Easter, a moveable feast. "The chronology of his death [Jesus!] and resurrection is variously interpreted to be between AD 26 and 36, traditionally 33". Should we vote? Catholic Easter postcards from Germany, and Orthodox Easter maxicard and FDC from Romania

Thank you, again, Tanti Leontina, Nelu (may your souls rest in peace), Sibila and Wadim!

These are 2 [Catholic] Easter postcards made in [West] Germany, and sent in 2 different years by Tanti Leontina from Bucharest, Romania to my parents in Brasov, Romania. :)

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These are Orthodox Easter philatelic items from Romania: a maximum card and a FDC (First Day Cover).

 An Easter stamp of identical design was used in both cases.

Look at the maximum card painting, "an anonymous painting from the 16th century, Austrian school".

 Notice how the other two men are crucified on trees, not crosses.

The one on the left seems to be sporting a speedo [underwear].

Crucifixions could take many hours till death ends the pain.

The sooner the convict dies, the better for him.

Godspeed[o], to stop suffering towards an inescapable death.

Unless you're Jesus, a Trinity element. Did I say Triad member? No, that sounds like South-East Asia...

I always wondered: what's the big deal of dying, crucified or not, if your DEAD status is only scheduled to last for about 3 days?

How could, and why would the sins of "everybody and their brother" be absolved by a Savior, who's gonna "die" for, like 3 days, then his status update will be ALIVE AGAIN, even if in a different place?

Since Jesus did it, or God did it for him, what did mankind do?

Did we change our ways?

Did we learn any lesson?

Did we stop sinning?

I believe in the existence of Superior Intelligence of the extraterrestrial kind.

"God" could be The Genetic Engineer in charge of our planet/galaxy/Universe/whatever.

He (but why He, and not She, or something else?) could be part of an extraterrestrial (yes, alien) civilization, and we could just be his particular "ant farm".

Other "Gods" could be in charge of their own worlds, somewhere.

But I am not convinced of the total righteousness of ANY priest, church or religion in the world.

I may be wrong, but I want proof.  

THEN I'll believe it!

IRREFUTABLE proof.

If it's just refutable or futable, then...it's not enough.

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"Easter (Old English: Ēostre; Greek: Πάσχα, Paskha; Aramaic and Hebrew: פֶּסחא‎ Pasḥa,) is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year.^[1] According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. Christians typically celebrate this resurrection on Easter Day or Easter Sunday^[2] (also Resurrection Day or Resurrection Sunday), two days after Good Friday and three days after Maundy Thursday. The chronology of his death and resurrection is variously interpreted to be between AD 26 and 36, traditionally 33."

"Easter is a moveable feast, meaning it is not fixed in relation to the civil calendar. It occurs during the spring, in March or April."

"Secular customs, such as the Easter Bunny and Easter egg hunts, have become part of the holiday's modern celebrations and are often observed by Christians and non-Christians alike. There are also some Christian denominations who do not celebrate Easter. (See section below.)"

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

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Happy Sunday Stamps meme!

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

Art on Stamps, by Victor Manta (Switzerland)

Please visit: Art on Stamps

Choose one of the four languages at the bottom of the homepage.

I thought that Romanian is one of them because Victor Manta, the webmaster/author, was born in Romania, but it turns out that I was wrong. Sorry! :)

There is no rush, but it's still a Flowering Rush (Butomus umbellatus). The flowers are bisexual, and the seeds have a straight embryo. Also, a stiffed-tail: The White-headed Duck (Oxyura leucocephala). Maxicard from Romania

"Butomus is the sole genus in the monogeneric plant family Butomaceae, containing the single species Butomus umbellatus, also known as flowering rush or grass rush."

"The flowers are regular and bisexual, 2 to 3 cm across. There are three petal-like sepals which are pink with darker veins."

"The seeds have no endosperm and a straight embryo."

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

"The White-headed Duck (Oxyura leucocephala) is a small stiff-tailed duck.

Adult males have a grey and reddish body, a blue bill and a largely white head with a black cap and neck. Adult females have a grey-brown body with a white face and a darker bill, cap and a cheek stripe."

"These birds dive and swim underwater. 

They are omnivorous, with vegetable matter predominating. 

They are reluctant to fly, preferring to swim for cover."

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

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Happy Pink Saturday! (still open on Sunday!)

^{Please visit "Pretty in pink"/ "Show us your pink" [objects, that is :)] meme here:}

^{http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/my_weblog/}

In English, from Les Maximaphiles Français: It looks like a maximum card ...

I am a traditional maximaphilist, unless it's not possible (to obey all those rules of FIP CfM) or I want to experiment. :)

In the website of Les Maximaphiles Français, I hit Google Translate for English, but when I used my Shareaholic app, the message was that the URL contains illegal characters.
So, because I want to share somehow this interesting article, I will copy and paste whatever is possible.
Merçi, Les Maximaphiles Français!

http://translate.google.com/translate?client=tmpg&hl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.maximaphiles-francais.org%2F%3FCa-ressemble-a-une-carte-maximum&langpair=fr|en

http://www.maximaphiles-francais.org/?Ca-ressemble-a-une-carte-maximum

"Home " Deepening " Knowledge of the maximum card "It looks like a maximum card ...

Wednesday, March 23, 2011, by Webmaster

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Initiation

It looks like a maximum card ... 

Maximaphily the beginner can be tried in any beginning collector, and if not careful, buying philatelic souvenirs improperly termed maximum cards by the seller or by trickery, is most often due to lack of knowledge of our specialty.

Indeed, we see regularly, especially on auction sites, objects that resemble CM ... But which are developed. They generally have three components of the maximum card, ie, a stamp, a card and a postmark, but are inconsistent with the rules MX .

Advertisement on a popular auction site

As you can see, the positive feedback, 30,140 still does not allow the awakening of distrust!

To help you sort the wheat from the chaff, here are some examples from the image.

Rule: SREV Article 3.1 The stamp
It must be valid for mailing (postage power) and be placed solely on the view side of the postcard. The postage fee, Precancel stamps, revenue stamps [...] are not allowed ...

Stamp tax Soldanelle Alps - Tax Yvert 102

Postage fee may result in maximum card. Despite the cancellation of Fleurville (71),

THIS IS NOT A HIGH CARD.

Rule: SREV Article 3.2 The postcard
The postcards reproducing the stamps in their entirety, that is to say, with perforation, denomination, name of issuing country ... are prohibited.

JJ Audubon Snowy Egret - Yvert 2929

Memory made with a "map stamp program" distributed by post and returning to the visual stamp issued.

THIS IS NOT A HIGH CARD.

Map showing the picture of the stamp "Greenwich"

THIS IS NOT A HIGH CARD.

So beware, some postal administrations also sell under the term "maximum card" or "maxi-card" or "Maxicard" (for English) philatelic souvenirs home that are not CM .

Rule: Guidance 3.2 The postcard
Collages, cutouts, the private photographs on paper, color copies or black and white, montages, drawings, documents designed specifically for the issuance of postage stamps printed and privately with the computer on special paper for photography, can not be used to achieve maximum cards.

JJ Audubon Snowy Egret - Yvert 2929

Stamp collage card with "silk".

THIS CARD IS NOT A MAXIMUM.

Parisian flower show - Yvert # 1189

Illustrated card specially made for philatelic souvenirs (original design).

THIS IS NOT A HIGH CARD.

International Flower - Yvert 1597

Memory card bonding.

THIS IS NOT A HIGH CARD.

Rule: Section 3.3 The cancellation SREV
... The postmarks affixed by the philatelic services are permitted, provided that consistency is respected place ...

The Parthenon in Athens - Service Stamp Yvert 98

This stamp can give rise to a maximum card. Indeed, an obliteration in Athens by the French post office was impossible, the UNESCO office located in Paris.

THIS IS NOT A HIGH CARD.

It is therefore not possible to obtain a maximum card type monument with obliteration same ^"1st Day of Issue" stamped in another place, let alone in another country.

Here is another example below with the stamp issued in 1571 Yvert to mark the ^50th anniversary of the armistice on the Eastern Front September 25, 1918. The monument depicted on the stamp is the "White Tower" to Salonika in Greece. There is therefore no possibility to obtain a CM with this monument, the catalog does not mention CM French.

50 ^th anniversary of the armistice on the Eastern front - Thessaloniki

THIS IS NOT A HIGH CARD.

You are now a little better equipped to not make the mistake to include this kind of document in your future presentation Maximaphily competitive!

We have, wherever possible, added to that section of the real CM made ​​from the stamps that were used for examples.

postscript: 
In this paper, we suggest you reject the documents do not conform to the status of the maximum card notwithstanding, each collects what he wants, as he sees fit.

Complement in pictures - click!

JJ Audubon Snowy Egret - Ed Castelet OPJ 25.02.1995 Paris (75) 

Parisian flower show - Ed Yvon Obl. dude. Fig. 17.01.1959 Paris (75) 

International Flower - Ed Yvon OPJ 12.04.1969 Paris (75) 

 New Comment"

In French, from Les Maximaphiles Français: Ça ressemble à une carte-maximum…

I am a traditional maximaphilist, unless it's not possible (to obey all those rules of FIP CfM) or I want to experiment. :)

Here is the original version in French; in the next blogpost we'll have fun with an awkward automated translation in English.

Click: Les Maximaphiles Français

"Le maximaphile débutant peut être tenté, en tout début de collection, et s’il n’y prend garde, d’acheter des souvenirs philatéliques improprement qualifiés de cartes-maximum par les vendeurs, soit par rouerie, soit le plus souvent par manque de connaissances de notre spécialité.

En effet, on voit régulièrement, notamment sur les sites de ventes aux enchères, des objets qui ressemblent à des CM… mais qui n’en sont point. Ils présentent en général les trois éléments constitutifs de la carte-maximum, à savoir, un timbre, une carte et une oblitération, mais sont en contradiction avec les règles MX".

I will point out, in red, that the article author(s) say, with an open mind, that everybody should collect what they want, as they understand.

"post scriptum :
Dans cet article, nous vous suggérons de rejeter les documents ne répondant pas au statut de la carte-maximum, nonobstant, chacun collectionne ce qu’il veut, comme il l’entend."

How To Get The Most Out Of Your iPhone As A Reporting Tool - 10,000 Words. Maximum card from Bulgaria. A honey bee has no reporting tool about a new source of food. So she'll have to "dance" for her fellow bees

How To Get The Most Out Of Your iPhone As A Reporting Tool - 10,000 Words

A honey bee has no reporting tool about a new source of food.

So she'll have to "dance" to the fellow bees.

"Honey bees are known to communicate through many different chemicals and odours, as is common in insects, but also using specific behaviours that convey information about the quality and type of resources in the environment, and where these resources are located. 

The details of the signalling being used vary from species to species; for example, the two smallest species, Apis andreniformis and Apis florea, dance on the upper surface of the comb, which is horizontal (not vertical, as in other species), and worker bees orient the dance in the actual compass direction of the resource to which they are recruiting."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honey_bee

Maximum card from Bulgaria.

Part 1 - What's the difference between RABBITS and HARES? Also, I show you my creations in traditional maximaphily (compliant with rules of FIP CfM): Year of the Hare (or Rabbit, as a mistake, according to zodiac semantics) maximum cards / maxicards / dorincards from USA

Notice the usefulness of a companion item when the postmark is not fully visible on one item.

Also, notice how I politely twisted the arm of the open-minded postal associate into providing me more than one instance of the pictorial postmark, adding stamps on the back.

Out of many, at least some postmarks came out visible and complete.

Do you realize that I used OLDER stamps, not the "STUP" [euphemism] kumquats stamps from this year???

"The Chinese Year of the Rabbit ( 兔 ) is actually the Chinese Year of the Hare, as China has seven native species of hares and no native species of rabbits. 

The Chinese applied their word for hare to the first rabbits to be taken to China, and the word is now erron[e]ously back-translated into English as rabbit. 

The hare is the fourth animal in the 12-year cycle of the Chinese zodiac. 

The Year of the Hare is associated with the earthly branch symbol 卯."

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

Not to be outdone, the Vietnamese zodiac takes the error even further, and translates it into Year of the Cat!

"In the related Vietnamese zodiac, the cat takes the place of the hare.^[1][2"

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

"Differences from rabbits

Main article: Rabbit

Hares do not bear their young below ground in a burrow as do other leporids, but rather in a shallow depression or flattened nest of grass called a form. 

Hares are adapted to the lack of physical protection, relative to that afforded by a burrow, by being born fully furred and with eyes open. 

They are hence able to fend for themselves soon after birth; they are precocial. 

By contrast, the related rabbits and cottontail rabbits are altricial, having young that are born blind and hairless.

All rabbits (except the cottontail rabbits) live underground in burrows or warrens, while hares (and cottontail rabbits) live in simple nests above the ground, and usually do not live in groups. 

Hares are generally larger than rabbits, with longer ears, and have black markings on their fur. 

Hares have not been domesticated, while rabbits are kept as house pets. 

There is a domestic pet known as the "Belgian hare", but this is a rabbit that has been selectively bred to resemble a hare.

The hare's diet is similar to the rabbit's. 

They are both in the order Lagomorpha.

Hares have been thought to have jointed, or kinetic, skulls, unique among mammals."

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

So, boys and girls ladies and gentlemen, what did we learn today?

 Year of the Hare, not Rabbit.

All domestic lagomorphs are rabbits, not hares.

So my awww-dorable maximum cards are celebrating erroneously the Year of the Rabbit, as the nice pictorial postmark from West Nyack, New York 10994 says.

But I still love those two postcards!

Don't you? Doncha, baby?

If you don't, then you're an...insensitive savage, or something. [ :D :D :D ]

I would like this blogpost (because of the images, not because of my text) to become one of the cutest, loveliest blogposts in the blogsphere, in the history of blogging.

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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).