| January 15, 2010 | 
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Fire and Ice
For today's entry, an exercise in contrasts: Fire and Ice.
Fire can be a life-sustaining, constructive element, or, at worst, a powerfully
destructive force - something we humans continue to use, play with, and struggle
to control. Ice is closer to the natural state of the universe, cold, still and
lifeless. Earth's orbit lies in a "Goldilocks zone" where we may seasonally
experience icy environments, but never freeze completely. Collected here are
several recent alternating photographs from around the world of both Fire and
Ice. (40
photos total)
A ball of fire erupts within a
thick cloud of smoke on December 19, 2009 in Somalia's capital Mogadishu after a
petrol station caught fire in the K5 area. AU peacekeepers and Somalia
government forces rallied to secure the area and, assisted by locals, attempted
to extinguish the blaze whose cause was reportedly linked to insurgents.
(ABDURASHID ABDULLE/AFP/Getty Images) #
Fire rages through a forest
in Valparaiso city, 121 km (75 miles) northwest of Santiago, Chile on December
26, 2009. More than 1,200 acres of land were burned due to multiple fires near
Valparaiso city but with no reported cases of deaths or injuries, local
authorities said. (REUTERS/Eliseo Fernandez) #
An employee works as molten
metal flows for the first time at the new Hyundai Steel mill in Dangjin, about
123 km (76 miles) southwest of Seoul, South Korea on January 6, 2010. Hyundai
Steel's first-ever integrated blast furnace has an annual production capacity of
4 million tons of steel products, Yonhap News Agency reported according to the
company.(REUTERS/Hyundai Steel) #
Sled hockey player Nikko
Landeros, of Berthoud, Colorado (right), takes part in a scrimmage with Tyler
Carron in the Boulder Valley YMCA in Lafayette Colorado on January 2nd, 2010.
Three years ago, high school wrestlers Landeros and Carron lost their legs when
they were hit by a car while changing a flat tire. It didn't take long for
Landeros to pick up sled hockey, and he'll be competing in Vancouver in the
Paralympics. Carron is on the junior national team. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
#
A house on Richhill Street in
Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, is engulfed in flames early Monday, Jan. 11, 2010. A
coroner has confirmed that two children died in the house fire, though a woman
escaped as did two other children who jumped off a roof into the arms of a
police officer. (AP Photo/Observer-Reporter,Bob Niedbala) #
Firefighters put out a fire
which erupted after Thursday's explosion at a petrochemical plant in Lanzhou,
Gansu Province, China on January 8, 2010. Five people were confirmed dead and
one still missing since Thursday in the explosion at the plant belonging to
China's top state-owned oil firm CNPC, Xinhua news agency reported.
(REUTERS/China Daily) #
Thousands of anglers cast
lines through holes created in the surface of a frozen river during a contest to
catch trout in Hwacheon, 120 kilometers northeast of Seoul, South Korea on
January 10, 2010. The contest is part of an annual ice festival which draws over
1,000,000 visitors every year. (JUNG YEON-JE/AFP/Getty Images) #
Hundreds of people holding
lit flares aloft gather to submit a petition outside the residence of Iceland's
President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson in Reykjavik January 2, 2010. Iceland's
president said on Thursday December 31, 2009 that he would delay signing an
amended bill to repay more than $5 billion lost by savers in Britain and the
Netherlands when the island's banks collapsed. (REUTERS/Ragnar Axelsson) #
Crowds gathered at the 7th
Annual Christmas Tree Bonfire watch as the trees are engulfed in flames January
6, 2010 on Dead Horse Beach at Salem Willows Park in Salem, Massachusetts. An
estimated 2,500 trees were collected by the Salem Department of Public Services
for the fire. (Erik Jacobs/Boston Globe) #
