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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
Quite a few of these countries authorize stamps at least partly intended for topical collectors - folks who collect cars, or trains, or X-Men on stamps. Finding a stamp of the type discussed in the article that's properly used in the postal system of the nation in question is quite a challenge for collectors of that nation's stamps.
One overlooked "pandering" that gained some traction in the 1990s was when a country awarded a certain TDL (top level domain) used it in global commerce, re-awarding it, via registrars, to companies with enough money. Specifically, I remember Tuvalu, 26 sq miles of ....Pacific Island Paradise. They had the TDL .tv and every US TV station seemed to want to have their call letters attached to that .tv. I don't know how much of the money changing hands ever got to the Tuvalu people ... or even its government...but it seems like the "stamp pandering" of the New Media World. Unfortunately, I don't think that ploy worked too well for the buyers, either.
Tuvalu gets $4 million a year from the domain name, and is part owner of the holding company. Not bad for free.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.tv
Every day, past my Detroit window, pass ships registered in Wilmington, Delaware. It says "Wilmington, Delaware" on their sterns, just below their names. These are Great Lakes ships which never go to Delaware. Does Wilmington even have a port?
Does Delaware have a port? Does Delaware even exist? Delaware supposedly is a tiny state on the east coast, but have you even met an actual person from Delaware? Delaware is even more mysterious than Rhode Island. Have you ever actually been there?
Delaware is a flag of convenince state for ships and for corporations. "60 Minutes" ought to do an exposee. I bet they would find nothing, just a P.O. Box somewhere near New Jersey.
Not that old canard about Elvis "ripping off" forms of music that didn't "belong" to him or "his people." So everyone should only create art with an ethnically-correct seal of approval? Nobody should borrow or appropriate music, art or drama that originated with another "group?" I'll leave it to others to make the serious arguments against Mr. Leonard's flippancy. For me, a simple "Good Grief" will suffice.
Liberia has a line of silver bullion coins that all depict Harley Davidson motorcycles. For the low price of $40, you get $14 worth of silver. Minted and sold by the Franklin mint with a token payment sent back to Liberia.
Awesome.
I hope Chris Elliot gets a commemorative stamp too.
The existence of a Bob & Ray stamp somewhere in the world gives me hope for this sad planet. The fact that most people have only ever heard them, and would not recognize them on the stamp, just makes it sweeter.
Dear sir,
"Elvis made his own living ripping off the musical contributions of African-Americans, so maybe what's really going on in this particular case is some cultural reappropriation."
The above kind of nonsense has been repudiated time and again by musicologists.
Elvis Presley no more ripped off African-Americans than Ludwig Van Beethoven ripped off the Irish by using an Irish air for his magnificent 7th Symphony.
On the contrary, Elvis introduced us all to his extraordinary eclectic taste in music from Gospel, R&B, Rockabilly, Christmas Carols, Hymns, ballads, light opera, and even "Danny Boy"!
No nation or race owns the rich tapestry that is classical and popular music. It cannot be stolen. It can only be shared.
Elvis with his amazingly beautiful and versatile voice, as we all know, was generous to a fault.
The American Elvis Presley stamp sold more than 600 million!
Yours sincerely,
Maurice Colgan.
...it's been going on for at least four and a half decades. Do an Ebay search for "Telstar Stamp" and you'll find impoverished countries like Somalia that put a communications satellite on their postage so they could sell it to technology-worshipping Americans back in 1962.
Nice to see somebody at the U of M noticed it eventually, though.
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
219 Democrats and one Republican join in favor of the legislation, which passed by a narrow margin
Salon headlines in your mailbox
