Conquerors 2009 “There are many underhanded ways of making your conker harder. The best is to pass it through a pig." World Conker Champion – Charlie Bray. The World Conker Championships are on this weekend.
All the action from last year.
previously [1] [2]
In other news,
a cure for bleeding canker has been found, with a welcome side effect, leaf miners don't like having garlic breath.
posted by tellurian
on Oct 8, 2009 -
19 comments
European Stamps claims to have pictures of nearly 80% of all postage stamps issued in Europe. But if you're searching for an image of what is perhaps the world's most valuable stamp, often referred to as 'Philately's Greatest Error', you'd best look elsewhere. Like
here, specifically.
posted by Effigy2000
on Sep 16, 2007 -
9 comments
Many people want to legalize, regulate, and tax marijuana and other drugs, however, few know that many
U.S. states are content simply to tax. In fact,
even the federal government wants a share (middle of p. 89 of the PDF), and
used tax stamps in
early prohibition, but only the states have recently issued
issued cool
stamps (be sure to click "exhibit"). The point, of course, is not to actually tax the drugs, but to
penalize the drug dealers for tax evasion as well as drug sales.
They have brought in some money, though. A few interesting state government pages:
Conecticut,
Nebraska,
North Carolina and their
tax return form, and
Kansas.
posted by TheOnlyCoolTim
on Jan 15, 2007 -
30 comments
Pork flavored stamp. In celebration of the Year of the Pig, China is releasing a stamp that smells (when scratched) and tastes (when licked) of sweet-and-sour pork. I thought this was a pretty innovative idea for a stamp. But it's
not new. A few more
examples (scroll down to "scratch-and-sniff").
posted by ObscureReferenceMan
on Jan 11, 2007 -
25 comments
39¢ Heroes. On January 8, the price of a First Class
US Postage Stamp will creep up
another two cents. But fear not, True Believers, because 20 of those new stamps will feature costumed crusaders from DC Comics "including Superman, Wonder Woman, Plastic Man, Batman, Green Arrow and many more." (
Newsarama has more on the story, including the featured cover images for each hero.)
posted by grabbingsand
on Nov 30, 2005 -
33 comments
Postage stamps with a side of race baiting. The Mexican postal service released a series of five stamps today featuring a 1940's era cartoon of a fat lipped jug eared negro child, known for his hapless adventures, and his Aunt Jemima (classic edition, not modern sassy Jemima) mother.
posted by jonson
on Jun 29, 2005 -
28 comments
How Marvel convinced us to cut up our comics “The program destroyed the value of countless Marvel comics of this era, and missing value stamps are the bane of serious Bronze Age collectors.”
¶ I was ten years old and I collected all 100 Series A
Marvel Value Stamps, so I totally grooved on this remarkably comprehensive site. Ironically, the coolest artifacts are the
empty collector’s books, which show off the artwork best, in glorius black & white & red, without the crappy colour printing of the era.
posted by KS
on Jun 7, 2005 -
5 comments
Like most people who love mythical creatures (cryptozoology), I also collect stamps (philately). At last, someone has combined these twin fetishes in one
easily displayed fashion. My favorites include the
Loch Ness Monster and his ancient cousin the
Kraken, especially
these two which feature a guest appearance by Mickey Mouse.
posted by jonson
on Dec 29, 2004 -
23 comments
Bill Gates proposes an end to free email If the U.S. Postal Service delivered mail for free, our mailboxes would surely runneth over with more credit-card offers, sweepstakes entries, and supermarket fliers. That's why we get so much junk e-mail: It's essentially free to send. So Microsoft Corp. chairman Bill Gates, among others, is now suggesting that we start buying "stamps" for e-mail.
posted by wsg
on Mar 5, 2004 -
46 comments
Fatherland or Motherland.I was wondering why people say Motherland for Russia and Fatherland for Germany.I googled and didn't find an answer but did find an
artistamp exhibit that artistically tried to answer the question.
1,
2,
3,
4.And at the same site found a collection of other cool artistamps.
1,
2,
3,
4.
And also found a neat
gallery of cigarette packages from around the world.But my question still remains to be answered.(Oh,who cares,Motherland is where the
vodka is.)
posted by JohnR
on May 5, 2003 -
19 comments
If you're of a certain age, you will easily recognize
the sign. Warhol made
art out of them. Many
families whiled away lazy rainy days licking them. Despite being one of the most dominant forces in cosumer's lives during the middle of the 20th century, the 80s saw them fade away, and eventually
disappeared entirely just this year. Since 1999, though, they've been back, albeit in
virtual form. You might even still be able to
redeem your old stamps! Let's fondly remember the most
successful implementation of the granddaddy of all today's shopping '
reward' programs...
S&H Green Stamps!
posted by WolfDaddy
on Apr 14, 2003 -
7 comments
The Postage Stamps of Donald Evans (scroll down a paragraph or two) A rich and complex internal world expressed through postage stamp art.
'When Donald Evans (born Morristown, New Jersey USA in 1945) was a boy, he drifted from his hobby of collecting postage stamps to creating his own postage stamps of countries he made up in his imagination ... He left behind an astonishing planet seen through its nations' postage stamps, thousands of them, all drawn to postage-stamp size, with all the familiar periphery of postage stamps hand-done ... '
posted by plep
on Oct 28, 2002 -
18 comments
