35 years after the fall: The Vietnam War in picture

U.S. military action in Vietnam was a piece in the global Cold War struggle. After Vietnamese nationalists overthrew French colonialists in the 1950s, the country was divided between the Communist north and the anti-Communist south. In the ensuing conflict, Washington backed the south, fearing that a Communist takeover could cascade through Southeast Asia. The first U.S. forces engaged in the conflict in secret, by way of Cambodia. As the civil war intensified in the 1960s, the United States expanded its operations in the region, deploying some 3 million American troops over time, but U.S. forces struggled to gain ground as they fought in difficult and unfamiliar terrain against extremely capable in guerrilla fighters. As the war dragged on and casualties mounted, opposition to the war exploded. By the time American forces withdrew in 1975 and Saigon fell to Ho Chi Minh's Communists, 58,000 Americans and between 1 million and 2 million Vietnamese had died. It was the longest war in U.S. history and the most unpopular American war of the 20th century. In this 1965 photo, paratroopers cross a river in the rain near Ben Cat, in the south.

The South Vietnamese regime backed by the United States in the early days of the conflict was notoriously corrupt and authoritarian. President Ngo Dinh Diem, who was part of the Catholic minority, populated his government and military with Catholics, fomenting widespread unrest among the country's Buddhist majority. In this image taken June 11, 1963, Buddhist monk Quang Duc burns himself to death at a busy Saigon intersection to protest persecution of Buddhists. The picture came to represent the failure of the Diem regime and a growing public relations problem for the U.S. Several months later, Diem was overthrown, executed and buried in an unmarked grave.

Hovering U.S. Army helicopters pour machine gun fire into a tree line to cover the advance of South Vietnamese ground troops in March 1965. The troops were moving to attack a Viet Cong camp northwest of Saigon near the Cambodian border.

A Vietnamese man holds the body of his child as South Vietnamese Army Rangers look down from their armored vehicle near the Cambodian border on March 19, 1964.

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Discotheques Of The 1960s

The 1960s discotheques of New York, Chicago and Los Angeles (as well as the boutique inside of Cheetah Nightclub in NYC). The last photo shows an early Velvet Underground performance, complete with colored gels and projections of Andy Warhol films.

Racing with Harley Davidson

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Unseen World War II Photos

World War II photos taken in the former USSR during World War II on the occupied territories. These are photos from family archives posted online by grandchildren of those who took part in the war: the authors of most of them remain unknown. Some of the photos belong to the Soviet journalists: Dmitri Baltermants and Vladimir Lupejko. The photographs are cruel and shocking, but they should teach us about life and how precious it is. We are all equals during our short life on this planet and all nations should embrace others and cease all conflicts. For the better future of our children, may the history never repeat itself.

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It's Friday and I...

... would like to wish my sister a happy belated birthday! You are going to die when you see your gift!

... am looking forward to her pool party tomorrow! Which bikini to wear?

... just went shopping! Aldo and YDE are my guilty pleasures.

... am in the best mood ever because of my 'little' retail therapy session.

... have one week left to get in shape. Major photo shoot happening, as you know, and I can't look kak.

... wouldn't have had to worry about crash diets if I just went to gym everyday and weren't so addicted to bread and cheese! Anybody else share my problem?

... have a dinner-date with my bff tonight. Wonder where she's taking me.

... must wear my new dress tonight, where ever it is we're going.

... love Alexis Jordan! She is my favourite artist right now! Why doesn't Musica have her album?

... didn't go home empty handed from Musica. Got Rihanna's new album!

... have a hair appointment tomorrow. Going lighter. I guess blondes do have more fun.

... am addicted to Glaceau Vitamin Water!

... will attempt gardening on Sunday. There's no way that my garden can turn out looking worse!

Happy Friday and have fabulous weekend! One week left till my big photo shoot! Most things are in place. I can't wait to share those behind-the-scenes with you and, especially, the end results!

J

Old Photos of the First Generation Of Computers

Computers, and technology in general, have come a long way in today’s world. The modern world is actually shaped and defined through the usage of computers, those neat little gadgets that do the hard work for you. Modern computers are also perfectly capable of entertaining, organizing, reminding, even surprising you. That wasn’t always the case. Here is glimpse of the history of computers and their humble beginnings. These computers may not have been as powerful as modern computers, but they’re old black and white photos are intriguing nevertheless. If for no other reason, then because those old computers were capable of filling a whole room with their robust circuitry. Enjoy these old photos of the first generation of computers.

AVIDAC, Argonne’s first digital computer, began operation in January 1953. It was built by the Physics Division for $250,000. Pictured is pioneer Argonne computer scientist Jean F. Hall.

A press conference for what is considered the first computer, the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator (ENIAC), was held at the University of Pennsylvania on February 1, 1946. The machine (shown here with a technician) took up an entire room, weighed 30 tons and used more than 18,000 vacuum tubes to perform functions such as counting to 5,000 in one second. ENIAC, costing $450,000, was designed by the U.S. Army during World War II to make artillery calculations. The development of ENIAC paved the way for modern computer technology–but even today’s average calculator possesses more computing power than ENIAC did.

The first ever computer in Latvia was developed and made at the start-up Institute of Electronics and Computer Science in early sixties. No computers were made industrially in USSR at that time. Therefore successful completion of that project certainly represented a significant achievement. Built on a lot of vacuum tubes, the computer actually worked well and was used for supporting research activities for several years till the time when it became possible to replace it by a more powerful industrially made computer.

The CSIRAC was Australia’s first computer. The name stands for CSIR originally stood for “Council for Scientific and Industrial Research”. This name was in effect from 1926 to 1949.

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Ulica knez Mihailova (Prince Michael Street)

Prince Michael Street (Serbian: Улица кнез Михаилова; Ulica knez Mihailova) is the main walking street in Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is a pedestrian zone and shopping center, protected by law as one of the oldest and most valuable landmarks of the city. It has a large number of impressive buildings and mansions built at the end of the 1870s.

Prince Michael Street was declared Spatial Cultural-Historical Units of Great Importance in 1979, and it is protected by Republic of Serbia.

Behind the Scenes of Taxi Violence's new Music Video!

Recently I had the privilege to appear in yet another music video! The video for 'Heads or Tails' by SA rock band, Taxi Violence, were shot on different locations in Observatory over a period of two days. The concept behind the video is very creative, almost like a short story! In a nutshell, it's about a man who wakes up and something terrible happens in his day, then he gets the chance to relive that day over and over. Every morning he gets up a few seconds earlier, which results in the day playing out, and ending, differently each time. Yes, this has been done before in movies, but squeezing an entire story line into a 5min music video, is a challenge. So, just like the title of the song suggests, the day could turn out good or bad. It's heads or tails.

I have a small part in 'day one and two'. In the first scene, 'day one', the guy, who plays the lead, walks pass me on the street. We smile at each other and turn around to quickly flirt. Another guy on a bike, the stuntman, rides passed us, looks at my legs and drives into a lamp pole and falls off his bike. I don't see this, because my eye contact is elsewhere. My character is not that different from me, see? In the next scene, 'day two', we walk down the street again, pass each other and briefly make eye contact, but this time the lead isn't wearing his watch. So he stops the guy on the bike to ask for the time. I walked passed them and because of that, the guy doesn't drive into the pole because he is no longer distracted. The lead also doesn't get to flirt, because by the time he looks up, I'm already around the corner.

Even though this will probably show for 15 seconds in the music video, it was a 2 hour job. I probably walked up and down that street 120 times on heels! The poor actor who plays the lead role had to smoke almost an entire packet of cigarettes for his roll and the stunt man, well, I'm sure he experienced some degree of pain.

My scenes were shot early in the day and after that, I left. So unfortunately no photos of the other scenes or of the band, Taxi Violence. But here are some behind the scenes pictures for you:

I arrived at 07h30. Before I sat for hair and make-up, I quickly took some pics of the very first scene.

Getting prepped for my scene.

Talking to the director, Ryan Kruger, about the video and concept.

Finally, we start filming. Action! Up and down we go.

Camera positions change to capture different angles.

There was even a part where I had to act as if I'm flirting with the other actor BUT he wasn't there! So it's kinda challenging flirting with a wall and then pretending to be all in to it. It's some camera trick which will make sense once I see the end result. Overall it was yet another great experience and even my first attempt at acting. I felt a bit intimidated and pressured, yet, so comfortable and at home. This is what I should be doing for a living!

Ryan Kruger, who also directed the Parlotones music video I was in, is an award winning director and I can't wait to see him work his magic!

J

(Images: writer's own. Please do not use without permission)