Chesapeake Bay meeting March 2010

This Confederate flag (Original Design 1861-1983) was taken from a the uniform of a Confederate solider. The uniform was made before the shelling of Ft. Sumter and when there were only 7 states in the Confederacy.

Ideas for the 2011 International Congress of Vexillology were discussed, in case you didn't know the first week of August in 2011 will be when Vexillologists around the world gather in Washington D.C. to discuss flags.

Many of the details are still in the works. If we get lucky perhaps a helpful person in US Congress can get us a room in one of the official rooms for rent?

After lunch we visited the 'Library' and were amazed to see such of focused concentration of flags and flag books. We were privy to see a flag book that was written in 1788, the year America was officially created under the constitution.

'Yes!,' Tom Carrier explains to the delightful confusion of customers who enter his store 'yes indeed this is the flag of the wonderful city of Cuzco, Peru!'

I thought this was strange: A post card showing Lincoln as a comet from the heavens, apparently made before the end of the Civil War.

2010 SNL Flag Short Analysis: Part I

by Jacqueline Handy


On February 27th, 2010 Saturday Night Live made a digital short based on flags. It was a cute song and amusing video. Amazingly the flags shown in the video also express the 'flag symmetry' property that Mr. Maddish has been harking about. Let's take a look! The need for a balanced harmony is evident even in professionally humorous presentations.

The Pasta Flag is balanced with the Turkey Bowl of Food Flag

These next pair are flags of two famous football stars: Brett Favre of the Green Bay Packers era (now plays in Minner-soda) & Brian 'Boz' Bosworth of the Seattle Sea Hawks back in the 1980s. Boz later became an actor and starred in a Saturday Night Live Alumni movie the Longest Yard (2005) that starred Adam Sandler. It's a good bet the Boz and SNL crew party it up. Also both Boz and Favre are arch type southern boys.










The next two flags are not so symmetrical, rather the flags are aligned by way they are displayed as elegant jewelry. The flag of Ireland reflects a large swath of Americans with Irish American heritage, and the flag of South Carolina is very popular for several historical reasons, due to its connection to the Confederacy, State's Rights, and representation of individual freedom. In any case it's SNL's way of tipping the hat to Irish Folk and cool South Carolina.

They key symmetrical element is that the flags are on bracelets on the limbs, namely the wrist and leg.









These flags are aligned again by the way they are presented in humorous fashion on the human body. Note the flag on the saggy baggy legs does not represent a nation, if it did Saturday Day Night Live would have gotten about 10 tons of hate mail. But the flag on the saggy arm probably made the executive board think twice. Probably the only reason why SNL went with the Sag Flag is because it looks like it is waving in the breeze.









Here the Adam Sandler II is holding a piece of food as a flag, while the a piece of food is holding a flag, denoting its preparation level: Medium Rare.










The final pair today, are the finger flags that look like little golf flags. The flag being held by the black man is supposed to be the inflammatory middle finger, while the index finger of the white woman is in response to receiving the 'byrd.' Interesting anthropological note is, if the races were reversed it would not have been culturally kosher as of 2010. Imagine of a white man were giving a middle finger flag to black woman, kidding or not.

Just ask Mr. Imus, Donald.

CLICK HERE FOR PART II

Olympic Flag and a Proposal for Medal Expansion: Copper & Tin for 4th & 5th

98 years ago this flag was designed by a French Man - Barron Pierre de Coubertin. Soon the 2012 Olympics of London will be celebrating the 100th anniversary of this flag since 1912.

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 as their are today. In fact their were only 14 nations and 100 years after that in 1996 there were 197 participating nations. The last Olympics in Beijing cracked 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 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 position gets nothing only a certificate of appreciation and memories to last a life time.

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.

If you place in 25th place or lower - no ring, no medal, just a certificate of participation - maybe an official participant pin with the flag of the host nation crossed with the Olympic flag and a basic inscription - "Olympic Participant, New Zealand 2052."

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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Added March 12, 2012

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 Beijing-2008 Olympics with 204 participating nations – the ratio of winning a medal is 1 to 68. In terms of a percentages that’s a 1.4% 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 41, raising the chances of winning a medal a measly 2.4%. 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 2008-Beijing Olympic numbers the pure chance ratio of winning ring is 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. 

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added January 3, 2016

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 in harmony 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

Flags in Star Wars

Flags being held for the competitors










The flags are not explained. Are they personal flags? Flags of the specific alien races? Flags of the districts that they come from? Or is their some sort of political religious reason for the flags? Only George Lucas knows, email me if you got his number.

In Episode I: the Phantom Menace flags take center stage just before the beginning of the Pod Race with young 'Darth Vader', little Annie - Anakin Skywalker. An unfinished C3P-0 is the flag bearer for the occasion. The colours for Annie are blue and white and the design is rather geometrically complex.


C3P-0 Holding the flag of Annie's blue and white flag on the left just before the 'hairless' camel farts in Jar Jar Binks' face. Many Star Wars fans were delighted to see this happen.




Another Birds Eye View of the Flags













Interesting to note in Star Wars, the desert planet of Tatooine has two suns, while the desert planet Arrakis of Dune has two moons. Luke soberly wonders about his destiny while looking at the iconic binary sun sunset of Tatooine, while Paul Atreides vision of the two full moons of Arrakis causes him to trip his brains out with a flashback after eating the psychoactive mind bending spice.

You can infer that Herbert may have did a lot of drugs while Lucas played it safe.

Iconic image of a binary sun set on desert planet of Tatooine

Two moons of Arrakis give Paul the idea he is the galactic messiah

Rough Rendition of Annie's Flag

Watch the Star War Flags Video Here


Fun Links!

Link to Lucas Arts
www.lucasarts.com/

Skywalker Ranch
www.lucasarts.com/

George Lucas Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_lucas

George Lucas Unencyclopedia
uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/George_Lucas

Flags of Dune

Flag of House Atreides on arrival at Dune











The movie Dune (1984) based on the novel by Frank Herbert. Dune was of the few movies to actually show flags of alien civilizations. The primary flag shown is that of the protagonists family and assumed home world on Caladan. Calandan is quite the opposite of Dune and has plenty of water unlike Dune.

The Colours of House Atreides
are dark green and black
Right now Hollywood is hot with remakes of Sci-Fri from the 80s! Tron, Superman, Transformers, etc. Soon we may soon get a remake of Dune. It totally needs one.




Frank Herbert was keenly aware the link between religion, psychoactive substances, science, and the seductive power of politics.

The first American Flag

US Flag from December 3 1775,
All of 1776 and most of 1777, until June 14

This flag is a copy of the British East India Company.

There is an ongoing debate that this design may have been the inspiration for the new united 13 Colonies.

This was the official flag when the Declaration of Independence was written, signed, and declared by Thomas Jefferson in the Summer of 1776!!!

Thus all the patriots who surrendered their lives for freedom and independence up until June 14, 1777 did not die under the 'stars and stripes', rather they gave up their lives under the 'stripes and crosses.' At least officially that is, and it's most likely the colonial freedom fighters had lots of help from agents in Parliament via the 'liberal anti-establishment Whigs' of the time.

The US held on the Union Flag for three years, unlike Canada and Australia. Canada held on the to Union Flag for 98 years from 1867-1965. Australia is still holding on to it since 1901, surpassing Canada's 98 year hold in 1999. Thus Australia has had the Union Flag the longest since federation standing at 109 years as of 2010! New Zealand crossed the 100 year mark in 2007 and is currently holding it at 103 years!

Who will hold on to it the longest? Only time will tell.

If only somehow the UK were to give Australia or New Zealand hurt feelings, only then would their flag change. If the Prime Minister or Parliament were to bash Aussies or Kiwis it would give them the momentum to change their flag. Or perhaps rule against them is some land-political dispute?

Unfortunately negativity works wonders in personal motivation.

Jamaica & 'little jamaica' ie: Dominica

Flag of Jamaica

Jamaica and Dominica are in the Caribbean and have a deep ethnic heritage to Africa, and linguistic heritage to England. Even their flag designs are reflective of this. Jamaica has a 'Black Scottish' flag while Dominica has a 'Black English' flag, or rather Scotland has a 'White Jamaican' flag and England has a 'White Dominica' flag. Bottom line is that a certain percentage of Jamaican people have Scottish heritage just as a certain percentage of Dominica people have English heritage.

Flag of Dominica

Please don't get Dominica confused with Dominican Republic. In Dominica they speak English, you can think of it as a tiny version of Jamaica with no bobsled team, as of yet! It'd be better if they break into the luge first, so it wouldn't look like they are copying Jamaica.

FYI, the Dominican Republic shares space with Haiti on the large island in between Cuba and Puerto Rico, closer to North America. The Dominican is a small island closer to South America and in between the islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique.

The banners of these two island paradises are similar in colours and if Dominica didn't have the parrot in the center it would look too much like the Jamaican flag and some other vexillologist probably wound have discovered this phenomenon. But nope, your looking and the real McCoy. I'm the first human to recognize this trait amongst nations.

Unofficial Flag of Dominica
It's very Jamaicanesque without the parrot charge

PS... since I called Dominica the little Jamaica it's only fair I call Jamaica the 'Over Sized Dominica'