Sputnik 2 was a Soviet spacecraft launched on November 3, 1957, just one month after the successful launch of the first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1. Unlike its predecessor, which was a simple sphere with a radio transmitter, Sputnik 2 was much larger and more complex. It weighed approximately 1,120 kg and was equipped with a life support system, a telemetry system, and a reentry system. But what made Sputnik 2 so significant was that it carried a living creature, a dog named Laika, who became the first animal to orbit the Earth.

Laika was a stray dog found on the streets of Moscow. She was selected for the mission because of her size, temperament, and the fact that she had already survived a number of other tests and procedures. Before the flight, Laika was trained to eat a special high-nutrition gel, to be strapped into a special harness, and to remain motionless for long periods of time.

Unfortunately, the mission was not designed to be a safe return flight for Laika. The technology to safely return a living creature from orbit had not yet been developed, so it was a one-way mission. The goal of the mission was to study the effects of spaceflight on a living creature, with a particular focus on the effects of radiation and weightlessness.

Sputnik 2 was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and entered orbit around the Earth. Laika was alive for several hours after launch, and her vital signs were monitored remotely. However, the spacecraft’s thermal control system failed, and temperatures inside the spacecraft rose rapidly. After just a few hours in orbit, Laika died from overheating.

The announcement of Laika’s death provoked an international outcry. Animal rights activists and others criticized the Soviet Union for putting a living creature in such a dangerous and deadly situation. The mission also had a significant impact on the space race, as it demonstrated the Soviet Union’s technological prowess in space exploration and intensified the competition between the Soviet Union and the United States.

In the years since the mission, Laika has become a cultural icon and a symbol of both the early days of space exploration and the ethical questions surrounding the use of animals in scientific research. Despite the controversy and tragedy surrounding the mission, it remains a landmark achievement in the history of space exploration and a testament to human ingenuity and curiosity.

With all the media in 2023 abuzz about classified material being found at Donald Trump’s estate in Florida and in Joe Biden’s garage next to his Corvette, it is only logical to write about Thomas Pickering and his run in with classified material.

Timothy Pickering (1745-1829) was an American statesman who served in a variety of high-level government positions during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He was born in Massachusetts and studied law before becoming involved in politics.

Pickering served as a member of the Continental Congress from 1777 to 1781, where he was an advocate for the American Revolution. He later served as a delegate to the Massachusetts convention that ratified the U.S. Constitution in 1788.

In 1791, President George Washington appointed Pickering as Postmaster General, a position he held until 1795. He then served as Secretary of War from 1795 to 1796 and as Secretary of State from 1795 to 1800 under Presidents Washington and John Adams.

During his tenure as Secretary of State, Pickering was involved in several controversial issues, including the XYZ Affair, which led to the Quasi-War between the United States and France.

In 1810 he was a member of the House of Representatives under President James Madison. President Madison, on October 27th, declared that the Spanish Possession of West Florida was now property of the United States because it fell under the Louisiana Purchase.

Now Pickering was not a liked man. He was fired as Secretary of State by John Adams for disloyalty to the Administration, had called George Washington “a much overrated, semi-literate mediocrity” and was known to have worked to overthrow the first four presidents.

So, when James Madison issued the proclaimation, Pickering stood up to speak against it and produced a document from France’s foreign minister, Charles Tallyrand stating that West Florida was not part of the Louisiana Purchase. The only problem was the document was classified.

His enemies took the opportunity to take up a resolution of censure stating that he had released information that had yet to be de-classified. Pickering became the first of nine U.S. Senators to be officially censured.

This innocent little green stamp from Kashmir in 1867 was printed with an ink made from “Paris Green” a highly toxic compound. Also known as Schweinfurt green, Emerald or Vienna green. It is a highly toxic emerald-green crystalline powder that has been used as a rodenticide and insecticide and also as a pigment, despite its toxicity. It got it’s name by being used to kill rats in the sewer in Paris.

Balloons are very popular with topical collectors and you can find many stamps featuring balloons from many countries. I think a lot of the popularity has to do with the US Zeppelin airmails of the U.S., another set I will never probably own.

In any case, the one above issued in 1936 in France features François Pilâtre de Rozier (1754-1785), physicist and balloonist. Francois (let’s just call him Frank) first saw a balloon in June of 1783 when he witnessed the first public demonstration of a balloon by the Montgolfier brothers. Later, in September. he would assist with the untethered flight of a sheep, a cockerel, and a duck from the front courtyard of the Palace of Versailles. French King Louis XVI.

Pushing the ballooning envelope he petitioned to be one of the pilots of the first manned balloon flight. Originally criminals would have been used, due to the threat of death, but he wanted the prestige. In November, 1783 he, and a companion, flew for a 25 minute trip and landed safely.

His final flight was an attempt to fly from France to England over the English channel. At a certain point, while 1,500 feet in the air, his balloon caught fire and he plunged to his death.

Balloons flying in France has always been looked at as a status symbol. In 19th Century Paris, two men, Monsieur de Grandpre and Monsieur de Pique quarreled over the affection of a woman. Rather than simply have a due to the death on the ground they decided to take their dispute to the air. In May of 1808 they each rose into the air in separate balloons armed with shotguns and accompanied by a co-pilot (what was he thinking?).

De Pique fired and missed. Be Grandpre hit De Piques balloon which plummeted to the ground killing both passengers.

Pretty classy way to die. huh?

James Garfield (1831-1881) was the 20th President of the United States, serving from March to September 1881. He was born in a log cabin in Ohio, and he grew up in poverty, working on a farm to help support his family.

Garfield attended Williams College in Massachusetts, and he later became a professor of classics and mathematics at Hiram College in Ohio. He was also a preacher in the Disciples of Christ church.

Garfield served in the Union Army during the Civil War, rising to the rank of major general. After the war, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, where he became known for his support of civil rights and education.

In 1880, Garfield was nominated as the Republican candidate for President, and he won the election by a narrow margin. His presidency was short-lived, however, as he was shot by an assassin just four months into his term. Garfield struggled to recover from his wounds, but he eventually died of infection 11 weeks later.

His assassin, Charles Guiteau, shot him in the back and the arm. The location of the shooting is now the site of the National Gallery of the Art in Washington D.C. Guiteau was arrested and held for trial. Much like Charles Manson, he attracted many fans who came to see him. The guards even allowed him to hold a New Years Eve ball that hundreds attended to wish him well. In his words, “They don’t, any of them, wish to see me hung. Everybody was very glad to see me. They all expressed the opinion without one dissenting voice that I would be acquitted.”

Men would come to shake his hand, women brought their children to meet him and he even put out a call for a wife who should be “a nice Christian lady under 30 years of age.”

Guiteau claimed he was told to kill the president by God and that he wasn’t actually the one to kill him. This was partly true as the doctor who cared for the President used his unwashed, dirty hands and fingers to remove the bullet from his abdomen, most likely causing the infection that ultimately killed him.

Guiteau would be hung but before he was he read a poem called, :I am going to the Lordy”

President Garfield was shot on the National Mall. The site only got a plaque in 2018.

The pottery seen in the stamp above is from a small tribe that got quite a bit of press back in the 1950’s. The Huaorani.

The Huaorani are an indigenous people of the Amazon rainforest in Ecuador. They are also known as the Waorani or the Waodani, and they have traditionally lived as semi-nomadic hunter-gatherers in the remote regions of the Ecuadorian Amazon.

The Huaorani have a long history of conflict with outsiders, particularly with the oil companies that have exploited the natural resources in their territory. In the 1950s and 1960s, the Huaorani were the target of a campaign by missionaries to “civilize” them. At the time the tribe consisted of about 500 people separated into three groups of warring factions. They were known to be fierce fighters and cannibals.

On January 8th, 1956, a group of Christian missionaries made it their goal to bring the word of God to the tribe. They flew in circles around the island lowering and dropping gifts. Thinking that this warmed the tribe up and they were open to a visit, they landed the plane on a sandbar and approached the tribe bearing more gifts. It took the missionaries three days to entice them out of the treeline onto the beach. When they finally came out they offered them gifts and the Huaorani reciprocated and offered gifts of their own.

The missionaries offered members of the tribe rides in the airplane. The first to ride, a man named Nankiwi, went up with his girlfriend. Upon returning, he and his girlfriend encountered the tribal leaders who were irate because he had been unchaperoned which was against the tribal rules. Rather than taking the blame Nankiwi told the elders he and his girlfriend were kidnapped by the missionaries. The elders called for the missionaries to be killed. All five missionaries were killed and the airplane destroyed.

Predictably, that did not stop the church or oil companies from encroaching on their tribe. They raised funds and doubled down on their efforts

Today, the Huaorani are working to protect their land and way of life from further encroachment by oil companies and other outsiders. They established the Huaorani Ecolodge, a sustainable tourism project that allows visitors to experience their culture and the rainforest while also providing income for the Huaorani. However in 2017 they closed the Ecolodge project under pressure from the government and oil companies who wanted to do seismic testing in the area

http://www.huaorani.com/

Despite the challenges they face, the Huaorani continue to maintain their cultural traditions and connection to the land.

Remember – there are usually interesting stories behind stamps. You just have to do some research. Even a simple stamp about pottery can inform, educate and provide you a glimpse into a world you may know nothing about.

The above stamp from Nigeria shows Queen Nefertari on the Left and Rameses II (also spelled Ramses and Ramessess) aka Ramses the Great on the right. It was put out by UNESCO to help save the monument from the flooding that would have destroyed it.

But we are here to talk about Ramses. Before being named Pharaoh, Ramses, as a teenager, had ten sons and almost as many daughters. He has 6 to 8 main wives and many dozens of lesser wives and concubines. He is believed to have fathered at least 80 sons and 60 daughters.

All of this was planned. He wanted to build a dynasty around his bloodline. He gave all his male heirs important positions while training his first 12 sons to succeed him.

Things didn’t quite work out as planned. He outlived all his sons. His 13th son, Merenptah, did take over the throne but the Ramses dynasty was extinct in 150 years.

If you think 80 sons and 60 daughters is impressive. Wait until you see the stamp and story of Genghis Khan!

“If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all.”
― Oscar Wilde

Above is a stamp featuring George Washington that I am sure to never own. However, I can tell you a story about George that not many people know.

On October 5th, 1879, only five months into his presidency, President Washington went down to the The New York Society Library and checked out two books. One was titled, “The Law of Nations” and the other was volume 12 of the “Commons Debate”.

Now Washington was a busy man. Setting up the government, commanding the army and other small tasks probably caused him to forget to return the books to the library.

In 2010, two centuries later, an archivist at the library discovers that the books were never returned. The staff at Washington’s Mount Vernon estate can not find the books in his belongings either. Adjusted for inflation over 221 years, his fine exceeds $300,000.

Eventually, after searching, they were able to find a duplicate copy of “The Law of Nations” for $12,000 and the library considered the fine paid.

Friday the 13th has always been a day of dread. The number 13 is considered unlucky. Most buildings don’t have a 13th floor.

Friday, October 13, 1307 was no exception. It proved exceedingly unlucky for the Christian warriors calling themselves the Knights Templar and their Grand Master, Jacques de Molay.

The Knights Templar, in the name of Christ, became very, very wealth during the reign of King Philip IV of France and he began to worry that their popularity and wealth may weaken or undermine his authority. He was also indebted to them financially. In order to even things out he collaborated with Pope Clement V and accused them of crimes against the church including denying Christ, worshiping idols and spitting on the crucifix. Of course, none of these things had happened so to remedy that the King had the Knights Templars tortured until they confessed. Then he sentenced them all to be burned alive.

As the flames began to rise, Jacques de Molay, the Grand Master of the Knights Templar cursed King Philip and the Pope.

Did it work?

Well, perhaps. Both King Philip and Pope Clement were dead within the year. Both of Philips sons died young leaving behind no heirs. The kings bloodline was eradicated and his wealth had vanished.