The Off Topic Topic

[Josquius]

Ebay item I was looking at:

Condition:
One careful owner, so as new with no significant signs of wear. Recently untested.

 

Whats the issue?
Just means to me it's been left in a box for years so might have died of its own accord but nothing to do with use.

[The Larch]

One for the "some people will resist any kind of change" files, a group of Utahns is resisting the state changing their current, hideous, flag for a modern one.

Will Utah's new state flag design head to a referendum first?
A group of residents under the name Referendum to Save Utah's Flag filed paperwork Monday seeking a referendum


Another twist in Utah's state flag saga has emerged less than a week after the state Legislature narrowly passed a bill that designates a new design.

A group of residents under the name Referendum to Save Utah's Flag filed paperwork Monday seeking a referendum on SB31, Lieutenant Governor Deidre Henderson's office confirmed Tuesday. If the group reaches enough confirmed signatures by mid-April, it would place the bill on the ballot this November.

Chad Saunders, one of the members of the group, posted photos on Facebook Sunday showing members filing the paperwork so it could be delivered to the state immediately on Monday.

"Let's make this happen!" he wrote on the page.

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox has not yet signed the bill, which cleared the Utah Legislature on Thursday after a lengthy process that dragged out throughout the legislative session. The bill was altered a few times, ultimately including language that designates the current design as Utah's "historical" flag.

House Majority Leader Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, said last week that the change essentially allows people to choose which flag to fly.

"This does not remove the current flag," he said. "This actually makes the current flag, I believe, in a more revered position as calling it the historical flag."

But since it only passed the Utah Senate with a 19-9 vote and the Utah House of Representatives with a 40-35 vote, it isn't shielded from a public referendum. And there was plenty of heated debate over the bill during the two public hearings on the matter this year.

Supporters of the referendum must gather signatures from 134,298 registered voters in 40 days in order for it to qualify for a vote in November, according to state law. There's also a provision that requires enough signatures from 15 of Utah's 29 counties in order for the referendum to land on the ballot.

"Once the signatures have been collected, they are sent to the county clerk's office for verification. The sponsors submit the packets in the same county where the signatures were collected," a spokesperson with Henderson's office explained Tuesday. "Approval or denial is based entirely on the number of signatures the sponsors receive and that counties are able to verify."

The deadline is April 12, officials added.

Members of the Utah State Flag Task Force selected the design in November after a nearly year-long competition that resulted in over 5,700 submitted flag designs. The Utah Legislature approved a slightly-altered design that was introduced in January.

A referendum wouldn't impact the timeline of the bill taking effect unless voters reject it. The bill wouldn't go into effect until March 9, 2024, per state code.

Defenders of the old flag have called the change "erasing our history", and "an example of modern woke cancel culture in action", and the new flag "marxist" and "pagan". 


The old flag:



The new one:

[The Brain]

Hints of Imperial Germany.

[Sheilbh]

Why are they changing it?

[The Larch]

Why are they changing it?

The fact that the old one is one of those atrocious "state seal on blue" seems good enough for me.

[Sheilbh]

RIP Mary Quant - one of the designers of sixties swinging London:
https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/gallery/2023/apr/13/dame-mary-quant-sixties-fashion-queen-a-life-in-pictures

[Valmy]

Why are they changing it?

Old one sucked. The new one is cool.

[Sheilbh]

Old one sucked. The new one is cool.

Not sure. The seal/logo/middle of the new one looks like a token you get in a video game

Neither feel like stone cold design classics to me...

[HVC]

Old one was busy, but interesting. New one makes it look like the want to be Honey Denver.

[Sheilbh]

I also judge all new flags with the proposed new New Zealand flag (sadly not allowed to participate in the referendum because the powers that be fear democracy) - and it's a high bar:

[Richard Hakluyt]

That one would have won if it wasn't for the dark elitist forces preventing its entry 

[Josquius]

The new flag is much better.
Again I chortle at the type who proclaims anything they don't like is Marxist - you just know they're also the sort to insist anytime mutters something about the far right they scream you just call everyone you don't like a nazi.

[FunkMonk]

I also judge all new flags with the proposed new New Zealand flag (sadly not allowed to participate in the referendum because the powers that be fear democracy) - and it's a high bar:

[FunkMonk]

Why are they changing it?

Old one sucked. The new one is cool.

I'm sorry but I can't agree. The new one looks like a new expansion sports team logo. GO UTAH BEES GO

Sure, the old one needs an update but I also like classic logos/seals. Maybe the Marxists who designed the new flag should go back to the drawing board.

[Valmy]

Why are they changing it?

Old one sucked. The new one is cool.

I'm sorry but I can't agree. The new one looks like a new expansion sports team logo. GO UTAH BEES GO

Sure, the old one needs an update but I also like classic logos/seals. Maybe the Marxists who designed the new flag should go back to the drawing board.

Seals are fine, but suck on flags. And the logo is the same, only recognizable on a flag.

And Marxists were pretty terrible at most things but damn it they could make good flags.