Los Angeles International Airport

Postcard US-6254988 to Malaysia shows Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).  With 87,534,384 passenger counts in 2018, LAX ranked fourth busiest airport in the world and the second busiest airport in the US.

Year of the Ram Stamp Issued by USPS

USPS issued the Lunar New Year: Year of the Ram First-Class Forever stamp today. I was the first one who bought the stamps at a local post office as they brought up the stamps from the back and broke out a brand new pack. In celebrating the Year of the Ram, which begins on February 19, 2015 and ends on February 7, 2016,  the stamp shows a wooden candy tray known as a chuen-hop or Tray of Togetherness. The tray is filled with dried fruits, candies, and other treats to provide a sweet beginning to the new year.

According to a USPS postal bulletin, "customers have 60 days to obtain the first-day-of-issue postmark by mail. They may purchase new stamps at their local Post Office, at The Postal Store® website at http://www.usps.com/shop, or by calling 800-STAMP-24. They should affix the stamps to envelopes of their choice, address the envelopes (to themselves or others), and place them in a larger envelope addressed to:

Lunar New Year: Year of the Ram Stamp
Attention: Station Manager
Chinatown Station
867 Stockton Street
San Francisco, CA 94108-9998

After applying the first-day-of-issue postmark, the Postal Service will return the envelopes through the mail. There is no charge for the postmark up to a quantity of 50. For more than 50, customers have to pay five cents each. All orders must be postmarked by April 8, 2015."

Outgoing postcard US-3224037 to Malaysia was a the Year of the Ram themed card with a matching stamp.

Public Square and Union Terminal Tower, Cleveland, Ohio

Outgoing postcard US-3139451 to Malaysia was a vintage card showing the Union Terminal Tower, a 52-story landmark skyscraper located on Public Square in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. At 235 meters or 771 feet, it was the fourth-tallest building in the world when it was officially dedicated on June 28, 1930 during the skyscraper-building boom. The 4.4-acre Public Square was laid out in the original plan of the city conceived by its founder General Moses Cleveland in 1796. With the Union Terminal Tower on the southwest corner, the Soldiers and Sailors Monument and a Civil War Memorial can be seen in the center of the southeast section of the square on the postcard.

Lost in MH17 Crash

As shown in the exhibition "Fire & Ice: Hindenburg and Titanic" at the National Postal Museum in Washington D.C. during the period from March 22, 2012 to January 6, 2014, a large number of mails were lost when Hindenburg and Titanic ended in disasters, both of which not only served as the mass travel tools for people but also operated as the world's largest mail carriers at the time.

When the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 was shot down over Ukraine on July 17, 2014, all 298 passengers on board were killed. Seen from a photo on the crash site, were some burnt airmails and postcards. One postcard had its PostCrossing ID NL-2576182 visible. Alerted by a post by purplestarfish on the forum, a PostCrossing moderator replied "Postcrossing has contacted the sender of this postcard, to let him know that his card probably won't arrive. We're keeping an eye on other postcards, sent from Netherlands to Taiwan around the same date, which might have been on the same bag of mail."

This tragedy highlights the human costs to innocent travelers inflicted by military conflicts. The incident of lost mails also shows, in a small but vivid way, that such "regional conflicts" do have global impact on people who do not have direct relationship with the flight or the region where the conflicts occur. Time for peace.

Marvel Heros

"Amazing Las Vegas Comic Con" returns to Las Vegas for the second year from Friday June 20 to Sunday June 22, 2014. South Point Casino is hosting 300 exhibitors, an international artist's alley with more than 200 artists, and a video game arena, showcasing the best and brightest in comic book and pop entertainment. Enthusiastic fans dressed as their favorite fiction characters, and a costume contest was on Saturday tonight, Tomorrow is Sunday Kid’s Day; admission for kids 10 and under are free with paid adults.

Outgoing postcard US-2813945 to Malaysia shows some Marvel Heroes, fictional characters by Marvel Comics.

The Heritage in Negeri Sembilan

Postcard from Malaysia shows "the Heritage in Negeri Sembilan." Negeri Sembilan, one of Malaysia's thirteen states, is located on the western coast of Peninsular Malaysia just south of Kuala Lumpur. Its heritage is believed to be heavily influenced by the Minangkabau people who were originally from West Sumatra in present-day Indonesia. Minangkabau features are visible on the card in traditional architecture and local artifacts.

On an unrelated note, news related to Malaysia has focused on the Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, missing since March 8, 2014. DigitalGlobe, an earth-imagery company, deployed its FirstLook service and directed two of its five satellites to obtained photos of more than 1,200 square miles of suspected crash area, and opened  its crowdsourcing platform, Tomnod, to the public for help in identifying any visible evidence that could help locate the missing Boeing 777 aircraft.

I was assigned this map, did you see anything? However, CNN recently reports that Malaysian plane may have flown long after last contact, which would place the plane outside the initial search area.

F-22 Raptor

As part of the Veterans Day Celebrations, Aviation Nation, the annual open house and air show at Nellis Air Force Base near Las Vegas, was scheduled for November 9 and 10, 2013. However, due to government spending cuts, the U.S. Air Force has cut back non-critical activities. As a result, all air shows including Aviation Nation, have been cancelled.

Postcard US-2317852 to Malaysia shows a F-22 Raptor flying near an early moon in the late afternoon during the 2010 Aviation Nation on November 13, 2010. F-22 Raptor is a single-seat, twin-engine stealth fighter jet manufactured by Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, partnering with Boeing Defense, Space & Security.

Youtube has a video on the F-22 Demo at the 2010 Aviation Nation, performed on Sunday, November 14, 2010. 

Beautiful Malaysia

Night View of  Downtown Kuala Lumpur

I received a postcard MY-149199 with a beautiful night view of downtown Kuala Lumpur today. You can see the Menara Maybank Tower (馬來亞銀行大厦), the Kuala Lumpur Tower (吉隆坡塔) and the Petronas Twin Towers (雙子塔) from left to right. I have seen their individual photos before. However, this is the first time I see all three (actually four) towers in one picture.

The Maybank Tower, at 244 m (801 ft) and built in 1984-1988, is the headquarters of Maybank, and home to the Maybank Numismatic Museum.

The Kuala Lumpur Tower, abbreviated as KL Tower, was completed on March 1, 1995. The highest point with antenna is at 421 m (1,381 ft); the roof of the pod is at 335 m (1,099 ft). The observation deck, open to the public, is the highest viewpoint in Kuala Lumpur that is open to the public.

The Petronas Twin Towers, with its architectural height at 451.9 m (1,483 ft) and roof height at 378.6 m (1,242 ft), were the tallest buildings in the world from 1998 to 2004 until surpassed by Taipei 101. They remain the tallest twin buildings in the world.

As a comparison, Stratosphere Las Vegas, the tallest structure in Las Vegas, is 350.2 m (1,149 ft) tall. You can get a detailed comparison between the tallest freestanding structures in the world at Wikipedia.