Comments | whitetail: Airing-out history

whitetail

Airing-out history

Jul 04, 2008 14:07

I like to fly my century-old, 45-star flag every July 4th - both to air it out and to commemorate the anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence which took place 232 years ago today. I couldn't fly it last year, though, due to high winds, but conditions are just right today. ^^

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Comments 9

loranskunky July 5 2008, 01:19:10 UTC

Damm, that is cool.

thrashbear July 5 2008, 06:14:43 UTC

Seconded.

stinkygoat July 5 2008, 01:24:22 UTC

6 lines of stars instead of 8. 45 stars, less states back then?

whitetail July 5 2008, 02:53:17 UTC

Yep, one star per state in the Union. Actually, the 45-star flag flew for the 7th longest period of any star configuration; 12 years. The present 50-star flag is in its 48th year now; one year longer than the previous record-holder, the 48-star flag. The shortest duration in the 20th century was the 49-star flag, which flew for 1 year only, from July 4, 1959 - July 3, 1960. (I have one of those, too.) ^^

And if Puerto Rico ever wants to join the Union, this is what the flag may look like with 51 stars:

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foxwolfie_galen July 5 2008, 05:21:20 UTC

I remember some time around 15 years ago, seeing a news broadcast that mentioned a proposed splitting of California into a north and south California. I never heard anything again about it. I was born under the same 50-star flag we're still using with just a year to spare.

foxwolfie_galen July 5 2008, 05:15:00 UTC

One of the first things I notice when I see a flag is the stars and the pattern they are in. The star pattern on the current 50-star flag has horizontal as well as vertical symmetry, and deviations from that jump out at me. On the other hand, if you had a flag with 15 stripes, instead of 13, I may not have noticed right away, so long as they started and ended with a red one.

schnee July 5 2008, 10:36:28 UTC

Well, the star pattern does look rather similar if you just give it a casual glance... you'd probably get more comments if you flew a flag that's visibly different, such as the 48-star version (or any of the early ones). :)

heavens_steed July 5 2008, 21:42:34 UTC

Very nice. You don't see one of those every day.

Btw, you have the flag displayed incorrectly in that photo. The stars should always be in the left hand corner, not the right.

whitetail July 5 2008, 21:52:10 UTC

*bzzt!* You get half-credit. ;-) When a flag is hung vertically indoors, the union is to be to the left. When hung out-of-doors, the union is to be oriented either towards the north or eastward in the direction of the rising sun, whichever is closer. In this case, my house is oriented north-south, so the union is displayed toward the north. ^^