Two Firsts for Canadian Stamps

The CityBeat.com website reports two firsts for Canadian stamps...

#1 First Canadian stamps to feature bands rather than individual performers.

#2 First Canadian stamp to show a naked butt.

The stamps are part of the Canadian Recording Artist series which in the past has featured individual performers such as Paul Anka, Joni Mitchell, Anne Murray and Gordon Lightfoot among others.

The new stamps pay tribute to the bands The Tragically Hip, Beau Dommage, The Guess Who and Rush The Rush stamp shows their logo containing “star man” whose butt is exposed.

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New French Stamp Stirs Controversy

RFI, a French public service radio station and website for people around the world, reports, "A new version of the well-known French postal stamp picturing Marianne, a fictional revolutionary hero, has stirred debate after its designer explained that his inspiration was a controversial Ukrainian feminist, now based in Paris."

Olivier Ciappa, one of the stamp's designers, when asked who was the model for Marianne, was quoted as saying she was "a mix of several women, but particularly Inna Shevchenko."

According to the piece, "The 23-year-old Shevchenko, who has been granted political asylum in France, is the leader of the French branch of Femen, a group which began in Ukraine and describes itself as "radical feminist" and is "best known for topless protests and frequently targets Catholic or Muslim religious authorities."

The article went on to say, "President Francois Hollande asked a group of 15 and 16 year old school students to choose the stamp from a selection designed by different artists. It was unveiled at an official ceremony on Sunday, Bastille Day."

On Monday, the leader of the France’s newly-formed Christian Democratic Party called for a boycott of the new stamp. 

Shown above, the new controversial stamp and one of its designers.

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American Philatelic Research Library Recieves Major Gift

American Philatelic Research Library (APRL)  has announced that Thomas J. Alexander has donated his entire postal history research archive and library to the APRL.
 
According to an e-mail announcement by the APRL, "The donation includes Alexander’s entire philatelic library, consisting of many hundreds of books, along with copious notes, clippings, and research files. The materials reflect his broad range of interests, including but not limited to the early United   States postal issues, steamboat mail, western forts, and the postal history of Kansas and Missouri.  Also included are many photocopies of collections and exhibits, both his own and those of other now-departed postal historians. Over the coming months, the assemblage of materials will be inventoried in detail, catalogued, and stored for use by philatelic scholars."

The gift was facilitated by the U.S. Philatelic Classics Society Inc. (USPSC), of which Alexander was President in 1981-1984. The USPCS provided a grant to cover shipping the 326 bankers boxes to Bellefonte, and the hiring of a library intern to process the collection and create a finding aid.

Shown above, Tara Murray, Director of Information Services/Librarian with some of the donated material. 

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Personal Mail Photographed for Law Enforcement

United Press International (UPI) reports, "The U.S. Postal Service photographs all mail processed nationwide in a program similar to U.S. electronic surveillance, officials and security experts say."

"Basically they are doing the same thing as the other programs, collecting the information on the outside of your mail -- the metadata, if you will -- of names, addresses, return addresses and postmark locations, which gives the government a pretty good map of your contacts, even if they aren't reading the contents," computer security expert Bruce Schneier told The New York Times.

According to the article, "The warrantless surveillance program for law enforcement is called Mail Isolation Control and Tracking. It's been in effect almost 11 years."

The Mail Isolation Control and Tracking program was created after the anthrax attacks in late 2001 that killed five people, including two postal workers, and infected 17 others.

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