How to create a non-traditional maximum card/ maxicard by using a custom postcard made from a cut-out (from a book, magazine, calendar, etc.)? Example: The Southern Right Whale (Balaenoptera australis), a dorincard mailed to me as a postcard by my friend Viviana, from Argentina

This is the repaired version, after I have re-glued the right side of the stamp. Notice the vertical wear mark to the right of the denomination 75, and the big (but faint) vertical wear mark (white) in the middle of the postcard.

 

This is the original version, as I received in the mail, with the right side of the stamp unglued, torn and folded. Luckily, the Automated Postal Systems from United States Postal Service (USPS) and from Correos de Argentina were not that brutal, this time, as to completely destroy or remove the stamp.

Notice the tear and wear marks over my ZIP code 20170, and in the lower right corner.

This is the repaired version, where I re-glued the paper as much as possible. Now the ZIP code is visible.

Why this project?

I saw that stamp with The Southern Right Whale (Balaenoptera australis), on a previous cover from Viviana (thank you, again! :) ) and I wanted to create a maximum card.

Since she did not find a regular, commercial postcard in Argentina, I decided to create one.

I cut out an image from a book, and I affixed a self-adhesive, peelable paper backing (notice the symbol in the lower right corner of the above image).

I have sent to my friend that custom postcard, and I asked her to affix the matching stamp on the picture side, and the rest of the necessary stamps on the address side.

Of course that I could have asked her to send it under cover (not undercover, like a secret :) ).

But I wanted to expose that non-traditional maximum card/maxicard/dorincard to the harsh reality and brutality of the Postal Systems.

My unique-in-the-world, UNICATE/UNICAT postal and philatelic item has really traveled in the mail, without protective cover, and it has the battle scars to prove it.

That's what I expected - no surprise.

Lessons re-learned about how to prepare a postcard, custom or not

1 - Don't affix the stamp just with saliva or water, if it's not self-adhesive. Especially if the stamp is on the glossy picture side. It may fall off, as I had cases from Norway, Luxemburg, etc.

Glue the stamp thoroughly and carefully. Make it stick.

2 - Affix the stamps (especially those on the rough-paper address side) a little away from the right margin of the postcard. That's where the Postal Machines will start tearing while processing them.

3 - Write the address (especially the apartment numbers, postal codes, etc.) also a little away from the right margin of the postcard. Don't ask me why -  I just told you. :)

4 - If you are the sender, and your address and text are confidential - tell your recipient, so they don't upload and publicize that info.

In this case here, Viviana's address is already available on her blog, so http://www.zazzle.com/according_to_my_calculations_the_problem_doesnt_postage-172223422425144979?rf=238693463283865848

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"They are called "right whales" because whalers thought the whales were the "right" ones to hunt, as they float when killed and often swim within sight of shore. As such, they were nearly hunted to extinction during the active years of the whaling industry. Today, instead of hunting them, people often watch these acrobatic animals for pleasure."

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

"The southern right whale (Eubalaena australis) is a baleen whale, one of three species classified as right whales belonging to the genus Eubalaena. Like other right whales, the southern right whale is readily distinguished from others by the callosities on its head, a broad back without a dorsal fin, and a long arching mouth that begins above the eye. Its skin is very dark grey or black, occasionally with some white patches on the belly. The right whale's callosities appear white due to large colonies of cyamids (whale lice) [MY NOTE: not human lice - head or pubic]. It is almost indistinguishable from the closely related North Atlantic and the North Pacific right whales, displaying only minor skull differences."

Like a non-drunken sailor:

"One behavior unique to the southern right whale, known as sailing, is that of using their elevated flukes to catch the wind. It appears to be a form of play and is commonly seen off the coast of Argentina and South Africa.^[3]".

^{And you thought that "the 400 pounds gorilla" is a huge thing...What is almost as heavy as 3 whole gorillas?}

^"The maximum size of an adult female is 18.5 m (61 ft)^{[citation needed]} and can weigh up to 80 tonnes (79 LT; 88 ST).^{[citation needed]} The testicles of right whales are likely to be the largest of any animal, each weighing around 500 kg (1,100 lb). This suggests that sperm competition is important in the mating process.^[5] Its penis is 12 feet long.^[6]

Right whales cannot cross the warm equatorial waters to connect with the other (sub)species and (inter)breed: their thick layers of insulating blubber make it impossible for them to dissipate their internal body heat in tropical waters."

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

See, too much blubber may be hazardous to your romantic life...

BBC - Earth News - "Blue whale's gigantic mouthful measured". The largest animal in the world that has EVER lived: Blue Whale (Balaenoptera musculus). Maxicards from USA, Romania and Australia

Read this very interesting article from BBC, my most favorite NEWS site in the world:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_9265000/9265623.stm

Now, from my most favorite website in the world: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
"The Blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) is a marine mammal belonging to the suborder of baleen whales (called Mysticeti).^[3] At over 33 metres (108 ft) in length and 180 metric tons (200 short tons)^{[4] [MY NOTE: How about LONG tons? :) ]} or more in weight, it is the largest animal ever known to have existed.<sup>[5]"


The largest animal? Says who?
The fossil record, that's who! 
We never found direct evidence (or circumstantial) to believe otherwise.




DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME: going the distance with a gorilla
"</sup>There have been at least 11 documented cases of blue/fin [whale] hybrid adults in the wild. Arnason and Gullberg describe the genetic distance between a blue and a fin as about the same as that between a human and a gorilla.^[14] Researchers working off of Fiji believe they photographed a hybrid humpback/blue whale.^[15]"

 A 19 Foot Long Blue Whale Skull at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Joey_williams_with_a_19_foot_long_blue_whale_skull.jpg

"A blue whale's tongue weighs around 2.7 metric tons (3.0 short tons)^[25] and, when fully expanded, its mouth is large enough to hold up to 90 metric tons (99 short tons) of food and water.^[7] 

The tongue is heavier than a whole average elephant.

When a pod of orcas manage to hunt a blue whale, the tongue is the first thing devoured by the Orca (Orcinus orca), misnomed as Killer Whale (it's just the largest of the dolphins species).

Despite the size of its mouth, the dimensions of its throat are such that a blue whale cannot swallow an object wider than a beach ball.^[26] 

Its heart weighs 600 kilograms (1,300 lb) and is the largest known in any animal.^[25]

 A blue whale's aorta is about 23 centimetres (9.1 in) in diameter.^[27]

During the first seven months of its life, a blue whale calf drinks approximately 400 litres (100 U.S. gallons) of milk every day. Blue whale calves gain weight quickly, as much as 90 kilograms (200 lb) every 24 hours. 

Even at birth, they weigh up to 2,700 kilograms (6,000 lb)—the same as a fully grown hippopotamus.^[3]"

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

http://delcampe.com/page/item/id,0037984740,language,E.html

What's wrong with this MC? The postcard is upside-down, based on how the mouth opens, the eye placement and the striations for expansions (see the stamp for reference). Whoever made this MC should have turned the postcard (correctly printed with the writing on the back).

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Happy PFF (Postcard Friendship Friday)!

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

You got big coconuts? You got big crabs! The coconut crab (Birgus latro) is the largest land-living arthropod in the world - WWF maxicards about BIOT/B.I.O.T. = British Indian Ocean Territory

"The coconut crab [(Birgus latro)] is the largest land-living arthropod in the world, and is probably at the upper limit of how big terrestrial animals with exoskeletons can become in today's atmosphere."

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

"The British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) or Chagos Islands is an overseas territory of the United Kingdom situated in the Indian Ocean, halfway between Africa and Indonesia. The territory comprises the six atolls of the Chagos Archipelago (Phehandweep फेहंद्वीप in Hindi and other North Indian languages, Paeikaana Theevukal பேகான தீவுகள் in Tamil, Feyhandheebuފޭހަންދީބު in Dhivehi) with over 1,000 individual islands (many tiny) having a total land area of 60 square kilometres (23 sq mi).^[5]

The largest island is Diego Garcia (area 44 km²), the site of a joint military facility of the United Kingdom and the United States. Following the eviction of the native population in the 1960s, the only inhabitants are US and British military personnel and associated contractors, who collectively number around 4,000 (2004 figures).^[5]"

View of Diego Garcia, showing military base.

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

"In 1966, the British government purchased the privately owned copra plantations and closed them down. Over the next five years, the British authorities forcibly and clandestinely removed the entire population of about 2,000 people, known as Chagossians (or Ilois), from Diego Garcia and two other Chagos atolls, Peros Banhos and Salomon, to Mauritius^[8] (see Depopulation of Diego Garcia). In 1971, the United Kingdom and the United States signed a treaty, leasing the island of Diego Garcia to the American military for the purposes of building a large air and naval base on the Island. The deal was important to the United Kingdom, as the United States agreed to give them a substantial discount on the purchase of Polaris nuclear missiles in return for the use of the islands as a base^{[citation needed]}. The strategic location of the island was also significant at the centre of the Indian Ocean, and to counter any Soviet threat in the region."

"The United States Air Force used the base during the 1991 Gulf War and the2001 war in Afghanistan, as well as the 2003 Iraq War."

"Diego Garcia's military base is home to the territory's only airport (one paved runway over 3000 metres long), capable of operating very heavy USAF bombers like the B-52 and the Space Shuttle if ever required in a mission abort, and only one major seaport."

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