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 Merion.  Upper 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.

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.
 

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/

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.