Stamp Collecting for Beginners and Philatelists
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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 Since then some of the information may be out-of-date depending on how far back you're reading.
May 2002
I was always drawn to the e-text for those long out-of-print volumes by out-of-favor authors, and you never know what you will find in the stacks of e-texts. At Gutenberg, I searched on "detective" and came up with "Adventures In The Secret Service Of The Post-Office Department" by Patrick Henry Woodward (1833-1917).E-text's strong point is the content, and the weak point is its format. E-texts are great for working-text, but not so convenient for for leisurely reading. If you're researching a paper, they're easy to search and quote, but I'll never be able to read "Moby Dick" on my computer screen, nor will I print it out on regular paper.
Online Books
http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/
Project Gutenberg
http://promo.net/pg/
spam
And if you didn't already know, in 2001 analysts were predicting in that you'd be getting more spam in 2002. They projected that we'd all be getting 45% more spam this year than last year. When was the last time you got 45% of something for free without even asking for it.
Thankfully, there are a host of anti-spam programs available, among them SpamKiller, Spam Buster, Brightmail and Mailshell, but the spam war is a vicious cycle of spam-cure, spam-cure.
Today's solution is tomorrow's has-been, as spammers find ways to exploit the chinks in the armor, and though spam is annoying, spam, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.
Let's be happy that some kid doesn't invent pop-up spam tonight while we sleep.
Semper caveat emptor
Internet auction fraud is the #2 consumer-fraud complaint in the US, according to a the Federal Trade Commission report released in January. Internet fraud accounted for 10% of the complaints received by the FTC's Consumer Sentinel database, which collects data from around the country.
According to another FTC study of May 2001 Internet auction fraud accounts for 64% of all reported Internet fraud, but less than 1% of the Net's 1.3 million daily transactions are part of a fraudulent scheme.
Though you'll probably and hopefully not become the victim of a fraud, you should keep current and read over the latest reports on the topic. Your first stop ought to be the FTC, followed by your state's attorney-general's office.
To navigate to your home state, start at FirstGov.gov. It is the Yahoo! of federal and state Web sites.
FTC: Internet Auctions, A Guide for Buyers and Sellers
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/online/auctions.htm
FirstGov.gov
http://www.firstgov.gov/Agencies/State_and_Tribal.shtml
Internet Fraud Watch
http://www.fraud.org/internet/intinfo.htm
eBay Fraud Watch
http://pages.ebay.com/help/community/insurance.html
For the record, identity theft was the #1 complaint, accounting for 42% of the complaints recorded by the FTC.
Sites, anyone?
Is there a Web site that should be mentioned here? Send me your recommendation and share with the rest of the APS family. We all use the Net a little differently, and your experience will help many other people.
Just e-mail the URL to me along with your comments.
Lighthouses
Lighthouse stamps are very popular topical issues, and the Lighthouse Stamp Society is the place where aficionados can bask in the light of a philatelic Fresnel lens.
The LSS Web site covers the basics with club info, stamps, cancels, plus pages about lighthouses on phonecards and money, and the club has a bi-monthly publication, "The Philatelic Beacon," filled with articles and information.
The site's stamp page has a long list of lighthouses on stamps, ranked alphabetically, by country with each linked to a scan of the issue. And though I may be wrong, it seems that every country issuing stamps since 1970 has issued a lighthouse stamp, even Mongolia, San Marino, and Chad. It's a long list and a great topical site for any collector.
Lighthouse Stamp Society
http://www.LighthouseStampSociety.org
Surf Safely.
The Sociable Stamp Society chats Sundays and Wednesdays at 8pm. Come to the site and click on "chat".
The Glassine Surfer
http://www.glassinesurfer.com
The Glassine Surfer archives are online at the Glassine Surfer Web site. If you don't know what issue of the AP the Glassine Surfer covered the material you're looking for, just use the site's search box.
Thanks for reading and for all your support. Remember to surf safely and support your local stamp club.
