Whacky Signs.

[KeithMacdonald]

2 hours ago, Mol_PMB said:

what does Inadvertedly mean? 

 

I wonder what this button does ...

[PatB]

3 hours ago, Michael Hodgson said:

Why?  Most of us wouldn't notice if our own flag were flown upside down.

Mainly because of the stupidity of designing something that is almost, but not quite, symmetrical, when it is considered important as to which way round/up it goes.

[martin_wynne]

4 minutes ago, PatB said:

when it is considered important as to which way round/up it goes.

 

You can avoid the problem by flying it sideways.

 

[Ozexpatriate]

11 minutes ago, martin_wynne said:

You can avoid the problem by flying it sideways.

Is there a 'proper' way do display it with the hoist horizontal?

 

There is for the US flag. The canton (union of stars) should always appear in the top left. That means when displayed inside on a wall, the 'reverse' is what is presented.

 

When suspended over a street (hoist horizontal, fly at the bottom, and both sides visible) the canton should appear to the north or east.

 

Shoulder patches should always have the hoist to the front. They need to be stitched/printed differently for left shoulder and right shoulder use.

[martin_wynne]

Whacky email department. Just received:

 

"Would you be interested in acquiring Cyber Security Conference Attendees Data List 2024?"

 

[Pacific231G]

11 minutes ago, PatB said:

Mainly because of the stupidity of designing something that is almost, but not quite, symmetrical, when it is considered important as to which way round/up it goes.

You should see some of the other designs for the Union Jack that were being considered following the Act of Union.

Flying a national flag upside down is a traditional distress signal but you'd be on a hiding to nothing with most European flags being symmetrical on the relevant axis and not much better off with the British flag. Fortunately distress indicated by flags is mostly a maritime thing and flying the red duster upside down is very obvious. 

The current UK flag doesn't acknowledge Wales so I rather like this one that does by including st. David's cross.

[kevinlms]

3 hours ago, Mol_PMB said:

Perhaps not so Whacky but just plain wrong. Seen on a CAF train in Manchester, what does Inadvertedly mean? 

 

 

Anyone else who would be looking for the 3s button, long enough that it would be too late?

[martin_wynne]

8 minutes ago, Pacific231G said:

You should see some of the other designs for the Union Jack that were being considered following the Act of Union.

Flying a national flag upside down is a traditional distress signal but you'd be on a hiding to nothing with most European flags being symmetrical on the relevant axis and not much better off with the British flag. Fortunately distress indicated by flags is mostly a maritime thing and flying the red duster upside down is very obvious. 

The current UK flag doesn't acknowledge Wales so I rather like this one that does by including st. David's cross.

 

As far as I can see it is impossible to fly that flag upside down. If you rotate it 180 degrees it is exactly the same (try it in your graphics editor).

 

What you can do is fly it back-to-front.

 

Martin.

[Michael Hodgson]

2 hours ago, KeithMacdonald said:

 

I wonder what this button does ...

As we've told you three times already today, Mr President...

[Michael Hodgson]

1 hour ago, PatB said:

Mainly because of the stupidity of designing something that is almost, but not quite, symmetrical, when it is considered important as to which way round/up it goes.

 

Well there's always the Sealink flag

 

[Ramblin Rich]

2 hours ago, Hroth said:

 

 

At least the Australian and New Zealand flags are easier to see if they're upside down or not... 🙃

 

Aren't most Aus and NZ flags upside down anyway (speaking from a Northern hemisphere viewpoint)? 🤪

[melmerby]

1 hour ago, Pacific231G said:

You should see some of the other designs for the Union Jack that were being considered following the Act of Union.

Flying a national flag upside down is a traditional distress signal but you'd be on a hiding to nothing with most European flags being symmetrical on the relevant axis and not much better off with the British flag. Fortunately distress indicated by flags is mostly a maritime thing and flying the red duster upside down is very obvious. 

The current UK flag doesn't acknowledge Wales so I rather like this one that does by including st. David's cross.

 

 

 

Rhis incluse the black background

 

 

Edited July 12 by melmerby

[SHMD]

6 minutes ago, melmerby said:

Rhis incluse the black background

 

 

 

That's doing my tree in !

 

(I like it.)

 

 

Kev.

 

[pH]

1 hour ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Shoulder patches should always have the hoist to the front. They need to be stitched/printed differently for left shoulder and right shoulder use.

Just like the 1957 British Railways totem (or not!).

Edited July 12 by pH

[KeithMacdonald]

1 hour ago, Pacific231G said:

Fortunately distress indicated by flags is mostly a maritime thing and flying the red duster upside down is very obvious. 

 

Not from a nautical mile away. Most folks would rely on a Pan Pan call.

[Michael Hodgson]

7 minutes ago, melmerby said:

 

 

We should only adopt that when we also govern this lot :

[Mol_PMB]

1 hour ago, kevinlms said:

Anyone else who would be looking for the 3s button, long enough that it would be too late?

The 3s button is probably next to the any key

(as in 'press any key to continue')

[Pacific231G]

6 minutes ago, melmerby said:

Rhis incluse the black background

 

 

Bit of a mess then and I far prefer the version I posted.

One of the options in the original design was to quarter the English and Scottish crosses as is done with the elements of the royal standard

 

but I think that is too fussy for a national flag which needs instant recognition.

[25kV]

29 minutes ago, Michael Hodgson said:

 

Well there's always the Sealink flag

 

The logo of which mysteriously appeared on Aberdeen station's frontage a year or two ago, following a facelift.  And a month or two after that was spotted the correct way around.  Though whoever made the sign itself was a little imprecise with their dimensions in both cases.

(Most people wouldn't notice, but I am way fussy 😉!)

[KeithMacdonald]

[Pacific231G]

57 minutes ago, KeithMacdonald said:

 

Not from a nautical mile away. Most folks would rely on a Pan Pan call.

Only if you have radio.  I'm sure it was very useful-albeit limited in range-  when sighting flags was the only form of maritime communication. (Signal lamps such as Aldis didn't really appear until the late nineteenth century).

Pan (from the French panne meaning breakdown)  ) calls are used in both aviation and at sea but the distress call is Mayday, from the French M'aider - help me- though actually invented by a senior radio operator at Croydon Aerodrome in the 1920s. (I've never actually used Mayday though I have made pan pan calls a couple of times)

The Americans seem prone to muck around with all that "Are You Declaring an Emergency?"  stuff which has led to at least one bad accident though Mayday (preferably repeated three times) and Pan are in the FAA's procedures and are simple and clear (and make everyone else shut up).

I think that at sea failure of one's only engine would warrant a pan call- at least at first, but in the air, it would definitely be a Mayday.  There is also Securité which is for things like warnings of bad weather but I've never known anyone to use it.

Edited July 12 by Pacific231G

[Pacific231G]

54 minutes ago, Michael Hodgson said:

 

Well there's always the Sealink flag

 

 

There seems to have been some confusion about this. Trains in civilised countries travel on the left so the BR/National Rail double arrow represents up and down lines in the correct sense. For Sealink,  I could see a possible logic in the arrows representing ships passing port to port (and helping those who found it difficult to distinguish between a train and a ship) but I saw it painted both ways on the funnels of Sealink vessels with a convention that the upper arrow pointed forrard.   (What they did with the double ended IofW car ferries they ran I have no idea.) 

[melmerby]

1 hour ago, 25kV said:

The logo of which mysteriously appeared on Aberdeen station's frontage a year or two ago, following a facelift.  And a month or two after that was spotted the correct way around.  Though whoever made the sign itself was a little imprecise with their dimensions in both cases.

(Most people wouldn't notice, but I am way fussy 😉!)

 

Two vessels side by side:

 

Whatever way round you like it;s no different to this

:

Edited July 12 by melmerby

[Ian Morgan]

 

[J. S. Bach]

7 hours ago, Michael Hodgson said:

Why?  Most of us wouldn't notice if our own flag were flown upside down.

At an Ohio antique mall, I saw this:

And thought "The Union Jack does not have any stars!". I bought it anyway and when I unfolded it saw the Southern Cross star field so I now own an Aussie flag!

 

 

5 hours ago, Hroth said:

Its virtually impossible to see (especially at a distance) if a thin red strip in the top quarter of the hoist is closer to the upper blue area or not.

 

At least the Australian and New Zealand flags are easier to see if they're upside down or not... 🙃

When I was stationed at NAD Souda Bay, Crete, one Monday morning Colors, the Greek flag was hoisted upside-down. I seem to remember that it was not until sometime late in the day that it was noticed and corrected.