Here are stamps issued by South Africa that would be candidates for a themed collection of elements on stamps.
Given South Africa’s large mining industry, it is somewhat surprising that relatively few stamps with a mining theme have been issued.
Gold (atomic number 79) 1961 First Definitive Issue Issued May 31, 1961 Perf. 14 | Photogravure | Wmk Coat of Arms 201 113 2c Ultramarine and yellow | Pouring gold [Source: Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogue Part 1, British Commonwealth 1997]Iron (26) Steel is primarily composed of iron, with most types containing around 98% to 99.5% iron, with the remaining percentage typically made up of carbon and trace elements depending on the specific steel grade.
1978 50th Anniversary of ISCOR* (South African Iron and Steel Industrial Corporation) Issued Jun. 5, 1978 Perf. 12 | Design: Hein Botha | Litho. | No Wmk 441 225 15c Multicolored | Steel rail *In the early 2000s, Iscor was sold by Thabo Mbeki’s government as his administration sought to run a tight ship and right the country’s finances. The name Iscor disappeared for good in March 2005. [Source: Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogue Part 1, British Commonwealth 1997]Carbon (6) 1980 World Diamond Congress, Johannesburg Issued May 12, 1980 Perf. 14 |Design: A.H. Barrett |Litho. |No Wmk 478 20c Multicolored | Cullinan II diamond*
*Yes, a diamond is nothing but a lump of carbon. The Cullinan II is a 317.4 carat cushion-cut diamond that is the second-largest cut from the original Cullinan diamond. It is also known as the Second Star of Africa and is the most valuable stone in the Imperial State Crown in the Tower of London. The Cullinan Diamond is the largest gem-quality rough diamond ever found, weighing 3,106 carats (621.20 g), discovered at the Premier No.2 mine in Cullinan, South Africa, on 26 January 1905. [Source: Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogue Part 1, British Commonwealth 1997]These four metals happen to sit right next to one another in the periodic table: Titanium (22) Vanadium (23) Chromium (24) Manganese (25) 1984 Strategic Minerals Issued Jun. 8, 1984 Perf. 14 x 14¼ | Design: Hein Botha | Litho. | No Wmk 558 11c Multicolored | Manganese 559 20c Multicolored | Chromium 560 25c Multicolored | Vanadium 561 30c Multicolored | Titanium [Source: Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogue Part 1, British Commonwealth 1997]Gold (79) 1986 Centenary of Johannesburg Issued Sep. 25, 1986 Perf. 14 | Design: J. van Niekerk | Litho. | No Wmk 607 30c Multicolored | Gold bars [Source: Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogue Part 1, British Commonwealth 1997]
Happy Friday the Thirteenth.
It was rainy and dark all day outside (but not quite as dark as in the forest from The Nutcracker in the picture below).
From the Seattle Times: A ballerina from Pacific Northwest Ballet performs “George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker” on Wednesday evening at McCaw Hall in Seattle. [Photo by Kevin Clark / The Seattle Times]
The second major update to Apple’s iOS 18 for the iPhone is out (iOS 18.2), and with it, the first Apple Intelligence image generation features, ChatGPT integration with Siri, and a few other changes and bug fixes.
I experimented with Image Playground a little today. (Image Playground came bundled with iOS 18.2 and is an app for creating stylized images based on prompts, and images of you and your friends).
Check out this animation-style high school graduation photo of me. (So this is after Image Playground had processed it, of course. Sorry, I’m not going to post the original photo). The original photo was black and white, so the image generator had to guess my hair color (actual color: light brown), the color of the school blazer (actual color: also green, great guess), and tie (actual color: green). The source photo had a blank background and I added a ‘Party’ effect stipulation before generating the image.
This sounds like a very interesting project: find postage stamps of the world that point to an element in the Periodic Table, directly or indirectly.
That is exactly what Larry G. French from St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York, had done, and writes about here and says:
“A premium was attached to identifying stamps on which element names and symbols or some other chemical notation appeared. I also attempted to include as many nations as possible while ensuring a good blend of people, places, applications and scientific fields was represented. For some elements (typically those with great economic significance such as gold and aluminum) there were many options to select from. Conversely, the frustratingly chemically similar lanthanides and actinides and the ephemeral super heavy weight chemical division posed a more significant challenge, one requiring deep digging and a creative license“.
Here is the “philatelic table of the elements”. (I requested a high-resolution version of this image from the site’s webmaster so that I can see all the details of the stamps). At first blush, I know of several stamps in my South Africa collection that refer to gold or have the mineshafts of gold mines on them. There is also a set of South African stamps from 1984 with symbols for chromium, manganese, vanadium* and titanium on. *Atomic number 23, and the stamp appears in the table above.
Here are the descriptions of the stamps in the table:
1 Hydrogen – North Vietnam
Test of Chinese hydrogen bomb;
nuclear chemistry in hydrogen bomb
2 Helium – U.S.S.R.
Tokamak fusion reactor
Will fusion ever become a viable clean energy source?
3 Lithium – Bolivia
Salar de Uyuni Salt Flats; Lithium resources for battery production/resource development in underdeveloped economies
4 Beryllium – Brazil
Emeralds; Legal battle over ownership of 180,000 carat Brazilian Bahia emerald
5 Boron – Turkey
Colmanite CaB3O4(OH)3 H2O; boron production
6 Carbon – Austria
Petrochemical industry, carbon compound; energy, carbon emissions, global warming
7 Nitrogen – France
Alkaloids, quinine discovery;
medicines from plants, malaria
87 Francium – France
Discovery by Frederic & Irene Joliot-Curie; work of Marguerite Perey at Curie Institute
88 Radium – India
Marie Sklodowska Curie discoverer; radium therapy in medicine
89 Actinium – Zaire
Trace quantities of actinium in pitchblende; uranium ore from Shinkolobwe mine in the Congo (Zaire) source of uranium for Manhattan Project
90 Thorium – Austria
Auer’s thorium mantle gas lamp; thorium pollution around superfund site(s) Camden, NJ Auer Lamp manufacturing site(s)
91 Protactinium – Sweden
Frederick Soddy; partial credit for discovery of protactinium isotopes, Nobel Prize
92 Uranium – West Germany
Uranium fission; Otto Hahn and discovery
of nuclear fission
93 Neptunium – United Nations
Fallout from above ground nuclear tests; nuclear arms control
96 Curium – Madagascar
Curies in Lab; Curies’ contributions to chemistry; uranium ore for radium production from Madagascar
97 Berkelium – Rep. of Guinea
Ernest Lawrence discovery of berkelium with cyclotron; Lawrence’s role in Manhattan Project; cyclotrons for synthesizing elements
98 Californium – Egypt
Landmine prohibition; neutron source for mine detection systems
99 Einsteinium – Rep. Marshall Islands
Ivy Mike test at Enewetak Atoll; first production element 99; nuclear testing, discovery of synthetic elements
100 Fermium – Italy
Enrico Fermi (with famous mistake in equation on board); Fermi’s role in Manhattan Project
101 Mendelevium – U.S.S.R.
Rutherford and Einstein; production of mendelevium via einsteinium bombardment with alpha particles
102 Nobelium – Hungary
10th anniversary JINR
103 Lawrencium – St. Vincent
Lawrence with first cyclotron; Lawrence’s role in Manhattan Project, cyclotrons for synthesizing elements
104 Rutherfordium – New Zealand
Electrons orbiting Rutherford’s head; Rutherford’s contributions to chemistry & physics, Nobel Prize
I guess I have to confess that I broke my self-imposed news blackout* of more than a month, to learn a little about the manhunt that ended in the capture of Luigi Mangione (the 26-year old man charged with killing United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York City last week with a ghost gun).
*No Twitter, no Washington Post, no MSNBC cable news, no NBC Nightly News, no Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), no National Public Radio (NPR), no King5 (local) news.
Just a little Seattle Times and New York Times, to read about the end of the war in Syria.
Andy Newman writes in the New York Times: “If someone you know is the subject of a nationwide manhunt and the authorities are desperately trying to learn the person’s name, are you under any legal obligation to come forward with it? The answer is, in a word, no.” (In this case, an employee at the McDonalds in Altoona, Pennsylvania, recognized Mangione and called 911. Even so, it’s not clear the person will get the reward money. There is a complicated review process and in some cases the alleged criminal needs to be convicted first. And of course: very arrogant or stupid or careless of Mangione to show up in a public place such as a McDonalds, while a national manhunt is underway for him. )
The last batch of my on-paper stamps are getting dunked into the water here (to separate the stamps from the paper).
There he is, in the middle of the picture, The Big Crocodile (Afr. Die Groot Krokodil): nickname of South African State President Pieter Willem (P.W.) Botha in 1984. (Botha passed away in 2006). By 1985, push had came to SHOVE in South Africa’s national politics, with a State of Emergency in place (effectively a form of martial law), and thousands of demonstrators detained in jail. Botha declared in his famous Rubicon speech in August 1985 that he would not support majority rule or the participation of black South Africans in the national government. He fell ill in 1989, though, and was forced to hand over the reigns to F.W. de Klerk. De Klerk introduced radical policy changes that led to the dismantling of the apartheid system, and to the release of Nelson Mandela from jail (in February 1990), which paved the way for the country’s first multiracial elections in April 1994.
Here is an update that has Alice, the Mad Hatter, the Caterpillar, the Marsh Hare and the White Rabbit.
Monday 12/9: All done. The tree was a lot harder to do than I thought it would be. The little pink flowers inside the top corners were the last pieces to go in. All in all, it was a lot of fun— but I think I will go back to a painting or a landscape scene for my next puzzle.
Don’t you draw the Queen of Diamonds, boy She’ll beat you if she’s able You know the Queen of Hearts is always your best bet Now, it seems to me some fine things Have been laid upon your table But you only want the ones that you can’t get
– Lyrics from ‘Desperado’ (1973) by The Eagles
Happy Friday.
There it is: the pieces for the Alice in Wonderland puzzle, spread all over my dining room table for me to pore over them.
I have a long way to go, but the toothy grin of the Cheshire Cat is done, the clock faces are done, the ill-tempered Queen of Hearts is almost done, and I have the houndstooth trousers of Tweedledum and Tweedledee are in place.
I guess I should knuckle down and complete the frame.
It has been foggy at night and into the early morning— and cold outside— the whole week, with a high of only 42°F (5°C) yesterday.
It is clearer outside tonight, and there will be rain tomorrow.
Posted on Tuesday night 10:34 PM by NWS Seattle @NWSSeattle on X: One more night of widespread fog, as seen from the Space Needle Panocam.
Here is the final installment of the batch of Danish stamps on my envelope!
Clockwise: 1983 The 200th Anniversary of the Birth of Poet N.F.S. Grundtvig Issued Nov. 3, 1983 Perf. 12¾ | Design: Jane Muus | Issued in sheets of 50 | Engraving: Czeslaw Slania | No watermark 747 A232 2.5Kr Brown red | N.F.S. Grundtvig, Poet
1987 The 100th Anniversary of the Danish Cooperative Bacon Factories Issued Jun. 18, 1987 Perf. 12¾ | Design: Bente Olesen Nystrom | Issued in sheets of 50 | Engraving: Arne Kühlmann | No watermark 841 A289 3.80Kr Multicolored | Domesticated pigs (Sus scrofa domesticus)
1992 EUROPA Stamps – The 500th Anniversary of the Discovery of America Issued May 7, 1992 Perf. 12¾ | Design: Niels Winkel | Issued in sheets of 50 | Litho. & Engr. | Engraving: Martin Mörch | No watermark 959 A342 3.50Kr Brown & green | Potato plant* (Solanum tuberosum) *I’m not 100% sure why the potato is significant to this anniversary. The first permanent potato patches on US soil were established in 1719 near Londonderry, New Hampshire by Scotch-Irish immigrants.
1989 Nordic Cooperation Issue Issued Apr. 20, 1989 Perf. 12¾ | Design: Birgit Forchhammer | Issued in sheets of 50 | Litho. & Engr. | Engraving: Arne Kühlmann | No Watermark 868 A312 3.20Kr Multicolored | Woman from Valby
1984 “Plant a Tree” Campaign Issued Jan. 26, 1984 Perf. 12¾ | Design: Tage Stentoft | Issued in sheets of 50 | Litho. & Engr.|Engraving: Arne Kühlmann | No Watermark 749 A234 2.70Kr Red & green | Shovel and sapling
1982 The 500th Anniversary of the University Library Issued Nov. 4, 1982 Perf. 12¾ | Design: Lisbeth Gasparski | Issued in sheets of 50 |Engraving: Arne Kühlmann | No Watermark 731 A221 2.70Kr Multicolored | Library Seal [Sources: stampworld.com, Scott 2012 Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue, Vol. 2]
Clockwise: 1986 The 400th Anniversary of the Foundation of the Sorø Academy Issued Apr. 28, 1986 Perf. 12¾ | Design: Birgit Forchammer | Issued in sheets of 50 | Litho. & Engr. |Engraving: Czeslaw Slania | No Watermark 816 A269 2.80Kr Multicolored | Sorø Academy and Heraldry
1981 EUROPA Stamps – Folklore Issued May 4, 1981 Perf. 12¾ | Design: Palle Pio | Issued in sheets of 50 | Litho. & Engr. |Engraving: Czeslaw Slania | No Watermark 680 A208 1.60Kr Brown red | Tilting at a Barrel on Shrovetide
1985 The 300th Anniversary of the German and French Reform Church in Denmark Issued Jan. 24, 1985 Perf. 12¾ | Design: Mads Stage | Issued in sheets of 50 | Litho. & Engr. |Engraving: Czeslaw Slania | No Watermark 769 A249 2.80Kr Magenta | Reformed Church (Reformert Kirke) in Copenhagen
1982 EUROPA Stamps – Historic Events Issued May 3, 1982 Perf. 12¾ | Design: Jane Muus | Issued in sheets of 50 |Engraving: Czeslaw Slania | No Watermark 723 A215 2.00Kr Magenta | Abolition of Adcsription* *Adscription means the state of being added, bound, or annexed. [Sources: stampworld.com, Scott 2012 Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue, Vol. 2]
Clockwise: 1983 The 200th Anniversary of the Birth of Painter C.W. Eckersberg Issued Nov. 3, 1983 Perf. 12¾ | Design: Birgit Forchhammer | Issued in sheets of 50 | Engraving: Arne Kühlmann | No Watermark 748 A233 2.50Kr Brown red | Street scene by C.W. Eckersberg
1983 EUROPA Stamps – Inventions Issued May 5, 1983 Perf. 12¾ | Design: Lars Klint | Issued in sheets of 50 | Engraving: Czeslaw Slania | No Watermark 739 A227 3.50Kr Blue/ greenish blue | Proposal for Øresund Bridge, across Øresund strait to Sweden (the Sound)* *Ideas for a fixed link across the Øresund strait were advanced as early as the first decade of the 20th century. Almost a century later, a cable-stayed bridge was finally constructed (from 1995-1999), opening in Jul. 2000.
1985 United Nations Decade for Women Issued Jun. 27, 1985 Perf. 12¾ | Design: Hans Bendix | Issued in sheets of 50 | Lithography & Engraving |Engraving: Arne Kühlmann | No Watermark 779 A257 3.80Kr Multicolored | Cyclist
1983 Nordic Cooperation Issue Issued Mar. 24, 1983 Perf. 12¾ | Design: C. Achton Friis | Issued in sheets of 50 |Engraving: Czeslaw Slania | No Watermark 735 A225 2.50Kr Brown & red | Egeskov Castle (opened 1554), Kværndrup, Denmark [Sources: stampworld.com, Scott 2012 Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue, Vol. 2]
The Ebay seller in Denmark that mailed my latest acquisition of South African stamps, pasted a whole mini-collection of Danish stamps on the envelope.
Here are the first ones.
I will post more tomorrow.
Clockwise: 1950 Wavy Lines Stamp (Redesigned) Issued Sep. 21, 1950 Perf. 12¾ | Design: Johannes Britze & Julius Møller | Issued in sheets of 100 | Engraving: H. H. Thiele, Copenhagen | No Watermark 318 A32 10 Øre Green | Redesign of the original 1905 stamps* *These “Wavy Lines” stamps are the oldest stamp series in Denmark still in production, and second oldest in the world after Norway’s “Post Horn” stamps. History of the Wavy Lines stamp A public competition was held in 1902 to find a new stamp design that was simple to understand and easy to print. Architect Julius Therchilsen came up with the winning design. Most of the elements in his design were derived from the Danish coat of arms: the lions, crown and hearts. Three broken wavy lines on the stamp represent the three main waterways in Denmark. Printing of the new stamps began in 1905 by H.H Thieles bogtrykkeri in Copenhagen with the 2, 3 and 4 øre stamps. These were made using the letterpress method. The stamps were very popular and were reissued over the years in increasing values and varying colours, to keep up with inflation. Source: stamps.mybalconyjungle.com
1982 EUROPA Stamps – Historic Events Issued May 3, 1982 Perf. 12¾ | Design: Jane Muus | Issued in sheets of 50 | Engraving: Czeslaw Slania | No watermark 724 A215 2.7Kr Blue | Women’s Suffrage 1915* *Women in Denmark gained the right to vote on 5 June 1915.
1989 Tourism Industry Issued Feb. 16, 1989 Perf. 12¾ | Design: Ponsaing | Issued in sheets of 100 | Engraving: Arne Kühlmann | No watermark 865 A309 3.20Kr Dark green | The Little Mermaid, sculpture by Edvard Eriksen
1988 Individual Speedway World Motorcycle Championship in Denmark Issued Jun. 16, 1988 Perf. 12¾ | Design: Jørn Fabricius | Issued in sheets of 50 | Lithography | No watermark 856 A302 4.10Kr Multicolored | Motorcyclists at Vojens Speedway Center [Sources: stampworld.com, Scott 2012 Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue, Vol. 2]
Here’s December.
This cartoon is from South African Sunday paper Rapport.
The piggy/ piggy bank is called Savings. The lion is Black Friday. The vulture is Christmas. The hyena is Janu-worry, and says “I say! Leave a little something for us.” [Cartoon by Dr. Jack, published in Rapport newspaper].
I liked the Wordle word of today.
As the saying goes: “My karma ran over your dogma”.
(My actions trumped your rigid beliefs).
kar·ma
/ˈkärmə/ noun
(in Hinduism and Buddhism) the sum of a person’s actions in this and previous states of existence, viewed as deciding their fate in future existences.
“a buddha is believed to have completely purified his karma” informal use
destiny or fate, following as effect from cause.
“there’s something highly satisfying when karma strikes”
dog·ma
/ˈdôɡmə/ noun
a principle or set of principles laid down by an authority as incontrovertibly true.”the rejection of political dogma”
[Definitions from Cambridge English Dictionary online].
I cannot remember when last I went shopping (in a mall) on Black Friday, and I have no intention to do that ever again.
I also count myself lucky when I don’t have to travel during crunch times such as Thanksgiving weekend.
The New York Times had a whole report today about the plots New Yorkers have to hatch to get themselves to one of their three area airports (it’s not easy with public transportation, and very expensive with Uber or a cab). The article also mentioned this incident of three weeks ago, at La Guardia airport: a raccoon dangling on a wire from the ceiling at the Spirit Airlines Terminal. Oh man. P.S. ‘LaGuardia of the Galaxy’ —the comment by ivejafro that garnered 10,100 likes— is a reference to the character ‘Rocket Raccoon’ from Marvel Comics and the movie franchise Guardians of the Galaxy 😆 [Screenshot of a cbsnews post on Instagram]
Looking out west from my usual perch on the corner of 14th Avenue East and Thomas Street. This is 4 pm, on the nose. The sun made a brief appearance before the clouds obscured it again. Its setting appears further to the south on the horizon this time of year (to the left, outside of the picture frame).
The rainy weather has stopped, and the forecast for the next week or so can be described as ‘morning fog, and partly sunny the rest of the day’.
The lows will be mid- to high 30s (3 °C) and the highs 46°F (8 °C) or so.
Looking south along 19th Avenue East by Stevens Elementary School, just as the light was fading today. (Stevens Elementary School was on a list of schools to be closed, but Seattle Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Brent Jones announced just yesterday that he and the school board will no longer pursue school closures and consolidations to solve the Seattle school district’s multi-million dollar budget shortfall.)
I need to die before I’m dead when my heart is still fertile and red before I eat the darkened soil of doubt
give me two lips and bright ink for tongue to write the earth one vast love letter swollen with the milk of mercy
– From the poem ‘Rebel Song’ by Breyten Breytenbach
Breytenbach in 1995 ‘Breytenbach was a political dissenter against the ruling National Party and its white supremacist policy of apartheid in the early 1960s. He was a founding member of the dissident literary movement of Afrikaner writers, the Sestigers in 1961, and participated in protests against the exclusion of black youth from educational pathways’. [Picture and text from Wikipedia]The iconic South African writer and activist Breyten Breytenbach passed away in Paris, France, yesterday (he was 85). His wife Yolande was by his side.
Breytenbach wrote mostly in Afrikaans, but also in English. He was a fierce critic of apartheid as he embarked on his long and illustrious career, as a writer that would redefine the Afrikaans literary landscape.
In 1960, Breytenbach left South Africa under a self-imposed exile.
After a two-year tour of Europe, he settled in France (he later became a French citizen).
In 1962 he married a French woman of Vietnamese ancestry, Yolande: a criminal act under South African law at the time.
The Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act of 1949 and Immorality Act (1950) made it a criminal offence for a person to have any sexual relations with a person of a different race.
In 1975, Breytenbach was arrested in South Africa after travelling there on a false passport. His intention was to help black Africans organize trade unions, and to recruit members for a branch of the African National Congress (ANC) for white people. He sentenced to nine years’ imprisonment for high treason, the first two in solitary confinement in in Pretoria Central Prison’s maximum security wing. He was released after seven years, thanks to a campaign led by former French President Francois Mitterand.
In 1984, his memoir The True Confessions of an Albino Terrorist was published, describing aspects of his imprisonment.
