Thursday, October 7, 2010

Canadian governor-general's coat of arms incorporates binary code

From the National Post. How come our governor-general doesn't get a coat of arms too?

The new Governor-General touched off a firestorm of controversy with his new coat of arms, which contained a pattern of binary numbers that some figured could be a coded message. OK, maybe not a firestorm. More like a brush fire. Not even that, really. A nice little fire, like in a chimenea. Anyway, Rideau Hall has since confirmed that David Johnston is not signalling aliens or cyborg overlords or giving the Prime Minister a thumbs-up for prorogation-on-demand. They are just some 1s and 0s. But it got us to thinking: Just what is with these G-G coats of arms, anyway? Scott Stinson reviews some of them.

DAVID JOHNSTON
The numbers are kind of a subtle way to evoke the digital age, actually. It beats sticking an iPhone or a BlackBerry on there. The books and well-used candle, which suggest hard study, are a nice touch. Not crazy about the unicorns, though. They should appear on merry-go-rounds and My Little Pony books, and that’s about it.

The armorial bearings of several other Canadian viceroy's here.

2 comments:

asdf said...

"A failed homosexual, he lives alone with two cats."

Just like me! Send me your email address, and I'll send you pictures of my cats.

Sharon Jackson said...

Hilarious! You just made my afternoon!