The Daily Flag

A gallon of regular: $3.39. That’s what Husband just paid in Brownsville, Texas. Brownsville is at the end of Texas—any further south and you cross over into Mexico. He’s working in the "valley" this week—the Rio Grande Valley. That means stops in Corpus Christi, Harlingen, Brownsville, McAllen, Pharr, and Laredo.

For those who live the tree-enriched mountains, which means there are deep valleys too, our "valley" in Texas is a huge expanse of semi-arid coastal prairie, where the elevation scarcely changes over hundreds of miles, except to drop slowly—inch by inch—to sea level and the Gulf of Mexico. Husband likes it enormously, having spent most of his life living on the high windy plains of the Texas panhandle. He likes being able to see for miles and miles and miles and miles, and he likes those little towns that dot the landscape.

In Laredo, there is a 308 foot tall flagpole, with a 50 x 100 ft. American flag flying on it. Husband is a lucky man, in that the smallest of gifts make his wife deliriously happy. Like a bunch of photographs taken at the flag site in Laredo, for me to use on The Daily Flag.

Map courtesy of Google.

Tags: Laredo TX flagpole, Rio Grande Valley

This day I completed my thirty first year, and conceived that I had in all human probability now existed about half the period which I am to remain in the Sublunary world.  

 I reflected that I had as yet done but little, very little, indeed, to further the happiness of the human race, or to advance the information of the succeeding generation.  

 I viewed with regret the many hours I have spent in indolence, and sorely feel the want of that information which those hours would have given me had they been  judiciously expended. But since they are past and cannot be recalled, I dash from me the gloomy thought, and resolve in future, to redouble my exertions and at least endeavor to promote those two primary objects of human existence, by giving them the aid of that portion of talents which nature and fortune have bestowed on me; or in future, to live for mankind, as I have heretofore lived for myself.

Tags: Corp of Discovery, Journals of Lewis and Clark, Meriwether Lewis

The American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars are the two largest and most high-profile veteran service organizations (VSO) in the country, but there are many more. This link will take you to the page at the U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs.  This is a screen capture image from the VA website, to give you an idea of what’s there. I am slowly working my way through each VSO to learn more about them all.

Tags: American Legion, U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs, Veterans of Foreign Wars, VSO

Flying the flag, just not the right one

August 14, 2008

THIS is all I’m doing at the moment: watching the Olympics, eating cruddy food, and getting riled up with full-on patriotic Aussie-love. Any time I see an Aussie athlete competing in something, I feel pride burning in my heart - well, part pride, part acid-reflux from the chicken nuggets fried in rendered suet. Any time I hear the Aussie anthem playing, I get goosebumps all over me - part goosebumps, part inflamed acne from the melted tub of choc fudge ice-cream I sucked through a crazy straw. And any time I see an Aussie flag flapping in the breeze, I go all silent and reverential - partly from deep sentiment, but mostly because I’m experiencing my usual Aussie-Flag-Recognition-Cognitive-Confusion.

Katz is not exactly overjoyed with the Australian national flag. Read the rest of his wry and humorous article at the web site for The Age.

Many Australians would like a new national flag—one that would more appropriately represent their unique and beautiful country.

Australia is, of course, a day ahead of North America.

Tags: Danny Katz, National Flag of Australia, The Age

The five national park service projects of ArrowCorp5 are finished. There are several ways to quantify the value of this work, but for the young men themselves, the value is immeasurable.

In the years and decades to come, each young man will remember one very hard week in the sun, and see how his life changed as a result.

Videographers for ArrowCorp5 created five videos, which can be viewed on the OA website.  The Daily Flag has previously linked to the other four videos, and now Bridger-Teton is ready.

The videos recap the five weeks of work and fun, from all five National Forest sites:  Mark Twain, Manti-La Sal, George Washington and Jefferson, Shasta-Trinity, and Bridger-Teton.

Additionally, some of the Arrowmen who were working in the Bridger-Teton National Forest stepped in to help to aid the Forest Service in fighting the New Forks Fire, north of the town of Pinedale, Wyoming. Several volunteer arrowmen assisted the Forest Service by working in the Fire Cache, which is the warehouse of fire supplies and materials that are disseminated whenever a large fire breaks out in the Forest.

Congratulations to the Arrowmen, and to all others involved in ArrowCorp5.  You have given much to the nation, and it will not be forgotten.

The images used here were taken from the Bridger-Teton video. 

Tags: ArrowCorps5, Boy Scouts of America, National Forest Service, Order of the Arrow

Chosen by fellow members of Team USA, Lopez Lomong will carry the Stars and Stripes in the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China.

Lomong said, “This is the most exciting day ever in my life. It’s a great honor for me that my teammates chose to vote for me. The Opening Ceremony is the best day and the best moment of Olympic life. I’m here as an ambassador of my country and I will do everything I can to represent my country well.”

The American flag means everything in my life—everything that describes me, coming from another country and going through all the stages that I have to become a U.S. citizen. This is another amazing step for me in celebrating being an American. Seeing my fellow Americans coming behind me (in the Opening Ceremony) and supporting me will be a great honor—the highest honor. It’s just a happy day. I don’t even have the words to describe how happy I am.

Congratulations and Best Wishes to Lopez Lomong from The Daily Flag. We are delighted as well, to have you represent the United States.

Photographer Paul Merca took the photo of Lomong (used above) at the US Olympic Team Trials-Track & Field, held at Hayward Field on the campus of the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon, on July 3, 2008.

Tags: 2008 Olympics, Lopez Lomong, Paul Merca Photography, Team USA

From the U.S. Postal Service:

On April 18, 2008, in Washington, DC, the Postal Service™ issued 42–cent, definitive stamps, Flags 24/7, in four designs. The stamps, designed by Phil Jordan of Falls Church, Virginia, each feature a painting by Laura Stutzman of Mountain Lake Park, Maryland, of an American flag flying at a different time of day: sunrise, noon, sunset, and night.

In 1942, Congress passed a resolution establishing a code of flag etiquette. The code states in part that the American flag should be displayed from sunrise to sunset every day, weather permitting, but especially on days of national importance like Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, and Veterans Day. Congress also decided that “when a patriotic effect is desired,” the flag can be flown through the night if properly lit. Although compliance is voluntary, public observation of the code’s measures is widespread throughout the nation.

I am moderately interested in stamps, and I even save them, though I do not collect them. I save them for my granddaughter (or other relatives), in the event that one of them decides to collect stamps one day. I have considered the idea of collecting stamps that have the image of the U.S. flag, and state flags, but that’s a story for another day.

Today’s story is about a sharp-eyed stamp collector who found a mistake on the new U.S. flag stamps issued on April 18 of this year. The night stamp, shown in the bottom right corner of the stamp quartet, appears to have too many stripes.

Dang! Don’t you hate it when that happens.

The U.S. flag  has a red stripe on the top edge, and a red stripe on the bottom edge. The blue field always rests on a white stripe. Seven red stripes, and six white stripes, for the thirteen original colonies. The image on the flag in question appears to have a bottom white stripe.

The Postal Service is aware of the mistake, but will not change the design. These flag stamps—Flags 24/7—are called "definitive" stamps, and used for standard, ordinary, day-to-day mail. When the inevitable price increase comes, new stamps will be designed.

According to stamp services authorities, the seventh white stripe as added to provide definition to the image, and was not a part of the original art work, which seems to exonerate the artist.

That’s a weak and clumsy explanation, and unnecessary. Because I can’t tell how many stripes are hidden in the fold, and I am willing to grant artistic license when it comes to painting the image of a waving flag.

Tags: Laura Stutzman, US flags on stamps, USPS

Sidewalk Photographer Alex Richman and the intrepid Mrs. Richman covered a lot of ground (more than six miles on foot) in Washington D.C. during the last weekend of July.

One of the photographs he took (shown below) was of the Lunar Module #2-Apollo, which was never used on a lunar mission.  Now on display at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, it is a stunning exhibit (and no doubt one of the more expensive ones—but less expensive I suppose, than an entire moon mission). (Click into the photo icons for larger images.)

Alex’s photo reminded me of a previous Daily Flag article and my subsequent search for photos of the Eagle Lunar Module, used in the the first moon landing. I had concluded that the first flag on the moon surely was mounted on the Eagle L.M.  I spent several hours searching for photos then, but came up empty-handed. I think I was searching using the words Eagle lander instead of lunar module, and I was in the Library of Congress web site instead of the Smithsonian.

But thanks to Alex, my interest in the Eagle L.M. was renewed, and he pointed me in the right direction.

And this time I found what I was looking for.

The "upside-down" Eagle lunar module is on its way to the surface of the moon. Just to the right of the center ladder, and toward the bottom, the U.S. flag is visible.

Earth, Moon and Eagle lunar module perfectly captured in one frame by astronaut Michael Collins.

In this photo, the flag is hard to see, but it is to the right, and about even with Buzz Aldrin’s helmet.

Three flags are shown in this photo: the one on the lunar module—visible just to the right and slightly above the astronaut’s helmet. The second flag is on the astronaut’s life-pack (I don’t know the proper name for it), and the third flag—one of the most famous in the world—the one Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin "planted" on the moon.

So now I know what the first flag on the moon was, and so do you—for next time this question comes up on a trivia game!

Tags: Alex Richman Photography, Buzz Aldrin, first flag on the moon, Michael Collins, National Air and Space Museum, Neil Armstrong, Sidewalk Photography, Smithsonian Institute

From The Daily Times in Farmington, New Mexico.

World War II icon dies at 82: Rockwell model inspired scouts to aid country,  community

By James Monteleone The Daily Times

08/04/2008 12:00:00 AM MDT

AZTEC — Boy Scouts of America lost its poster face last week when Arthur Robert Hamilton died in Aztec at the age of 82.

Bob Hamilton was best known for his iconic image as the saluting scout in Norman Rockwell’s 1944 painting, "We, too, have a job to do," which rallied Boy Scouts to collect cans and rubber, volunteer in the community and raise victory gardens for food during World War II.

But Hamilton, who died July 28, was more than a teen in the right place at the right time when Rockwell put his brush in the paint for the World War II-era image: Hamilton was a life-long scout, family members said.

"He was very much defined by being a Boy Scout," said Alison H. H. King, Hamilton’s daughter. "I think he influenced us to be all individuals, do the right thing, go above and beyond, make the right choices and life will pay you back."

For the rest of the tribute, go to The Daily Times of Farmington, New Mexico.

For more of Rockwell’s Scouts, link here.

Tags: Arthur Robert Hamilton, Bob Hamilton, Boy Scouts of America, Norman Rockwell, Scout paintings, The Daily Times of Farmington NM

Photographer Alex Richman has lots of big flags in his portfolio. Here are some of my favorites. Click into the photographs for a larger image.

The Marine Air Terminal at La Guardia Airport in New York City.

A famous design from the town that made it famous—Philadelphia

You don’t have to be a New Yorker to recognize this famous bridge in Brooklyn.

Location unknown.

In Washington, D.C.

You can view more of Alex’s photographs at Alex Richman Photography, his blog Sidewalk Photographer, and his Flickr page.

Tags: Brooklyn Bridge, Marine Air Terminal La Guardia Airport, Philadelphia PA, U.S. flag, Washington DC