Are diamonds forever? BBC Country Profile: Botswana. Diamonds are the main export. Also, see WWF maximum cards/ maxicards/ dorincards with Red Lechwe antelope (Kobus l. leche)

What do YOU know about Botswana?

[crickets...]

Read this from BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/country_profiles/1068674.stm

"Geographically the country is flat and up to 70% of Botswana is covered by the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the south and southeast, Namibia to the west and north, and Zimbabwe to the northeast. It meets Zambia at a single point.

A small, landlocked country of just over two million people, Botswana was one of the poorest countries in Africa at the time it gained independence from Britain in 1966, with a GDP per capita of about US$70. Botswana has transformed itself, moving into the ranks of middle-income status to become one of the fastest growing economies in the world with its average annual growth rate of about 9 percent with a GDP (purchasing power parity) per capita of about $14,800 (2010 IMF estimate)."

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

Notice the cool, unusual, triangular postmark!

How many color variations of Lechwe do you think there are?

Don't sweat it: 3.

Red, Brown and Black.

There's no Khaki Lechwe, trust me.

"Red Lechwe or Zambesi Lechwe (Kobus l. leche) - most of range. Overall tawny-fawn with black to front of front legs."

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

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

 Do you like my website http://dorincard.blogspot.com?

If yes, then please take a moment and write a quick review on www.alexa.com (click the widget below, then scroll down in alexa.com and click the "Write a review" golden button - you'll be golden for me!)

Thank you very much! :)

Alexa - Review Widget

 

However, if you DON'T like my website, then...

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

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).

Read from mashable.com - HOW TO: Jump-Start Your Career by Becoming an Online Influencer. Also, dorincards that I created with folded cards ('greeting cards') and my personalized stamp from zazzle, featuring The Grey Wolf (Canis lupus).

Please read this very interesting article: HOW TO: Jump-Start Your Career by Becoming an Online Influencer

Online influencer and promoter (that involves e-learning, too, in a fascinating way).

I try to do that with philately, and especially with maximaphily. :) 


Be the blue fish, in your School of Thought.

Find good places and times for action, and good places to relax/ chillax.

Then others will follow, for their own benefit.

Alpha male, alpha female...it's a natural thing.

These wolf maximum cards/ maxicards/ dorincards will probably remain the last batch that I have ever sent for postmarking, without scratching the plastic-coated zazzle stamps.

The stamps may appear to be affixed OVER the postmarks, but in fact the "not superior"-quality ink (unlike StazOn ink) was not absorbed by the plastic coating of the zazzle stamps.

In subsequent batches, I carefully scratched the zazzle stamps with hard dishpad, where the postmark was supposed to come and the ink to be absorbed satisfactory enough.

Whose [not who's] fault is it that the postmark was applied upside-down?

"I don't care -  I just work here, in the Post Office" - was that the line of thinking?

Aw, come on! Considerate thinking goes a long way...

Don't just postmark absent-mindedly, people!

The absence of the mind is a terrible thing...:)

1) I could postcardize these anytime by cutting them in two; the image below is from before I sent it for postmarking:

2) Or, I can glue the two parts of the folded card to qualify it as a "postcard".

3) Or, I could unfold the folded card and stiffen it with one or several large mailing label(s), creating a non-folded big postcard.

I could even send it then by mail, for USPS to validate it as a "real postcard", really circulated by mail to whatever destination in the world I chose, including the Amundsen-Scott Base in Antarctica! :)

At this point, all I would need for international mailing is to affix 98 cents worth of stamps on the address side (the back side of what you see here with my zazzle stamp).

Guest Heart Thursday meme! Also: not really mute, just less vocal - The Mute Swan (Cygnus olor), dorincard created with a rare educational card (not a "real postcard")

How many hearts do YOU see in this image of a dorincard (in this case, the dorincard is a non-traditional maximum card/ maxicard)?
I see 2.
Hint: they are NOT bi-dimensional, 2-D in the context of the image.

One heart is suggested by a joint venture. To find such a heart, you have to look for a DEER one, after you get tired of living the WILD LIFE, using your EAGLE vision, multi-TUSKing and wandering from BUSH to BUSH [there are two bushes in the postmark, I might specify].

The other heart is suggested by a temporary pose, like The Cotton Tale of  The Missing Chunk. Not cotton-tail , the rabbit.
There might be many incomplete, fragmented, or broken hearts out here, "in the wild".
How about "in the domestic"? Domestique...
:)

"The Mute Swan (Cygnus olor) is a species of swan, and thus a member of the duck, goose and swan family Anatidae. It is native to much of Europe and Asia, and (as a rare winter visitor) the far north of Africa. It is also an introduced species in North America, Australasia and southern Africa. The name 'mute' derives from it being less vocal than other swan species.^[1][2][3] Measuring 125 to 170 centimetres in length, this large swan is wholly white in plumage with an orange bill bordered with black. It is recognisable by its pronounced knob atop the bill."

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

===========

Guest Heart Thursday #45

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

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

BBC: 'Japan halts whale hunt after chase by protester'. But I don't halt the maximum card hunt. Slideshow with maximum cards/ maxicards/ dorincards, etc. from my photobucket album.

http://s289.photobucket.com/albums/ll201/dorincard/?start=all

Read from BBC:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12477398

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

Please visit and join ABC Wednesday meme!

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

E is for Excellence, Ecology [yes, Roger], etc. [et caetera, not ec cetera :) ]

Try to spend more time doing what you really love - don't postpone for later!

"Later" may never come.

Enjoy while you can, whatever you enjoy! 

Such as a hobby, to maintain your mental and spiritual equilibrium.

You could even excel at it.

Rail against the Keeling zone: The Cocos Buff-banded Rail (Gallirallus philippensis andrewsi). WWF maximum cards/ maxicards/ dorincards from Cocos/Keeling Islands. Also a list of memes for each of the 7 days.

"The Cocos Buff-banded Rail, Gallirallus philippensis andrewsi, is an endangered subspecies of the Buff-banded Rail endemic to the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, an Australian Offshore Territory in the central-eastern Indian Ocean.^[2] The local Cocos Malay name of the bird is Ayam Hutan("Chicken of the Forest").^[3]"

^"Population size is estimated as 850-1000 birds, with a population density of 7-8 birds/ha.^[4]"

^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocos_Buff-banded_Rail}

So 7-8 birds/ha...Huh? So there are fewer birds, 850-1000, than the number of stories that this woman told: "Scheherazade (pronounced /ʃəˌhɛrəˈzɑːdᵊ/), sometimes Scheherazadea, Persian transliteration Shahrazad or Shahrzād (Persian: شهرزاد Šahrzād, Arabic Šahrazād), is a legendary Persian queen and the storyteller of One Thousand and One Nights."

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

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

Please visit the World Bird Wednesday meme!

http://pineriverreview.blogspot.com/2011/02/world-bird-wednesday-xiii.html?showComment=1297808501189#c4454000911280491119

Here's a list of various memes for each of the 7 days:

http://l.wbx.me/l/?instId=54ea593a-1f58-499a-b8a7-792698221e1a&token=57f05a5bb1a360a4918974a9c8a7a648719085710000012e1eb6b606&u=http://www.memeaholics.blogspot.com

Ruby Tuesday (meme). Not creepy: ʻIʻiwi or Scarlet Hawaiian Honeycreeper (Vestiaria coccinea). Dorincards: one created with a folded card, and the other one with a cut-out from a book.

"The ʻIʻiwi or Scarlet Hawaiian Honeycreeper (Vestiaria coccinea) is a Hawaiian"hummingbird-niched" species, of the Hawaiian honeycreepers, subfamily, Drepanidinae, and the only member of the genus Vestiaria. One of the most plentiful species of this family, many of which are endangered or extinct, the ʻiʻiwi is a highly recognizable symbol of Hawaiʻi."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I'iwi

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

Please visit and join The Ruby Tuesday meme at http://workofthepoet.blogspot.com/

BBC: First Valentine: Lasting legacy of 500-year-old love. Also, "Hellelil and Hildebrand: The meeting on the turret stair", my maximum card idea, my entry for Happy Blue Monday! (meme). Happy Valentine's (Voluntyne's) Day

Read from BBC (but please read also this blogpost, while you are at it): http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12419712
"In 1477 Margery wrote a letter to her John pleading with him not to give her up, despite her parents' refusal to increase her dowry.

Addressing her "ryght welebeloued Voluntyne" (right well-beloved Valentine), she promised to

 be a good wife, adding: "Yf that ye loffe me as Itryste verely that ye do 

ye will not leffe me" (If you love me, I trust.. you will not leave

 me)."

==========

I would like to create a maximum  card/ maxicard/ dorincard with this Irish postcard, showing the Meeting on the Turret Stairs, 1864 (also known as Hellelil and Hildebrand), a famous painting by Sir Frederic William Burton RHA (8 April 1816 – 16 March 1900). 

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

To me, this great painting is a whole book/drama condensed in one image.

I could write quite a few observations about body language and the meaning of this image, as a whole, and in specific detail.

But soakin' [so can] you. Please comment, will you?

Everybody would have his own interpretation of this, more or less original, more or less credible.

Well, after you think about it, read this:

http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclare/people/meeting_of_turret_stairs.htm

I should research if there is already a stamp (Ireland/ any other country?) with it, then create a maximum card, if possible.

:)

Here's an interesting postmark of a knight in shining armor (don't worry about the stamp -  I did not have a matching one available):

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

Happy Blue Monday! (meme)

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

Fwd: FREE Maximum Card Journal

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B1IUYti4j8IdNTEzMGFmNGUtNjcwMC00MWQxLTgwOWYtOWI1ZWRmOTIzZThm&hl=en

Sent from my iPhone

Begin forwarded message:

From: TERRYW7633@comcast.net
Date: February 13, 2011 17:20:20 EST
To:
Subject: FREE Maximum Card Journal

Fellow collector of Maximum Cards,

The Maximum Card Study Unit (MACSU) of North America has recently published a short, nineteen-page Journal about Maximum Card collecting.   This Journal is FREE and has been attached to this email.

Please read this copy of the North American Maximaphily Journal and feel free to pass it on to any stamp collectors that you think might be interested. 

I would appreciate any feedback that you can offer regarding the journal.

Terry Watson, President

Maximum Card Study Unit

Sunday Stamps (meme)! Look at these superb animal stamps from Burundi! What is the 'Be my Valentine [mate for life?]' attitude of these 48 different species? How many of these choose their 'Valentine' for Social monogamy, or Sexual monogamy, or Genetic monogamy?

Do animals mate for life? How do they go about..."Be my Valentine"?
Animals don't technically get married, so they have (IF they have) only one (or a combination) of the first three types of monogamy that humans can have:

"Aspects of monogamy

• Social monogamy refers to two persons/creatures who live together, have sex with each other, and cooperate in acquiring basic resources such as food, clothes, and money.
• Sexual monogamy refers to two persons/creatures who remain sexually exclusive with each other and have no outside sex partners.
• Genetic monogamy refers to two partners that only have offspring with each other.
• Marital monogamy refers to marriages of only two people."

"Whatever makes a pair of animals socially monogamous does not necessarily make them sexually or genetically monogamous. Social monogamy, sexual monogamy, and genetic monogamy can occur in different combinations."

"In animal sexuality, serial monogamy often means that an animal will have a different, but exclusive, breeding partner each mating season. Generally, any animals that do not mate with one partner, for life, but do mate exclusively with one partner per mating season can be considered serially monogamous, including those who find a second mate only upon the death of the first."

"Mating system

Main article: Animal sexuality

Monogamy is one of several mating systems observed in other animals. The amount of social monogamy in animals varies across taxa, with over 90% of birds engaging in social monogamy but only 7% of mammals engaging in social monogamy. With birds the locomotion method has meant that the sharing of genetic material with non-local sources is far less difficult, and reproduction is far more successful when both the male and the female contribute food resources to the offspring. The incidence of sexual monogamy appears quite rare in other parts of the animal kingdom. It is becoming clear that even animals that are socially monogamous engage in extra-pair copulations.[1]"

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

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

Click, and click again to zoom in.

One of the most beautiful wildlife stamp series in the world, from Burundi!

I have two versions, as they were issued, so I was able to separate one set into individual stamps and place them accordingly, in my taxonomic stamp collection, by species. 

At the bottom, you can see the zebra stamp from the separated set, which set is of larger size - even more beautiful! :)

The other stamps at the bottom are for comparison purposes: they are nice (but not AS NICE), and of regular size.

The CCCP/ USSR one has a forced, unnatural juxtaposition of American Bison and Zebra -  I don't like that! Yes, it was done to cram more species featured on a stamp series with few available slots - they doubled the number of species featured.

That American Bison stamp from USA, unlike newer stamps from USPS, is too simplistic for my taste - "look what brown can do for you!".

Since USA and some other countries are such global economic powers, WHY shouldn't they also be philatelic/ stamp design global powers?

Why let the stamp design excellence be a competitive advantage of much smaller countries, such as Burundi, Bhutan and Serenissima Reppublica di San Marino, for example?

The Romanian one (POSTA ROMANA) is a famous EFO = Errors, Freaks and Oddities.

The Grevy zebra stamp should have been denominated 1,55 Lei, meaning 1 Leu and 55 bani (like 1$ and 55 cents). Instead, the whole print run went out with 1 55 bani. They did not issue a recall.

The Romanian Post may have pulled a proto-chronistic ceelogreen on this, like "Forget you!". :) 

"I'm not gonna recall you." So the stamps remained all out with that error.

http://www.zazzle.com/yes_thats_an_euphemism_postage-172784866997600135?rf=238693463283865848

Burundi has done a great promotional job for wildlife and for Burundi, even if these stamps may have been created by some foreign contractor.

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

"Burundi (pronounced [buˈɾundi]), officially the Republic of Burundi, is a landlocked country in the Great Lakes region of Eastern Africa bordered by Rwanda to the north, Tanzania to the east and south, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west. Its size is just under 28,000 km² with an estimated population of almost 8,700,000. Its capital is Bujumbura. Although the country is landlocked, much of the southwestern border is adjacent to Lake Tanganyika.

The Twa, Tutsi, and Hutu peoples have occupied Burundi since the country's formation five centuries ago. Burundi was ruled as a kingdom by the Tutsi for over two hundred years. However, at the beginning of the twentieth century, Germany and Belgium occupied the region, and Burundi and Rwanda became a European colony known as Ruanda-Urundi.

Political unrest occurred throughout the region because of social differences between the Tutsi and Hutu, provoking civil war in Burundi throughout the middle twentieth century. Presently, Burundi is governed as a presidential representative democratic republic. Sixty-two percent of Burundians are Roman Catholic, eight to ten percent are Muslims and the rest followindigenous beliefs and other Christian denominations.

Burundi is one of the ten poorest countries in the world. 

It has the lowest per capita GDP of any nation in the 

world.^[5] Burundi has a low gross domestic product largely due to civil wars, corruption, poor access to education, and the effects of HIV/AIDS. Burundi is densely populated, with substantial emigration. Cobalt and copper are among Burundi's natural resources. Some of Burundi's main exports include coffee and sugar."

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

Another set, almost as beautiful to me, is this (click, and click again to zoom in):

Happy Valentine's Day!

==========

Happy Sunday Stamps!

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

Happy Pink Saturday (meme)! Souvenir page (A4 page-size, letter-size, 8x11'' dorincard) about corn

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

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