Art & Poem

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A stranger came to the door at eve,
And he spoke the bridegroom fair.
He bore a green-white stick in his hand,
And, for all burden, care.
He asked with the eyes more than the lips
For a shelter for the night,
And he turned and looked at the road afar
Without a window light.

from Love And A Question - Poem by Robert Frost

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Carlos F. Gutierrez, a Patagonia Press for Diario La Tercera photographer based in Chile, has won the first prize of the Nature Singles category of the World Press Photo Contest with this photo of Chaiten volcano eruption, Chile, taken May 2, 2008. A cloud of debris soared as high as 20 miles (32 km) into the air and was kept aloft by the pressure of constant eruptions for weeks, covering towns in neighboring Argentina with volcanic ash.

It again spewed a vast cloud of ash in February in what appeared to be a partial collapse of its cone. Television footage showed a could of ash billowing into the sky over the town of Chaiten, which lies about six miles (10 km) from the crater. Authorities evacuated about 160 people from the area. Most of the town’s 4,500 residents were evacuated last year after the volcano, dormant for thousands of years, erupted.

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Photos courtesy of Reuters

Original Source: Vancouver Sun

The Telegraph’s weekly Big Picture contest winner: this shot of a tea plantation in Munnar, Kerala, taken by Lynden Clarke from Bristol.

Original Source: Telegraph

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When Einstein was born, his mother worried that his head was too large and his grandmother exclaimed that he was "much too fat." A few years later, when Einstein was four or five, he had his first scientific experience: his father showed him a pocket compass and the young boy marveled at the fact that regardless of where the compass was turned, the needle always pointed north. The needle's invariable northward swing, guided by an invisible force, profoundly impressed the child. The compass convinced him that there had to be "something behind things, something deeply hidden."

Einstein's formal education began at age six, when he enrolled in the Petersschule on Blumen- strasse, a Catholic elementary school in Munich. Since his parents were not practicing Jews, they cared more about the school's academic standards than its religious affiliation. Einstein did well in school, but he was a quiet child and kept his distance from his peers. He was uncomfortable with the principle of absolute obedience and the military drills that dominated the school's atmosphere.  read more »

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Picture of three-year-old Morgan Riddick saying goodbye to his father who was being deployed during a ceremony of the 772nd Military Police Company, Massachusetts National Guard on Taunton Green. Taken by John Tlumacki, this photo was the Overall Winner in the annual Boston Press Photographers Association competition, and also won 1st Place in General News.

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Photos courtesy of John Tlumacki/Globe Staff

Original Source: Boston Globe

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It was a feat of engineering and a work of exceptional beauty and grace. It won the hearts and minds of millions of people.

Forty years ago today the supersonic Concorde took its first test flight, and a design paragon flashed across the skies over Toulouse. With its droop nose and delta wing, the Concorde was a high point of 20th century engineering (its maiden flight came three months before the first moon landing) and the kind of cooperative effort that now seems beyond us. As we enter a period of infrastructure spending, it’s worth noting what kept the Concorde aloft for 27 years.

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