Starship Asterisk*

SteveInNZ wrote:

RJN wrote:
OK OK! The text has now been updated to include New Zealand. Apologies! - RJN

In the spirit of "you just can't win", New Zealand voters are about hold a referendum to select a possible replacement flag. Only two of the five new flag contenders include the Southern Cross.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand_flag_debate wrote:

[b][color=#0040BF][size=135]Hundertwasser's koru flag represents an uncurling fern frond in the form of a stylised koru, a traditional Māori carving pattern.[/size][/color][/b]

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<<New Zealand has a history of debate about whether the national flag should be changed. For several decades, alternative designs have been proposed - with varying degrees of support. The national flag is too similar to the flag of Australia and the two are often confused. While this is not unique among world flags (e.g. the flags of Romania and Chad, Indonesia and Poland, and Ivory Coast and Ireland are often confused with each other), it is exacerbated by Australia and New Zealand's close ties. For example, in 1984 the Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke was greeted by New Zealand flags when visiting Ottawa, and the current New Zealand prime minister John Key says he has been seated under the Australian flag in several international meetings.>>

RJN wrote:

KiwiBill wrote:The Australian flag does include the Southern Cross among its seven stars. The very similar New Zealand flag features only the four stars of the Southern Cross.

OK OK! The text has now been updated to include New Zealand. Apologies!

- RJN

Wikipedia wrote:

Click to view full size image

Friedensreich Hundertwasser.
Photo: Hannes Grobe

Friedensreich Hundertwasser

Friedensreich Regentag Dunkelbunt Hundertwasser (December 15, 1928 – February 19, 2000) was an Austrian artist[1] and architect. who worked also in the field of environmental protection. His real name being Stowasser, his pseudonym Hundertwasser (by which he is known worldwide) comes from sto in Slavic languages, meaning "hundred".

He stood out as an opponent of "a straight line" and any standardization, expressing this concept in the field of building design. His best known work is considered Hundertwasserhaus in Vienna, Austria which has become a notable place of interest in the Austrian capital characterized by imaginative vitality and uniqueness.

Artistic style and themes

Hundertwasser's original and unruly artistic vision expressed itself in pictorial art, environmentalism, philosophy, and design of facades, postage stamps, flags, and clothing (among other areas). The common themes in his work utilised bright colours, organic forms, a reconciliation of humans with nature, and a strong individualism, rejecting straight lines.

He remains sui generis, although his architectural work is comparable to Antoni Gaudí (1852–1926) in its use of biomorphic forms and the use of tile. He was also inspired by the art of the Vienna Secession, and by the Austrian painters Egon Schiele (1890–1918) and Gustav Klimt (1862–1918).

He was fascinated by spirals, and called straight lines "godless and immoral" and "something cowardly drawn with a rule, without thought or feeling"[10] He called his theory of art "transautomatism", focusing on the experience of the viewer rather than the artist.[11] This was encapsulated by his design of a new flag for New Zealand, which incorporated the image of the Koru a spiral shape based on the image of a new unfurling silver fern frond and symbolizing new life, growth, strength and peace according to the Māori people.

Nitpicker wrote:

RJN wrote:

KiwiBill wrote:The Australian flag does include the Southern Cross among its seven stars. The very similar New Zealand flag features only the four stars of the Southern Cross.

OK OK! The text has now been updated to include New Zealand. Apologies!

- RJN

The citizens of Brazil, Papua New Guinea and Samoa, might also be getting a little restless.

KiwiBill, the reason Epsilson Crucis is not visible on the NZ flag, is only because the flag is too damn dim.