Zombie Apocalypse Pie Chart

I don't have a boat, so it would have to be green. For as long as possible.

Flag Origins

The Flag Resolution of June 14, 1777, stated: “Resolved: that the flag of the United States be made of thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new Constellation.”

 You will notice that this does not state whether the red or white stripes should be at the top and bottom, or how many points the stars should have. It wasn’t until June 24, 1912, that the proportions of the flag were established, and it was specified that the stars were to be in horizontal rows with a single point of each star pointing upward.

If you go here, you’ll find a wonderful collection of 18th century flag images. You may notice that none look like the ubiquitous “Betsy Ross” flag.

 

John Shaw Flag

Which brings us to Betsy Ross. It wasn’t until shortly before the Centennial that the story about Betsy Ross making the first American flag for General George Washington surfaced. In 1870, Ross's grandson claimed that his grandmother had "made with her hands the first flag" of the United States. He said he first obtained this information from his aunt Clarissa Wilson in 1857, twenty years after Betsy Ross's death.

There are colonial currencies that show a Stars and Stripes in the Betsy Ross pattern, but there are no actual flags. In fact, most people are shocked to learn that I have never seen or heard of an American flag with the Betsy Ross pattern of stars that was, with any degree of certainty, made before the 1890’s. And if the original was in this form, with so many 13-star flags existing from the 19th century, it stands to reason that the pattern would have been reproduced. The design is now believed by most scholars to be a creation of Betsy Ross’s grandchildren in the 1870-90 period. Ross’s nephew is first known to have statements about the design in Philadelphia in 1876, revealing the story of the making of the first flag and Betsy’s involvement. But most flag scholars today feel the story was a grand hoax, fabricated by Ross’s nephew, for his own interests. In the late 1890’s through the first decade of the 20th century, Betsy’s granddaughter and great granddaughter made flags in the East Wing of Independence Hall in Philadelphia, selling them to tourists and proliferating the same story. The Betsy Ross house was opened to the public and carried on the belief concerning her use of the circular design. In short, the story stuck and has subsequently appeared in more books than one can count.

There is no documentation to show that the Betsy Ross flag was ever carried in any battle. We don’t have proof that she designed it. We do know, however, that Betsy Ross was a seamstress, and that she sewed (among other things) flags.

So who did design the first American flag? We’re not sure, but:

Francis Hopkinson became a consultant to the second Congressional Committee created to design a Great Seal of the United States because of his heraldic expertise. Congress had created the first of three such committees on July 4, 1776, because a seal was needed to denote America's sovereignty. An acceptable design was presented to Congress in 1782.

The obverse of his designs were the first to incorporate elements from the Stars and Stripes. For example, in the obverse of both of his proposals, a cloud suspended above the shield encircled 13 six-pointed stars.

At the end of May in 1780, Hopkinson submitted an interesting letter to the Continental Admiralty Board (author's note: unlike today's Congress, which consists of a House of Representatives and Senate, the Continental Congress consisted of a legislative "branch" and administrative boards.).

His letter stated that he had designed the United States flag, continental currency, a seal for the Admiralty and Treasury boards, and a Great Seal for the United States, among other things. Hopkinson referred to these designs as "Labours of Fancy." He further stated that although he made these designs free of charge, he would appreciate receiving a "Quarter cask of the public wine" from the government as a token of gratitude.

According to “Our Flag”" published in 1989 by the House of Representatives, the colors red, white, and blue did not have meanings for The Stars and Stripes when it was adopted in 1777. However, the colors in the Great Seal did have specific meanings.

Hopkinson never got his wine. In their report to Congress, the Treasury Board stated that Hopkinson was not the only person consulted on those designs that were incidental to the board and that in their opinion, civil servants such as Hopkinson already received adequate salaries and hence should not expect further compensation from Congress for such work.

The idea of an annual day specifically celebrating the Flag is believed to have first originated in 1885. You can find out the details here. It was not until August 3rd, 1949, that President Truman signed an Act of Congress designating June 14th of each year as National Flag Day.

 

Random

Early afternoon today, it was 94 degree outside with the sun shining brilliantly, and the rain pouring down. And there wasn't any rainbow.

And I'm still the number one Google hit for "Where a goat can go".

No Triumph

Remember my Dad’s Triumph? Starting back in my 20’s, I always said that if I was going to have a mid-life crisis car, it was going to be a red TR-3. I figured if my Dad fit in it with his 36” inseam, I’d fit in it with mine. My dad, of course, was quick to point out that when he bought his car, the only color choices were British Racing Green and Robins Egg Blue. It didn’t come in red.

Guess what I saw yesterday, not one mile from my house? A red Triumph. For sale. I went back today to see if could take some pictures of it, but it was gone. Considering that even if I didn’t have two bathrooms and one kitchen that need replacing (I do), AND I had the money (I don’t), I’m lacking the electrical engineering degree necessary to be able to drive at night.

Favorite Patriotic Songs?

I’m putting together some patriotic music for Sweet Daughter, and I’m looking for some input – both for song titles and versions. For instance, I’m having a devil of a time finding an understandable vocal arrangement of the “Star Spangled Banner”. Choirs are lovely, but I’m hoping SD will learn the words. And did you know that if you put “Patriotic” in the album title, you have NO idea what you’re in for. Especially if the genre is “New Age”.

This album was titled “Songs Patriotic” and had this song listing:

My Country ' Tis Of Thee
Country Roads (Take Me Home)
America The Beautiful
America
Star Spangled Banner

Okay, even with Country Roads, I’m on board with this. Then we have:

Shower the People
Here Comes The Sun
Nights In White Satin

I beg your pardon???? This was followed by:

Amazing Grace
Bridge Over Troubled Water
Homeward Bound
Coast To Coast

WTH????

Out of curiosity, I click to listen to a few snippets of song, and it’s freakin’ Zamphir. Okay. I don’t know if it’s really Zamfir, but those are either Pan pipes or somebody’s been slipping something into my Lucky Charms. I also came across patriotic music on bagpipes (yay!) and accordion (I kept looking for the St. Pauli girl to show up with those huge jugs mugs of beer).

Anyhow, the songs I've got on my potential list so far are:

Stars and Stripes Forever
America
This Land is Your Land (Woody Guthrie version)
Grand Old Flag
Yankee Doodle
Yankee Doodle Dandy – James Cagney?
Johnny Comes Marching Home
Dixie
Battle Hymn of the Republic
God Bless America
My Country Tis of Thee
Ballad of the Green Berets – S. Sgt. Barry Saddler

I have a feeling this is going to morph into including a bunch of the old standards. Musical cultural literacy, so to speak.

Got any suggestions?

D-Day photos

I'm late to the party on this, but some wonderful photos can be found here. I've never seen most of them before.

U.S. Soldiers march through a southern English coastal town, en route to board landing ships for the invasion of France, circa late May or early June 1944. (Army Signal Corps Collection/U.S. National Archives)

Bits and pieces

I put a couple dozen rounds through my Springfield XD on Memorial Day. This was the first time I'd fired it since late January. (Bad Nancy!)

This is the target from the first magazine at about 25 feet, fired a tad slower than a shot/second. As long as I just point and shoot, I do okay. It was when I realized that people were WATCHING, and I tried to adjust my stance and concentrate on my sights and stuff, that things started going a bit wobbly.

All 16 on the cardboard, at least.

Speaking of targets, do you know what happens when you hit the “reset” square on a reactive target really hard and for some reason it doesn’t react?  (BTW, this has been wonderful for teaching me to use those odd modern things calles "sights".)

The pellet reacts instead!

Awesome picture on page 50 of the July 2010 copy of Tactical Weapons article, “Dogs of War”.

"Highly trained bomb-sniffing dogs can skydive into action with their handlers. Muzzles are worn for protection and dogs are calm when jumping as they don't perceive height as humans do."

Cocktail napkins were part of my birthday present from my oldest sister:

I think the sense of humor is hereditary.