May is Taurus Month

The flag of Uri

'Swiss State'

Taurus the bull is the lead in sign for the month of May. In honor of this bullish season when things are growing and natural abundance is all around we have the bull.

For stock investors a bullish market is no bull. In corporate investor universe they use metaphors of the bull and bear. When the industrial averages go up they call it a bull market, likewise Taurus the Bull occurs in springtime when Mother Nature expands her production line.

The Yin and Yang of a Stock Market :BEAR vs BULL
Frankfort Stock Market - Germany

On the other hand, a Bear Market does not necessarily imply a bunch of husky, seasoned, and well groomed single men - who dress well.

A Bear Market is subconsciously related to the phenomena of hibernation, and the onset of autumn. Bears eat a lot of food in order to prepare for the long hard winter. Thus when the stock market averages seem to be shrinking and the economy slows (sort of like Fall) - they call it a bear market.

The association of the Bull and Taurus with a rising stock market coincidentally aligns with the awakening of spring. But this is a biased Northern Hemepherian perspective. May for South Hemesphrites is not associated with a revival of life but rather the peaceful downsizing of Autumn.

Royal Wedding - Prince William and Princess Kate

It happened yesterday! In honor of these regal event, a British Wedding portrait flag was printed.

Basically its the flag of the United Kingdom with a portrait of Prince William and now, Princess Kate.

Willow Grove Park Flag and John Sousa

Willow Grove Park Flag
the conductor is supposed to be Sousa

Willow Grove Park just outside of Philadelphia. Originally it was a classic Victorian Park. Later John Sousa made it his home stage, and favorite gig to play at. John Sousa is the musician responsible for the patriotic core of American Marching Band Music.

John Sousa was originally born in DC, and as a child was witness to the Civil War, no doubt this played a formative role on young "Johnny Patriot" Sousa.

Not only was Sousa a part of the conservative establishment, he also lived the American dream with a career that spanned Circus (before TV & Hollywood). On the other end, Sousa also became chair of the US Marine Corps band.

Today, Willow Grove Park has lost much her Marching Band-Victorian luster. Willow Grove is now an elegant three storied shopping mall. But the legacy of John Philip Sousa lives on.

One last piece of the heyday Victorian musical park atmosphere has been preserved - the Merry Go Round. At the entrance to Willow Grove Park's Carousel Entrance fly three flags - the US Flag, Pennsylvania State Flag, and Willow Grove Park Flag.


Video about Modern Willow Grove Park 2010
wile playing Stars and Stripes Forever

Flag of Pernambuco

The flag of Pernambuco of Brazil is appropriate for today, since its Easter Sunday 2011.

Brazil has 26 states with one capital district. Pernambuco is a Brazilian State below the equator and on the East Coastline that faces Africa, rather than the North Coast that faces the Caribbean.

The flag of Pernambuco is a horizontally divided flag, with the upper half slightly larger. The bottom half is white, centered on it is a simple red cross. The upper half features a dark blue sky with a simple red-yellow-green rainbow. Below the rainbow is a yellow sun and above it is a yellow star.

Famous Jesus Statue in Brazil

Brazil is already famous famous for the largest statue of Jesus, but that is in Rio de Janeiro.

In any case,
Happy Easter

April 21, 2011 reservation

Hamburg & Frankfurt - aka Hamburger vs Hotdogs

Flag of Frankfurt in Germany
Hot Dogs were once called Frankfurters
until German Aggression in the 1900s

Why do we call hamburgers hamburgers? They don't have any ham in them. There is the Cliff Clavin explanation that some German guys from Hamburg killed some animal and rode on top of the meat on horseback, and when they got 'home' they called it hamburger.

Likewise how do you get 'hot dog' out of a oblong bun shaped sandwich that is not made of dog-meat and is full of miscellaneous and left over pork products?

Before the rise of aggressive German Political parties they were originally called Frankfurter's since German-American immigrants added this this to the general picture of official 'American Food.' By the early 1900s, baseball was the American Pastime and frankfurters were the it food at game time - thank you Germany.

But due to the Kaiser and other mean-holes, the Anglo-American Elite decided that we should spite German Pride by changing the name to Hot Dog. They also tried to call Sauerkraut Liberty Cabbage - but it didn't stick.

Fast forward to the 21 century, and American Leaders were motivated to change the name of 'French Fries' to 'Freedom Fries,' since the French Government didn't support the US invasion of Iraq.

Flag of Hamburg
Contrary to its name 'Hamburger' has no Ham

Hamburgers were also given new names after WWI - 'Liberty Steak' and 'Salisbury-Steak.' Perhaps Patriot-Patty or Beef-Burger would have made more sense! You can still see Salisbury Steak on some menus, but the anti-German essence is gone.

To the left is the flag of Hamburg, Germany. It was the original 'White Castle' associated with a special kind of hamburger. Like a Hamburger it has a meaty Christian Cross stuffed between a Star of David bun.

So what can we learn? American Right Wing vibes are able to change the English Language when the nation wants to spite a foreign government. Likewise American Left Wing vibes are able to change the English language to accommodate minorities... aka the 'Yin-Lesser' point of view.

Thus, one way of making American 'go metric' is to either convince the American People that the current 'enemy of mind' is responsible for our unhappy 'political' dilemma and is responsible for the irrational ounces-pounds-tons measuring system. Or that white men invented irrational yards-foot-mile measuring system to keep women and minorities in their place.


Pee Wee Herman in Cheech and Chong's Nice Dreams, 1981
is the Original Hamburger Man

The Flags in Citizen Kane by Orson Wells, 1941

Notice Flags in the Background

Every connoisseur of fine film lists Citizen Kane on the best of the best. The story, the style, and ground breaking techniques put this movie from 1941 in the history books. Upon its first release in the USA this movie didn't do well, but it had a revival in the 1950s. Nowadays, it's considered the proverbial 'Shakespeare' of film. It is film law that all film students shall watch, study, and critique this film.

In the opening sequence a news flash is shown and the flags of several nations are shown. Back then and as it is today, flags convey a serious and professional tone.

Since this movie was made in the black and white era they are difficult to make out. One flag looks the that of Austria? Another flag has saltire, which is basically an X. It looks like the Russian Naval Ensign?

These flags are flashed in the beginning of Citizen Kane






















Here is a statue from "Xanadu" the fictitious private resort of media mogul Mr. Kane.The warrior is holding what looks like is a battle flag with a spear point. The specific design and colours are difficult to make out.