Completely Inconsequential Hot-Takes 2: People Take Too Long to Post New Threads

[Peelee]

It's better than the average state flag because it's not blue

Spoiler: Pictured: the average state flag

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If you want a cool state flag, it seems like the thing that does you most good is a border with Mexico. Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, California - those are the most memorable and beautiful state flags. California loses points for writing the name, but it's still memorable.

Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico all have great designs. California, not so much.

Also, while Alabama's flag is incredibly boring (and also the description is ridiculous, since there's a saltire that is exactly what our flag is, but our flag is officially a different saltire with the colors changed. Because Alabama is ****ing stupid), there once was a very similar flag (that our current one is derived from) flown over Alabama during Spanish rule which was much better designed. The Cross of Burgundy.

Spoiler: I maintain Alabama should change its flag back to this

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[Ionathus]

Just rewatched the CGP flag tier list video yesterday, this discussion is timely. For the record, my top contender is a tie between New Mexico and Alaska.

More states need to lean into the redesign. Blue flag with pointlessly detailed seal in the center is so last century.

[halfeye]

Just rewatched the CGP flag tier list video yesterday, this discussion is timely. For the record, my top contender is a tie between New Mexico and Alaska.

More states need to lean into the redesign. Blue flag with pointlessly detailed seal in the center is so last century.

Not the century before that?

[Ionathus]

Not the century before that?

That one, too!

[DavidSh]

One advantage of the needlessly complicated state seal on a blue field as a flag is that it guarantees that only a bona fide state agency would fly it. For example, you aren't going to see even the most patriotic New Yorkers flying the New York state flag, so if you are looking for the DMV, the flag is a much better clue.

[Peelee]

One advantage of the needlessly complicated state seal on a blue field as a flag is that it guarantees that only a bona fide state agency would fly it. For example, you aren't going to see even the most patriotic New Yorkers flying the New York state flag, so if you are looking for the DMV, the flag is a much better clue.

I'd argue that most people don't fly their state flags regardless of design.

Also,Texans are weird about Texas.

[Bohandas]

One advantage of the needlessly complicated state seal on a blue field as a flag is that it guarantees that only a bona fide state agency would fly it. For example, you aren't going to see even the most patriotic New Yorkers flying the New York state flag, so if you are looking for the DMV, the flag is a much better clue.

Plenty of people fly the USA's national flag and that's needlessly complicated

EDIT:
or at least needlessly cluttered

[SerTabris]

If you want a cool state flag, it seems like the thing that does you most good is a border with Mexico. Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, California - those are the most memorable and beautiful state flags. California loses points for writing the name, but it's still memorable.

One thing about the California state flag is that every time I see it, the first thing I do is look at the bear and count its heads.

[Batcathat]

One thing about the California state flag is that every time I see it, the first thing I do is look at the bear and count its heads.

Good to know I'm not alone in this. I think actually saw the NCR version first and was a little surprised to realize it was based on a real flag.

[Bohandas]

Good to know I'm not alone in this. I think actually saw the NCR version first and was a little surprised to realize it was based on a real flag.

Same here.

[DavidSh]

I'm guessing you are talking about some entity from a game, and not National Cash Register.

I suppose a better search would turn it up, but then this wouldn't be a hot take.

[Batcathat]

I'm guessing you are talking about some entity from a game, and not National Cash Register.

I suppose a better search would turn it up, but then this wouldn't be a hot take.

Indeed, the New California Republic from Fallout uses the California flag, except with an extra head on the bear (I'm not sure if the Fallout series ever has any two-headed bears, though they do have two-headed cows, at least).

[Rynjin]

Yeah, the two-headed bear is stylized even in-series, the mutated bears in Fallout (Yao Guai) are a helluva lot uglier and meaner than the one on that flag.

[Ionathus]

Plenty of people fly the USA's national flag and that's needlessly complicated

EDIT:
or at least needlessly cluttered

"Cluttered" is fair, but at least it's distinct. "Complicated" to me means that, if you asked me to sketch it, I would struggle to remember all its constituent parts. With the USA flag, the overall "structure" of the flag is pretty easy to recall.

Yeah, the two-headed bear is stylized even in-series, the mutated bears in Fallout (Yao Guai) are a helluva lot uglier and meaner than the one on that flag.

Dang, I'm getting Yao Guai flashbacks now. I'd genuinely forgot they were in the series -- they get pretty outshone by the Deathclaws. But Yao Guais are a force all of their own!

[Batcathat]

Dang, I'm getting Yao Guai flashbacks now. I'd genuinely forgot they were in the series -- they get pretty outshone by the Deathclaws. But Yao Guais are a force all of their own!

Yeah, I mostly remember the one you have to fight while high on some hallucinogen in Honest Hearts. I think it might be that the yao guai don't really have much of an identity, they're just weird looking bears. Or maybe the deathclaws just win by seniority, my strongest memories of them are pretty much all from Fallout 1 and 2 (and maybe Tactics, which I have kind of a soft spot for despite being uneven at best).

[Rockphed]

"Cluttered" is fair, but at least it's distinct. "Complicated" to me means that, if you asked me to sketch it, I would struggle to remember all its constituent parts. With the USA flag, the overall "structure" of the flag is pretty easy to recall.

Consider Canada's flag versus Mexico's flag. I can recognize either fairly easily, but if you ask me to draw either I will have a much easier time with Canada's than Mexico's. The bear flag is fairly easy to decribe and draw. New Mexico also has a straightforward flag. The US flag is a pain to draw completely, but the symbolism involved is simple to remember and easy to describe.

Many US states could follow the example of Utah and replace their super complicated flags with simpler designs. Utah used to follow the pack of "seal on a blue background". It recently changed it to the state symbol (a beehive in a hexagon) on a red, white, and blue background (with the stripes not being straight lines) and one other star. It is complicated enough to be distinct while being simple enough to be drawable.

[Rynjin]

I don't care if it's drawable, I want it to be interesting. The French flag is easy to draw, and that's a big part of why it sucks ass.

[veti]

Consider Canada's flag versus Mexico's flag. I can recognize either fairly easily, but if you ask me to draw either I will have a much easier time with Canada's than Mexico's. The bear flag is fairly easy to decribe and draw. New Mexico also has a straightforward flag. The US flag is a pain to draw completely, but the symbolism involved is simple to remember and easy to describe.

Many US states could follow the example of Utah and replace their super complicated flags with simpler designs. Utah used to follow the pack of "seal on a blue background". It recently changed it to the state symbol (a beehive in a hexagon) on a red, white, and blue background (with the stripes not being straight lines) and one other star. It is complicated enough to be distinct while being simple enough to be drawable.

The Mexican flag has a very straightforward, not to say boring, design until you get to the middle. Then suddenly it gets super intricate and basically impossible to draw.

But changing flags isn't as easy as it sounds. We in New Zealand went through this process in 2015-16. First there was a competition to design a new flag, then a referendum to pick the best design, and finally a second referendum to decide whether to switch from the old flag to the winner of the first referendum. Which felt like a lot of voting, but I think was the correct way to do it.

After all that, the second referendum voted not to change. But possibly only because this design hadn't even made it into step 2:

Spoiler

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[Coppercloud]

I don't care if it's drawable, I want it to be interesting. The French flag is easy to draw, and that's a big part of why it sucks ass.

Not casting Vicious Mockery in this thread, please, thank you.

[Rynjin]

Not casting Vicious Mockery in this thread, please, thank you.

Look I got nothing against ya but you can't pretend like the epitome of flag design is just stacking three colors on top of each other. France isn't the only country guilty of this but it's always the first one that comes to my mind.

[Batcathat]

Yeah, if we removed all flags that are three bars of colors on top of or next to each other and all the ones that's just a cross with a background there wouldn't be a lot of them left, at least not in Europe. (Personally, I think it's kinda funny that the legend behind the Swedish flag is that a king saw a golden cross against the blue sky... when it's extremely obvious that it's just a palette swap of the way older Danish flag ).

There's also not a lot of creativity in color choices. How many flags are red, white and blue or some combination there of?

[Coppercloud]

Look I got nothing against ya but you can't pretend like the epitome of flag design is just stacking three colors on top of each other. France isn't the only country guilty of this but it's always the first one that comes to my mind.

That was tongue-in-cheek. I only care about flags as an occasion to make fun of each other and have no strong feelings one way or the other. I actually just learned from Wikipedia that the blue of the French flag was made lighter in 1974 to match the flag of the European Union and apparently we're reverting to a darker hue.

[137beth]

Don't worry: once they asexuals conquer Denmark the Danish will have the best national flag.

Spoiler

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[Peelee]

Time for a new completely inconsequential hot take.

The rhyme "divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived" is about only two women, one of whom possessed magical powers.

[Ionathus]

Time for a new completely inconsequential hot take.

The rhyme "divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived" is about only two women, one of whom possessed magical powers.

If we're introducing magic into the "setting", why stop at two women? How about just one woman, who went through a really bad mid-life breakup but she got better?

Related: we saw the school version of SIX a few weekends ago and it was fantastic. The show is awesome to see live. It was a little strange to see teenagers singing about something as scandalous as Henry VIII's romantic pursuits: Katherine Howard's song is especially suggestive and the student version doesn't pull many punches, which definitely made the audience uncomfortable. However, that's unfortunately true to life -- and if anything, the performer was too old to play Katherine Howard. She was approximately sixteen when she married Henry, who was 49 at the time.

This forum needs a puking face emoji.

[Peelee]

If we're introducing magic into the "setting", why stop at two women? How about just one woman, who went through a really bad mid-life breakup but she got better?

Because the rhyme doesn't contain "revived". OBVIOUSLY.

[Ionathus]

Because the rhyme doesn't contain "revived". OBVIOUSLY.

Consider: lichdom.

[Peelee]

Consider: lichdom.

Spoiler

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