Penguin One

Postcard US-3014308 to Japan shows one of Southwest Airlines' specialty planes, Penguin One, taking off from McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas. It is the latest co-branded 737 jets under the partnership with SeaWorld since 1988. The current SeaWorld fleet includes Shamu Two, entering service on May 30, 1990; and Shamu Three, on September 7, 1990. The first jet Shamu One, introduced on May 23, 1988, has since retired.

However, animal rights activists have protested Southwest Airlines' relationship with SeaWorld for its treatment of the killer whales and other sea mammals in captive. Under the pressure from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and other animal rights groups, Southwest announced on July 31, 2014 that it would concluded its 26-year partnership with SeaWorld by the end of the year. Penguin One, just introduced to the fleet last year on June 20, 2013, will be painted back to the traditional Southwest color scheme along with Shamu Two and Shamu Three.

Hong Kong Braces for More Protests

A civil disobedience campaign broke out in Hong Kong over the weekend. Occupy Central, aiming to disrupt the activities in the Central Financial District, started as a result of the protesters demanding free elections for Hong Kong’s next leader, while the central government in Beijing insisting the rights of vetting the candidates. The riot police has withdrawn after a night of violent clashes. However, it is unclear when and how the protests will end since the demands from the two sides are far apart so far.

Postcard  HK-198325 from Hong Kong shows the skyline of the Central Financial District across the Victoria Harbor in Hong Kong.

#FightFor15

#FightFor15 protests took placed in the United States as planned on September 4, 2014. Fast food workers are seeking a $15/hr living wage and the right to unionize. Arrests of participating activists had been reported in New York City, in Miami, in Chicago, in Los Angeles, and in Las Vegas. According to Las Vegas Sun, about 100 workers joined in the demonstration near the Mirage casino on the Las Vegas Strip today and about 10 demonstrators were taken into custody by police for being in the roadway.

Postcard US-2776632 to Latvia shows a rainbow over the Forum Shops at Caesars, which can be seen in the background of the arrest photo published online.

FIFA World Cup Opens Today

2014 FIFA World Cup opens with music and dance in São Paulo, Brazil today. The official anthem and slogan is "We Are One".

However, a protest, against the money lavished on football stadiums instead of essentials for people and schools, broke out in the very morning and was met with police forces. Meanwhile, Fifa's decision to award the 2022 World Cup to Qatar is under on-going scrutiny with allegations of corruption.

Brazil team won over Croatia with a 3:1 victory in the opening game. While the Brazilian players like Neymar did beautiful job on the field, they could not escape from the controversies such as the over-generous penalty call and the staged training session.

Nonetheless, as the month-long tournament starts, watched by millions of people around the globe, we hope that we can be united and find more consensuses in the end. The 2014 World Cup plays from June 12 to July 13, 2014. The featured postcard was made from a team sticker by Hyundai, an official sponsor.
  

#450511240 / gettyimages.com

25th Anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Protest

I mailed myself a card today to commemorate the 25th Anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Protest in 1989. It is slightly different from the one I made last year. It was a big disappointment that there had been no redress so far after 25 years. However, there is no doubt that who is on the right side of the history. I am confident that it will not take another 25 years to properly honor the memories of innocent people who lost their lives in and around Tiananmen Square.

Update: the card was received next day

Vintage Circus Poster

The U.S. Postal Service just issued Vintage Circus Posters Commemorative stamps on May 5, 2014,
featuring eight designs of early 20th-century circus poster art that showcased eye-catching imagery of stunts, performers, and animals. However, the unveiling ceremony of stamps had drawn protests from PETA and other animal welfare organizations, marking the change of times.

Unfortunately a day before on Sunday, May 4, 2014, an accident occurred during the aerial performance at the 11 a.m. Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus show in Providence, Rhode Island, resulting serious injures to 11 performers. The initial assessment indicated that failure from a single piece of equipment - failed clamp - caused the incident. It is troubling to learn no redundancy of safety measure was built in. While we accept the inherited risks from those circus acts and appreciate the dedications from the circus performers, there are lessons to be learned so that the similar failures would not happen again, with the highlight of other recent circus accidents.

Outgoing postcard US-2776555 to Germany shows a vintage circus poster for the Greatest Shows on Earth by Barnum and Bailey Circus, featuring a trapees act. Credit to Library of Congress. The postcard was purchased from Zazzle.com.

Orchid Island Scenery of Taiwan

Postcard TW-1105414 from Taiwan shows a beautiful sunset view of Orchid Island (蘭嶼), a volcanic island in Taitung County off the southeastern coast of Taiwan. The island is home to the aboriginal Tao (達悟族), an ethnic minority group who migrated to the island from the Batan Archipelago 800 years ago. Out of a total current population of 4,000, approximately 2,400 belong to the aboriginal Tao, who are Austronesian people linguistically and culturally closer to the Ivatan people of the Batanes islands in the Philippines. The rest 1,600 are Han Chinese.

The island has been a nuclear waste storage site at its southern tip since 1982, with 100,000 barrels of nuclear waste from Taiwan's three nuclear power plants. Following years of protests by local residents since 2002, demands to remove the nuclear waste have intensified after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan in 2011.

The card came with a newly issued the Year of the Horse stamp by the Chunghwa POST.

International Day of Democracy

Zuccotti Park, Occupy Wall Street Protest Camp Site

In 2007, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution to observe September 15 as the International Day of Democracy for the purpose of promoting and upholding the principles of democracy. Part of the resolution reads: “ while democracies share common features, there is no single model of democracy and that democracy does not belong to any country or region... democracy is a universal value based on the freely-expressed will of people to determine their own political, economic, social and cultural systems, and their full participation in all aspects of life."

I made this postcard to commemorate the International Day of Democracy from one of my photos at Zuccotti Park, the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) protest camp site, in New York City in 2011.

Occupy Wall Street is a protest movement that focuses on issues such as social and economic inequality, greed, corruption and the perceived undue influence of corporations on government, especially from the financial industry. It uses the slogan "We are the 99%" to highlight the income inequality and wealth distribution in the U.S. between the wealthiest 1% and the rest of the population. To achieve their goals, protesters acted on consensus-based decisions made in general assemblies which emphasized direct action over petitioning authorities for redress. The moment symbolizes a democracy process with the freely-expressed will and the full participation of the protesters.

The postcard shows the protesters gathering in the park by "Joie de Vivre" by artist Mark di Suvero, a 21.3 m or 70 ft tall sculpture of bright-red beams.

Goddess of Democracy and Statue of Liberty

Goddess of Democracy (middle), Statue of Liberty (left) and its replica (right)

I made this 5"x7" postcard to commemorate the 24th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Student Protest. The picture in the middle, taken before dawn in the Tiananmen Square, Beijing, China, on June 3, 1989, features the Goddess of Democracy. The 10-meter-tall (33 ft) statue was built by students of the Central Academy of Fine Arts in China (中央美术学院) using foam and papier-mâché over a metal armature. It was placed at Tiananmen Square on May 30, 1989. Also known as the Goddess of Democracy and Freedom, the Spirit of Democracy, and the Goddess of Liberty, it became a rally point after the martial law was declared on May 20, 1989.

The statue was crashed down by tanks and destroyed by soldiers entering the Tiananmen Square to clear out protesters pre-dawn on June 4, 1989, less than 24 hours after this photo was taken. 

Although the sculptors of the statue played down the speculation that it was modeled after the Statue of Liberty, for fears of being labeled as "pro-western", there is no denial of their resemblance. However, when memories fade along with the elapsed time, we tend to forget what really happened. Ironically, now we see the erosion of the civil liberties in the U. S as well. We thought freedom and civil liberties can and should be sacrificed in the name of security. When we pass by the replica of the Statue of Liberty in front of the New York New York Hotel and Casino, how many of us will pause for a second to ponder what freedom and civil liberties mean in current time, rather than just treat it as an imitated attraction in front of an amusement park ride? 

I found Stephen Foster's song Gentle Annie on Youtube, performed by the National Taiwan University Chorus. For the lost or hurt during and after the Tiananmen Square Protest, you will not be forgotten.

Several replicas of the Goddess of Democracy have been erected worldwide permanently or temporarily to commemorate the 1989 Tiananmen Square Student Protest. I am collecting postcards and photos of those replicas. I will appreciate it if you can send me a copy.

Photos on this postcard:

• Goddess of Democracy: Beijing, China, June 3, 1989
• Replica of Statue of Liberty: Las Vegas, Nevada, June 4, 2011
• Statue of Liberty: New York City, New York, November 21, 2011