Thinking about this biohazard symbol.

3 crescents overlapping a circle.

Quick search results this:

It was developed in 1966 by Charles L. Baldwin of Dow Chemicals and Robert S. Runkle of the NIH. Baldwin, an environmental health engineer, wanted the symbol to be “memorable but meaningless” so that they may educate people as to what it means.

New York Times Magazine November 18, 2001

Symbol Making

Charles Baldwin, a retired environmental-health engineer, explains his role in developing the biohazard symbol, which is now showing up everywhere.

I was working with the Dow Chemical company at the time, in 1966, developing containment systems for the Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health. And it became obvious to us that there were a lot of different so-called warning symbols in the various laboratories that we visited, but there was no standardization. We saw a need for this kind of a symbol and proceeded to develop some symbols with the help of the Dow marketing people – the package-design department, I think it was called. The only parameters that I set down for them to noodle through were, it had to be unique and something that would be striking enough that it would be remembered. We wanted something that was memorable but meaningless, so we could educate people as to what it means.

''We tested the sample symbols across the country – the marketing department had survey groups to test different labels for Dow products. There were half a dozen of our original symbols in this survey of 24 different symbols. The rest were recognizable, like the peanut man for Planter's peanuts, the Texaco star, the Shell Oil symbol, the Red Cross and the swastika. They were asked to look at them and then asked to guess at what each one meant. The biohazard symbol got the fewest guesses. Then we went back one week later to the same set of people and the same set of symbols, plus 36 more common ones, and asked them which of these did they remember the best. And they picked out the biohazard symbol.

''The color was blaze orange, one of the colors chosen in Arctic exploration as being the most visible under the most conditions. It was three-sided because if it were on a box containing biohazardous material and the box was moved around, transported, it might wind up in different positions. Another thing – we needed something that was easily stenciled.

''The next major step was presenting it to the scientific community. I did that by writing a paper in the journal Science. The next was to get the authorization from the various people that would be using it. As soon as it was adopted by the Centers for Disease Control, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the National Institutes of Health, that's pretty good acceptance. And that was it.

Every time I go into the doctor's office or the dentist's office or a hospital anywhere, I've always got my eye out for it. Naturally, I'm proud of the fact that I was able to come up with something, or direct a program that evolved into this symbol that's so widely recognized, so helpful. But I ran into a peculiar situation one time a couple years ago when someone was putting on a seminar on biohazards. As gifts for the participants, he devised a beautiful tie with little biohazard symbols all over it. This got me upset, and I sent him kind of a nasty letter saying this symbol was not designed to be used sartorially.

https://web.archive.org/web/20110716160837/http://www.hms.harvard.edu/orsp/coms/BiosafetyResources/History-of-Biohazard-Symbol.htm

>>15842293

HISTORY OF THE BIOHAZARD SYMBOL

The biohazard symbol has a rich and fascinating history. While it seems abstract at first glance, both biologists and laymen can quickly and easily grasp its warning.

Only fifty years ago, the symbol was entirely unknown, but today we see the biohazard symbol in clinics, labs, and even on skateboards!

This now-ubiquitous symbol was created with some thorough testing and decision-making by scientists and psychologists over 40 years ago.

According to articles in the New York Times and in the Science journal, the biohazard symbol was created by Charles L. Baldwin of Dow Chemicals and Robert S. Runkle of the National Institutes of Health in 1966.

Baldwin had been working with Dow Chemical on developing containment systems for the Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health, when he noticed there were several different warning symbols in use. He figured this variation was actually dangerous—people couldn’t be expected to know the full range of icons and labels—so he set about designing a universal symbol with the help of the Dow Marketing and Packaging Design department. The logo wasn’t designed with any symbolism in mind—rather, it had to be meaningless—but it needed to be memorable for easy recognition.

Baldwin began to work on ideas for the new symbol. Instead of consulting his own colleagues, he went to the Dow Marketing and Package Design department. Together they tested common and recognizable symbols mixed with half a dozen of their original and new symbols across the country. They asked people to look at them and then guess what each one meant. The biohazard symbol got the fewest guesses.

They then went back one week later to the same set of people and the same set of symbols, and asked them which of these they remembered most. They selected the biohazard symbol!

After extensive research, Baldwin and his team produced what they believed to be the perfect warning symbol for biohazards. Its blazing orange background and perfectly symmetrical symbol stood out and avoided confusion. Its bold color and simple design made a tremendous impact on everyone.

After publicizing the symbol in the Science journal, it was immediately authorized by the US Center for Disease Control, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and the National Institutes of Health as universal, and it has been in existence ever since.

https://www.florenceinferno.com/the-biohazard-symbol/

Florence?

64 is in the drops

NOVEMBER 25, 2014

64 countries have religious symbols on their national flags

A third of the world’s 196 countries currently have national flags that include religious symbols, according to a new Pew Research analysis. Of the 64 countries in this category, about half have Christian symbols (48%) and about a third include Islamic religious symbols (33%), with imagery on flags from the world’s two largest religious groups appearing across several regions.

Christian symbols are found on 31 national flags from Europe, Asia and the Pacific and the Americas. The United Kingdom’s “Union Jack,” for example, includes the crosses of St. George, St. Patrick and St. Andrew. Some Commonwealth countries continue to incorporate the Union Jack as a part of their own flags, including Fiji, Tuvalu, Australia and New Zealand. Spain, Greece, Norway and the Dominican Republic are among the other countries with Christian national symbols.

Islamic symbols are found on the flags of 21 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, the Asia-Pacific region and the Middle East and North Africa. In Bahrain, the national flag features five white triangles, symbolizing the Five Pillars of Islam. Algeria, Turkey, Brunei and Uzbekistan are some of the many countries that include an Islamic star and crescent on their national flag.

Although Singapore has a crescent and stars on its flag, they do not have religious significance. The crescent moon “represents a young nation on the ascendant, and the five stars depict Singapore’s ideals of democracy, peace, progress, justice and equality,” according to the Singapore government.

Buddhist or Hindu religious symbols appear on five national flags; in three of those cases, the symbols apply to both religions. The Cambodian flag depicts Angkor Wat, a temple historically associated with both Hinduism and Buddhism, while in Nepal, the flag features both Buddhist and Hindu symbols to represent the two predominant religious groups in the country. And in India, the blue chakra at the center of the flag holds symbolic meaning for both Hindus and Buddhists.

Israel is the lone country with Jewish symbols on its national flag, including the Star of David and a white and blue striped background representative of a traditional Jewish prayer shawl.

Six countries have symbols associated with various other religions on their flags. The Japanese flag, for example, includes a hinomaru, or rising sun – representative of Shinto spiritual roots within the former Japanese empire. In Uruguay and Argentina, both national flags include shining golden suns believed to be representative of the Incan sun god Inti. And the Aztec god Huitzilopochtli can be seen on the Mexican flag as an eagle perched atop a cactus with a snake in its beak – a legendary image that was believed to have appeared to the Aztec people, instructing them to build the ancient city of Tenochtitlan.

Although the U.S. flag does not include any religious symbols, several states have religious imagery on their flags. For instance, the state flag of New Mexico includes a red sun with its rays extending outward, representing the spiritual history of the Zia Pueblo. Some U.S. states, including Alabama and Florida, continue to feature adaptations of the St. Andrew’s cross.

Sources for this data include constituteproject.org, the CIA World Factbook and official country-specific government websites. Download the data used in this analysis here.

Correction: An earlier version of this post incorrectly stated that India only had a Hindu symbol on its flag. Imagery on India’s flag has symbolism for both Hindus and Buddhists.

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/11/25/64-countries-have-religious-symbols-on-their-national-flags/

>>15842293

>The rest were recognizable, like the peanut man for Planter's peanuts, the Texaco star, the Shell Oil symbol, the Red Cross and the swastika.

All of these have been in drops.

Peanut was mentioned by Trump in that recent podcast that got banned I believe.

I'll try to find out where.

>>15842417

>>15842312

>Florence

>>15842454

many keystones probably atop many doors.

what is the door of all doors though?

>>15842548

24 Moby Thesaurus words for "flannel":

ballocks, blarney, bull, bullshit, bushwa, cock, crap, eyewash,

flatter, flattery, hedge, hogwash, humbug, mislead, nonsense,

prevarication, rubbish, shit, soft soap, soft-soap, sweet talk,

sweet-talk, waffle, weasel words