The the popular meme shows, the flag of Norway is the "mother of flags". It doesn't, however, contain itself (unless you don't care about the relative widths of the white and blue parts to the whole). In other words, it is not self-similar. A less-popular meme points out one national flag that has this property:… Continue reading Self-Similar Flags
Category: Posts
The US Flag in the 21st Century
31 October 2000 American hip hop duo Outkast release their fouth studio album, Stankonia. The iconic album cover consists of Big Boi and André 3000 posing in front of a huge, black-and-white US flag with inverted stars: the funkified flag of Stankonia (which actually was manufactured and hung on the wall in their Atlanta studios). (For more,… Continue reading The US Flag in the 21st Century
The US Flag in the 20th Century (2nd half)
19 September 1952 The Adventures of Superman begins airing on American television, following an undocumented alien immigrant as he fights "the never-ending battle for truth, justice, and the American way". The famous opening sequence ends with George Reeves standing before a US flag, somehow briskly flying in outer space. In less than 20 years, fiction will become… Continue reading The US Flag in the 20th Century (2nd half)
The US Flag in the 20th Century (1st half)
4 March 1907 In Halter v. Nebraska the Supreme Court upheld the conviction of two businessmen for "desecrating" the flag by using its imagery on the label of their "Stars and Stripes" brand beer. 4 July 1912 The US adopts the 48-star flag, recognizing the admission of New Mexico and Arizona earlier that year. This marks a turning point in US flag… Continue reading The US Flag in the 20th Century (1st half)
The US Flag in the 19th Century
14 September 1814 Aboard the HMS Tonnant, at "dawn's early light" attorney Francis Scott Key sees a large US flag still flying over Fort McHenry despite its overnight bombardment during the Battle of Baltimore in the War of 1812. He publishes his poem "Defence of Fort M'Henry" in the American and Commercial Daily Advertiser seven days later. Both… Continue reading The US Flag in the 19th Century
The US Flag in the 18th Century
1 May 1707 The Acts of Union take effect, creating the Kingdom of Great Britain and the making the red, white, and blue King's Colors its flag. This flag and its Red Ensign variant were influential in American flag-making. 21 September 1737 American civil servant and likely designer of the 13-star flag Francis Hopkinson born in Philadelphia. He famously… Continue reading The US Flag in the 18th Century
What’s that Flag? (from VexTab #40)
For more tree flags, see our blog post, Arboreal Flags.
Money Flags
Money occasionally makes its way onto flags, as a promotion for a particular currency, a political statement, a commemoration of a ransom, or as a design exercise. For examples of all of these possibilities, see below.
Vancouver Oil Spill Flag
Yesterday the MV Marathassa, a Cypriot-flagged bulk carrier on its maiden voyage, spilled toxic oil into English Bay near downtown Vancouver, BC. Today a version of the Vancouver city flag protesting this event appeared on Twitter: The idea of modifying Canadian flags to protest environmental damage from oil has been done before, though perhaps not as… Continue reading Vancouver Oil Spill Flag
Logo Flags
The 4th basic principle of flag design is "no lettering or seals". Logos generally fall under this category as well. This doesn't keep lots of flags, particularly of corporations, from having logos on them. And occasionally a logo flag works well as a flag -- usually because it obeys all or most of the other… Continue reading Logo Flags
Portland Flag Association 