Philately

Little did the creators of the Penny Black(pictured above) know that their creation would spawn a worldwide hobby called Philately.

The credit for coining the word Philately goes to Georges Herpin, who in 1864 took the Greek root word φιλ(ο)- phil(o)-, meaning “an attraction or affinity for something”, and ἀτέλεια ateleia, meaning “exempt from duties and taxes”, to form the word”philatélie” from which we get the word Philately.

What is Philately?

According to Wikipedia Philately is ” the study of postage stamps and postal history. It also refers to the collection and appreciation of stamps and other philatelic products. While closely associated with stamp collecting and the study of postage, it is possible to be a philatelist without owning any stamps. For instance, the stamps being studied may be very rare or reside only in museums.”

I am a stamp collector. I collect all stamps issued in the calendar year. I do have a theme that I concentrate on, namely, Indian Army battalions and Gandhi issues.

How do I collect stamps?

Very simple. Buy a good stamp stock book. Good ones are available online. Then, go to your nearest philatelic bureaux and start collecting. Most stamp bureaux have philatelic accounts where you can choose the items you want to purchase. They usually sell current dated issues. For older issues, you will have to approach dealers. To assist the budding collector, there are stamp catalogues such as Scott etc. Thus, stamp collecting has spawned a multi-million dollar industry.

There are two kinds of stamps: Defnitive – A stamp issued for ordinary postal use which remains on sale for an extended period. Commemorative – these stamps are issued to commemorate an event, personality, anniversary etc. These stamps are printed once and for a specific quantity. These are the stamps that make up the secondary stamp sale market. If you want older definitives such as those issued in the 19th century, you will have to approach auction houses and dealers or collectors willing to give or sell them to you.

Many people collect on a set theme. You could do the same. Collect stamps on a particular theme from around the world. You stand a good chance to make friends and increase your knowledge.

Welcome to the world of Philately and Stamp Collecting!!.

Glossary of Philatelic terms:

https://www.linns.com/news/postal-updates-page/glossary-terms-disabled.html

Click to access Glossary.pdf

https://www.warwickandwarwick.com/news/guides/philatelic-terms

VIETNAMESE COFFEE

Coffee is a big business in Vietnam. The Vietnamese coffee market is worth $ 1.2 billion. Vietnam is the second largest exporter of coffee.
The French introduced the Robusta variety to Vietnam after the Arabica variety failed because of the climatic conditions. Robusta has more caffeine and a more robust flavour and is also more bitter.
To make Vietnamese coffee, a tin filter called a “phin” is placed over a glass, and then, hot water is poured on the coffee grounds. The picture of a Phin is below

The decoction takes about 10 minutes to percolate into the glass below. The drink can be served hot or cold with or without condensed milk, a staple in Vietnamese coffee.

To make Vietnamese Coffee, here’s what’ll you need:

• 3 tablespoons Vietnamese ground coffee.

I recommend that you use pure Robusta coffee because 97% of the coffee Vietnam consumes every year is of the Robusta variety. Using Robusta beans will give an authentic flavour. Also, make the coffee with the Phin.

• 1-3 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk.
• 6-8 ounces of water that is close to the boiling point, depending on your desired coffee strength

History and Identity

History is important to our identity. We, humans, view reality through the senses of our culture. Numerous events in the past shaped our culture. By understanding where we came from, we can better understand ourselves. Cultural Symbols such as a special song, flag, emblem, and anthem play an important role in shaping our identity. Identity refers to a sense of who we are as individuals and as members of social groups. History helps us study our past making us whole.
A shared history gives us a shared identity and helps make a social group coherent. To be an Arsenal fan is to share with other Arsenal fans the Invincible season of 2003-04. To be a Manchester City fan is to share the jubilation of the treble-winning season of 2022-23 with other Manchester City fans. This shared history helps bind a disparate group of people – many of whom don’t live in England – as one.
Historical events are not black and white. There are more than 30,000 works on the origin of World War 1. Professional historians can’t agree on the causes of World War 1. But, the Great War changed European society forever and helped forge a new set of identities in Europe.
Different societies interpret historical events differently. Nation-states can quarrel over boundaries based on their interpretation of history.
Territorial disputes in the South China Sea involve conflicting island and maritime claims in the region by several sovereign states: Brunei, the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Taiwan (Republic of China/ROC), Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam. The disputes involve the islands, reefs, banks, and other features of the South China Sea, including the Spratly Islands, Paracel Islands, Scarborough Shoal, and various boundaries in the Gulf of Tonkin. The waters near the Indonesian Natuna Islands, which some regard as geographically part of the South China Sea, are disputed as well. The genesis of this dispute goes back to the 1930s and the interpretation of history. This crisis has not been resolved at the time of writing this blog.
Much of our identity, especially, shared identity is inextricably linked to history.

Long-Tail Keywords

Long-tail keywords are longer and highly specific word phrases that visitors are more likely to use when they are closer to the point of purchase.
Long-tail keywords get their name from their position on the “search demand” curve. If we plot all search queries that people have performed and order them by their search volumes, it’ll look somewhat like this:

Long-term keywords form a crucial component of an SEO campaign.
Although users search for them less often long-tail keywords make up a large percentage of overall searches.
Let us assume you are selling homemade coffee filters. A buyer has a predilection for homemade coffee filters. Thus, when he or she is nearer to buying a “homemade coffee filter”, he or she will google “homemade coffee filter”.
If you have bidded and won on this particular phrase, there is a high probability that your ad will be displayed on Google search and there is also an extremely high probability that your product will be bought.
There is no rule or method to get the correct long-term keyword. Online habits and search preferences change over time. You will have to do a lot of experimenting, and you will have to know your customer(s) online habits to “land” on the correct long-tail keyword.

Herbal Bathing Powder for Summer

Ingredients to make this Herbal Bathing Powder for Summer:

•  Sandalwood powder(purchase pure sandalwood powder)
•  Tulsi powder
•  Neem powder
•  Liquorice powder
•  Turmeric powder
•  Rose petal powder
• Gram Flour
• Rosewater

Method:

1. Mix all the ingredients thoroughly except for the gram flour and rosewater.

2. Before bathing, mix 2 to 3 teaspoons of herbal bathing powder and 5 to 6 tablespoons of gram flour with rose water to form a smooth paste. You can change the ratio because the paste must cover your body, however, the gram flour makes the base of this herbal powder, thus, must be in greater quantity than the other ingredients.

3. Apply the paste to your body. Keep it on your body for 10 minutes, then shower it off. The bathroom floor might get stained after you wash it off so remember to clean your bathroom thoroughly after bathing.

 Use it regularly. 

This natural bathing powder is best used in summer because the ingredients have cooling properties. 

Gram Flour is used as a scrub. Turmeric is nature’s most potent antibiotic and rose has soothing properties. Also, please do not use these powders if you are allergic to them or have a medical condition that can be aggravated by the powders.

US-China Relationship

In 2005, citizens of the USA and China had a positive view of each other. Circa 2023, citizens of the two countries have a poor opinion of each other and blame the other for the poor state of relations between them.

The Chinese accuse the USA of plotting to overthrow the communist government, while the Americans accuse the Chinese of trying to undermine it and of stealing intellectual property to the tune of 1 billion dollars per day.

To understand the current state of affairs, we must go back in time to the era of Deng Xiaoping.

When he took over the administration, Deng sought to extricate China from the morass of the Mao era. To do this, he embarked on market reforms. China’s GDP at this time was 2% of the USA. It needed to lift people out of poverty,and, it needed technology. Mr Deng Xiaoping’s axiom was, “Hide your strength, bide your time.” In other words, China was to flex her muscles when she was strong. Deng’s market reforms made China strong again. It is the second-largest economy in the world. However, the Chinese Communists were not interested in democracy. Instead, they were preoccupied with survival and returning China to its preeminence. They viewed the relationship between the West and the USA as transactional.

The USA, on the other hand, believed that with the opening of the Chinese economy to free market reforms there would be a concomitant growth in the middle class and entrepreneurial class, who, over time would push for democracy. They viewed their relationship with China as transformational.

These two diverging beliefs are at the core of the fraught relationship between China and the USA.

Over the years cheap Chinese goods made with cheap Chinese labour kept prices in the West and the USA- where labour is expensive- low. This in turn kept inflation low. The Chinese also bought a lot of US government debt enabling the USA to sustain a high debt. Over the years China has become the leading trading partner with 140 nations and the Sino – ASEAN trade is more than the Indo – US trade. China believes that the gravitational pull of its economy will pull countries into its sphere of influence.

However, the political transformation that the USA thought would happen never took place. Under President Xi Jinping China follows an ideology called neoauthoritarism propounded by politburo member and chief ideologue Wang Huning. This ideology calls for a strong single-party central government, cultural unification, and a strong self-confident nation.

Under President Xi, the Chinese Communists have cracked down on civil society groups, entrepreneurs, and the middle-class. It has set up an Orwellian surveillance state. It has blocked famous actors and actresses from the net. In Xi’s China, the only ideology, person, and people the Chinese can look up to are the Chinese communists and Xi himself. The self-confident nation part of the ideology has translated into a belligerent foreign policy.

President Xi’s main aims are the following

• Keep himself in power.
• Keep the Communists in power.
• Return China to its preeminent position: they wish to do this in the manner the USA took over the mantle of superpower from Britain, without fighting. There is a Chinese saying: The greatest general wins the war without fighting.
• Reunification of Taiwan.

Whether China will continue to see robust growth under President Xi’s socialist-left economic policies and his refusal to open up China’s financial sector to international financial institutions is to be seen. 

One point of contention between the USA and China is Taiwan. If Taiwan should be forcibly occupied by China which China has not ruled out, or if the USA recognizes Taiwan and starts joint exercises with Taiwan, there is a high probability of war between the two nations.

If the two major powers do not see eye to eye or do not strategically manage their relationship, war is possible. 

Goan Sausage

The Portuguese ruled the Indian state of Goa from the 16th century to 1961. There is a very discernable influence of Portuguese influence on Goa. 

Goa Sausage or Choris is based on the Portuguese dish of chouriço, however, the humidity of Goa made it impossible for the sausage to keep, thus, local spices etc are added to make a very distinct Goan dish.

The Goa sausage is prepared starting with large chunks of boneless pork that are sliced or chopped and heavily salted. The chopped meat is allowed to dry in the sun for one to two days. Following this, a mixture of spices, ground hot chilli peppers, palm vinegar, and Feni, a local liquor, is added. After filling into sausage casings, the resulting sausages are again dried in the sun or smoked slowly.

Goan Sausage is a very versatile dish. It is sold in modish high-end restaurants and by street hawkers. Choris-Pão or sausage buns are the most common forms of snacks.

Religious Riots in India.

In India, religious conflagration is planned, coordinated, and executed. It is not spontaneous. These conflagrations have the support of the politicians, the police – who are ordered to either stand aside or support one group of people – and the civil servants. At many of the religious riots, the perpetrators are armed not only with weapons to kill, murder, and maim, but also have electoral rolls and government data on the ownership of business, the better to kill and destroy. 

The reason such conflagrations are allowed to occur is because they benefit political parties. Religious riots drive a wedge between communities and assist in consolidating votes for a particular political party/ies. Thus, religious riots in India are institutionalized.

American political scientist and professor Paul Brass called the riots, Institutionalized Riot Systems. There are three phases to it:

Preparation: This phase is a continuous activity. The most important people in this phase are ‘fire stokers’, who keep religious tensions alive through various inflammatory and inciting acts. Nowadays, Social Media plays a role.

Activation: This phase is a phase of violence. In this phase, another group of people come forward, conversion specialists, who lead and address mobs of potential rioters and give a signal to indicate if and when violence should start. These leaders are the ‘conversion specialists’. They usually lead a mob of criminals from poor backgrounds, who were recruited and rewarded for practising violence.

Explanation: In this phase explanations for the cause of violence are controlled. Politicians and vernacular media play a major role in this phase. Violence is presented as spontaneous, religious, mass-based, unpredictable and impossible to prevent. Social scientists start the process of blame displacement to save those who are most responsible for the production of violence and instead diffuse blame widely. This contributes to the perpetuation of violent productions in future, as well as the order that sustains them.

The perpetrators of the violence are always protected and have their sentences reduced, many are elected to local, state, or national assemblies, thus, are protected. It is common to have elected representatives with criminal backgrounds.

The religious riots in India began with British rule in India. The ethnocentric and divide-and-rule policies followed by the British gave rise to religious riots. It reached its nadir at the partition when India was partitioned based on religion.

Solutions:

• India is a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural society. The electoral system should be changed to proportional representation.
• An increase in spending in the social sector: on Health, Education, and Infrastructure.
• Reform to the Caste System.
• Reform to the Judicial System where there is a 300-year backlog in cases.
• The Police forces should be freed from political interference.
• India is a young nation. I believe that India shall overcome these problems and rise.

Digital Marketing

To run an effective online marketing campaign, you need:

1) A sound business model: In the beginning, it is advised that you plan for a year, then, once the business grows, you can plan for 3 years, 5 years and longer.

2) A proper finance model: Most digital marketing companies have poor finance models. Discounts and giving away free products and services are good as long as it makes money and doesn’t bleed the company.

3) An unalloyed USP: A USP – unique selling point is what pulls the customer into your orbit. 

For example: in your sector, 11 organisations manufacture or provide a particular service. Why should a customer choose your organization when there are 11 other organizations for them to choose from? 

Once you have sorted the above, you are ready to start your business.

In the online business, you need to find out where your customers meet or gather: What platform do they use? Google, Bing, Twitter, Instagram. Based on this information, you can allot a budget for paid advertising.

The following is observed: 

• News spreads faster on WhatsApp than on regular channels. If you can create a WhatsApp group for your business, it will help you sell your product or services quicker. 
•  Social Media channel like Twitter allows you to connect directly to your targeted audience. Facebook, too is a good channel.
•  Social Media and Search Engines know intimate details of their customers such as age, birthday, marital status, ethnicity etc. 

You can leverage this information in your campaign.

The buyer journey on the internet is complex. Digital marketers need to be able to connect with the right customers throughout the entire process. Different ad formats and placements can help businesses make consumers aware of their product, push them into consideration for that product, and ultimately drive them to purchase it. Two key ad types to consider are search ads (served on search engines like Google, Bing, etc.) and display ads (served throughout the internet on various websites).

The main difference between display and search ads is that search ads are considered “pull” advertising while display ads are considered “push” advertising. So, search ads only appear to consumers actively searching for the required product or service. In search advertising, it is paramount to use the correct keyword.

 In contrast, display ads are considered paid placement and can appear anywhere on the web that a user may be navigating. These advertisements are based on several targeting parameters. Search and display advertisements are set up and run using various ad networks, from Google Ads to Amazon DSP, and Criteo.

If your company’s marketing budget is substantial enough to support various ad types, then you can (and should) test both search and display ads in your advertising strategy. But keep in mind that these ads are not interchangeable. Depending on the product or service type, you may have better click and conversion performance with one or the other. 

Advantages of Search ads

There are a lot of advantages of search advertising or search engine marketing (SEM). The first of many factors to consider is budget. If the available engine spend of the company is on the smaller side, then SEM may be the best tactic for your business, as it allows more control over who finds your business and at what time.  

Another benefit is that businesses can easily cater to a local market via search engine marketing. Many targeting options can be paired with keyword targeting, so you end up with more niche and specific audience segments. Geographic, language, gender, age, and affinity (or interest) targeting are all available segments on Google Ads, for example.

In SEM, the sales cycle is typically short, and you are seeking to capture users close to the point of purchase. That is why the keywords you choose are very important in Search Ads.

Advantages of display ads

Display ads are an effective tactic for any product that is visual in nature. Clothing, cars, beauty, pet care, and more are all excellent candidates for display as the customer offers can be summarized quickly and visually with a single image. 

In less visually friendly industries, like SaaS, insurance, education, or many B2B service, the display can still be an effective ad type but with a different approach. In these sectors, short impactful phrases or statements, or some kind of explanatory graphic (like illustrations) is the better way to quickly reach a customer. 

If the Call To Action and key message cannot be grasped in under 3 seconds on a display ad, your messaging is ineffective and needs to be revisited.

Another advantage of display advertising is that it provides unique access to niche or luxury buyers and can be deployed during political campaigns.

Another method of marketing online is through emails.

Email marketing is the act of sending a commercial message, typically to a group of people, using email. 

There are two types of marketing emails:

Transactional emails

Transactional emails are usually triggered based on a customer’s action with a company.

Direct emails

Direct email involves sending an email solely to communicate a promotional message (for example, a special offer or a product catalogue). Companies usually collect a list of customer or prospect email addresses to send direct promotional messages to, or they rent a list of email addresses from service companies.

No matter what your type of business is, a company needs to have an online presence. For an online business you need to have the patience to see the fruits of effort bloom, that is why it is imperative to have a proper business model.

Kabargah

This delectable dish is a favourite of many people, including former heads of state. It is a Kashmiri dish.
For this dish, we will use 1kg breast of lamb cut into squares after washing.
Ingredients:
1 Kg Breast of Lamb
750 ml water
720 ml milk
2 Bay Leaves
2 Cloves
2 Cinnamon Sticks
2 Black Cardamoms
5 Green Cardamoms
3 gm cumin powder
One and a half gram Ginger Powder
One and a half gram fennel podwe
Salt to taste
1/2 Teaspoon saffron
220 ml ghee(clarified butter) or refined oil
Method
Cook the meat in a deep vessel. Add water, milk, and all ingredients except for the ghee or oil. Cover and cook till the meat is tender.
Remove the lamb pieces. I suggest using tongs.
Lastly, heat the ghee in a pan, fry the meat(2-3 pieces at a time)
Eat.