Friday, August 13, 2010

Big Picture: Continuing Pakistani floods

The United Nations has now estimated that Pakistan will need billions of dollars to recover from its worst floods in 80 years - further straining a country already dependent on foreign aid to prop up its economy and back its war against Islamist militants. Over 60,000 troops are involved in flood relief operations trying to assist nearly 14 million people who are now affected by the flooding. The U.N. has just launched an appeal for $459 million in immediate aid, as Pakistanis have become more frustrated with their government's response and President Asif Ali Zardari's trip to Europe. Collected here are recent photographs of Pakistanis as they continue to cope with their flooded country. [See previous entry]. (36 photos total)
Click the image to see the full collection.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Big Picture: Continuing Russian wildfires

Though many have been contained, wildfires continue to rage throughout many parts of Russia. In a new twist to the situation, officials have confirmed that some forests that were contaminated with radiation from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster have now burned, but it was unclear what danger the smoke from such wildfires could pose. Monitoring stations have not registered any increase in radioactivity as yet. Recent windy conditions have temporarily cleared the smoke from Moscow's skies, but it could possibly return soon. The area of burning forests in Russia is now 927 sq km (358 sq mi), down from from 1,740 sq km (676 sq m) only 24 hours ago. The economic costs of the fires are now estimated at up to 15 billion dollars. Collected here are recent photographs from the Russian wildfires. [See previous entry]. (36 photos total)
Click the image to see the full collection.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

The Ghosts of World War II’s Past

Taking old World War II photos, Russian photographer Sergey Larenkov carefully photoshops them over more recent shots to make the past come alive. Not only do we get to experience places like Berlin, Prague, and Vienna in ways we could have never imagined, more importantly, we are able to appreciate our shared history in a whole new and unbelievably meaningful way.
Click the image to see more.

Thanks To Keith at BagOfNothing

Big Picture: In Silhouette

A photography technique that frequently catches my eye is the use of silhouette - placing a subject directly between a primary light source and the camera. The effect can be painterly or haunting or evocative. It can break a subject down to basic ideas conveyed only by line and shape, where an individual might appear iconic. Collected here are a handful of recent photographs from around the world, where we can only see the outlines of the subject, our minds (and the captions) are left to fill in any details in the darkness. (37 photos total)
Click the image to see the full collection.

Monday, August 9, 2010

Big Picture: Severe flooding in Pakistan

It is only the start of the monsoon season, but already Pakistan is experiencing some of the worst flooding it has seen in over 80 years. Entire villages have been washed away, an early estimate of over 1,600 deaths so far and over 2 million displaced or otherwise affected. Not only is the immediate water damage causing havoc, the floods have inundated crop-producing areas, dealing a crippling blow to the agricultural-based economy and threatening a food crisis. The Pakistani government now struggles to rescue and provide aid to millions - while still fighting with militant Islamist forces in many of the hardest-hit regions. With even more heavy rains predicted in the coming days, here are a handful of recent photographs of Pakistanis as they cope with this latest disaster. (41 photos total)
Click the image to see the full collection.

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Big Picture: Afghanistan, July, 2010

This past month, much of the attention focused on Afghanistan centered on the release of thousands of classified documents from the war effort by WikiLeaks. While the consensus appears to be that nothing significantly new was revealed by the release, the picture painted by the documents remains rather bleak. NATO and the United States now have 143,000 troops in Afghanistan, set to peak at 150,000 in coming weeks as they take a counter-insurgency offensive into the insurgents' southern strongholds. Taliban control remains difficult to dislodge, and once removed from an area, Taliban forces often return once larger forces leave a region, especially in rural areas where local government presence remains small. Collected here are images of the country and conflict over the past month, part of an ongoing monthly series on Afghanistan. (47 photos total)
Click the image to see the full collection. Warning: Some images are graphic.

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Big Picture: Cleaning Dalian harbor

The oil spill resulting from a pipeline explosion in the port city of Dalian on July 16th is being cleaned up by a small army of fisherman, locals, and government workers manning over 250 oil-skimming vessels and 8,000 fishing boats - much of the work being done by hand. The spill, now contained according to authorities, grew to 430 square kilometers (165 sq mi), but was prevented from fouling international waters. The explosion was due to improper desulfurizer injections into the pipeline, according to a report by Xinhua, China's state news agency. As workers continue their efforts and watchdog groups like Greenpeace level criticism for what they call an inadequate response to date, Dalian Port has already resumed operations at two of its oil berths, the company said on Sunday. (38 photos total)

Authentic Piggy Bank

Designed for anyone who has far too much money and loose change, this is the piggy bank of all piggy banks. Its a real piglet that has been taxidermied and inserted with what all piglets probably dream of as babies, a coin storage unit and a cork plug.
Make your plush overpriced apartment complete with this little guy.

The piglet bank will take up to 12 months to produce from the time of order. We expect half the money up front and half when the piglet had been completed. Just so you know that we don’t actually kill the Piglets, they die of natural causes and these are the ones that we use.
Click the image to order yours!

Thanks To Keith at BagOfNothing