From my "Antarctic" friend Scott F. Smith, ex-postmaster at the AMUNDSEN-SCOTT SOUTH POLE STATION, ANTARCTICA APO AP 96598: a 2007/2008 IPY cool postcard about ANDRILL (ANTARCTIC GEOLOGICAL DRILLING - see andrill.org). See the backside: postmarked at USAF McMURDO, ANTARCTICA APO AP 96599 on Jan 03 2008, postmarked at USAF APO AP SOUTH POLE 96598 on Jan 12 2008, and also see other nice things on this postcard, such as an ANDRILL personalized stamp from yourstamps.com

From my "Antarctic" friend Scott F. Smith, ex-postmaster at the AMUNDSEN-SCOTT SOUTH POLE STATION, ANTARCTICA APO AP 96598: a 2007/2008 IPY cool postcard about ANDRILL  (ANTARCTIC GEOLOGICAL DRILLING - see andrill.org). See the backside: postmarked at USAF McMURDO, ANTARCTICA APO AP 96599 on Jan 03 2008, postmarked at USAF APO AP SOUTH POLE 96598 on Jan 12 2008, and also see other nice things on this postcard, such as an ANDRILL personalized stamp from yourstamps.com .

From my "Antarctic" friend Scott F. Smith, ex-postmaster at the AMUNDSEN-SCOTT SOUTH POLE STATION, ANTARCTICA APO AP 96598: a 2007/2008 IPY cool postcard about ANDRILL  (ANTARCTIC GEOLOGICAL DRILLING - see andrill.org). See the backside: postmarked at USAF McMURDO, ANTARCTICA APO AP 96599 on Jan 03 2008, postmarked at USAF APO AP SOUTH POLE 96598 on Jan 12 2008, and also see other nice things on this postcard, such as an ANDRILL personalized stamp from yourstamps.com 

"NBC's news anchor Ann Curry reported from the ANDRILL camp at the U.S. McMurdo Base beginning October 2, 2007." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANDRILL

Antarctica

This map uses an orthographic projection, near-polar aspect. The South Pole is near the center, where longitudinal lines converge.

Area (Overall) (ice-free) (ice-covered)	14,000,000 km2 (5,400,000 sq mi)[1] 280,000 km2 (100,000 sq mi) 13,720,000 km2 (5,300,000 sq mi)
Population (permanent) (non-permanent)	7th 0 approx. 1,000
Dependencies	4[show]
Official Territorial claims	Antarctic Treaty System 8[show]
Reserved the right to make claims	2[show]
Time Zones	None UTC-03:00 (Graham Land only)
Internet Top-level domain	.aq
Calling Code	Dependent on the parent country of each base. (One such is +672.)

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

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Happy Sunday Stamps meme!

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

"GBStamps.com - The Machin FAQ." I am surprised that SO MANY stamp collectors/philatelists are fascinated by collecting THEM. There are so many OTHER interesting subjects of stamps - WHY focus on MACHINS? Oh, well...

GBStamps.com - The Machin FAQ

"2. Okay, so what’s a Machin?

The current low-value definitive stamps of Great Britain are referred to as “Machins” because they were designed by Arnold Machin, a sculptor. The 35p stamp at left below and the 20p stamp at the top of the page are typical Machins.

"

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I have a few MACHINS, and...I'm done with them.I don't sweat for more.Same head, different colors...some other minor variations...:)This is NOT "my cup of tea", to put it gently.If you collect ONLY MACHINS, and NOTHING ELSE, then...:)...is that ALL that you gained in general knowledge from philately?Rather narrow.

I show you 4 cool MAXIMUM CARDS /MAXICARDS / DORINCARDS with The FORMOSAN SAMBAR DEER (Rusa unicolor swinhoii), sent by my partner/friend shu-i, from TAIWAN, R.O.C. [Republic of China]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sambar_(deer) "The Sambar (Rusa unicolor) is a large deer native to southern and southeast Asia."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sambar_(deer) "The Sambar (Rusa unicolor) is a large deer native to southern and southeast Asia."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sambar_(deer) "The Sambar (Rusa unicolor) is a large deer native to southern and southeast Asia."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sambar_(deer) "The Sambar (Rusa unicolor) is a large deer native to southern and southeast Asia."

"Adult males and pregnant or lactating females possess an unusual hairless, blood-red spot located about half way down the underside of their throats. This sometimes oozes a white liquid, and is apparently glandular in nature."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sambar_(deer)

Cover from my friend shu-i, from TAIWAN R.O.C. Thank you, again! I noticed your cute drawing at the bottom, and those flowers are beautiful!

This article contains Chinese text.Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Chinese characters.

Taiwan 臺灣 台灣

Taiwan is mostly mountainous in the east, with gently sloping plains in the west. The Penghu Islands are west of Taiwan.
Geography
Location	Pacific Ocean, 120 km (74.6 mi) off the coast ofmainland China
Coordinates	23°46′N 121°00′E
Area	36,008 km2 (13,902.8 sq mi)
Area rank	38th
Highest elevation	3,952 m (12,966 ft)
Highest point	Yushan (Jade Mountain)
Country
Republic of China
Capital city	Taipei City
Largest city	New Taipei City  (pop. 3,900,199[1])
Demographics
Demonym	Taiwanese
Population	23,061,689[1] (as of April 2011, the population in Kinmen and Matsu Islands are not included)
Density	668 /km2 (1,730 /sq mi)
Ethnic groups	98% Han[2][3]  70% Hoklo  14% Hakka  14% Waishengren[4] 2% Taiwanese aborigines[5]

"Taiwan (Chinese: 台灣; pinyin: Táiwān, ⁱ/ˌtaɪˈwɑːn/ ty-wahn),^[6] also known, especially in the past, as Formosa (from Portuguese: Ilha Formosa, "Beautiful Island"), is an island ofEast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China (ROC) following the Chinese Civil War in 1950. The island of Taiwan has the largest population and therefore, the name "Taiwan" has also become the pars pro toto common name for the ROC itself.^{[7][not in citation given][citation needed]}

Separated from the Asian continent by the 160 km (99 mi) wide Taiwan Strait,^[8] the main island of the group^{[clarification needed]} is 394 km (245 mi) long and 144 kilometres (89 mi) wide.^[9] To the northeast are the main islands of Japan and the East China Sea, and the southern end of the Ryukyu Islands of Japan is directly to the east; the Batanes Islands of the Philippines lie to its south across the Bashi Channel. The mountainous island spans theTropic of Cancer and is covered by tropical and subtropical vegetation. Other minor islands and islets of the group include the Penghu Islands (Pescadores), Green Island, and Orchid Island, as well as the Diaoyutai Islands (Senkaku islands), which have been controlled by Japan since the 1970s.

Taiwan was ceded to the Empire of Japan by the Qing Empire in the Treaty of Shimonosekiafter the First Sino-Japanese War in 1895. In 1945 the Republic of China acquired control of Taiwan from Japan as a result of World War II. Four years later the ROC lost mainland Chinain the Chinese Civil War to the Communist Party of China and resettled its government to Taiwan. Taiwan composes the vast majority of the ROC's territory since 1950, and this is one of multiple reasons that the ROC is commonly known as "Taiwan". The political status of Taiwan is disputed because it is claimed by the People's Republic of China, which was established in 1949 by the communists on mainland China and considers itself thesuccessor state to the ROC.^[10] In fact, since PRC's establishment, it never controlled any of the territories the ROC government currently governs. Japan had originally acquired Taiwan from the Qing Empire in 1895 under Article 2 of the Treaty of Shimonoseki. At the end of World War II, Japan renounced all claims to sovereignty over its former colonial possessions, including Taiwan and Penghu (Pescadores),^[11] but did not specify to whom Taiwan and Penghu should be assigned. This fact and subsequent handling of Taiwan's sovereignty by the Allies of World War II led to the complex and unresolved issues of the legal and political status of Taiwan.

Taiwan's rapid economic growth in the decades after World War II has transformed it into anindustrialized developed country and one of the Four Asian Tigers.^[12] This economic rise is known as the Taiwan Miracle. It is categorized as an advanced economy by the IMF and as a high-income economy by the World Bank. Its advanced technology industry plays a key role in the global economy.^[13] Taiwanese companies manufacture a large portion of the world's consumer electronics, although most of them are now made in their factories in mainland China.^[14]"

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

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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/}