"Nay," you might say. There's this!

你可能會說：「才怪！」明明有這個！

And that flag is Antarctica-associated, but it's not official official, and comes with an ownership asterisk we must attend to.

那面旗幟與南極洲相關，但它不是正式的正式旗幟，並且帶有一個我們必須注意的所有權標記。

But first, Antarctica doesn't have an official flag because she's not an official country.

但首先，南極洲沒有官方旗幟，因為她並不是一個正式的國家。

Yes, humans have "settled," depending on how much you want to stretch that word, on the ice sheet, with scientific outposts,

是的，人類已經在冰原上建立了科學觀測站，雖然要看你對"settled"這個詞要如何解釋可能有所不同，

but each is operated by a parent country, protecting their somewhat precarious claims,

但每個觀測站都由一個母國運營，以保護他們有些不確定的領土主張，

so not really looking for a new banner to band everyone behind.

因此，他們並不真的在尋找一面新的旗幟來團結所有人。

Thus, there are no Antarctic citizens to officiate anything.

因此，沒有南極洲的公民可以主持任何事情。

But, who cares?

但，誰在乎呢？

People everywheres want to fly flags, and come on, the continent has cried out for one,

世界各地的人都想揚起旗幟，而且拜託，這個大陸一直在呼籲要有一面旗幟，

right from the first in 1929 when an early research vessel flew a white sheet as a flag of courtesy for passing through Antarctica's waters.

從1929年，當一艘早期的研究船只揮動一塊白色的布作為對穿越南極洲水域的禮貌旗時就開始了。

Even though there were naught but penguins to appreciate the gesture.

儘管只有企鵝能欣賞這一舉動。

T'was done just for the fun of flying a flag with what the ship happened to have on hand.

那只是為了好玩，使用船上剛好有的東西來揮動旗子。

But since this rather literal representation of the snow-covered continent is not the most inspired design,

但由於這種對被雪覆蓋的大陸相當字面的描繪不是最具靈感的設計，

it didn't catch on and penguins only spotted it sporadically on subsequent ships

這個設計沒有流行起來，企鵝只有偶爾在後來經過的船隻上看到它。

And it stayed that way until 1997, with a curious development as a company, Multimedia Corporation, was developing a video game.

這種情況一直持續到 1997 年，然後出現了一個奇特的發展，一家名為 Multimedia Corporation 的公司正在開發一個電動遊戲。

The 3D World Atlas.

《3D世界地圖》。

And yes, for nerdy nineties kids, a digital atlas totally counted as a game.

對於那些90年代的書呆子孩子來說，一本數位地圖集絕對算是一款遊戲。

Multi Co noticed Antarctica's flag absence and deputized a designer to draw one.

Multimedia Corporation 注意到南極洲沒有旗幟，於是委派一名設計師來設計一面旗幟。

Who took a cue from the U.N. which on their flag views the world from atop so Antarctica would be the same from abottom and borrowed the same colors as a nod to neutrality.

該設計師參考了聯合國的旗幟，該旗幟從頂部觀看世界，因此南極洲的旗幟也從底部觀看，並借用了相同的顏色，以表示中立。

So it was through this game that this design debuted to young flag fans everywhere.

因此，正是通過這款遊戲，這一設計首次亮相於各地年輕的旗幟愛好者之間。

Including some who would grow up to end up on Antarctica, 'eh?

包括一些長大後最終會來到南極洲的人，對吧？

And it's a great flag and I'm not here to FUD it, buuuut it's origin does raise some questions of copyright.

這是一面很棒的旗幟，我不是來抹黑它的，但它的來源確實引發了一些版權問題。

Unlike the original white sheet, uncopyrightable, as it's nothing and old enough to be in the public domain anyway.

不像原始的白布，它無法受到版權保護，因為沒有差，而且年代已經久遠，成為公共財產了。

Not so with the 1997 design.

但這並不適用於1997年的設計。

And while it's creator makes no claim to copyright, saying the flag is de facto public domain,

儘管它的創作者不主張版權，並表示該旗幟事實上屬於公共財產，

but what usually happens when a company commissions content, is the company controls that content's copyright.

但通常情況下，當一家公司委託製作內容時，該公司擁有該內容的版權。

So of course, on finding this out, one might think to email Multimedia Corporation about it, but they went bust.

當然，一旦發現這一情況，人們可能會想通過電子郵件與Multimedia Corporation聯繫，但該公司已經破產。

And now, with no one to ask, it becomes a question of who could claim to claim the copyright.

現在，沒有人可以詢問，這就成了一個關於誰可以主張擁有這面旗幟版權的問題。

How hard could that be to find out?

要找出來有什麼難呢？

And, in this moment, standing at the threshold of a research question that could easily cost months of my life,

而在這一刻，站在一個可能輕而易舉地花費我數月生命的研究問題的門檻前，

I swore to myself, "This will be a short script for serious this time, Grey."

我對自己發誓，「這次一定要寫一個簡短的腳本，Grey。」

So I just let myself do a bit of basic Bing-ing. Ugh, that sounds very strange to say.

所以我只是讓自己進行了一些基本的網上搜索。噢，這個字說出來感覺很奇怪。

And tracked Multimedia Corporation and their un-Bing-able name through two potential lines of ownership.

並且通過兩個潛在的所有權線索追蹤了Multimedia Corporation及其難以搜索的名稱。

One through multiple corporate asset, acquisitions, and name changes that ended up in a Malta company that seemingly has nothing to do with video games,

一條線索是通過多次企業資產收購和更名，最終到達了一家位於馬耳他的公司，似乎與電動遊戲無關，

and the other line led to E.A….

另外一條線索指向美商藝電，

everyone's favorite developer, dedicated to the who was the original distributor of the Atlas.

大家最喜歡的開發者，他們曾是該地圖集的最初發行商。

Under what terms, I didn't ask, because I did not wish to open their evil eye upon any of this,

我沒有詢問具體條款，因為我不希望引起他們對這個問題的注意，

and doubtless, neither of these companies have heard anything about the Atlas and its flag.

毫無疑問，這兩家公司都沒有聽說過這個地圖集及其旗幟。

So, let's all just promise to keep it that way, shall we? Great.

因此，讓我們都承諾保持這樣的狀態，好嗎？太好了。

Now, we can finally talk about what happened next.

現在，我們終於可以談論接下來發生的事情了。

See, in 2018, a new Antarctic flag, public domain, came on the scene.

2018年，一面全新，屬於公共財產的南極洲旗幟亮相。

It starts with the snow and ice white sheet from before, but adds above the dark skies that dominate the continent for six months a year.

它以之前的雪和冰白色底布為基底，但在上面加入了在一年中有六個月支配大陸的黑暗天空。

A mountain in the center uplifts, for unlike in the north, there's an actual land under the ice, and it casts a shadow to create the symbol of a compass pointing south.

中央的山脈凸起，因為不像北極，冰下實際上有陸地，它投下陰影形成了一個指向南方的指南針符號。

Which, as a bonus, makes this design mirror the northernmost flag on the northernmost continent just with flipped color placement for flipped pole placement.

而且，作為一個額外的好處，這個設計讓南極洲的旗幟在顏色位置上與北極洲最北端的旗幟相對應，只是極地位置相反。

Very satisfying and unique among flags.

非常令人滿意，也是所有國旗中最中獨一無二。

It creates a 3D effect that gives just touch of a technocool, appropriate with how much tech was needed to "conquer" this coolest continent.

它創造了一種立體效果，帶來了一種科技酷酷的感覺，這與需要多少技術來 「征服」 這個最冷的大陸相稱。

And it's totally not, but I'm just going to call it, that this 3D effect is also a nod to the 3D World Atlas, connecting this flag to both of its forebearers.

雖然這完全不確定，但我只是要說，這種3D效果也是向3D世界地圖致敬，將這面旗幟與其兩位前輩聯繫在一起。

Perfect.

太完美了。

I could talk about flags all day, but I swore to keep it short.

我可以整天談論國旗，但我發誓過要長話短說。

So I just wanted to let everyone know, that when you spot this rare flag, it is of Antarctica.

所以我只是想告訴大家，當你看到這個罕見的旗幟時，它代表的是南極洲。

So that for anyone watching this video there when you see your flag fly high to know that others know how awesome it is and have that brighten a day out of six months of dark.

所以對於觀看這段影片的任何人，當你看到你的旗幟高高飄揚時，知道其他人也知道它有多棒，並且讓這一天在六個月的黑暗中變得更加明亮。