Request

To my cover-exchanging friends, please try as much as possible to
(1) WRITE THE ADDRESSES USING YOUR OWN HANDWRITING
as these give a more personal touch to the cover
(2) PLEASE DO NOT USE TAPE OR STICKERS ON THE REVERSE;
the Philippine postal service damages the cover with scribbling that highly devalues the aesthetic value of the cover, which is what I am after
(3) PLEASE TRY TO USE COMPLETE SETS
or at least same themes when sending covers, but it is okay if this is not possible or if this would be expensive, and
(4) PLEASE USE SMALL ENVELOPES,
not too small, but maybe around 4"x6" or something like that; big envelopes are not very attractive unless they have many stamps.
Thank you!

5.10.08

Polska

Hello again! I haven't been able post lately as I've been so busy, but thankfully this week I'll have a little more time to myself so I can update this blog with recent additions to my cover collection.

The cover below is one I received quite some time ago, in June if my memory serves me right. I saw it while rummaging through my collection earlier today and I thought it would be interesting to show it off since I think it's a pretty neat cover.



Here we have a registered FDC showcasing meteorological phenomena. Anyone who has ever gazed at the sky in wonder will often find something of interest. Be it a funny-shaped cloud or a rainbow, there is always spectacular about the the vast sea of blue above us. But sometimes there are things we do not see because we never have the time to look up at the sky and wait or simply because such phenomenon never happen where we live. According to the Poczta Polska website, "there are also many meteorological phenomena that may pass unwatched for us, and sometimes it is simply worth to look at the sky to see something beautiful and unusual." And perhaps this is why Poczta Polska issued this enchanting set.

Meteorology is a branch of science that investigates the atmospheric phenomena. Based on the results of measurements of the main parameters (such as the air temperature, humidity, pressure, and wind speed) and data provided by the radars, air probes, and satellites, we can analyze meteorological wonders. Meteorology plays a vital role for the different sectors of a country's economy, as in agriculture, for example, in order to avoid the catastrophic crops losses, or simply in flight control.

Meteorological phenomena can be subdivided into the following groups: hydrometeors (rain, hail, frost, tornado), lithometeors (dust or sand blizzards or whirls), photometeors (halo, rainbow, mirage), and electrometeors (storm, lightning, aurora borealis).

Each group is represented by one stamp. The hydrometeors are represented by the tornado, the lithometeors by the sand blizzard, the photometeors by the rainbow, and the electrometeor by the streaks of lightning.

Tornadoes, which are quite common in the dust bowl in the American Midwest, are huge, funnel-shaped whirls of air and liquefied water vapor that reach up to the clouds and spin at enormous speeds, sometimes reaching up to 400 kph! If they touch the ground, they wreck everything in their way and leave the areas through which they pass completely devastated.

Sand blizzards, which I believe are inexistent in the Philippines, are waves of sand carried up into the air by strong, hot winds. I have yet to experience one myself.

Rainbows are arches of diffracted sunlight. They are the result of refraction, diffraction and the total internal reflection of solar rays in the small raindrops in the atmosphere. They are visible only if the sun shines from behind of the observer and is sufficiently low (less than 40 degrees) above the horizon.

Lightning, which I guess it the most common of all the four, is an atmospheric electric discharge born in the high rainclouds. It is the result of great temperature gradient and the strong wind. Lightning is actually an electric spark which neutralizes the difference in charge between the cloud and the earth or between two individual clouds.

An odd thing that I noticed about the stamps, though, is that if you take a look at the rainbow stamp, the sky is darker on the left of the rainbow than it is on the right. I have seen rainbows before, but never with the sky having different shades on each side!

The FDC cancel was meant to mimic the funnel shape of a tornado, but I only figured that out when I read about it on the website. I like the stamps and the envelope, but I don't think they were able to pull it off with the cancel!

No comments: