Editing 1815: Flag

{{comic
| number    = 1815
| date      = March 24, 2017
| title     = Flag
| image     = flag.png
| titletext = There's a compromise bill to keep the notification bar but at least charge the battery.
}}

==Explanation==


Presumably [[Randall]] was hired by a committee to propose a new {{w|flag}} for an unspecified country. His process of editing the flag involved taking a screenshot of his design to export it, a mistake that went unnoticed by anyone until the flag was officially implemented.

Once the problem was pointed out, the design committee placed the blame on Randall, but could not immediately undo their decision until new suggestions had been submitted and a new committee could agree on another design. Thus the country is now stuck with this design, making it the only country with such a bar in the flag.

The title text mentions a compromise bill that will change the flag. This implies that the flag was approved with the status bar included. Apparently, there is some controversy about removing the status bar from the flag, as the compromise bill proposes keeping the status bar and changing the displayed percentage of the battery from 39% to 100%. This may be wordplay on the term "charge" as used in {{w|vexillology}}, where it refers to a figure appearing on the background of the flag. It may also be a reference to [[1373: Screenshot]].

===Flag design===
The ''bar'' in ''notification bar'', is a vexillological descriptor, as in the "{{w|Flags_of_the_Confederate_States_of_America#First_flag:_the_.22Stars_and_Bars.22_.281861.E2.80.931863.29|Stars and Bars}}," a term used for the first flag of the {{w|Confederate States of America}}, not to be confused with [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stars_and_bars_(combinatorics) the counting technique.]

Flags are often minimalist and involve geometric shapes and solid colors. A notification bar at the top of the flag would clash with these design elements and look unprofessional.{{Citation needed}} The flag in the comic is otherwise well-designed, conforming with a principle of heraldry and vexillology known as the {{w|rule of tincture}}: the "metals" consist of white/silver and yellow/gold, while the "colors" consist of red, blue, green, black, and purple; anything in the "metal" category should only be placed upon a background of the "color" category and vice versa.

The elements of the flag's intended design&mdash;the colors red, white, and blue; the use of stripes; and the star emblems&mdash;are the same that are used in the American flag the {{w|Flag of the United States|Stars and Stripes}}.

The elements of this flag are, however, also present in several other existing flags, like those derived from {{w|Union Jack}}, the flag of the {{w|United Kingdom}}, and like the flags of {{w|Flag_of_Australia|Australia}} and {{w|Flag_of_New_Zealand|New Zealand}}. They are also in the flags of {{w|Flag of North Korea|North Korea}}, {{w|Flag_of_Liberia|Liberia}}, and {{w|Flag_of_Malaysia|Malaysia}}. The flags from USA, Australia, Liberia and Chile have [[commons:Category:Flags_with_white_stars|white stars]], and those of USA and Liberia have [[commons:Category:Flags_with_white_stripes|white bars]] as well.

===Theories===
The low battery status might imply that the country is low on resources. It thus seems like people have taken the reference to modern times smartphones to their hearts and actually wish to have this very modern design.

But if they indeed continue with this idea, thinking that their country would look better with a full battery charge, they might also consider changing the 3G connection to the newer {{w|4G}} or {{w|5G}} version, according to what was available at that time in that location, and giving the phone a full signal (5/5 instead of only 3/5 dots). And maybe also choose a time that would mean something rather than 5:48 PM. For instance noon/midnight, or 8:00.

The reason such a status bar could be missed in the first place could be that most people today look at pictures on their smartphones all the time, and thus their own phone's status bar is indirectly included at the top of all the pictures they see. People thus do not notice these status bars any longer as they are always there and clearly not important for the picture. Randall has mentioned before, in [[1373: Screenshot]], that he cannot take smartphone screenshots seriously if the battery of the device is low, as he cannot focus on the content, becoming afraid his own device is running out of power—a problem that only occurs if he sees it on his smartphone, as he then becomes concerned that it is his phone that is about to run out of charge. But in this status bar, there is still 39%, enough not to cause immediate concern. His fear of losing his on-line connection like this was the joke in the comic [[1802: Phone]] released about a month before this one.

Since Randall was asked to create this flag, it seems most likely that he would have to be a citizen of this new country. It could thus indicate that a group of states has broken free from the United States to form their own smaller union of three states, one for each star. With the current political situation in the states after {{w|Donald Trump|Donald Trump’s}} {{w|Inauguration of Donald Trump|inauguration}} there has been some talk about states leaving the USA, and Randall has clearly been against the election of Trump, see [[1756: I'm With Her]]. His choice of comic subjects seems to have been [[Sad_comics|affected]] by the election result. Since Randall lives in {{w|Massachusetts}}, it could be this and two other nearby states that have formed their own new union of states, maybe the other two small states {{w|Connecticut}} and {{w|Rhode Island}}.

==Transcript==
:[A three-colored flag is shown, divided in vertical thirds. The left and rightmost parts of the flag are dark blue, and the center is red and each section has a large white star in its center. Neighboring thirds are separated by a thinner white vertical stripe. At the top of the flag, there is an off-white status bar like one found at the top of an iOS smart device. On the left it is displaying the strength of the connection (3/5 dots), in the center it is displaying the time and on the right there are three small icons the last is the battery charge:]
:3G
:5:48 PM 
:39%

:[Below the panel there are two captions]
:The design committee fired me once they realized that my editing process involved a screenshot, but it was too late.
:Until they change it, our new country has the only national flag to include a phone notification bar.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Smartphones]]