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?

:)

===========

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

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

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/

Read from AOLNews: "Argentine Woman Survives Fall From Hotel's 23rd Floor". Also, a personalized stamp about how life is.

http://www.zazzle.com/messi_stamp_misspelling_of_messy_postage-172267884447570079?rf=238693463283865848

Read from AOLNews: "Argentine Woman Survives Fall From Hotel's 23rd Floor". 

The 23rd floor...is that a tall story? Keyword: crash-landing.

http://www.aolnews.com/2011/01/26/argentine-woman-survives-fall-from-hotels-23rd-floor/

Argentina, the land of Messi passion, and sometimes messy happenings.

This unfortunate suicidal woman filed her TAXI RETURN to life.

Location, location, and timing, too.

Curiosity did not kill the driver, who was intrigued about the policeman looking up.

Luck may not be up to you, but at least you can be alert. Observant of your surroundings and happenings.

Read from BBC: "FBI charges 127 alleged mobsters in north-east US". Also, a personalized stamp with a mafia cultural reference (The Sopranos)

Read the whole article here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12243086#

"Officials said alleged leaders of the all five major crime families in New York were arrested, including the entire leadership of the Colombo family not already in prison. In addition, the arrests hit the Gambino, Genovese, Lucchese, Bonanno, and DeCavalcante families."


Superior detective work, a la Lieutenant Columbo, culminated in a cavalcade of arrests. A novel wave of arrests of those who forced their Lucc at Gamb-ling with the law - 2011 will be a bon anno.


Is that gonna definitively eradicate THE MAFIA?

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

Winter Garden Postage Stamps from Zazzle.com, mosaic artwork by Cristina-Mary Buzamet (Romania)

http://www.zazzle.com/winter_garden_postage-172800864997904047?gl=CristinaMaryBuzamet&rf=238693463283865848

Winter Garden Postage Stamps from Zazzle.com

To see more of her cool mosaic artwork ("gestual mosaic"), please visit: http://www.zazzle.com/cristinamarybuzamet

cristinamarybuzamet's Store at Zazzle

Best wishes to you, Cristina-Mary! You found your vocation and your job, all in one! That's very rare! :)

Un An Nou Fericit - 2011! [A Happy New Year - 2011!]

More links:

http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/cristinamary-buzamet.html

"From Nazareth, with love". From Nazareth "the Arab capital of Israel" ? No, from Nazareth, Kentucky, USA. I created this non-traditional maximum card with a folded card ("Christmas card") received from Romania.

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

Notice that I found an American stamp where Mary has the same color scheme as in the card: red robe with blue mantle.

The pictorial postmark is matching, depicting Baby Jesus.

The reason you can see pretty much the entire postmark on the picture side is because I have used an Avery transparent mailing label, to counteract the glossiness of the card.

http://www.zazzle.com/c_am_sayin_postage-172331084925934503?rf=238693463283865848

"BBC: African elephant is two species, researchers say". Also, Part 1: zazzle personalized stamp that I created, depicting The African Forest Elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis)

http://www.zazzle.com/african_forest_elephant_loxodonta_cyclotis_postage-172841520443678126?rf=238693463283865848

"The African Forest Elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis) is a forest dwelling elephant of the Congo Basin. Formerly considered either a synonym or a subspecies of the African Savanna Elephant (Loxodonta africana), a 2010 study established that the two are distinct species^[2][3]. The disputed Pygmy Elephants of the Congo basin, often assumed to be a separate species (Loxodonta pumilio) by cryptozoologists, are probably Forest Elephants whose diminutive size and/or early maturity is due to environmental conditions.^[4]"

^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forest_elephant}

Please read: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12054343#

"WAGSTAFF: A Voice vs. An Echo." Also, a set of dorincards with Audrey Hepburn, a most classy Lady of the silver screen

I like and I follow this screenwriting blog, by Stephen Hoover:
WAGSTAFF: A Voice vs. An Echo

"True artists have their D.N.A. imprinted on their masterworks.   You can recognize the work of a master painter immediately.   Same with a writer.   Rare are unique voices -- distinct and resonating -- in any artistic field."


We should work at finding and expressing our voices.
:)
============================

This is a traditional maximum card, but can you decipher the postmark?

Out of sheer desperation, I decided some time ago to also create (occasionally) maxicards with labels (either white or transparent) so we can see the dam(ned) darn postmarks.

http://www.zazzle.com/what_stamp_postage-172780532697535446?rf=238693463283865848

You think that's CURSING?

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

http://www.zazzle.com/now_where_was_i_before_i_got_interrupted_postage-172442505130559121?rf=238693463283865848

Oh, yeah - Audrey Hepburn.

Here she is:

http://delcampe.com/page/item/id,45129971,var,BEAUTIFUL-CLASSY-AUDREY-HEPBURN-non-traditional-maximum-card-maxicard-6,language,E.html

Can YOU see the postmark now?

http://www.zazzle.com/yep_sure_thing_postage-172043653061207202?rf=238693463283865848

http://delcampe.com/page/item/id,45129745,var,BEAUTIFUL-CLASSY-AUDREY-HEPBURN-non-traditional-maximum-card-maxicard-2,language,E.html

http://delcampe.com/page/item/id,45129962,var,BEAUTIFUL-CLASSY-AUDREY-HEPBURN-non-traditional-maximum-card-maxicard-5,language,E.html

http://delcampe.com/page/item/id,45129949,var,BEAUTIFUL-CLASSY-AUDREY-HEPBURN-non-traditional-maximum-card-maxicard-4,language,E.html

http://delcampe.com/page/item/id,45129768,var,BEAUTIFUL-CLASSY-AUDREY-HEPBURN-non-traditional-maximum-card-maxicard-3,language,E.html

Geopolitical Journey, Part 8: Returning Home | STRATFOR - and remember the Pearl Harbor attack

Geopolitical Journey, Part 8: Returning Home | STRATFOR

===============
Maybe some Europeans disregard or dismiss now the importance of USA (who saved their asses more than once).
But I say that USA is also the dream of freedom for many (most?) people from around the world. Despite all the problems and mistakes.

Whoever "You" are: "Don't tread on me!"..."Don't mess with me!"..."Don't provoke me!"..."Don't [F] with me!"..."Don't attack me!"...Coz if you do, you'll have a rude(r) awakening, and you'll see that I [USA] can do much more than...mass-print "Wal-Mart dollars". :)

"Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto is portrayed at the very end of the 1970 film Tora! Tora! Tora!, and in the 2001 film Pearl Harbor, as saying after his attack on Pearl Harbor, "I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve."^[1] The supposed quotation was abbreviated in the film Pearl Harbor (2001), where it merely read, "I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant."


"In The Reluctant Admiral, Hiroyuki Agawa, without a citation, does give a quotation from a reply by Admiral Yamamoto to Ogata Taketora on January 9, 1942, which is strikingly similar to the famous version: "A military man can scarcely pride himself on having 'smitten a sleeping enemy'; it is more a matter of shame, simply, for the one smitten. I would rather you made your appraisal after seeing what the enemy does, since it is certain that, angered and outraged, he will soon launch a determined counterattack.""
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isoroku_Yamamoto's_sleeping_giant_quote

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

http://www.zazzle.com/thank_you_us_navy_postage-172842548723945705?rf=238693463283865848

A formidable predator: The American Bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana), often simply known as the Bullfrog, in Canada and the United States

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:North-American-bullfrog1.jpg

I like this image above because it shows the full body (extended legs can be seen in other images), not just the head, or just the eyes, as in my other MCs, that you can see down below in this blogpost.

I printed a mailable postcard (not simply a photo print) with it, at winkflash.com.

I attached a bullfrog stamp, because I will definitely create a maximum card with it - I just wait for a concordant (pictorial) postmark opportunity from anywhere in USA .

Tell me about the postmark in the maxicard below, an MC created by a good friend of mine - not quite visible, huh?

Also, the bullfrog looks like an ordinary little frog, judging by the little you can see out of the water.

http://www.delcampe.com/page/item/id,0037984113,language,E.html

"The American Bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana)^[1][2][3]), often simply known as the Bullfrog in Canada and the United States, is an aquatic frog, a member of the family Ranidae, or “true frogs”, native to much of North America.^[4] "

"Stomach content studies going back to 1913 suggest the bullfrog preys on any animal it can overpower and stuff down its throat. Bullfrog stomachs have been found to contain rodents, small turtles, snakes, frogs—including bullfrogs, birds, even a bat, as well as the many invertebrates which are the usual food of ranid frogs."

"Prey motion elicits feeding behavior. First, if necessary, the frog performs a single orienting bodily rotation ending with the frog aimed towards the prey. This is followed by approaching leaps, if necessary. Once within striking distance, the bullfrog emits its feeding strike, which consists of a ballistic (eyes closed as during all leaps) lunge that ends with the mouth opening, extension of the fleshy and mucous-coated tongue upon the prey, often engulfing it, while the jaws continue their forward travel to close (bite) in close proximity to the prey's original location just as the tongue is retracted back into the mouth, prey attached. Large prey that do not travel entirely into the mouth are literally stuffed in with the forearms. In laboratory observations, bullfrogs taking mice usually dove underwater with prey in mouth, apparently with the advantageous result of altering the mouse's defense from counterattack to struggling for air."

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

http://www.zazzle.com/bullfrog_postage-172019185732176058?rf=238693463283865848

How to create a maximum card in the process of mailing a postcard?

I postmarked this maximum card on 16 Sep 2010, and I mailed it in an envelope.

I postmarked this maximum card on 20 Sep 2010 and I mailed it as a postcard (no envelope):

A 98c stamp is the one with Grand Teton National Park. But I prefer here to use other stamps for the same total of 98 cents, from both sides of the postcard.

See how I created a maximum card in the process of mailing a postcard from USA to Romania?
Well, I used the concordant stamp on the picture side, and I put all the other stamps on the address side.

The picture side was glossy, so I carefully rubbed with hard dishpad, just enough to rough up the surface needed.
I also rubbed a little the glossy zazzle stamp.

The picture postcard is my custom-created postcard, printed by winkflash.com from the photo I uploaded to them.
The postmark is applied with my own MPP canceller (Mailer's Postmark Permit) #67.
The stamp is also my design.
http://www.zazzle.com/leon_iancovici_esq_romania_postage-172868310591662719?rf=238693463283865848
Anybody can do that. Only US residents can get MPP, though.
:)

After I created that design (from the stamp in the maximum card, with "3 philatelists"), new information surfaced about 2 more Gold Medallists at recent FIP Exhibitions, so the current total is 5 maximaphilists.
That will increase, in time, of course.
What will remain forever unchanged is that my friend Leon Iancovici was chronologically the 2nd in the world in this elite group.

Officially, a Zazzle stamp (= personalized stamp = personalised stamp = customized postage = P-stamp) does "not require to be postmarked", because the code is supposed to be decoded by the scanner of the Post.
But my interpretation is that it's still OK to have it postmarked on (nice, polite) demand, should the postal associate cooperate.
[Translation: THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH POSTMARKING/HANDCANCELLING A PERSONALIZED STAMP!!! - USPS should adopt THIS rule! :)]
Sometimes, I get to postmark myself with the USPS canceller, at the post counter, "under the supervision" of a nice, cooperating, open-minded postal associate.
Or, I can postmark it myself - it's easy for me to convince myself to carefully postmark it with my MPP canceller.

Notice that I wrote "ADDITIONAL POSTAGE ->" - never assume that the postal associate will flip the postcard.

Here's another example, where I didn't initially write "ADDITIONAL POSTAGE", and some unflipping postal associate has returned the postcard to me for insufficient postage!!!

It never crossed his/her mind that the missing 41 cents stamp is ALREADY on the postcard, just on the picture side, for philatelic/maximaphilic purposes.

Moreover, I already handcancelled that 41c stamp with the USPS canceller - but the postcard and the stamp were glossy, and the ink was low on the canceller. STAZ-ON would be a superior brand of ink for glossy surfaces.

So the red ink stamp above my panda stamp is barely visible. Which proves again that I could be better off postmarking with my own MPP device. I can pre-ink at will.

I have crossed out the USPS note for insufficient postage, as instructed at the second Post visit, and I resubmitted the postcard with arrows pointing to the other side.

Happy Halloween! Bram Stoker's Dracula, and more - maximum cards, circulated covers, etc.

I have created this maximum card by sending the stamped postcard (I have affixed the stamp) to the post office in Hollywood, California, ZIP code 90028.

This is the back of the first postcard.

This is a "musical" folded card, with Lugosi/Dracula's voice recording! :)

"Lugosi, the youngest of four children,^[3] was born as Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó in Lugos (at the time part of Austria–Hungary, now Lugoj in Romania), to Paula de Vojnich and István Blasko, a banker.^[4] He later based his last name on his hometown.^[3]"

^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lugosi}

See the stamp "Giving blood saves lives"? I thought I should use it on this cover. :)

I am one of the men in the above maximum card image. :)

These are 4 different attempted maxicards, scanned in one pass. I am still waiting for the Hollywood 90028 Post Office (Hello, Brenda J. or Postmaster!) to postmark them and return them to me, in my prepaid return envelope. Don't tell me you were sloppy enough to lose them! You did a good job in the past. :)

UPDATE: I just received those items, with courtesy postmarks from Aug. 4, inside a new Priority Mail envelope, not the envelope that I provided for return. Why the delay? Anyway, I'm glad I finally got them. Thank you! :)