c am sayin'? postage from Zazzle.com

c am sayin'? postage from Zazzle.com

c am sayin'? Another way to say "Do you see what I am saying?". The abbreviated style is used mainly in texting and tweeting. :)

According to my calculations, the problem doesn't exist - stamp from Zazzle.com

According to my calculations, the problem doesn't exist - stamp from Zazzle.com

I like it. :)

Joy as Chile miners reach surface (BBC article title) - my Zazzle stamp project to celebrate this great news!

This is my Zazzle stamp project, subject to approval, in celebration of what may be the best good news in the world, in 2010!

Zazzle has approved today my stamp design!
The final version that I submitted has a black border.

http://www.zazzle.com/estamos_bien_en_el_refugio_los_33_miners_message_postage-172647292784973087?rf=238693463283865848

See photos of the rescue, provided by the Chilean Government:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rescatemineros

To be mailed: covers/envelopes with Zazzle (personalized) stamps - only 20 stamps in the world, so far, from most of my stamp designs!

To allow you to see all the details, I have scanned these at a higher resolution (300dpi) than the default one.

If you click on each image and scroll, you'll see.

Click to ZOOM IN, then click again to further ZOOM IN.

Zazzle stamps, like these, are part of the future of philately, I think.

They are not your Grandpa's usual stamps, always designed by somebody else.

Today, YOU can design personalized stamps, and Grandpa can do it, too, with a little help in the IT department. :)

Designing is free. Owning is not, of course.

See examples of my designs (stamps, custom postcards, T-shirts, etc.) in the zazzle link below.

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/

Get to scream at Halloween Stamp from Zazzle.com

Get to scream at Halloween Stamp from Zazzle.com

Notice the lowercase letter O made from a skull...cool font! :)

Now, where was I before I got interrupted? Postage Stamp from Zazzle.com

Now, where was I before I got interrupted? Postage Stamp from Zazzle.com

Bengal Tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) 2 Postage Stamps from Zazzle.com

Bengal Tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) 2 Postage Stamps from Zazzle.com

Bengal Tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) 1 Stamps from Zazzle.com

Bengal Tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) 1 Stamps from Zazzle.com

"What Happens Next: Our Look Ahead" - Forbes predictions for the next 10 years

Very interesting predictions, estimates, educated guesses, wild guesses, far-out guesses, naive guesses, clairvoyant guesses, delusional guesses and realistic guesses from many specialists - a cool article from Forbes.com. Read it now (including slides captions), and again in 10 years. You'll say Wow!, for a number of reasons...:)


"We asked our staff and contributors to forecast some of the noteworthy events of the next 10 years, a vision of the coming decade sketched from real data, projections and facts whenever possible--though we've injected a dose of rigorous science fiction to fill the gaps.

Add your own predictions in the comments section, and vote on the likelihood of future events in our interactive poll. Be bold. As Malcolm Forbes said, "Being right half the time beats being half right all the time." And time has proved him right."

http://www.forbes.com/2010/09/07/technology-energy-politics-opinions-contributors-2020_land.html?boxes=Homepagelighttop

For example, Forbes.com says this:
"2016: Virtual Jobs

America's first virtual world employee farm opens in South Carolina. Minimum-wage workers serve as bodyguards, gold harvesters in online games.".

Well, I think we could all come up with some ideas - better or worse...

Here's a maximum card that I created in 2006, while attending the Washington, D.C. World Philatelic Exhibition [Exposition].
It is a non-traditional MC, since the traditional FIP maximaphily rules say that an MC cannot have an abstract concordance of subject/theme/topic between stamp, postcard and postmark.
But I think that that rule is terribly wrong. [OMG!]
Yes, I said it. :)
Topical stamp collecting, or topical philately, means collecting by the theme.
In this case, I'd say the theme is "the stimulation of the mind - thoughts, emotions, reactions, actions..."
And yes, that's an abstract thing.
So what?
I still like my maximum card, no matter what. :)
Also, it's an UNICATE/UNIKAT/UNICAT maximum card. Only 1 copy/specimen in the whole world (I guess), since I created only 1.
Have you ever seen another one, identical (down to the pictorial postmark)? Show and tell. :)

The stamp shows a guy enjoying a Virtual Reality helmet - a world between your ears, so to speak.

I used an AD CARD, a category that so many deltiologists [postcard collectors] hate, out of principle!

But I judge a postcard by its individual merits, not by the category it belongs to.

In 2006, I made [between my ears...in my mind :)] my own prediction about Tower Records, who paid for this AD CARD.

"You will soon go out of business...Why should we pay for a whole music CD, when all we want is 1 (one) specific song?"

http://www.zazzle.com/why_stamp_postage-172279254387759379?rf=238693463283865848

We'll never forget 9/11, and (some of us) we'll never forgive it, either! - WTC1 POST CARD from Zazzle.com

WTC1 POST CARD from Zazzle.com

In Virginia, I saw a car license plate with a pentagon-shaped logo, with the Twin Towers inside the contour. The license plate ID, next to that logo, is: ULLPAY.

http://www.zazzle.com/mm_hmm_postage-172554017647834569?rf=238693463283865848

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

What would...Vlad Dracula (for example) have done about the 9/11 attack, if he were Dictator of the USA? ...:)

To the yes-men from the Democratic Party, and to the no-men from the Republican Party ("The Audacity of Nope") Vlad could have said [in Fantasy Land]:

"Now, right after 9/11, are you, ladies and gentlemen, contemplating the idea of playing your usual political games? Would you like to shove political correctness down my throat, as I am preparing this wounded country for a proper response, in self-defense?

http://www.zazzle.com/fuhgeddaboutit_postage-172290341172830415?rf=238693463283865848

This attack happened on my watch.

So I, Vlad Dracula, Dictator of USA, will NOT tell "those folks" who planned and executed this suicidal attack:

http://www.zazzle.com/make_no_mistake_postage-172367512928151380?rf=238693463283865848

Instead, I will tell "those folks" that THEY HAVE ALREADY MADE A MISTAKE!

Of the lethal kind. Starting with our almost 3,000 dead, and many more wounded.

Long story short, our enemies will face, eventually, the question "WHAT'S AT STAKE, when you attack Vlad's country?"

Let me tell you: THE STAKES ARE HIGH.

And the stakes, as an element of justice, are a very visual form of communication.

Eventually, our American armed forces will bring most of "those folks" to justice.

What justice? Poetic justice?

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

Swift justice! 

ASAP. 

Fifteen years on death row, on taxpayers money?

http://www.zazzle.com/i_dont_think_so_postage-172747464236221795?rf=238693463283865848

So: 

I declare Martial Law, 

I suspend the Constitution, 

and I send you, politicians of all colors (including political chameleons) home. 

Go filibuster yourselves in your little precincts.

Take a hike. 

The Appalachian Trail is so scenic and winding - it could take you all the way down to your "dear, dear friend in Argentina", or something. 

Transgressions galore.

[REPORTER]: - Mr.Vlad, what do you think about building a mosque at Ground Zero?

[VLAD] (perplexed): 

http://www.zazzle.com/excuse_me_postage-172194416604632509?rf=238693463283865848

For the next couple of years I will be busy, like Cincinnatus, to run this country my way, at all costs.

I know that, later on, I will be assassinated, but I'll still do it until then.

My legacy to my fellow Americans is more important than a life of luxury and of abuse of power.

Dismissed!

[Also spracht Vlad Dracula, in Fantasy Land].

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

The World Trade Center...The Pentagon...9/11/2001...actions have consequences...endlessly.

I created this as a postcard because zazzle rejected this image as a stamp: "it is too violent for a stamp, per our policies from USPS."

Hmm...

                                              
http://www.zazzle.com/well_never_forget_postage-172863772222566854?rf=238693463283865848

http://www.zazzle.com/the_pentagon_postage-172397131759321876?rf=238693463283865848

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

Happy PFF (Postcard Friendship Friday)!

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

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

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

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

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.
:)