The Milky Way - New Zealand

Postcard NZ-146406 from New Zealand shows a view of the Milky Way from Down Under. According to an article from the Photography Roundtable, for people living in the Southern Hemisphere, the best time period to see and photograph the Milky Way is from February to October, as the galactic center of the Milky Way will not be visible from November to January.

For us in the Northern Hemisphere, the best time to see and photograph the Milky Way is between March and October with the galactic center in full view.

On a separate note, USPS released the Pluto—Explored! and Views of Our Planets Forever stamps during the first-day-of-issue dedication ceremony at World Stamp Show-NY 2016 on May 31, 2016. I was excited to purchase two sheets of the Views of Our Planets Forever stamps yesterday. However, to my disappointment, our local post offices had not ordered the Pluto—Explored! souvenir sheets. I will have to order them on-line.

Tearing through ... New York

I bought this card at the Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) on August 29, 2013 during a connection of my return flights from the Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI) to Las Vegas.  I was in Washington D.C. for the 50th Anniversary of March on Washington.

On the back of the card, it reads "the thriving metropolis of New York City is one of the best places in the world to let loose and go wild! With hundreds of shops, restaurants, night-clubs, shows and sights, there is so much to see and do, it is easy to get as excited as King Kong."

As the Memorial Day weekend marks the beginning of all the summer activities, if you are in New York City, you don't want to miss World Stamp Show-NY 2016, an eight-day, once-a-decade international celebration of stamp collecting in the U.S. at the Javits Center from May 28 to June 4, 2016. It coincides the 28th Fleet Week New York in which United States Navy, United States Marine Corps, and United States Coast Guard are honored for their sea services. The stamp show opened with presenting the colors by the U.S. Navy Color Guard and singing the national anthem by MFC Dan Smith of the U.S. Navy. Up to 300,000 visitors are expected to attend the show, which is free and open to the public.

Elsewhere, however, a gorilla related story turned out to be a tragedy: Cincinnati Zoo killed a gorilla to save a boy. It ignited debates on animal welfare, parental responsibility and adequacy of safety measure in the zoo.