Stamp Column Archives

The Glassine Surfer Column Archive

This column originally appeared in the American Philatelic Society's monthly magazine, "The American Philatelist." Since then some of the information may be out-of-date depending on how far back you're reading.

February 2001

February's a month for personal matters and is known for its three big celebrations.  The furry rodent of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, kicks off the festivities on the second with Ground Hog's Day, when Phil prognosticates the future of winter.

Then comes the chocolate, flowers and other affections of Valentine's Day on the 14th, and though Valentine's Day is always a memorable day, it pales in intensity to the annual explosion of Mardi Gras (Feb. 27, 2001).  And yet somewhere in all of this, comes "President's Day," an ugly duckling holiday if there ever was one.

George Washington and Abraham Lincoln were once both honored with an official holiday on their birthdays, the 22d and the 12th, respectively, but to save some Federal payroll expenses President Nixon lumped the two birthdays together into one, and in 1971 President's Day was born.

This gerrymandered holiday isn't heart felt, and doesn't engender passion, memories or aspirations.  It just seems a good day for sales at the mall, and even the post office has abandoned the old Presidents, much as we have the new.  The 2001 new issue calendar doesn't list any national historic person, place or event, much less a President.

They all seem rather parochial and, by comparison, somewhat trivial, but like I said, this is a month for personal things so I will spend the month with tong, gauge and glass in hand lost in philatelic revelry which to some is just the same as Mardi Gras.

3 February 1943

A long time ago in the freezing waters off Greenland a U.S. ship was torpedoed and sank. Just after midnight on February 3, 1943, 672 U.S. servicemen on the U.S.A.T Dorchester died in the North Atlantic, among them four chaplains who tended to the suffering wounded on the ship as it sank.

The chaplains were John Washington, Clark Poling, Alexander Goode and George Fox; a Catholic priest, a Dutch Reformed minister, a Jewish rabbi and a reverend of the Methodist church, respectively.  Five years later the "Immortal Chaplains" stamp was issued, and though that may be a long time ago, their story of compassion, to the point of sacrificing their own lives, is still one of the era's brightest rays of hope.

The story is forever enshrined by the stamp design by Louis Schwimmer, and you can read about the chaplains and the stamp on the web.  The daughter of the stamp's designer has a web site about her father's work, adding a personal dimension to an otherwise mythic tale.

The Story of the Four Chaplains Stamp
http://www.schwimmer.com/fourchaplains

The Immortal Chaplains
http://www.immortalchaplains.org/

The Four Chaplains
http://www.fourchaplains.org/

U-223
http://uboat.net/boats/u223.htm

Free Opera

Opera is a Web browser, sometimes referred to as the "other one," but if browsers were cars, Microsoft's and Netscape's products would be 1984 Lincoln Continentals and Opera would be an early-'70's muscle car, maybe a Shelby Mustang.

The two top browsers are loaded with code, plug-ins and extraneous programs like Outlook and Communicator with an eye on integrating the browser with the maker's other commercial ventures on the web.  On the other hand, Opera is a versatile and fast Internet browser from a company in Norway, meant to get surfers the information that they want fast.

Opera started in '95.  I used it for a long time, but just about the time they started charging for it, Microsoft grew up and the Browser Wars started in the US.  Now Opera's taken a page from Eudora's strategy book and are offering Opera 5.0 for free with a small banner ad.