Posts Tagged ‘road signs’
Taking it to the streets…
From traditional road signs…
… to the more modern electric variety…
… to the road itself…
… local artists and hackers around the world are adding spice to the daily drive. See more at Web Urbanist’s “Culture Jamming: New Subversive Signs of Our Times.”
As we search for spray paint in an environmentally-friendly non-aerosol can, we might recall that it was on this date in 1902 that Henry Leland formed the Cadillac Automobile Company. When Henry Ford left the Henry Ford Company with several of his top lieutenants earlier that year to start the Ford Motor Company, the stranded financiers asked Leland, a master engineer, to appraise the plant and equipment for sale. In the event, Leland bought the assets and re-started the operation, naming the new venture after his ancestor, Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, the founder of the city of Detroit. The company’s logo– the crest– is based on a coat of arms that Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac had created at the time of his marriage in 1687.
But while Leland is best remembered for Cadillac, he has arguably touched more lives via his invention of electric barber clippers.
“Thou hast set all the borders of the earth…” but then humans marked them…
Fifty states, fifty welcome signs.
(“Thou hast set all the borders of the earth…” Psalms 74:17)
As we gas up and hit the road to collect ’em all, we might recall that it was on this date in 1777 that the Marine Committee of the Second Continental Congress passed the Flag Resolution– and the Stars and Stripes was adopted as the flag of the United States of America for maritime purposes. While Congress reserved the right to adopt a different design for the nation’s ensign, it never did; rather it just added stars to the original thirteen for each new state in the Union.
The resolution specified “that the flag of the United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new Constellation”– but it did not specify the layout of the stars. Consequently there were several early versions, for instance:
In 1795, the number of stars and stripes was increased to 15 (reflecting the entry of Kentucky and Vermont). It was about this flag the Francis Scott Key wrote “The Star-Spangled Banner”– and the dye was cast.
Happy Flag Day!
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