Attention, postal workers from around the world! As you sort the mail, please look at the whole mail piece, not just at the apparent destination country. Here's a cover from Ukraine, misdirected to Cuba, instead of USA! Here's how the tunnel vision worked, between alphabets

This is a very nice cover (now is special!) sent to me in April 2011 by my philatelic/partner "Prott", from Ukraine, as part of the Maxicard Round Robin at http://www.forum.postcrossing.com.

Here's how the tunnel vision worked, between alphabets

Her "mistake" was that she added the destination country abbreviation, USA, 

in the Cyrillic alphabet: США.

http://translate.google.com/#auto|uk|USA

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

My postal forensic explanation is that an Ukrainian postal worker has interpreted 

 США as CUBA!!!

So what if, right above США, the cover is inscribed 

United States of America?

"I don't know.

I don't care.

I just work here, at the post office."

Was that the attitude? :)

So, off it went to Cuba!!!

Fidel Castro was too tired to deal with it personally, so he gave it to his brother Raul, the present ruler of Cuba.

Looking at the writing on the cover addressed for The Empire of Evil (USA), Raul thought that he deciphers, between the lines: "I'll be bak!".

So Raul sent it bak to Ukraine, then Ukraine sent it to USA.

What Correos de Cuba did was to postmark it: REVUELTO AL REMITENTE (Return to sender) and send it back (to Ukraine, I guess).

Then it finally arrived to me, in USA, two days ago.


One of the (if not THE) most passionate collectors of RETURN TO SENDER covers, either "sent for real",  or "sent intentionally to a fake address, to be returned with postmarks and postal markings from that exotic place", is my fellow blogger Riccardo Amarante (Italy) http://coverspostcards.blogspot.com/
Please explore his fascinating collection, and learn from his experience.
Notice how he mentions, sometimes, on the cover:
 "Please return to sender if undeliverable", or so.


You, too, can send and receive back such items from the most godforsaken exotic places on earth.
Is THAT the greatest thing?
No - the greatest thing would be to find a real person/partner/friend in every such place, who could exchange with you a cover, postcard, etc.
But, if that is not possible, then you can always resort to a mailing of a cover or postcard to a fake address, so that it will be RETURNED to you, as undeliverable, with all those local postmarks and postal markings of RETURN, etc.

Attention, postal workers from around the world! As you sort the mail, please look at the whole mail piece, not just at the apparent destination country. :)

Inside the cover, besides a Chinese maxicard, was this Ukrainian maxicard:

"Ukraine (ⁱ /juːˈkreɪn/ ew-krayn; Ukrainian: Україна, transliterated: Ukrayina, [ukrɑˈjinɑ];Russian: Украи́на; Crimean Tatar: Ukraina) is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the largest contiguous country on the European continent.^[7] Ukraine borders the Russian Federation to the east and northeast, Belarus to the northwest, Poland,Slovakia and Hungary to the west, Romania and Moldova to the southwest, and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south and southeast, respectively. It was formerly known as The Ukraine.^[8]"

"The Swallow's Nest; the Crimea hosts many seaside resorts and historic sites".

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

https://picasaweb.google.com/annakaisa.karppelinsiltaoja/MapCardsMyCollections?feat=content_notification#5615395525428624674

See some nice stamps from Ukraine:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/Stamp_of_Ukraine_S959970_-_Traditional_Head-dresses_of_Ukrainians_-_set.jpg

http://poshta.kiev.ua/nishop.php?act=shcomm&gid=1&id=12448

http://www.postbeeld.com/en/stamps/view/sokb0728-tradional-marriage-costumes-12v-ms/

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"Cuba has a 99.8% literacy rate,^[12][13] an infant death rate lower than some developed countries,^[14] and an average life expectancy of 77.64.^[12] In 2006, Cuba was the only nation in the world which met the WWF's definition of sustainable development; having an ecological footprint of less than 1.8 hectares per capita and a Human Development Index of over 0.8 for 2007.^[15]"

"Beach on Cayo Largo del Sur in the Canarreos archipelago"

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

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"The United States of America (also referred to as the United States, the U.S., the USA, or America) is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its forty-eight contiguous states and Washington, D.C., the capital district, lie between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, bordered by Canada to the north and Mexico to the south. The state of Alaska is in the northwest of the continent, with Canada to the east and Russia to the west across the Bering Strait. The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The country also possesses several territories in the Caribbean and Pacific.

At 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million km²) and with over 308 million people, the United States is the third or fourth largest country by total area [there are still disputed lands between China and India, in the Himalayas], and the third largest both by land area and population. It is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multiculturalnations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries.^[6]"

"Through the 19th century, the United States displaced native tribes, acquired land from France, Spain, the United Kingdom, Mexico, and Russia, and annexed the Republic of Texas and the Republic of Hawaii."

"Wooden walkways allow visitors to closely approach the Grand Prismatic Spring."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Grand_prismatic_spring.jpg

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

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U, as in Ukraine, and USA.

Please visit and join the ABC Wednesday meme!

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

Frankenstein is NOT the monster, despite popular belief! The character Victor Frankenstein has created The Monster, frankly speaking. Frank(enstein)ly speaking. Maximum card from USA, that I finalized by sending for a Hollywood postmark the "Made in China" postcard, already FRANKed with stamps, face and back, by my friend Teodor Ghiatza-Melnic, perhaps the greatest collector in the world of all things Dracula.

The Wolf Man stamp on the back shows a scared, rather than scary Wolf Man, in  my opinion. :)

"Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is a novel written by Mary Shelley. 

Shelley started writing the story when she was eighteen, and the novel was published when she was twenty-one. The first edition was published anonymously in London in 1817. Shelley's name appears on the second edition, published in France. 

It is common to refer to the monster itself as "Frankenstein", but in the novel the monster is identified via words such as "monster", "fiend", "wretch", "vile insect", "daemon", and "it"; Shelley herself called it "Adam".

Through research one can determine the many influences the author was under during the creation of the novel. She had traveled the region in which the story takes place, and the topics of galvanism and other similar occult ideas were themes of conversation among her companions. 

The actual storyline took place from a dream. 

Mary Shelley was talking with her three other writers and they decided they would have a competition to see who could write the best horror story. 

After thinking for weeks about what her possible storyline could be Shelley dreamed about a scientist who created life and was horrified by what he created. 

Then "Frankenstein" was written. Frankenstein is infused with some elements of the Gothic novel and the Romantic movement and is also considered to be one of the earliest examples of science fiction. 

It was also a warning against the expansion of modern man in the Industrial Revolution, alluded to in the novel's subtitle, The Modern Prometheus. 

The story has had an influence across literature and popular culture and spawned a complete genre of horror stories and films. 

The novel is also partially based on Giovanni Aldini's electrical experiments on dead and (sometimes) living animals."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Frankenstein%27s_monster_(Boris_Karloff).jpg

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

Please explore some of my blogposts about Dracula (Bram Stoker's Vampire), and the historical Vlad Dracula (Vlad The Impaler):

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

http://dorincard.blogspot.com/2011/04/who-do-you-think-is-buried-here-evil-or.html

I had to scratch very carefully, with hard dishpad, the glossy real photo/postcard and

 the glossy/plastic-coated zazzle stamp.

That way, enough ink was absorbed.

Another thing that I did was to apply the canceller device gently, without rapid hitting as a postal worker does, then keep it reasonably-hard pressed on the card for about 2 seconds.

Then I pressed gently a paper napkin, to soak the excess ink.

Finally, I let the card dry up, without covering it, in the car on my way home, and at home.

The ink was still a little wet and smearable at home, so I let it dry fully. :)

This is the backside - it's always a good idea to have the postmark applied here, too, for better visibility.

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Please visit and join Ruby Tuesday meme!

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How To Embed Practically Anything On Your Blog or Website - from mashable.com. Also, I show you one of my coolest virtual (not finalized yet) maxicards, with the 2006 Austrian stamp that has REAL METEORITE DUST EMBEDDED in it!!! Also, their official FDC with that stamp!

Please read and use the cool info: How To Embed Practically Anything On Your Blog or Website

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Now, look at the famous meteorite dust stamp from Austria Post, one of my most favorite postal administrations in terms of innovation and open-mindedness.
I only wish they would not force us to buy a minimum of 100 stamps, if we want to buy personalized stamps.
Too expensive! Learn from zazzle.com, etc., who asks only for 20 personalized stamps as a minimum!

"Post from Another World

The ground meteorite has been applied to the stamp by the Austrian State Printing Company using a method specially developed for this purpose. 

The meteorite was first examined by the Vienna Natural History Museum, an institution that has acquired an excellent international reputation through over 200 years of collecting and investigating meteorites, and identified as being H-chondrite (a stone meteorite, subgroup of “ordinary chondrite”). 

The Vienna Natural History Museum’s examination provides proof beyond doubt that an original meteorite has been used for the stamp. 

The meteorite most probably originated from the Asteroid Belt, an accumulation of hundreds of thousands of chunks of stone, ranging in size from gravel stones to mountains, that orbit the sun between Mars and Jupiter (at an orbital radius around three times the distance between the earth and the sun).

The chemical composition of the mineral olivine (stated as Fa18) is typical of this kind of meteorite, and can be verified by examining the meteorite dust on the stamp. 

The chemical and physical properties of the meteorite examined, like all other meteorites, are such that they constitute no risk to human health. 

The part of the roughly 19 kg meteorite that was not required for the production of the stamp has been deposited as a reference sample at the Vienna Natural History Museum, where it is on display."

http://www.post.at/eshop/philatelieshop/detail.php?prod=206040#

You can still buy the stamp or the cover, I guess!

Here's a cool protective jacket for that stamp.

Stamp in the jacket, then into a plastic sleeve.

The official FDC (First Day Cover).

My virtual maximum card, where I temporarily superimposed the stamp onto a composite, cosmos commercial postcard.

Postmark could be acquired in the future, but I'm in no hurry.

I like it as it is - a cosmic dorincard, with no nearby post office to give the postmark...:)

Or, I could electronically superimpose the image of the postmarked stamp from the FDC (see above).

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Happy Blue Monday! (meme)

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