Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Flag Day


Today isn't a national holiday... in the sense people have the day off from work... but it IS the day set aside by Congress for Americans to honor their flag.  I suppose I should say "some Americans" as the traditional observance of this day isn't what it used to be.  Flag Day has never been an occasion for parades, speeches, barbeques, and the like but I remember flags flying from lamp poles downtown and on nearly every house in the neighborhood in years past.  Times change, eh?

Speaking of change... our flag has been in its current configuration since 1960 when Hawaii entered the Union.  I'm old enough to remember both the short-lived 49-star flag and the 48-star flag.  Then there's this, interestingly enough:
As the exact pattern of stars was not specified prior to 1912, and the exact colors not specified prior to 1934, many of the historical U.S. national flags shown below are typical rather than official designs.
That explains the unique characteristics in some of the flags in the above illustration.  The Wiki has a good article on the evolution of our flag here.

―:☺:―


In other news... we're goin' to Game Seven!  The last hockey game of the year will be played in Vancouver tomorrow night and either Boston or Vancouver will raise the Cup and skate it around the ice of Rogers Arena sometime around 2030 hrs, Mountain Time.  I'm hopin' the ONE constant thing about this series doesn't hold true: the home team has won every game.  I don't know what it is about the Canucks, but they come apart at the seams in TD Garden.  That said, those same Canucks have only barely been good enough to beat the B's at home... no blow-outs there.  I wanna see Boston win this but the reality of the situation?  It's a toss-up.

5 comments:

  1. Thanks for the pic of the flags; that's beautiful.

    I had a text conversation with a friend who asked me after Vancouver won the last one at home. His question was if I thought that the Canucks would be able to get it done in Boston. My response? Nope, they can't beat Boston in their own barn. Game 7 will definitely be interesting.

    heh, WV: squidn

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  2. Latest joke about the Canucks. What time is it in Boston? 15 past Luongo.

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  3. Nice flag piece. I'm sorry the hockey season will be over tomorrow night! It'll be a long hot summer 'til football! (And lots of televised golf at Moogie's Mansion. I can barely restrain my joy at that prospect. Huzzah.)

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  4. Deb: Game Seven most certainly WILL be interesting! History is on Vancouver's side here, but I think it's a toss-up.

    "15 past Luongo." DOUBLE-heh!

    Moogie: Yeah, it's long slog from tomorrow until September. I don't... can't!... do golf on teevee.

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  5. For a bit in the early days, they were adding stars and stripes for each new state. Imagine if they had kept that up, which they fortunately didn't, we would have a pinstriped flag.

    The various symbols of our wonderful nation have many interesting stories behind them.

    In Scouts we have used many historical flags in week long camps, where we tell the history of the flag as part of the flag raising ceremony.

    I flew my flag today, but I fly it everyday.

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Just be polite... that's all I ask.