Talk:Flag of California
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[edit] hahaha
danmark er .. The popular urban legend site Snopes[1] asserts as true the suggestion that the flag was originally to have a pear, rather than a bear. Ferg2k 21:16, 5 September 2005 (UTC)
- Er, no it doesn't. -EDM 05:52, 17 September 2005 (UTC)
[edit] design
This flag looks like very soviet: the russian bear with the red star of communism. Were there any plans to replace it during the Cold War?
- No reason why they would - the bear flag dates back to the 1840s, half a century before the bolshevik revolution in Russia and long before the star became associated with communism... Martan 14:06, 3 November 2006 (UTC)
The flag is very similar in design to the city flag of Berlin--which is also predominantly white, with a red lower border, and a bear. Is this just co-incidence?
[edit] Flag in SVG format
Can anyone make a vector image of this flag: 
?
There's already this flag: 
in SVG format, but it is inferior in design to the png above. OzLawyer 14:07, 9 August 2006 (UTC)
- Hi. I have updated Image:Flag_of_California.svg, changing the coloration and the font to more closely match the PNG flag. Please review those changes. If there are further changes you would recommend, please let me know what they are. Thanks. --ChrisRuvolo (t) 02:45, 21 December 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Grizzly Bear is animal on flag
The following is the quote from the official State of California website about the California state flag:
"On June 14, 1846, a small band of settlers marched on the Mexican garrison at Sonoma and took the commandant, Mariano Vallejo, prisoner, They issued a proclamation which declared California to be a Republic independent of Mexico. This uprising became known as the Bear Flag Revolt after the hastily designed flag depicting a grizzly bear and a five pointed star over a red bar and the words "California Republic." The grizzly bear was a symbol of great strength while the lone star made reference to the lone Star of Texas. The flag only flew until July 9, 1846 when it was learned that Mexico and the United States were already at war. Soon after, the Bear Flag was replaced with the American flag. It was adopted as the State Flag by the State Legislature in 1911." (Emphasis supplied.)
In addition, the official "State Animal" is the "California Grizzly Bear." The following is the quote from the official State of California website about the State Animal:
"The California grizzly bear (Ursus californicus) was designated official State Animal in 1953. Before dying out in California, this largest and most powerful of carnivores thrived in the great valleys and low mountains of the state, probably in greater numbers than anywhere else in the United States. As humans began to populate California, the grizzly stood its ground, refusing to retreat in the face of advancing civilization. It killed livestock and interfered with settlers. Less than 75 years after the discovery of gold, every grizzly bear in California had been tracked down and killed. The last one was killed in Tulare County in August 1922, more than 20 years before the authority to regulate the take of fish and wildlife was delegated to the California Fish and Game Commission by the State Legislature."
[edit] Cuffy bear copyvio?
It's possible that this paragraph may be a copyright violation:
- Two days later Navy Lt. Joseph Warren Revere arrived in Sonoma and hauled down the Bear Flag, running up in its place the Stars and Stripes. Revere handed the Bear Flag to Midshipman John E. Montgomery, who, because the flag snagged a few times as it was lowered, would later write in a letter to his mother "Cuffy came down growling"—"Cuffy" being his nickname for the bear on the flag.
I found the same text at http://www.vom.com/bearflag/afterrev.html. It's also possible that the vom.com site did the taking, since the modification date on their page is November 2005 and the text was added in the January 2004 version of this article. The earliest vom.com version in the Wayback Machine is from May 2006 and shows the same modification date as the version currently on their site. Mike Dillon 19:10, 22 December 2006 (UTC)
- Hmmm. I just noticed that the revision I cited also added a reference to http://www.vom.com/bearflag/REVOLT.HTM... Wayback Machine shows the "Cuffy" text in the February 2, 1998 version of http://www.vom.com/bearflag/afterrev.htm, so I guess it is a copyvio. Mike Dillon 19:16, 22 December 2006 (UTC)
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- We'd have to double-check that there isn't some still earlier PD source, such as the Bancroft text, or a Calif. state (PD) source for the sentences. NorCalHistory 02:53, 23 December 2006 (UTC)
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- I was mainly just trying to see if it was accurate that "cuffy" was Montgomery's nickname for the bear and not a more general nickname for bears when I came across the text. It seems not since there were a number of children's books by Arthur Scott Bailey in 1929 called "The Tale of Cuffy Bear and..." (e.g. The Tale of Cuffy Bear and the Circus). See http://www.hstreasures.com/arthurscottbailey.html. It's possible that Bailey got the name from a California history text, but that seems doubtful. Mike Dillon 03:03, 23 December 2006 (UTC)
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[edit] Explanation of Snopes web spoof
Snopes explains that the pear/bear story is a spoof here. NorCalHistory 15:16, 31 January 2007 (UTC)
Thank you, I have learned my lesson :) Somaticvibe 21:35, 1 February 2007 (UTC)
