Not exactly founded, but the French were prominent hunters and traders in the area. There was a trading post run by a Frenchman named Charleville near a salt lick north of town (approximately in the area of the current Bicentennial Mall). It later became known as French Lick. Another French Hunter named Demonbreun was living in the area when the Robertson settlers arrived.
More than you ever wanted/needed to know, eh?
Usually I stay away from mentioning politics, especially my own, on the Straight Dope. This anecdote is not designed to foment any nastiness or arguments. Just telling it like it was from the perspective of a Crabby Republican Broad. What happened wasn’t very dramatic but my blood pressure shoots up just thinking about it.
I need to let it go.
I’m line at the Seven-11 on Joppa Road in Towson by the RCM&D Building. It’s like 9 in the morning and I want my coffee. I’m the only one at the counter and just as I’m ready to pay, this dude comes up behind me and REACHES ACROSS ME LIKE I’M NOT EVEN THERE and puts his newspaper down. Furthermore, the poor misguided woman behind the counter starts to flutter and gush and WAITS ON HIM FIRST.
“That’s Martin O’Malley! Let him go first!” She says as he REACHES OVER ME AGAIN and hands her the money.
“Oh, really?” I say, knowing he’s still behind me. “So I guess I’ll just get out of his way, because, you know, he’s in such a hurry and, like, SO MUCH more important. I wouldn’t vote for him in a million years.”
Mr. O’Malley didn’t say anything because, you know, the opinion of one Ehrlich supporter wasn’t going to matter, but I was satisfied to turn around and receive an annoyed look. Yeah, you heard me, you SOB. I know you did. I didn’t say that part out loud.
And bleah, like he really cared.
Still steaming, I went home that afternoon and called his campaign headquarters and told them I thought Martin O’Malley was a disgusting creep (careful to use the phrase “I think” because then it’s not slander or something… remember, Martin’s a lawyer…) and I’d never vote for him in a million years. Obviously I liked to say the part about the million years.
Now this is what I know:
I’m childish. I have anger issues. Mr. O’Malley really couldn’t have cared less. What I said had no effect on the results of the gubernatoral election.
But I did it anyway.
So… maybe it’s not so much that Mr. O’Malley and I don’t get along, but that I don’t get along with him. Soon I’ll be lobbying for the local chapter of a national mental health advocacy organization in Annapolis. I know the Governor won’t remember me. In this case that is good.
Clean slate. I’m going to hold my temper and be nice to Mr. O’Malley and his friends because I am absolutely capable of putting personal feelings aside in a professional setting. For the greater good. To help many.
To keep from ending up on the evening news because I threw a pie at the governor. That’d make a dandy statement for mental health advocacy.
Another great flag (and state arm)-based thread: Colombia’s Coat of Arms looks like Nintendo animation
Yes! That was exactly it. I’ve been trying to locate this site forever; it’s hilaious!
A state seal is not a logo! A logo is a graphically simple, easily identifiable symbol, like the sun symbol on the New Mexico flag. State seals are complex, detailed illustrations with multiple elements. At a distance, it’s almost impossible to tell one state seal flag from another.
As the North American Vexillogical Association says:
Creaky, Marty O got back to me and says he remembers you very well from from the 7-11 incident. State troopers have been keeping an eye on you ever since. After reading about your views on the flag, he was all for an extraordinary rendition on the spot, to Afghanistan or Mississippi, or some other remote location.
But I persuaded him that you really had changed and were back on the right path. He reluctantly agreed to leave you alone, and I made him promise that when you see him about the mental heath stuff he’ll pretend not to recognize you or remember the newspaper incident.
You owe me one!
Oh, I dunno - you could explain afterwards how a pie was a much safer and healthier outlet for your hostility than, say, a handgun. 
That was simply a jerky thing for O’Malley to do. It won’t stop me from being glad that Gov. Slots is gone, but it was still an assholish way for O’Malley to act.
Really? I think both it and the Tampa flag are kind of embarrassing.
There flares up, on a regular basis, a bit of a dogfight in the Colorado General Assembly between a faction that wants to change the state flag to include the fucking mountains and a faction that does not. Guess which faction is made up mostly of newcomers?
Ya know, IMO, the worst thing about Sacramento’s flag is the writing at the bottom, made even worse by the inexplicable lack of spaces between the words. But if you remove the text, it’s a fairly interesting graphic design, even if it’s rather non-traditional for a flag.
Although curved lines on flags (other than circles) are rather rate, I’m not opposed in principle to more modern design styles. The risk is that you’ll verge into the corporate logo look that Josh Parsons (creator of the flag grading site in Zsofia’s link) complains about. I’m pretty sure that he’d hate almost all the city flags on the NAVA page in amarinth’s link. Although many of them are original (some bizarrely so, like Tampa), almost all violate several of his guidelines. Most of them are irredeemably awful, and were clearly designed by people with no clue about what a flag is supposed to be.
The NAVA survey got two things right: the Washington, DC, flag is clearly the best of the lot, and the Pocatello, ID, flag is the worst. But Pocatello has a lot more competition. Some of the ones at the top of the list are pretty hideous. The three bridges in the Des Moines flag don’t do anything for me, and the blue logo in the Irving, TX, design is obtuse and way too corporate, although I like the basic white/red field. , I’m not exempting my home town, Baltimore, which screws up the Calvert barred pattern with a shield with a fiddly outline of Baltimore’s Washington Monument on it.
Even Denver’s highly rated design seems like it could be improved. Although it follows NAVA’s five guidelines, it’s a little too simple and unsubtle, IMHO. I think a little less symmetry would help it. Portland is interesting and original, but I think the white lines separating the other colors make it too busy. (Yes, a strange statement from a fan of Maryland’s flag. But I never claimed I was consistent.)
BTW, here’s NAVA’s 2001 survey of U.S. and Canadian state and provincial flags. I’m disappointed that Maryland is only fourth, but not surprised that New Mexico is number one. (Some days I rate it higher than Maryland’s flag, too, but don’t tell anyone.) I don’t like Quebec’s flag, though. IMO, it belongs much further down the list. Texas is okay, but definitely not better than Maryland!
I’m surprised that no one has singled out the Flag of Oregon.
The only question with that flag is which is uglier: the obverse or the reverse.
I’m upset that South Carolina is all the way down at number 10 on that NAVA survey. We might have a lot of problems but I think we have by far the most beautiful state flag.
I do indeed. Those troopers are getting pesky. Not to mention the helicopters and the phone tapping.
It’s interesting how that website has the marshall islands highly rted and the letter grdes website has it very lowloy graded. Personally, I think it looks dumb.
Maryland expat checking in- I love the Maryland flag, and have always thought it was cool-looking.
Any best-flag survey that doesn’t have Ohio’s at least in the top ten is seriously flawed: Flag of Ohio - Wikipedia
May I ask why? Of course I’m biased, but I think it’s a very good flag (and so is Canada’s flag, by the way), and it certainly follows the NAVA’s good flag principles.
I also like Texas’s flag, and Maryland’s is a risky proposition, but I think it works. I think New Mexico’s flag’s colours clash a little bit, though. (Or maybe it’s just the solid yellow I find odd.) Among Canadian provinces, I think Nova Scotia’s and Newfoundland and Labrador’s are good, though the heraldic lion on the Flag of Nova Scotia might be too much.
Well, I don’t recall ever seeing it IRL before, and am only going by the representation on that Web site, but my first reaction is that the repetition of the fleur de lis in all four quarters makes it appear extremely tedious and static. It’s certainly better than many other flags we’ve seen in this thread, and as you said, it follows most of the “rules” for good design, but it just doesn’t work for me. YMMV.
BTW, has anyone here mentioned Libya’s flag? It’s a solid green field. Nothing else.
Hard to call it ugly, but it’s a remarkably stupid design for a flag. It’s the only flag in the world that’s just a single solid color. For good reason!
Okay. I think it works “in person”, but of course I’m used to seeing it. I also think it looks better when depicted in its correct 2:3 ratio than the 1:2 ratio it is often shown in. In 1:2 it’s too long, the four quarters are too large.
I like the Quebec flag a lot. It’s probably my favorite Canadian provincial flag. Classy and elegant, and very evocative of the region’s French history.
