In the US, today is Flag Day - the anniversary of the Flag Resolution of 1777. This day of observance was officially established by the Proclamation of President Woodrow Wilson on May 30th, 1916. On August 3rd, 1949, President Truman signed an Act of Congress designating June 14th of each year as National Flag Day.

The US Flag is a symbol of our unity, of our national pride, and of the cost of our freedoms. It has had several forms in the last 237 years, but has always flown, has always led, and never wavered.

It has flown over almost every point on Earth and was the first flag on the Moon.

These images show the massive construction project going on hundreds of feet below Grand Central Station in New York City. These raw tunnels are projected to carry 162,000 passengers per day starting in 2019.

A guy in love with space exploration and the money to put behind it. You have to at least admire the adventurism, if not the slightly off-kilter aspect of it. 

Taken in context, it isn’t that different from the risks taken by Columbus, Magellen, and the multitudes of Earth-bound explorers that preceded them in history.

The Mobile Gov blog reports that Centers for Disease Control has launched a new tablet app/game called “Solve the Outbreak”. It was designed to demonstrate and teach how CDC’s disease detectives save lives everyday.

There are many theories tied to the Higgs-Boson particle, but this is one of the most extreme I have come across. Theoretical physicist Joseph Lykken posits that this could happen in the future. He also adds, “So in principle it could happen tomorrow, but then most likely in a very distant galaxy, so we are still safe for billions of years before it gets to us.”

It’s about time soccer had this technology. Now, if we could only add a vuvazella white noise generator.

Interesting tactic for a hacker, going after the yucks.

Scientists use satellite images of penguin guano to find 10 unknown colonies, one of which had over 9,000 penguins.

Forensic examination of the remains foudnburied beneath a parking lot may be those of the lost King Richard III, whom Shakespeare skewered in his works. The BBC will air a special on Feb 4 to unveil the results.

Here is another article on the significance of the find, if it does turn out to be King Richard III. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-21083005#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

Update: it was announced this morning that DNA tests conclusively indicate that the remains are indeed those of Richard III. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21319148

In this BBC News interview, Former Vice President Al Gore compares democracy to a hacked operating system. His perspective is that large corporations and well-funded special interests have “hacked” the system by finding vulnerabilities and exploiting them for their own purpose.

He suggests that representative democracy can be restored by citizens making use of the Internet.