The State Flag of Republic of the Union of Myanmar was adopted on 21 October 2010, it is the only tricolour flag in Asia to utilize the colours of red, yellow and green in its design.
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| Flag of Myanmar. |
Flag of New South Wales
The current state flag of New South Wales was officially adopted by the government of New South Wales in 1876.
The flag is based on the defaced British Blue Ensign with the state badge located in the fly. The badge, based on the coat of arms, is a white disc with the cross of St George, a golden lion passant guardant in the centre of the cross and an eight-pointed gold star on each arm of the cross.
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| Flag of New South Wales. |
This flag was adopted due to criticisms from the British Admiralty that the previous design was too similar to the design of the Victorian flag.
The state badge was designed by the Colonial Architect James Barnet and Captain Francis Hixson, a retired Royal Navy officer. Even though no meaning for the design was given, it is perhaps a simplified version of what was the semi-official arms of New South Wales at the time.
The state badge was designed by the Colonial Architect James Barnet and Captain Francis Hixson, a retired Royal Navy officer. Even though no meaning for the design was given, it is perhaps a simplified version of what was the semi-official arms of New South Wales at the time.
Anthropocene
The Anthropocene is a proposed geological epoch dating from the commencement of significant human impact on Earth's geology and ecosystems, including, but not limited to, anthropogenic climate change.
As of April 2022, neither the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) nor the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) has officially approved the term as a recognised subdivision of geologic time, although the Anthropocene Working Group (AWG) of the Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy (SQS) of the ICS voted in April 2016 to proceed towards a formal golden spike (GSSP) proposal to define the Anthropocene epoch in the geologic time scale (GTS) and presented the recommendation to the International Geological Congress in August 2016. In May 2019, the AWG voted in favour of submitting a formal proposal to the ICS by 2021, locating potential stratigraphic markers to the mid-twentieth century of the common era. This time period coincides with the start of the Great Acceleration, a post-WWII time period during which socioeconomic and Earth system trends increase at a dramatic rate, and the Atomic Age.
Various start dates for the Anthropocene have been proposed, ranging from the beginning of the Agricultural Revolution 12,000–15,000 years ago, to as recently as the 1960s. The ratification process is still ongoing, and thus a date remains to be decided definitively, but the peak in radionuclides fallout consequential to atomic bomb testing during the 1950s has been more favoured than others, locating a possible beginning of the Anthropocene to the detonation of the first atomic bomb in 1945, or the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in 1963.
Iris hypothesis
The iris hypothesis is a hypothesis proposed by Richard Lindzen et al. in 2001 that suggested increased sea surface temperature in the tropics would result in reduced cirrus clouds and thus more infrared radiation leakage from Earth's atmosphere. His study of observed changes in cloud coverage and modeled effects on infrared radiation released to space as a result supported the hypothesis. This suggested infrared radiation leakage was hypothesized to be a negative feedback in which an initial warming would result in an overall cooling of the surface. The consensus view is that increased sea surface temperature would result in increased cirrus clouds and reduced infrared radiation leakage and therefore a positive feedback.
Other scientists subsequently tested the hypothesis. Some concluded that there was no evidence supporting the hypothesis. Others found evidence suggesting that increased sea surface temperature in the tropics did indeed reduce cirrus clouds but found that the effect was nonetheless a positive feedback rather than the negative feedback that Lindzen had hypothesized.
A later 2007 study conducted by Roy Spencer et al. using updated satellite data potentially supported the iris hypothesis. In 2011, Lindzen published a rebuttal to the main criticisms. In 2015, a paper was published which again suggested the possibility of an "Iris Effect". It also proposed what it called a "plausible physical mechanism for an iris effect." In 2017, a paper was published which found that "tropical anvil cirrus clouds exert a negative climate feedback in strong association with precipitation efficiency". If confirmed then that finding would be highly supportive of the existence of an "Iris Effect".
Conspicuous consumption
In sociology and in economics, the term conspicuous consumption describes and explains the consumer practice of buying and using goods of a higher quality, price, or in greater quantity than practical. In 1899, the sociologist Thorstein Veblen coined the term conspicuous consumption to explain the spending of money on and the acquiring of luxury commodities (goods and services) specifically as a public display of economic power—the income and the accumulated wealth—of the buyer. To the conspicuous consumer, the public display of discretionary income is an economic means of either attaining or of maintaining a given social status.
The development of Veblen's sociology of conspicuous consumption also identified and described other economic behaviours such as invidious consumption, which is the ostentatious consumption of goods, an action meant to provoke the envy of other people; and conspicuous compassion, the ostentatious use of charity meant to enhance the reputation and social prestige of the donor; thus the socio-economic practises of consumerism derive from conspicuous consumption.
Republic of Palau Convention History of the National Flag
Republic of Palau
History of the National Flag
In August 1979, the Palau Constitution was approved overwhelmingly by
the people and two important events had to take place before the
document became a working blueprint for the new country. These were
the election of the first president of Palau and members of the national
congress and the selection of the national flag.
The two historical events took place the following year and Haruo Ignacio Remeliik was chosen as Palau’s first president under the constitution. Not many people, however, particularly the younger generation, know how our flag was selected and what that emblem stands for.
The Seventh Palau Legislature on its Sixth Special Session enacted public law no. 6-6s-7 establishing a Palau National Flag Commission to organize a nation-wide contest for the creation of the national flag. The Palau National Flag Commission was organized to review the submissions and to choose one from among them as the flag of Palau. Blau J. Skebong (Framer) of Ngeremlengui submitted the entry that was eventually selected as the flag of the Republic of Palau.
The Republic of Palau flag is a golden-yellow full moon slightly offcentered on a field of sky-blue. The width of the Republic of Palau flag bears the ratio to its length of 1.0 to 1.6 and diameter of the moon bears the ratio to the width of the lag of 0.6 to 1.0. The distances from the top and bottom of the flag to the center of the moon is equal. The flag may be reproduced for unofficial purposes with different dimensions and appropriate devices for attaching the flag to a mast, staff, or other means of display may be added discretely to the flag.
It was a simple design loaded with special meanings for the people of Palau. It was a full moon, in all its glory, superimposed on a sky-blue background. As can be readily seen, all the items enumerated herein are crucial for the survival of island peoples in a vast and largely empty Pacific Ocean.
Meaning of the National Flag
According to Palauan legend, Iyechadrenger from Retech carved the
moon out of an orange tree, which was cut from a place called Iderurt.
The following were the functions of the invention:
1. To establish important periods in nature, including days and
nights in the lunar cycle, and to shed pleasant light on the world.
2. To regulate human and animal births, the spawning of fishes,
and the flowering of plants and trees.
3. To regulate important events such as the construction of homes
and canoes, the migration of fishes, the launching of fishing
expeditions, the initiation of community projects, and the
commencement of business ventures.
4. To regulate the rise and fall of tides and to establish seasons for
planting food crops.
5. The moon, like a ripening fruit, also indicates that Palau is
emerging as an independent nation and is taking its rightful
place among the community of nations.
Explanation for the colors of the flag
The blue color on the flag stands for two things. First, it indicates that we
are located in the vast, blue Pacific Ocean. Second, it conveys a sense of
emergence from under the shadows of many different countries that
governed Palau in the past.
The gold or yellow color indicates that we are “ripe” and have become an independent country. It also indicates that the world we are entering into is a bright world full of opportunities for all.
Source: Bureau of Domestic Affairs, Ministry of State, ROP
https://web.archive.org/web/20060815161815/http://www.palauconcon2.com/_doc/Palau%20flag%20description.pdf
Flag of Palau
The flag of Palau was adopted on 1 January 1981, when the island group separated from the United Nations Trust Territory. As with the flags of several other Pacific island groups, light blue is the color used to represent the ocean and the nation's place within it. While this puts Palau in common with the Federated States of Micronesia and other neighboring island groups, the disc on the flag (similar to that on Japan's flag) is off-centre like that of the flag of Bangladesh, but in this case the disc represents the moon instead of the sun. The current flag was introduced in 1981 when Palau became a republic.
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| Flag of Palau. |
Previously, the flag of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands was flown jointly with the United Nations and American flags. The explanation for the choice of colors is rooted in the history and customs of the Palauan people. The light blue of the field symbolizes the Pacific Ocean, and also represents the transition from foreign domination to self-government. The golden disk, which sits slightly off-center toward the hoist, represents the full moon. The Palauans consider the full moon to be the optimum time for human activity. At this time of the month, celebrations, fishing, sowing, harvesting, tree-felling, and the carving of traditional canoes are carried out. The moon is a symbol of peace, love, and tranquility.
The Armero tragedy: lessons for mental health professionals
The Armero tragedy: lessons for mental health professionals
Raquel E. Cohen, M.D. MPH.
Abstract
A U.S. mental health consultant worked closely with medical personnel soon after a volcanic eruption and mud avalanche killed about 22,000 persons and devastated the area around Armero, Colombia. The consultant conducted workshops and courses on crisis intervention for health personnel operating disaster relief units and for mental health professionals, pediatric nurses, and family workers; she also provided consultations to clinic and shelter directors and case consultation with hospitalized victims. Observations of early postdisaster responses of hospitalized victims showed recurring themes such as victims' ambivalence about learning the full extent of the disaster and their own losses, delayed mourning because many bodies could not be recovered, somatic expressions of anxiety and fear, and the use of primitive defenses, such as magical thinking.
Since the eruption of Mt. St. Helens, has anyone beaten you up? Improving the accuracy of retrospective reports with landmark events
Since the eruption of Mt. St. Helens, has anyone beaten you up? Improving the accuracy of retrospective reports with landmark events
Memory & Cognition
1983, Vol. 11 (2),114-120
ELIZABETH F. LOFTUS and WESLEY MARBURGER
University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195
When people are questioned about past experiences, it is common for events to be reported
as happening more recently than they actually did. One technique for reducing the instances
of this "forward telescoping" is tested in the current research: It involves the provision of land·
mark events that can clearly mark the beginning of the reference period. Such a technique
was shown to reduce the telescoping problem in five experiments, involving 1,694 subjects.
The landmark event used in two of the studies was the first major eruption of Mt. St. Helens,
and use of this event was shown to significantly reduce the incidence of forward telescoping
of crime victimizations. Asking subjects to provide their own personal landmarks had similar
beneficial effects. Finally, a more usual public landmark event, New Year's day, substantially
reduced forward telescoping. At least part, but not all, of the benefit of landmark events
appears to be due to their being dated rather precisely.
Emerging education hubs: the case of Singapore
Emerging education hubs: the case of Singapore
Ravinder Sidhu • K.-C. Ho • Brenda Yeoh
Abstract
In anticipation of a globalising post-Fordist political economy, countries and universities are increasingly pursuing strategic transnational education and research alliances. This article analyses the Global Schoolhouse, a key education policy platform that aims to transform Singapore into a knowledge and innovation hub by establishing networks and collaborations with foreign universities. Two Global Schoolhouse initiatives are examined—the alliance between Singapore and MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), and the institutional restructuring aimed at re-modelling the National University of Singapore into a ‘leading global university centred in Asia’. We outline some of the complexities and unanticipated outcomes which emerge when nations and their education institutions seek to globalise.
Singaporeans in China: transnational women elites and the negotiation of gendered identities
Singaporeans in China: transnational women elites and the negotiation of gendered identities
Brenda S.A. Yeoh
Department of Geography, National University of Singapore, 1 Arts Link, Singapore 117570, Singapore
Katie Willis
Department of Geography, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX, UK
Globalising Singapore: Debating Transnational Flows in the City
Globalising Singapore: Debating Transnational Flows in the City
Brenda S. A. Yeoh and T. C. Chang
Urban Studies, Vol. 38, No. 7, 1025– 1044, 2001
Geographies of responsibility
Geographies of responsibility
by Doreen Massey
Massey, D., 2004: Geographies of responsibility. Geogr. Ann., 86 B (1): 5–18.
ABSTRACT. Issues of space, place and politics run deep. There is a long history of the entanglement of the conceptualisation of space and place with the framing of political positions. The injunction to think space relationally is a very general one and, as this collection indicates, can lead in many directions. The particular avenue to be explored in this paper concerns the relationship between identity and responsibility, and the potential geographies of both.
Key words: space, place, identity, responsibility
Observations on some Holocene glacier fluctuations in West Greenland
Observations on Some Holocene Glacier Fluctuations in West Greenland.
Anker Weidick. Reitzel, 1968
Abstract
HistoricaI and contemporary data record a major fluctuation of the position
of the Inland Ice and local glaciation ice margins in the area. Regardless of the
glacier type these frontal fluctuations are mostly in phase, with glacial readvances
occurring around 1650(?), 1750(?), 1850(?), 1890 and 1920 A.D. Correlation with
meteorological data suggests the operation of a delay of a few to twenty years before
glacier response to climatic fluctuation. Whilst the individual readvances generally are
recognisable throughout the area their magnitude shows a regional variation. Thus,
near the coast and in South Greenland the readvances before 1850 produced the
historicaI maximum extent of glaciers, whilst in the northernmost part of the area,
Nugssuaq peninsula and Umanak district, the advance of 1920 in part was responsibIe for the maximum extent. The historicaI frontal fluctuation corresponded with
a fluctuation of the glaciation limits of 100-200 m.
As a whole the deposits of the historicaI glacier advance form a zone marking
a single stage in the extent of the glaciers. Zones of Inland Ice margin deposits of a similar magnitude of prehistoric age, have been widely recognized in the area. Three zones have been distinguished; an inner zone, an outer zone and a nunatak zone. The
inner zone possibly includes several stages, but the main features date from subboreal or early subatlantic times. The outer zone comprises two stages formed at
7,500-8,500 and 9,000-9,500 B.P., whilst the nunatak zone (comprising several
stages) was formed before or around 10,000 B.P.
Prehistoric ice margin stages of local glaciers have been less extensively investigated. In general, they indicate only late and slight development of local glaciers due, it is believed, to the glaciation limit at the time of the retreat of the continental glaciation being aIready too high for their widespread development. An exception from this general trend is in the Julianehåb district where the more rapid
disappearance of the continental glaciers may have favoured the better development of local glaciers.
Vegetational areas of Texas
FRANK W. GOULD, TEXAS AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION
GARLYN O. HOFFMAN, TEXAS AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION SERVICE
TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY
CLARENCE A. RECHENTHIN, SOIL CONSERVATION SERVICE, USDA
June 1960
Flag of Tristan da Cunha
The flag of Tristan da Cunha was adopted on October 20, 2002, in a proclamation made by the Governor of Saint Helena under a Royal Warrant granted by Queen Elizabeth II.
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| Flag of Tristan da Cunha. |
The flag is a blue ensign design, defaced with the coat of arms of Tristan da Cunha — a Tristan longboat above a Naval Crown, with a central shield decorated with four yellow-nosed albatross and flanked by two Tristan rock lobsters. Below this, there is a scroll with the territory's motto, Our faith is our strength.
Flag of Singapore
The Flag of Singapore was adopted in 1959, the year Singapore became self-governing within the British Empire. It remained the national flag upon the country's independence from Malaysia on 9 August 1965. The design is a horizontal bicolour of red above white, overlaid in the canton (upper-left quadrant) by a white crescent moon facing a pentagon of five small white five-pointed stars. The elements of the flag denote a young nation on the ascendant, universal brotherhood and equality, and national ideals.
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| Flag of Singapore. |
Vessels at sea do not use the national flag as an ensign. Merchant vessels and pleasure craft fly a civil ensign of red charged in white with a variant of the crescent and stars emblem in the centre. Non-military government vessels such as coast guard ships fly a state ensign of blue with the national flag in the canton, charged with an eight-pointed red and white compass rose in the lower fly. Naval warships fly a naval ensign similar to the state ensign, but in white with a red compass rose emblem.
Rules defined by the Singapore Arms and Flag and National Anthem Act govern the use and display of the national flag. Private citizens are allowed to incorporate the flag into designs for other objects from 1 July to 30 September, so long as the action is not disrespectful.
Flag of Uganda
The flag of Uganda (Ugandan Languages: Bendera ya Uganda) was adopted on 9 October 1962, the date that Uganda became independent from the British Empire. It consists of six equal horizontal bands of black (top), yellow, red, black, yellow, and red (bottom); a white disc is superimposed at the centre and depicts the national symbol, a grey crowned crane, facing the hoist's side.
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| Flag of Uganda. |
During the colonial era the British used a British Blue ensign defaced with the colonial badge, as prescribed in 1865 regulations. Buganda, the largest of the traditional kingdoms in the colony of Uganda, had its own flag. However, in order to avoid appearing to give preference to one region of the colony over any other, the British colonial authorities selected the crane emblem for use on the Blue ensign and other official banners.
Flag of Trinidad and Tobago
The flag of Trinidad and Tobago was adopted upon independence from the United Kingdom on 31 August 1962. Designed by Carlisle Chang (1921–2001), the flag of Trinidad and Tobago was chosen by the independence committee of 1962. Red, black and white symbolise fire (the sun, representing courage), earth (representing dedication) and water (representing purity and equality).
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| Flag of Trinidad and Tobago. |
It is one of the few national flags incorporating a diagonal line, with other examples including the DR Congo, Tanzania, Namibia, and Brunei.
Flag of Gabon
The flag of Gabon (French: drapeau du Gabon) is a tricolour consisting of three horizontal green, yellow and blue bands.
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| Flag of Gabon. |
Adopted in 1960 to replace the previous colonial flag containing the French Tricolour at the canton, it has been the flag of the Gabonese Republic since the country gained independence that year. The design of the present flag entailed the removal the Tricolour and the widening of the yellow stripe at the centre.
Flag of Cameroon
The national flag of Cameroon (French: drapeau du Cameroun) was adopted in its present form on 20 May 1975 after Cameroon became a unitary state. It is a vertical tricolour of green, red and yellow, with a five-pointed star in its center.
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| Flag of Cameroon. |
There is a wide variation in the size of the central star, although it is always contained within the inside stripe.
Flag of Grenada
The flag of Grenada consists of two yellow triangles at the top and bottom and two green triangles at the hoist and fly.
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| Flag of Grenada. |
These are surrounded by a red border charged with six five-pointed yellow stars – three at the top centre and three at the bottom centre – along with an additional star on a red disc at the centre and a nutmeg at the hoist triangle. Adopted in 1974 to replace the temporary design used since the islands became an Associated State of the United Kingdom, it has been the flag of Grenada since the country gained independence that year. The representation of a nutmeg is symbolic of the islands' primary export, and was the one feature from the previous flag that was preserved.
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