Honest Mistakes Reveal the Firmament of Wisdom

 

Making mistakes happens all the time.  Usually mistakes are unwanted but some reveal a certain kind of hidden wisdom.  Remember not to makes mistakes because you don't care or have given up.  

In the end...making mistakes even after you tried you hardest...shows that...

Honest Mistakes Reveal the Firmament of Wisdom 

The Dixon & Mason Survey Line Flag

 

To be a Sheldon Cooper, the Mason-Dixon line is not a line, but is rather a series of lines.  You can even argue that they should not be called lines since they are really arcs, due to the curvature of the Earth.  So how does The Mason-Dixon Arcs sound?   Well we wont go that deep but...

The most famous Mason-Dixon line is a line of Latitude: 39°43' north.  The least known Mason-Dixon line is the "North Line" and it is a line of longitude that falls along the 75° West.  Finally the Tangent line that is the main division between Maryland and Delaware does not dived the North and South, but rather divided East and West.  

The Mason-Dixon Line or rather the Chuck-Jerry Line is a cultural phenomenon in the USA.  Originally is was a border commission by King George III to settle a dispute between two slave holding colonies: Pennsylvania and Maryland.  Nonetheless, the Mason-Dixon Line has transformed into an iconic divide between the North and South.  

Some historians just use the upper line of latitude at 39° 43' North as the Mason-Dixon Line.  Others extend it as the divide between free and slave territories, such that the northern borders of Kentucky and Missouri are the 'Mason-Dixon Line.' Finally some just follow the actual three survey lines charted by Charles and Jeremiah. Who is right?  Well in today's understanding of a multilateral view of history and things, they are all right depending on your point of view, sorta' like a quantum string theory view of things. 

 Based upon these various interpretations, two flags have already been created.  One for the line at latitude at 39° 43' North, which you can read about it here.  Another that follows the divide between slave and free soil as it was in 1861. And finally here is flag that follows the official survey line from 1763 to 1767 that divides Maryland and Delaware by East-to-West as well as Pennsylvania and Maryland by North-to-South. 

 The design of the flag is based upon the County Flags of the surveyors who spelled out the Mason-Dixon Line. Mr. Mason was born in southern England, Gloucestershire County, on April 1728.  Mr. Dixon was born in northern England, Durham County, in July 27, 1733.   Gloucestershire County's flag has a centered blue cross, outlined with light beige, and green filling up the outer quarters.  Durham County's flag is horizontal bicolour of yellow on top and blue underneath with a counter coloured cross in the center.  

The Dixon & Mason Survey Flag is based upon the pattern of the Maryland Flag and modified versions of the Gloucestershire and Durham County flags.  A new colour added is white to the Survey Line Flag of Dixon & Mason for the outline of Gloucestershire's component and for Durham the central circle in the cross has a white disc.  

This flag directly honors Charles and Jerry for setting up the Mason-Dixon Line.   It should only be flown along the lines where the stones are marked off between Maryland with Pennsylvania/Delaware, where the famous M-P Milestones can be found.  Thus this flag can only be flown across the Tangent Line, North Line and along 39°43' until the last marker in western Pennsylvania/West Virginia.

As for the other two Mason-Dixon Flags:  The 39°43' north Flag should only be flown at that latitude across the US; the Penn-Calvert flag follows the divide between free and slave soil as it was in 1861 from Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania to Poston, Arizona.  But note that all three flags overlap Pennsylvania-Maryland border. 

 

 

 

 

It was quite a project when these two mathematically educated surveyors arrived in Philadelphia on Novermber 15, 1763.  They finished their survey in 1767.  

Infinity Chamber 2017 - Prisoner Badge

 

Classical science fiction is a rare item these days.  Most of the time explosions and karate chops steal the center stage of things Sci-Fi.  But in 2017 the Infinity Chamber came to be; it was Sci-Fi to the max.  Carried by a plot line and on the mark acting and directing, it is something of a quirk in today's cartoony Sci-Fi.  Infinity Chamber takes points a finger at the potential pitfalls of power, combined with AI and sheep society. 

It says a lot on a shoe string budget, and the depth is something the young and stupid will find boring.  A dash of 12:01 pm, a bit of the Matrix, and "Vawallah."   

Of vexilological interest is the arm band of the inmate.  It resembles a flag or is could just be a bar code.  We really don't know, the movie never explains, and this is okay.  Since it is on the arm badge/flag position it could have any meaning: type of prisoner, jail unit, listed crimes, etc.  The badge also appears on the collar, but at 90 degree angle.  It could easily be mistaken as military uniform.  

AI in the workforce is a common theme in many movies, but we are already there and it will continue to expand.  Someday much of the prison staff will be replaced by Alexa or Cortana. In 20 years, one can only imagine how much smarter AI will become.