Cool shades of blue: Great Smoky Mountains National Park - maximum card from USA

"The Great Smoky Mountains are a mountain range rising along the Tennessee-North Carolina border in the southeastern United States. They are a subrange of the Appalachian Mountains, and form part of the Blue Ridge Physiographic Province. The range is sometimes called the Smoky Mountains or the Smokey Mountains, and the name is commonly shortened to the Smokies. The Great Smokies are best known as the home of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which protects most of the range. The park was established in 1934, and, with over 9 million visits per year, it is the most-visited national park in the United States.^[1]

The Great Smokies are part of an International Biosphere Reserve. The range is home to an estimated 187,000 acres (760 km²) of old growth forest, constituting the largest such stand east of the Mississippi River.^[2][3] The cove hardwood forests in the range's lower elevations are among the most diverse ecosystems in North America, and the Southern Appalachian spruce-fir forest that coats the range's upper elevations is the largest of its kind.^[4] The Great Smokies are also home to the densest black bear population in the Eastern United States and the most diverse salamander population outside of the tropics.^[5]

Along with the Biosphere reserve, the Great Smokies have been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The U.S. National Park Service preserves and maintains 78 structures within the national park that were once part of the numerous small Appalachian communities scattered throughout the range's river valleys and coves. The park contains five historic districts and nine individual listings on the National Register of Historic Places.

The name "Smoky" comes from the natural fog that often hangs over the range and presents as large smoke plumes from a distance. This fog, which is most common in the morning and after rainfall, is the result of warm humid air from the Gulf of Mexico cooling rapidly in the higher elevations of Southern Appalachia.^[6]"

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

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Geopolitical Journey, Part 7: Poland | STRATFOR - and a horse maximum card from Poland

Geopolitical Journey, Part 7: Poland | STRATFOR

I like very much not only WHAT George Friedman has to say, but HOW he says it.
"Le style c'est l'homme".
Meaningful and enjoyable reading! :)

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This is the only maximum card that I have, so far, from Poland. But there are so many more interesting Polish stamps, postmarks and postcards that could be used to create interesting  maxicards...:)

Is it the same breed of horse on the stamp and on the postcard? I don't know. Do you? Only an expert could say. Anyway, I like it as it is, even if there might be different breeds. What I wouldn't like, though, would be if the breeds are clearly VERY different - then it would look awkward. :)

"From Africa, with Love": Good Samaritan Hippo saves wildebeest, zebra babies - see this YouTube sensation

Hippo saves wildebeest, zebra babies: "Videos showing a hippo rescuing a wildebeest calf and then a zebra foal from drowning in a strong-flowing river are causing a sensation."

Beware, safari-goers!
"Aggression

Hippopotamuses are by nature very aggressive animals, especially when young calves are present. Frequent targets of their aggression include crocodiles, which often inhabit the same river habitat as hippos. Nile crocodiles, lions, and spotted hyenas are known to prey on young hippos.^[50] Hippos are very aggressive towards humans, whom they commonly attack whether in boats or on land with no apparent provocation.^[51] They are widely considered to be one of the most dangerous large animals in Africa.^[52][53]

To mark territory, hippos spin their tails while defecating to distribute their excrement over the greatest possible area.^[54] Hippos are retromingent, likely for the same reason.^[55]

Hippos rarely kill each other, even in territorial challenges. Usually a territorial bull and a challenging bachelor will stop fighting when it is clear that one hippo is stronger. When hippos become overpopulated, or when a habitat starts to shrink, bulls will sometimes attempt to kill infants, but this behavior is not common under normal conditions.^[49] Some incidents of hippo cannibalism have been documented, but it is believed to be the behavior of distressed or sick hippos, and not healthy behavior.^[8]"

"Adult hippos cannot swim and are not buoyant. When in deep water, they usually propel themselves by leaps, pushing off from the bottom. They move at speeds up to 8 km/h (5 mph) in water. Young hippos are buoyant and more often move by swimming —propelling themselves with kicks of their hind legs. Adult hippos typically resurface to breathe every 3–5 minutes. The young have to breathe every two to three minutes.^[8] The process of surfacing and breathing is automatic, and even a hippo sleeping underwater will rise and breathe without waking. A hippo closes its nostrils when it submerges."

"Even though they are bulky animals, hippopotamuses can run faster than a human on land. Estimates of their running speed vary from 30 km/h (18 mph) to 40 km/h (25 mph), or even 50 km/h (30 mph). The hippo can maintain these higher speeds for only a few hundred meters.^[8]"

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

Well, not faster than "a human"; faster than SOME humans, I would say.

I don't have maximum cards with the regular hippo species, so here are MCs with Pygmy Hippopotamus species:

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Happy PFF (Postcard Friendship Friday)!

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