Geopolitical Journey, Part 7: Poland | STRATFOR - and a horse maximum card from Poland

Geopolitical Journey, Part 7: Poland | STRATFOR

I like very much not only WHAT George Friedman has to say, but HOW he says it.
"Le style c'est l'homme".
Meaningful and enjoyable reading! :)

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

This is the only maximum card that I have, so far, from Poland. But there are so many more interesting Polish stamps, postmarks and postcards that could be used to create interesting  maxicards...:)

Is it the same breed of horse on the stamp and on the postcard? I don't know. Do you? Only an expert could say. Anyway, I like it as it is, even if there might be different breeds. What I wouldn't like, though, would be if the breeds are clearly VERY different - then it would look awkward. :)

"From Africa, with Love": Good Samaritan Hippo saves wildebeest, zebra babies - see this YouTube sensation

Hippo saves wildebeest, zebra babies: "Videos showing a hippo rescuing a wildebeest calf and then a zebra foal from drowning in a strong-flowing river are causing a sensation."

Beware, safari-goers!
"Aggression

Hippopotamuses are by nature very aggressive animals, especially when young calves are present. Frequent targets of their aggression include crocodiles, which often inhabit the same river habitat as hippos. Nile crocodiles, lions, and spotted hyenas are known to prey on young hippos.^[50] Hippos are very aggressive towards humans, whom they commonly attack whether in boats or on land with no apparent provocation.^[51] They are widely considered to be one of the most dangerous large animals in Africa.^[52][53]

To mark territory, hippos spin their tails while defecating to distribute their excrement over the greatest possible area.^[54] Hippos are retromingent, likely for the same reason.^[55]

Hippos rarely kill each other, even in territorial challenges. Usually a territorial bull and a challenging bachelor will stop fighting when it is clear that one hippo is stronger. When hippos become overpopulated, or when a habitat starts to shrink, bulls will sometimes attempt to kill infants, but this behavior is not common under normal conditions.^[49] Some incidents of hippo cannibalism have been documented, but it is believed to be the behavior of distressed or sick hippos, and not healthy behavior.^[8]"

"Adult hippos cannot swim and are not buoyant. When in deep water, they usually propel themselves by leaps, pushing off from the bottom. They move at speeds up to 8 km/h (5 mph) in water. Young hippos are buoyant and more often move by swimming —propelling themselves with kicks of their hind legs. Adult hippos typically resurface to breathe every 3–5 minutes. The young have to breathe every two to three minutes.^[8] The process of surfacing and breathing is automatic, and even a hippo sleeping underwater will rise and breathe without waking. A hippo closes its nostrils when it submerges."

"Even though they are bulky animals, hippopotamuses can run faster than a human on land. Estimates of their running speed vary from 30 km/h (18 mph) to 40 km/h (25 mph), or even 50 km/h (30 mph). The hippo can maintain these higher speeds for only a few hundred meters.^[8]"

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

Well, not faster than "a human"; faster than SOME humans, I would say.

I don't have maximum cards with the regular hippo species, so here are MCs with Pygmy Hippopotamus species:

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

Happy PFF (Postcard Friendship Friday)!

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

Asian Black Bear (Ursus thibetanus) also known as the Moon Bear or White-Chested Bear - WWF maximum cards about Pakistan

"Asian Black Bear

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

  (Redirected from Himalayan Bear)

The Asian black bear (Ursus thibetanus), also known as the Moon bear^[2] or White-chested bear^[3] is a medium-sized species of bear, largely adapted for arboreal life, which occurs through much of southern Asia, Korea, northeastern China, the Russian far east and Honshū and Shikoku islands of Japan."

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

There are many dangerous "entities" lurking in the wilderness of "The Pure Land" (a.k.a. Pakistan). This one here is NOT the deadliest. So don't shoot this innocent animal - it has no hidden agenda and it just wants to satisfy...bear necessities.

Oh, wait - killing may not be the worst thing that can happen, even to a bear!

"Animals Asia Foundation (AAF) is a Hong Kong-based charity that seeks to end cruelty to animals in Asia.

The AAF was founded in 1998 by Jill Robinson, who felt compelled to create the organisation after learning of the plight of the Asiatic Black Bear known as the “Moon Bear” because of the yellow crescent on its chest. Moon Bears are farmed throughout Asia for their bile, which is used in traditional Chinese medicine. The methods used in bear bile farming involve bears living up to 25 years in crush cages with metal catheters inserted into their abdomens for bile extraction or open wounds through which the bile drips.[1]"

"In February 2009, Animals Asia rescued a dozen malnourished, diseased Asiatic Black Bears from abusive bile-harvesting farms in southwest China. The bears were given to Animals Asia under an agreement made in 2000 with the government to save sick bears from state and illegal farms. The animals went to the foundation's Moon Bear Rescue Center outside Chengdu, which has handled 260 freed bears since the agreement was signed. [5]"

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

http://www.all-creatures.org/anex/bear-bf-12.html

http://www.animalsasia.org/blog/

http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&source=imghp&biw=1024&bih=653&q=bear+bile+farming&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=2&aq=f&aqi=g1&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

Great Union Day (Romanian: Ziua Marii Uniri, also called Unification Day) occurring on December 1, is the national holiday of Romania.

"Great Union Day (Romanian: Ziua Marii Uniri, also called Unification Day^[1]) occurring on December 1, is the national holiday of Romania. It commemorates the assembly of the delegates of ethnic Romanians held in Alba Iulia, which declared the Union of Transylvania with Romania.

This holiday was set after the 1989 Romanian Revolution and it marks the unification of Transylvania, but also of the provinces of Bessarabia and Bukovina with the Romanian Kingdom, in 1918."

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

A previous Unification was accomplished by Michael The Brave, in 1600:

"Michael the Brave (Romanian: Mihai Viteazu(l), Mihai Bravu, 1558 - August 9, 1601) was the Prince of Wallachia (1593–1601), of Transylvania (1599–1600), and of Moldavia (1600), the three Romanian principalities^{note 1} being joined in the form of personal union for a brief time under his rule."

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

Geopolitical Journey, Part 6: Ukraine | STRATFOR

Geopolitical Journey, Part 6: Ukraine | STRATFOR

I will post later some  minimum, not maximum cards from Ukraine, from a partner/friend (he affixed whatever stamps he wanted onto his postcards).

I was told that it's illegal for a postal worker in Ukraine to postmark a stamp on the picture side.

Somehow, I'm not convinced. My investigation is ongoing. :)

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

UPDATE

"God bless you!" from Mother Teresa - maximum cards that I created with American stamps and Macedonian postcards, about this Albanian-Macedonian nun who felt (also) Indian in her soul

Thank you, Ana from Macedonia, for these 2 postcards! 

If I had more postcards, with various designs, I could have created more maxicards, but hey! :) .

"Mother Teresa (26 August 1910 – 5 September 1997), born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu^[1] (pronounced [aɡˈnɛs ˈɡɔndʒa bɔjaˈdʒiu]), was a Catholic nun of Albanian^[2][3] ethnicity and Indian citizenship,^[4] who founded the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta, India in 1950. For over 45 years she ministered to the poor, sick, orphaned, and dying, while guiding the Missionaries of Charity's expansion, first throughout India and then in other countries. Following her death she was beatified by Pope John Paul II and given the title Blessed Teresa of Calcutta.^[5][6]

By the 1970s, she was internationally famed as a humanitarian and advocate for the poor and helpless, due in part to a documentary and book Something Beautiful for God by Malcolm Muggeridge. She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 and India's highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, in 1980 for her humanitarian work. Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity continued to expand, and at the time of her death it was operating 610 missions in 123 countries, including hospices and homes for people with HIV/AIDS, leprosy and tuberculosis, soup kitchens, children's and family counselling programs, orphanages, and schools."

CRISIS OF FAITH:

"Analyzing her deeds and achievements, John Paul II asked: "Where did Mother Teresa find the strength and perseverance to place herself completely at the service of others? She found it in prayer and in the silent contemplation of Jesus Christ, his Holy Face, his Sacred Heart."^[81] Privately, Mother Teresa experienced doubts and struggles over her religious beliefs which lasted nearly fifty years until the end of her life, during which "she felt no presence of God whatsoever", "neither in her heart or in the eucharist" as put by her postulator Rev. Brian Kolodiejchuk.^[82] Mother Teresa expressed grave doubts about God's existence and pain over her lack of faith:

Where is my faith? Even deep down ... there is nothing but emptiness and darkness ... If there be God—please forgive me. When I try to raise my thoughts to Heaven, there is such convicting emptiness that those very thoughts return like sharp knives and hurt my very soul ... How painful is this unknown pain—I have no Faith. Repulsed, empty, no faith, no love, no zeal, ... What do I labor for? If there be no God, there can be no soul. If there be no soul then, Jesus, You also are not true."

"With reference to the above words, the Rev. Brian Kolodiejchuk, her postulator (the official responsible for gathering the evidence for her sanctification) indicated there was a risk that some might misinterpret her meaning, but her faith that God was working through her remained undiminished, and that while she pined for the lost sentiment of closeness with God, she did not question his existence.^[85] Many other saints had similar experiences of spiritual dryness, or what Catholics believe to be spiritual tests ("passive purifications"), such as Mother Teresa's namesake, St. Therese of Lisieux, who called it a "night of nothingness."^[85] Contrary to the mistaken belief by some that the doubts she expressed would be an impediment to canonization, just the opposite is true; it is very consistent with the experience of canonized mystics.^[85]
Mother Teresa described, after ten years of doubt, a short period of renewed faith. At the time of the death of Pope Pius XII in the fall of 1958, praying for him at a requiem mass, she said she had been relieved of "the long darkness: that strange suffering." However, five weeks later, she described returning to her difficulties in believing.^{[86"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_Teresa]}

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

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