Niagara Falls in winter - maximum card/maxicard from my good friend Terry (USA). Also, please support Wikipedia.org!

You could read yourself about Niagara Falls, if you really want.

Or I could give you the bottom line, in my subjective opinion, from my most favorite website in the world: wikipedia.org.

Or from other source.

But I want to invite you to read this, and contribute at least $1 (one). Or more, if possible.

Mark Zuckerberg, please contribute $1 followed by many zeroes. Facebook should not be followed by many "zeroes"...Reading and learning increase the IQ, in general.

Bill Gates, please write this binary code on a check file payable to Wikipedia: 1000000. Then sign. Or Melinda can do it. Es una linda señora y benefactora [I'm winging it -  I don't know Spanish :) ].

Martha Stewart, please craft an artistic check file to Wikipedia. It would be a good recipe for you to get good karma and stay away from that place with "bar exams" from angry soyezlesbiennesvenues...

Warren Buffet, please open an All You May Need Buffet at your designated banks, where each worthy recipient may get a check from you, for the dollar amount needed. Invest in education, not just in stock market.

Wikipedia is a "Book" faced by almost as many users (400M) as Facebook (500M).

"From Wikipedia Founder Jimmy Wales

If everyone reading this donated a dollar, our annual fundraiser would be over in just a few days.

Not everyone can or will donate. And that’s fine, because each year just enough people support Wikipedia with a small donation. If you feel it's your turn, please make a small donation of $10, $20, $35 or whatever you can to keep Wikipedia free.

Most people don't know this, but I'm a volunteer.

I don't get paid a cent for my work at Wikipedia, and neither do our thousands of other volunteer authors and editors. When I founded Wikipedia, I could have made it into a for-profit company with advertising banners, but I decided to do something different.

Commerce is fine. Advertising is not evil. But it doesn't belong here. Not in Wikipedia.

Wikipedia is something special. It is like a library or a public park. It is like a temple for the mind. It is a place we can all go to think, to learn, to share our knowledge with others. It is a unique human project, the first of its kind in history. It is a humanitarian project to bring a free encyclopedia to every single person on the planet.

Every single person.

We're a small organization, and I've worked hard over the years to keep us lean and tight. We fulfill our mission, and leave waste to others.

To do this without resorting to advertising, we need you. It is you who keep this dream alive. It is you who have created Wikipedia. It is you who believe that a place of calm reflection and learning is worth having.

This year, please consider making a donation to protect and sustain Wikipedia.

Thanks,

Jimmy Wales

Wikipedia Founder"

http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/WMFJA032/en/US?utm_medium=sitenotice&utm_campaign=20101217JA036&utm_source=20101217_JA027A_US&country_code=US

Theme: Breastfeeding. Maximum card mailed to me as a postcard by my friend "Luxi" from Luxemburg

The theme/subject of this custom-made UNICATE (only 1 in the world) maximum card is breastfeeding, as a concept.

It's not strictly about Luxemburg, although the stamp and the postmark are from there.

It's not strictly about Africa, although the postcard depicts a Himba mother with child.

"The Himba are an ethnic group of about 20,000 to 50,000 people^[1] living in northern Namibia, in the Kuneneregion (formerly Kaokoland) Recently they have also built two villages in Kamanjab which have become tourist destinations. They are mostly a nomadic, pastoral people, closely related to the Herero, and speak Otjihimba, a dialect of the Herero language."

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

That's why I have approved Luxi's proposal to create this maximum card for me.

Breastfeeding, as a concept.

For those puritans who might object to any public image of naked breasts, here's an example from the official [State] Flag of the Commonwealth of Virginia, USA:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_Virginia.svg

"The obverse of the seal is the official seal of Virginia and is used on all the official papers and documents of the Commonwealth's government, as well as on its flag. On this side, a female figure personifying the Roman virtue of Virtus was selected to represent the genius of the new Commonwealth. Virginia's Virtus is a figure of peace, standing in a pose which indicates a battle already won. She rests on her long spear, its point turned downward to the ground. Her other weapon, a parazonium, is sheathed; it is the sword of authority rather than that of combat. Virtus is typically shown with a bare left breast; this is commonly recognized as the only use of nudity among the seals of the U.S. states.

Tyranny lies prostrate beneath the foot of Virtus, symbolizing Great Britain's defeat by Virginia. The royal crown which has fallen to the ground beside him symbolizes the new republic's release from the monarchical control of Great Britain; Virginia and New York are the only U.S. states with a flag or seal displaying a crown. The broken chain in Tyranny's left hand represents Virginia's freedom from Britain's restriction of colonial trade and westward expansion. The useless whip in his right hand signifies Virginia's relief from the torturing whip of acts of punishment such as the Intolerable Acts. His robe is purple, a reference to Julius Caesar and the Etruscan king of Rome, Tarquinius Priscus.

The motto selected for the obverse of the Virginia seal is Sic semper tyrannis, or in English, Thus always to tyrants. This is a derived quote from the famous events in Roman history, attributed to Brutus upon his participation in the slaying of Julius Caesar. (Caesar had been named perpetual dictator of Rome in the same year, and some Senators believed had ambitions to abolish the Roman Republic and establish himself as a monarch.)".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seal_of_Virginia

Listen to this interview from NPR, and read the abridged transcript, too!


 

A Breast Oncologist, Diagnosed With The Disease

http://www.npr.org/2010/12/14/131760656/a-breast-oncologist-diagnosed-with-the-disease

"Causes [of cancer]

"Definition of breast cancer: Cancer that forms in tissues of the breast, usually the ducts (tubes that carry milk to the nipple) and lobules (glands that make milk). It occurs in both men and women, although male breast cancer is rare.

"Cancers are primarily an environmental disease with 90-95% of cases due to lifestyle and environmental factors and 5-10% due to genetics.[4] Common environmental factors that lead to cancer death include: tobacco (25-30%), diet and obesity (30-35%), infections (15-20%), radiation, radon exposure, stress, lack of physical activity, and environmental pollutants.[4]"

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


Estimated new cases and deaths from breast cancer in the United States in 2010:

	New cases: 207,090 (female); 1,970 (male)
	Deaths: 39,840 (female); 390 (male)"

http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/types/breast

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

Happy PFF (Postcard Friendship Friday)!

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

Who let the dogs out(back), Down Under? The Australian Dingo or Warrigal (Canis [lupus?] dingo) - maximum card/maxicard from Australia

"The Australian Dingo or Warrigal is an ancient, free roaming, primitive canine unique to the continent of Australia, specifically the outback. Its original ancestors are thought to have arrived with humans from southeast Asia thousands of years ago, when dogs were still relatively undomesticated and closer to their wild Asian Gray Wolf parent species, Canis lupus. Since that time, living largely apart from people and other dogs, together with the demands of Australian ecology, has caused them to develop features and instincts that distinguish them from all other canines".

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

Dingo pups in Berlin

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dingowelpen_Berlin.JPG