ode to joy lyrics

ever wonder what the lyrics are in english to beethoven's Ode to Joy? (Actually written by Schiller but....) here they are. I heard this on car radio, starting with 2nd movement, so beautiful, I sat in parked car until the end.

Can you sense the Creator, world?
Seek him above the starry canopy.
Above the stars He must dwell.

Joy, daughter of Elysium
Thy magic reunites those
Whom stern custom has parted;
All men will become brothers
Under thy gentle wing.

Be embraced, Millions!
This kiss for all the world!
Brothers!, above the starry canopy
A loving father must dwell.

Joy, beautiful spark of Gods!,
Daughter of Elysium,
Joy, beatiful spark of Gods!.
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coast guard pic

I love this picture. These guys are taking a break, relaxing at the back of a lockheed C-130. They are clipped in with carabiners.

Tesla electric car

GM killed its electric car program, the EV1. Here is another electric car, a sports car, goes 130 mph. Price? $98,000.

Mike Huckabee - not nuts after all? A hero instead?

You must have heard about the woman who was gang raped in Saudi Arabia (isnt that inconsistent with Islam?) and in response was sentenced by a court to be lashed - that's right, it was her fault she was RAPED! has any politicians spoken about this? What about Hillary? Are we so afraid of offending the damn Saudis? Screw Saudi Arabia - their oil is not worth one American life as far as I am concerned. And yes one politician has spoken out: Mike Huckabee! Yeah, one of the republican candidates who doesnt accept evolution, the Babdist minister from Arkansas (that's how they pronounce Baptist in Arkansas) - here is his own words!

Consumers are financing both sides in the war on terror because of the actions of U.S. ally Saudi Arabia, Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee said Sunday.

The former Arkansas governor made the comments following what he suggested was a muted response by the Bush administration to a Saudi court's sentence of six months in jail and 200 lashes for a woman who was gang raped.

"The United States has been far too involved in sort of looking the other way, not only at the atrocities of human rights and violation of women," Huckabee said on CNN's "Late Edition."

"Every time we put our credit card in the gas pump, we're paying so that the Saudis get rich — filthy, obscenely rich, and that money then ends up going to funding madrassas," schools "that train the terrorists," said Huckabee. "America has allowed itself to become enslaved to Saudi oil. It's absurd. It's embarrassing."

Huckabee said "I would make the United States energy independent within 10 years and tell the Saudis they can keep their oil just like they can keep their sand, that we won't need either one of them."

New analysis: Abe Lincoln picture at Gettysburg

here is the link to the abe lincoln at gettysburg pictures.

best of christopher walken -

Here it is the very best of one of my favorite actors. The first is CW reading the 3 pigs - really funny (Nathan will like this!) the classic weapon of choice fat boy slim dancing video this one is good for halloween, CW reading Edgar Allen Poe's The Raven (that one's serious).

Here is CW singing about "Mango" on SNL (this one is funny)

And Colonel Engus, he likes going down South. This also includes more cow bell. And the first Mr. Continental.

crying while eating

I have posted this before but havent checked it out in a while. Really funny. pic shows christorpher, crying because of global warming, with his cat wrapped around his neck, while eating chicken tenders and spicy ranch dressing. browse through these - some are very clever.

Eraserhead coming to regent square theater

Everyone has been waiting for this: Eraserhead coming to Regent Square theater. What excitement! Seriously, this is a movie every movie freak has to see, at least once (well, maybe once at the most). Its a movie about a guy who gets his girlfriend pregnant, she moves in with him, gives birth to a mutant, leaves him, and he eventually kills the child. While this is happening, there a woman who lives in his radiator, and some burned guy is watching all this from his window. Who is the woman in the radiator? is the burned guy God? Is this post apocalyptic film about the end of the world, about nuclear war aftermath, that even God gets mutated? What IS this film about? And there is a constrant screeching noise in the background. This movie is hard to watch, annoying. So why watch it? My favorite scene is when the guy goes to his girlfriends house to meet the family, a typical scene. Only her mother is in a trance, and the cornish game hens they are about to eat become alive and start moving - its the meet the girlfriends parents scene from hell! Now THAT is funny. Perhaps this movie is about NOTHING - Lynch says its about experimentation, and never reveals if its supposed to mean anything.

You can eat squirrels in NJ

This story is a great relief to me! But you can eat no more than 2 squirrels a week...everything in moderation....

Squirrel eaters in the US state of New Jersey have been told that the bushy-tailed rodents are likely safe to eat, after earlier being advised the unlikely delicacies could contain toxic metals.

The Environmental Protection Agency said earlier this year it had discovered high levels of lead in a squirrel taken from near a waste dump in the Ringwood area and advised people to eat the rodents no more than twice a week.

Push Polls - we covered this in class!

John McCain was hurt by horrible push polls in 2000 in South Carolina primary. These are phoney polls that are designed to identify if a voter has positive feelings about a candidate, and then proceeds to provide negative information to the voter about the candidate. For example, in SC in 2000, these polls asked if respondent had a favorable rating of McCain, and if so, they were then asked additional questions. Would you still support him if you knew he had an illegimate black baby? Would you still support him if you knew his wife was a convicted drug addict? And so forth. It is true, McCain does have an illigimate black baby: he and his wife Cindy adopted an ophan child from southern India, who happens to be very dark. yes, his wife had an addiction problem with prescription drugs, tried to hide it by stealing drugs from her employer, got caught, went to rehab, did community service work. But the idea was to smear McCain. Well! Now its happening to Mitt romney, and the poll seems to be giving a favorable image of Mc Cain - and McCain is livid!!! He wants to know who is behind this, it is not him, not his style of campaigning and he has called on the atty gen of New Hampshire to investigate and prefer charges against whoever is behind this! Go John! Thats why I like McCain - he has principle, ethics, he believes in something other than winning at all costs - dignity. Here is the whole story.

surfer dude writes equation that proves everything

The universe has been captured finally, by a theoretical physicist who is unemployed and surfs for a "living." It has to do with a matrix shown above - that's what our universe "looks like." Ok. It is all clear to me now.......

Young doc has a great idea

read this story about a NY young doc, who does his house calls on the internet. For $500 you get two physicals, and the right to contact him (IM) with your health problems. He takes cash. His scripts he negotiates with providers, saving his patients alot of money. He only sees patients 18-40 yrs of age. He has a product and he markets it effectively - he has detractors, those that say, what about the elderly - well, this program ain't for them, its for younger, healthy people who sometimes need to see a doc, but don't want to deal with appts and waiting at the doc's 0ffice. Very interesting - wave of future?

Into the Wild

Just read this book about the death of Chris McCandless, a young man who hitch hiked to alaska to live "in the wild" and died of starvation. The book is sad - this guy touched so many strangers in his life. I mean I cried twice while reading the book. Talk about youthful enthusiasm, Chris had it. He was an adventurer, not reckless (well maybe) but intelligent - he knew what he was doing, unthreading the linen that holds our lives together, stripping his civilization off, seeing what he was like without the pretense of civilization. he almost made it, more than 100 days living off berries, wild potatoes and game (mostly rabbit and squirrel, one moose - which he regretted killing because he couldnt save the meat although he tried to smoke it). The author of the book explores Chris' travels before alaska, trying to find a clue about what makes this kid tick. The people Chris met along the way were amazing, and they really loved him even though they knew they knew little about him. The book is intoxicating - I almost understand what drove him. I thought about this last night...couldnt sleep....cash in my retirement, pay off bills, and hit the road...see where it goes...take odd jobs...change my name to Fearless Trampenhauer....strip myself of pretense, mendacity, and superficiality. Chris gives us quite a challenge - it just breaks my heart that he died, alone, weak, in the sleeping bag his mother made for him. A must read book. Movie is out, I havent seen it. Here are some YouTube videos of the actual spot where he tried to survive and died.

Chris' note left before he died: "SOS I need your help; I am injured, near death, and too weak to hike out of here. I am all alone. This is no joke In the name of god, please remain to save me. I am out collecting berries close by and shall return this evening. thank you, chris maccandless. August?"

His 90 yr old friend, Franz, upon hearing of Chris's death "I turned my van around, drove back to the store, and bought a bottle of whiskey. And then I went out into the desert and drank it. I wasn't used to drinking so it made me sick. Hoped it'd kill me, but it didn't. Just made me real, real sick." His 90 yr old friend had lost his wife and son when he was younger, drank for several years to kill the pain, sobered up, started adopting fatherless boys, then in his late 80's ran into Chris hitchhiking, befriended him, offered to adopt him and help him (Chris smiled and declined). Then Franz hears of his death and hits the bottle for the first time in about 50 yrs.......

Bilur Ha-Tizmoret

The Band's Visit - great movie, 3 rivers film fest. The Alexandria Police Orchestra Band arrives in Israel, only to get lost. They end up in at a jewish settlement somewhere in the Negev desert - they ask three people at a convenience store, "Where is the Islamic Cultural Center?" and the residents laugh -"Cuture? Here? There is no cultural anything here. Dead." The audience laughed - many jewish people in audience, and I think, probably spent time on a settlement in the desert in their youth, one of those summer kibbutz programs. Anyway, this Egyptian band members are stuck in this nowhere israeli settlement, and the townspeople take them in, with hilarious result;. So the film has the usual cultural conflicts and humor, but it becomes far more serious. These settlers have few new people to talk to, and the band members give them a chance to share their feelings with outsiders. We learn of the extreme loneliness that the settlement residents experience, and the loneliness of the band members. We observe the human condition, whether jew or arab, israeli or Eygptian: people are trapped in loneliness, they despair, and in that way we share a common humanity. An absolutely beautiful film. Was not considered for best foreign film by Academy Awards,because the film has too much English spoken!!! There are several languages spoken in the film, but the characters share only one, broken english, so its not considered a foreign language film. So no Acacdemy award consideration. Too bad!!!

Comet Holmes visible to naked eye

Look North turn 45 degrees right (NE) high in sky is the autumn constellation Cassiopeia in the shape of a W. looking at the W, hold up two fists and look down and to the right. You will see the star Mirfak, which is at the top of a triangle. Holmes is the left base of the triangle.

It is very bright, wobbling (dusk reflecting sunlight) - in a telescope its looks like a blob. Just look NE at the horizon, look up slowly until you see a wobbling bright star - that is the comet.

And yes people will think you're nuts peering into infinity. Holmes is close - just outside the orbit of Mars. (comparison - the closest star is 4 light years away).

Movie: Fast Food Nation

Agricultural giant Cargill Inc. said on Saturday it is recalling over 1 million pounds of ground beef distributed in the United States because of possible E. Coli contamination.

In the book Fast Food Nation, and the related film, it is common knowledge that ALL meat is contaminated with E. Coli. It is impossible to prevent feces from being mixed with meat. The movie Fast Food Nation shows the killing floor of a meat processsing plant. The movie is a good adaptation of the book - I have shown it in my freshman american government class.

Here is what the movie connects: illegal immigration supports the meat processing industry, manure from feed lots contributes to global warming (along with coal fire electrical generating plants and cars), hamburger meat is awful and needs to be cooked thoroughly to kill the shit that is in it, fast food workers are teenagers, fast food restaurants are easy targets for robbery since they only take cash (at least they used to only take cash), fast food workers are often single mothers who work there as part of TANF (temp assistance to needy families, welfare program that often involves a work provision with child care), illegal immigrants are subjected to unsafe work conditions and are often subjected to sexual exploitation (who will they go to - the police?), fast food nation involves 3 parking spaces for every car since we drive from strip mall to strip mall which in turn contributes to storm water problems and oil and gas in our ground water, and fast food is unhealthy (full of calories, salt, sugar and god knows what). Chicken nuggets are realy "chicken" in a vague sense: dead chicken parts are in it, but also other types of additives, gross chicken parts, highly processed food. Even french fries are not just potatoes, but all sorts of stuff. Fast food is colored, and is also artificially flavored - otherwise no one would eat it. Great movie. see the burning manure pile here.

Three Rivers Film Festival: Grace is Gone

John Cusack's new movie Grace is Gone previewed the 3 rivers film festival. What a movie! Independent, low budget, but the script and acting were outstanding. He plays a guy who manages a home depot store - a guy who goes through life with false enthusiasm. His dreams of an army career cut short because of his bad eyesight, his wife continues her career in the army, but is killed in Iraq. He can't tell his daughters - he doesnt know how - he doesn't think he knows how to be a single parent, how to communicate with his daughters. He decides, impulsively (which is not like him) to take his girls to an amusement part in florida (they live in minnesota). A road trip during which he struggles with how, and when, to break the news. His daughters (12 and 8) seem to know something is wrong.....they all grow in the process. Heartbreaking movie. At one point he stops by his parents house (they are dead but his brother lives there) and he collapses in his childhood room - he wants to be a boy again, and not deal with the pain of adult life. The ending is absolutely beautiful. I talked with the director of pittsburgh filmmakers after the movie - the film isnt released yet, turns out Cusack "donated" the film for the festival (they are only showing it twice and even with a full theater they couldnt pay for the rental). Andrew said this film will definitely be oscar material - I agree, Cusack deserves it, and the two actors playing his daughters deserve it too. Also, the soundtrack was written by ..... Clint Eastwood????

The Dodge Le Femme

Interesting site about the dodge le femme, a car from the 1950's purposely designed to appeal to "women." (that is, designed by men to appeal to what they thought women would want to buy). Let's put this in the "what were they thinking about" file cabinet (along with the US invasion of Iraq, the japanese invasion of china, I could go on and on.......)

10 yr old boy started california fires...yeah, sure

here is a lame story about a 10 yr old boy playing with matches, supposedly he started the california wild fires. There are so many ways that fire could have started. The problem is drought and global warming. The problem is that wildfires are natural phenomena. The real question is why people build houses in areas in which wildfires are natural, and why we try to fight fires that normally occur in nature? Its this obsession we have with controlling nature - we are part of nature, not in control of it. What really gets me is the shallow journalism evidenced in the article - the idea that some ONE person must be responsible. Of course, its a 10 yr old boy -"where are his parents?!" Yet another story of poor discipline. Its almost as though the story perpetuates a myth not only about wildfires (that they are not natural and have some sinister human cause) but also about poorly behaved children (children need more discipline....). Maybe the author of the story should do some research on wildfires - what a brainless story.