Kenmore, Fredericksburg, Virginia

Outgoing postcard US-3208612 to Germany was a vintage card showing Kenmore, a plantation house built in 1752 at Fredericksburg, Virginia. It is a beautiful specimen of colonial architecture with ornamented ceilings and mantels designed by George Washington. It is home of Col. Fielding Lewis and his wife Betty, the only sister of George Washington. George Washington sent two Hessian prisoners to carry out his artistic conception.

The house was added to National Register of Historic Places on June 4, 1969, and was declared a National Historic Landmark on April 15, 1970.

There are similar cards from the Tichnor Brothers Postcard Collection at Boston Public Library.

MoreSpace

Postcard TW-1466040 from Taiwan was an advertising card for MoreSpace (摩爾空間), a personal storage company established in 2008. The Super M dog shown on the card is the guardian mascot for customers' properties.

During the 2015 Super Bowl XLIX between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks this Sunday on February 1, 2015, there will be a showdown among the big game ads as well, where a 30-second commercial spot reportedly costs $4.5 million. In the past, the ads were secrets until the game day. However, today many commercials are already being released online before the kick-off.

Budweiser's "Puppy Love", a follow-up to last year's popular theme, was among the early favorites. On the other hand, GoDaddy's controversial "Journey Home", also featuring a lost puppy and apparently a parody of the Budweiser ad, had already been pulled after protests and outrages from social media.

Great Lakes Naval Training Center

Outgoing postcard US-3202777 to Poland shows an event on Ross Field, carrying on a long tradition of Naval Ceremony at Great Lakes Naval Training Center (NTC), home to the Navy's largest Recruit Training Command as well as the largest Service School Command. The NTC was dedicated in 1911 and is located on Lake Michigan, just 35 miles north of Chicago and 45 miles south of Milwaukee.

The Great Lakes Naval Museum, one of fifteen official U.S. Navy museums, is nearby.

Municipal Stadium, Cleveland, Ohio

Outgoing postcard US-3202778 to Czech Republic was a vintage card showing the Municipal Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio, one of the early multi-purpose stadiums built in 1930. Opened on July 1, 1931, with a capacity for baseball of 78,000, it can also seated 81,000 for football. The stadium was closed on December 17, 1995 and demolished on November 4, 1996 to make way for the new FirstEnergy Stadium that currently occupies the site.

Wrigley Building, Chicago, Illinois

Outgoing postcard US-3202774 to Finland shows the Wrigley Building at the Northern end of the Michigan Avenue Bridge, built in 1920 to house the corporate headquarters of the Wrigley Company, a chewing gum company. The backside of the postcard reads: "It towers 398 feet above the ground and is shown in magnificent splendor by being entirely illuminated at night." However, it was noted on Wikipedia that the 30-story south tower, completed in April, 1921, is 425-foot or 130-meter tall. The Wrigley Building was sold to a group of investors in 2011.

On a side note, Chicago marks anniversary of 1967 Blizzard that lasted 17 hours and dumped 23 inches snow 48 years ago on this day. It was the largest single snowfall in the city's history. About 50,000 cars and buses were abandoned on the streets and expressways; thousands of people were stranded. It took several days for schools and airports to re-open.

While blizzard warnings expired for New England, heavy snow continues under winter storm warnings and advisories. On the other hand, Chicago only had freezing rain this time, which still caused dangerous driving conditions. Some sunshine is expected in Chicago tomorrow afternoon.

American Museum of Natural History

Postcard US-2984204 from Texas shows the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), located across the street from Central Park on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, New York City, New York. One of the largest museums in the world, the museum has over 32 million specimens of plants, humans, animals, fossils, minerals, rocks, meteorites, and human cultural artifacts in its collection. Only a small fraction of those can be displayed at any given time, in spite of its 1,600,000-square-foot or 150,000-square-meter exhibition space.

In addition to its permanent exhibitions at the Biodiversity and Environmental Halls, the Birds and Reptiles and Amphibians Halls, the Earth and Planetary Sciences Halls, the Fossil Halls including the two famous dinosaur halls as shown on the postcard, the Human Origins and Cultural Halls, and the Mammal Halls, the current exhibitions include: Countdown to Zero about several global efforts to contain, or eradicate disease; Nature's Fury: The Science of Natural Disasters; The Butterfly Conservatory; and Natural Histories. The museum is also home to the Rose Center for Earth and Space that features a planetarium, and the official New York State Memorial to New York's 33rd Governor and the 26th U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt. AMNH was added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 24, 1976.

The Museum will be closed on Tuesday January 27, 2015 due to a blizzard forecast. However, the early indication shows the incoming storm may be falling short of predictions.

Go Buckeyes

Unfazed by freezing weather, 45,000 Ohio State University football fans celebrated the Buckeyes' national championship at Ohio Stadium yesterday.

The event honored the Buckeyes’ victory in the inaugural College Football Playoff (CFP), a postseason tournament in American college football for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), which started in the 2014–2015 season.  Using a 13-member committee to select and seed the participating teams, CFP is different from the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) used by FBS from 1998 to 2013. BCS used computer rankings and coach polls that sometimes, e.g. in the 2003 and 2004 seasons, caused controversy.

Never give up. Ohio State Buckeyes was only 16th in the first CFP rankings. However, they managed to bulldozed Wisconsin Badgers 59-0, which allowed them to bypass Texas Christian University (TCU) Horned Frogs and Baylor Bears for a final playoff spot. Then they went ahead to beat the odds by overcoming a 21-6 deficit and upsetting Alabama Crimson Tide with a 42-35 win. In the showdown with No. 2 ranking Oregon Ducks on January 12, 2015 at AT&T Stadium, Arlington, TX, the Buckeyes won decisively 42-20, despite Heisman-winning quarterback Marcus Mariota scored early during their first drive.

It is the first national title since 2002 for the Buckeyes. Previously, they did have three BCS championships under their belt. It is also the third national title for coach Urban Meyer who won BCS championships twice when he was the head coach for Florida Gators.

Postcard US-1844593 to the Netherlands shows a map of The Oval at the Ohio State University campus. However, North is on the right side, and West is on top of the postcard. Ohio Stadium, northwest to The Oval, would be on the upper right of the postcard.

The Spring Comes in Full Form

It is still officially in winter. However, with a forecast high temperature at 72°F or 22°C in Las Vegas for tomorrow, it certainly feel like spring already. To commemorate the incoming Year of the Ram, The Venetian and The Palazzo have put out a Chinese New Year art installation at the Waterfall and Atrium Gardens, featuring three life-size rams. A ram is an intact male sheep. Eight additional sheep adorned with fleece of fresh carnations are spotted around the waterfall. In the photo below, a horse and a sheep are seen together, symbolizing the transition from the Year of the Horse (2014) to the Year of the Ram (2015).

Postcard TW-1478246 from Taiwan shows three goats in a water color painting. Sheep is of the genus Ovis while Goat is a member of genus Capra. Sheep have wool while goats have hairs. According to Yahoo Answers, "the easiest way to tell a sheep from a goat is by their tails. In goats their tails point up toward the sky. In sheep, they hang down, pointed at the ground."

Wuhan by Ferry

Postcard CN-1520549 from China shows people taking ferries to cross the Yangtze River in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. Wuhan (武汉), the capital of Hubei province and the most populous city in Central China, is located at the intersection of the middle reaches of the Yangtze and Han rivers, consisting of the conglomeration of three cities, Wuchang, Hankou, and Hanyang.

Those three cities face each other across the rivers and are now linked by bridges, including one of the first modern bridges in China. Ferries were the only transportation to cross the rivers before the Wuhan Yangtze Great Bridge opened in 1957. Even after the Metro Line 2, the first Metro line crossing through Yangtze River, opened on December 28, 2012, ferries remain a best choice for going directly across the Yangtze River since it's inexpensive and quick, and you can take your bicycle to the ferry for a nominal fee.

In addition, it's a scenic ride to see the rivers and skylines of the three cities. Many ferry terminals for the more than dozen ferry lines are located by the Snake Hill in Wuchang where the Yellow Crane Tower (黄鹤楼), a historic tower first built in 223 A.D., overlooking the Yangtze River.

State Street, Chicago

Postfcard US-3133042 to Russia was a linen vintage postcard with a view of State Street, Chicago, Illinois in the 1940s. State Street became a shopping destination during the 1900s. It was mentioned in the song "Chicago,"  made famous by Frank Sinatra where Frank sung "On State Street that great street, I'd just like to say: They do things that they never do on Broadway.They have the time, the time of their life." State Street is the location of many landmarks buildings.

Sturmgewalten

Postcard DE-3842889 from Germany shows a lighthouse amid the force of storm. Although there is no description on the back of the postcard,  it looks like the Warnemünde Westmole, one the twin lighthouses (known as Die Zwillinge locally) at Warnemünde which is a seaside resort of the city of Rostock in Mecklenburg, Germany. Warnemünde is located on the Baltic Sea, at the estuary of the river Warnow.

Leave your comment if you know otherwise.

University of Virginia in Charlottesville

Postcard US-3149031 to China shows the lawn at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia. Established in 1819, the central quadrangle was designed by Thomas Jefferson. He planned the two story Pavilions as homes for professors, who lived upstairs and taught downstairs. Between them are rows of single rooms where students have lived since 1825. It's part of the Monticello and the University of Virginia in Charlottesville World Heritage Site recognized by UNESCO in 1987.

Update: In his State of Union address to the nation this evening, President Obama challenged the Congress to make two-year community college free under certain conditions, and to overhaul tax codes to shift benefits away from wealthy Americans in order to offer tax credits for college. As a public and state-affiliated institution, the University of Virginia in Charlottesville offers a good example on what investment on higher education can do for the nation by its association with 7 Nobel Laureates, 7 NASA astronauts, 7 Marshall Scholars, 4 Churchill Scholars, 29 Truman Scholars, and 50 Rhodes Scholars,

Make Some Noise

Las Vegas honors 2015 Martin Luther King Jr. Day with its 33rd annual parade that attracted thousands visitors and locals lining up Fourth Street downtown to watch more than 100 floats, bands, dancers, politicians, classic cars, motorcycles and people from various organizations marching in honor of Dr. King.

The theme of this year's parade was "Living the Dream: Where do we go from here?" It highlights the reflection and debate resulted from the racial tensions exposed after multiple police killings of black men last year. It is also a reminder that the struggle for equality is continuing and there are a lot to be done ahead.

An elderly spectator watches younger marchers streaming by at the 33rd annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade in downtown Las Vegas on January 19, 2015.

The featured postcard was a maxi card featuring a self-portrait of me in front of the Newseum in Washington D.C. on August 28, 2013 with a USPS March on Washington Forever Stamp and its first-day-of-issue postmark.

Wenn das Pech Dich Verfolgt, Sei Schneller!

Postcard DE-3846720 from Germany reads "When the pitch following you, be faster!" Dictionary.com defines pitch as any of various heavy dark viscid substances obtained as a residue from the distillation of tars. As a motivational card, it reminds you to stay away from bad influences.

Year of the Ram is Coming

My first the Year of the Ram postcard arrived from Taiwan today. It's a maxi card featuring a colorful sheep in paper cut art.  The NT$3.5 stamp, with the image of a sheep stepping gentle pace over plum blossoms against a pink background, is part of a two-stamp set issued by Chunghwa Post in Taiwan on December 1, 2014 to welcome the spring and bring good fortune. The Year of the Ram begins on February 19, 2015, and ends on February 7, 2016. USPS will also issue the Year of the Ram stamp as a Forever stamp in self-adhesive souvenir sheets of 12 in San Francisco, CA on February 7, 2015.

Greetings from Nashville, Tennessee

Postcard US-3064194 from Michigan, USA was a "Greetings from Nashville", Tennessee card that highlights its nickname "Music City" with an antique guitar. As the capital of the state of Tennessee, Nashville is located on the Cumberland River in the north-central part of the state, serving as a center for the music, healthcare, publishing, banking and transportation industries. It also has a large number of colleges and universities.

Today, the United States Supreme Court agreed to hear the case Tanco v. Haslam, No. 14-562 from Tennessee challenging state laws barring the recognition of same-sex marriages performed outside the state. It was part of the consolidated cases in which the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit upheld the bans on same-sex marriage in Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee. By granting petitions seeking review from plaintiffs challenging those bans in each state, the United States Supreme Court posed to decide once for all whether the Constitution requires states “to license a marriage between two people of the same sex” and whether states must “recognize a marriage between two people of the same sex when their marriage was lawfully licensed and performed out of state.” The Supreme Court's decision is due before the end of June. Governor Bill Haslam of Tennessee, a Republican, did what litigants who have won in the lower court usually do by urging the Supreme Court Justices not to hear the case.

Sand Island Lighthouse, Alabama

Postcard US-1987845 to Minnesota, USA shows the Sand Island Lighthouse located at the southernmost point of the state of Alabama, 3 miles or 5 kilometers offshore near Dauphin Island, at the mouth of Mobile Bay, Alabama. The 131-foot or 40-meter tall Italianate style lighthouse opened in 1838 to replace an earlier lighthouse destroyed by Confederate John W. Glenn on February 23, 1863 during the Civil War. Due to erosion and hurricane damages, it is on the Lighthouse Digest Doomsday List as one of the most endangered lighthouses in the country.

The lighthouse is one of the five Gulf Coast lighthouses featured on postage stamps and a stamped postcard book with pre-printed 28-cent postage issued by USPS in 2009.

Earlier on today, the 86th Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., Selma, a historical film based on the Selma to Montgomery, Alabama voting rights marches led by James Bevel, Hosea Williams, Martin Luther King, Jr. and John Lewis in 1965, was nominated for Best Picture and Best Original Song for the 87th Oscar Awards. However, as Selma's director Ava DuVernay was not recognized for her powerful work directing the film, it reinforced the perception that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, made up of predominately white, older men, is still falling behind in recognizing diversity. Today’s nominations see absence of black actors/filmmakers and female filmmakers nominated for directing or screenplay. The controversy becomes evident as the Twitter hashtag #OscarSoWhite is trending right now.

Prometheus Statue at Rockfeller Plaza

Outgoing postcard US-3169529 to Russia was a vintage card showing Paul Manship's majestic bronze gilded statue of the Greek legend of the Titan Prometheus recumbent, bringing fire to mankind from the sun. Built in 1934, the 5.5-meter or 18-foot tall and 8-ton statue is a focal point of the fountain in the sunken gardens, which are noted for their trees and shrubs and flowers, at the front of 30 Rockefeller Plaza. The model for Prometheus was Leonardo (Leon) Nole. The inscription on the granite wall behind was a paraphrase from Aeschylus that reads: "Prometheus, teacher in every art, brought the fire that hath proved to mortals a means to mighty ends."

Built by the Rockefeller family, Rockefeller Center is a complex of 19 commercial buildings covering 22 acres or 89,000 square meters panning the area from Fifth Avenue to Sixth Avenue and between 48th and 51st streets in the center of Midtown Manhattan, New York City, New York. It was recognized as a National Historic Landmark in 1987.

Salad Bowl of the Nation

Outgoing postcard US-3169528 to California shows a lettuce field in Salinas, California. It reads on the back of the card: "Over sixty percent of the lettuce eaten in the nation comes from the Salinas Valley where they called it 'green gold.' With the longest growing season in the world, heavy shipments are made from April to December and lesser shipments during the other months."

Salinas is the county seat and largest municipality of Monterey County, California, known for its vibrant and large agriculture industry. It is the hometown of Nobel Prize in Literature laureate John Steinbeck.

According to Wikipedia, traditionally an Anglophonic European American settlement, Salinas attracted a significant Asian-American immigrants in the agriculture and fishing industries at the beginning of the 20th century. Hispanic immigrants primarily from Mexico drawn to opportunities in the area’s agricultural industry since 1960s and established a large Mexican-American enclave in the neighboring area. Along with the great influx of legal immigrants, it comes an influx of undocumented immigrants. By 2011, Salinas had one of the highest concentrations of undocumented immigrants in the state and nationwide.

Cypress Trees on Point Lobos, near Carmel, California

Outgoing postcard US-3109079 to Russia shows Point Lobos, a rugged point of rocks at the southern end of Carmel Bay in California. It is thickly wooded with pines and cedars and strikingly picturesque with its gnarled and twisted cypress trees that fringe this rocky coast.

Sterne by Thomas Ruff

Postcard DE-3784060 from Germany shows an image of night sky from the collection Sterne 
(Stars) produced by German photographer Thomas Ruff in 1989. Thomas Ruff acquired a set of 600 negative images "Catalog of the Southern Sky" from the European Southern Observatory in the Andes, Chile. Each of those images was noted for the precise time of day and exact geographic position when the photograph was taken, along with the type of telescopic lens used and length of exposure. Thomas Ruff cropped specific details from those images and enlarged them to a uniform grand scale.

Separately, a pulsar, J1906,  made the news as it has faded from view when it enters a warp in space-time. The observations were made at the Arecibo Observatory, Puerto Rico.

Shit Happens

Postcard US-3135200 to China was from a colleague of mine who bought it during a trip to Germany, showing one of the many great comics from Ruthe.de.

A lot of things have gone wrong recently. For three days, Paris was under siege as terrorists killed satirical comic magazine editors and took hostages. AirAsia Flight QZ8501 crashed into the Java Sea before the New Year, and the elusive black boxes still have not been recovered after two-week intensive searches. SpaceX rocket's booster landing was unsuccessful after launching the Space Station supply ship.

Shit Happens. However, we can not let those setbacks to hold us down. The Paris attacks have brought out one million people marching in unity, and stirred up debates about freedom of speech, religions, national identity and security. The investigations on the causes of AirAsia Flight QZ8501 accident and SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket's first stage landing failure will certainly contribute to a safer air travel and the advances of reusable rocket technology.

Our Own Spiritual Journey

Postcard CN-1487943 from China shows Ranwu Lake (然烏湖), located in Basu County, Changdu, Tibet. As one of the sources of Palongzangbu River which is in turn a tributary of Brahmaputra River, Ranwu is a barrier lake formed by natural damming caused by landslide and mudslides blocking the river. At the elevation of 3,850 meters or 12,631 feet, the lake covers 22 square kilometers or 8.5 square miles, surrounded by the Kangri Garpo Mountain Range and the Laigu Glaciers. The climate near the lake is warm and humid, with an average annual temperature of 8.5 °C or 47 °F and an average annual rainfall of 849.7 millimeters or 33.5 inches. The lake is largely supplied by the surface runoff. State Road 318 runs through the lake on its east bank.

USPS Philatelic Truck

Postcard US-3154507 to Portugal was a maxi card showing a special USPS truck that traveled the U.S. between 1939 and 1941 to offer a mobile philatelic exhibit to the public promoting stamp collecting, operated by a three-man crew. The 22 cent stamp was one of the four Stamp Collecting commemorative designs showing a boy examining a stamp collection, issued in State College, Pennsylvania on January 23, 1986, as part of the first USPS commemorative stamp booklet.

Today, USPS is more gearing up to compete with Fedex and USPS in package delivery business. It has a booth at the 2015 CES to promote the packaging and shipping services. Visitors to the booth can get their pictures taken and printed as pre-paid postcards.

Breaking the Wave

In keeping up the tradition, the 2015 International CES has a large list of celebrities including Hollywood stars, popular music stars and DJs, sports legends and TV personalities to make appearances on behalf of various vendors in promoting innovative products and technologies and showcasing the new ways for consumers to work, play, connect and access information. 

Garrett McNamara, an American professional big wave surfer, was at the Body Glove Mobile booth today signing autograph. The advertising card, promoting Optrix waterproof, ultra-rugged sport cases for smart phones with optical-grade glass lenses, features Garrett breaking the world record for the largest wave ever surfed at Nazaré, Portugal on Jan 28, 2013. 

See Impossible

The 2015 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) opened today in Las Vegas with a record of more than 3,600 exhibitors. CES is known as the place for the vendors to showcase their most-recent cutting-edge technologies. However, the recent trend is that, in addition to the usual hardware displays and technical demos to the buyers and industry affiliates, exhibitors are highlighting what those technologies can do in terms of enhancing creativity, stimulating social changes, and improving people's life.

One example is Canon U.S.A.'s PIXMA PRO City Senses Interactive Gallery that features images created by local photographers, Heather Gill and Emily Wilson from Las Vegas. Visitors can experience through the senses of touch, taste, smell and sound with a Las Vegas theme that have inspired the photographers' work. So far, the PIXMA PRO City Senses Interactive Galleries have featured seven cities: Boston, Austin, Seattle, New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, and Las Vegas. "See Impossible" is the theme for the Canon booth at the 2015 CES.

Audiences are asked to compare their visions with photographers' after listening to the sounds from casino floors in a dark room at the 2015 CES in Las Vegas.

Postcard US-2323219 to USA shows a loving couple with a street bench formed by dancers at Canon Theater in the 2012 CES.

It's Going to be a New Day in Florida

Postcard US-3141369 to USA was a vintage card showing a night scene under the full moon in Florida.

The clock has struck midnight on the East Coast. It marks a new day in Florida as it became the latest of 36 states and Washington D.C. in the U.S. where same-sex couples can now legally marry. Many courthouses in South Florida open overnight to issue marriage licenses and hold wedding ceremonies.

It was a drawn-out battle since the same-sex marriage ban, part of the State Constitution Amendment 2, passed with a 62% voter approval in 2008. In the end, Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi's many appeals, a bogus legal advice from a private law firm to clerks, and the last minute attempts from a conservative legal group Liberty Counsel, can not turn back tide.

Amelia Earhart's Lockheed Vega 5b

Postcard US-3109087 to France shows Amelia Earhart's Lockheed Vega 5b, NR7952, at the Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C.

Amelia Mary Earhart, born July 24, 1897, was an American aviation pioneer. As the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, she took off from Newfoundland on May 20, 1932 and landed in Ireland nearly 15 hours later in the above plane, receiving the U.S. Distinguished Flying Cross for this endeavor.

Amelia Mary Earhart disappeared on July 2, 1937 during an attempt to circumnavigate the globe in a Lockheed Model 10 Electra plane.

According to Wikipedia, She was also a member of the National Woman's Party, and an early supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment.

12 Months in Japan

Postcard JP-621600 from Japan shows each of the 12 months in a year and its associated custom and activity. I also found a web page that explains the names of months in Japan. Japanese people have a custom of sending New Year's Day postcards (年賀状) to update and greet their friends and relatives whom they could not meet with often in the past year. The Japanese Post Office (日本郵便) guarantees the delivery of the New Year's Day postcards on January 1 if they are posted before the deadline. Coincidentally, this card found its way to my mailbox on December 31, 2014.

True Love is Born from Understanding

Postcard CZ-561866 from Czech shows "Buddha Moon" produced by Tushita, a Germany based calendar and card publishers of ethnic and spiritual editions in the last 30 years, as a Sangha Edition. In Buddhism, Sangha (僧伽) means the monastic community of ordained Buddhist monks or nuns.

At the beginning of the New Year, I found one of the Budda quotes especially telling: "Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth."

Party Like a High Roller, at the High Roller

High Rollers (VIP passengers) got special treatment on the High Roller, the tallest Ferris wheel in the world on New Year's Eve. At the midnight the wheel was halted so that passengers could enjoyed fireworks from 167.6 meters or 550 feet above the ground with a champagne toast. Postcard US-2984268 to Thailand shows the High Roller at The LINQ Promenade, which opened on March 31, 2014.

2015 Fireworks from Caesars Palace with the High Roller in the background.