Monday, February 28, 2011

The results are in!

Actually they've been in for a few days, but I didn't have the chance to address it yet. Last week I created a poll and asked readers if they felt I explained things properly in my posts. Realizing that some of my readers possess a great deal of technical knowledge, and others less, I want to strike the proper balance and make the blog enjoyable for all kinds of readers. At the same, I also don't want to wholly change the character of the blog.

After one week of polling, 74 people responded. Since stats are boring, I won't break them down specifically (although for a few days you can see the stats on the sidebar), but a little over 50% felt that things are fine as they are, about 20% feel that I should explain things more fully, and 30% feel that something in between would be fine.

These results made me happy. It isn't as if 95% said they have no idea what I'm talking about. If 50% already get it, and 30% would get it a little more if I made the effort, and 20% really could use much more explanation, but took the time to even respond, then I feel this is something I can do - maintain the present character, yet at the same time try to make a few changes which will hopefully inform readers better.

Before I disscuss that, I want to respond to a few specific comments:

Binyamin writes that he voted "yes," and as it stands my posts are too difficult. He gets maybe 25% of it. He believes that I can attract a broader audience and even help educate people if I did a better job. He also feels that most of my post would not be understood properly by 95% of the people who would be inclined to forward them to, so he doesn't.

He is exactly the kind of reader for whom it is worth doing better, and I will try my best. I think it might be a good idea to occasionally do some remedial Jewish history type posts, where I get into the background behind some persons, events or movements, and then I can link to the posts I've already done about these subjects. For example, instead of simply assuming knowledge about Christian Hebraism, I could do a general post about it. Then, a reader can reread the earlier posts, and hopefully get into it more, with newly acquired background.

Jordan suggests that I put in more links to Wikipedia and also translate key Hebrew passages more. Both of these are things I can do. The reason I often don't link to outside sources like Wikipedia - although sometimes I do - is sheer laziness - for me, links involved typing out the HTML. Today I posted about Johann Reuchlin. I don't think I linked to Wikipedia. I think my assumption is that people can just google the name if they want to know more. Yet Jordan is right, because knowing my own browsing habits I can confirm that I might might click a link, but if none is there I won't necessarily search myself. Probably most people are similar, so I will use more hot linking. As for Hebrew translation, that's a good idea as well. I don't like doing translations so much because of pride. The more I translate, the more likely I am to make a mistake and be called on it. Yet it's probably a good idea, good for me, and good for the readers.

Ezzie made a similar suggestion re links.

Aiwac made two suggestions that I am probably not going to adopt, but I would like to at least address them. The first is to reduce the size of pictures. I wonder what browsing platform he is using? To me things look okay, butI would like to hear if readers have problems. I guess I can see how some posts which might have like 10 images, 590 pixels by 1000 all in vertical order can be hard to browse. What do people think about Scribd, which enables embedding an entire document? I've used it from time to time. Do people like it or hate it? This might solve some of Aiwac's problem with regard to discontinuity in a post.

Incidentally, here's a good place to discuss why I love to show pictures of books (not to mention people and things) so much. It's a little quirk of mine. I love typography, I love the look of old books, archaic spellings, etc. I feel like something is added by seeing, even seeing text. I could quote such texts - many sources are easily available in plain text, and I wouldn't even have to type them. I just feel that seeing something as it looked in the original is a lot more charming than text, even though in terms of content it could be identical. Example: in this post I showed a text in English, from 1665, in which the Talmud was spoken of as the eternal law of the Jewish nation all over earth. I could have just typed this author, Clement Barksdale's, words. But as interesting as they are, seeing it as it looks in the book is that much more interesting (to me, maybe). So I'm probably going to take a pass on it. True, I could make thumbnails, but my worry is that many people won't click them.

Secondly, he correctly indicts me for being too wordy. Alas, but I don't know any other way. A few years ago I found some book reports from elementary school, and I had to laugh at my tendency to basically repeat the book. I have always struggled with the ability to summarize properly, and I envy those with this skill. At the same time, I also enjoy being thorough, and sometimes I like to just go all out and try to uncover as much as I can. I also have pride, and sometimes I sort of want to demonstrate that I already knew all the sources, so if I include very much information then it's less likely for someone to point out something I missed. Not a very admirable trait, but the truth is the truth. Secondly, many people have asked me why I don't publish. The reason is because I have this idea that if or when I publish anything it will have to be perfect. No source overlooked, no mistakes, no reference left out. Although I take my blog very seriously, I feel to some degree that it's only a blog. If I make a mistake, so what? If I wasn't comprehensive, so what?

DF says that the blog is a Beis Vaad Lachachamim (a scholar's circle) and that it ought to be too bad if it goes over people's head, including his own. I say that the problem for me is that not enough people comment. I really love comments, even if it's very basic stuff. But all too often I can see that x amount of people read a post, and only one or two, or even no one at all, comments. So I feel that in reality it could be a scholar's circle, but I need people to comment.

Dan Klein says he likes the digressions, and I say that I am not, in fact, as scatterbrained as my tangents and digressions suggest. I simply enjoy the way one thing can lead to another, and I enjoy the fact that sometimes a pearl can turn up in the 12th paragraph of my post on an entirely unrelated topic. So it's like a reward for sticking it out and reading to the end!

Another anon reader says that Wikipedia is not that great. I say that it is a mixed bag, but sometimes can be very good. He also suggest some occasional general topics, like on Italian Jewry, and I say that's a great idea. He also says that he found certain recent remarks of mine on searching beyond Google to be interesting, and I'm glad that he or she noticed. I intend to post more about how to do online research. Yitzy made a similar remark, and I suggest that he email me, as I forgot his email address!

LkwdGuy points out that I have an entire blog dedicated to Artscroll, to which I reply, that I haven't updated in years.

Thanks for participating.

A synopsis of Reuchlin's defense of the Talmud and condemnation of book-burning, with a special emphasis on his exegesis of the Birkhas Ha-minim.

In 1505 a Jew from Cologne named Pfefferkorn converted to Christianity along with his family. He, or according to some, others using his name, immediately began maligning Jews in pamphlets and books. In 1509 he obtained an order from the emperor Maximillian to confiscate and destroy all Hebrew books possessed by the Jews of Cologne and Frankfurt. Upon appeal from the Jews, the emperor agreed to stay the order until the issue could be examined, and in order to do this he solicited opinions from notable Christian scholars.

One of them, Johann Reuchlin, replied in a recommendation in which he concluded that only truly blasphemous Jewish books, such Toledot Yeshu, ought to be destroyed (and Reuchlin writes that even the Jews consider this book apocryphal; furthermore, to his knowledge only this book and one other Jewish book were really blasphemous). However, surely the vast majority of Jewish books contain no blasphemy, or if they do, only a tiny percentage.

What's more, argued Reuchlin, the fact is that no Christians in Germany were in a position to know if these books were actually blasphemous, since they cannot read them. Even Reuchlin, who was already a famous Hebrew scholar, acknowledged that he did not yet possess adequate knowledge of the Talmud. Thus far he had failed to procure a copy for himself, even though he was willing to pay a high price for one. Instead, he only possessed indirect knowledge of its contents based on Christian works written against it. He further argued that to his knowledge only one Jewish convert to Christianity actually possessed any Talmudic knowledge - excluding Pfefferkorn - and that particular convert, who was a rabbi, subsequently reverted to Judaism in Turkey. He points out that if someone wanted to write against mathematicians, but he himself didn't even know basic arithmetic, he would be laughed at.

To the objection that numerous Christian books against the Jews and the Talmud exist, some written by great Christian scholars, one might then argue that even if he personally doesn't know Jewish literature, since it is condemned by so many that he may rely on their negative judgment and adopt that position. Reuchlin responds that firstly, none of these books ever made an orderly case against it, and secondly, to blindly accept their judgment is to violate the common sense principle of listening to both sides of a story. In addition, it also violates canon law, which says that no one is obligated to accept the argument or opinion of any well known commentator, however pious a Christian, as if it were Holy Scripture or canon law itself. So at the very least, an impartial and fair inquiry is called for rather than wholesale comdemnation before the facts are known.

This line of argument, that it would be wrong to condemn a work that one did not understand, was only one of many that he lodged. Other arguments were legal ones, namely that the Jews are subjects of the Holy Roman Empire and entitled to legal protection. Furthermore, the law does not permit forsible confiscation of property. Reuchlin also poses an argument that might be familiar in a similar form from Jewish sources, namely that our ancestors did not ban or condemn these books to flames before, and surely we do not consider ourselves more pious than them.

Noting that besides Pfefferkorn himself, only one other writer had called for torching Jewish books directly, he applies Romans 10:2 to the both of them: they have a "zeal for God, but not according to knowledge." This is a nice bit of irony; the verse speaks of the Jews themselves.

Then, apparently not seriously believing that the attackers of the Talmud were really so pious in the first place, he explains why they never meant to consign the book to the flames: they are like hunters, who chase a deer as it runs through a wheat field, with only its antlers visible. The hunter knows that this isn't any contest. He will get his prey. But the fun is in the chase. He wouldn't be happy if someone were to throw a spear into the deer and kill it before he could hunt it. Similarly, the writers against the Talmud need the Talmud in order to attack it. Where would be their sport if it were burned and disappeared? He then audaciously writes that in reality the worse the Talmud is, all the more reason to preserve it, for it would greatly benefit students to hone their theology against it.

The Recommendation branches into many directions, directly refuting all manner of charges against Jewish literature, including that it is full of nonsense. Reuchlin writes that many ancient disciplines employed metaphor and allegory for quite reasonable concepts. For example, the ancients called wisdom "water." We ourselves call physical desire "harlot." In alchemy, metals are named for the planets. In fact, writes Reuchlin, reading books of alchemy would lead one who doesn't understand the terminology to think they were written by madmen, but these works are perfectly sensible to initiates. So why then isn't the Talmud accorded the same respect? It too is an ancient book and uses all manner of allegory and esoteric terms. In addition, have not the Christians preserved many ancient pre-Christian books that contain more absurdities and even more blaspemy, than the Talmud could possible have?

In any case, his Recommendation seems to have successfully staved off this attack on Jewish books, and the decree was rescinded. For his part, Reuchlin was accused of heresy and suffered a great deal personally for his position in a long controversy. Not surprisingly the 19th century Rabbi Yisrael Lipschutz of Danzig recalled him favorably for all time, in his commentary to Mishnah Avot 3:14 in a lengthy essay called אתם קרויין אדם. Here is his comment, followed by the title page of the 1845 publication:



One interesting digression in his pamphlet is his attempt to refute a calumny against Jewish liturgy on linguistic grounds. Pfefferkorn had written that the Birkhas Ha-minim prayer, which was then known by its initial word Ve-le-meshumadim, "Regarding the apostates," was a direct attack on Christians generally, and the Apostles specifically. Reuchlin considers such words an incendiary attack on the Jews, which could easily be used to incite ignorant people who don't know Hebrew. Here are his comments as they appear in his Augenspiegel, the work in which he published his Recommendation. What follows is the substance of his comments:




He writes that the prayer contains not one word relating to "Baptism" or "Apostles" or "Christians," or the "Roman Empire." The word in question, meshumad, means "to destroy," as in Proverbs 14:11 and Ezekiel 14:8. In this prayer the term means "those who destroy," and the meaning of the prayer is that the Jews are saying "Those who wish to destroy us, let him have no hope that his plot will succeed."

He then puts forth the following argument, which he may or may not have himself believed, which is that no one could possibly think this refers to Christians, since the Christians afford the Jews great freedom and no other people on earth welcomed the Jews as readily as the Christians. This is affirmed in canon and secular law. As I said, one wonders if he really believed this. He may well have, but if not then it is particularly ingenious, since he knew that no Christian leaders, secular or ecclesiastical, would have admitted or believed that they did not treat Jews well, and indeed that is what the law required. Reuchlin further points out that Jews all over the world recite the prayer, even if they live among Muslims or heathens. He writes that the Jews are hated and mistreated more by the heathens than by Christians, so how then could it really refer to Christians? The downfall of the Christians would not result in a happier situation for the Jews, and they know it.

He then analyzes other words in the prayer - "minim" means "all those who do not adhere to the true faith," i.e. Judaism. But, points out Reuchlin, on what basis can we say that this refers to us specifically and no one else? In other words, Reuchlin and all other Christians understand that the Jews believe their religion is the true faith, but that's not the point so long as they're not singling out Christians for attack. The third word, "oyev," or enemies, also cannot refer to us, Reuchlin writes, since as he mentioned earlier both Jews and Christians are fellow subjects of the same Emperor and enjoy the same rights and privileges. Finally, "malchut zedon" or "dominion of pride" does not refer to an earthly kingdom, the Holy Roman Empire, but is a metaphorical term.

Then Reuchlin goes on the attack: saying that as not one word of this prayer can be proven to refer to the apostles or Christians, he says that it is in fact an outrage that Pfefferkorn's calumny was permitted to be printed. All that's left then may be the suspicion that Jews secretly hate Christians in their heart, but who knows what is in a man's heart but the Creator of hearts? Not only that, but even if one Jew were to step forward and confess that this is what he thinks, he can only speak for himself.

Since what immediately follows the passage is so interesting, I'll review it here. Pfefferkorn had related the following damning charge against the Jews. When the Jews are being friendly and say "Welcome to you!" to a Christian (Seid wilkommen) they are in reality making a Hebrew pun and mean "Welcome, you devil!" In other words, Pfefferkorn was suggesting that they are punning on the German word seid and are saying "שֵׁד," or "devil." Reuchlin notes that "seid" is simply not "sched," and any fool can tell that the two words don't sound alike. Such a stupid charge isn't even worthy of the attention already given to it.

Toward the end of his Recommendation he refutes other charges made against the Jews. For example, to the charge that they wrote their literature only to oppose Christianity, he replies that they wrote it for themselves, which I guess is sort of a variant on the Jewish argument that Judaism really doesn't have a lot to say about Christianity even thought in the Christian scheme of things Christianity ought to be very important to Jews. On the contrary, goes the argument. It was Christianity which made Judaism important to Christians, but it doesn't follow that the reverse is true.

Another argument that he refutes is the charge that the reason why Jews do not convert in great numbers is because they are blinded by their own literature. Without rabbinic literature, perhaps they would all convert. Reuchlin maintains that the opposite is the case. It is precisely because of their literature, that if the Christians had capable spokesmen, they would convert. This is, I think, a variant of Maimonides' argument that Christianity is a religious improvement over paganism, for it puts non-Jews under the influence of the Bible. Reuchlin points out that Paul was a student of the rabbis, and this did not prevent him from becoming Christian. Furthermore, some of the greatest Christian scholars (whom he names) were converted Jews, and their Talmudic knowledge served them well.

Finally, he conjectures what could be the result if the Jews' literature were actually destroyed:
1. They might claim that the Christians are afraid of them. He gives the analogy of a duke who challenges a shepherd to a duel, but the duke takes away the shepherd's weapons first, while retaining his own.

2. Perhaps the Jews would create an even stranger literature which is even worse. Essentially, they could recreate the Talmud and tell their children whatever they want to what was in the now-lamented Talmud.

3. They could claim that Christians falsely quoted and misninterpreted the meaning of their literature, and nothing could be shown to prove the Christian position.

4. Forbidden fruit is particularly desirable. This would make the Jews crave their literature all the more, and many would go to Turkey to learn Talmud, and simply return back home with their Talmudic knowledge.

5. Moods and needs change. If the feeling today is to burn the books, what if in the future a need for them were felt? He gives the analogy of a certain Church council which required the Koran, and an example from Roman history where a certain king required a book which he had burned all but for the last three copies, and the result was that he had to pay an exorbitant price for it.

6. If the Jews lacked books, then how can Christians dispute them except on the basis of the Bible which, Reuchlin acknowledged, can be stretched to mean anything? Right now the Jews are limited by the interpretations and arguments of their ancestors, to which the Christians already know how to respond. But lacking the restraint of their books, what will prevent the Jews from endlessly devising interpretations? This would make debate fruitless.

7. Then a very interesting projection: lacking Jews to wrestle with over the meaning of Scripture, we will just argue with ourselves, since the mind never rests. We will awaken old disputes, such as, Was St. Paul married? - which are nonsense.

8. There aren't so many Jews in Germany. So what will be accomplished? There are loads of Jews in Italy and Turkey, and they will still have their books.

9. The Jews will succeed in hiding many books. They will become much more fervent and willing to die as martyrs, which is the natural result of such a persecution. To take the example from Christian history, when Roman emperors persecuted the Christians it may well have resulted in even more Christians, not less. Another historical example: when these persecutions went after books, many heretics wrote new books with pseudepigraphal titles, and the result was the multiplication of heresy and literature confusing the faithful. In his view, all these evils could come of confiscating and destroying the Jews' books.

Incidentally, in case you are wondering if Reuchlin didn't know, or pretended not to know, that meshumad - which is from "to destroy," as he wrote, meant "Apostate" to Jews, here is a Hebrew letter to a Jew, in which he refers to Pfefferkorn as "זה המשמומד כמו שאתם קוראים בלשונכם," or "This meshumad (apostate) as you call him in your language." In case you were wondering, Reuchlin signs הקטון בגוים יוחנניס רוחילין מפורצעם דוקטור "The humblest among the Gentiles, Johannes Reuchlin of Pforzheim, Doctor."

Reuchlin sent this letter to the Pope's doctor, a Provençal Jew named Mazal Tov, known as Bonetto, and it recounts his perspective of the affair. Below is the Hebrew letter as it was published in Gottlieb Friedländer's 1837 Beiträge zur Reformationsgeschichte, followed by an English translation, published in L. Loewe's 1841 translation of Yitzchak Baer Levinsohn's Efes Dammim (A series of conversations at Jerusalem between a patriarch of the Greek Church and a chief rabbi of the Jews, concerning the malicious charge against the Jews of using Christian blood).






Couple of short notes: Reuchlin's Recommendation was published, as mentioned, in his Augenspiegel. This book appeared in 1511. As you recall, he mentioned that he had not been able to personally obtain a copy of the Talmud yet, so he didn't really know what was in it except secondhand. In Dikduke Soferim volume 8 (on Megillah) a Latin letter of Reuchlin is referred to, in which he mentions that in 1512 he succeeded in obtaining a manuscript of the Talmud Yerushalmi.

Secondly, Augenspiegel means ophthalmoscope. Reuchlin used the symbol of eyeglasses on the title page, I suppose, because he meant that he strives to see things clearly.

A graphic depicting the shofar's notes in a Spanish siddur from 1552.

Here's an interesting page from Libro de Oracyones, the Ladino siddur published in Ferrara 1552 by Yom Tob Athias (the Spaniard formerly known as Jeronimo de Vargas).

As you can see, this page contains the order for Shofar blowing on Rosh Hashanah. Most interesting is the graphic depiction of the three kinds of sounds, tekiah, which is one long note, shevarim, which is three shorter notes, and teruah, which is staccato.

H. P. Salomon points out that at this period in time, translators of Judeo-Spanish liturgy used the word "aublacion" for teruah (first word, third line from the bottom), which is a special Spanish word coined by Jews. The very first Jewish translation of the Bible into Castilian ("Spanish"), the 15th century Alba Bible, which was translated by Rabbi Mose Arragel, rendered teruah five separate ways, depending on the context, in five places in the Bible. These terms were aullamiento, aullar, aullaçion, jubilaçion and clamor. Salomon writes that Arragel explained jubilaçion in a glossary appended to the work - "It is a way of blowing trumpets or horns to express joy [and] by making certain sounds and notes." Apparently this term was a preferred Jewish translation for teruah at the time, probably because of its etymological connection with yovel, which was unfamiliar to Christians and therefore required an explanation (cf. Rashi on Lev. 25:10 - ומה שמה יובל שמה על שם תקיעת שופר).

In the 16th century, the translation technique that was prevalent among Spanish exiles was to be hyperliteral and to give one equivalent Spanish word for every shade of meaning a single Hebrew word could have, even if the Spanish word did not carry such meanings. The result was, of course, some very strange translation. In these new translations, aublaçion was used for teruah every time, as in our example. You will not find this word in a dictionary. Salomon says this word combines aullaçion (which comes from aullar, to howl) and jubilaçion whether through conscious or unconscious blending.

See "Meam Loez - The Language Corner" by H.P. Salomon, editor, in The American Sephardi 7-8 1975.

Black Lechwe or Bangweulu Lechwe (Kobus leche smithemani) - WWF maximum cards/ maxicards/ dorincards about Zambia

It's challenging to participate in the Pink Saturday meme - you have to come up with something pink.
But you can easily find something blue, to participate in the Happy Blue Monday meme. :)

"Black Lechwe or Bangweulu Lechwe (Kobus leche smithemani) - Bangweulu Swamps. Adult male blackish. Vulnerable.[6]"

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Happy Blue Monday! (meme)




Sunday, February 27, 2011

Why would you, or why should you care about personalized stamps/ personalised stamps/ customized postage/ P-stamps, in general, and zazzle stamps, in particular? What's in it for you? To me, the answer is self-evident, self-explanatory, but hey!...here are some ideas for you to think about. Prerequisite: open mind. Got one? :)

I could write a whole illustrated book about this subject. Someday, maybe I will. :)

Look at the above borderless stamp design: it's based on the initial image of a blank stamp from zazzle.com, from which I have removed the black border, for extra space and designing effects, such as irregular contours.
The point for that is to show you that YOU can further customize a blank design, with or without border, with image(s) and custom text of your choice, pending final approval from Zazzle.

Designing is FREE!!!
Then you can put the approved design in your Private Gallery, or in the Public Gallery (where people can buy it and you receive royalty from Zazzle).

In the above design, besides the mandatory info about zazzle.com, do you see any advertisement?
Say No, "coz it ain't".
It doesn't have to be, if you so choose.
Like this:
I often hear comments like: "I don't like personalized stamps; I prefer the regular stamps!".
Dear Sirs and Madams [although Madam may mean various things]: that is a FALSE DICHOTOMY.
It's not EITHER personalized, OR regular stamps.
They are not mutually exclusive.
Do you see ONLY personalized stamps in my blog, for example?
No.
I like many regular stamps, and I like many personalized ones.
I like them because I like THEM, not automatically because they fall into either one of those two categories.

After a while, I decided to "sign" my stamp designs:
Later on, I decided that since nobody seems to even see my stamp creations, let alone buy, I should advertise my zazzle little shop, by including the info: Design by zazzle.com/dorinco*.
 The asterisc after dorinco is VERY important because Zazzle tracks referrals by that, with a number code in the address.
Like this:
In the above picture, top row, the second tiger from the left is a customized version of somebody else's tiger stamp at Zazzle.
So, I could customize, create and buy THAT, but I could not put THAT new design in MY Public Gallery -  I was not the original author; just a customizer, a subsequent author.
See how I chose to remove the border for that, just for Schitzengiggels?
The above stamp, about euphemism - do I really believe that ANYBODY would like to buy it?
Translation: are you crazy???
:)
That euphemism thingie was just "for entertainment purposes only".
Why did I do it?
I'll answer like Bill Clinton:
The obvious advantage, for me [how come YOU don't see it?] is that personalized stamps can fill a hole, a gap in your stamp collection.
Is there a subject...

 ...that never appeared on ANY stamp, ANYWHERE in the world?
Then YOU do it, for [your] sake!!!
When it comes to buying, there are tips and tricks about not paying full retail.

[A VOICE FROM THE PUBLIC]: Like what? Like what?
[DORIN]: Like creating a design for the Public Gallery, then customizing all your future designs based on that initial design, even if you remove completely its initial image and text, and replace them.
Like using the 10% discount that Zazzle gives you for a future order over $45 or so.
Like various Holidays discounts.
Like $5 off if you post on zazzle's blog a photo of you with a zazzle product that you designed and purchased.
Like special promotions, such as in the past July 2010, when you could have purchased zazzle stamps AT FACE VALUE!!!

Get it? :)


Now I'll do something for which Google, in their wisdom, might penalize me with "artificial demoting in search ranking", coz they'll think I'm spamming you by simply exposing you to stuff that, yes, can be purchased.
As if you are an addict that HAS to buy everything that comes in sight!
:)
Links for more info about this subject:


More links, to personalized stamps from USA and about 25 more countries:

My friend, Peter C. Elias, has a lot of information and examples of interesting personalized stamps

Dentelli Stravaganti [Unusual stamps] - images of personalized stamps from around the world!

The personalized stamps (from many countries) section of "A World-Wide List of Turtles and Tortoises on Stamps" by Donald N. Riemer

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I just got off the phone with Zazzle (1-888-8ZAZZLE).

Here's the trick:


[for the record, I leave as "text with strikethrough line" the previous statements, and conflicting statements from Zazzle phone reps]

To design US zazzle stamps, you can do it ONLY thru zazzle.com.
NOT thru any of these sites: http://www.zazzle.com/international.
UPDATE: contrary to what I thought (and to what was confirmed on the phone by zazzle rep), the subsequent email from her shows that YOU CAN DESIGN Zazzle US postage from (at least) the following 4 local sites:



**In the case of orders placed through Zazzle's International web portals, the local tax and customs fees are covered by Zazzle. Separate customs charges will not apply unless the order is shipped outside of the region covered by the portal's distinct agreement with the local customs office. For more information, on what to expect when ordering through one of the Zazzle international portals, please select your local Zazzle site:

To buy zazzle stamps from outside US, you can do it ONLY thru an international zazzle site (local site): http://www.zazzle.com/international.
NOT thru zazzle.com.
To have that postage shipped, your country HAS TO BE on the approved list.
If not, you arrange with somebody from such a country.

OK? :)


That was the info that I got on the phone from a customer service representative.
Then I received this email from her - I still want to verify if these links are compatible, or not, with what she said:
Hello Dorin,

Thanks for contacting the support team at Zazzle.com.

I have inserted a few links below for your review.

International Shipping Destinations
http://zazzle.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/453

Overseas shipping options and rates
http://zazzle.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/149

Zazzle Manufacturing & Turnaround Times
http://zazzle.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/145

Ordering Zazzle Stamps outside of the USA
http://zazzle.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/641


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you have any more questions, we're always glad to address your concerns.
For more immediate answers, don't forget to check our help section here:https://www.Zazzle.com/help?CMPN=cs




"Currently we do offer Stamps for sale internationally.
It is important to note the following regarding international orders for Zazzle stamps:
1. International orders for Zazzle Stamps are only available through our international websites (not through www.Zazzle.com). Attempting to ship stamps outside of the U.S. through the www.zazzle.com portal will result in an error during the checkout process. 
2. All Zazzle stamps are sold in US denominations pre-determined by the US Postal Sevice. A full list of those available denominations follow:
* $0.28: postcards
* $0.44: First-class, 1 oz
* $0.64: 1 oz mailings, unusual shapes
* $0.61: 2 oz mailings
* $0.78: 3 oz mailings
* $0.95: 3.5 oz mailings
* $1.39: 4 oz mailings
* $4.90: Priority Mail (up to 16 oz)
3. You can get started with your International Zazzle Stamp order here:
New Zealand: Zazzle.co.nz
Stamp info page: http://www.zazzle.co.nz/custom/stamps?CMPN=cs
Stamp Design tool: http://www.zazzle.co.nz/cr/design/pt-stamp?CMPN=cs 
Public Stamp Designs: http://www.zazzle.co.nz/stamps?CMPN=cs "



UPDATE 02 March 2011:
 Because yesterday I had another Zazzle rep tell me on the phone that "you can only design and buy zazzle stamps thru zazzle.com" regardless of where you are in the world, I have emailed Zazzle about all this.
Here's the answer:

"Response Via Email (Hollie)03/02/2011 11:50 AM
Hello Dorin,


Thanks for contacting our support team.


Currently we do offer Zazzle Custom Stamps for sale internationally. It is important to note the following regarding international orders for Zazzle Custom Stamps.


1. International orders for Zazzle Custom Stamps are only available through the international Zazzle portals** (not through www.zazzle.com). Attempting to ship stamps outside of the U.S. through the www.zazzle.com portal will result in an error during the checkout process.


2. All Zazzle Custom Stamps are sold in US denominations pre-determined by the US Postal Service. A full list of those available denominations follow:


* $0.28: Postcards
* $0.44: First-class, 1 oz.
* $0.64: 1 oz. mailings, unusual shapes
* $0.61: 2 oz. mailings
* $0.78: 3 oz. mailings
* $0.95: 3.5 oz. mailings
* $1.39: 4 oz. mailings
* $4.95: Priority Mail (up to 16 oz.)


3. **Stamps are available internationally through the following portals:


United Kingdom (www.zazzle.co.uk)
Zazzle Custom Stamp info page: http://www.zazzle.co.uk/custom/stamps?CMPN=cs
Zazzle Custom Stamp design tool: http://www.zazzle.co.uk/cr/design/pt-stamp?CMPN=cs
Zazzle Custom Stamp public designs: http://www.zazzle.co.uk/stamps?CMPN=cs


Australia (www.zazzle.com.au)
Zazzle Custom Stamp info page: http://www.zazzle.com.au/custom/stamps?CMPN=cs
Zazzle Custom Stamp design tool: http://www.zazzle.com.au/cr/design/pt-stamp?CMPN=cs
Zazzle Custom Stamp public designs: http://www.zazzle.com.au/stamps?CMPN=cs


Canada (www.zazzle.ca)
Zazzle Custom Stamp info page: http://www.zazzle.ca/custom/stamps?CMPN=cs
Zazzle Custom Stamp design tool: http://www.zazzle.ca/cr/design/pt-stamp?CMPN=cs
Zazzle Custom Stamp public designs: http://www.zazzle.ca/stamps?CMPN=cs


New Zealand (www.zazzle.co.nz)
Zazzle Custom Stamp info page: http://www.zazzle.co.nz/custom/stamps?CMPN=cs
Zazzle Custom Stamp design tool: http://www.zazzle.co.nz/cr/design/pt-stamp?CMPN=cs
Zazzle Custom Stamp public designs: http://www.zazzle.co.nz/stamps?CMPN=cs


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you have any more questions, we're always glad to address your concerns.
For more immediate answers, don't forget to check our help section here: https://www.Zazzle.com/help?CMPN=cs


Best Regards,
Hollie
Customer Support Team
Zazzle Inc."


UPDATE 16 MARCH 2011

I spoke on the phone 1-888-8ZAZZLE (1-888-892-9953)with Jillina @zazzle, and she checked with her supervisor.
Zazzle stamps can ONLY be shipped to an US address!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The best procedure is this:

1) you can design zazzle personalized stamps by registering at zazzle.com (the main US website of Zazzle), regardless of where in the world you reside.
Put them in the Public Gallery so you can receive royalty payments (thru PayPal or check) from Zazzle, should your products find buyers!

2) you can order zazzle stamps ONLY from zazzle.com (not the regional zazzle portals!), regardless of where in the world is your billing address associated with your credit card.

3) you can ONLY receive those stamps at an address in USA! So you better get a partner/friend in USA! :)

======================================================
Happy Sunday Stamps!



Friday, February 25, 2011

President Abraham Lincoln - I created a set of dorincards with the 4 stamps from the 2009 series 'Lincoln 200th Anniversary of birth'. As postcard support for that, I used a multiview real postcard, two educational cards with explanatory text on the back, and a circulated ad(vertising) postcard 'commercially available' only for Sprint to send as junk mail to ITS [not IT'S] customers. Happy Postcard Friday meme!

"We interrupt this broadcast" to specify that I dedicate this blogpost, during the Presidents Day week-long unofficial celebration, to Beth Niquette, blogger extraordinnaire and all-around good person [unless she lives a double life...OMG!] , who commits a lot of resources (time, intellectual effort, etc.) for us to enjoy several blogs, including
where every Friday anybody can participate in the Happy Postcard Friday meme!

She discovered, thru genealogic research and evidence, that she is a descendant of Abraham Lincoln!!!


I took this series of 4 stamps about Lincoln:
and I decided to create non-traditional maximum cards, since I didn't have "real, commercial postcards" to create traditional maximum cards.

See other stamps with US presidents here:










Read about Lincoln:

==================
Happy PFF (Postcard Friendship Friday)!
Please visit: http://thebestheartsarecrunchy.blogspot.com/ (wait until Beth posts the today's Linky tool for the meme, then make your entry, if you want to join).

Thursday, February 24, 2011

You may play Macao-the-card-game, but don't play with Macao-the-parrot! It may remove your eye (then you'll need an...iPatch) or it may give you the finger (after it cuts it from you). The Scarlet Macaw (Ara macao) - a beautiful, engraved stamp on a 2004 maximum card/ maxicard/ dorincard written and sent to me in 2011 as a simple postcard from the Czech Republic, by my Czech-German friend Wenzel.


Can you see the hearts here?
What we can't see anymore is the miniature sheet that was affixed on the left half of the postcard.
LESSON LEARNED: never overestimate your BODILY EFFLUVIA, such as saliva. Or a weak glue. Instead, affix with enough glue to make it stick.
Make it hard for the postal thieves or the impersonal, brutal Automated Postal Systems to tear off the stamps from your mail piece.


Many years ago, I casually played Macao, a version of the French card game "21".
That's not the point here.
However: here's how to play Crazy Eights / Macau / Macaua:

"Macau (traditional Chinese澳門), also spelled Macao (play /məˈk/), is, along with Hong Kong, one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China
It lies on the western side of the Pearl River Delta, bordering Guangdong provinceto the north and facing the South China Sea to the east and south.[6]

The territory's economy is heavily dependent on gambling and tourism but also includes manufacturing.
Macau was a Portuguese colony and both the first and last European colony in China.[7][8] Portuguese traders first settled in Macau in the 16th century and subsequently administered the region until the handover on 20 December 1999
The Sino-Portuguese Joint Declaration and the Basic Law of Macau stipulate that Macau operates with a high degree of autonomy until at least 2049, fifty years after the transfer.[9]  [DORIN'S NOTE: then what???]
Under the policy of "one country, two systems", the PRC's Central People's Governmentis responsible for the territory's defense and foreign affairs, while Macau maintains its own legal systempolice force, monetary system, customs policy, and immigration policy
Macau participates in many international organizations and events that do not require members to possess national sovereignty.[9][10] 
According to the CIA factbook, Macau has the highest life expectancy in the world.[11]"
But that's not the point here, either.

The point is Macao The Parrot: The Scarlet Macaw (Ara macao).


"The Scarlet Macaw (Ara macao) is a large, colorful macaw. It is native to humid evergreen forests in the American tropics. Range extends from extreme south-eastern Mexico to Amazonian PeruBolivia and Brazil in lowlands up to 500 m (1,640 ft) (at least formerly) up to 1,000 m (3,281 ft). It has suffered from local extinction through habitat destruction and capture for the parrot trade, but locally it remains fairly common. Formerly it ranged north to southern Tamaulipas. It can still be found on the island of Coiba. It is the national bird of Honduras."


"As Pets

Scarlet Macaws are quite demanding of time and resources, and in general, make for a rude, noisy, messy, and destructive house guest. 
One should spend a lot of time reading about these birds before inviting them into your home. 
Any large macaw can easily remove a finger, or remove
 your eye while perched on your shoulder. 
Not always aggressive, they are always somewhat unpredictable, even around experienced handlers."

Scarlet Macaw, less dangerous than Scarface [gangster Al Capone - he gave a new meaning to Be my Valentine: The St. Valentine's Day Massacre eliminated some of Capone's enemies, but outraged the general public].


Scarlet Macaw, more brightly-colored than ScarJo [actress Scarlett Johansson].

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