Category: Face Of The Day

A dead cow lays on the frozen ground on March 8, 2010 in Bayantsogt, Tuv province, Mongolia. Most of Mongolia is suffering from a Dzud, a phenomena of a severely cold winter following a summer drought, and this has left insufficient grazing feed for livestock. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) estimate 2.7 million head of livestock have perished already, but believe that figure will double by the end of June. The UNDP is working with other UN agencies to provide a 'cash-for-work' programme in which herders will receive income to bury the carcasses of livestock in an effort to prevent spread of disease and pollution once the snow begins to melt. By Paula Bronstein /Getty Images.

From an exhibition of early human ancestor busts by “paleo-artist” John Gurche:

Australopithecus africanus This species lived about 2.5 million years ago and, like A. afarensis, is thought by some paleoanthropologists to be one of our direct ancestors. “I wanted to get an expression that captures something that both humans and great apes do, though the meaning is a little different,” Gurche says. “I wanted to build a smile, but a smile with a lot of tension in it. You might even call it a nervous smile, like the fear grin of the chimpanzee.”

More images here. Gurche's website is here.

An Iraqi patient shows his inked finger after voting in the country's parliamentary elections at a special polling station on March 4, 2010 in Baghdad, Iraq. Special voting for about 790,000 Iraqi prisoners, hospital patients, doctors and security force members were held in Iraq ahead of the parliamentary elections. At least 17 people were killed in a string of attacks targeting special voting polling station. By Muhannad Fala'ah /Getty Images.

Rep. Charles Rangel, D-NY, attends a memorial service for the late Pennsylvania Rep. John Murtha in Statuary Hall on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on March 3, 2010. Rangel, a powerful Democratic lawmaker and strong ally of President Barack Obama, announced on March 3 that he was temporarily stepping down from his committee chairmanship pending the results of an ethics probe. Rangel, who was publicly admonished by the House ethics committee this week for taking corporate-funded travel, said he did not want to be a hindrance ahead of the November mid-term elections to decide control of congress. By Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images.

A mental patient poses for a photograph in a sanitarium March 1, 2010 in Harbe, Afghanistan. Not only does Afghanistan hold the position of one of the worst health care situations in the world according to the World Health Organization (WHO) but it is also plagued with a hidden medical crisis of severe mental suffering resulting from decades of conflict and repression. It was reported by WHO that roughly five million Afghans suffer from various types of mental illness. By Majid Saeedi/Getty Images.

by Patrick Appel

Phillip Toledano explores the beauty of the cosmetically altered (NSFW):

Is beauty informed by contemporary culture? By history? Or is it defined by the surgeon’s hand? Can we identify physical trends that vary from decade to decade, or is beauty timeless? When we re-make ourselves, are we revealing our true character, or are we stripping away our very identity?

(Hat tip: Kottke)

Israeli soldiers detain Palestinian demonstrators after Friday prayers in the West Bank town of Hebron on February 26, 2010. Clashes continued for a fifth straight day in the West Bank town over Israel's adding the Tomb of the Patriarchs, located in a complex known as Ibrahimi Mosque to Muslims, to a national heritage list. By Hazem Bader/AFP/Getty Images.

One-month-old lioness cubs explore their surroundings as they take their first outing on February 21, 2010 at the Ramat Gan Safari Park near Tel Aviv, Israel. The still unnamed cubs are the first triplet females to be born at the safari park and officials say their birth will ensure the continuity of the park's pride of lions. By David Silverman/Getty Images

 A Christian man screams, 'Those people are responsible for the aftershocks and we shouldn't let them do this devilish thing,' after a mob attacked a Haitian Voodoo ceremony for earthquake victims in the Ti Ayiti neighborhood February 23, 2010 in Cité Soleil, Haiti. The Voodooists were run out of the central pavilion under a hail of rocks and all the ceremonial items they left behind were destroyed and burned by the mob. Although a multi-million dollar police station was built across the street from the notorious slum, no police appeared to disperse the crowd or protect the worshipers. By Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.

A reader writes:

My Photoshop skills aren't the greatest, but I figured somebody should give this a shot…

His handiwork (of yours truly a few years ago with my face inverted) after the jump. I like it because upside down, I have more hair: