The Millennium Project

To commemorate the 69th anniversary of the 1945 Charter of the United Nations, President Barack Obama proclaimed October 24, 2014 as United Nations Day.

Postcard US-1779034 to Australia features Meg Bonenfant at age 20, to highlight one of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs),  Goal 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education. The goals were a series of time-bound and quantified targets, set out in the Millennium Project at the United Nations' Millennium Summit in September, 2000, aiming to reduce extreme poverty in the forms of income poverty, hunger, disease, lack of adequate shelter, and exclusion while promoting gender equality, education, and environmental sustainability, with a deadline of 2015.

The postcard was obtained at the World Urban Forum III in Vancouver, Canada during June 19-23, 2006. Another copy of the card was recently sent to the United Nations Postal Administration (UNPA) in New York City for a postmark on the United Nations stamps in September, 2014.

A Man's World

Postcard NL-2458110 from the Netherlands, sent on April 22, 2014, has arrived within 3 days. It shows a 2006 oil painting on panel "A Man's World" (Mannenhuishouding) by Dutch artist Marius van Dokkum. Born in 1957 in Andijk, he studied at the Christian Academy for Expressive Art in Kampen, majoring in Illustration. He moved to Apeldoorn after the academy, working as art painter, illustrator and designer.

To see more examples of his work, visit his web site or follow him on Pinterest. 

William J. Clinton Presidential Center, Little Rock, Arkansas

Traveling Postcard US-2452513 to Ukraine shows the William J. Clinton Presidential Center and Park in Little Rock, Arkansas, which  includes the Clinton Presidential Library, the offices of the Clinton Foundation, and the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service.

It is located on a 69,000-square-meter or 17-acre land by the Arkansas River and Interstate 30. The main building extends towards the Arkansas River, exemplifying Clinton's campaign promise of "building a bridge to the 21st century." The Clinton Presidential Center was dedicated nine years ago on November 18, 2004. The 1899 Rock Island Railroad Bridge across the Arkansas River, shown on the left of the postcard, was originally leading to Choctaw Station. It has been converted into a pedestrian bridge connecting to North Little Rock and renamed as the Clinton Park Bridge. The dedication ceremony was held on September 30, 2011, and the bridge was opened to the public on October 2, 2011.

The photo on the postcard was taken on April 10, 2006 When I was driving cross-country from West Palm Beach to Las Vegas. The postcard, mailed along with more than a dozen other cards including some private swaps, has traveled more than 30 days. All those cards mailed on that day appear lost in the mail, since none of the cards was received. I am in the process of  re-sending the replacement. So far, one replacement card was received. Unfortunately, some of those postcards are unique and do not have duplicates.

Survivor of a Mail Catastrophe

Postcard US-2373513 to Finland shows a poster "Apathy is Boring" from the third session of World Urban Forum, established by the United Nations to examine one of the most pressing issues facing the world today: rapid urbanization and its impact on communities, cities, economies and policies. The session was organized by the UN-Habitats and hosted by Vancouver, Canada from June 19 to June 23, 2006. The poster was to promote a broader participation of the world affairs from the youth generation.

The postcard was put into an envelop, along with six other postcards all affixed with United Nations' stamps, to be sent to the United Nations Headquarter for cancellation and mailing. The envelop was posted at a post office counter in the afternoon on August 20, 2013. However, I received the empty envelop back at home next day, indicating the mail was damaged during the processing.

I went back to the post office on August 24, 2013 to ask about the contents of the damaged envelop. I was told they were likely destroyed in the accident. Unconvinced that all the seven postcards would be torn up beyond recognition, I asked what would happen in case any of the postcard was separated from the envelop but otherwise survived. Those postcards, with valid recipients' address but only United Nations' stamps which were not valid for mail directly through the United State Postal Service, became "items found loose in the mail". Since they did not have my return address and were separated from the damaged outer envelope, they couldn't be returned to me. I was told that if that were the case, they might end up at so call Dead Letter Office, officially the Mail Recovery Center in Atlanta, Georgia. I was given the Mail Recovery Center's address and a phone number to call. However, when I later read the Mail Recovery Center Guidelines, I realized that if they were domestic first class postcards, they would not be sent to the Mail Recovery Center since the value was less than 25 US dollars. They would be sent to waste or recycle locally. For foreign mails, their destination would be the "Exchange Office" (per IMM 772). However, my postcards were not exactly the (inbound) foreign mails. They were in fact mails without valid postage once they were separated from the outer envelop. So, I wasn't sure what happened to them. I was able to get the refund of 66 cents postage I paid for the 2 oz first class mail after filling out a refund request form.

To my surprise, the postcard reached Finland on September 3, 2013, without the intended UNPA's postmark, (as a matter of fact, without any postmarks). It appears to be sent through the "Exchange Office" as an item found loose in the mail. I also found this blog "the True Story of Undeliverable Mail" informational. To avoid become a victim of "mail catastrophe", follow the Boxing and Packing Tips at the end of the web page. Make sure to include a return address, even it's a postcard. So that it can be returned to you in case something happens. Register and insure your mail if it is important to you.

Gastown Steam Clock, Vancouver, Canada

Gastown Steam Clock, Vancouver, Canada

Postcard US-2359324 is traveling to Texas, USA, showing the Gastown steam clock, powered by steam from underground pipes that supply steam to heat many downtown buildings. The clock sounds its whistles every quarter-hour. It was built by horologist Raymond Saunders in 1977 based on an 1875 design.

I uploaded the following video of the steam clock in action to YouTube seven years ago on June 26, 2006. I have forgotten the login credential to that account since. However, to my surprise, it has accumulated 23259 viewers so far.

NASA's Earth Observing System in 41 Years

Useful Pursuit of Shadows

Fourty one years ago on July 23, 1972, Landsat 1, the first satellite of the NASA's Earth Observing program, was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Modified from the Nimbus 4 meteorological satellite, the near-polar orbiting satellite had been used as a stabilized, Earth-oriented platform for obtaining ground information for agricultural and forestry resources inventory, geologic survey and cartography, mineral resources exploration, hydrology and water resources studies, and environmental monitoring.

NASA’s Earth Observing System (EOS) has since grown into a coordinated series of polar-orbiting and low inclination satellites for long-term global observations of the land surface, biosphere, solid Earth, atmosphere, and oceans. Its current fleet includes Landsat 7, Landsat 8 and CloutSat.

Image by Jenny Mottar, NASA Headquarters

The postcard shows a painting, titled "Useful Pursuit of Shadows" by Graeme Stephens in 2003, that illustrates the CloudSat taking 3D radar images of clouds from Earth orbit. CloudSat was launched in April 2006 to measure how much liquid water and ice are in the clouds, at what altitudes, and how the clouds to reflect and absorb the Sun's energy.

CloudSat is managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA 91109. However, a Google search would turn up its address as: La Cañada Flintridge, CA 91011. A blog of LA Times explained why.