a weblog of whereabouts & interests, since 2010
We took off from Seattle-Tacoma Airport’s South Terminal almost an hour after the scheduled departure time. (The inbound flight from Frankfurt was late). The flight went without incident, though— always a good thing— and we made up the lost hour on the way.
My bags are packed for my trip to South Africa, with two-night stayover in Frankfurt, Germany.
That way I can check in on the Christmas market, at the historical Römerberg market square in Frankfort.
Fed Cuts Rates, but Projects Fewer Reductions Next Year
Federal Reserve officials projected just two rate cuts in 2025. Markets shuddered at the assessment, with the dollar soaring and stocks plummeting.
– Headlines from the New York Times
It has rained all day in Rain City.
It will rain on and off all week here, in the run-up to winter solstice.
The five amigos went to the Irish pub called The Chieftain on 12th Avenue for a beer and a bite tonight, but found it closed for the night.
We ended up right next door, at the German beer hall-and-restaurant Rhein Haus Seattle, where we found this cheerful Christmas tree.
Here is today’s cartoon from South Africa’s Sunday newspaper Rapport.
The summer school holidays are underway in South Africa, and with it the exodus of the binnelanders* to the coast.
*Afrikaans word for those that live ‘inside’ the country— far away from the coast.
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.
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]
*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]
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).
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).
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 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
8 Oxygen – Switzerland
Ozone; protective effects of ozone layer, ozone depleting chemicals, atmosphere
9 Fluorine – France
Moissan discovery of fluorine; role of fluorine in the Manhattan Project, uranium enrichment
10 Neon – U.S.A
Las Vegas neon sign; neon lights
11 Sodium – Turks and Caicos
Salt Cay; Importance of salt mining in history of Caribbean nations
12 Magnesium – France
Victor Grignard; Organometallic chemistry, Nobel Prize
13 Aluminum – Greenland
Cryolite Na3AlF6 Hall-Heroult process;
history of aluminum & aluminum refining
14 Silicon – Swaziland
Havelock Asbestos Mine; health impacts
15 Phosphorus – Nauru
Phosphate Mining; resource utilization in underdeveloped economies
16 Sulfur – Poland
Sulfur Production; Ottoman “Gunpowder Empire”
17 Chlorine – Cambodia
DDT Insecticide; pros and cons of DDT use throughout its history, malaria
18 Argon – Sweden
Argon compounds in Crab Nebula
Noble gases are not inert; detection of chemical species in outer space
19 Potassium – East Germany
Justus von Liebig; plant nutrients, law of the minimum
20 Calcium – Aden
Lime burning; manufacture of building material
21 Scandium – Russia
MiG-29; alloys aerospace applications
22 Titanium – Senegal
Titanium dredging; resource utilization in underdeveloped economies
23 Vanadium – Rep. S. Africa
Vanadium production; steel additives
24 Chromium – Zimbabwe
Chromite; stainless steel
25 Manganese – Gabon
Manganese production in Moanda;
resource utilization in underdeveloped economies
26 Iron – India
Iron pillar of Delhi; rust resistant
Back to top
27 Cobalt – Canada
Cobalt-60 radiation therapy; radioisotopes in medicine
28 Nickel – New Caledonia
Garnier and nickel mining; resource utilization in underdeveloped economies
29 Copper – Cyprus
Copper mine; copper production in ancient Cyprus
30 Zinc – Belgium
Jean-Jacques Dony; zinc discovery & refining
31 Gallium – U.S.S.R.
Mendeleev’s notes; history of periodic table
32 Germanium – U.S.A.
Transistors; use in electronic components
33 Arsenic – Germany
Ehrlich Salvarsan Arsenic Drug Syphilis; “magic bullet” concept in medicine
34 Selenium – Sweden
Berzelius selenium sample electron microscopic view; new battery technologies
35 Bromine – Israel
Dead Sea Works, world’s largest bromine supplier; chemistry of bromine production
36 Krypton – France
Metric system centennial; krypton emission line definition of metre
37 Rubidium – East Germany
Kirchhoff discoverer of rubidium; spectroscopy in discovery of elements
38 Strontium – Liechtenstein
Strontianite SrCO3; fireworks
39 Yttrium – Japan
Superconducting YBa2CuOx; superconducting materials
40 Zirconium – French Antarctic
Zircons; use in geological dating
41 Niobium – Uganda
Columbite (Fe,Mn)Nb2O6; “blood coltan” funding for guerilla wars in Africa
42 Molybdenum – North Korea
Fleurus IRE Reactor and Cyclotron
production of Mo-99 for medical application & preparation of Tc-99m
43 Technetium – U.K.
Computed Tomography (CT) Scan; technetium-99m medical imaging
44 Ruthenium – Bophuthatswana
Platinum minerals industry; ruthenium and platinum production, the Bafokeng people “Africa’s platinum tribe”
45 Rhodium – Algeria
Air Pollution; catalytic converters, continued use of leaded gasoline in some third world nations
46 Palladium – Czechoslovakia
Slovnaft Petrochemicals; petroleum refining, transition metal catalysts
47 Silver – Mexico
World’s largest silver producer; history of silver mining in Mexico
48 Cadmium – Hungary
Greenockite CdS mineral; solar cells
49 Indium – Australia
Solar Energy; CIGS solar cells
50 Tin – Thailand
Tin mining; history of tin production in Thailand
51 Antimony – Jordan
Jabir Ibn Hayyan; early alchemical investigations of antimony & other elements
52 Tellurium – Romania
Franz-Joseph Müller discovery; solar cells
53 Iodine – India
Iodine deficiency; thyroid health, iodinated salt
54 Xenon – East Germany
Medimorp anesthesia unit; anesthesia, use as performance enhancing drug
55 Cesium – Norway
North Sea oil rig; cesium brines in oil extraction
56 Barium – Greece
Barite BaSO4 mineral; Why is this mineral named barium & the mineral, barite?
57 Lanthanum – Cuba
Electric car; batteries for electric vehicles
58 Cerium – Sweden
Berzelius birth anniversary; Berzelius’ contributions to chemistry including discovery of cerium
59 Praseodymium – Austria
Carl Auer-Welsbach birth anniversary; discoverer of praseodymium
60 Neodymium – Denmark
Wind power; magnets for wind turbines
61 Promethium – Czech Republic
Bohuslav Brauner birth anniversary; contributions to chemistry including prediction of undiscovered element promethium
62 Samarium – Taiwan
Nuclear reactor; neutron capture/nuclear reactor control rods
63 Europium – Uruguay
Compact fluorescent lighting; How do compact fluorescent lights work?
64 Gadolinium – Finland
Johan Gadolin birth anniversary; discoverer
65 Terbium – Mozambique
Color television; terbium in phosphors
66 Dysprosium – Italy
Sonar; Tefenol-D magnetostrictive sensor for sonar
67 Holmium – China
Chinese rare earths mining industry; paradox of environmental damage in China and production of rare earths for green technologies
68 Erbium – Switzerland
Fiber optics; fiber optic cables
69 Thulium – France
Eye surgery; thulium lasers
70 Ytterbium – India
Rare earths plant; production of rare earth elements from monazite sand
71 Lutetium – East Germany
Earth cross section; recent redating of earth’s crust using lutetium Isotopes
72 Hafnium – Sweden
George de Hevesy Nobel Prize; medical radio- imaging
73 Tantalum – Japan
Hip replacement; biocompatible materials
74 Tungsten – Spain
Bicentennial tungsten discovery, Juan and Fausto Elhuyar; high strength steel
75 Rhenium – Canada
Jet engine; rhenium alloys
76 Osmium – Austria
Carl Auer osmium lamp; incandescence
77 Iridium – Mexico
Mexican dinosaur; iridium and Alvarez Extinction Hypothesis. Yucatán asteroid
78 Platinum – Colombia
Platinum dredging del Choco state; history of platinum production in Colombia
79 Gold – Ghana
Gold mining; impacts of authorized & unauthorized gold mining in Africa
80 Mercury – Hungary
Paracelsus; alchemical symbols
81 Thallium – Macedonia
Lorandite TlAsS2 mineral; Allchar thallium deposit in solar neutrino detection LOREX experiment
82 Lead – Peru
Galena PbS mineral; lead pollution in La Oroya, Peru, one of world’s most polluted places
83 Bismuth – Bolivia
Bismutina Bi2S3 mineral; high altitude mining in Bolivia
84 Polonium – Cameroon
Pierre Curie co-discoverer of polonium; role of polonium in Manhattan Project, “urchin” initiator
85 Astatine – Romania
Horia Hulubei; competing claims to discovery of astatine
86 Radon – Italy
Earthquake anniversary; Radon releases to predict earthquakes?
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
94 Plutonium – Israel
Israel’s acknowledged nuclear facility; Israel’s nuclear weapons program, breeder reactors
95 Americium – Ukraine
Chernobyl Accident anniversary; americium in radioactive fallout
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
105 Dubnium – Poland
20th anniversary JINR; discovery
106 Seaborgium – U.S.S.R.
20th anniversary JINR; discovery
107 Bohrium – Denmark
Niels Bohr; Bohr’s contribution to Manhattan Project, Bohr model of atom
108 Hassium – U.S.S.R.
IUPAC; element naming and disputes including hassium
109 Meitnerium – Austria
Lise Meitner; discovery of nuclear fission
110 Darmstadtium – Canada
Nickel and lead; synthesis of darmstadtium via bombardment of lead by nickel
111 Roentgenium – Egypt
Roentgen and discovery of X-Rays; X-rays in medicine
112 Copernicium – Germany
Hermann von Helmholtz; super heavy element synthesis, GSI Helmholtz Laboratory
113 Nihonium – Namibia – Bolivia
Zinc mining – Bismuth ore; nihonium synthesis from zinc and bismuth nuclei
114 Flerovium – Russia
Georgy Flerov birth anniversary; Soviet nuclear weapons program
115 Moscovium – Czech Republic
60th anniversary JINR; discovery of moscovium
116 Livermorium – Bulgaria
25th anniversary JINR
117 Tennessine – USA create-your-own
Oak Ridge Reactor
118 Oganesson – USA create-your-own
Yuri Oganessian
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.
The last batch of my on-paper stamps are getting dunked into the water here (to separate the stamps from the paper).
Here is a cute cartoon from today’s Sunday Seattle Times.
(A reference to Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov’s experiments with classical conditioning.)
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.
Here is the final installment of the batch of Danish stamps on my envelope!
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]
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]
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.
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.
