Happy Postcard Friday (meme)! Read from BBC: Lion (facts, pictures and stunning videos). My worldwide stamps and RSA maxicards with Lion (Panthera leo). Lions choose their 'Valentine' in a polygynandrous way (OMG!)

Read the BBC article here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/life/Lion
and here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/adaptations/Polygynandry

These are stamps from my old collection, in high-res - click, and click again to zoom in:

"The lion (Panthera leo) is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg (550 lb) in weight,^[4] it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger. 

Wild lions currently exist in Sub-Saharan Africa and in Asia with an endangered remnant population in Gir Forest National Park in India, having disappeared from North Africa and Southwest Asia in historic times. 

Until the late Pleistocene, about 10,000 years ago, the lion was the most widespread large land mammal after humans. 

They were found in most of Africa, across Eurasia from western Europe to India, and in the Americas from the Yukon to Peru.^[5] 

The lion is a vulnerable species, having seen a possibly irreversible population decline of thirty to fifty percent over the past two decades in its African range.^[6] 

Lion populations are untenable outside designated reserves and national parks. 

Although the cause of the decline is not fully understood, habitat loss and conflicts with humans are currently the greatest causes of concern."

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

For the lion below, cougars are too exotic. He chooses his "Valentine" as part of his PRIDE. However, new word you may have learned today: polygynandry.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I will create one or more dorincards with this cut-out image from a book. :)

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Happy PFF (Postcard Friendship Friday)!

Please visit: http://thebestheartsarecrunchy.blogspot.com/ (wait until Beth posts the today's Linky tool for the meme, then make your entry, if you want to join).

Top 30 Stamp Collecting Blogs, according to the Guide to Art Schools website

"Top Five

1. The Stamp Collecting Round-Up: We personally feel that this is the best blog to follow regularly about stamp collection, particularly for people who are just beginning to demonstrate their affection for the hobby. The posts on this blog run through news affecting the entire community. It features writing specific to the stamp scene in America, but does not at all ignore the international stamp collecting body. Blogger Don Schilling, a retired U.S. Colonel, sets an excellent example of how stamp collection is great for a society.
   • Why We Love It: This blog is best for beginners in stamp collection but offers a trove of advice and fun-to-read features for stamp stalwarts.
   • Favorite Post: Postal Employees After-Hours
2. Dorincard: Blogger Dorin C is a stamp and postcard fanatic, and luckily he's more than pleased to write prolifically and charmingly about his obsession. He has a particular bent for stamps with wild mammals on them, but his blog demonstrates an affinity for stamps of all forms and backgrounds, as long as they offer a special narrative that's worth sharing with his readers.
   • Why We Love It: A picture-laden blog that bursts with the passion of its head writer for meaningful stamps.
   • Favorite Post: http://dorincard.blogspot.com/2011/01/floating-anniversary-of-drmartin-luther.html"

Source: http://www.guidetoartschools.com/library/best-stamp-collecting-blogs#ixzz1DbZZsh7h

GuideToArtSchools.com

Top Stamp Collecting Blogs

BBC: 'The birds and the bees'. 'Quiz: The surprises of animal sex'. Be my Valentine, in the (other) animal(s) world. To the heart, thru the body (language). Guest Heart Thursday meme. Black heart on the giant panda cub Tai Shan.

Guest Heart Thursday #44

Welcome to Guest Heart Thursday -
A place to share YOUR heart!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

My entry for the Guest Heart Thursday meme http://clytie-randomhearts.blogspot.com/ : the black heart on a hind leg of the giant panda cub Tai Shan, in the postcard AND ALSO in the stamp!!!.  See, I made it easy for you, not to waste too much time searching throughout the image...:)

The postmark is more visible here, on a different postcard:

The front side of the above postcard is this:

Please read this from BBC (viewer/reader discretion advised, although 'Naturalia non sunt turpia' = 'What is natural is not shameful'): http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12409270 Take the quiz.

Also: http://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit-us/whats-on/temporary-exhibitions/sexual-nature/index.html

"Adult £8, Child and concessions £4, Family £21

Free to Members, Patrons and children aged 3 and under.

This exhibition contains frank information and imagery about sex."

Child and concessions? If you make your child a concession/compromise, they charge you for the concession, too? [must be another word meaning...]

"The exhibition gallery is adorned with sepia and black-and-white images depicting animals in sexual congress like this one".

Sexual congress? Aah, so that's  why so many politicians from around the world make certain...trans(con)gressions.

"Some of these displays may raise eyebrows."

What is that accordion song played like once an hour on canned music stations like HOT 99.5 FM (USA)? It's "Stereo Love", the longest charting song in the history of European top Hot 100, accumulating 52 weeks. Sung by Edward Maya ( Ilie Eduard Marian, Romania) and Vika Jigulina (Victoria Corneva, Russia/Romania)

The mastermind, Edward Maya: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Maya
Featuring Vika Jigulina: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vika_Jigulina

The basic refrain of the song was inspired, and eventually settled from the copyright standpoint, from "Bayatılar"  "an Azerbaijani 1989 composition by Eldar Mansurov." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayat%C4%B1lar

I like very much Edward Maya & Co, but "truth be told":
I would have emailed and snail-mailed a Registered Mail letter with Signature Confirmation to the Azerbaijan Composers Union about my unsuccessful attempts to contact Mr.Mansurov, the Azeri composer, about the copyright for the song. 
Even post it online, in a dated blog, or something.


If no answer, THEN and ONLY THEN I would have gone ahead with releasing "Stereo Love", in the idea that eventually the matter will be solved properly.
But at least I have written and dated proof that I have exhausted all the chances I could think of to contact Mr.Mansurov in due time.


Same thing for whoever the CIMPOI (Romanian bagpipes) virtuoso from Romania (Ion Laceanu? Dumitru Zamfira?) is the inspiration for "Desert Rain", which I also like very much.

Warning! Watch "Stereo Love" once, and it will become like an itch on your brain - you'll want to hear it again...and again...and again...:)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-Z3YrHJ1sU

While we are at it, why don't you "beat your American music station/channel to the punch" and watch/listen the new videoclip "Desert Rain" - get a haunting taste of the CIMPOI, The Romanian bagpipes!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nY49R8nz01Q

You agree, right, that some songs are not just songs - they are a symbol of good times, when you were (maybe) in a dance club or something, and the whole crowd, including you, were dancing, clapping, feeling good and worry-free, at least for some precious few moments...

Placeholder: I have to dig up from somewhere in the house some stamps and postcard with ACCORDION, as if you can't just google or wikipedia yourself and see what's all the fuss...:)

This image shows just one of the many types of accordions, and not necessarily the one used for this song.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PianoAccordeon.jpg

Read more about accordions here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accordion

UPDATE 13 FEB 2011: my postcard showing a group of accordion enthusiasts from the Netherlands.

I have a superb, fabulous, magnificent collection of accordions on stamps - but it consists of...only these two stamps:

ABC Wednesday meme. Letter D is also for DORIN, my name. Maxicard (USA) showing DARLING WOLVES - these two obviously like each other, don't they?

Please visit this meme! :)  http://abcwednesday-mrsnesbitt.blogspot.com/ 
Scroll down once you arrive at the above link.

http://abcwednesday-mrsnesbitt.blogspot.com/
Scroll down once you arrive at the above link.

Egypt, Israel and a Strategic Reconsideration | STRATFOR. Also, a visual metaphor of the relationships (intended? perceived? real?) between two countries such as Egypt and Israel: mailed maximum card (USA) with my giant panda personalized stamp and a postcard with dog-drawn trumpeting (or releasing WickedLicks?) panda

Egypt:
Egypt (ⁱ /ˈiːdʒɪpt/; مصر, Miṣr, Arabic: [mesˤɾ]; Egyptian Arabic: [mɑsˤɾ]; Coptic: Ⲭⲏⲙⲓ, Kīmi), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egypt


Israel: 
Israel (ⁱ /ˈɪzriəl/; Hebrew: יִשְׂרָאֵל‎‎, Yisrā'el; Arabic: إِسْرَائِيل‎, ʾIsrāʾīl), officially the State of Israel (Hebrew:  מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל (help·info), Medīnat Yisrā'el; Arabic: دَوْلَة إِسْرَائِيل‎, Dawlat ʾIsrāʾīl).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel


War and Peace...How Much Land Does a Man Need...The Living Corpse...The Power of Darkness.
All these are NOT about Egypt and Israel (or are they?), but they are titles of  literary works by Lev Tolstoi:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tolstoi


Please read: Egypt, Israel and a Strategic Reconsideration | STRATFOR

Let's say, shall we, that this could be (or is, if we so decide) a visual metaphor of the relationships (intended? perceived? real?) between two countries such as Egypt and Israel.

Feel free to comment ("Would it kill ya' to comment?") about how you interpret it.

Who's The Dog, and who's The Dawg (some human mastermind of this)?

Who's The Bear (giant panda bear)?

Who's [not whose, you grammar-averse students - you know who you are :) ] The Master, and who's The Servant here...if any?

Is that "team" going anywhere? Or just wherever The Dog finds a more compelling smell?

Are they at peace, or they could start a fierce fight at any time?

Is The Bear trumpeting, or just... releasing WikidLicks?

Who are The Puppet Masters, The Directors behind the scenes like this?

:)

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Please visit the newly started Postcard Exchange meme. "For the meme, we do it every Wednesday and the Linky is open until Friday. We'll start again tomorrow. Hope you can join us."

http://www.thelearningcenterbkk.com/2011/01/postcard-exchange-meme-starts-tomorrow.html

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For my giant panda bear and the German shepherd dog - is it "romantic" or "practical" to team up?

Or neither, nor?

:)

Please visit the Two 4 Tuesday meme:

http://www.two4tuesday.com/home/two4tuesday/

Happy Blue Monday! (meme). Happy Valentine suggestion: "From Estonia, with love!" My instagr.am photo of my postcard with the heart-shaped, cool blue Lake Väikejärv (?), Viljandi County, Estonia [don't make me specify Europe, for you :) ]

instagr.am

Idea 1 for maxicard Vaikejarv:

Idea 2 for maxicard Vaikejarv:

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Happy Blue Monday! (meme)

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

(Part 2) Edward Maya feat. Vika Jigulina - Desert Rain ( Official Video ). Also, Sunday Stamps! (meme) - I feature a philatelic stamp with a CIMPOI (Romanian bagpipes), whose haunting sounds will thrill you in this videoclip!

Please explore: http://www.edwardmaya.com

See the other videoclips on YouTube.com about Edward Maya , Vika Jigulina, and other versions featuring Mia Martina or Alicia.[more to come - at least one from every country in the world, I wish! :) ]

See again the worldwide sensation videoclip "Stereo Love"!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dy2nBvtkgyE&hd=1

Y'all You all have heard the sounds of Scottish bagpipes before.

But I bet you have never heard the sounds of Romanian bagpipes!

If you listen (loudly!) to this videoclip music and you DON'T just love the CIMPOI, then...what the hell is wrong with you? oh, well! :D :D :D

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

I have already posted this separately, on Facebook:

To properly enjoy the "progressive house" music of Edward Maya, you better turn up (way up) the volume of your speakers! 

Feel the rhythm, the good vibrations, the haunting melodic line, the exquisite mastery of the Romanian bagpipes (not Scottish) inspired from the virtuoso Ion Laceanu.

[UPDATE: Somebody said that the CIMPOI (Romanian bagpipes) segment from Desert Rain song is inspired from Dumitru Zamfira, also a cimpoi master like Ion Laceanu.] 

But the best musical instrument in the world is a great human voice! 

Nonetheless, welcome to discover the Romanian bagpipes!

The stamp that I bring today to the spotlight of Sunday Stamps meme features a CIMPOI [English pronounciation: chim-poy], which is an old, traditional musical instrument - Romanian Bagpipes.
I placed that stamp at the top of this image; for your viewing pleasure, I scanned it in hi-res 300 dpi, so click on it, then click again to zoom in:

One of the greatest merits of stamp collecting/ philately is that it triggers your appetite for learning, researching and enriching your general culture.

What the heck means ROMINA, on the stamps? - you might ask as you sit there, in your neck-of-the-woods. :) :)

"Communist Romania, previously the Kingdom of Romania, was a Soviet-aligned communist state in the Eastern Bloc. The dominant role of the Romanian Communist Party was enshrined in its successive constitutions between the proclamation of the republic in late 1947 and the Romanian Revolution, resulting in the death of Nicolae Ceauşescu on 25 December 1989. Officially, the country was called the Romanian People's Republic (Romanian: Republica Populară Romînă; RPR) from 1947 to 1965, and the Socialist Republic of Romania (Republica Socialistă România; RSR) from 1965 to 1989. Today, Romania is a unitary parliamentary republic and a member of the European Union."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republica_Popular%C4%83_Rom%C3%AEn%C4%83

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Happy Sunday Stamps!

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