Wednesday, October 8, 2014





Welcome to Distractify.
This is how future generations will remember us as people of the early 21st century. Take a moment with me to reflect on the conflicts, triumphs, and world changing moments all of us have witnessed together in the past 14 years. We chose this list of 100 photos to capture the most iconic moments so far.

Zanjeer the bomb dog is laid to rest with full military honours for saving thousands of lives. [2000]

Source: Pune Mirror

President Bush's reaction to news of a second plane striking the Twin Towers. He was reading to children at a Florida elementary school. [2001]

Source: LIFE

Archaeologists discover some of the oldest artworks known to man in Dordogne, France - over 12,000 years old. [2001]

A young Afghan woman shows her face in public for the first time after 5 years of Taliban Sharia law. [2001]

Source: Reuters

People gather water from a huge well in the village of Natwarghad in the western Indian state of Gujarat. More than 1 billion people still lack access to clean drinking water. [2003]

Source: Amit Dave

Ballerinas practice with medical masks during the SARS outbreak. [2003]

New York City is plunged into darkness after a power failure [2003]

A month and a half after the invasion began, U.S. Marine Kirk Dalrymple watches as a statue of Iraq's President Saddam Hussein falls in central Baghdad. [2003]

Source: Reuters

U.S. Navy Hospital Corpsman HM1 Richard Barnett, assigned to the 1st Marine Division, holds a child after she was separated from her family during a firefight [2003]

Source: Damir Sagolj

President Bush addresses sailors in the famous "Mission Accomplished" speech, declaring the end of major combat in Iraq. [2003]

A Ukrainian woman places carnations into shields of anti-riot policemen standing outside the presidential office in Kiev. Ukraine, during the 2004 Orange Revolution. [2004]

The Hubble Telescope takes a picture of what the universe looked like 13 billion years ago [2004]

Source: NASA

A Russian police officer carries a released baby from the school seized by heavily armed masked men and women in the town of Beslan. [2004]

A heart-wrenching picture of a mother and child at an an emergency feeding centre in in Tahoua, Niger. [2005]

Isabelle Dinoire after receiving the world's first partial face transplant [2005]

Source: AP

Pearl Harbor survivor Houston James of Dallas embraces Marine Staff Sgt. Mark Graunke Jr. who lost a hand, leg, and eye while defusing a bomb in Iraq. [2005]

Tanisha Blevin, 5, holds the hand of fellow Hurricane Katrina victim Nita LaGarde, 105, as they are evacuated from the convention center in New Orleans. [2005]

Source: Eric Gay

The Cassini spacecraft takes a picture of Saturn from deep space. The tiny speck of light circled in red is Earth. [2006]

Source: NASA

The Tribute in Lights shines on the skyline of lower Manhattan in New York. [2006]

Source: The Atlantic

Terri Gurrola is reunited with her daughter after serving in Iraq for 7 months. [2007]

Source: BuzzFeed

Thousands gather to mourn after the Virginia Tech shooting [2007]

An indigenous woman holds her child while trying to resist the advance of Amazonas state policemen in Manaus who have been sent to evict natives. [2008]

Michael Phelps celebrates after winning his 14th gold medal, setting the all-time record for most Olympic gold medals. [2008]

Wall Street on the midst of the Global Financial Crisis [2008]

Barack Obama wins the 2008 election, becoming the first African American President.

Hhaing The Yu, 29, holds his face in his hand as rain falls on the decimated remains of his home after a cyclone stroke Myanmar’s capital of Yangon. [2008]

Source: Brian Sokol

Four of the last seven Northern White Rhinos in the world are airlifted from a zoo in the Czech Republic to a park in Africa in an attempt to save their entire species. [2009]

Vladimir Putin shirtless while vacationing and hunting in Siberia. The now Russian President is a judo black belt. [2009]

Kiki, age 7, is pulled from the ruins left by the Haiti earthquake and into the arms of his mother. [2010]

Elite runner Jaqueline Kiplimo helps a disabled Chinese athlete drink during the 2010 Zheng-Kai marathon. She stayed with him for several miles, costing her the 1st place finish and the $10000 prize. [2010]

Tracy Caldwell looks down on Earth from the International Space Station [2010]

Source: NASA

Smoke billows from a controlled burn of spilled oil off the Louisiana coast in the Gulf of Mexico coast line. [2010]

Phyllis Siegel, 76, and Connie Kopelov, 84, are finally able to get married in New York. In the past decade, 17 US States, alongside 15 countries have legalized gay marriage. [2011]

Christians protect Muslims in prayer at Tahrir Square during the Egyptian Revolution [2011]

Source: Nevin Zaki

An Egyptian woman kisses a policeman, who had refused to fire on protestors, during the revolution against the Mubarak Government [2011]

Barack Obama and Government staff watch as commandos conduct a raid, which ends with the killing of Osama bin Laden [2011]

Capt. Michael Potoczniak marries his partner Todd Saunders, in a ceremony in San Francisco. [2011]

Source: AP

A 4-month-old baby girl is rescued from the rubble four days after the Japanese tsunami. [2011]

Source: Reuters

The US rover, Curiosity, takes a selfie on Mars [2012]

Source: NASA

Meghan Vogel, a high school runner, helps her exhausted rival cross the finish line. [2012]

Source: AP

The Middle East sees snow for the first time in over 100 years [2012]

Three young women from the New York Fashion Week pose next to a homeless man. [2012]

Source: Spiegel

A mother comforts her daughter after the Sandy Hook shootings [2012]

Source: Reuters

Greg Cook hugs his dog Coco after finding her inside his destroyed home in Alabama following the Tornado. [2012]

Dzhokar Tsarnaev, one of the brothers behind the Boston Marathon bombing, on the boat where he was eventually caught, with sniper lasers on his forehead. [2013]

The anti-government Syrian town of Kafr Anbel sends a message to Boston after the marathon bombing. [2013]

Boston replied with their own message. [2013]

A child runs to safety as armed police hunt gunmen who went on a shooting spree at Westgate shopping centre in Nairobi. [2013]

Source: Reuters

San Francisco comes together to help batkid save the city - and to grant the wish of an ill child. [2013]

Carlos Arredondo helps Jeff Bauman after the Boston Marathon bombings. The two are now best friends. [2013]

Source: AP

Pope Francis embraces Vinicio Riva, a man scarred by a genetic disease. This was one of many progressive acts that the new leader of the Church made. [2013]

Source: EPA

A woman is peper-sprayed at Turkey's Gezi Park protest. [2013]

Source: Reuters

Lesleigh Coyer, 25, of Saginaw, Michigan, lies down in front of the grave of her brother, Ryan, who served with the U.S. Army in both Iraq and Afghanistan [2013]

Source: Reuters

Afghan women turn out to vote in the first democratic transfer of power the country has ever seen. [2014]

It's hard to believe we still have 86 years of history left to write. As I created this list, I was reminded that regardless of our differences in ideology, we're all people of the 21st century together. When students in the future look back, they will see us as one unified generation who overcame incredible obstacles and made swift social progress, despite little certainty of what lies ahead. 
I hope you enjoyed, and please share these powerful photos with others. 

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