What Happened to the American Declaration of War? | STRATFOR. Also, this rhino is capable of attacking anybody (any body) without a "declaration of war": The White or Square-lipped Rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum). WWF maximum cards / maxicards / dorincards about Swaziland.

Please read: What Happened to the American Declaration of War? | STRATFOR


A rhinoceros can be an equal-opportunity attacker - it does not discriminate.
It can attack anybody.
Anything that moves (too close to his proximity).
If it's a Land Rover, it'll make it a Land Roll-over.
If it's a whole damn moving train, it can attack it head-on - there were such cases.
Guess who won?

"The White or Square-lipped Rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum) is, after the elephant, the most massive remaining land animal in the world, along with the Indian Rhinoceros and the hippopotamus, which are of comparable size. 

There are two subspecies of White Rhinos; as of 2005, South Africa has the most of the first subspecies, the Southern White Rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum simum). 

The population of Southern White Rhinos is about 14,500, making them the most abundant subspecies of rhino in the world. 

However, the population of the second subspecies, the critically endangered Northern White Rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum cottoni), is down to as few as four individuals in the wild, and as of June 2008 this sub-species are thought to have become extinct in the wild.[7] 

Six are known to be held in captivity, two of which reside in a zoo in San Diego. 

There are currently four that were in held in captivity since 1982 in a zoo in the Czech Republic which were transferred to a wildlife refuge in Kenya in December 2009, in an effort to have the animals reproduce and save the subspecies.[8]"

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

"White Rhinoceros range (brown - native, pink - reintroduced, red - inroduced)"

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

My comment: even Wikipedia contributors can make mistakes, including typos, despite presumed multiple layers of editors.

Editing is fun (for me). :)

The word inroduced does NOT refer to the rhino..."making inroads", or something.

It's just a tiny mistake, inTroduced and left there, uncaught. :)

"Swaziland, officially the Kingdom of Swaziland (Umbuso weSwatini), and sometimes called Ngwane or Swatini, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa, bordered to the north, south and west by South Africa, and to the east by Mozambique. 

The nation, as well as its people, are named after the 19th century king Mswati II."

"Swaziland's economy is dominated by the service industry, manufacturing and agriculture. 

Some 75% of the population are employed in subsistence farming, and 60% of the population live on less than the equivalent of US$1.25 per day.^[3] 

Swaziland's main trading partner is South Africa, and its currency is pegged to the South African rand. Swaziland's economic growth and societal integrity is highly endangered by its disastrous HIV epidemic, to an extent where the United Nations Development Program has written that if it continues unabated, the "longer term existence of Swaziland as a country will be seriously threatened."^[4] 

The infection rate in the country is unprecedented and the highest in the world at 26.1% of adults^[5] and over 50% of adults in their 20s.^[4]"

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

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Please visit and join Ruby Tuesday meme!

http://workofthepoet.blogspot.com/

My entry for today is that rhinoceros  red - in-road used area above. :)

Sunday Stamps (meme)! Look at these superb animal stamps from Burundi! What is the 'Be my Valentine [mate for life?]' attitude of these 48 different species? How many of these choose their 'Valentine' for Social monogamy, or Sexual monogamy, or Genetic monogamy?

Do animals mate for life? How do they go about..."Be my Valentine"?
Animals don't technically get married, so they have (IF they have) only one (or a combination) of the first three types of monogamy that humans can have:

"Aspects of monogamy

• Social monogamy refers to two persons/creatures who live together, have sex with each other, and cooperate in acquiring basic resources such as food, clothes, and money.
• Sexual monogamy refers to two persons/creatures who remain sexually exclusive with each other and have no outside sex partners.
• Genetic monogamy refers to two partners that only have offspring with each other.
• Marital monogamy refers to marriages of only two people."

"Whatever makes a pair of animals socially monogamous does not necessarily make them sexually or genetically monogamous. Social monogamy, sexual monogamy, and genetic monogamy can occur in different combinations."

"In animal sexuality, serial monogamy often means that an animal will have a different, but exclusive, breeding partner each mating season. Generally, any animals that do not mate with one partner, for life, but do mate exclusively with one partner per mating season can be considered serially monogamous, including those who find a second mate only upon the death of the first."

"Mating system

Main article: Animal sexuality

Monogamy is one of several mating systems observed in other animals. The amount of social monogamy in animals varies across taxa, with over 90% of birds engaging in social monogamy but only 7% of mammals engaging in social monogamy. With birds the locomotion method has meant that the sharing of genetic material with non-local sources is far less difficult, and reproduction is far more successful when both the male and the female contribute food resources to the offspring. The incidence of sexual monogamy appears quite rare in other parts of the animal kingdom. It is becoming clear that even animals that are socially monogamous engage in extra-pair copulations.[1]"

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

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Click, and click again to zoom in.

One of the most beautiful wildlife stamp series in the world, from Burundi!

I have two versions, as they were issued, so I was able to separate one set into individual stamps and place them accordingly, in my taxonomic stamp collection, by species. 

At the bottom, you can see the zebra stamp from the separated set, which set is of larger size - even more beautiful! :)

The other stamps at the bottom are for comparison purposes: they are nice (but not AS NICE), and of regular size.

The CCCP/ USSR one has a forced, unnatural juxtaposition of American Bison and Zebra -  I don't like that! Yes, it was done to cram more species featured on a stamp series with few available slots - they doubled the number of species featured.

That American Bison stamp from USA, unlike newer stamps from USPS, is too simplistic for my taste - "look what brown can do for you!".

Since USA and some other countries are such global economic powers, WHY shouldn't they also be philatelic/ stamp design global powers?

Why let the stamp design excellence be a competitive advantage of much smaller countries, such as Burundi, Bhutan and Serenissima Reppublica di San Marino, for example?

The Romanian one (POSTA ROMANA) is a famous EFO = Errors, Freaks and Oddities.

The Grevy zebra stamp should have been denominated 1,55 Lei, meaning 1 Leu and 55 bani (like 1$ and 55 cents). Instead, the whole print run went out with 1 55 bani. They did not issue a recall.

The Romanian Post may have pulled a proto-chronistic ceelogreen on this, like "Forget you!". :) 

"I'm not gonna recall you." So the stamps remained all out with that error.

http://www.zazzle.com/yes_thats_an_euphemism_postage-172784866997600135?rf=238693463283865848

Burundi has done a great promotional job for wildlife and for Burundi, even if these stamps may have been created by some foreign contractor.

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

"Burundi (pronounced [buˈɾundi]), officially the Republic of Burundi, is a landlocked country in the Great Lakes region of Eastern Africa bordered by Rwanda to the north, Tanzania to the east and south, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west. Its size is just under 28,000 km² with an estimated population of almost 8,700,000. Its capital is Bujumbura. Although the country is landlocked, much of the southwestern border is adjacent to Lake Tanganyika.

The Twa, Tutsi, and Hutu peoples have occupied Burundi since the country's formation five centuries ago. Burundi was ruled as a kingdom by the Tutsi for over two hundred years. However, at the beginning of the twentieth century, Germany and Belgium occupied the region, and Burundi and Rwanda became a European colony known as Ruanda-Urundi.

Political unrest occurred throughout the region because of social differences between the Tutsi and Hutu, provoking civil war in Burundi throughout the middle twentieth century. Presently, Burundi is governed as a presidential representative democratic republic. Sixty-two percent of Burundians are Roman Catholic, eight to ten percent are Muslims and the rest followindigenous beliefs and other Christian denominations.

Burundi is one of the ten poorest countries in the world. 

It has the lowest per capita GDP of any nation in the 

world.^[5] Burundi has a low gross domestic product largely due to civil wars, corruption, poor access to education, and the effects of HIV/AIDS. Burundi is densely populated, with substantial emigration. Cobalt and copper are among Burundi's natural resources. Some of Burundi's main exports include coffee and sugar."

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

Another set, almost as beautiful to me, is this (click, and click again to zoom in):

Happy Valentine's Day!

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Happy Sunday Stamps!

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

My post for the "Sunday Stamps" meme: cool stamp from the Republic of South Africa, with WITRENOSTER/ WHITE RHINO (Ceratotherium simum)

"The White Rhinoceros or Square-lipped rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum) is one of the five species of rhinoceros that still exist and is one of the few megafaunal species left. It has a wide mouth used for grazing and is the most social of all rhino species. The White Rhino consists of two subspecies: the Southern White Rhino, with an estimated 17,480 wild-living animals at the end of 2007 (IUCN 2008), and the much rarer Northern White Rhino. The northern subspecies may have eight remaining worldwide — all in captivity.^[3]"

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

I like this stamp because it shows not only the rhinos, but it also gives you a clue, a research starting point, a spark for your mind: the map of the region of KwaZulu/Natal, in the context of South Africa.

So, the point is: don't just look at this rhino stamp and move on with your oh, so busy life.

While you are at it, at least take a quick look at the (wikipedia, for example) entry for South Africa.

Expand your horizon. Horizontally. Coz now it may be too much of a vertical horizon, ultra-specialized in your tiny square of knowledge required to do your job, whatever that is.

:)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa

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Happy Sunday Stamps!

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

Happy Fathers' Day!

In an African reservation for orphaned elephants, the young (<21 yrs old) males grew aggressive, even killing rhinoceros at the waterhole.
Until two much older, senior, still strong, male elephants have been brought there, on purpose.
Aggressivity stopped. Do you wonder why?
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cX6iEBvDd_Q
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In Louisiana, if I remember correctly a radio program, 85% of the prison population grew up without the [biological] father, and most of them without any father whatsoever.

Fragment from http://www.squidoo.com/dorincard, translated from English into Afrikaans

English to Afrikaans translation with http://translate.google.com/#

Fragment uit http://www.squidoo.com/dorincard, vertaal uit Engels in Afrikaans
maximaphily = insamel maksimum kaarte (poskaart + stempel + poststempel)Maximaphily

Maximaphily is 'n tak van filatelie, of stempel te versamel, dat die invordering beteken maksimum kaarte.In die algemeen, 'n maksimum kaart is' n poskaart, met 'n stempel en' n poststempel op die foto kant. Ideaal gesproke moet al hierdie 3 elemente gestemd word, maar nie identies.Die tradisionele manier is om te voldoen aan die reëls van die FIP (Internasionale Filateliese Federasie). 
http://www.maximaphily.info
Die nie-tradisionele manier, soos ek dit noem, is om te volg niemand se reëls! Tensy JY dit wil hê, natuurlik.Ek bel DORINCARD enige poskaart wat deur die byvoeg van 'n stempel en' n poststempel, op die foto van die kant van die poskaart persoonlike. Tradisionele manier, of nie. :)

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Fragment from http://www.squidoo.com/dorincard, translated from English into Afrikaans

maximaphily = collecting maximum cards (postcard + stamp + postmark)

Maximaphily

Maximaphily is a branch of philately, or stamp collecting, that means collecting maximum cards.

Generally, a maximum card is a postcard, with a stamp and a postmark on the picture side. Ideally, all these 3 elements should be concordant, but not identical.

The traditional way is to comply with the rules of FIP (International Philatelic Federation).
http://www.maximaphily.info

The non-traditional way, as I call it, is to follow nobody's rules! Unless YOU want it, of course.

I call DORINCARD any postcard that was personalized by adding a stamp and a postmark, on the picture side of the postcard. Traditional way, or not. :)

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Philately (stamp collecting), 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/