50th Anniversary of the Berlin Wall

[jtbell]

Germany marks 50 years since Berlin Wall (BBC)

I was seven years old at the time, so the Berlin Wall was part of my image of Germany as I grew up. In 1972 while I was in college, I visited Germany and got to see the Wall for myself:

 

[Ivan Seeking]

A bit of context for the period:

2011 is also the 50th anniversary year of IBMs electric typewriter

Armonk, NY, USA - 27 Jul 2011: The IBM (NYSE: IBM) Selectric typewriter turns 50 on July 31, commemorating a design icon that revolutionized the day-to-day lives of office workers around the world. The Selectric's half-century birthday coincides with IBM's Centennial year and the release of a new U.S. postage stamp honoring the Selectric as an icon of design.

The IBM Selectric became an instant sensation upon its debut on July 31, 1961, and remained the typewriter found on most office desks until the brand was retired 25 years later, in 1986...

http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/35140.wss

and the 50th anniversary of the first manned space flight

Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin (Russian: Ю́рий Алексе́евич Гага́рин,[1] Russian pronunciation: [ˈjurʲɪj ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪtɕ ɡɐˈɡarʲɪn]; 9 March 1934 – 27 March 1968) was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut. He was the first human being to journey into outer space, when his Vostok spacecraft completed an orbit of the Earth on April 12, 1961...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuri_Gagarin

Also, Obama just turned 50.