Sunday, September 21, 2008

L3373r than you! And we've got the stamp to prove it!

Like any country, Israel has postal stamps. Like any country, Israel celebrates it's culture through many media, including these stamps. Last year, a collection came out in celebration of Israel's 60th Anniversary. It is a well known-fact that Israel has one of the world's leading technology industries, so I was not all that surprised to see it being captured in this particular medium.


What was surprising was that, when I was given a letter by my grandparents last month to deliver for them, I noticed that said stamp was decorated by Leet markings. At this point, I fully expect you to ask what on earth is Leet? Well, here is the Wikipedia definition:

Leet or (sometimes rendered l33t or 1337), also known as Leetspeak, is an alphabet used primarily on the Internet, which uses various combinations of ASCII characters to replace Latinate letters. The term is derived from the word "elite", and the usage it describes is a specialized form of symbolic writing.

So there you go. It's a semi-authentic hacker language. And Israel has most likely given it it's first appearance on a Postage Stamp, cue geeks worldwide beaming.

The text on the stamp reads "Ani Ohev Et Yisrael - I love Israel!"


Here is a selection of the stamps:




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