Oldest Shoes Compilation

Old shoes doesn't sound interesting but here are some fine examples. These shoes range from the incredibly short and tall Venetian Chopines, which had 2 foot soles for courtesans to wade through sewage lined streets, to the opposite-shaped long, skinny, medieval Poulaines, which had toes stuffed with moss. Interestingly the worlds oldest shoes come from the New World, or Oregon to be exact.

One of the favorites are the Roman shoes from the time of Constantine, whose style show just show eastern, or to our eyes, Arabic, the Empire would have felt at that time.

Ancient Greek Pair of Terracotta Boots 900 BC

16th C cows mouth shoe

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History Of Flying Car

If you thought flying cars were the domain of sci fi movies or the reality-stretching James Bond films then you'd be surprised. The concept has been around since the early days of motoring, when intrepid aviators and auto pioneers envisioned a time when cars ruled the sky as they did the road. The fact that in 2011 we don't have a mass produced flying car is testament to the ill-fated efforts of some of those early innovators, but there is hope, thanks to twenty first century advances.

The first flying car, or roadable aircraft, came in 1917 via Wright Brothers rival Glenn Curtiss who having been beaten into the air by designing the three-wing Curtiss Autoplane. The vehicle could only hop, but spawned an engineering race that, despite modern successes, has yet to come of age.

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Rare Construction Photos The Statue Of Liberty

There is always a point in time when famous landmarks weren't there. One image of America which is fixed in the minds of millions is the Statue of Liberty and the history of its construction is fascinating.

Take a trip back in time and see extraordinary behind the scenes images of the creation of this superlative structure.

A giant is formed. The sheer scale of the statue under construction can be seen here, in contrast to the workmen posing woodenly for that fairly new invention, the camera. The more formal name for the statue is Liberty Enlightening the World and it is constructed with sheets of pure copper, even though the picture makes it look something like marble.

It is something of a miracle that we now have the finished product standing proudly on Liberty Island. Had it not been for the contributions of ordinary French and Americans then she would never have arisen in the first instance.

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David Beckham's England Career

Ahead of Euro 2012, let's have a look looking at some of England's best players such as David Beckham, who has always given everything for his country. England's most capped outfield player's Three Lions career in fantastic photos.

David Beckham has won 115 caps for England, the record for an outfield player

The fresh-faced Man United midfielder pictured on his England debut in a 3-0 win against Moldova in 1996

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History Of PC Hardware In Pictures

We all use personal computers and we all take them for granted in our everyday lives. It's easy to forget that PCs have only been around for a couple of decades, and initially were nowhere near the powerhouses we have on our desks today.

For example, did you know that the first "portable" computer weighed 25 kg (55 lb) and cost close to $20,000, that the first laser printer was big enough to fill up most of a room, or that you basically had to build the first Apple computer yourself?

This article takes a look at the time when the computer equipment we now take for granted was invented and what it looked like back then. It's amazing how much has happened in the PC industry in just a few decades. Just imagine what things will be like 30-40 years from now…

The First Computer Mouse

The first mouse. To the right you can see the wheels it used for movement and positioning.

The first computer mouse was invented in 1963 by Douglas Engelbart at the Stanford Research Institute. (He is also one of the inventors of hypertext.) The first mouse used two wheels positioned at a 90-degree angle to each other to keep track of the movement (see picture below). The ball mouse wasn't invented until 1972, and the optical mouse was invented circa 1980 although it didn’t come to popular use until much later.

Douglas Engelbart never received any royalties for his invention and his patent had run out by the time the mouse became commonplace in the era of home PCs.

The First Trackball

The first trackball, bowling ball and all.

The trackball was actually invented 11 years BEFORE the mouse, in 1952. It was invented by Tom Cranston and Fred Longstaff as part of a computerized battlefield information system called DATAR, initiated by the Canadian Navy. It used a standard five-pin bowling ball as its trackball, which is smaller than the more common 10-pin bowling ball.

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Iconic Photos Of Pearl Harbor Attack

The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941 (December 8 in Japan). The attack was intended as a preventive action in order to keep the U.S. Pacific Fleet from interfering with military actions the Empire of Japan was planning in Southeast Asia against overseas territories of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and the United States.

To commemorate the 70th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, here are some stunning images of the event that brought the United States into World War II. 

(AP / File Photo)

(AP / File Photo)

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The Fall Of The Soviet Union - 20th Anniversary

Twenty years ago, on December 25, 1991, Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as president of the Soviet Union, declaring the office extinct and dissolving the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), a massive communist empire that had existed since 1922. 

The USSR had been in a long economic stagnation when Gorbachev came to power in 1985. In order to bring about change, he introduced several reforms, including perestroika (economic restructuring) and glasnost (openness). Glasnost opened the floodgates of protest and many republics made moves toward independence, threatening the continued existence of the USSR. 

In August of 1991, a group of Communist Party hardliners frustrated by the separatist movement attempted to stage a coup. They quickly failed due to a massive show of civil resistance -- but the already-faltering government was destabilized even further by the attempt. By December of 1991, 16 Soviet republics had declared their independence, and Gorbachev handed over power to Russian president Boris Yeltsin, ending the USSR. 

Collected here are photos from those tumultuous months 20 years ago

A woman reaches into her bag, which rests on a fallen Soviet hammer-and-sickle on a Moscow street in 1991. December 25, 2011 will mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Soviet Union. (Alexander Nemenov/AFP/Getty Images) 

Lithuanians carry Lithuanian flags in the center of Vilnius on January 10, 1990, during demonstration asking for the country's independence. In early 1990, Sajudis-Reform Movement of Lithuania backed candidates won the elections to the Lithuanian Supreme Soviet. On March 11, 1990, the Supreme Soviet proclaimed the re-establishment of Lithuanian independence. The Baltic republics were in forefront of the struggle for independence and Lithuania was the first of the Soviet republics to declare independence. (Vitaly Armand/AFP/Getty Images)  

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Kim Jong Il - 1942-2011

North Korean state television reported the death of North Korea's longtime ruler Kim Jong Il. Kim reportedly died two days earlier, on Saturday, December 17, 2011, suffering a heart attack while riding on a train outside Pyongyang. 

The 69-year-old had been North Korea's "supreme leader" since 1994, after succeeding his father, Kim Il Sung, the founder of the communist state. Kim Jong Il presided over a long-suffering, isolated nation, antagonized the western world, indulged himself while millions starved, and funneled much of the country's meager funds into military spending and the pursuit of nuclear weapons. 

His nominal successor, son Kim Jong Un, remains untested and the sudden power vacuum in such an unpredictable nation has neighbors, allies, and enemies on edge. 

Collected here are images from the life and times of North Korea's Kim Jong Il, and a few recent images from the reclusive country and those who have noted his passing.

In this April 25, 2002 photo from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency, leader Kim Jong Il salutes the people at the military parade by the Worker and Peasant Red Guard that celebrates the 90th anniversary of leader Kim Il Sung and the 70th anniversary of the North Korean People's Army. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP Images) 

A young Kim Jong Il, left, takes part in a souvenir picture during his childhood with his parents, Kim Jong Suk, right, and leader Kim Il Sung. (AP Photo/Korean Central News Agency via Korea News Service)  

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History Of NASA Space Shuttle Program

From its first launch 30 years ago to its final launch on July 8, 2011, NASA's Space Shuttle program has seen moments of dizzying inspiration and of crushing disappointment. The program had sent up 135 missions, ferrying more than 350 humans and thousands of tons of material and equipment into low Earth orbit. 

Fourteen astronauts have lost their lives along the way. The missions have always been risky, the engineering complex, the hazards extreme.

Individual Space Shuttle orbiters were named in honor of antique sailing ships of the navies of the world, and they are also numbered using the NASA Orbiter Vehicle Designation system. Three of the names had also been borne by Apollo spacecraft in 1969-1972: Apollo 11 command module Columbia, Apollo 15 command module Endeavour, and Apollo 17 lunar module Challenger.

Lets look back at the past few decades of shuttle development and missions as we await the next steps toward human space flight. Some of the images are awesome and dramatic and suitable to be made as your desktop wallpaper.

Space Shuttle Columbia lifts off from Kennedy Space Center, on April 12, 1981. Commander John Young and pilot Robert Crippen were onboard STS-1, the first orbital flight of the Space Shuttle program. (Reuters/NASA/KSC) 

Shuttle launch profiles. From left to right: Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour. (Wikipedia)

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The Life Of Joseph Stalin In Photos

Yes, this is not exactly Stalin's real photo album. This is the work of a writer Nodar Djin who has tried to imagine the way Stalin's photo album looked like if he had one.

Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (18 December 1878 – 5 March 1953; born Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili) was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee from 1922 until his death in 1953.

While formally the office of the General Secretary was elective and was not initially regarded as the top position in the Soviet state, after Vladimir Lenin's death in 1924, Stalin managed to consolidate more and more power in his hands, gradually putting down all opposition groups within the party. This included Leon Trotsky, the Red Army organizer, proponent of world revolution, and principal critic of Stalin among the early Soviet leaders, who was exiled from the Soviet Union in 1929. Instead, Stalin's idea of socialism in one country became the primary line of the Soviet politics.

In power until his death in 1953, Stalin led the USSR during the period of post-war reconstruction, marked by the dominance of Stalinist architecture (most famously represented by the Stalin skyscrapers). The successful development of the Soviet nuclear program enabled the country to become the world's second nuclear weapons power; the Soviet space program was started as spin-off of the nuclear project. In his last years, Stalin also launched the so-called Great Construction Projects of Communism and the Great Plan for the Transformation of Nature.

This is my house. It’s small, yes, but I didn’t need a bigger one because I was just as small. I kept a goat in the annex and her name was Jeanne. In honor of Jeanne d’Arc. My father Beso worked in Tbilisi and he didn’t like Jeanna. So, when I was at school, he got drunk and choked her to death.

It’s me at school. I’m in the back raw, but in the middle. The photographer didn’t let me get closer to the pillow, even though I was his best pupil. Probably, he was bribed. By those who are next to the pillow, not by their parents. My parent, seeing the picture, told me to grow faster. But he liked it in general because one cannot see smallpox scars on my face in it.

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Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster Anniversary

2011 mark the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. On April 26, 1986, a series of explosions destroyed Chernobyl's reactor No. 4 station and several hundred staff and firefighters tackled a blaze that burned for 10 days and sent a plume of radiation around the world in the worst-ever civil nuclear disaster. 

More than 50 reactor and emergency workers were killed at the time. Assessing the larger impact on human health remains a difficult task, with estimates of related deaths from cancer ranging from 4,000 to over 200,000. The government of Ukraine indicated early this year that it will lift restrictions on tourism around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, formally opening the scene to visitors. It's expected, meanwhile, that a 20,000-ton steel case called the New Safe Confinement (NSC), designed as a permanent containment structure for the whole plant, will be completed in 2013.

Nowadays, Nuclear Power Plant is known as sophisticated and complex energy systems ever designed. However, any complex system, no matter how well it is designed and engineered, cannot be deemed failure-proof. There are trades to be made between safety, economic and technical properties of different reactor designs for particular applications. Since Chernobyl and Three Mile Island, many involved now consider informed consent and morality should be primary considerations.

For me, it is time that we in Malaysia to embrace nuclear energy as a cornerstone of the carbon-free revolution the world needs to address climate change and long-term energy security in a world beyond fossil fuels. Advanced nuclear power that provides the technological key to unlocking awesome potential of these energy metals for the benefit humankind and for the ultimate sustainability of our global society.

Bring in the nuke now...

Repairs are carried out on the Chernobyl nuclear plant in Ukraine on October 1st, 1986, following a major explosion in April 1986 which, according to official statistics, affected 3,235,984 Ukrainians and sent radioactive clouds all over Europe. (ZUFAROV/AFP/Getty Images) 

A military helicopter sprays a decontaminating substance over the region surrounding the Chernobyl nuclear power station a few days after its No. 4 reactor's blast, the worst nuclear accident of the 20th century. (STF/AFP/Getty Images) 

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Nuclear Bombs Testing

Since the time of Trinity, which is the first nuclear explosion in 1945, nearly 2,000 nuclear tests have been performed, with the majority taking place during the 1960s and 1970s. When the technology was new, tests were frequent and often spectacular, and led to the development of newer, more deadly weapons.

Judging from the amount of nuke test done, I just can imagine the amount of radiation human kind had been exposed.

Starting in the 1990s, there have been efforts to limit the future testing of nuclear weapons, including a U.S. moratorium and a U.N. comprehensive test ban treaty. As a result, testing has slowed, though not halted, and there are questions about the future. Who will take over for those experienced engineers who are now near retirement, and should we act as stewards with enormous stockpiles of nuclear weapons? 

Gathered here are images from the first 30 years of nuclear testing.

Exposed wiring of The Gadget, the nuclear device which exploded as part of Trinity, the first nuclear weapons test of an atomic bomb. At the time of this photo, the device was being prepared for its detonation, which took place on July 16, 1945. (U.S. Department of Defense)  

Upshot-Knothole Grable, a test carried out by the U.S. military in Nevada on May 25, 1953. A 280mm nuclear shell was fired 10km into the desert by the M65 Atomic Cannon, detonating in the air, about 500 feet above the ground, with a resulting 15 kiloton explosion. (U.S. Department of Defense) 

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Rare Photos Of WW2 In Real Colour

Usually, not all but most of engineer don't take much interest in history. They treat history, during college or high school, as a boring-lame-easy-subject. Me, in the other hand, quiet passionate with history. 

These are some rare color photos of World War II. Take a look!

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Evolution Of Police Riot Gear

Just as the styles of protest have changed from one generation to the next, so have the styles of protest policing. Technological advances, training innovations and changing attitudes toward the right to assemble have all shaped the way the police handle the challenges of large demonstrations. 

During the 1960s and '70s, police officers treated many protests as a threat to the social order and responded with brute force. In the 1980s and '90s, demonstrations tended to be less confrontational and the police responded with more accommodating tactics.

Following the Battle in Seattle protests against the World Trade Organization in 1999, a more restrictive, preemptive and aggressive form of protest policing emerged at the 2003 protests in Miami over the Free Trade Area of the Americas. The current Occupy demonstrations have adopted a defiant and disruptive style of protest that has pushed the boundaries of the First Amendment, but the response has been mixed. 

Long Live People Power...

Click on image for bigger view. Source

Source from NY Times

Colourful Life Of Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan officially the Republic of Uzbekistan is a doubly landlocked country in Central Asia and one of the six independent Turkic states. It shares borders with Kazakhstan to the west and to the north, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to the east, and Afghanistan and Turkmenistan to the south. Prior to 1991, it was part of the Soviet Union. Uzbekistan is an observing member of the Turkic Council.

It's going to cost you 50 dollars to get to Samarkand from Tashkent (a 300-kilometer drive) by taxi, which is like nothing if compared with Moscow prices. On the way there you'll come across piles of melons of all kinds which they sell along the roads, so if you happen to pass by, pull up to taste some.

Piles of melons of all kinds which they sell along the roads

The road runs through hills.

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Princess Diana in memory

Princess Diana's Birthday - 1st July 1961