WWF maximum cards from Somalia: Soemmerring's Gazelle (Nanger soemmerringii; formerly Gazella soemmerringii). Speke's Gazelle (Gazella spekei) is the smallest of the gazelle species.

What do YOU know about Somalia, besides "Pirates of the Somalian [Coast]"?
"Black Hawk Down"? That was a case of mis-allocation of resources: DON'T send your troops in the harm's way, without proper support!

Soomaaliya?
I see three redundant letter/sounds here.
"Somalia" is clear enough for me. :)
Every language in the world, including English, Esperanto, etc., is too imperfect, not phonetic enough, not optimized. None is 100% "what-you-read-is-what-you-pronounce".
There are thousands of languages and dialects, and about 26 (?) major languages.
Every language has a lot of unnecessary complications and other problems, I think.
Or, do you have a counterexample? :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Phonetic_Alphabet

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somalia

Do you have a gazelle species named after you?
I bet you don't.
But some people do:
Speke's Gazelle, G. spekei
Cuvier's Gazelle, G. cuvieri
Thomson's Gazelle, E. thomsoni
Soemmerring's Gazelle, N. soemmerringii
Grant's Gazelle, N. granti


"Speke's Gazelle (Gazella spekei) is the smallest of the gazelle species. Partially sympatric withG. gazella pelzini, it is confined to the horn of Africa where it inhabits stony brush, grass steppes, and semi deserts (Kingdom 1982, 1997). "
"This Gazelle is currently (2008) classified as endangered under the IUCN Red List."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speke's_gazelle

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Temporarily territorial:
"The Soemmerring's Gazelle is a tall gazelle with tan flanks, gradually turning to white on the belly, and long black horns. They are approximately 0.6-0.9 m (2-3 ft.) at the shoulder, and they weigh 35-45 kg (77-99 lb). The diet of the gazelle consists of acacia and bush leaves, grasses, and herbs. They inhabit open steppes with brush and acacia, as well as steppes with few trees, and scientists suggest that male Soemmerring's are temporarily territorial."


From the gazelles' perspective, there's no such thing as an O.K. Corral; no corral is OK:
"In many parts of North Africa and the Middle East, large stone corrals were constructed to drive herds of gazelle into, making for an easy ambush. This method of hunting started in prehistoric time and continued into the early part of the twentieth century. One interesting fact is that at some point in history, a Soemmerring's gazelle population became isolated on Kebir Island in the Dahlak archipelago where the gazelle actually developed a dwarf form of the larger mainland races."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soemmerring's_Gazelle

==========================================================

Happy PFF (Postcard Friendship Friday)!

Please visit: http://thebestheartsarecrunchy.blogspot.com/

Useful information from FEEDJIT: Rule #1: Never get someone with a low quality or spammy site to link to you. Ever.

I like feedjit.com. I use the free version.
You see on this blog that I have Feedjit Live Traffic Feed and Feedjit Live Traffic Map.
At the bottom of the Feedjit Live Traffic Feed box, I click on Real Time View.
That is a very interesting thing to analyze your website.
Mine is this: http://live.feedjit.com/live/dorincard.blogspot.com/0/

http://feedjit.com/blog/2010/the-daily-feed-issue-10-the-rules-of-linking/

It looks like we should strictly limit the number and assess the quality of the websites linked to our own websites.

Now let's talk about EDITING.

Whenever you write something, it's very useful to EDIT it: maybe there are mistakes, redundancies, etc.

When somebody points out to you a mistake in your text, then your best attitude would be to honestly admit it, and to see what can be done to fix it.

You can be grateful to your new, unofficial editor right then, later, or never.

What do YOU (people from around the world) think of this?

I have sent this email to feedjit about the above hyperlinked issue10:

"What's the difference between rule#1 and 4?

:)

"Rule #1: Never get someone with a low quality or spammy site to link to you. Ever. 

This will hurt your ranking in Google and it's tough to recover once you've been flagged as a spam site or part of a "bad neighborhood". 

Rule #4: Only link to high quality sites no matter how badly someone begs or pleads that you link to them.

Linking to a spam or low quality site will hurt your ranking."

-------------------

I got this answer:

"Hi Dorin,

We were just trying to point out the difference between bad sites linking to you and your site linking to bad sites so people would think about both of these types of links. Most people just worry about who their site links to and don't think about the impact of having bad sites link to them."
---------------------------
Well, I get the point, it makes sense, but I think that this answer is...DEFLECTIVE.
I wish that my question got a straight answer.


Anyway, I strongly recommend everybody to visit http://feedjit.com and select at least the cool, free widgets that I mentioned above, if not the paid pro version.
:)

Yes, that's an euphemism. postage stamp from Zazzle.com

Yes, that's an euphemism. postage stamp from Zazzle.com

Not a true canyon: Bryce Canyon (USA) - maximum card that I created with an FDOI (First Day Of Issue) postmark

In the above MC, notice (click on it to enlarge) below the round cancel the group of horse riders (or mule riders?) on the trail.

This is a very interesting and weird landscape.

Not VOODOO, but HOODOO.

"Bryce Canyon National Park (pronounced /ˈbraɪs/) is a national park located in southwestern Utah in the United States. The major feature of the park is Bryce Canyon which, despite its name, is not actually a canyon but a giant natural amphitheater created by erosion along the eastern side of the Paunsaugunt Plateau. Bryce is distinctive due to geological structures called hoodoos, formed by wind, water and ice erosion of the river and lake bed sedimentary rocks. The red, orange and white colors of the rocks provide spectacular vistas for park visitors."

"Bryce Canyon was not formed from erosion initiated from a central stream, meaning it technically is not a canyon. Instead headward erosion has excavated large amphitheater-shaped features in the Cenozoic-aged rocks of the Paunsagunt Plateau.^[5] This erosion exposed delicate and colorful pinnacles called hoodoos that are up to 200 feet (61 m) high. "

Another brick in the wall?

No, another hole in the wall, rather.

Here's another impressive view from there: Thor's Hammer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bryce_Canyon

Some of my most favorite philatelic links

In the larger sense, you can have some "forum activities" in a networking site, too. And you can network in a forum, as well. Sure, there are differences. :)
In my websites, I have various links to my favorite philatelic and deltiologic websites:


MPPC= Mailer's Postmark Permit Club
http://www.mppclub.org/HowToObtain.htm
-------------------
LPCS= Local Post Collectors Society
http://www.localcollectorspost.org/
---------------------
Postcard exchange site postcrossing.com. I especially like forum.postcrossing.com
http://www.forum.postcrossing.com/
---------------------------
Virtual Stamp Club; I especially like the forum (click on the green rectangle Start reading)
http://www.virtualstampclub.com/
http://forums.delphiforums.com/stamps/start
http://www.virtualstampclub.com/hotlink.html
--------------------------------------------------------
Philatelic forum USA-centric bidstart.com (again, see the forum; also, many interesting items are available to buy!)
http://www.bidstart.com/
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Philatelic forum Australia-centric stampboards.com. Yet again, see the forum. The most lavishly illustrated forum with images of stamps, mainly hosted at photobucket.com
http://stampboards.com/
---------------------------------------------------
Global philatelic networking site myphilately.com:
http://www.myphilately.com
 ------------------------------------------------------------ 
While we are at it, please visit my websites/webpages, too.
Philately (stamp collecting) in general, and maximaphily in particular, as a confluence of domains: learning, writing, web design, business administration, etc.
http://dorincard.blogspot.com
http://dorinco.webs.com
http://www.squidoo.com/dorincard
http://www.delcampe.com/stores/dorinco
http://www.zazzle.com/dorinco*/
http://s289.photobucket.com/albums/ll201/dorincard/

Sheesh!... Stamps from Zazzle.com

Sheesh!... Stamps from Zazzle.com

What does it mean?

"Etymology

A euphemism for Jesus. [MY NOTE: I'd say An euphemism, but how could I know better than wiktionary.org? :) ] 

Interjection

sheesh

1. (euphemism) An expression of exasperation."

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sheesh

----------------------------

So, it means "I'm exasperated", basically. 

Or, "You exasperate me".

Or "This exasperates me".

Do you think that it's possible to create a maximum card with such a stamp?

Unless you have a postcard showing that word, FIP Commission for Maximaphily would say NO.

"In general, abstract or symbolic subjects do not suit Maximaphily and are excluded from its field." - http://maximaphily.info/Articles/What%20is%20MAXIMAPHILY%20_1_.pdf

That rule is most unfortunate and short-sighted, in my opinion.

It mainly serves the small "community" of maximaphily exhibits judges in Philatelic Expositions.

What's a judge to do about figuring out the message and concordance in an abstract, encrypted maximum card? Nah, too complicated and subjective. Too neuron-stretching. It's HARD!

So, they keep it simple: "a postcard with a certain dog breed, a stamp with the same dog breed, and a postmark with the same dog breed, ideally".

That's fine. I create all  the time MCs with this rationale, this line of thinking.

But why shouldn't we create, whenever we feel like, abstract or symbolic MCs?

The rules of Maximaphily should mainly serve the many creators/collectors, not the few judges.

Do what makes YOU happy, not what others try to impose on you.

Sheesh!

:)

A tiger cub needs the care of a mom that's a tigress, not a..."cougar" - custom maximum card (USA) that I created

I ordered that nice photo print in a postcard size 10x15cm (4x6 "), and I can attach anytime a postcard-backing paper, if I want.

Or, I can re-order it as a postcard, from the print shop.

http://www.winkflash.com

The stamp is my design at Zazzle.

http://www.zazzle.com/siberian_tiger_hug_postage-172968708985811645?rf=238693463283865848

In the enlarged image below, look how thrilled is the tiger cub that his mom plays with him!

"Open up your loving arms!"...:)

The postmark is from my Mailers' Postmark Permit canceller, my own official/legal/valid postmarking device.

http://mppclub.org/

How concordant is the postmark with the stamp and the postcard?

Well, the postcard image shows tigers from the Berlin Zoo (Germany, I suppose, 'cause we have Berlin localities in USA, too).

The stamp image shows tigers from the Buffalo, New York Zoo.

My Sterling, VA postmark is concordant at least on a zoomed-out level (both states of Virginia and New York are in USA).

Do I attempt to focus my MC (maximum card) only on a specific Zoo? On specific tigers?

http://www.zazzle.com/no_no_no_no_baby_postage-172866537361275772?rf=238693463283865848

I just want to focus my MC on the general relationship between a tiger cub and his mother.

http://www.zazzle.com/sheesh_postage-172193995595441185?rf=238693463283865848

A Zazzle custom stamp [= custom(ized) postage, personalized stamp, personalised stamp] has a thin plastic coating, to prevent fraud by laser-printing, and to prevent the obscuring of the IBI (information-based indicia; the black and white little squares) by the ink of the postmark.

How can you get a postmark onto a Zazzle stamp?

A USPS postal associate may, or may not agree to postmark it. Officially, "it doesn't require a postmark".

I interpret that as "it's still OK to postmark it on (nice) demand, for philatelic purposes."

I had to use a trick that George C. and some other maximaphilists around the world have experimented with: harsh dishwashing scrub pad (cut out a thumb-size square), used carefully to dull the glossiness of the postcard.

Any brand name: Scotch Brite, etc. would do.

So I scrubbed just right, with "the Midas touch" ["special touch", though not transforming anything into gold :) ], the matte postcard and the plastic-coated zazzle stamp.

Thus, the postmark ink was absorbed well-enough. 

You can see the postmark, can't you?

My good friend/MACSU colleague/mentor/client George Constantourakis (Canada) knows a trick or two (or 1001) about maximaphily.

After all, he is the current Chairman of the Commission for Maximaphily from FIP (The International Philatelic Federation), for God's sake!!!

:) :) :)

http://www.maximaphily.info

Are you kidding??? stamp from Zazzle.com

Are you kidding??? stamp from Zazzle.com

The Red Man of the Forest: The Bornean Orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus) - maximum card created for me by my friend Shinta (Indonesia)

I've read somewhere ['cause I don't read only from wikipedia.org :) ] that male orangutans don't fight with each other over mating rights, allegedly. Not worth the aggravation?

But here's what wikipedia says:

"Although orangutans are generally passive, aggression toward other orangutans is very common; they are solitary animals and can be fiercely territorial. Immature males will try to mate with any female, and may succeed in forcibly copulating with her if she is also immature and not strong enough to fend him off. Mature females easily fend off their immature suitors, preferring to mate with a mature male."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orangutan

A young male orangutan may look for a "fender-bender".

Or, he may be a bender, but she may be a fender.

Fender of the of-fender (repeat offender).

Mm-hmm. Stamp from Zazzle.com

Mm-hmm. Stamp from Zazzle.com

In the past, YOU, as a stamp collector, were NOT able to communicate with others using text-on-stamps (stamps with words - YOUR choice of words).

Welcome to the present!

I have created many more stamp designs with words, and I can create (you can do it, too) many more, with no end in sight. :)

Sometimes, to create a maximum card, you already have the right postcard, and the right postmark is available for a limited time (1-30 days, usually - in USA, at least).
If you don't have the right stamp, you can...give up. Anybody can do that.
Or, YOU can create the right stamp (with image, text, or both), as you wish (if it's approved, of course).

You can tele-create, remotely create zazzle stamps from wherever you are in the world.
And many other custom products.
Designing is free.
What are you waiting for?
:)
If I can do it, then ANYBODY can do it*.
--------------
* Certain exceptions apply.
:)