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A series of thefts has been solved at the Toledo Police Memorial Garden. Officers had noticed small flags went missing over several days, but found no clue as to the identity of the perpetrator. On Wednesday, two policemen saw who was doing it. One of them snapped a picture of a squirrel in the act of grabbing a flag and a pink flower from the garden! The squirrel fled the scene and took the loot to his nest, which was discovered to be already festooned with stolen flags. No arrest were made, and the suspect is still at large. Link -via Arbroath
(Image credit: Toledo Police Lieutenant James Brown)
If superheros were to start their own nations, then these flags would be ideal ways for each of the respective heroes to display their pride in their respective countries. How many can you recognize?
This image is available as a print by creator Fabian Gonzalez.
Link Via Laughing Squid
The following is an article from the book History’s Lists from Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader.
Either India or China invented them. The Roman Empire helped popularize them. Armies and soldiers used them to identify who was in charge, and everyone from pirates to military ships have flown them to proclaim their loyalties. Every nation has its own flag. Here are five sovereign banners with interesting histories.
1. SWITZERLAND: THE NEUTRALITY OF BEING SQUARE
It seems only appropriate that Switzerland, with its neutral position on international conflicts, should share similarities to the international rescue group the Red Cross. Both have similar flags. Switzerland’s flag is unique for being square rather than rectangular. Its stubby white cross on a red background evokes the Red Cross, which employs the same design but with the colors reversed.
The Swiss flag, which is one of only two square national flags (the Vatican has the other one), traces its heritage to banners used by the Holy Roman Empire and adopted by the cantons of Switzerland after they were granted sovereignty. The flag has come to represent peace, refuge, democracy, and neutrality. Though Switzerland has had democratic traditions since 1291, political struggles within the confederation of cantons and a French invasion in 1798 prevented the formal adoption of a national flag. The creation of a constitution for a federal state in 1848 established the national flag, which was formalized in 1889 by the Federal Assembly.
2. NETHERLANDS: HOIST THE RIBBON! IT’S PARTY TIME!
The Dutch tricolor national flag has three horizontal stripes of red, white, and blue positioned from top to bottom. What’s unique is that the flag is festooned with an orange pennant whenever the royal family has special occasions such as birthdays. And for families throughout the kingdom, it is customary to place a schoolbag atop the flagstaff to indicate students who have graduated.
Like the flags of many nations, the Dutch flag has roots on a battlefield. It was used for the first time in the 16th century during the Dutch revolt against Spain, which was led by prince William of Orange. His followers called the banner the Prinzenvlag, or “prince’s flag”. Orange, white, and blue at the time, the flag’s orange stripe was eventually changed to red. The flag was officially recognized by the Netherlands Council in 1937.
3. FRANCE: THE HOLY TRICOLOR
Like that of the Netherlands, France’s flag, created in 1790, is also distinguished by the tricolor design in red, white, and blue, but in this case the stripes are vertical. The colors come from the city flag of Paris that was used the day French radicals stormed the city’s Bastille prison in 1789 to usher in the French Revolution and overthrow the aristocracy of King Louis XVI. The Marquis de Lafayette is said to have designed the flag, which fell out of favor after French emperor Napoléon Bonaparte was defeated at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. However, it came back into vogue in 1830 and was flown over France ever since (except for two weeks in 1848 when it was changed, and then changed back). The colors represent three religious figures important to France: blue for St. Martin of Tours, a French-Roman officer who gave his cloak to a peasant suffering in the cold; white for the Virgin Mary; and red for St. Denis, the patron saint of France.
4. TURKEY: THE MOON STAR FLAG
The Turkish national flag is mostly red, with a white star and crescent in the center, and dates back 700 years; Sultan Selim III formalized the look in 1793. The crescent and star have been adopted by many other Muslim nations since then. What is not so well known is that in Turkish history, the crescent symbolizes Diana, the patron goddess of the ancient Turkish city of Byzantium, and the five-pointed star at the mouth of the crescent symbolizes the Virgin Mary, the patron saint of Byzantium after it became Constantinople in AD 330.
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Jen made little pizzas that resemble the flags of some of the countries she’s visited. Not only do they look like flags, they are topped with foods representative of that nation’s cuisine. She shows us how she created a few of them at Tiny Urban Kitchen. Link -via Everlasting Blort
Guinness Rishi of India has covered his body with tattoos of 220 flags. It took him three years and cost him about £12,500:
Rishi already has six of the tattoos done, on his face – the flags of India, the United Kingdom, the USA, Canada, Cyprus, and the Indian Congress Party. He says that his face is being reserved for the most important flags – he thinks he can fit around 60 1-inch flags on his head..
As well as the flags of the 201 recognised states in the world, he’ll also have flags of nations like Scotland and Wales, and various others (hence the Indian Congress Party flag, and the shout out to oddity-collectors Ripley’s Believe It Or Not.)
Story Link and Images via reddit | Photo: Oddity Central
If you had to learn to recognize the world’s flags in school, here’s your chance to finally put that knowledge to use! In today’s Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss, you’ll be given 12 flags. They are not all national flags. How many can you identify? I was surprised to get 8 out of 12, or 67%. Link
These flags made out of food were created to promote the Sydney International Food Festival. Each national flag is illustrated with food associated with that country: Greece has black olives, India features curry, South Korea has kimbap, etc. Guess which country is represented by the flag pictured. Link -via b3ta
