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 Since then some of the information may be out-of-date depending on how far back you're reading.

May 2003

The Internet Ad Bureau recommends larger ads, business managers recommend more of them and even AOL Time Warner is trying to figure out how to really cash in on their internet instant messaging program. Imagine ICQ'ing your pal and saying "The Packers will beat San Diego" and within 10 seconds getting fresh ads for San Diego hotels and Bart Starr memorabilia.

Sounds like time for some regulation, but advertisers will run more ads against it and for the First Amendment. Again, the fool prospers, which goes to show how un-real advertising really is.

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Military Post

Perhaps no area of philately runs head long into history and public awareness as military postal history. Mail from areas of conflict are sought after by many non-philatelists or postal historians for the letter or cover's close association to the war. They are immediate proof of something larger than life people can hold in their hand, and mail from servicemen can reveal the fragile foundations of these events often more telling and gripping than any book or newspaper.

Military Postal History Society
http://homepage.mac.com/mphs/home.html

[UK] Forces Postal History Society
http://homepage.mac.com/ww2censor/fphs/fphs.html

Canadian Forces Philatelic Society
http://www.sfu.ca/~dgronbec/cfpshome.htm

Austro-Hungarian Military Mail 1914-1918
http://www.kitzbuhel.demon.co.uk/austamps/dixnut/index.htm

Anglo-Boer War Philatelic Society
http://www.boerwarsociety.org/

Field Post in (Latvian) Kurland 1944-1945
http://bpp.de/wvanloo/main.htm

Naturally, all covers require research and there are many places on the Web with data, one of which is a site with a great collection of suitable links.  

World War II on the Web
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Oracle/2691/welcome.htm

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New Browsers

I hear you saying, "Another free IE-based browser. Why?" In the case of SlimBrowser 3.47, the answer is resource-light and Web-friendly surfing. These sorts of browsers run on all Windows systems and simply add their browser onto the existing resources.

SlimBrowser offers multiple-site browsing with a tab-page interface, a pop-up ad filter, a toolbar for queries to multiple search engines, some auto-login features, integrated online dictionaries and language translation, and some skins.

SlimBrowser
http://www.flashpeak.com/sbrowser/sbrowser.htm

Of course, if you're hunting for something really low tech, Lynx is for you. It's the traditional text-based Web browser and what the old Web used to look like before graphic browsers. Imagine what the advertisers would do, if 80% of the surfers switched to Lynx!

Lynx Browser
http://lynx.browser.org/

Lynx Info
http://www.trill-home.com/lynx.html

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Glassine Surfer

Though all this chat on how to get around the Web's door-to-door salesmen gets tiring, it might save you hours of frustration, and it's better to be prepared.

Though the time spent in preparation is lost forever, it's nothing compared to what the unprepared can lose. Follow my advice. Save your AP's in a box, and when you have some trouble, re-read the pertinent column, and I'll bet you turn the page and re-read about the more important things in those issues, like stamps.

The Glassine Surfer archive is online along with other stories, help, and links to stamp collecting sites. We also host the Sociable Stamp Society chats online on Sunday and Wednesday evenings at eight o’clock eastern. Just click on “chat.”

The Glassine Surfer
http://www.glassinesurfer.com

Thanks for supporting the “Glassine Surfer.” Remember to help your fellow stamp collectors and support your local clubs. See you online.