letter notation for this amino acid is officially F.  The letter F is coded to white and blue, since F is the 6th letter of the alphabet and dark blue (indigo) is the sixth colour of the rainbow.  White is coded to zero, so the vertical stripes read 06, which traces it to sixth letter, F—the one letter symbol for Phenylalanine.  Amino Acid F also has a three letter abbreviation Phe.  Since all four corners of the field have a dot, this indicates that it has ring structure.

Phe was discovered in 1879 by Ernst Schulez who was born in Saxony, Germany.  When Schulez was in Switzerland's Zürich, his team discovered Phenylalanine. Also note the name resembles the amino acid Alanine.  Thus Phenyl-Alanine is simply single Alanine with a Phenyl group attached to it; they could have called it Alaphenyline. You can think of the central dot on the field being the lone Alanine carbon, while the 'six' of dots represents the aromatic ringlike Phenyl part.

Phenylalanine may have made its most famous footnote the public mind during high school biology, if you studied inherited rare genetic diseases.  The genetic disorder associated with Phenylalanine is known as PKU.  Perhaps the most famous person associated with this order is Pearl S. Buck.  Pearl had a daughter who suffered from this affliction.  Basically persons with PKU have an inability to process this amino acid.  After a while it builds up in their system and leads to mental retardation.  Then in 1934 a Norwegian physician Ivar Asbjørn Følling came to understand this disease.   Finally in 1954, Horst Bickel, Evelyn Hickmans and John Gerrard discovered how to treat this disorder with a special diet that did not include Phenylalanine, which lead to recovery and allowed persons born with this inherited genetic disease to stay mentally healthy.  About 30,000 people in the USA have PKU, which means they have a limited diet.  The hard part is, during childhood and adolescence, PKU persons get picked on for not being able to eat 'normal' food.  Most people are aware of people who shouldn't eat Gluten, but PKU people have a more restrictive diet and the consequences for eating standard food is debilitating. Basically PKU people are Obligate Vegans or Natural Herbivores.




Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Amino Acid Glutamic Acid Flag: Glu or E Flag

The Glutamic Acid Flag uses the colours white, cyan, and red.  The red field indicates the presence of oxygen in the R-Group.  The three white dots represent the three carbons of the R-Group.  Finally the vertical white and cyan stripe indicate the letter E, which is the single abbreviation for this amino acid.

Since E is the 5th letter and cyan (sky blue or blue) is the 5th colour of the rainbow, it is utilized as a colour metric indicator.

This amino acid was discovered in1866, by the German chemist Karl Heinrich Ritthausen.  On a more familiar note, most people are familiar with the flavor of this amino acid when you eat Chinese food.  Glutamic Acid forms a salt what give food its certain 'Chinese' flavor, which is known as 'unmami.'

Perhaps if the didn't call it MSG it would be less scary.  People eat with the eyes as they do with their ears.  People don't like eating pig, but eating pork sound better.  Since MSG has sodium, it is a special king of salt.  So a better name for MSG would be sun-salt, since it was discovered in Japan after all.



The Asp Flag, Amino Acid Aspartic Acid

The flag for the Asp uses the colours white, green, and red.  The field is red since oxygen is the dominant non-carbon element associated with Aspartic Acid. 

If you ever played with a chemistry model set, Oxygen is usually coloured red, as it is in most diagrams.  The reason being is that oxygen rich blood carries a lot of oxygen.  Thus red has been chosen to represent oxygen.  There are two white dots that represents the two carbons in the R-Group.

Along the hoist are two vertical stripes of white and green, which are coded to the letter D.  The single letter abbreviation for Apartic Acid is D, while the three letter abbreviation is Asp.  D is represented by the colour green since green and D are the fourth value of their respective orders.  Green is the 4th colour of the rainbow and D is the fourth letter in the alphabet.  The white stripe is a zero indicator to show that this is indeed letter, since letters in colour metrics are represented by two colours, which read as 04.

The Asp was discovered in 1827 by a wonder duo of two French scientists: Auguste-Arthur Plisson and Étienne Ossian Henry.
 


Amino Acid Cystine Flag: Cys or C

The flag for Cystine uses the colours white, yellow, mustard-yellow, and black.  The field of mustard yellow indicates that this amino acid contains sulfur.  The single black dot indicates there is only one carbon in its functional group.  Along the hoist is a white and yellow vertical stripe.

This stripes are coded to the letter C according to colour metrics.  Reason being, yellow is the third colour of the rainbow and C is the third letter of the alphabet.  Also C is the short, short hand notation for Cystine.  The three letter abbreviation is Cys. 

You can blame this amino acid for the rotten egg smell and the stinky smell at perms.  When hair is being permed, the process breaks down the sulfur in ones hair.  The result is that poopey smell that you may have noticed at the hair dresser.  Sure, they try to mask it with sweet perfumes, but you can't hide that eggy smell when these amino acids are broken down.

This amino acid was discovered in 1810 by William Hyde WollastonWollaston also discovered Palladium and Rhodium.




Amino Acid Flag for Alanine: Ala or A


The Alanine flag uses the colours white, red, and black.  The field is black and has a single white dot that indicates the number of carbon atoms in the R-Group.  It is a fairly simple amino acid.  You could even call it the Methane of Amino Acids.  Along the hoist are two vertical stripes that are coded in colour metrics to the letter A, which is the one letter ID of Alanine.  Alanine's three letter abbreviation is Ala.

Alanine was first discovered in Germany, when California became a state in 1850, by Adoph Strecker.  Coincidentally the colours of Alanine match the flag of German Empire, which came into official existence the same year Adolph died in 1871.

An easy way to understand Amino Acids is think of them as Fairy Fibers.  There are 22 fundamental Fairy Fibers encoded by RNA.  When you assemble these Fibers in a certain order they create little magical Fairies inside living cells, that do work-magic.  So in this analogy, Fairies are Proteins.  And what makes up Proteins?  Amino Acids, whoops, I meant to say Fairy Fibers.  Basically the Proteins in your bodies are like little Fairies.

So what do these molecular fairies do?  They can smash chemical bonds, they can send signals, they rearrange chemical bonds, some help transport things, some wear more than one hat.  There are some molecular fairies that work in a team.  Bottom line is, there are nearly an infinite variety of fairies.  However, all fairies across the known universe are made up of 22 fundamental Fairy Fibers, scientifically known as Amino Acids.  Also note fairies don't work, it is known as play and dance in their view of the universe.  So right now there are about 12,234 quad-trillion billion fairy parties going on across all your cells.   Their electrical-alchemical dance is what makes life possible.

https://www.vectorstock.com/royalty-free-vector/fairy-waving-her-wand-vector-21306167

Here is one of the more popular Protein Fairy Tracks...

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Census Designated Place Flag

Municipalities are the fundamental components of the nation.  In a way they are the cells of the United States of America.  Everyone knows that there are 50 states and few extra territories of the US.  Likewise most know that Counties are the next level down, cept' for Louisiana which has Parishes.  All the states have flags and nearly all Counties have flags.  Further down, many municipalities have flags too, but it gets really messy on what constitutes a municipality.  A municipality can be a city, town, borough, township, reservation, and many more.  And not all municipalities are equal.

Bottom line is that municipalities are you lowest form of government.  It would be a challenge to get a meeting with the governor of the state, but meeting up with you 'lowest' ranking political officer at the municipality is a relatively easy thing to do, unless you live in a big city...then you may have a chance, at meeting your 'ward leader' or 'neighborhood-block leader.'  Most people are often blissfully unaware of their local leaders at the municipal level, let alone the county and state levels. Schools always teach the federal system over and over.  Local social studies info is like top secret knowledge or classified.  Imagine County and Municipal Government Classes?  Or even just spending one month on it?  Note that most schools get much of their funding from the municipality.  Dosen't make sense that the Municipality have say in the learning process?

All municipalities are required to have a seal, and many have flags.  However, some people live in 'small towns' that have no political office.  They are known as unincorporated communities and are basically a fiefdom to another municipality.  Sometimes the town is larger and more famous than its official municipality, as is the case with King of Prussia in Pennsylvania.  King of Prussia has no official government for itself.  King of Prussia in Montgomery County is
a part of the municipality of Upper MerionUpper Merion also commands Gulph Mills, Swedesburg, Swedeland, and Wayne.  And going back to the cell analogy, King of Prussia and Gulph Mills are the would be organelles within the cell of Upper Merion municipality.

So how many cells make up Pennsylvania?  Right now there are 2,560 municipalities, thus Pennsylvania has 2,560 cells.  Note, that like cells, municipalities come, go, dissolve, or combine.  So with in the next 10
years, the number of cellular municipalities is likely to change.  And like cells, some municipalities are healthier than others, via crime, income, comfort, pollution, and education level.  Just for comparison, at the moment Texas is composed of 1,212 cellular municipalities. 


But for places with names and no namesake official nucleus, we have the Census Designated Place flag.  The flag is a place holder flag for towns without independent municipal governments of their own namesake.  To clarify, a place like King of Prussia has a municipal government, but the name of municipality is Upper Merion and includes other places.   In a way King of Prussia is in the within the 'sub-county' 'area' of Upper Merion.  Perhaps in a few years King of Prussia will break away and separate from Upper Merion, taking all the local tax money earned?  Becoming it's own municipality.

The basic formula for a Census Designated Place has a field of 13 stripes, alternating blue and white; white stripes are dominant.  The abundance of blue indicates the spirit of a blueprint, since if an unincorporated community gains municipal independence the flag will certainly change.  In the canton is a seal with the upper portion reading 'US Census Designated Place.'  This indicates that the Federal Government recognizes this place as a virtual-potential municipality, a community with its own unique spirit. 

There are several Census Designated Places that are larger than your average city.   To the left if the generic blueprint for these communities that have no mayor or government of their very own, yet have their own organic and independent local govenment distinct from the attached municipality of a different name.





Sunday, November 17, 2019

The Fun American Manganese Flag


What do Manganese and Minnesota have in common?  Both use the letters 'M' and 'N' in their abbreviations.  Thus, a fun Manganese flag is possible.  So if you are from Minnesota there is no excuse that you should know this element.  Or if you were born in 1925, 2025 or on the 25th then you should know this element. 

The Fun American Manganese flag is based upon the flag of Mn.  The switch up is that the name Manganese replaces Minnesota in the ring.  The inner ring is totally different, yet conserves the colours.  There are two atoms that echo of the native and newcomer. Finally the number 25 is at the 12:00 position.  25 is the atomic number that indicates the number of protons, which give this atom its particular personalities.
 



Saturday, November 16, 2019

Another Fun Indium Flag


Just before Tin and two steps after Silver is the lesser element of Indium.  This is the second fun flag of Indium that is based upon the state Indiana instead of India.   Instead of a torch a Bunsen Burner is at the center.  Likewise it is no longer a starburst of 19 stars, rather it is an atomic burst of 19 atoms.  It is good to remember that star energy is based upon atoms being created and destroyed.  You can see the atomic number of Indium at the base which is 49.  And just to the left is the two letter abbreviation that matches with Indiana.  They both have an 'I' followed by an 'N.'  Of course Indiana's letters are both capitalized.


To the left is the official flag for the state of Indiana.  Notice the similarity and differences.  India, Indiana, Indian, Old World Indian, New World Indian...it gets very confusing.  Add in Indiana Jones and it is all good. 







Norristown Borough Seal, Montgomery County Pennsylvania


The basic political building block of the United States is the municipality.  Unfortunately this area of social studies is rarely studied in classrooms across the US.  Most Americans are aware of the state, nation, and county.  But when it comes to sub-county division it gets really messy.  It does not help that some towns have to divisions like Doylestown Borough vs Doylestown Township, which have different local governments.  Also Doylestown Township has other non-incorporated cities within it.  All confusion aside, the smallest government in Pennsylvania is either a Township or a Borough.  But there are a few exceptions.

The County Seat of Montgomery County Pennsylvania in Norristown Borough.  At the County Seat you'll see the deep red Montgomery County Flag.  But at the Norristown Borough Hall you see a blue flag with a beehive upon it.  Not all municipalities fly a flag, but most simply put the seal on a background.  Which is good, since the quaintness keeps it low key.  A bold abstract like flag would be overkill.


On the flag of Norristown you can see grass, a wooden table, three bees, and the bee hive.  In latin you can see municipality motto, "Fervet Opus."  This can be directly translated as 'The Work Glows.'  According to one website, that motto comes from Virgil's Georgics IV.169, where he is describing the art of bee-keeping: Fervet opus, redolentque thymo fragrantia mella. "The work glows, and the honeys smell of fragrant Thyme." Interesting because Virgil is deliberately conflating the effort to gather the honey--opus--with the product of that work--the mella.(http://latindiscussion.com/forum/latin/school-mottoes.1403/)  Further out, you can see the a standard words in a circle "The Municipality of Norristown" on the upper arc and on the lower arc "Incorp. Mar. 31, 1812.  Note the beehive of Norristown is much older than the hive of Utah.  In 1812 Utah was still a part of Spain, yet to be independent of Mexico.



Here is a close of the two flags flying at Norristown Borough Hall.  Note that the beehive is black and white, but the words on the outer seal are blue.   One sub-county flag is flying by itself, while the other is flying next to the US and Pennsylvania state flag.


https://www.norristown.org/



Thursday, November 14, 2019

Ellesmere Island Flag


Ellesmere Island is an overlooked isle that sort of looks like Great Britain.  It was as if the cold climate made this isle shrink up next to Ireland to keep warm.  Basically its an upside down version of the UK in Europe.  Axel Heiberg Island is the Ireland of the arctic.

The flag of a would be Ellesmere Island is a special type of flag with altered UK colours and Canadian Leaf as the charge on the field. 


Everything balances out! Take a look at the coloured map.  East Anglia is the red zone.  Wales is the yellow zone.  Even Isle of Mann has partner, that being Stor Island.  Isle of Wight is paired up with Isle of Ward.  Graham Island in Canada matches to the Outer Hebrides.  Even the Orkney Islands has a counterpart, Coburg Island.  Just remember Coburg Island is more southerly while the Isle of Ward is northerly.   Finally Axel Heiberg is the Ireland of
Canada.

There are places in the world called New Scotland, New Ireland, and New England.  But Canada's far north arctic isles of Axel Heiberg and Ellesmere take the cake as winners!  After all this part of the North American remained loyal to the crown.








  

Fun Argon Element 18 Flag - Ar


Argon and Arkansas have the same two letters in their abbreviations: 'A' & 'R.'  Subsequently a fun elemental flag to make learning the periodic table and knowledge about element 18 is united under this flag dedicated to AR and Ar.

The Ar flag has 16 atoms in the blue framing diamond.  The are two blue atoms in the white diamont area which represent the innermost shell of electrons.  Also, in the middle area is the number 18, then the word ARGON, then the year of discovery in 1894, and finally its two letter symbol, Ar.  Arkansas already has a cool flag, know this state has a cool elemental learning flag for AR and Ar.






Fun Flag for Element 42: Mo


Missouri and Molybdenum have the same initials: an 'M' and an 'O.'  Acordingly, it a fun Mo flag can be made in the honor of MO.  Element 41, also known as Mo, a metal that any girl named Molly should appreciate. The Molly B. Denum flag maintains the horizontal tribar of Missouri, but the seal is modified.  Instead of 24 stars in a circle, we have 24 atoms in a circle.  Likewise, large test tubes replace the supporter bears.  The knight's helmet is now an elermeyer flask with blue some kind of blue chemical in it.  The circular yellow belt has not been modified.  On the compartment ribbon the name 'MOLYBDENUM' can be seen.  Finally in the inner circle, the atomic number is in blue, the standard atomic weight is in red, and the official IUPAC symbol is on the white area.

Here is the official Missouri flag for comparison.  Missouri's flag says a lot.  Missouri is a kind of jack of all trades of America.  It has a crescent to represent the south, a the bears to represent the west, the helmet to represent the East and stars to represent the north.