The Fittest City in the U.S.

The American Fitness Index (AFI) recently released the ACSM American Fitness Index Data Report, offering a scientific snapshot of the health and fitness level for the major metropolitan areas in the US. Washington D.C., for the 3rd year in a row, ranks as the fittest city.

The American College of Sports Medicine and the Anthem Foundation have considered such factors as what percentage of the city's population reporting exercising within the past 30 days and accessibility to parks and green spaces, in order to determine how fit a city is. The top 10 cities are:

1. Washington D.C.
2. Minneapolis, MN
3. Denver, CO
4. Portland, OR
5. San Francisco, CA
6. Seattle, WA
7. Boston, MA
8. Salt Lake City, UT
9. Hartford, CT
10. San Diego, CA

Las Vegas ranks 41st among the bottom 10 cities.

Postcard US-3971221 to Germany shows a black and white map drawing of the D.C. area with a matching diamond shaped 37¢ commemorative stamp issued by USPS on September 23, 2003.

Santa Monica Beach

Postcard US-3841697 to Germany shows a January, 2003 photo at Santa Monica beach near Los Angeles, CA when I was visiting from Florida. The picture was taken on the 100-year-old Santa Monica Pier, looking north. It was fascinating to see beaches on the Pacific Ocean side.

It was before the US-led Iraq invasion in May, 2003. I had just watched the debates about starting the invasion on TV in my hotel room before taking a walk on the pier. In less a month, then US Secretary of State Colin Powell would go to the United Nations Security Council to present his now infamous speech loaded with flaws on February 5, 2003. I can't help but wonder what if we could turn back time and change the course of history?  Without the war, we would be in a much better world today.

Wright Brothers' First Controlled Flight

Outgoing postcard US-3772207 to Brazil has a 37-cent First Flight commemorative stamp in the front, issued by USPS on May 22, 2003 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the first controlled, powered, and sustained flight in a heavier-than-air flying machine. At Kill Devil Hills near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina on December 17, 1903, Wright Brothers tested Flyer I with a four-cylinder engine for the first flight that lasted 12 seconds and 120 feet or 37 meters, followed by three even more successful flights later that day.

The miniature souvenir sheet has ten pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA) stamps. The card has address, messages and additional postage on the back. It was sent to the Post Office in Kitty Hawk, NC for the 2015 edition first flight pictorial postmark in a package with several other postcards. Tracking shows the package left Las Vegas on January 16, 2016 and was delivered in January 19, 2016.

I did an inquiry on February 22, 2016 for the service update via USPS.COM, and got a prompt call back the next day asking me for more information, and another call the day after informing me that the cards were mailed out on Monday, February 22, 2016. Sure enough, I received the one addressed to myself today on February 26, 2016.

However, the SURPRISE was that they used the 111th anniversary edition rubber stamp from 2014 with a date of "DEC 17 2014", rather than the 112th anniversary edition on Dec 17, 2015 !!! Interesting.

ALMA, Chile

Postcard PL-952957 from Poland shows the Atacama Large Millimeter and submillimeter Array (ALMA), an astronomical interferometer of radio telescopes in the Atacama desert of northern Chile. The array was constructed on the Chajnantor plateau at 5,000 meters or 16,597 feet altitude, near Llano de Chajnantor Observatory and Atacama Pathfinder Experiment, to provide a high and dry environment which is crucial to millimeter wavelength operations. Initially consisting of 66 12-meter or 39-foot, and 7-meter or 23-foot diameter radio telescopes observing at millimeter and submillimeter wavelengths, ALMA is design to study star birth during the early universe and detailed imaging of local star and planet formation.

With its groundbreaking ceremony at ALMA site in November, 2003, ALMA began scientific observations in the second half of 2011 resulted in the first images available to the public on October 3, 2011. Inauguration ceremony was held on March 13, 2013 with the array being fully operational since.

Unrelated, it is the 3rd anniversary today since Professor Fang Lizhi (方励之), born February 12, 1936, passed away in Tucson on April 6, 2012 at age 76. A Chinese astrophysicist and activist whose liberal ideas inspired the pro-democracy student movement of 1986–87 and, eventually, the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, Professor Fang was a recipient of the Robert F Kennedy Human Rights Award in 1989. During his tenure as Professor of Physics at the University of Arizona, he continued to carry out research in astrophysics and cosmology with special interests in the cosmic microwave background anisotropy, Lyman alpha forest, application of wavelet in cosmology, turbulence in intergalactic medium, and the 21cm radiation during the Reionization.

405 Years after Galileo Turned His Telescope to the Moon

When Galileo first turned his improved telescope with 20x magnification to the moon on November 30, 1609, he started to make a series of observations through December 18 that year. Although other people prior to Galileo, such as English mathematician Thomas Harriot, had observed the moon and noticed the dark patterns on its surface as "strange spottednesse," Galileo was the one who first understood the patterns of light and shadow were in fact topographical markers from lunar mountains and craters.

Those observations led to the conclusion that the moon, a heavenly body, was not perfect, which in turn called into question about the teachings of Aristotle where the Earth was the center of the universe and all heavenly bodies, including the moon, were perfect spheres that moved around the Earth in circular orbits.

Copernicus had put forth a theory that the sun rather than the Earth was the center of the universe by then. However, his theory went against fundamental beliefs of the time and was dismissed by most people. While Galileo's observations and conclusions about the moon did not give direct and solid proof of Copernicus' theory, they indeed paved the way for its eventual acceptance.

Postcard US-2373495 to Hong Kong shows a full moon and northern lights over Alaska. It was part of my Alaska collections from ASPRS 2003.

400,000 March for Attetion to Global Warming in New York City

Earlier in the Sunday morning, People’s Climate March started with people lining up along 27 blocks on Central Park West, from 59th Street to 86th Street, in New York City. It was part of coordinated efforts, around the world from Hollywood, to London, Berlin, and Rio de Janeiro, that demand the governments and world leaders to take action on climate change.

It coincides with the United Nations Climate Summit that starts on Tuesday September 23, 2014. More than 120 world leaders will congregate in New York City to prepare a binding global climate treaty for the climate talks in Paris in December, 2014. The treaty aims at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing use of renewable energy. A similar effort failed in Copenhagen in 2009. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was among the marchers in New York. President Barack Obama is scheduled to speak at the Climate Summit.

The featured postcard shows an illustration of the Cumulonimbus Hot Tower by Graeme Stephens in 2003. Cumulonimbus clouds are the kings of all clouds, rising from low altitude up to more than 12,000 meters or 40,000 feet. Tehy grow due to rising and falling currents, with their top flattening out into an anvil shape. Cumulonimbus clouds are a sure sign of severe weather, with heavy rain and possible hail. NASA has deployed Cloudsat, a mission using advanced radar technology to study clouds. It is part of NASA's Earth System Science Pathfinder program. Along with other programs in NASA's Earth Observing System, it helps further understanding of the climate change issues.

Earth Observation from Space

Fifty five years ago, the U.S. satellite Explorer VI was launched by a Thor DM-18 Able III rocket from Cape Canaveral's LC-17A site in Florida on August 7, 1959.  It took the first black-and-white photo of the planet Earth from space, showing a portion of the ocean and the cloud cover over the Central Pacific Ocean. It started an era of the earth observation from space.

Postcard US-1893434 to Russia was one of the six limited edition IKONOS Collector cards from Space Imaging 2003 International Image Festival. It shows the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour on the northern bank of the Moskva River, a few blocks southwest of the Kremlin, in Moscow, Russia. By comparing the image card with the recent satellite image from the same area on Google Maps, you can find out those changes in the area over the past 10 years.

Kiev Water Museum

Postcard UA-1093827 from Ukraine shows the Water Museum in Kiev, Ukraine. Kiev has several museums dedicated to the city's infrastructure and services, such as Kiev Fire Service Museum, Kiev Pharmacy Museum, Kiev Recycling Museum, Kiev Sewer Museum, the National Museum of Health Care in Kiev, and Kiev Water Museum,

The Water sits in the park "Kreschaty" on a hill with its water towers and reservoirs, as part of the natural and cultural center. The site was once the Royal Garden, founded in 1743 by order of the Empress Elizabeth. The old water towers and reservoirs were renovated in 2003, and the first Ukrainian Water Information Center was introduced to tell the story of Kiev's water usage from the river to the tap and back to the river again. It has a giant toilet, a bubble making station, and a Koi aquarium that are not only educational but also entertaining.

As we witness the water levels at the Lake Mead dropping to a new record low in Las Vegas, copping with water shortage has becoming a struggle world wide.

Also 101 years ago today, the temperature at Death Valley, California, hit 134°F or 57°C on July 10, 1913, the highest recorded in the United States.

Mother & Young Baby

Earth Day celebration continues as postcard TH-165704 from Thailand arrived yesterday, showing a pair of mother and baby Asian elephants, the largest living land animals in Asia.

Since 1986, E. maximus,  one of the three subspecies of the Asian elephant, has been listed as endangered by International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). In 2003, the wild population, mainly living in Sri Lanka, was estimated at between 41,410 and 52,345 individuals. According to a 2008 study, The population had declined by at least 50% over the last three generations, estimated to be around 60 to 75 years. Like many other threatened species, habitat loss, degradation and fragmentation was a major factor.

International Mountain Day

International Mountain Day was designated as December 11 by the United Nations General Assembly in 2003. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) that leads the observance, it is an opportunity to create awareness about the importance of mountains to life, to highlight the opportunities and constraints in mountain development and to build partnerships that will bring positive change to the world’s mountains and highlands. The theme for 2013 is "Mountains - Key to a Sustainable Future".

Postcard US-2260961 to Belarus showcases one of the most beautiful mountains and major tourist destinations.in China -- Huangshan. Huangshan (黄山), literally Yellow Mountain, is a located in Anhui Province. The mountain ranges were a result of the uplift movement from an ancient sea during the Mesozoic era, about 100 million years ago; then they were carved by glaciers during the Quaternary. The area is now well known for its scenery, sunsets, peculiarly shaped granite peaks, Huangshan Pine trees, and views of the clouds from above. Huangshan is a frequent subject of traditional Chinese paintings and literature, as well as modern photography (source: Wikipedia). It was recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1990.

Everything about Alaska is BIG

Today it is the 146th anniversary of the formal transfer of the Territory of Alaska from Russia to the United States on October 18, 1867. Alaska Day, observed on October 18, was declared a state holiday in 1917.

The Treaty for the Alaska Purchase was signed earlier that year on March 30. It was commemorated as Seward's Day, the last Monday in March.

Alaska was officially proclaimed a state on January 3, 1959, becoming the next to the most recent State (Hawaii) to join the Union.
Everything about Alaska is BIG is one of my Alaska collections in ASPRS 2003.

The Dreamers (2003)

The Dreamers (2003)

I am sending this movie advertising card US-2334372 that I got in 2004 to France. Coincidentally, "the Dreamers" was an American movie about a Californian student Matthew in Paris developing a friendship with a twin French brother Theo and sister Isabelle, with the 1968 Paris student riots "May Revolution" in the background.

The movie has a MPAA Rating of NC-17. You can purchase a copy of DVD from Amazon. Both Jake Gyllenhaal and Leonardo DiCaprio were initially considered for the role of Matthew but both turned it down because Jack's was concerned about the explicit nature of the nude scenes and Leonardo was in pre-production with "the Aviator".

Alaska: Humpback Whale's Tail at Moonrise

Humpback Whale's Tail at Moonrise

I can't believe that it has been ten years! I bought this card when I attended ASPRS annual conference at Anchorage, Alaska from May 5 to May 9, 2003. There were several others in the set, along with a couple of shaped cards and a bronze postcard. I like them very much and wanted to keep them as my personal permanent collections. However, I recently realized that a better way to appreciate them was to share them with my friends. This card is going out today as US-2213857 to Taiwan.

Two Whales Frolic in the Ocean

The postcard sent to Belarus as US-1834439 was part of the Alaska collections. There are actually two whales shown on the card. I had not noticed that for a long time before I sent it out on August 25, 2012.

Update: Another Alaska postcard showing a winter cabin illuminated by the eerie glow of Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) was sent to China via ICardYou on May 8, 2013.

Northern Lights

54th Anniversay of Alaska Statehood

Glacier in Alaska

President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Alaska Statehood Act on July 7, 1958. It led to Alaska's admission into the Union on January 3, 1959, becoming the 49th State. Juneau, the territorial capital, was formally recognized as the state capital, and William A. Egan was sworn in as the first governor.

These shaped cards were purchased in 2003 when I attended the ASPRS annual conference in Anchorage. The glacier shaped card has been sent to Taiwan.

The Polar Bears are the Cutest

Shaped Card and US Quarter: Denali National Park, Alaska

Mount McKinley

Mount McKinley reflects in Reflection Pond in Denali National Park and Preserve in this shaped card. Mount McKinley is the highest mountain in North America with a summit elevation of 20,320 ft or 6,194 m above sea level. I got this shaped card in Anchorage when I attended the ASPRS annual conference in 2003.

2012 Denali National Park Quarter

For those who collect US quarters, The  the United States Mint issued a Denali National Park Quarter, showing a Dall sheep with Mount McKinley in the background, as part of its America the Beautiful Quarters Program on November 5, 2012.