How about Marco busting out in flags?

John Turner submitted An American flag unfurled with a bald eagle perched on it is about as beautiful a thing as there is. Here's hoping more Islanders will fly the flag at their homes, even if we can't all have a bald eagle standing guard of it.

submitted iPhones now are offering an app that helps blind people tell one U.S. currency bill from the others, a five from a ten, and so forth.

Here’s a thought on the recent dustup over some decorative U.S. flags in roadway medians.

One way we could get it behind us and turn it into a positive for the island might be this:

If you care about the flag and the republic for which it stands, make sure you have a flag flying on your property. Then phone two or three of your neighbors and urge them to do the same.

We have one flag pole mounted on a wall of the house in front and another on a long pole attached to our dock. Some neighbors also have flags flying. They look just great. I wish there were more.

Wouldn’t it be great if Marco were ablaze in U.S. flags in time for the dedication of the new Veterans Memorial in Veterans Community Park. Note the date, Nov. 11, 2011, Veterans Day.

One great place to buy flags directly from our Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 6370 will be at the Iberia Bank Patriotic Day Shred Party, Saturday, June 18. For about $22, you’ll get a standard-sized flag, high quality, made in the USA. All flag sales go to VFW charitable causes to help veterans. Cost of flags purchased from the VFW may be tax deductible.

You can also get flags by phoning Dave Gardner of the VFW. His number: 642-4410. Talk nice to Dave and he’ll deliver the flag to you at your home.

Another thought: An American flag would make a wonderful Fathers Day gift. It’s coming up on June 19. Dad would like that a lot more than a tie.

Helping the blind figure out the value of our paper money

Close your eyes, have someone hand you a piece of U.S. paper currency. Try to figure out which it is, a fiver?, a twenty, maybe just a one dollar bill?

Help is now available for blind people to ease this, one of their many challenges, determining the value of paper currency.

Kathleen Peck at Lighthouse of Collier sends word that the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing has developed a free, downloadable app for the iPhone and other Apple mobile devices.

“EyeNote” is its name.

Kathleen writes, “In a matter of seconds, EyeNote can provide an audible or vibrating response, and can denominate all Federal Reserve notes issued since 1996. Free downloads will be available whenever new US currency designs are introduced.

There’s more information available on other currency-related efforts to assist the blind and seeing impaired. Your best sources are these websites. www.moneyfactory.gov/uscurrency/meaningfulaccess.html or wwweyenote/gov/. The email address is eyenote@bep.gov.

Apparently people who are using this app love it. Research indicates that more than 100,000 blind and visually impaired individuals may own an Apple iPhone. Says one big fan of the app, “This app is great and is very useful. Way to go guys and keep up the great work!”

Our summer electric bills are not cool

In LCEC’s flyer that came with the latest electric bill the company offered some un-fun facts about the cost of air conditioning our homes. For example:

n Each degree lower than 78 we set our A/C adds about eight percent to our cooling costs.

n We should have A/C filters serviced annually. Our caveat is, if you have a pet that sheds enough hair or fur to make a duvet filling, once a year is not enough.

n Air conditioning accounts for about half our monthly electric bills.

n A programmable thermostat can help control our A/C usage. That’s no doubt true. Trouble is, programming our A/C falls into the category of many things that baffle us, but that our teen-aged grandchildren could do in a flash while texting jokes to their friends about their hapless grandparents.

Chris Curle is a former news anchor for CNN and for ABC-TV stations in Washington, D.C., Atlanta and Houston. Email chris@chriscurle.com.

Don is a former ABC News correspondent and bureau chief and a former news anchor for CNN and ABC-TV in Atlanta. His Farmer File column appears Wednesdays in the Naples Daily News. Email: don@donfarmer.com.