The Anthem Philatelist

Until 1931, there was no officially proclaimed anthem of the United States , however, the song " Hail Columbia! " was used quite often in the capacity of a national anthem. Other songs which were prominently used during the 19th century for a national anthem was "The Star Spangled Banner", and, to a slightly lesser extent, "Yankee Doodle" and "My Country, 'Tis of Thee", which has the same tune as the British national anthem. Written by Joseph Hopkinson for the inauguration of the United States' first president, George Washington, it was most popular in the first half of the 19th century, culminating with Lincoln's presidency. The music was composed by Philip Phile. By the start of the 20th century, it had fallen out of favour, and in 1931 " The Star Spangled Banner " became the first officially proclaimed national anthem of the United States. "Hail Columbia!" is used today in the United States as an entrance song ...

New Zealand holds a unique position in the world in that it has two national anthems of equal standing - " God Defend New Zealand " (Maori-Aotearoa) and " God Save The Queen ". The other country with this distinction is Denmark , where the royal and national anthems have equal status. "God Defend New Zealand" was adopted as national hymn in 1940 and as co-national anthem in 1977. "God Save the Queen" was adopted when New Zealand became an British colony in 1840. "God Defend New Zealand" was written by Irish-born poet and New Zealand citizen Thomas Bracken in 1870, and the music composed by John Joseph Woods as a result of a newspaper contest in 1876. (Woods actually composed the music in one sitting, starting as soon as he read about the contest and not resting until he was finished.) Gaining popularity in the first half of the twentieth century, it was adopted as New Zealand's national song in 1940 (New Zealand's centennial...

Gastroenterology is the medical sub-specialty concerned with the function and disorders of the stomach, intestines, liver and related organs of the gastrointestinal tract. Endoscopy is a non-surgical procedure done by a gastroenterologist to look inside the gut using an endoscopic camera to diagnosis and perform therapeutic procedures like snare polypectomy (excision of pedunculated polyp), argon plasma coagulation (stoppage of bleeding), and rubber band ligation (esophageal varices). Some stamps related to Gastroenterology events had been issued. The majority are presented here. The World Congress of Gastroenterology (WCOG) is held every four years event under the auspices of the World Organisation of Gastroenterology (OMGE). Since its inaugural conference in 1958 in Washington, D.C.   WCOG has become the leading quadrennial gathering of the world's digestive disease physicians. The previous World Congresses where special stamps were issued for the event include- 1974 in Me...

Upper Silesia is the southeastern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia; Lower Silesia is to the northwest. Since the 9th century, Upper Silesia has been part of (chronologically) Greater Moravia, Bohemia, Poland , Holy Roman Empire , Austria , Prussia, and later of unified German Reich. It is currently split between Poland (Opole and Silesian Voivodeships) and the Czech Republic (Czech Silesia, or the Silesian-Moravian Region).    Upper Silesia is situated in the Silesian highlands, between the upper Oder and upper Vistula rivers. The total population of the Upper Silesian Industry Area is 3,487,000. Opole Silesia, Cieszyn Silesia, and Austrian Silesia are historical parts of Upper Silesia. The territory of Opole Silesia composes much of Opole Voivodeship. At the time of Svatopluk I and King Arnulf of Carinthia in the ninth century, Silesia was a part of Greater Moravia; after its destruction in the early tenth century, it was conquered by Bohemia....

The Swiss Psalm is the national anthem of Switzerland. It was composed in 1841, by Alberich Zwyssig (1808-1854). Since then it has been frequently sung at patriotic events. The Federal Council declined however on numerous occasions to accept the psalm as the official anthem. This was because the council wanted the people to express their say on what they wanted as a national anthem. From 1961 to 1981 it provisionally replaced Rufst Du, mein Vaterland ("When You call, my Country", French O Monts indépendants; Italian Ci chiami o patria, Romansh E clomas, tger paeis) the anthem by Johann Rudolf Wyss (1743-1818) which was set to the melody of God Save the Queen. Finally on April 1, 1981 the Swiss Psalm was declared the official Swiss national anthem. Until the end of the 19th Century, there was no Swiss national anthem. The German-language patriotic song Rufst du, mein Vaterland (French O Monts indépendants, Italian Ci chiami o patria, Romansh E clomas, tger paeis), composed...

From 1944 until its break-up in 1992, the Soviet Union adopted a new anthem " Gimn Sovetskogo Soyuza " (Hymn of the Soviet Union). It has since been readopted as the official anthem of Russia, but with new words to reflect its new democratic nature.   In 1936 Stalin decided a change in national anthem was needed, believing the lyrics of the " Internationale " spoke of work that was yet to be done by the workers of the world; Stalin, however, believed that the worker's ultimate goal has been achieved. (Also that "The Internationale" was written by non-Russians was an issue for him.) This task was delayed by the outbreak of World War II, however, during the heat of the war in 1942, money was set aside to create a new anthem.   On June, 18, 1943 the deputy prime minister of the USSR Marshal Kliment Voroshilov and Party's Secretary Alexander Shcherbakov for about two hours had been instructing about 20 soviet poets and composers what anthem they shoul...

A microphone colloquially called a mic or mike is an acoustic-to-electric transducer or sensor that converts sound into an electrical signal. In 1876, Emile Berliner invented the first microphone used as a telephone voice transmitter. Microphones are used in many applications such as telephones, tape recorders, karaoke systems, hearing aids, motion picture production, live and recorded audio engineering, FRS radios, megaphones, in radio and television broadcasting and in computers for recording voice, speech recognition, VoIP, and for non-acoustic purposes such as ultrasonic checking or knock sensors.   Most microphones today use electromagnetic induction (dynamic microphone), cap acitance change (condenser microphone), piezoelectric generation, or light modulation to produce an electrical voltage signal from mechanical vibration. The sensitive transducer element of a microphone is called its element or capsule. A complete microphone also includes a housing, some means of bring...