Not a White Caucasian, and not a BLACK CAUCUSian either - a spotted CISCAUCASIAN. The Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus ciscaucasica) - WWF maximum cards / maxicards / dorincards from Azerbaijan

"Smile, you're on camera!"

"In Azerbaijan

Leopards are present in the Talysh Mountains in the far southeast, where their habitat is continuous with that on the Iranian side of Talysh Mountains. Only very few individuals survive in the Ilisu State Reserve in the northwest.^[9]

Despite occasional sightings, it was not clear whether leopards had been extinct in Azerbaijan by the late 1990s, until a specimen was camera-trapped in March 2007 in the Hirkan State Reserve/Hirkan National Park."

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

More cool images and info about The Persian Leopard here:

http://dorincard.blogspot.com/search?q=persian+leopard

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

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Other Caucasian news: the likes of Julius (photo below) would not be scared by The Ciscaucasian Leopard.

But that panther is the largest sub-species of leopard!

Ponder that, Julius, next time you charge a feline like that. 

Pardus won't pardon you.

The Guardian

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:CaucasianOvcharka-Julius.jpg

"The Caucasian Shepherd Dog (Azerbaijani: Qafqaz Iti, Georgian კავკასიური ნაგაზი"Kavkasiuri nagazi") is a breed of dog that is popular in Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia, Southern Russia and Northern Caucasus."

"Caucasian Shepherds are typically assertive, brave, alert, strong, hardy and courageous to a fault. 

They are truly second to none in their bellicosity towards strangers. 

Unless properly socialised, they may exhibit unmanageable tendencies. 

They seldom have time for strangers (but will greet family friends warmly) and have extremely powerful guarding instincts. 

Everything and everyone who belongs to the family, including children, cats, other dogs, etc. will be regarded by this dog as part of its family and as such will fall under its guardianship."

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

What is a Caucasian?

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

"Race and physical characteristics

Human skin color vary for different populations. 

The leading explanation is that skin colour adapts to sunlight intensities which produce vitamin D deficiency or ultraviolet light damage to folic acid.^[36] 

Other hypotheses include protection from ambient temperature, infections, skin cancer or frostbite, an alteration in food, and sexual selection.^[37] 

The gene that causes light skin color in Europeans is different from the gene that causes light skin in East Asians. 

Europeans have a different version of the SLC24A5 than East Asians possibly indicating that they evolved light skin independently.^[38]

The most widely used human racial categories are based on various combinations of visible traits such as skin color, eye shape and hair texture. 

However, some argue that many of these traits are non-concordant in that they are not necessarily expressed together. 

For example, skin color and hair texture vary independently.^[39] 

Some examples of non-concordance include:

• Skin color varies all over the world in different populations.
• Epicanthal fold are typically associated with East Asian populations but are found in populations all over the world, including many Native Americans, the Khoisan, the Sami, and even amongst some isolated groups such as the Andamanese.
• Lighter hair colors are typically associated with Europeans, especially Northern Europeans, but blond hair is found amongst a limited, small number of the dark skinned populations of the south pacific, particularly the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.

Others argue that this is just an example of Lewontin's Fallacy. 

On the contrary, if several traits are looked at the same time, then today forensic anthropologists can classify a person's race with an accuracy close to 100% based on only skeletal remains."

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

Republic of Azerbaijan Azərbaycan Respublikası
Flag Emblem
Anthem: Azərbaycan marşı (English: March of Azerbaijan)
Location of Azerbaijan
Capital (and largest city)		Baku 40°25′N 49°50′E
Official language(s)		Azerbaijani
Demonym		Azerbaijani
Government		Presidential republic
-	President	Ilham Aliyev
-	Prime Minister	Artur Rasizade
Statehood formation
-	Atabegs of Azerbaijan	1135
-	Azerbaijan Democratic Republic	28 May 1918
-	Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic	28 April 1920
-	Independence from the Soviet Union Declared Completed	30 August 1991 18 October 1991
Area
-	Total	86,600 km2 (113th) 33,436 sq mi
-	Water (%)	1.6%
Population
-	2010 estimate	9,122,000[1] (90th)
-	1999 census	7,953,438
-	Density	103/km2 (104th) 264.1/sq m

"Azerbaijan (ⁱ /ˌæzərbaɪˈdʒɑːn/ az-ər-by-jahn; Azerbaijani: Azərbaycan), officially theRepublic of Azerbaijan (Azerbaijani: Azərbaycan Respublikası) is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. 

Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe,^[4]it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to the south. 

The exclave of Nakhchivan is bounded by Armenia to the north and east, Iran to the south and west, while having a short borderline with Turkey to the northwest.

The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, the first democratic and secular republic in the Muslim world,^[5][6][7] was established in 1918, but was incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1920.^[8][9]Azerbaijan regained independence in 1991. 

Shortly thereafter, during the Nagorno-Karabakh War, neighboring Armenia occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, its surrounding territories and the enclaves of Karki, Yukhary Askipara, Barkhudarly and Sofulu. 

The Nagorno-Karabakh Republic continues to be not diplomatically recognized by any nation and is still considered a de jure part of Azerbaijan, but has been de facto independent since the end of the war.^{[10][11][12][13]}

Azerbaijan, a nation with a majority Turkic^[14][15] and Shia^[16] population, is a secular and a unitary republic with an ancient and historic cultural heritage. 

Azerbaijan is one of the six independent Turkic states as well as the active members of the Turkic Council and theTÜRKSOY community."

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

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Happy PFF (Postcard Friendship Friday)!

Please visit: http://thebestheartsarecrunchy.blogspot.com/ (wait until Beth posts the today's Linky tool for the meme, then make your entry, if you want to join).

BBC News - World of Warcraft offered 'free'. Also, I show you a mythical Dragon image in a maximum card about the Year of the Dragon

Please read: BBC News - World of Warcraft offered 'free'

Anybody can fight with another human (who's YOUR enemy, 

in real life, Second Life, virtual life or what-have-you?).

But can you fight against a Dragon?...:)

Let's say that the Dragon has a horny heart - between the eyes, with the forefront horn sticking out of that puss-yellow/mucus heart shape (ain't that disgusting?).

Then again, Dragons are supposed to be scary, disgusting, ugly...no?

Do you find this one to be Pretty in Pink, though?

From a previous blogpost, "back by popular demand":

Order of the Dragon inductees include both Vlad II Dracul and his son, Vlad III Dracula.

"On December 12, 1408, following the Battle of Dobor[5]^[6][7] in which he slaughtered most of Bosnia's nobility, many who had fought the Turks ^[8] Sigismund and his queen, Barbara of Celje, founded the league known today as the Order of the Dragon.^[9][10] Its statutes, written in Latin, call it a society (societas) whose members carry the signum draconis (see below), but assign no name to it. Contemporary records, however, refer to it by a variety of similar if unofficial names, such as Gesellschaft mit dem Trakchen, Divisa seu Societate Draconica, Societate Draconica seu Draconistarum and Fraternitas Draconum.^[11] It was to some extent modelled after the earlier Hungarian monarchical order, the Order of St. George (Societas militae Sancti Georgii), founded by King Carol Robert of Anjou in 1318.^[10] It likewise adopted St. George as its patron saint, whose legendary defeat of a dragon was used as a symbol for the military and religious ethos of the order."

The edict of 1408 describes two insignia to be worn by members of the Order:

" ... we and the faithful barons and magnates of our kingdom shall bear and have, and do choose and agree to wear and bear, in the manner of society, the sign or effigy of the Dragon incurved into the form of a circle, its tail winding around its neck, divided through the middle of its back along its length from the top of its head right to the tip of its tail, with blood [forming] a red cross flowing out into the interior of the cleft by a white crack, untouched by blood, just as and in the same way that those who fight under the banner of the glorious martyr St George are accustomed to bear a red cross on a white field ..." ^[13]

The dragon described here, with its tail coiled around its neck, bears comparison to the ouroboros.^{[citation needed]} On the back of the dragon, from the base of the neck to the tail, is the Red Cross of Saint George, with the entire image on an argent field. The Order's dragon emblem has not survived in any original form, but it has been referenced on coins, art, and in writing."

Notice the Dragon on the outer, upper margin of this medieval saddle.

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

A fresco showing St. George slaying the Dragon, from the Moldovita Monastery, Romania - UNESCO World Heritage Site (Painted Monasteries of Bucovina/Moldova/Romania):

"The Moldoviţa Monastery (Romanian: Mânăstirea Moldoviţa) is a Romanian Orthodox monastery situated in the commune of Vatra Moldoviţei, Suceava County, Moldavia, Romania. The Monastery of Moldoviţa was built in 1532 by Petru Rareş, who was Stefan the Great's illegitimate son. It was founded as a protective barrier against the Muslim Ottoman conquerors from the East.".

"Stephen the Great, the King of Romania [MY NOTE: Prince/Voivode of Moldavia, actually] from 1457 until his death in 1504, fought 36 battles against the Ottoman Empire, winning 34 of them [MY NOTE: not too shabby :) ].  He commissioned artists to cover the interiors and exteriors with elaborate frescoes (portraits of saints and prophets, scenes from the life of Jesus).

The best preserved are the monasteries in the towns of Suceviţa, Moldoviţa, Voroneţ, Humor, Suceava, Pătrăuţi, and Probota. Seven of them--including the Monastery of Moldoviţa--were placed on UNESCO World Heritage list in 1993."

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

http://dorincard.blogspot.com/search/label/dragon

Like the Latins could say: Habent sua fata [NOT FATWA] blogposts -  Blogposts have their own fate...to fall into forgotten memories (forgottenness?).

That's why (some) blopost info is worth repeating - few readers are loyal, long-time followers...:)

Please visit and join The Guest Heart Thursday meme!

http://clytie-randomhearts.blogspot.com/

Welcome to Guest Heart Thursday -
A place to share YOUR hearts!

My philatelic souvenir, a fringe dorincard, about XPTO = an old abbreviation of the word "Χριστός", written "Christós" (Christ, in Greek).

Per USPS, it is legal to postmark a foreign stamp, as long as you also postmark an American one, in the same stroke.

The 3 cents STAR stamp is only marginally, and abstractly related to the religious icon.

Who lives among stars, if anybody?...

Yes, it's a stretch - that's why I don't call this a FIP CfM-compliant maximum card.

But, hey! - it's still interesting, and unique in the world! :)

That MPP (Mailer's Postmark Permit) postmark from Sterling, VA 20165 is mine, and only mine, with #67.

http://dorincard.blogspot.com/search?q=mppc

"The expression "XPTO" is an old abbreviation of the word "Χριστός", written "Christós" (Christ, in Greek). 

The letters X (chi), ρ (rho), τ (tau) and ό (omicron) were selected and capitalized (except the "X") to form the abbreviation. Since the selected letters are written the same way in the latin alphabet this abbreviation is commonly spelled "xpto", ex-pee-tee-o. 

The expression XPTO is normally used to describe something with very good qualities (e.g.: I own an XPTO car)."

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

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Please visit and join the ABC Wednesday meme!

http://abcwednesday-mrsnesbitt.blogspot.com/