2006 Dracula philatelic exhibit

What do YOU think this is: The LONG-BEAKED ECHIDNA, The SHORT-BEAKED ECHIDNA, or The Greek mythological ECHIDNA? The first two types contain MONOTREME mothers, and the third one is an EXTREME mother ("The Mother of All Monsters")?

What do YOU think this is: The LONG-BEAKED ECHIDNA, The SHORT-BEAKED ECHIDNA, or The Greek mythological ECHIDNA? The first two types contain MONOTREME mothers, and the third one is an EXTREME mother ("The Mother of All Monsters")?

What do YOU think this is: The LONG-BEAKED ECHIDNA, The SHORT-BEAKED ECHIDNA, or The Greek mythological ECHIDNA? The first two types contain MONOTREME mothers, and the third one is an EXTREME mother ("The Mother of All Monsters")?

MAXICARDS / DORINCARDS from AUSTRALIA.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaglossus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short-beaked_Echidna

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http://www.theoi.com/greek-mythology/dragons.html

https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=mythological+echidna&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=3906l10936l0l11315l20l10l0l3l3l0l1837l7001l3.1.5-1.2.2.1l10l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.,cf.osb&biw=1024&bih=677&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=7XMkT4iwPLO70QGmkrD2CA

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echidna_(mythology)
"In Greek mythology, Echidna (Greek: Ἔχιδνα, ekhis, ἔχις, meaning "she viper") was half woman half snake, known as the "Mother of All Monsters" because most of the monsters in Greek myth were mothered by her."


"Offspring

Echidna was the mother by Typhon of many monstrous offspring, including:

• Orthrus - The two-headed dog which guarded the Cattle of Geryon.^[9][10]
• Cerberus - The many-headed dog which guarded the gates of Hades.^[9][11]
• The Lernaean Hydra - The many-headed sea monster which when one of its heads was cut off grew two more.^[9][11]
• The Chimera - A fire breathing beast that was part lion, part goat, and had a snake-headed tail.^[9][12][11]
• The Caucasian Eagle — An eagle that every day ate the liver of Prometheus.^[13]
• The Crommyonian Sow - Killed by Theseus.^[14]
• The Gorgon - According to Hyginus.^[11]
• The Colchian Dragon - A dragon that guarded the Golden Fleece.^[11]
• Scylla - According to Hyginus.^[11]
• The Teumessian fox - A fox that was destined never to be caught. It was sometimes called the Cadmean vixen.

Also included as the offspring of Echidna by Typhon, by some, are the Sphinx^[15][11] and the Nemean lion.^[16] However Hesiod's genealogy here is unclear, he says these two were fathered by Orthrus,^[9] but he has been read variously as saying that Echidna, the Chimaera, or even Ceto, was their mother.^[17]

Ladon, the dragon which guarded the golden apples in the Garden of the Hesperides, was also born of Echidna by Typhon, according to Apollodorus,^[13] and Hyginus,^[11] but according to Hesiod, Ladon was the offspring of Ceto and Phorcys.^[18]

Echidna is also sometimes identified as the mother by Heracles, of Scythes, an eponymous king of the Scythians, along with his brothers Agathyrsus and Gelonus.^[19]"

^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echidna_(mythology)}

BBC News - Romania sells Ceausescu luxuries from communist era

BBC News - Romania sells Ceausescu luxuries from communist era
"Ceausescu held Romania in an iron grip as communist leader from 1965 to 1989.

Diana Dochia, a Romanian art gallery curator quoted by Reuters news agency, said few young Romanians "really know what happened then".

"Furthermore, the momentum grows to think it's 'cool' to discuss communism, but the truth is that it was not 'cool' at all," she said.

Ceausescu and his wife surrounded themselves with luxuries while most Romanians struggled with poverty, power cuts and constant surveillance by the secret police."

"Romania (ⁱ/roʊˈmeɪniə/ roh-may-nee-ə; dated: Roumania;^[6] or Rumania;^[7][8] Romanian:România [romɨˈni.a] ( listen)) is a country located at the crossroads of Central andSoutheastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea.^[9] Romania shares a border with Hungary and Serbia to the west, Ukraine and Moldova to the northeast and east, and Bulgaria to the south.

At 238,400 square kilometers (92,000 sq mi), Romania is the ninth largest country of the European Union by area, and has the seventh largest population of the European Union with 21.9 million people.^[2] Its capital and largest city is Bucharest, the sixth largest city in the EU with about two million people."

Romania România
Flag Coat of arms
Anthem: Deșteaptă-te, române! Awaken thee, Romanian!
Location of Romania (dark green):   on the European continent (incl. the EU)   in the European Union
Capital (and largest city)		Bucharest 44°25′N 26°06′E
Official language(s)		Romanian
Ethnic groups (2002)		89.5% Romanians 6.6% Hungarians 2.5% Roma 2% other minorities[1]
Demonym		Romanian

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