FlagAndMap Weblog

How much impact can an individual athlete have at a multi-national sports competition? The answer is considerable if you follow our 2010 Commonwealth Games GDP Adjusted Medals Ranking. After factoring in late results from day 3 of the event, the top spot in our ranking was seized by Uganda and it was all down to Moses Ndiema Kipsiro who won the men’s 5000m event.

The GDP adjustment in our ranking attempts to create a more equitable comparison between all the competing nations. One consequence of this is that individual athletes from smaller nations can have a much greater impact. Nevertheless we feel that in the case of Moses Kipsiro such recognition is fully deserved. The guy was leading at the bell (after 4,600m) and still held off three strong Kenyans at a sprint for the entire final 400m – awesome. So Moses Kipsiro deserves special congratulations and of course all the athletes competing at these games deserve our support and admiration.

A quarter of the world’s population potentially has an interest in the 2010 Commonwealth Games currently being held in Delhi. 71 ‘nations’ (including sub-nations) are being represented in this multi-national sporting competition, which occurs every four years. These nations range from the immense, India with a population of 1.18 million, to the tiny, Tuvalu with a population of just 12,000. The larger and the more affluent nations will be expected to win most of the medals but we wondered if it would be possible to compare the performance of such disparate nations on anything like an equitable basis.

After some thought and experimentation we have settled on a ranking based on a ‘Medals Value’ which is divided by the GDP of the nation. Our Medals Value deems each medal to be worth slightly more than twice that of the one below it (12pts for a gold, 5pts for a silver and 2pts for a bronze) while the GDP adjustment takes account of both the population and affluence of a nation. The resulting GDP Adjusted Medals Ranking for the 2010 Commonwealth Games will be updated at the end of each day of competition.

We like to think this ranking methodology gives any nation the chance to finish top. In fact we think it might actually favor smaller nations if by chance they happen to be fielding a few exception athletes this year. Indeed, this could be the Isle of Man’s year if Mark Cavendish wins a cycling gold. No matter which nation you are rooting for, have a little fun by tracking their position in our GDP Adjusted Medals Ranking.

Several nations have national days in October. Plan something special on the following dates for friends from these countries.
Oct 1, Independence Day in Nigeria
Oct 1, Independence Day in Tuvalu
Oct 1, National Day in China
Oct 1, National Day in Cyprus
Oct 3, Unity Day in Germany
Oct 3, National Day in Iraq
Oct 4, National Day in Lesotho
Oct 9, Independence Day in Uganda
Oct 10, Fiji Day in Fiji
Oct 10, Double Ten Day in Taiwan
Oct 12, National Day in Equatorial Guinea
Oct 12, National Day in Spain
Oct 23, Republic Day in Hungary
Oct 24, Independence Day in Zambia
Oct 25, Republic Day in Kazakhstan
Oct 26, National Day in Austria
Oct 27, Independence Day in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Oct 27, Independence Day in Turkmenistan
Oct 28, National Day in Czechia
Oct 29, Republic Day in Turkey

If you’re an active user of social media in your marketing campaigns – and most small businesses are these days – then you’ll certainly want to check out what HootSuite has to offer.

HootSuite enables you to track and manage an unlimited number of social network accounts from one console. Networks that can be handled include Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Foursquare and WordPress (currently only the .com service). Just being able to view all these accounts from one place is a huge advantage but HootSuite allows you to do much more.

Probably the next feature that will appeal to users is the ability to send updates to more than one account at the same time. Perhaps you have several twitter accounts and would like the same update to go out to more than one of them – easy to do with HootSuite. Simply create the message in HootSuite, select the accounts you’d like to update and send.

Of course you’ll be wanting a url shortening capability as you compose your updates. HootSuite uses ow.ly url shortening, which includes two cool features. First, you can easily append parameters, such as Google Analytics tags or affiliate referral IDs, to the end of your urls before they are shortened. Different parameter sets can even be saved as presets for future use making their attachment far speedier. Second, any url shortened in this way can be tracked and the clickthrough stats viewed from your HootSuite dashboard.

Another powerful HootSuite feature that you might find useful is the ability to schedule your updates. Everything can be set up just as described above but instead of pressing ‘send’ you select a future time and date (months in advance if you like) and press ‘schedule’. At the appointed time your update will be sent just as if you’d done so manually. If for example you have a predefined calendar of events for which you wish to send out reminders you can prepare and schedule these ahead of time and eliminate the need to worry about when the next one is due.

Finally, you’ll most likely want to check out the automated rss based updates. Select the rss feed from which you wish to extract updates, the network accounts you want them to feed and the frequency with which you want this to happen and, hey presto, HootSuite will automatically generate those updates from that point on.

We strongly recommend a visit to the HootSuite website where you will find they offer a free, ad supported, version with a 5 social network limit which should accommodate most individual or small business needs. Simply sign up and get started. We think you’ll quickly be hooked once you start to see what HootSuite can do.

Many nations have national days in September. Plan something special on the following dates for friends from these countries.
Sep 1, Independence Day in Uzbekistan
Sep 1, National Day in Libya
Sep 1, Constitution Day in Slovakia
Sep 2, National Day in Vietnam
Sep 6, Independence Day in Swaziland
Sep 7, Independence Day in Brazil
Sep 8, National Day in Macedonia
Sep 8, National Day in North Korea
Sep 8, Our Lady of Meritxell Day in Andorra
Sep 9, Independence Day in Tajikistan
Sep 12, National Day in Cape Verde
Sep 15, National Day in Costa Rica
Sep 15, National Day in El Salvador
Sep 15, National Day in Guatemala
Sep 15, National Day in Honduras
Sep 15, National Day in Nicaragua
Sep 16, Grito de Dolores in Mexico
Sep 16, National Day in Papua New Guinea
Sep 18, National Day in Chile
Sep 19, National Day in Saint Kitts and Nevis
Sep 21, Independence Day in Malta
Sep 21, National Day in Belize
Sep 22, National Day in Mali
Sep 23, National Day in Saudi Arabia
Sep 24, National Day in Guinea-Bissau
Sep 30, National Day in Botswana

Is it time to start planning for 2011? We know many people already have. Well, FlagAndMap has you covered with gift ideas for the upcoming year. Last year our 2010 calendar mousepads proved to be very popular, so we’ve updated the designs to create an international range of 2011 calendar mousepads. Each design features the national flag plus a map of the country and, most importantly, the 2011 calendar. These mousepads make ideal gifts for the new year – what could be more useful than having the 2011 dates right there on your desktop? They are dust and stain resistant, have a non-slip backing and are priced at $11.95.

This year we are also offering 2011 calendar postcards. Designs are similar, with national motifs accompanying a handy 2011 calendar. Now you can send your friends a quick message on a card that not only promotes your home nation or favorite destination but also serves as a handy reference throughout the year. Prices are as low as $0.70 in bulk but there are no minimum orders.

Just to whet your appetite here are a few examples but we invite you to visit our online store to browse the entire collection.

Many nations have national days in August. Plan something special on the following dates for friends from these countries.
Aug 1, National Day in Benin
Aug 1, National Day in Switzerland
Aug 5, National Day in Burkina Faso
Aug 6, National Day in Bolivia
Aug 7, National Day in Cote d’Ivoire
Aug 9, National Day in Singapore
Aug 10, National Day in Ecuador
Aug 11, National Day in Chad
Aug 14, Independence Day in Pakistan
Aug 15, National Day in Congo-Brazzaville
Aug 15, National Day in Liechtenstein
Aug 15, National Day in South Korea
Aug 15, Independence Day in India
Aug 16, Restoration Day in the Dominican Republic
Aug 17, National Day in Gabon
Aug 17, National Day in Indonesia
Aug 19, National Day in Afghanistan
Aug 20, St. Stephen’s Day in Hungary
Aug 24, National Day in Ukraine
Aug 25, Independence Day in Uruguay
Aug 27, Independence Day in Moldova
Aug 29, National Uprising Day in Slovakia
Aug 30, Constitution Day in the Turks and Caicos Islands
Aug 31, Hari Merdeka in Malaysia
Aug 31, Independence Day in Kyrgyzstan
Aug 31, Independence Day in Trinidad and Tobago

Many nations have national days in July. Plan something special on the following dates for friends from these countries.
Jul 1, Canada Day in Canada
Jul 1, National Day in the British Virgin Islands
Jul 1, National Day in Burundi
Jul 1, National Day in Rwanda
Jul 3, Independence Day in Belarus
Jul 4, Independence Day in the United States
Jul 5, Independence Day in Venezuela
Jul 6, National Day in the Comoros
Jul 6, Independence Day in Malawi
Jul 7, Independence Day in the Solomon Islands
Jul 9, Constitution Day in Palau
Jul 9, National Day in Argentina
Jul 10, National Day in the Bahamas
Jul 11, Naadam Holiday in Mongolia
Jul 12, National Day in Kiribati
Jul 12, National Day in Sao Tome and Principe
Jul 13, National Day in Montenegro
Jul 14, Bastille Day in France
Jul 20, National Day in Colombia
Jul 21, Liberation Day in Guam
Jul 21, National Day in Belgium
Jul 23, Revolution Day in Egypt
Jul 25, Constitution Day in Puerto Rico
Jul 26, National Day in Liberia
Jul 28, National Day in Peru
Jul 30, Independence Day in Vanuatu

We recently added some fresh designs to the FlagAndMap range. The central element of these national designs is a physical map of the country. This is surrounded by a decorative border featuring the national flag. Currently these designs can be found on our range of bags with international designs. As ever bags are available in a number of styles including tiny, impulse, budget, grocery and jumbo totes. These new designs are also available on magnets and will be available on other products in the future. A few examples are shown below:

The range of FlagAndMap Bumper Stickers has recently been expanded, offering a choice of designs with which to promote your favorite nation or support your national team during upcoming international sports competitions. All designs incorporate the popular motifs found on most of our products, namely authentic national flags or decorative flag hearts plus relief maps of the country.

Bumper stickers use durable water resistant 4mil vinyl and are fade resistant. As ever there are no minimum quantities and your order will be shipped in 24hrs. Here are some design examples: