Orton Hall at OSU, Ohio

Postcard US-3620809 to China shows Orton Hall, one of the oldest remaining buildings on Ohio State University campus. Opened in 1893, it was named after Dr Edward Orton, Sr. who served as OSU's first president, Professor of Geology from 1873 to 1899, and Ohio's State Geologist from 1882 until his death in 1899.

According to Wikipedia, the Hall is built of forty different Ohio building stones. In the outside walls, these stones are laid in stratigraphic order according to their relative positions in Ohio's bedrock. The capitals of the numbered columns in the entrance hall feature carvings of fossils, such as trilobites, as well as other objects such as the races of Man. The bell tower was dedicated in 1915 and contains 25,000 pounds of bells that can be heard regularly tolling across campus in the key of E-flat. Encircling the top of the tower are 24 columns with gargoyle-like figures which are restorations of fossil animals. Orton Hall was placed into the National Register of Historic Places on July 16, 1970, along with University Hall and Hayes Hall. It presently hosts the School of Earth Science, laboratories of Paleontology, Historical Geology and Sedimentology, the Orton Geological Museum, and the Orton Geological Library.

Cliffs of Moher, Ireland

Postcard IE-78738 from Ireland shows a sunset view from the Cliffs of Moher or Aillte an Mhothair in Irish, located at the southwestern edge of the Burren region in County Clare, Ireland. According to Wikepedia, those cliffs rise 120 meters or 390 feet above the Atlantic Ocean at Hag's Head, and reach their maximum height of 214 meters or 702 feet just north of O'Brien's Tower, eight kilometers to the north. There is a round stone tower near the midpoint of the cliffs, built in 1835 by Sir Cornelius O'Brien, where visitors can see the Aran Islands in Galway Bay, the Maumturks and Twelve Pins mountain ranges to the north in County Galway, and Loop Head to the south. With almost one million visitors a year, it was one of the most popular tourist sites in Ireland.

A rainbow formed over Dublin in the evening yesterday as people in Ireland voted on a proposed constitutional amendment to legalize same-sex marriage. Final results indicated that 62% of voters and all but one district approved the amendment in a referendum Friday. It shows that support for marriage equality extended well beyond Ireland’s liberal urban centers and deep into its rural heartlands; and that a vote for same-sex marriage in Ireland is not a ‘No’ vote to Catholicism. Just as Prime Minister Enda Kenny proclaimed: “with today’s vote, we have disclosed who we are: a generous, compassionate, bold and joyful people.” Ireland became the first country to legalize same-sex marriage by popular vote in the world, joining 18 other countries (Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Canada, South Africa, Norway, Sweden, Portugal, Iceland, Argentina, Denmark, France, Brazil, Uruguay, New Zealand, Britain, Luxembourg, and Finland) where same-sex couples can marry nationwide.

Rainbow at the end of the canvass,last night North Dublin Suburbs #IrelandSaysYes #IrelandVoteYes #irelandreferendum pic.twitter.com/gzk9UFZVDv

— Simy Frant (@SimyFrant) May 23, 2015

International Workers' Day

International Workers' Day, celebrated on May 1, is an annual holiday to celebrate the achievements of workers. Also known as Labor Day in many countries, it was related in the labor union movement, specifically the eight-hour day movement that advocated eight hours for work, eight hours for recreation, and eight hours for rest in one day. In Canada and the United States, it is celebrated on the first Monday of September, marking the end of the summer holiday when most students return to school.

The featured postcard was purchased from the National Geographic store at zazzle.com, showing construction workers on beams at the top of the Stratosphere Tower in Las Vegas. Copyright: Paul Chesley / National Geographic Stock.

A View from the top of the Stratosphere Tower

Scale the Strat

Scale the Strat is one of the Fight for Air Climbs fundraising events for the American Lung Association. The Fight for Air Climbers climb up prominent skyscrapers, observation towers, stadiums and arenas in so called "vertical road race." 

In the 7th Annual Scale the Strat today, competitive teams and individual stair climbers, race up 1455 steps inside the Stratosphere Tower core to reach the Level 108 observation deck, raising funds to provide life saving education, research and advocacy in Southern Nevada. Sproule Love from New York won the men's division with a 7'22" time. Stephanie Hucko from Charlotte, NC was the first woman to reach the top in 8'52".

Postcard US-2371131 to Poland shows the Stratosphere Casino, Hotel & Tower at 2000 S Las Vegas Blvd, Las Vegas, NV 89104.

Free Stratosphere Tower Passes for Nevadans

The Stratosphere Casino, Hotel & Tower is once again offering anyone with a Nevada ID a free pass to the top of the iconic landmark from Sunday February. 22 to Saturday February 28, 2015. However, visitors who are under 21 need to be accompanied by an adult.

The pass allows free access to the tower's indoor and outdoor observation decks at Level 108 and Level 109. Guests can also purchase tickets for Skyjump Las Vegas, a 855-foot or 261-meter high speed controlled descent, or the thrill rides X-Scream, Insanity, and Big Shot.

The postcard showing the Stratosphere Tower with the Sheep Range and Las Vegas Range in the background was a private card sent to Taiwan.

Insanity dangles riders over the edge of the tower and spins them in circles at 900 feet or 270 meters above the ground.

Venetian Tower at Christmas Time

I sent this card to Czech on December 26, 2014 as a replacement of US-2566010 that was posted on December 26, 2013. The original copy was the same as US-2518598, showing the tower at The Venetian Las Vegas with a round shaped USPS Evergreen Wreath Global Forever Stamp issued on October 24, 2013. It was apparently lost in the mail and had expired since. When the Postcard ID was dropped from the PostCrossing system after one year, it has formally entered my postcard graveyard. The replacement card has a new USPS Silver Bells Wreath Global Forever stamp that was issued on October 23, 2014 along with the Winter Fun stamps.

The Venetian Tower with Christmas Tree as seen on December 27, 2014.

Sailing along Rotterdam

Postcard NL-2675928 from the Netherlands shows Euromast, an observation tower in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Designed by Hugh Maaskant and constructed between 1958 and 1960, it was specially built for the 1960 Floriade. It has a "crow's nest" observation platform and a restaurant at 96 meters or 315 feet above-ground. Euromast was originally 101 meters or 331 feet in height. When the Space Tower was added on top of the building in 1970, it added an additional 85 meters or 279 feet in height. At 186 meters or 610 feet, Euromast is the tallest building in Rotterdam, the second-largest city in the Netherlands. In comparison, the Stratosphere Tower in Las Vegas stands at 350.2 meters or 1,149 feet. Euromast became a listed monument in 2010.

Kiev Water Museum

Postcard UA-1093827 from Ukraine shows the Water Museum in Kiev, Ukraine. Kiev has several museums dedicated to the city's infrastructure and services, such as Kiev Fire Service Museum, Kiev Pharmacy Museum, Kiev Recycling Museum, Kiev Sewer Museum, the National Museum of Health Care in Kiev, and Kiev Water Museum,

The Water sits in the park "Kreschaty" on a hill with its water towers and reservoirs, as part of the natural and cultural center. The site was once the Royal Garden, founded in 1743 by order of the Empress Elizabeth. The old water towers and reservoirs were renovated in 2003, and the first Ukrainian Water Information Center was introduced to tell the story of Kiev's water usage from the river to the tap and back to the river again. It has a giant toilet, a bubble making station, and a Koi aquarium that are not only educational but also entertaining.

As we witness the water levels at the Lake Mead dropping to a new record low in Las Vegas, copping with water shortage has becoming a struggle world wide.

Also 101 years ago today, the temperature at Death Valley, California, hit 134°F or 57°C on July 10, 1913, the highest recorded in the United States.

Bremen, Germany

Postcard DE-3274224 from Germany shows a city view of Bremen in northwestern Germany. A commercial and industrial city with a major port on the River Weser, Bremen is the second most populous city in Northern Germany and the tenth largest city in Germany.

The market square in the city center is shown on the card, with Bremen Cathedral, dedicated to St. Peter, in the background. The cathedral belongs to the Bremian Evangelical Church, being protected by the monument protection act since 1973. The cathedral has twin 99-meter towers, built between 1215 and 1253, guarding the main entrance on the west side of the church. The towers were reinforced and given pyramid-shaped tops in 1346. Rhenish styled "helmets" were added when the towers were restored and raised in the 1890s, as still seen today. It is interesting to see that the crossing tower, a reminder of the original west front towers, also have a pyramid-shaped cap.

Bremen is home to the football team SV Werder Bremen that have won the German Football Championship and the German Football Cup multiple times. The team's home stadium, Weserstadion, almost completely surrounded by solar cells, is one of the largest buildings in Europe powered by alternative energies.

Coincidentally today, Germany have advanced to the FIFA World Cup Final today with a sensational 7:1 victory over the host Brazil at the Estadio Mineirao in Belo Horizonte.

Yellow Crane Tower

Postcard CN-988823 from China shows a night view of the Yellow Crane Tower (黄鹤楼), a historic tower first built in 223 A.D., overlooking the Yangtze River from the Snake Hill in Wuhan, Hubei, China.

Hubei (湖北), a province in the easternmost part of central China, covers the territory of the ancient state Chu (楚) during the Warring States period of the Zhou Dynasty, where its minister and poet Qu Yuan (circa 340–278 B.C.) called home. Once served in high offices, Qu Yuan was banished for his opposition to the alliance with the powerful state of Qin, and accused of treason. Qu Yuan was very productive and wrote a lot of poetry during his exile. Twenty-eight years later since his exile, Qin captured Ying (郢), the capitol of Chu. With his early prediction validated, Qu Yuan threw himself into the Miluo River (汨罗江), a branch to the Dongting Lake in the Yangtze River watershed, in protest by suicide.

The legend says that local people, who admired him, raced out in their boats to save him, which became the origin of dragon boat races. In despair, they also dropped sticky rice balls into the river to distract fish so that those fish would not bite Qu Yuan's flesh. Those rice balls thus became the origin of zongzi. The date of his death has been commemorated as Duanwu Fesitival or Dragon Boat Festival to celebrate Qu Yuan's patriotism, which occurs on the 5th day of the 5th month of the traditional lunar calendar. The date varies from year to year on the Gregorian calendar. In 2014, it falls on June 2.

Moon Over the East Temple in Kyoto

Postcard JP-531477 from Japan shows the East Temple (東寺)  in Kyoto, Japan. It is famous for the five-story pagoda with layered tower, dated from 796, as the tallest wooden tower in Japan at 54.8 meters. The pagoda has been a symbol of Kyoto. It is part of the "Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto" World Heritage Site recognized by UNESCO.

Fernsehturm Berlin

Postcard CN-1285430 from China shows the Fernsehturm, Berlin TV Tower, in central Berlin, Germany. It was built from 1965 to 1969 under the administration of the East Germany, modeled after the first man-made Earth satellite Sputnik. With a height of 368 meters or 1,207 feet, it is the tallest structure in Germany. In comparison,  Stratosphere Tower in Las Vegas stands at 350 meters or 1,149 feet.

Free Ride to the Top

Postcard US-1669739 to Taiwan shows the Stratosphere Tower at 1,149 ft or 350.2 m, the tallest freestanding observation tower in the United States, It is also the second tallest freestanding observation tower in the Western Hemisphere, next to the CN Tower in Toronto, Ontario.

Every Friday, Saturday and Sunday in January, 2014, Nevada residents can get a free Stratosphere Tower pass for access to the indoor and outdoor observation decks with a valid Nevada ID. The general admission would cost $18. The Stratosphere Tower is open from 10 am to 1 am, Sunday to Thursday;  and from 10 am to 2 am, Friday and Saturday.

The Tower at University of Texas, Austin

This postcard shows the main building at the center of the University of Texas at Austin campus in Downtown Austin, Texas on September 16, 2010. I was traveling from Dallas, Texas to Las Vegas, Nevada that day on my Jetblue All-You-Can-Jet (AYCJ) pass. However, since JetBlue did not have flights to or from Dallas, I took a bus to Austin in the morning for an afternoon flight to Long Beach, California, then onto Las Vegas. I had a few hours around noon, so I took a quick tour at University of Texas at Austin, and had lunch in a Thai restaurant near the campus.

The Main Building is known as "The Tower" since it has a 94 m or 307 ft tall clock tower, designed by architect Paul Philippe Cret and completed in 1937. It is the most recognizable landmark of the University and the city Austin. 

In a massacre on August 1, 1966, architectural engineering student Charles Joseph Whitman, opened fire from the observation deck of the tower of the Main Building, killing 16 Austin residents and wounding many more. He was shot to death by police at the end of 96-minute stand-off.