for wester

Durrrty South Sudan

Well, we all have a new capital to memorize. There's the flag. It's the usual African nonsense. Still better than Kosovo, though.

UPDATE: the flag isn't there. go find it!

Vexillological World Cup: Final

Slovakia wins.

Vexillological World Cup: Semis

England 2 - 2 Denmark
(Denmark wins 4 - 3 on penalties)


Germany 1 - 3 Slovakia

SUSPENSE!

Vexillological World Cup: Quarters

Aw shit. Surrious.

Uruguay 0 - 3 England

Is England really that good? No!

Denmark 2 - 1 Switzerland

Yeah, we like crossy type flags. BUT TOUCH THE EDGES.

Argentina 2 - 3 Germany

Fuck you, jews.

Slovakia 3 - 1 Honduras

Again, we hang it on our wall.


Semifinals:

England
Denmark

Germany
Slovakia

It was always going to be Eurocentric unless Botswana or Trinidad somehow made it this far.

Vexillological World Cup: Knockout Stage

Don't remember what the flags look like? Fuck you!

Uruguay 2 - 1 Greece

England 3 - 3 Serbia
(England win 5 - 4 on penalties)

Denmark 2 - 0 New Zealand

Portugal 0 - 1 Switzerland

Argentina 2 - 1 France

Germany 3 - 2 Algeria

Slovakia 4 - 1 Holland

Honduras 1 - 0 North Korea



So, our quarterfinals look (if you could remember what they look like!) like this:

Uruguay
England

Denmark
Switzerland

Argentina
Germany

Slovakia
Honduras

Pretty stupid!

Vexillological World Cup: Knockout Stage

The bracket (imagine there's a bracket):

Uruguay (Gp A Winner)
Greece (Gp B Runner-Up)

England (Gp C Winner)
Serbia (Gp D Runner-Up)

Denmark(Gp E Winner)
New Zealand (Gp F Runner-Up)

Portugal (Gp G Winner)
Switzerland (Gp H Runner-Up)

Argentina (Gp B Winner)
France (Gp A Runner-Up)

Germany (Gp D Winner)
Algeria (Gp C Runner-Up)

Slovakia (Gp F Winner)
Holland (Gp E Runner-Up)

Honduras (Gp H Winner)
North Korea (Gp G Runner-Up)

Vexillological World Cup: Group H

Chile: God bless Texas.









Spain: Would be better without the seal.








Honduras: This is a good group.











Switzerland: Make it square, man.








Runner-Up: Switzerland

Winner: Honduras

Vexillological World Cup: Group G

Ivory Coast: Like Ireland but Africanier.









Portugal: In actual soccer terms, this is a very tough group. In flag terms, no.







North Korea: Looks like something GI Joe would fly.








Brazil: Gross colors, complicated image. It is vurry recognizable though. Progresso is a soup.






Runner-Up: North Korea

Winner: Portugal

Vexillological World Cup: Group F

Paraguay: I think its obverse and reverse sides are slightly different. Neither is very good.








Italy: Doesn't do much other than make me hungry.







New Zealand: Slightly worse than Australia but good enough for this group.







Slovakia: We don't just hang ANY flag on our wall.






Runner-Up: New Zealand

Winner: Slovakia

Vexillological World Cup: Group E

Denmark: Oldest flag ever. Or something. The nordic cross would be sorely missed if it weren't for this ole girl.











Japan: And that's a period. Gross.









Cameroon: Sigh. Africa.








The Netherlands: Turn France sidways? I'm in!







Runner-Up: Holland

Winner: Denmark

Vexillological World Cup: Group D

Germany: Das Heillage!







Australia: I don't mind the various flags with the Union Jack in the canton. This is a tough group though.






Serbia: Deceptively busy little seal there.








Ghana: We get it, you're black people.






Runner-Up: Serbia

Winner: Germany

Vexillological World Cup: Group C

Algeria: Surprisingly effective.







Slovenia: 3E likes the slavic flags that follow this general template. We think this might be the weakest of the three in the tournament.







USA: Busy. We need fewer states.










England: Classy.






Runner-Up: This was a tough call, but since we're sure at least one of the other Slavic flags will make it through, we're going with Algeria.

Winner: England

Vexillological World Cup: Group B

Argentina: You again! I can't say no to a pretty face.






Nigeria: Not as garish as most Sub-Saharan flags. Simple but uninspiring. It will soon become painfully apparent that 3E much prefers horizontal stripes to vertical ones.








Greece: Recognizable but not really for any positive reason. The blue should be darker. Might just end up being the second tallest building in this Wichita of a group.







South Korea: White background with stuff smattered about it. Usually not a success story.





Runner-Up: Greece.

Winner: Argentina.

Vexillological World Cup: Group A

Uruguay: I usually hate the sun but this one has won me over.








France: Simple is good, but the colors lack creativity. Still, better than...





Mexico: Busy little birdsealthing in the middle. Would be better without it, but the colors would still look so... Mexican. <\subtle racism>







South Africa: There's a fine line (get it?) between fimbriation and infibulation. Then again, there's really not.





Runner-Up: France

Winner: Nothing here really stands out and it doesn't look good for the knockout rounds to come, but we're going with Uruguay.

It's official:

Largest awesome-flag-to-horrible-place ratio: BOTSWANA!

The luscious blue, the inky black, just the right amount of fimbriation (I always want to call it "infibulation," but that's horrible and yet appropriate for the living hell that is sub-Sarahan Africa), it's just right!

Congratulations, and good luck with your AIDS!

Re: Flags

Apparently the flag isn't the only thing great about Russia's Yaroslavl Oblast. And I'm not talking about its reasonable proximity to both(!) Moscow and the artist formerly known as Leningrad.

From Wikipedia (natch):

"A great number of wild birds live and nest in the Oblast.
In cities, most common birds are pigeons, jackdaws, hooded crows, rooks, house sparrows, and great tits."

giggles.

Flags

Via the Nepali Community [?] blog, a ranking of the ten best flags from around the world. The Nepalese blogger guy thinks the Nepalese flag should be on there, but he's wrong; the thin blue banner is not terribly attractive, and the design doesn't make much sense, repetitive but not symmetrical or appealing. Considering the enormity of the undertaking , this ranking turned out pretty good. Except for Kyrgyzstan and perhaps Nunavut, they all deserve consideration. Some of my favorites: I am quite partial to the Gadsden flag (which should be much higher on the list) for both historical and ideological reasons. It should be the official flag of the United States. I also like the North Caucasian Emirate. It's a smiley face! I don't think I've ever seen another one in a flag, although it only lasted three years so maybe too friendly a flag encouraged its enemies. Their number one selection, from the Russian province of Yaroslavl Oblast, is a solid choice. That is one tight axe-bear. I don't know of another flag that has any animal holding a weapon on it, much less the mighty bear.

It's unfortunate that most state flags in the United States aren't very good. Too many of them are just the state seal on a field of blue, although that worked well for the state flag of Virginia(which has a boob and a dead tyrant). Even worse, some have the name of the state on them. Very gauche, and it kind of defeats the purpose of having a flag in the first place though again an exception must be made, this time for California. Too bad it's bear is not holding an axe. What can I say? I'm partial to bears.

Speaking of sexual innuendo, did you know the back of Oregon's flag has a beaver on it? It does! Other than that, nothing special -- it's just the seal (and a poorly detailed rendition at that) with the state name and the year of statehood.

Here's one they missed that I like a lot, although I think the Gadsden Flag covers a lot of the same territory:

The REAL reason only 56 countries have recognized your independence...

Dear Kosovo,

No one is going to take this seriously. Try again.

Sincerely,
Other Countries