← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Julian the Apostate
Thread ID: 16341 | Posts: 2 | Started: 2005-01-18
2005-01-18 10:01 | User Profile
I might be making a big thing of this - as a story I guess it's pretty much down there - but I find it almost a metaphor for my once white and now increasingly third world nation. The artist as it turns out though not mentioned in the article is a Polynesian of Tokelau Island extaction - an affirmative action choice for a second rate postal service.
[url]http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10006952[/url]
[IMG]http://media.apn.co.nz/webcontent/image/jpg/18stamp.JPG[/IMG]
Ewe have to be joking say stamping-mad farmers
18.01.05
A new series of stamps includes one of a very strange-looking merino sheep with two lambs.
The stamp - of which about 1 million were produced - features a ewe with big, curled horns.
Although a ewe can grow horns, such a magnificent set would be found only on a ram, and another rather important feature of a ram is missing in the stamp. National's Katherine Rich, who worked in agricultural marketing before becoming an MP, spotted the error.
"The stamp is an absolute impossibility. Basically anybody knows a merino ewe doesn't have horns - and if it is a ram ... well, there'd be some tell-tale dangly bits, wouldn't there?"
The stamps were a joke and should be withdrawn, she said.
"They launched this stamp collection with great fanfare but rather than be cocky about it they should be sheepish.
The ewe/ram also appeared to have had a strange shearing experience: "It sort of looks like the ram's been shorn but they've left all the wool around its head."
NZ Post spokesman Ian Long said artist Samuel Sakaria "had sourced information that a merino ewe could have horns although it was probably rare.
"We were assured by the artist of the accuracy and advised it was a true representation of a merino ewe.
"Obviously we are disappointed that there was an inaccuracy but we're pleased to be advised of it."
Mr Long said because of the number of 45c stamps produced the error was unlikely to increase its value for collectors
2005-01-18 17:16 | User Profile
Why are you trying to force the ewe/ram into your outdated gender roles? Everybody knows gender is simply a social construction, anyway. :wink: