Whew! Things got a bit heavy here at Solipsist Nation for the last couple of days. In honor of Friday, then, we present something on the lighter side.
It will relieve Sloppists to know that hard-hitting, in-depth investigative journalism has not disappeared. The front page of today's Times attests to that. Unfortunately, the Times' front page features not their own hard-hitting, in-depth investigative journalism, but that of one of their major competitors, Linn's Stamp News.
Yes, Sloppists, scandal has rocked the philatelic world to a degree unseen since some yutz printed an airplane upside down.
(DIGRESSION: How did people know the airplane was printed upside down? Maybe everyone was just holding their sheet of stamps by the wrong end. EOD)
Since December, the United States Post Office has sold "Forever" stamps bearing the image of the Statue of Liberty. The only problem? The "Lady Liberty" peering out verdigristically at the Luddite slapping her onto a piece of snail-mail is not, in fact, the familiar icon who looms over New York harbor; it's her Las Vegas doppelganger. The mistake was caught by a keen-eyed stamp collector, who also happens to be a Statue of Liberty "Superfan." (Sorry, Ladies, we don't know whether he's single.)
While the two statues have major differences--as the article helfully points out, "The Las Vegas statue is half the size of the real Statue of Liberty. And of course, they are in different cities" (thanks, New York Times)--the headshot pictured on the stamp is distingishable from the New York version through subtle variations noticeable only to a keen-eyed observer: slight differences in hairstyle, more definition around the eyes, a rhinestone-encrusted crown. . . .
What can we learn from this episode? As former NYC-Mayor Ed Koch said, "It simply means the post office is doing a stupid thing."
It will relieve Sloppists to know that hard-hitting, in-depth investigative journalism has not disappeared. The front page of today's Times attests to that. Unfortunately, the Times' front page features not their own hard-hitting, in-depth investigative journalism, but that of one of their major competitors, Linn's Stamp News.
Yes, Sloppists, scandal has rocked the philatelic world to a degree unseen since some yutz printed an airplane upside down.
(DIGRESSION: How did people know the airplane was printed upside down? Maybe everyone was just holding their sheet of stamps by the wrong end. EOD)
Since December, the United States Post Office has sold "Forever" stamps bearing the image of the Statue of Liberty. The only problem? The "Lady Liberty" peering out verdigristically at the Luddite slapping her onto a piece of snail-mail is not, in fact, the familiar icon who looms over New York harbor; it's her Las Vegas doppelganger. The mistake was caught by a keen-eyed stamp collector, who also happens to be a Statue of Liberty "Superfan." (Sorry, Ladies, we don't know whether he's single.)
While the two statues have major differences--as the article helfully points out, "The Las Vegas statue is half the size of the real Statue of Liberty. And of course, they are in different cities" (thanks, New York Times)--the headshot pictured on the stamp is distingishable from the New York version through subtle variations noticeable only to a keen-eyed observer: slight differences in hairstyle, more definition around the eyes, a rhinestone-encrusted crown. . . .
What can we learn from this episode? As former NYC-Mayor Ed Koch said, "It simply means the post office is doing a stupid thing."
Solipsistography
"This Lady Liberty Is a Las Vegas Teenager"
Image of "Inverted Jenny" from Internet Time Blog
You, understandably, make the same mistake many others have, since the stamp was issued. You assume it, in fact, is supposed to be a picture of the statue of "Liberty" (which, by the way is the correct way of citing it. Since the name of the statue is "Liberty Lights the World" , 'statue' should not be capitalised!).
ReplyDeleteIn fact, this is NOT a picture of ANY statue, of Liberty or anything else, it is a photograph of one Estelle Rothblatt of New Canaan, Ct, a very nice lady with an unfortunate skin/hair condition, and the poster child the rare, but heartbreaking disease VENLUSH (VEry Nice Ladies with Unfortunate Skin/Hair). Send your tax free gift to National Venlush Fndtn; Your City, USA. Thank You.