Mother bear kills cub and then itself - in CHINA. Also, please see images of WWF maxicards from PAKISTAN, comments and links in my blogpost about that awful practice - BILE MILKING / HARVESTING

How sad...Mother bear kills cub and then itself

Also, please see images, comments and links in my blogpost about that awful practice -
BILE MILKING / HARVESTING
http://dorincard.blogspot.com/2010/12/asian-black-bear-ursus-thibetanus-also.html

WWF maxicards from PAKISTAN

On a lighter note, see other blogposts of mine, about various species of bear, including GRIZZLY BEAR, POLAR BEAR and GIANT PANDA:

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

Repost : Maxicard. Maximaphily thread at http://www.forum.postcrossing.com

Please visit and enjoy: Repost : Maxicard

What EXACTLY is "an official post office issue [of stamps]?" Check this from forum.postcrossing.com: "After reviewing this topic I realise it is for official post office NEW ISSUES and have moved some of the messages in here that were about personalised/personal design stamps to the Postcards and Stamps Art section. Please keep this section for official Post Office issues."

Dorin Cojocariu

What EXACTLY is "an official post office issue [of stamps]?" Check this from forum.postcrossing.com: "After reviewing this topic I realise it is for official post office NEW ISSUES and have moved some of the messages in here that were about personalised/personal design stamps to the Postcards and Stamps Art section.

Please keep this section for official Post Office issues."

18 minutes ago ·  · 

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    Dorin Cojocariu ‎1) Not every stamp is issued by a national postal administration itself. Many use third-parties - agents, companies, even other postal administrations from other countries. Mongolia had a lot of stamps made by Hungary, for example.
    

    15 minutes ago · 
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    Dorin Cojocariu ‎2) zazzle.com, endicia.com, stamps.com, etc. are officially-licensed vendors of USPS. As such, they manufacture "customized postage" = "a form of meter postage with an image". Or, as all the other countries practically name them: "personalized stamps/personalised stamps."
    

    12 minutes ago · 
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    Dorin Cojocariu A sheet of personalized stamps can be bought online (just as you can buy USPS stamps online) by anybody (shipped to US addresses only,though), and they are issued officially, not unofficially, abiding by the rules of USPS for such a matter. They are valid for postage in USA and to any international destination served by USPS.
    

    7 minutes ago · 
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    Dorin Cojocariu Don't you think that a sheet of "zazzle stamps", for example, available to purchase online, as I said, qualifies as "official post office NEW ISSUE"? It can perform all the functions of a sheet of USPS regular stamps. You can't buy any personalized stamps inside the Post Office, but you also can't buy every new issue of USPS - many offices just don't get them.
    

    3 minutes ago ·