Opening ceremony.

[tanstaafl2]

I left it for bob to answer. Actually I didn't see it. I knew Paraguay. Did not know about Moldova.

What is different about Moldova? Guess I missed that refreshing my pomegranate margarita.

Actually, I have sort of moved on to Mojitos lately. Mint is in season.

Their flag is different on the reverse and obverse.

I knew Paraguay but Moldova is new to me and good to know. Then again Moldova is relatively new anyway and largely inconsequential...
Moldova - Obverse

Reverse - Looks like Romania


Paraguay - Obverse

Reverse


And of course, while it is not a country, there is Oregon which is the only US state to have a different obverse and reverse.
Obverse

Reverse



Some sources, including the ever dependable Wiki, note the flag of Saudi Arabia as being different from front to back because it has the Arabic script reversed, but not the sword, so that it reads correctly on the reverse of the flag (The tip of the sword is at the start of the script on one side but at the end of the script on the other).

Obverse

Reverse


I kind of thought this would apply to any flag that had writing or a seal that was correctly oriented on each side but perhaps the difference is that only the script is reversed and not the sword.

It is also a bit unusual in that it has a sinister hoist which is fairly uncommon among national flags.

[Here's Fanny!]

I knew Paraguay but Moldova is new to me and good to know. Then again Moldova is relatively new anyway and largely inconsequential...

Weren't they all wiped out during a Dynasty episode?

[earendel]

Dang, we've got only two years to top that?!?!?!?!?!?


I better start shining up the sled.....

Start getting your special effects teams together - turns out that some of the fireworks shots were computer-generated for the TV audience (and visible on the screens in the Birds' Nest. The claim was that they had to use CGI because the air over Beijing wouldn't be clear enough to show the fireworks in all their glory.

As for me the most interesting part of the parade of nations was the order in which they entered. Since Chinese isn't an alphabetic language, the nations entered in the order of the first sound in their name in Chinese. Quite a different order than in most years.

[MarleysGh0st]

As for me the most interesting part of the parade of nations was the order in which they entered. Since Chinese isn't an alphabetic language, the nations entered in the order of the first sound in their name in Chinese. Quite a different order than in most years.

I still can't figure that one out. They said it was in order of the number of strokes used to make the Chinese characters for each country's name, but surely there are lots of countries with the same number of (different) strokes?

Do they file their paperwork that way?

[Here's Fanny!]

As for me the most interesting part of the parade of nations was the order in which they entered. Since Chinese isn't an alphabetic language, the nations entered in the order of the first sound in their name in Chinese. Quite a different order than in most years.

I still can't figure that one out. They said it was in order of the number of strokes used to make the Chinese characters for each country's name, but surely there are lots of countries with the same number of (different) strokes?

Do they file their paperwork that way?

My acupuncturist writes her SOAP notes in Chinese on the patient charts. It's the grooviest thing I've ever seen. I think the chart names were in English, though. Probably so the American receptionist could file them.

[tanstaafl2]

I knew Paraguay but Moldova is new to me and good to know. Then again Moldova is relatively new anyway and largely inconsequential...

Weren't they all wiped out during a Dynasty episode?

Hmm. Yes, yes I believe they were! That Alexis was quite the badass...

[KillerTomato]

As for me the most interesting part of the parade of nations was the order in which they entered. Since Chinese isn't an alphabetic language, the nations entered in the order of the first sound in their name in Chinese. Quite a different order than in most years.

I still can't figure that one out. They said it was in order of the number of strokes used to make the Chinese characters for each country's name, but surely there are lots of countries with the same number of (different) strokes?

Do they file their paperwork that way?

Actually, it was first based on the number of strokes in the first character of the name....then the second....and so on.