Wednesday, January 11, 2012

U.S. Stamp: Jack London


John Griffith "Jack" London was an American author, journalist, and social activist. He was a pioneer in the then-burgeoning world of commercial magazine fiction and was one of the first fiction writers to obtain worldwide celebrity and a large fortune from his fiction alone. Jack London was able to produce more than 50 books before his death in 1916 at age 40. London's best-known novels, The Call of the Wild, White Fang, and The Sea-Wolf.

Monday, January 9, 2012

Indonesian Stamp: Chaetodon Ephippium


The Saddle Butterflyfish, Chaetodon ephippium, is a species of butterflyfish (family Chaetodontidae). It is found in the Indian and Pacific Oceans from Sri Lanka and the Cocos-Keeling Islands to the Hawaiian, Marquesan and Tuamoto islands, north to southern Japan, south to Rowley Shoals and New South Wales in Australia.
It is a large butterflyfish, at up to 30 cm (nearly 12 in) long together with the Lined Butterflyfish (C. lineolatus) the giant among its genus. In shape it resembles certain angelfishes more than most of its relatives. The overall color is yellowish grey, with a large black spot bordered below by a broad white band on the back and wavy blue lines on the lower sides. The throat and the outline of the hind parts is bright yellow. Adults have a filament extending posteriorly from the upper part of the soft portion of the dorsal fin.

Sunday, January 8, 2012

U.S. Stamp: New Orleans steamboat


The New Orleans was the first steamboat on the western waters of the United States. Its 1811-1812 voyage from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to New Orleans, Louisiana on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers ushered in the era of commercial steamboat navigation on the western rivers.

Saturday, January 7, 2012

U.S. Stamp: Red-headed Woodpecker


The Red-headed Woodpecker, Melanerpes erythrocephalus, is a small or medium-sized woodpecker from temperate North America. Their breeding habitat is open country across southern Canada and the eastern-central United States.