• Zayda said on Feb 17, 2008....

  Silver--I swear, some days you come up with the most obscure birthdays to note.
  
  
  That's rather cool. :)

• silverwhisper said on Feb 17, 2008....

  well, it would be kinda lame to observe only the really popular ones everybody already knows about, doncha think? :>
  
  i thought it was kinda nifty. :D
  
  ed

• fearing said on Feb 17, 2008....

  I'm all for peace but I'm not a fan of that particular peace sign.  I like the dove and olive branch.

• Zayda said on Feb 17, 2008....

  Yeah, ed, it would be kind of lame. BTW...[points to ed's tags] How is this post a poll?!?

• silverwhisper said on Feb 17, 2008....

  fearing: any particular reason?
  
  super z: darn, force of habit, have nuked the polls tag. :>
  
  ed

• cindylu said on Feb 17, 2008....

  I was born in 1973 and when I was a teenager all of us wore the peace sign on jewelry, and gave each other the hand sign and we thought it was our thing, funny to find out that it has been around that long.

• fearing said on Feb 17, 2008....

  Yes, there is a particular reason.  Sorry.  I assumed you would assume the reason so I didn't say.  (smile)     Religious reasons.  

• silverwhisper said on Feb 17, 2008....

  cindylu: yeah, i was surprised too. :>
  
  fearing: i try not to assume--that usually gets me in trouble! :> as i'm left no wiser, i'll leave it alone.
  
  ed

• Zayda said on Feb 17, 2008....

  Silver--If you read further in the Wiki article you posted, there have been many spurious meanings associated with the Peace Symbol--an upside down crucifix with the arms broken downward. Others have claimed that it resembles Nero's cross, which is a Satanic symbol.
  
  
  Thus, many Christians will not wear the Peace symbol that is 50 years old today but prefer the dove and the olive branch instead.

• fearing said on Feb 17, 2008....

  Oops, sorry again Ed.  I meant to explain it.  I'm a bit scattered lately because it looks like someone set off a bomb in my house.  I hate packing.
  
  The reason is I've heard it suggested that sign is an upside down cross with the arms broken and used as a satanic symbol.  I read your Wikipedia link to see if it mentioned that possible meaning and it does.  Maybe it is and maybe it isn't but I couldn't buy into it with that knowledge. 
  The real cross means too much to me to take that chance.
  
  
  

• kruuyai said on Feb 17, 2008....

  Well, at least there's one thing on this planet that's older than I am.   = )

• fearing said on Feb 17, 2008....

  Thanks Zayda!  I must have been writing while you explained it.

• silverwhisper said on Feb 17, 2008....

  super z: i'd never heard of such allegations until now. hm...thank you.
  
  fearing: suffice it to say that while i understand your reasons i don't agree with them. :>
  
  kruu: now now, don't make me bust out a fresh trout on you...[waves trout menacingly]
  
  ed

• kruuyai said on Feb 17, 2008....

  okay, okay, I get your point.  Now, make an old lady happy and go read my new poem.  = )
  
  

• Mr_Box said on Feb 17, 2008....

  I like the peace symbol. I had no idea it was 50 years old. It was still popular to wear on clothes back when I was in high school.

  And that wasn't too incredibly long ago. I guess some things never go out of style.

• the_infernal_optimist said on Feb 17, 2008....

  That's really cool! :) I have that symbol on a metallic sticker on my tower. It has a lot of meaning for me.
  
  Re: it being possibly satanic...well, you know, you can twist anything if you try hard enough. It is widely recognized, and most well-known as standing for peace. That doesn't strike me as anything but good. :)
  
  ~Infernal
  

• wombat said on Feb 17, 2008....

  I had no idea is was almost as old as I am....I thought it was designed in the 60's.  Anyway, Happy Birthday, Peace Sign!  And I wish you many more.....

• GrapeKoolaid said on Feb 17, 2008....

  Yeah!  Huzzah for nuclear disarmament!  
  
  I'm all for it. 
  

• silverwhisper said on Feb 17, 2008....

  kruu: goodness woman, i'm still 2 days behind on my users!
  
  [brandishes trout]
  
  mr box: no, i didn't either. :> weird, huh? and good ideas never go out of style. :>
  
  infernal: "in strange times, even death may die". :> evidently, it's also widely recognized in some quarters as something else, though.
  
  wombat: you're almost as old as the peace sign? i didn't know that...[files away interesting fact for future use]
  
  grape: hey, good to see you again! :>
  
  ed

• wombat said on Feb 17, 2008....

  Well, that's kinda scary.....ha... I know, some people think I am younger. File me under phone number PLAZA 599.....ha.....

• quietone said on Feb 17, 2008....

  Oh thank you wombie, I am gald I am not the only one who is older than that sign!!haha...file me under BR-549.  thanks ed for the reminder! ha pretty cool though.  Who came up with that symbol anyway?

• CreativeWoman said on Feb 17, 2008....

  Ed, I only think of good things when I see the peace sign.  Mainly I think of John Lennon singing the words, "give peace a chanc".
  
  CW
  

• wombat said on Feb 17, 2008....

  quietone:  A-Hah!  I remember BR-549! I used to watch Hee Haw while waiting for my Saturday night dates to show up.....

• CreativeWoman said on Feb 17, 2008....

  ooops....I meant chance. 
  
  CW
  

• Mamie said on Feb 17, 2008....

  what a cool anniversary! It really does speak for itself! thanks for the scoop! mamie

• truthsayer said on Feb 17, 2008....

  I think this is what fearing was referring to when she said, 'for religious reasons.' 

   

  Actually, the "Peace" sign is an upside down, encircled version of the eleventh century Rune (or "letter" of an alphabet), called Algin. It means, in a nutshell, Protection (see definition below).

  "Runes are an ancient Germanic alphabet, used for writing, divination and magick. They were used throughout northern Europe, Scandinavia, the British Isles, and Iceland from about 100 B.C.E. to 1600 C.E. Runic inscriptions of great age have even been found in North America, supporting stories that the Vikings arrived in the Americas long before Columbus.

  "Each rune has esoteric meanings and properties associated with it, beyond its mundane meaning and phonetic value. Each translates into a word or a phrase signifying concepts important to the early peoples who used them, representing the forces of nature and mind.

  "Algiz: (Z or -R: Elk, protection.) Protection, a shield. The protective urge to shelter oneself or others. Defense, warding off of evil, shield, guardian. Connection with the gods, awakening, higher life. It can be used to channel energies appropriately. Follow your instincts. Keep hold of success or maintain a position won or earned."

  Source: http://www.sunnyway.com/runes/
  

  Posted by: Angela, Hawaii | January 28, 2007 12:39 AM

  I cut and pasted this from the following website addressing the subject of this blog:

  http://www.thisistrue.com/blog-peace_sign_comments.php?page=4

  You can read about the Nazi swastika  and that it has the same "meaning" in Sanskrit symbolism as the Rune.  Both mean "protection".  The Nazis took the Sanskrit symbol and reversed it, and the "peace symbol" is the Rune for "protection" and it is turned upside down.

  Anyway, I saw this blog, fearing's comment...and thought I'd get a link for her.

  Happy Sunday everyone!

  truthsayer : )   

• truthsayer said on Feb 17, 2008....

  SuperZ sure said it more succintly though ; )  Sorry ed.  I just didn't want to write it out myself.  I didn't think it would be that long though : (
   
  [truthsayer runs back to the ether before he gets that trout out]
   
  poof!

• RollingC said on Feb 17, 2008....

  I remember the hippie days and the ' peace ' symbol. 
  Who cares if it's as old as I am.       :^)
  Rc
  

• SoulTruth said on Feb 17, 2008....

  Peace. Revolution. Sounds like a good plan.

• Zayda said on Feb 17, 2008....

  Yes, but if your read Gerald Holtom's account of his creation of the Peace Symbol--it had nothing to do with the rune, an upside down cross, or Nero's cross whatsoever.
  
  Those are meanings that others have falsely applied to the Peace symbol.
  
  

• truthsayer said on Feb 17, 2008....

  I think the link I provided mentions that too.  I just didn't want to type it all out...lazy like I said ; )  Something about an N and another letter, right?
   
  I'm getting to bed now!  Monday mornings just keep coming earlier and earlier and earlier.
   
  [truthsayer falls off the chair sleeping right about here............zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz)

• kelly said on Feb 17, 2008....

  "I'm all for peace but I'm not a fan of that particular peace sign.  I like the dove and olive branch."
  
  
  Yeah, well, you're probably a better artist than I am.  I'm all for the simplicity of the "hippie" peace symbol.  Did you ever try to lay out a bunch of rocks in the outline of a dove and olive branch?  :-)

• Zayda said on Feb 17, 2008....

  Yes, truth--the semaphore for the letters N and D for Nuclear Disarmament.

• GrapeKoolaid said on Feb 17, 2008....

  Hi ed!  Good to be back. 
  
  Here's an interesting thought, though.  Does nuclear disarmament really equal peace?  Take a few of these thoughts into consideration. 
  
  Nuclear technology is now more than 60 years old.  Anyone with a junior-high education, or a connection to the internet can figure out how to build one.  Or even a "dirty" bomb.  What's really difficult is obtaining the necessary, radioactive material, which is pretty tightly controlled, but not impossible to acquire(Remember, Russia's missing quite a few warheads and suitcase bombs). 
  
  Secondly, the only nuclear weapons that were detonated in times of war were Fat man and Little boy, on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  None since then.  Can we say that the world has been at peace since then?  Clearly not.  Many of the proxy wars fought by the powers that be since that time have been through conventional means. 
  
  Just a little something for you to masticate upon. 
  

• hotaka said on Feb 18, 2008....

  Interesting to note all the misinterpretations of the symbol, none of them good. Just goes to show that even when someone wants to create something good people will try to find something bad about it. What a twisted world we live in.

• inthiscity said on Feb 18, 2008....

  cool, nice to know. too bad it's not that much of a cool sign. thanks for the info

• silverwhisper said on Feb 18, 2008....

  wombat: PLAZA 599?! bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!
  
  quietone: according to the wikipedia entry, it was a british man named gerald holtom, and consists of an abstracted representation of the semaphore for the letters n and d, for nuclear disarmament. :> but i gotta confess, BR-549 doesn't ring any bells for me: ?
  
  CW: yeah, me too. i tend to think of john lennon's imagine, myself. :> don't worry about the typo--it happens to all of us. :>
  
  mamie: my pleasure, i figured that people would be interested in knowing. :>
  
  truthsayer: as super z observed, the creator's account of the creation appears to conflict w/ what you posted. me, i'm gonna go w/ what mr. holtom says--after all, i would think that he would know. :>
  
  rollingc: heh...you're a little older than i thought. :>
  
  soultruth: welcome to my blog and thank you for visiting! well, peace is definitely a good plan, if you ask me. revolution i'm not so sure about, but i do want change. :>
  
  kelly: um...what prompted the use of rocks? some kind of protest event, i would think?
  
  super z: thank you for the explanations. :>
  
  grape: i think that this is a good example of a symbol taking on a larger meaning than its original, intended usage. it happens a lot, doesn't it? naturally, peace isn't merely about nuclear disarmament, as you note, no more than peace is defined by the mere absence of fighting.
  
  hotaka: in fairness, i think that there's a lot of misconceptions about very common things: remember hearing that the band AC/DC's name meant "against god/devil's children"?
  
  inthiscity: hi, welcome to my blog and thanks for visiting! yeah, it isn't the coolest sign, but what it represents is pretty darned nifty if you ask me. :>
  
  ed

• MissMimi said on Feb 18, 2008....

  My first thought was what CDub said.  I always associate it with John Lennon, or Woodstock, or the VietNam war.  All milestones of my teenage years.  And I can still hear one of my hippie friends in high school playing "tin soldiers and Nixon's coming..." very poorly on the guitar.

  Kruu and I are old ladies.  Well, I am anyway... 

• uniquely-ironic said on Feb 18, 2008....

  Peace dude! *makes peace sign* 

• skald said on Feb 18, 2008....

  Really 50 years. I am surprised. 

• biglove said on Feb 18, 2008....

  PEACE ~ Can you dig it, man....

• hotaka said on Feb 18, 2008....

  It was also "Antichrist/ Devil's Child. And KISS was Knights In Satan's Service. I think some people have too much time to think about finding bad things amidst the innocuous. Well, maybe hard rock isn't harmless but it is just supposed to be fun. And if you play Stairway to Heaven backwards you can hear Jimmy Page saying that there are too paths to chose but the only real one is the path to the devil or some such crud. I remember a Bloom County strip where Billy Joel was accused of recording backwards messages on his album. Milo Bloom played the album backwards and he sweared he heard, "No matter which way you slice it, it's still baloney."

• GrapeKoolaid said on Feb 18, 2008....

  hotaka:  OMG!!!  You totally reminded me of This!!!!
  
  It's some song by Hillary Duff, and when played backwards, she says, "Hail this Nazi land".  LOL!  Talk about too much time!  Who would sit around listening to Hillary Duff backwards?!!
  

• kelly said on Feb 19, 2008....

  "kelly: um...what prompted the use of rocks? some kind of protest event, i would think?"
  
  
  Oh, not what you think.  A long time ago I went for a evening/nighttime hike in the mountains near LA.  On the way up in a clearing I found a large ring of stones that formed a partially constructed peace sign.  "Naive idealists," I thought as I glided up the path.  I eventually found a perch in the night where I could look at the vast expanse of city lights, and also still see a few stars.  I just sat for a long time on a rock and thought about life.
  
  
  On the way down I gathered some rocks and finished the peace sign.

• hotaka said on Feb 19, 2008....

  Grape-meister, I can't imagine Hillary could be bothered with that rubbish. Isn't she too busy trying to put on eye shadow and be famous?

• silverwhisper said on Feb 19, 2008....

  mimi: i refuse to think of either you or kruu as "old ladies", so there! :p
  
  u-i: peace, yo! :>
  
  skald: as was i!
  
  biglove: i'm kinda flashing back now to austin powers... :>
  
  hotaka: o wow, i'd forgotten about those alternate meanings. and that bloom county strip was hysterical! :D
  
  grape: seriously, who can even do backwards-masking nowadays?!
  
  kelly: i'll confess, my own reaction would likely have been "lazy, naive idealists"... :> but i think that it's cool you completed it. :>
  
  hotaka: i know nothing of hillary duffy. does that make me old, do you suppose?
  
  ed

• GrapeKoolaid said on Feb 19, 2008....

  Good morning, ed.  That's one of many things ytmnd is good for, IMO.  You have these incorrigible geeks playing with noise and pictures.  All manners of silliness is represented there.  NEDM, emo stuff, Nazi stuff...  I'm sure a few peacenik stuff is in there, too. 
  
  :D

• silverwhisper said on Feb 19, 2008....

  i'll confess i wasn't familiar w/ that site until now. :>
  
  ed

• GrapeKoolaid said on Feb 19, 2008....

  I'll put up a few links for you to check out on a separate blog later.  In the meantime,
  
  Peace be with you.  :D
  

• silverwhisper said on Feb 19, 2008....

  [trout-smacks grape, just cuz it's been a while]

• wombat said on Feb 19, 2008....

  silverwhisper:  When I was really little, we had a phone number that began with PL for Plaza.  The BR-549 reference from quietone was from the tv show, "Hee Haw."  There was a hotel skit that was a regular feature, and the guy (I don't remember who) would hold up a sign that gave the number and say..."Call BR-549."  If you've never heard of Hee Haw...then lucky you...ha....

• truthsayer said on Feb 19, 2008....

  Lol...great comments all : )  Thanks ed.  I like that kelly finished the peace sign in the rocks too.  Y'all might have liked my huge male cat too.  His name was Love ; )
   
  @hotaka and grape:  Look up "reverse speech" with hmmm...I think it was David Oates.  I had him on my radio show several times.  I don't know if he's still around or not, but I must say, I ended up trying some experiments myself, and it was realllly weird.  It is different from back-masking...that stuff was total bogus. 
   
  Sorry for commenting to your lovely readers ed. 
   
  Thanks,
   
  truthsayer 

• silverwhisper said on Feb 20, 2008....

  wombat: ah...yeah, i'm afraid i haven't seene hee-haw. :>
  
  truthsayer: o, go right ahead. it's just a conversation like any other. :>
  
  ed

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