Disney Adds Signs Warning of Alligators and Snakes

A private swap to Pennsylvania shows a card produced by SFWMD. It reads on the back: "The broad-snouted American alligator navigates freely through rivers and lakes in southern Florida. Remnants of a prehistoric ear, alligators are a protected species that continues to flourish." The number of alligators living in Florida is estimated at 1.3 million. Central to state's identity, it was featured on  a 32-cent commemorative stamp, issued in Tallahassee, Florida on March 3, 1995, to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Florida Statehood.

Although alligator attacks are rare, properties at Walt Disney World are adding signs warning "Alligators and snakes in area" at their beaches after an alligator dragged a 2-year-old boy from Nebraska to his death in a lagoon near the Grand Floridian Resort & Spa on June 14, 2016. At the time of incident, only "No Swimming" signs were posted without any specific reference to alligators.

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Alcatraz is Spanish for Pelican

Forty five years ago on June 11, 1971, the U.S. Government forcibly removed the last holdouts to the Native American Occupation of Alcatraz that lasted 19 months.

This Alcatraz Island postcard shows the weathered and deteriorating laundry facility used when Alcatraz was a Federal Penitentiary. It was sent in for a pictorial postmark dated on August 8, 2015 at Alcatraz Island Station in San Francisco, CA that commemorated the 81st anniversary of the opening of the infamous penitentiary in August, 1934.

A unique Alcatraz Alumni reunion was held at Alcatraz  between former prison guards and former "residents" on Sunday August 9, 2015.

Constitutional Convention in 1787

Today is the 229th anniversary of the opening of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, PA. Postcard US-4013590 to Germany was a 1987 14¢ postal card, the first of three issues by USPS commemorating the bicentennial of the Constitution.

The card bears a multi-colored 14-cent pre-printed stamp on its upper right corner, depicting Independence Hall as it appeared in 1787. Built in 1753, the building now known as Independence Hall was the colonial legislature and later Pennsylvania State House for the Province of Pennsylvania. It was the principal meeting place where both the United States Declaration of Independence (July 4, 1776) and the United States Constitution (September 17, 1787) were debated and adopted. Recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979, it is now the centerpiece of the Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The multi-color design also shows five convention delegates: George Mason of Virginia, Gouverneur Morris of New York, James Madison of Virginia, Alexander Hamilton of New York and Charles Pinckney of South Carolina, standing to the right of what was then the Pennsylvania State House. All eventually signed the Constitution except Mason, who refused because he believed the Constitution gave too much power to the federal government. Their names are printed on the lower left corner of the card as well..

The first-day-of-issue ceremonies of the card was held in the courtyard of Independence Hall at 10:30 a.m. on May 25, 1987.

The Centennial of Ellis Island

According to the Palm Beach Post, USPS honored the centennial of Ellis Island on May 11, 1992 with a 19-cent historic preservation postal card. First-day ceremonies were held at 11 a.m. just outside of the Great Hall's Museum. The card's indicium, the imprinted stamp with 19-cent pre-paid postage, was designed by East Norwich, N.Y., artist Howard Kos-low.

From its opening in 1892 through 1954, more than 12 million immigrants were processed through Ellis Island, located in Upper New York Bay. Today, we celebrate its 124th anniversary.

Campus Map of Peking University

In celebration of the Homecoming Day for Peking University's alumni, and the 118th university's anniversary, today's featured postcard was a private swap from China, showing a hand-painted campus map of Peking University (北京大学) on a shaped card. Found in 1898, it is a major Chinese research university located near the Summer Palace in Beijing.

The university moved to the current site in 1952, the former campus of Yenching University, It was the site of royal imperial gardens in the Qing Dynasty. On the map, you can see many historical structures such as the West Gate, beautiful natural landscape such as the Weiming Lake, as well as the academic buildings such as the library.

IC 2177: Seagull Nebula

Today's featured postcard was a private swap from Taiwan. It shows IC 2177 (海鷗星雲), a region of nebulosity that lies along the border between the constellations Monoceros (麒麟座) and Canis Major (大犬座). Combined with the neighboring regions of star clusters, dust clouds and reflection nebulae that contain NGC 2335 and NGC 2343, it looks like a soaring seagull in the eyes of amateur astronomers. Photograph by Giant Liou (劉志安) on October 23, 2011.

Again, today coincides the 4th death anniversary of AstroPhysicist and Professor Fang Lizhi (方励之) who passed away in Tucson, Arizona on April 6, 2012 at age 76.

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.

Cobb Hall at the University of Chicago

On January 23, 1992, USPS issued a stamped postal card with a 19-cent pre-printed stamp to commemorate the Centennial of the University of Chicago. The card features the first building completed on campus in 1892 - Cobb Hall, named after benefactor Silas Cobb. Designed by Henry Ives Cobb (not related to Silas Cobb), the building was modeled after the Gothic style featured prominently on the Oxford University campus in England. It currently hosts the humanities and social sciences, as well as the Center for the Study of Languages, and the Renaissance Society Contemporary Art Museum.

The first-day-of-issue postmark, cancelled from the city of Chicago, IL, also features an outline of Cobb Hall.

Update: the card was later sent to Belarus as US-3841631.

Winnie Mae: Lockheed 5C Vega

Outgoing postcard US-3755619 to Canada shows "Winnie Mae", a seven-seat monoplane Vega 5C, on display at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. It was made by Lockheed in 1930 with modified tail surfaces for higher gross weight operations. Flew by famed aviator Wiley Post, it set many records, including around the world flight in eight days by Wiley Post and navigator Harold Gatty in 1931; the first solo flight around the world in 1933; the world's first flight using pressure suit in 1935 that reached the stratosphere at 547 km/hr or 340 m/hr. The "Winnie Mae" was named for the daughter of F. C. Hall, the original owner and a close friend of Wiley Post.

Today it is the 112th anniversary of Wright brothers' first powered flights. According to USPS Postal Bulletin 22430 published on December 10, 2015, Kitty Hawk, NC Post Office is offering a pictorial postmark to commemorate the occasion. I am sending the card, along with several others, to get this special postmark. Such requests must be postmarked no later than 30 days following the requested pictorial postmark date.

Loving Day

Today is Loving Day, an annual celebration held on June 12 each year, marking the anniversary of the 1967 United States Supreme Court ruling "Loving v. Virginia" that struck down all anti-miscegenation laws remaining in sixteen U.S. states. Citing "there can be no doubt that restricting the freedom to marry solely because of racial classifications violates the central meaning of the equal protection clause," the ruling invalidated U.S. state laws banning interracial marriage, mainly forbidding marriage between non-whites and whites.

Postcard US-3284982 to Russia features a pair of beautiful swans forming a heart shape with red flowers. It was purchased at Zazzle.

Then and Now: Chinatown in San Francisco

Outgoing postcard US-3373239 to Australia shows a then-and-now street view of the Chinatown ( 唐人街) on Grant Avenue in San Francisco, California.  Establishment in 1848, it is the oldest Chinatown in North America and the largest Chinese community outside Asia. It is also a major tourist attraction with more annual visitors than those to the Golden Gate Bridge.

When I walked around the Chinatown a few days ago on May 27, 2015, I ran into a bronze sculpture at Portsmouth Square (花園角) on Kearny Street, where many "dancing grannies" were performing exercise routines called plaza dancing (广场舞), originally popular with middle-aged and retired women in China. It was a replica of the Goddess of Democracy, a statue created during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 in Beijing, China that was destroyed on June 4, 1989 by soldiers who took over Tiananmen square from protesters.

Designed by Thomas Marsh and dedicated in 1994, the replica is 10 meters tall, same as the original, and weighs approximately 600 pounds or 272 kilograms. It bears the inscription, "Dedicated to Those Who Strive For and Cherish Human Rights and Democracy." Today marks the 26th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Student Protest.

Code the Road

Google Maps APIs is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. Since Google Maps released its APIs to developers 10 years ago, developers have been able to integrate maps and location service to online and mobile apps. It was interesting to hear that a member of a band playing at the 2015 Google I/O Afterhour at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts on May 28, 2015 shouted out to Google Maps, among all the Google services, when they recognized the host.

Departing tomorrow afternoon from Google I/O, Google's annual developer conference, at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, a 1959 GM tour bus, powered by bio-diesel, is hitting the road for a 14-stop cross-country trip called Code the Road to meet application developers and map creators along the way. The bus will make its first scheduled stop at the iFit ICON Heath and Fitness 5K treadmill run in Logan, Utah on June 2, 2015. From there, the bus will stop in Colorado, Wisconsin, Illinois, New York, Virginia, and Georgia, with the final destination at the Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, showcasing many map and location applications developed using Google Maps APIs from iFit, Harley-Davidson, Lyft, Hilton Hotels, The Weather Channel and Walt Disney World.

Outgoing postcard US-3373238 to Germany was sent from the bus when it was parked at the north-east corner of 4th Street and Howard Street, across from Moscone West during Google I/O.

Chengdu Skyline, China

Postcard CN-1366988 from China was a beautiful 3D card showing the city skyline of Chengdu, the provincial capital of Sichuan province in China. With 14,047,625 residents (7,415,590 in nine urban districts and 6,632,035 in the surrounding area), Chengdu is the fifth most populous city in China as of 2010.

Today is the 7th anniversary of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, measured at 8.0 Ms, that killed 69,197 people and left 18,222 missing. The epicenter was 80 kilometers or 50 miles west-northwest of Chengdu.

157th Anniversary of Minnesota Statehood

157 years ago, Minnesota became the 32nd state of the United States on May 11, 1858. It first became a territory of the United States in 1849. Then it submitted an application for statehood to President James Buchanan in January, 1858. However, distracted from a controversy about statehood of Kansas, Congress did not act on the application for several months before finally approved it. The state was created from the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and part of the Wisconsin Territory. The name "Minnesota" was originated from a Dakota word meaning "clear blue water." The state is known as the "Land of Ten Thousand Lakes" due to its large number of lakes.

Postcard US-2269166 from Minneapolis, MN shows Minnehaha Falls, one of the most photographed sites in Minnesota with 850,000 visitors every year, at Minnehaha Park in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The park was designed by landscape architect Horace W.S. Cleveland in 1883, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1969 as the Minnehaha Historic District.

Red Square, Moscow, Russia

Russian troops marched across Red Square in a huge military parade on Sunday, May 9, 2015 to commemorate the 70th anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany.

Western leaders including those from U.S. and U.K. boycotted the parade over the Ukraine crisis. Nonetheless, President Vladimir Putin was joined by 30 foreign leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping and United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. During the 60th anniversary in 2005, 53 heads of state, including President George W. Bush, attended the Victory Day ceremony at Red Square.

Postcard RU-3105343 from Russia was a vintage postcard showing Red Square in Moscow with Saint Basil's Cathedral on the left and Kremlin Palace on the right.

Peking University Library, Beijing, China

Outgoing postcard US-3368775 to Ohio shows the Peking University Library at the Peking University's main campus in Beijing, China. Its predecessor, the Imperial University library, was founded in 1902. Peking University, along its library, moved from downtown to the former Yenching University campus during the university re-grouping in 1952. The main building opened in 1975 at the center of the campus. A new building, shown on the postcard, was added in 1998. It holds 5.3 million books, among of which are 1.5 million ancient books and 170,000 rare books and special collections.

Peking University, a major research university and the first modern national university in China that was founded as the "Imperial University of Peking" in 1898, celebrates its 117th anniversary and the Homecoming Day on May 4th, 2015.

Last Night for Riviera Las Vegas

Postcard US-2520811 to Germany shows the Riviera Las Vegas, which is scheduled to close permanently tomorrow at noon on May 4, 2015. It just celebrated its 60th anniversary in operation on April 20, 2015. The 2,000-room hotel opened on April 20, 1955 as the first high-rise on the Las Vegas Strip. It was home to many legendary singers and performers such as Liberace, Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope, Elvis, Wayne Newton and Dolly Parton.

The landmark casino and hotel was purchased by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority for about $190 million. The hotel will be imploded to make room for convention center expansion.

America Loves Wills and Kate

The Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, and Prince William are celebrating their fourth wedding anniversary today on April 29, 2015. The royal couple are waiting the birth of their second child who is reportedly due in the second half of April; and now it's almost May.

Postcard US-3014303 to Singapore shows William and Kate shared their first public kiss as husband and wife on the Buckingham Palace’s balcony after their wedding ceremony at Westminster Abbey on April 29, 2011.

Hubble Space Telescope Being Deployed

In celebration of the Hubble Space Telescope's 25th anniversary in space, this postcard was made out of a photograph taken by the crew of the STS-31 space shuttle mission on April 25, 1990. The Hubble Space Telescope was suspended above shuttle Discovery's cargo bay some 332 nautical miles or 615 kilometers above Earth. The Canadian-built Remote Manipulator System (RMS) arm, controlled from in-cabin by the astronaut crew members, held the huge telescope in this position during pre-deployment procedures, which included extension of solar array panels and antennae.

Image and caption source: NASA

Eagle Nebula Pillars

25 years ago on April 24, 1990, Space Shuttle Discovery blasted off the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on mission STS-31 with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) on board. Fitting with a 2.4-meter or 7.9 feet mirror and instruments observing in the near ultraviolet, visible, and near infrared spectra, the telescope has since recorded some of the most detailed images ever, leading to breakthroughs in astrophysics, such as accurately determining the rate of expansion of the universe.

The Eagle Nebula (NGC 6611) is a young open cluster of stars in the constellation Serpens, discovered by Jean-Philippe de Cheseaux between 1745 and 1746. It contains several active star-forming gas and dust regions that became famous when NASA release a HST image "Pillars of Creation" in 1995, capturing three dusty pillars in the Eagle Nebula. HST recently took another photograph at the star-forming pillars with its newest camera, providing much greater details.

In celebration of HST’s 25th anniversary, 32 of the best HST images were competing against each other in a series of head-to-head competitions, with popular votes deciding the winner of each round. Ultimately, with over 17,000 votes the Eagle Nebula Pillars triumphed over all other competitors to become the winner of Hubble Mania 2015.

In this NASA released image that can be made into a 5"x7" postcard under NASA's copyright notice, three pillars of cold hydrogen gas and dust in the Eagle Nebula are shown as the birthplace of new stars, 6,500 light years away. The pillars are bathed in the blistering ultraviolet light from a grouping of young, massive stars located off the top of the image. Streamers of gas can be seen bleeding off the pillars as the intense radiation heats and evaporates it into space. Denser regions of the pillars are shadowing material beneath them from the powerful radiation.

I was fortunate for being able to witness the Space Shuttle Discovery's launch for the 3rd Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Mission STS-103 at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on December 19, 1999.