Very Clever Graffiti
Dogs Revelling in the Snow
At the best of times, our canine companions are adorable and playful. Given a dollop of snow, their cuteness factor increases as they reveal their innate playfulness. They revel in the fine fluffy stuff which seems to possess no substance. Their zest for life shines through as they gaily frolic and blithely cavort in it.
Main picture: A Saint Bernard covered in snow after rolling in it
Eclectic Array of Photographs
Part historical and partially an array of oddities, but that is what this collection of photographs is all about.
Main picture: Otto Frank, Anne Frank’s father and the only surviving member of the Frank family, revisiting the attic in which they spent the war
Machu Picchu
Nestled high in the Peruvian Andes, Machu Picchu was hidden from the outside world for hundreds of years. Explore the well-preserved Inca ruins in this gallery of photos. Imagine being one of the original Incas who lived in these high fastnesses with its panoramic vistas and soaring peaks.
The Incas built the estate around 1450, but abandoned it a century later at the time of the Spanish Conquest. Although known locally, it was unknown to the outside world before being brought to international attention in 1911 by the American historian Hiram Bingham.. Since then, most of the outlying buildings have been reconstructed in order to give tourists a better idea of what the structures originally looked like. By 1976, thirty percent of Machu Picchu had been restored. This restoration work continues to this day.
Wild Australian Weather
I have never associated Australia with wild weather but some of these photographs confound that belief. They are certainly stunning. From the dark foreboding and menacing cloud banks many tens of kilometres in height to the piquant reds of a sunset it has them all. I am ever in awe of nature like this when it is at its pristine best. I revel in its colours, in its innate magisterial vastness as my emotions resonate with its splendour and beauty.
Interesting Array of Old Photographs
This series of photographs is unique for me as I had previously only seen one of them viz switching the driving side of the road from left to right in Sweden. Notwithstanding that the photograph that had the most resonance with me was the series where the Race official Jock Semple tries to push Kathy Switzer off the road after she attempts to run the Boston Marathon, which at the time was a men’s only event. Number 390 pushing Jock away was Kathy’s boyfriend. The year is 1967.
In hindsight the original restriction on female and black athletes was reprehensible and morally wrong. In the case of females the justification for that prohibition was the belief that it would cause problems with child bearing. I can still clearly remember my paternal grandmother making such ludicrous claims.
Learning how to become a Good Citizen in the New South Africa
Until Saturday morning after the 21km race at the Kolonnade Retail Park near Sinoville in Pretoria, I never realised what the requirements were to be a good citizen in the New South Africa. My understanding has always been that the main prerequisite was that as long as one accepted all South Africans of whatever race, religion or gender as equals then one was automatically classified as a good citizen. But then Nigel rudely disabused me of this puerile notion.
After this encounter, upon reflection I now consider myself a slow leaner in this regard. When I cast my mind back, I can now recall numerous incidents where I was mystified by the new social, moral and ethical code that was being imposed seemingly by society at large rather than by legislation.
Maternal Instinct in the Wild
One of the primal instincts in the animal kingdom apart from food and sex is the maternal instinct. This urge is so strong that many instances have been reported in the wild where one species will even nurture the young of a different species.
What is it that creates this desire to protect, comfort and feed one’s young. Partly I would guess that it relates to the survival of the species. Innate chemical processes create this desire that manifests itself as the maternal instinct.
In the human species the desire to assist the young of other species is not related to this same genetic compulsion but stems largely from the cuteness factor and from compassion. This impulse is as strong in humans as that of the maternal instructs. In reality, the wellspring of both these motivations has at its root the same cause: one’s humanity.
How could one possibly refuse to assist a three week old kitten whose mother has been killed or a young animal trapped in a ditch?
All these examples reflect the maternal instinct in action.
Photographs that will make you reflect
Just reflect for 30 seconds on the photograph above. It depicts the nail scratch lines on the walls of a gas chamber at Auschwitz. It is easy to imagine the sheer terror and panic of the victims as the gas started pouring in through the ventilation shafts. The hoary maxim, a picture can paint a thousand words is appropriate here.
Visualise in your mind’s eye their last thoughts about their children, about their loved ones, about how precious life is before they collapse and convulse in agony as they gasp for breath. With the last remnant of strength, some even try to prize open the sturdy doors but to no avail.
Finally nobody is left standing. They are writhing on the cold concrete floor of what is to become their death bed. As their lives ebb away, the most pious chant a silent prayer and some even forgive their killers and tormentors.
Then it is quiet. Not a sound is heard. Nothing moves. Everything is motionless: a striking testament to man’s inhumanity to man.
This is the culmination of the warped misanthropic vision of one brooding soulless individual and his morbid psyche: Adolph Hitler.
San Jose police Sgt. Rick Delisser watches over a man who says he is the older brother of a homicide victim
Child saves his beloved pet during a flood
Two-week-old baby rescued from rubble in Syria
Nothing can compare to a child’s innocence and imagination
Polish heart surgeon Zbigniew Religa after a 23-hour heart transplantation, which was successful. His assistant is sleeping in the corner
An emotional soldier is comforted during the Korean war
Forest wildfire threatens all living things
Fallen Canadian soldier Nathan Cirillo’s dogs wait patiently for his return, unaware that he won’t be coming home
Woman crying in the middle of the wreckage caused by a massive earthquake and tsunami in Natori, Japan, March 2011
Woman’s reaction upon learning of her liberation at a concentration camp in 1945
He Xiuling, 25, from Xiantao, Hubei Province in China, was sentenced to death for smuggling 7,000 grams of drugs. In this image, she is waiting to be executed
In southwest China’s Sichuan Province, a dog refuses to leave its dead companion
What a sunset view looks like from Mars
In 2012, Greg Cook reunited with his dog Coco after a tornado demolished his home in Alabama
A couple’s final embrace during the tragic eight-story Rana Plaza building collapse in Bangladesh
Young cancer patient envisions herself with hair
Theodore Roosevelt’s diary entry the day he lost both his wife and mother
This is one of the most powerful pictures from the Iraq war: a trembling eight-year-old being handed a folded flag at his father’s funeral
An old woman contemplates her life while a pianist plays classical music in Santa Monica, California
A stray kitten begging to be taken home
Heartbreaking picture of Lesleigh Coyer, 25, of Saginaw, Michigan as she lies in front of her brothers grave
Firefighter David Tree shares his water with an injured Australian Koala at Mirboo North after wildfires swept through the region
Homeless man in Los Angeles holds “hungry” sign while guy sitting next to him scarfs down his pizza
This bomb-detecting dog was buried with full honors in 2000 after saving thousands of lives
In 1980 Mike Wells took this powerful photograph of a missionary holding the hand of a starving Ugandan boy
Young girl reaches out to embrace her dead father.
Old but Fascinating Photographs
Many of these photographs are new to me. They add another view to mankind’s illustrious past.
Main picture: at 17h00 September 3rd, 1967 Sweden changed from driving on the left side to driving on the right. Look at the chaos that it generated.