WHOOPS! USPS Statue Of Liberty Stamp From Vegas, Not NYC

A U.S. postage stamp alleging to picture New York's iconic Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor actually features an image from the Las Vegas casino New York New York's replica. Ha ha ha, oh, this is good!

The United States Postal Service acknowledged the fuck up, but said it intends to keep the Lady Liberty "Forever" stamp. A spokesman declared, "We love the stamp design and would have selected this photograph anyway." In other words: "Please don't fire my dumb ass!"

Linns Stamp Monthly says a fan of the statue spotted "subtle differences"—which don't sound so subtle at all: A light colored rectangular patch appears on the center spike of the replica's crown, while its eyes, eyelids and eyebrows are more sharply defined than the original statue. The hair on the replica across the top of the face and at the side of the face has different characteristics than on the original statue.

Of course, the original also happens to be 305' tall. In Vegas, the replica is 150'.

A spokesman for MGM Resorts, which owns New York New York in Vegas, was positively giddy: "The post office (is) honoring two great American institutions, the Statue of Liberty and Las Vegas." Former NYC Mayor Ed Koch was less amused, saying the USPS is "doing a stupid thing." I've said it before: Americans are getting dumber by the minute!

(Thanks, Leonard!)

'Son, There Used To Be Stores That Sold Nothing But Books...'

Looks like the writing is on the wall for Border's bookstores. The Wall Street Journal reports that the 674-store chain is expected to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this week. Rival Barnes & Noble is also struggling.

What a decade of changing technology. First, record stores vanished one by one as digital downloads became the status quo, with Tower, HMV and Virgin Records shuttering their doors, until even New York City was left without a record retailer.

Next came Blockbuster, which didn't stand a chance against newer, simpler technologies like Netflix, Redbox and on-demand.

And now the iPad, Kindle and other E-Readers have eradicated good old-fashioned brick-and-mortar retailers of paper with words printed on it. Books, they were called. Between 2007 and 2009, E-sales grew 366%, according to the Assn. of American Publishers, as hardback book titles dropped 7%.

It's a world dominated by Amazon and Apple out there. And that may not be such a good thing.