30 Most Powerful Images Ever!

http://www.boredpanda.com/must-see-powerful-photos/

Thanks KR for contribution.

1. Starving boy and missionary

2. Inside an Auschwitz gas chamber

Image credits: kligon5

3. Heart surgeon after 23-hour-long (successful) heart transplant. His assistant is sleeping in the corner.

Image credits: James Stanfield

4. Father and son (1949 vs 2009)

Image credits: Vojage-Vojage

5. Diego Frazão Torquato, 12 year old Brazilian playing the violin at his teacher’s funeral. The teacher had helped him escape poverty and violence through music

Image credits: salvemasnossascriancas.blogspot.com

6. A Russian soldier playing an abandoned piano in Chechnya in 1994

Image credits: drugoi.livejournal.com

7. Young man just found out his brother was killed

Image credits: Nhat V. Meyer

8. Christians protect Muslims during prayer in the midst of the 2011 uprisings in Cairo, Egypt

Image credits: Nevine Zaki

9. A firefighter gives water to a koala during the devastating Black Saturday bushfires in Victoria, Australia, in 2009

Image credits: abc.net.au

10. Terri Gurrola is reunited with her daughter after serving in Iraq for 7 months

Image credits: Louie Favorite

11. Indian homeless men wait to receive free food distributed outside a mosque ahead of Eid al-Fitr in New Delhi, India

Image credits: Tsering Topgyal / AP

12. Zanjeer the dog saved thousands of lives during Mumbai serial blasts in March 1993 by detecting more than 3,329 kgs of the explosive RDX, 600 detonators, 249 hand grenades and 6406 rounds of live ammunition. He was buried with full honors in 2000

Image credits: STR News / Reuters

13. Man Falling from the World Trade Center on 9/11. “The Falling Man.”

Image credits:  Richard Drew /AP

14. Alcoholic father with his son

Image credits: imgur.com

15. Embracing couple in the rubble of a collapsed factory

Image credits: Taslima Akhter

16. Sunset on Mars

Image credits: nasa.gov

17. Five-year-old gypsy boy on New Year’s Eve 2006 in the gypsy community of St. Jacques, Perpignan, Southern France. It is quite common in St. Jacques for little boys to smoke

Image credits: Jesco Denzel

18. Hhaing The Yu, 29, holds his face in his hand as rain falls on the decimated remains of his home near Myanmar’s capital of Yangon (Rangoon). In May 2008, cyclone Nargis struck southern Myanmar, leaving millions homeless and claiming more than 100,000 lives

Image credits: Brian Sokol

19. A dog named “Leao” sits for a second consecutive day at the grave of her owner, who died in the disastrous landslides near Rio de Janiero in 2011

Image credits: Vanderlei Almeida / Getty Images

20. “Wait For Me Daddy,” by Claude P. Dettloff in New Westminster, Canada, October 1, 1940

Image credits: Claud Detloff

21. An old WW2 Russian tank veteran finally found the old tank in which he passed through the entire war – standing in a small Russian town as a monument

Image credits: englishrussia.com

22. Flower power

Image credits: Bernie Boston

23. A woman sits amidst the wreckage caused by a massive earthquake and ensuing tsunami, in Natori, northern Japan, in March 2011

Image credits: Asahi Shimbun, Toshiyuki Tsunenari /AP

24. The Graves of a Catholic woman and her Protestant husband, Holland, 1888

Image credits: retronaut.com

25. Greg Cook hugs his dog Coco after finding her inside his destroyed home in Alabama following the Tornado in March, 2012

Image credits: Gary Cosby Jr. / AP

26. Demonstration of condom usage at a public market in Jayapura, capital of Papua, 2009

Image credits: Adri Tambunan

27. Russian soldiers preparing for the Battle of Kursk, July 1943

Image credits: Shirak Karapetyan-Milshtein

Update: Our reader Leif-Erik pointed out that this photograph was actually created in 2006-2007 for a photo competition. It is based on archive photos from the war in Russia in 1941-1945.

28. During massive floods in Cuttack City, India, in 2011, a heroic villager saved numerous stray cats by carrying them with a basket balanced on his head

Image credits: Biswaranjan Rout / AP

29. An Afghan man offers tea to soldiers

Image credits: Rafiq Maqbool / AP

30. Some parents, likely now in their 70′s, still looking for their missing child.

Image credits:

Sonar Kella

Sonar Kella (Bengali, Golden Fortress; 1974)
Director: Satyajit Ray

This colour film deviates from his Ray's usual fare as this is more of a children feature film which involved thriller, suspense, adventure, comedy of errors and mystic rather than his typical social messages. It also looks like a feature film made to show the splendour and beauty of Rajasthan as well.
It starts with the startled parents whose tween son, Mukhul, who keeps on waking up every night to draw and describe a particular golden castle that he grew up in and vividly describes of treasures and precious stones.

The parents' concern becomes the talk of the town, articles in the newspaper and the interest of 2 small times crooks (Burman and Bose) when the mention of treasures come in the limelight.
A parapsychologist, Dr Hajra, interested in the boy's case volunteers to take Mukul to Jaipur to locate the said castle (even though nobody actually knows the exact the location). He was hoping that Mukul would, after looking at the correct fortress and the secret of his past life can be revealed.

The bumbling crooks tried to kidnap Mukul but ended up with a wrong boy with the same name.

After discovering that his son's life may be in danger, Mukul's father hires a private investigator, Feluda to protect his son who had already left for Jaipur. Feluda has an assistant, his nephew, Tapshe, a teenager who accompanies him on his adventure.

The crooks, realising their goof, managed to catch up with Dr Hajra and Mukul. They managed to dupe the good doctor and push him off a cliff and Burman switched role as 'Dr Hajra'. Bose masquerade as a travelling globetrotter.

Feluda meets up with the impostors and looks for the castle unsuspectingly. Meanwhile, the impostors are trying to get the investigators off their backs. The real Dr Hajra survives the fall and follows all of them in disguise, confusing the situation further. At the end of the day, all turn up well; the crooks caught, the truth discovered and Mukul's father in a past life was a gem cutter, not one who hid treasures!

The dialogue is quite witty in its own way. The movie, on the whole, did not really stand out from his other great films.

Sitting ducks, are we?

For years and years, many seemingly unimportant information are written in case notes of patients. Many apparently worthless piece of news is recorded diligently. Who actually bothers about the weight of the placenta during delivery. Many routine things are recorded faithfully at spinal level without any any grey matter involved.
Even when a doctor 'clerks' your illness, at the back of his mind is to record salient features of your interview. Sometimes, he acts more like a clerk trying fulfill his duty of completing the mandatory questions and forms. Don't even bother about the nurses! By the time they retire, they would written all the Vedics scriptures a thousand times over.
Why all this obsession to write? I always wondered.... And I saw how many particulars are retrospectively filled and many descriptive posterior covering documentations occur when an unfavourable outcome happens. All are done in the hope that they, the attendants, would be likely pinpointed and penalized when the day of reckoning, if it happens, one day!
Hey, then it all makes sense. Those in the medical profession are just sitting duck writing day in and day out for one day, if the patient that they had care for, has a bone to pick, their nitty-gritty cherry picking attorneys can scheme through with a fine tooth comb to corner the practitioner, who acted in good faith and God as their witness, to appear as a buffoon and a conniving psychopath with the benefit of hindsight! The attorneys would appear like all knowing smart alecs highlighting the elementary facts of life!
So that is what it is.....

sitting duck

Fig. someone or something vulnerable to attack, physical or verbal. 

(Alludes to a duck floating on the water, not suspecting that it is the object of a hunter or predator.) 

Window Sherbet (Ais Tingkap)

http://www.malaysiadesignarchive.org/?p=1577

Window Sherbet | Ais Tingkap

Written and researched by Arts-Ed

An early talkie

M (1931, German)
Director: Fritz Lang
The year is 1931, Germany. Malaysia was still a colony with its subjects still oblivious of self governance and politics. The first Malayan political party, Malayan Communist Party was only established in 1932. Germany, under many capable and creative filmmakers were already making moving talkies.
M is Lang's first talking movie and definitely one of early gems of the industry.

Symbolism - Balloon trapped denoting 

child trapped by murderer

It tells about the a serial child murderer, Beckhert, (Peter Lorre who is seen in many of Hitchcock's films later). It is told in a very smooth way elaborating many police procedural techniques which were quite alien at that time. Even in the 30s, one can see the meticulous manner of the German in solving problems.

M for Mörder  

The frequent police ambushes into pubs interfere with many businesses. The mob bosses and the police go against each other to lay their hands on the child murderer. The mobs use an ingenious way involving beggars to sniff out Beckhert.

The mobs succeed in apprehending the perpetrator to bring him to a kangaroo court, presided by the mob boss and juried by the public. In a non-typical fashion, for a movie at that time, when characters are either good or bad, here we are shown the other side of the wrong doer. He pleads for acquittal when he describes his sickness and inability to control his inner desires.

Peter Lorre A comedian turn villain 

As the era of silent movies were just being phased out, the style of acting (or overacting, over-expressiveness)  still continues. There are a few original ideas of film taking seen here, like the use of mirrors to tell stories and non conventional angles of camera like the ones often seen in Orson Welles' movies.
A true classic!

No pain no gain?

The jury is still out on why runners from certain part of Eastern African, especially of a certain tribe in Kenya do extremely well in middle and long distance races. People of the Kalenjin tribe who comprise 0.6% of the world population have the honour of holding more than 40% of the world honours in distances of 800m and above, all the way to marathon. Many theories have been suggested for their lion's share on these records.
The familiar reasons that have been told to us are their physique, training in high altitude, their low socio-economic status and running as their trump card to freedom, bla, bla...
Now, I heard of a new quasi-genetic explanation for their superiority - their tolerance to pain!
In 1968 Mexico City Olympics, the unforgettable heroic saga to victory of a certain athlete, Kipchoge Keino, started the flood gates of subsequent champions emerging from that side of the world. After the preliminary rounds, Kip was to partake in 3 events, namely 10,000m, 5,000m and 1500m. He collapsed during the 10,000m finals. His doctor diagnosed him to have cholecystitis (gall bladder infection) and advised him to call it quits. Kip defied doctor's orders and ran the 5,000m to win the silver medal. Again the doctor discouraged him to run another race. The gallbladder was apparently at risk of rupture, so the story goes! In spite of the stinging pain at every breath of fresh air, Kip persevered.

The 1500m finals of Mexico City Olympics turned out to be a tale of human endeavour. Jack Ryun of USA, the then world record holder for the event with his 'kick' was favoured to win. Starting as last in the first lap, Kip zoomed past everybody to, not only to beat Ryun but to break the Olympic record with his gall bladder infection. There was a 20m gap between him and Ryun.
A theory suggested for their tenacity is the ritual of the Kalenjin tribe adolescents had to go through as they came of age. This ritual is an elaborate ritual of circumcision with skewers and tying the prepuce in a bow tie fashion. The boys' face are applied with mud which dries up. During the circumcision, the boys are not allowed to grimace as evidenced by flaking of mud on their faces. Failure of this test would result in severe beating and loss of licence to find a partner, hence reproductive opportunities. They are required to run everywhere with the pain. Women are required to undergo their own circumcision rituals.
In the long run, only those with high pain threshold had been selected to continue the progeny!
The newer generation of Kalenjins, of course, do not wish to be tortured this way. Even their parents are quite happy with their offspring having the cut into adulthood with modern analgesic techniques. Does that mean that the Kenyan runners would one day eventually loose their prowess?

So, no pain no gain. Of course they would be aches and they would be pains, only the ones who persevere will live to see the finishing line....
Ref: WYNC's Radiolab, Shorts: Cut and Run

Blind Justice?

So you think the truth will always prevail? You tell me that justice is impartial and is always fair. Is it just me or why is it that I think that it just a farce, just created to pacify a crying child. It is never fair. Justice is blind, deaf, mute, dumb and everything in between.

So, there I was, driving like a good guy, crossing the junction after ensuring that the road is clear. In fact, the cars at the T-junction waited for me to cross. Out of nowhere, comes a motorcyclist weaving through the traffic in between cars to crash directly to the side of my car. No warning, no honk, just like that, like a death wish.
And there I was trying to help him out to be up on his feet. Somehow, I felt the whole accident was staged. Out of nowhere, people appeared to the site offering various services - towing, insurance claims and unwarranted less than 2cents' worth of opinions.
And when, I, as a diligent citizen, made my police report, I was told that I was not totally off the hook. After listening out my story, the investigating officer suggested it was my duty too to ensure that nobody comes my way when I drive!
I was there, I know what happened!
And my father tells me of a civil court case where the presiding judge decreed that in a case of an accident at a junction, even if the traffic light is green on his side, the onus is still on the driver to ensure that there was no oncoming vehicle. What a load of crap? The law is blind alright!