It was a big quake

Concepcion, Chile, from The Big Picture. Click to see a larger image.

Photojournalism from the Planet of Slums

Scavenging at a dumpsite near Jakarta, Indonesia. From the Big Picture.

Two sides of the Venice Carnival: From the Big Picture

A great Canadian work of art

I have said elsewhere that I am a sucker for great ephemeral works of art, for instance (some) Olympic opening ceremonies.

Last night's pagentry was not perfect, but it had perfect moments.

My first reaction, sparked by the beginning act featuring representatives of First Nations, was to think, almost seriously:

"I hear that Jack Vance is blind, but I have a feeling he may have scripted this anyway. He sees things more vividly with his inner eye than most of us with the outer ones."

But really it was better than that; not the creation of a 92-year-old American I admire very much, but of much younger Canadians I don't know with dazzling technical skills and first-class creative ideas. And performers who could dance energetically for an hour straight! And fly!

Even if you saw it on TV, you owe it to yourself to see the Big Picture presentation, to remind you, and see details you might have missed.

Image: One of those perfect moments. I had a hard time choosing.

Spartans?

For an explanation and more pics, go here.

Fun with ice in Switzerland

For once, this is not the Snow and Ice Festival in Harbin, China. See this and more at the Fire and Ice portfolio at the Big Picture.

NGC 4921

From the Hubble Advent Calendar, 2009. Of course, you should click on this to see the much bigger version, or go to the Big Picture site. This is for December 17.

NGC 6302

From the Big Picture Hubble Telescope Advent Calendar.

Re-creation and the Olympic torch -- from The Big Picture

Top: Priestesses at Olympia light the torch.
Then: Vikings keep it burning at L'Anse aux Meadows.

Too cool.

More here. Or click on the pics.

NGC 2818

Click on the pic, from this year's Hubble Space Telescope Advent Calendar.

Watching the chapandaz

The chapandaz are the players of buzkashi, or according to this Big Picture photo feature, "Only the best players, [who] get close to the carcass in the competition." This rider is watching the action -- will he dive into the melee?

This is your planet -- Pushkar Fair, Rajasthan, India

Pictures of the great annual camel and livestock fair from The Big Picture.

Giant kites for celebrating the Day of the Dead in Guatemala

Click for a full-sized picture at The Big Picture.

Saturn!

More here.

Autumn in the Northern Hemisphere, 2009

The Big Picture has a great portfolio of Fall pictures. This one is from Highlands, New York on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2009. Click for a larger view.

This (among many other things) is Communist China, 60 years on

The National Grand Theatre, lit and surrounded by water.

Ramadan crescent moon, Amman, Jordan

From The Big Picture Ramadan 2009 collection.

Robot in Helmand Province, Afghanistan

Click for a bigger image.

More robots at the Big Picture.

Greenland today

Another photo collection on one of the wilder parts of the world -- less population than the Nipissing District.

Memories of Catal Huyuk

Not very much like it, but this does make me think of the Neolithic city. And reminds me of Dave Nichols.

It's actually a neighborhood on the outskirts of Kandahar.

From the Big Picture, In Afghanistan, Part Two. Don't miss Part One.

Why helicopters -- and other things -- often break and crash in Afghanistan

Fortunately for those aboard, this Chinook just redistributed the dust.

From the Big Picture's In Afghanistan, Part Two.

And Part One is here.

Here's one for Will McLean

The caption from The Big Picture:

Astronaut Neil Armstrong, Apollo 11 mission commander, floats safely to the ground after an accident during a training session on May 6th, 1968. The Lunar Landing Research Vehicle (LLRV) exploded only seconds before while Armstrong was rehearsing a lunar landing at Ellington Air Force Base near the Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC).

According to Craig Nelson, the author of Rocket Men, Armstrong went right back to work, and when someone made a fuss about his near-death experience, said "It's always a sad day when you lose a machine."

A photo collection celebrating the 40th anniversary of Lunar Landing Day

From The Big Picture. Buzz Aldrin, with Neil Armstrong, photographer, reflected in his visor.

Clic the pic for larger versions.

Baghdad: 50 degrees C and a sandstorm outside

Just one remarkable picture from the latest installment of The Big Picture.

Well there is this shot of the crater left by that bombing in Kirkuk:

The Big Picture hits it out of the park

Again!



This image: Mount Fuji from space.

Machaut: a 14th century poet/composer remembered on Mercury

A towering talent, Guillaume Machaut dominated French poetry and music in his time. (Bigger than the Beatles?) This is a new, more detailed view of the crater on Mercury named after him, taken by the MESSENGER probe, part of a new picture collection on the Big Picture.

Remembering the 20th anniversary of the Tien An Men crackdown in Hong Kong

From the Big Picture.

Saturn seen through the haze of Titan's upper atmosphere

From the Cassini spacecraft and The Big Picture.

The stars rotate above Cape Cornwall

From The Big Picture Earth Day photo portfolio.

More from Kyrgyzstan

Remember that "obscure country (per capita)?"

The Big Picture has photos!

Under sail

...at the Big Picture. Need I say more?

Image: Wild Oats IX off Tasman Island.

This is your planet

As so often, The Big Picture has some spectacular space photography -- this time of planet Earth. I never knew how much of our land surface looks like Mars.

Image: Irrigated landscape south of Khartoum.

Meanwhile, back in Gaza

More at The Big Picture.

Ice and snow

The Big Picture has a winter feature including many photos of the Harbin Ice and Snow Festival in Manchuria, a favorite event of mine (not that I've been there).

Image: Crabapples in Antrim, New Hampshire, December 12.

Hoag's Object

An unusual galaxy, documented by the Hubble, included in The Big Picture's Advent Calendar, 2008.

Kindergarten graduation in Baghdad

Those exotic Iraqis. So different from us. So incomprehensible.

From the last installment of the Big Picture's "best of 2008" collection.

Vancouver in the fog

From the Big Picture's best of 2008, part 2.

Viking-era celebrations might have looked like this

But this is actually the 2008 Up Helly Aa celebration in Shetland, an annual celebration vikingized in 1878.

This is one picture from installment one of the Big Picture's "best of 2008" collection. Here is an astonishing Aussie contribution that has nothing to do with war or natural disaster.

An ancient Saharan petroglyph of a captive giraffe

One surviving bit of the culture of the last wet era in Saharan history, from The Big Picture (click to see the "big picture," or go here to see a whole collection of Saharan archaeology pics.)

Hubble telescope Advent calendar

The Big Picture started running yesterday an Advent calendar of astronomical delights from the Hubble. Since I missed the initial announcement, there are now two offerings here.

Stunning

No fantasy, this Icelandic landscape of volcanic origin is part of an amazing exhibition of photos by Yann Arthus-Bertrand, Earth from Above, some of which -- 38 wonderful views -- can be seen at The Big Picture. DO NOT MISS IT!

It's not to the death...

...but sometimes it feels like it anyway.

Pictures of Olympic fencing from The Big Picture.

America, America

On the plus side (from the wonderful The Big Picture).

And on the other, chilling souls across the USA and beyond:


Brad DeLong.

Dymaxion World.

John Cole at Balloon Juice.

I wish I could say, "That is all."

Update: Here's a comment to that Balloon Juice post.

I don't know why I can't link to Balloon Juice but it referred to this.