Free - New journal issue #2 of MACSU (Maximaphily Card Study Unit of America). Also, I show you a maxicard with the Agapia Monastery (Romania). No iPhone confession app users here

Please read: Free - New journal issue #2 of MACSU (Maximaphily Card Study Unit of America)

Notice the supremely concordant pictorial postmark - it can't get better than that.

A perfect postmark for this maximum card / maxicard / dorincard.

"The Agapia Monastery' (Romanian: Mănăstirea Agapia) is a Romanian Orthodox monastery located 9 km west of Târgu Neamţ, in Agapia Commune, Neamţ County. It was built between 1642 and 1647 by Romanian Voivode Vasile Lupu. The church, restored and modified several times during the centuries was painted by Nicolae Grigorescu, between 1858 and 1861.^[1][2]

[edit]References

1. ^ Agapia Monastery
2. ^ Agapia

[edit]External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Agapia Monastery

• 360° panoramic images from the Agapia Monastery"

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

http://www.romanianmonasteries.org/other-monasteries/neamt-monasteries/agapia

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

One thing you won't find (yet) at the Agapia Monastery is iPhone confession application users.

"If you are worried about all your personal sins being viewed in cyberspace, fear not -- the app customizes each user's list and is password protected for privacy. Once you go to confession, your nefarious revelations are wiped away. So you can text your heart out on your first draft, and then decide how you want to edit your transgressions for the spoken word -- all in the service of making the "big reveal" a little less ominous.

"In all seriousness, I think this app may be a boon for the sacrament. While confession (or the Sacrament of Reconciliation as we professionals are wont to call it) may be on the decline, I can attest that it remains a powerful venue for grace and healing."

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/confession-app-roman-catholic-church-sanctions-iphone-app/story?id=12866499

Oh, really?

Here's how this app might work, manned by a live confession processor/priest:

"Hello, this is Father Nochil da Buserleft B. Hind (my reformed name).

I am ready for your iPhone confession.

In the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit,

the FBI and the CIA,

what exactly are your sins???"

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Happy Blue Monday! (meme)

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

This is SO exotic, that you may have never even heard of it: NIUAFO'OU. A beautiful, continuous design is spread over these se-tenant stamps from Niuafo'ou (Tin Can Island). Also, see a gorgeous photo of Niuafo'ou taken by the non-claustrophobic crew of the International Space Station!

This is a courtesy specimen (see CANCELED over the denomination) created for the Global Stamp News magazine, as a promotion.

"Niuafoʻou (meaning: new coconut) is the most northerly island in the kingdom of Tonga. It is a volcanic rim island of 15 km² and with a population of 650 in 2006."

Cold Mountain? No, Stolen Mountain! 

"According to the myths, Niuafoʻou originally had a mountain, rather than a lake in the middle. 

But the mountain was stolen one night and became Tafahi."

And hot, too, as an active volcano.

An island with 3 islands in the lake from the middle!

Bonus: a 4th island, sometimes submerged in the lake waters.

Niuafo'ou from the International Space Station, 2005-03-19

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Satellite_view_of_Niuafo%27ou,_2005-03-19.jpg

"The island is located in the southern Pacific Ocean between Fiji and Samoa, 574 km north of Tongatapu island group and 337 kilometers northwest of Vavaʻu. It is a still active volcano.

Other names for the island are Good Hope island and Tin Can island. 

The latter name originated from the fact that, since the island has neither a natural harbor nor a wharf, in earlier times, mail was delivered and picked up by strong swimmers [ :) ] who would retrieve packages, "sealed up in a biscuit tin" and thrown overboard from passing ships. 

An early trader, named Walter George Quensell, acted as postmaster at that time and stamped the mail with colourful marks which have become a collectors' item. 

The Tongan government took over this tradition with special Niuafoʻou stamps since 1983.

Niuafoʻou is a volcano located on an underwater ridge 190 kilometres (120 mi) west of the line of all the other volcanoes of Tonga. 

The island contains a steep-sided caldera; the rim is over 120 metres (390 ft) high, rising to a height of 250 metres (820 ft) at Mokotu. 

The coastline is rocky and steep with only a few stony black sand beaches. 

The only landing place on the island is the end of a lava flow at Futu [MY NOTE: Futu, the only place where you can go AGAINST the flow, once it's cool to do it...], in the west. 

All the villages are in the north and east. 

Public places like the post office, telecommunications station and airport are in Angahā in the north, while a high school is located in Muʻa.

The island ring encloses two lakes. The largest, Vai Lahi, is a crater lake 23 meters above sea level, 4 kilometers wide, and 84 meters deep. 

The lake contains three islands and a submerged island that appears when the water level drops. 

Vai Lahi is separated from the smaller Vai Siʻi (or Vai Mataʻaho) by a desolate landscape of sand hills. 

The island is covered by forest on the inner walls of the crater lake, and on the island's eastern and western slopes."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niuafo%27ou

Kingdom of Tonga Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: Ko e ʻOtua mo Tonga ko hoku tofiʻa God and Tonga are my Inheritance
Anthem: Ko e fasi ʻo e tuʻi ʻo e ʻOtu Tonga
Capital (and largest city)		Nukuʻalofa 21°08′S 175°12′W
Official language(s)		Tongan, English
Demonym		Tongan
Government		Constitutional monarchy
-	King	George Tupou V
-	Prime Minister	Lord Tuʻivakanō
Independence
-	from Britishprotectorate	June 4, 1970
Area
-	Total	748 km2 (186th) 289 sq mi
-	Water (%)	4.0
Population
-	2009 estimate	104,000[1] (195th)
-	Density	139/km2 (76th1)

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

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

Happy Sunday Stamps meme!

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

6 continents mixed in a maximum card with a WWF 50th Anniversary stamp from UK. The Russian postcard publisher stated on the back that the postcard image shows a гиена [hyena], but I "guaradamtee" you that it's an African Wild Dog (Lycaon pictus)!

I have created this maximum card with elements connected, more or less, to 6 continents.

Africa: here's where this animal species lives in the wild.

Europe: the stamp is from the United Kingdom.

Europe and Asia: the postcard publisher is from Russia, a country with most of its territory in Asia.

South America and North America: the postmark shows a Blue-and-Yellow Macaw (Ara ararauna), also known as the Blue-and-Gold Macaw, that lives mostly in South America, but also in Panama and Florida, USA. The Royal Mail UK did not let a dog (matching pictorial postmark) out, so I chose this one, with the parrot. 

It's all "in the family of WWF".

Australia: there's a captive breeding program for the African Wild Dog at the Monarto Zoo, Australia.

The Russian postcard publisher stated on the back that the postcard image shows a гиена [hyena], but that's a bunch of CROC! :)

Ka-kalinka maia...гиена maias.

:)

The animal depicted is the African Wild Dog (Lycaon pictus).

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

THIS is a Spotted Hyena (Crocuta crocuta): 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Crocuta_crocuta_-Ngorongoro_Conservation_Area,_Tanzania-8.jpg

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

Don't play pink-tongue with a "гиена" [hyena]!

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

Happy Pink Saturday! (still open on Sunday!)

^{Please visit "Pretty in pink"/ "Show us your pink" [objects, that is :)] meme here:}

^{http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/my_weblog/}