Expansion Banner for the 2018 Winter Korean Olympics at Pyeong Chang

As it has been said before, 5 medals make it a five rings!  The time for expanding the rewards for the Olympic games is long, long overdue.  What are we waiting for?  Maybe fourth can get a pewter, an alloy of tin, known to the ancients.  And fifth can get the iron, reflective of the Iron Age?

Medals Awarded for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th - Matching the 5 Rings, Medals - Mantra : Russian 2014 Olympics

1	Tatiana Volosozhar / Maxim Trankov	Russia
2	Aliona Savchenko / Robin Szolkowy	Germany
3	Ksenia Stolbova / Fedor Klimov	Russia
4	Pang Qing / Tong Jian	China
5	Meagan Duhamel / Eric Radford	Canada

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Tatiana Volosozhar / Maxim Trankov

 Russia

Aliona Savchenko / Robin Szolkowy

 Germany

Ksenia Stolbova / Fedor Klimov

 Russia

Pang Qing / Tong Jian

 China

Meagan Duhamel / Eric Radford

 Canada

FIVE RINGS = FIVE MEDALS

The original spirit of the new games was to come together in healthy competition and community, not necessarily for a medal count. So here is a suggestion, since there are five rings why not five medals?

Fourth and fifth place certainly deserve something for their fortitude and so close effort! They don't even have to stand on the podium or get their flags raised. But maybe they can stand on the flanking left and right sides? Also if it's a team sport then only one member of the team can stand by the podium. When the Olympics started in 1896 there weren't as many nations participating as their are today. In fact their were only 14 nations, now there are over 200 participating nations.

5 Olympic Rings match with 5 Olympic Medals

So what would the metals be made up of? It really does not matter but it would make sense to have them made up of the constituent elements of bronze. Thus fourth place gets copper while fifth place gets tin.

So that would make 6th place the unlucky duck who just missed out..... but not completely!

Another idea that would take focus away from the national obsession for trophies, is to give out awards to the best 24 competitors. Since the Games are based on Greek culture why not give out ring trophies to the top 24 competitors? Just wait till you hear how we would do this!

24 Olympic Achievement Rings based on the Greek Alphabet from Alpha to Omega, for the top 24 places.

First it will promote Greek Culture, and thus the world will become familiar with Greek letters. Second, we all enjoy the games because of the Greeks, it's the right thing to do to honor the Greeks. Finally all those athletes who sacrificed so much certainly deserve something.


Thus 1st place gets the Alpha ring, the 2nd place gets the Beta ring, 3rd gets a Gamma ring, 4th gets a Delta ring, and 5th gets an Epsilon ring in addition to their medals the receive already.

6th place to 24th would not get a medal but only rings of their respective position. 6th gets a ring with Eta on it while 24th position gets a ring with Omega on it. The person or team in 25th does not get a Greek Ring, but only a token participant ring. 

Doing this is in the spirit of the games for community and healthy competition, and in respect to the Greeks who started these games. If this is done, people all over the world will eventually know the Greek Alphabet through osmosis (my favorite Greek word).

If they ever expand the medal reward system, why not also crown 1st place with a wreath of olives too? Apparently in the original Greek Games only the winner received this olive branch token. Medals for 1st let alone 2nd and 3rd were modern contrivances.


Besides, wearing an Olympic medal in public after the games are over is a wee bit ostentatious, no? But the athletes who placed in the top 24 positions can still strut their stuff and inspire others with "Official Place Position Olympic Rings."

The rings of fist five places should match their medal position. Thus 1st place gets a golden ring, 2nd a silver ring, 3rd a bronze ring, 4th a copper ring, and 5th a tin ring. Places 6th and below get a regular ring made out of a less expensive metal than tin or some alloy of it.


These men and women worked hard and sacrificed time, money, and certain aspects of their youth. They deserve something. If any of these ideas are adopted then former Olympic athletes can easily show others a humble memento and inspire.

They can keep the fire of the Olympics shining wherever they go.

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Look at my fingers! One, two, three, four, and five! I said five medals for the next Olympics! There are five rings! Thus the top five athletes get a medal! Otherwise you'll get a lightening bolt up your... you know where!
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Did you know that expanding the medal reward system has already happened for the modern Olympics? The first two Olympics at Athens & Paris only gave out official medals for first and second. And they did not give out any gold. Instead first place received a silver medal and second place got a bronze medal. If you placed third – you got nada.

It wasn’t until the first American Olympics in St. Louis that gold medals were handed out. So if you think we shouldn’t add medals for fourth or fifth just because it breaks with tradition – tradition has already been broken. 

Furthermore, when you do the math on the ratio of prizes to participating nations the shift in numbers is staggering. During the first modern Olympics there were 14 participating nations competing for 2 medals (first and second). This leads to a 1 out of 7 chance of randomly winning a medal. Basically, if things were led to chance a nation had a 14% chance of winning a medal.* When they started handing out gold medals for first place at the St. Louis Olympics the ratio actually increased to about 1 to 4, because there were 3 medals to win for 12 participating nations (25% chance). Fast forward to the Rio-2016 Olympics with 206 participating nations – the ratio of winning a medal is about 1 to 69. In terms of a percentages that’s about a 1% chance of winning a medal.
 

Let’s say they expand to five medals for the top five places, the ratio changes to about 1 to 42, raising the chances of winning a medal a measly 2%. So if you are worried that giving fourth and fifth a medal will devalue 1^st, 2^nd or 3^rd - is one percent a big fuss? 
 

Now when you calculate the 24 ring-alphabet awards with 2016-Rio Olympic numbers the pure chance ratio of winning ring is about 1 to 8.5 – which is only 12%. Note 12% is a lot closer to the original ratio or percentage of the first modern Olympics at Athens.
 

So why not!? Think of all that hard work and sacrifice those athletes put into their training – the heartache, time, tears, sweat, and blood. Certainly they deserve a better shot at winning a medal or at least snatching a humble token of their dedication and fortitude. The time has come to expand the Olympic medal reward system. 

An expanded idea for the Olympic rings is that all participants get a ring.  If they place 24 or higher they get a Greek letter carved in it, if they place 5th or higher they get a medal.  Athletes who place 25th or below get a ring with logo of the host nations choosing, perhaps the year, place, and logo.  Thus all athletes get a ring, some will get the generic participant ring, some will get a Greek lettered ring, while a few will get a coveted gold, silver, bronze, copper, and tin ring.  

Finally since the Olympic flag has five rings - five medals make a harmonious whole for the five 'official' continents.  This idea is consistent with the official Olympic Creed:

"THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN THE OLYMPICS IS NOT TO WIN BUT TO TAKE PART, JUST AS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN LIFE IS NOT THE TRIUMPH BUT THE STRUGGLE.  THE ESSENTIAL THING IS NOT TO HAVE CONQUEORED BUT TO HAVE FOUGHT WELL"  -PIERRE DE COUBERTIN


Image Source Podium: https://www.rt.com/news/russia-figure-skating-win-770/ 

Pyeong Chang - 2018 Winter Olympics Flag in Korenglish

Korean is a very very unique language.  In this case we have new script called Korenglish or Hanglish, which is a mash of the Korean written form with English letters.  In this case the name of the host city Pyong Chang can be decoded in the Korea-funked letters of the Roman Alphabet, which is where the English Alphabet comes from.  If you don't see it at first look closely at the four letters and you'll see it!                            

If you have trouble read Hanglish, which you should if you are a native English speaker, then here is a fun message.  The English letters should slowly pop out at you when you read the message.  Trump and Kim were never going to war, we have the Olympics to celebrate after all!

Vexillology Day

October 1st is vexillology day.  Due to the publication of the first journal dedicated to vexillology.

But vexillology day started last year.

Flag for the Southwestern Quarter of the Earth

The design for the Southwestern Quarter of the Earth flag is a tribute to Whitney Smith.  The Southwestern Quarter is where the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres overlap. The dart or chevron points to the fly, like the flag of Guyana, which was Smith's original idea for the flag of Guyana.

However the colour scheme stems from ancient Chinese Cosmology.  Red is associated with the South and white is associated with the West.  Of consequence to Southerns in the USA is the mythical animal associated with the South - the Phoenix.  In case you forgot the Phoenix like rises up from the ashes, as the would be forlorn chant that "the South will rise again." Yellow is also included, since it acts as the reference point from a center.

More recently these colours have been popularized in Japanese pop culture, with the red phoenix of the South and white tiger of the West. Furthermore, nearly the entire world under the age of 30 has some notion of these concepts due to the rise of Anime and Pokemon.

This flag can be flown over any area of the Earth in the Southwestern Quarter: most of South America, French Polynesia, and the Easter Islands. 

Flag for the Southeastern Quarter of the Earth

The design for the Southeastern Quarter of the Earth is based upon a pattern in tribute to Whitney Smith.  The Southeastern Quarter is where the Southern and Eastern Hemispheres overlap. The dart or chevron to the fly design, as proposed for the flag of Guyana, was Smith's conception for a flag now accepted across the world.

However the colour scheme stems from ancient Chinese Cosmology.  Because, red is associated with the South and blue is associated with the East.  Yellow is also included, since it acts as the reference point from the center.

More recently these colours have been popularized in Japanese pop culture, with the red phoenix of the South and blue dragon of the East. Furthermore, nearly the entire world under the age of 30 has some notion of these concepts due to the rise of Anime and Pokemon.

This flag can be flown over any area of the Earth in the Southeastern Quarter: which includes South Africa, Mozambique, the southern half of Indonesia, Australia, and New Zealand. 

Flag for the Northeastern Quarter of the Earth

The design for the Northeastern Quarter of the Earth is based upon designs in tribute to Whitney Smith.  The Northwestern Quarter is the quarter is where the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres overlap. The dart or chevron to the fly design, as proposed for the flag of Guyana, was Smith's concept for a national flag.

However the colour scheme stems from ancient Chinese Cosmology.  Reason being, black is associated with the North and blue is associated with the East.  Yellow is also included, since it acts as the reference point from the center.

More recently these colours have been popularized in Japanese pop culture, with the black turtle of the North and blue dragon tiger of the South. Furthermore, nearly the entire world under the age of 30 has some notion of these concepts due to the rise of Anime and Pokemon.

This flag can be flown over any area of the Earth in the Northeastern Quarter, which includes much of Europe, all of Russia, Germany, India, Arabia, China, and Korea.

Flag for the Northwestern Quarter of the Earth

The design for the Northwestern Quarter of the Earth is based upon a style in tribute to Whitney Smith, the founder of vexillology.  The Northwestern Quarter is where the Northern and Western Hemispheres overlap. The dart or chevron design, as proposed for the flag of Guyana, was Smith's original concept.

However the colour scheme stems from ancient Chinese Cosmology.  Accordingly, black is associated with the North and white is associated with West.  Yellow is also included, since it acts as the reference point from the center.

More recently these colours have been popularized in Japanese-American pop culture, with the black turtle of the North and white tiger of the West. Nearly the entire world under the age of 30 has some notion of these concepts due to the rise of anime and Pokemon.

This flag can be flown over any area of the Earth in the Northwestern Quarter- which includes the USA, Canada, Mexico, all of the Caribbean, and the part of South America north of the Equator.

Disputed International Spaces Flag

The flag for disputed international spaces is loosely based upon the Olympic Flag.  However, the continents are represented by coloured squares.  Additionally there are a total of seven squares for all seven continents.  This flag is a neutral flag that has all the major colours of the rainbow.  The colours indicate a call for a peaceful and fair resolve in the spirit of the international games. The white field represents that peaceful resolve is possible.  Finally an orange frame brings clarity to the edges.

Colorado-Kerguelen Antipode Flag

Antipodal areas are a rare thing in the USA.  Just a few states are a part of this club, which includes Colorado.  A small region of Colorado is antipodal to a remote region in France: Kerguelen.  But this not a normal part of France.  Kerguelen is off in the South India Ocean. 

But this flag is for that special slice of the of the Earth where one is standing on the opposite end of the world.  And go figure that Colorado would have such a space.  The flag combines the Big Dipper with the Southern Cross, since these star systems are easily visible from each respective area. 

The old idea that China is under America is dead wrong, rather it is true that if you dig straight down from certain parts in Colorado you'll end up in France.  Or rather there is part of France underneath the USA.  This flag commemorates this special geographic zone that connects Colorado to a few remote isles in the South India Ocean. 

Prime Positioning

Last month the flag of the Prime Meridian flew across Greenwich.

International Dateline Flag

The International Date line flag takes the elements of the Prime Meridian and 180th Meridian Flag, combining them into something new.  In the middle is a black and yellow checker pattern guarded by a blue, orange, and two white stripes.  The field near the hoist is orange, while the fly field is blue.

Closing Banquet, ICV 27 at the Royal Horseguards Hotel, London By Maddish - 18:57, 14 Aug, 2017

Closing Banquet, ICV 27 at the Royal Horseguards Hotel, London

By Maddish - 18:57, 14 Aug, 2017

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The banquet took place in the "Gladstone Library" room, not the real Gladstone Library.  Nonetheless the elegance of the hotel would make the American Country Club look like your average American corner, street bar.  Suffice it to say the it was like jumping in the Mary Poppins Fantasy Fairy-Tale.  We were half expecting the Queen to make an appearance.   

 It was a particularly peacefully, poetic, pleasant, placid, display of pomp.  The feel of a classy crowd of carousing camaraderie was in the air. Suffice it to say to food was good eatin'.  

Ferry service on the Thames is an ancient line of work.  Today, there is an armada of ferries that go back and forth.  They often have guided tours on the outbound trips, towards to sea.  The ferry service flags have a logo similar to the London Underground or subway service.  But for the ferry is has cyan circle on a field of gray with the central horizontal bar with the word 'RIVER' written across.

You can see the famous Cutty Sark in the background, which also has a fine spirit for its namesake.  Additionally you can see a tiny Union Flag on top of the little orange and yellow striped play-light house.

ICV 27 - Help Desk and other Displays

The ICV UK Flag Institute Staff was a wonderful help.  Organizing such events takes months, time, and hours of dedication.  Everyone was delighted that the red-shirts did such a fantastic job!

Sekhar Chakrabarti sitting at a table, selling patches of India flag and the book he wrote about the flag of India through the postage stamps.  











 

 

At the other side tables are vexillologist showing off their work for fun and sales.  Here is Whitney's virtual twin by a few days Alfred Znamierowski.  He is sitting by the flag book that he had written, which gets re-published every few years.


















Ronald C. Strachan is standing next to a flag of the Principality of the Hutt River which is in Western Australia.   This 'protest' state was declared April 21, 1970.  This state have no international recognition, yet it is in the same caliber somewhat of the Conch Republic in the Florida Keys. 

Ron Strachan is one of Australia's leading producers of flags for the nation.  You can order flags at:

 www.nationalflags.com.au

ICV 27 - Speaker 42: Theun Okkerse

  The 42nd speaker was Theun Okkerse with the paper entitled The obverse/reverse paradox: reading flags differs from reading text.

Okkerse gave a brilliant paper about a new way to view and describe directionality on flags.  Why do we think the "obverse" is attached to the pole on the left?  How does this differ across cultures?  Such issues were dis cussed with delight.

(additional contribution from Ted Kaye)

ICV 27 - Speaker 41: Aleksandr Hribovsek

Hribovsek's paper was entitled The New Association Flag and the Flags of the Officers (Herald Society of Slovenia).


Hribovsek and his colleagues described the new flags of the SlovenIan society and it's offices, in the wake of their selection as hosts for the IVC of 2021.

ICV 27 - Speaker 40: Rob Raeside

Raeside's paper was entitled Sub-National Flags of Canada.



Raeside gave a super talk on the provincial/territorial flags of Canada.  Great detail on their evolution in and around the Maple Leaf Flag was demonstrated.


(additional contribution from Ted Kaye)

ICV 27 - Speaker 39: Attila Istvan Szekeres

His paper was entitled The Evolution of the Szekeler Flag in the Last Four Centuries.

Szekeres gave a history of the flags of Szekeler Land, an ethnic-Hungarian enclave in Romania.



(additional contribution from Ted Kaye)

ICV 27 - Speaker 38: Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg

Muijzenberg's paper was entitled Five Rings to Bring them All: a Presentation of the Olympic Flag.


Peter presented his detective work about the Olympic presentation flag and it's use over time.  He also noted that it has disappeared.


(additional contribution from Ted Kaye)

ICV 27 - Speaker 37: Xinfeng Zhao

The title of his paper was The Flags of Gengis Khan.  

Zhao gave a great talk about the flags used by Gengis Khan, which is considered a part of China's cultural heritage.

(additional contribution from Ted Kaye)

ICV 27- Speaker 36: Nicolas Hugot

 

Hugot gave us an overview of the vexillological considerations found in the constitutions of the world.  His paper was entitled A Journey Through Constitutional Vexillology.

Interestingly many constitutions make no mention of the national flag.  Often it is that older nations already have a prescribed flag, and it is over looked.  However, younger nations often have clear descriptions of the flag, and a few even provide a graphic illustration.

Hugot pointed out that in the US, only in the first, now abandoned, constitution—The Articles of Confederation— mentions the US flag.

ICV 27 - Speaker 35: Carlos Alberto Morales-Ramirez

 

The title of his paper was Zoogeography Vexillology of North America: Exploring Endemic in Sub-National Flags.

Using flags to tech about animals and endangered species was an original paper.  Flags can be used in many ways, certainly education is a valuable aspect often overlooked by vexillologists.

ICV 27 - Speaker 34: Roman Klimes

 

The title of his paper was Symbols of the Bohemian Olympic Committee in 1912.

Klimes explored how Bohemia (a region in the former Czechoslovakia) created national symbols and used them in the 1912 Stockholm Olympics. 

(additional contribution from Ted Kaye)

IVC 27 - Speaker 33: Alan Raullet

The title of his paper was The Third Way of Raising Flags in Brittany.

Raullet examined how in Britainy some flags are designed to hang downward from a horizontal pole, carried in a parade over the shoulder, as a third way to fly a flag.

(additional contribution from Ted Kaye)

ICV 27 - Speaker 32: Tony Burton

The title of Tony's paper was Budgie Smuggling and Flag Mayhem in Malaysia.

Burton gave an entertaining talk about an incident in Malaysia where nine over-exuberant Australian sports fans celebrated by stripping down to Speedos depicting the Malaysian national flag and created an international incident resulting in their arrest.

Although Malaysia is next door to Australia and Thailand, it is a predominantly Muslim nation with strict dress codes.  For instance women visiting this country are obliged to wear a head scarf, Muslim or not.  Thus you can imagine the consequences of a nearly nude Speedo flag of Malaysia display might incur.  

(additional contribution from Ted Kaye)

ICV 27 - Speaker 31: Zeljko Heimer

Zeljko's paper was entitled Historical Origins of Contemporary Croatian Municipal flags, originally given on August 11, 2017. 

Heimer showed how current Croatian Municipalsities are regulated by strict codes.  However if a municipality can show a connection to a historical flag, an exception can be made, allowing certain histoical flags to bend the strict code.

(Additional contribution by Ted Kaye)

ICV 27: Memorial Service for Whitney Smith

 
It was during the outing to the Lyndon B. Johnson library that I ended up sitting next to a friendly elderly man.  I was delighted to have a deep conversation and make human contact, since it was my first NAVA meeting; I was feeling rather lonely since I was a complete stranger to everyone.  The odd thing is that the friendly gentleman never told me his name.

The next day, the man I sat next to upon the bus gave a thoughtful presentation at the state capital, Austin, on the future of vexillology.  I then asked the person sitting next to me who that speaker was, and I was told that it was Whitney Smith.

Like in the movies when the hero puts it all together, my head spun in circles as my memories played themselves in virtual-reverse.  Little did I know, that I was sitting next to the man honored today, whose wake created this league of international vexillology. 


A small service was held at Holy Trinity Church, Prince Consort Road, London next to Albert Hall.

The service was lead by John Hall, and several vexillologists spoke about Whitney's legacy as a professional and as a friend.

Here, the flag of Whitney Smith lays at the speakers podium.  It was a solemn service that included the song of one of Whitney Smith's favorite singers, Buddy Holly, Rain in My Heart.

This post and this blog exists here as a testament to legacy of Whitney Smith.  I am forever grateful to him and his family.

I first met Whitney at NAVA's 42nd meeting in Austin, Texas 2008 as the friendly gentleman on the bus.  At the end of the NAVA meeting, I ran into Whitney once again.  I took a photo of him holding my mock book, which you can see on the first post on this blog.

Like Smith, I'm also a fan of Buddy Holly. Coincidentally I attended a play about Buddy Holly, back in 1991, when our marching band visited London; we were selected to play at the Royal Albert Hall and march in the Westminster's New Year's Day parade.  On top of that I stayed at the dorm of Imperial College next to Albert Hall, Beit Hall.

One my favorite Buddy Holly songs is the timeless gem, Everyday 1958.

ICV 27: Flags of The World Meeting

Issues about new software were discussed.

ICV 27 - Speaker 30: Stan Zamyatin

 

Zamyatin spoke about the various county flags in Ireland with his paper County Flags of Ireland. Zamyatin noted that county colours are often more important than the heraldic icons are symbols upon the various flags.

Stan also noted that the Yew Tree is an ancient symbol of Ireland, which better represents the Emerald Isle rather than the official Oak Tree which can be confused the Oak of England.  Zamyatin pointed out that colours often have a tribal essence that go deeper than the design.  This was demonstrated with sporting flags wearing colours like tribesmen yet being of different nations. 

Zamyatin ended his presetation with a colour act by wearing flag of Portugal with a headband.

ICV 27 - Speaker 29: Uros Zizmund

Two flags and proposals for Slovenia were presented with his paper Two Flags, Two Proposals: a New System of National and Rank Flags of Slovenia.  Typically one flag is proposed to replace an existing flag, but Zizmund presented two flags for Slovenia.  The need for a new flag has arisen since the Slovenian flag looks like the Slovak and Russian flags. 

In addition to the new designs, applications for the military and rank flags were proposed in succession to the newly proposed flags.

Could we be looking at the future flag of Slovenia?  Only time will tell. 

ICV 27 - Speaker 28: Patrice de La Condamine

 

The subject of women and flags were presented in his paper entitled Flags and the Woman. Condamine focused on portrayal of women on flags.  They can be seem of patriotic or rather "matriotic" heroines, religiously, warriors, motherly images, and many other ways.

He noted that although Islamic statues forbids the portrayal of women in forms, one flag in Egypt has the statue bust of Nefertiti upon it.  Caondmine also pointed out several flags from Nazi Germany and North Korea that used women to inspire and represent the people.

Patrice also pointed out some fun flags, which included the proverbial tri-skelleton flag for the opposing gender the Isle of Woman.  

ICV 27 - Speaker 27: Avelino Couceiro Rodriguez

 

The flags were discussed about the origins of Puerto Rico and Cubs.  Although Rodriguez was not able to present his paper, in his steed the program coordinator Ian Sumner was able to give a fascinating summary of Avelino's work.

These flags have their origins in by dictation from a person who was Venezuelan. Since many Spanish Colonies were fighting against Spain there was a common sentiment of brotherhood.  However the Spanish Colonies never reached the maximums as they did in the United States or Canada.

Another interesting point was the effect of Fosfenia, in the creation of the these flags.  Fosfenia happens when the after image is retained after one closes ones eyes.  This is easily noticed when one still sees the flash from a camera or when one looks at a bright light.  

ICV 27 - Speaker 26: Ales Brozek

Brozek spoke flags in rowing clubs in the Czech.  Brozek's paper was entitled The Survey of Flags Used by Rowing Clubs in the Czech Republic.

Brozek presented an overview of the flags used by rowing clubs.  Interestingly he showed up flags of rowing clubs for the blind.

It was a colourful display in interesting and unique flags.