Biking on Father's day

top picture is Brewer's Bar and Restaurant, across from Pittsburgh Brewing Company where Iron City Beer is made, then a close up of the Brewer's Bar and Hotel, looks grim but I didn't have the nerve to go in and order a boilermaker (beer with a shot of whiskey dropped in the mug - pittsburghers drink real man's drink, none of this white wine wussy crap) - then comes a bike lane on Liberty Ave. looking westward toward strip district and "dahntahn." Next picture is the Original Oyster Shop, oldest restaurant in pittsburgh (1878) located in Market Square. And finally scene from strip district, selling clothes on the sidewalk. I was approached by a guy who wanted $20 for a karaoke machine, with an extension cord still attached to it...since it was obviously hot, I declined, then the guy said he and his daughter need to eat, so I gave him the $10 I keep in my fanny pack. Pathetic.

How wealthy are you?

I am the 38,838,479 th richest person in the world. I am richer than 99.36% of the world's population. To find out how rich you are (and feel guilty for it) go here.

Marcello Mastrioannia and Divorce Italian Style

This is a great comedy, filmed in Sicily, about a man who is in love with his cousin, but he is already married. Turns out, Sicilian courts are lenient on crimes of passion, so he figures if he can get his wife to be unfaithful, and kill her in the middle of her affair, he might actually get off with no prison time! As the plot unfolds, he is successful beyond his wildest dreams. the lead is played by Marcello Mastrioanni and he is great! He combs his hair slick back, in fact wears a do rag to tame his hair, and he smokes with a cigarette holder. Woody Allen parodied this film genre in Everything You wanted to Know About Sex but were Afraid to Ask in the skit about sex in public places, and in Play it Again Sam, in the scene where he and his friend are Italian bakers and they fight over the same woman. Marcello's character is played on Saturday Night Live by Bill Hader, who is an Italian TV interviewer who talks in rapid Italian, smokes, and his producers are off stage smoking and eating sausage and playing cards. hader dresses and acts like Marcello Mastrioanni - its very clever, and dead on "Mastrioanni genre 1960's" really funny. I searched the internet and couldn't find a video clip of him doing the skit. but very funny. In the movie, at one point a roman catholic priest gives a sermon on how society has crumbled morally because of the horrible movies made, and he refers to La Dolce Vita, a film a couple years earlier by....you guessed it, marcello Mastrioanni.!!!! Really funny, he is satirizing his own movies and pop culture spin! Great movie and I really enjoyed it.

Friday is flying day!

I am leaving earth for a couple hours friday. I have a biennial flight review with my instructor, Noel, (who is 72 yrs old, we would have flown earlier this week but his blood pressure was too high and couldn't get a medical certificate, but his doc gave him something and its ok now so the doc passed him). Anyway we are off 10 am in a cessna 152, a plane he says "its kinda ratty but it'll do." He said to look for him on the ramp: "I'm an old man with white hair and a white beard." Santa? he sounds like a real character, the exact kind of instructor I want. I mean, you don't want some narcissistic prick who has no sense of humor. We will go over basic navigation, turns, climb descend. I think I will need a 3rd hour to get signed off, some hood time. Turns out I have over 13 hrs. of instrument time. I should really consider going for my commercial rating along with instrument rating (most pilots who get Instrument rating without getting commercial do so because they don't have the overall hrs, I have about 260 total time, which is enough.) I read that pilots who just go over 250 hrs are dangerous because they actually think they know everything and have a tendency to get sloppy - I will remember that. 152's are fun planes but they don't have much power esp. for slow flying connected to instrument training. Noel says he doesn't do much plane instruction, he is more into glider instruction. They fly gliders out of Grove City airport - I might consider that. UPDATE: Noel and I flew for about 45 min. The plane (it is kind of ratty) had a wasp nest in the fuel air tube, we had to run a wire in the tube, and then add more fuel to use weight to flood wasp crap out, didn't work, so Noel put his mouth over the fuel filler on top of the wing (this involved standing on a ladder) and he blew into the fuel tank, wasp crap came out the air hole, and then the fuel went back in his face. He had to wash off after that. We finally got rolling and did some turns, climbing, descending, and one landing. Whew! I was rusty. I need at least a couple more landings. Noel is career Air Force mechanic and flight engineer, Air frame and power plant licensed, also licensed instructor. He has seen it all. Alot of fun!

"One True Thing"

Somehow I really like this film, so much so I have watched it 7-8 times and still want to see it again. Its about a college prof, George Gullen (John Hurt), who is adored by his daughter Ellen (Rene Zellweger) and his wife Kate (Meryl Streep). Kate comes down with cancer and she is the key to the story. She is the "one true thing," the person whose "light brings out the life in everything around her, including me" or so said George when he first met her. the story is told from POV of flashback, ellen is being interviewed by the district attorney because someone gave the mom an overdose of pain killer. Its a great story, i wish I wrote it (yeah right) but I have never understood why I like it so much. the mom has this buddha like quality, she understands the shortcomings of everyone around her, but somehow holds the whole family, including her husband, together. She really does bring out the life in everyone around her. As kate says, It's so much easier to be happy. It's so much easier to choose to love the things that you have, instead of always yearning for what you're missing, or what it is that you're imagining you're missing. It is so much more peaceful.

The Principality of Sealand

Here is the history of the country of Sealand, the ultimate tax free hide out from all nations and secret police. Soon to sponsor an on - line casino. This story is really over the top, complete with invasion, prisoners of war, treason, national athletes - fun reading!

How to destroy Earth

So I'm sitting in my office thinking, if mass and energy are the same (E = MC squared), how much energy is contained in earth's mass? (this is an example of the random thoughts I have during office hours, then a student shows up and wants to know if I drop the lowest grade, or if there is extra credit....). I found out that the mass of earth is 5,973,600,000 millions of trillion kilograms, and that einstein's constant is 3 (10)to the 8th squared. So lets say E = 6(10)to the 24th, times 3(10) to the eighth squared, which becomes 18 (10) to the 40 th kilograms,or
180,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 kilograms of energy. I dont know what this means, other than that is more energy than I can comprehend - one big explosion i guess. How much energy is given off by a super nova? I will have to look that up. (from the net: "If 10 kilograms of matter spontaneously turned into energy there would be enough energy to power a 100 Watt light bulb for 300 million years" - so if earth exploded the energy released would light a 100 watt bulb for eternity?)

The destruction of one kilogram would liberate nearly 1017 joules, 4.2 joules equals one ton of TNT, so earth's destruction would liberate the equivalency of 4.36 (10) to the 34 power tons of TNT. Hiroshima atomic bomb was approx 15000 tons of TNT, or earth destruction the equivalent of 3(10) to the 30th hiroshima atomic bombs, or 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 atomic bombs.

Now I can sleep at night, knowing how much energy the destruction of earth's mass would release.

In searching the web for such useful information I cam across this:
How to destroy the Earth )

Annihilated by an equivalent quantity of antimatter

You will need: An entire planet Earth made from antimatter


Fissioned

You will need: a universal fission machine (e.g. a particle accelerator), an unimaginable amount of energy


Sucked into a microscopic black hole

You will need: a microscopic black hole.


Cooked in a solar oven

You will need: Means for focusing a good few percent of the Sun's energy output directly on the Earth.

And so forth, follow the link to the site, its fascinating reading!

Fire in Texas: Governor's Mansion all but destroyed

I am shocked to hear about the fire in the Texas Governor's mansion. This structure was ante-bellum (as they say in the south) meaning it was built before the War against Yankee Agression (so history textbooks refer to this as the American Civil War). There is a mansion in Alabama, the White House, which served as both Governor's mansion and the official residence of President Jefferson Davis until a home was arranged for him in Richmond,Virginia. Fire officials suspect arson. This is an irreplaceable home, and supposedly some of the damage is so severe that officials are not sure if it can be recovered. I really love old homes, and actually had the Governor's masion in Texas on my list of historical places I wanted to visit but haven't gotten around to yet. This is a real shame. Gov. Sam Houston was the second (or first) person to occupy the house.

The Death of SUV's - about time

"For a generation, pickups and SUVs have symbolized a rugged, oversized, no-holds-barred American lifestyle. Tuesday, automakers made it clear that consumers are hitting the brakes on their love affair with the hardiest, roomiest -- and thirstiest -- vehicles." What bullshit. Those SUV's were terrible off road vehicles. Look at some of them from the rear, the suspension hangs down and would get hung up off road, in some cases the bottoms of the shock absorbers were about 6 inches or less off the ground. the only real off road vehicles were the 4 wheel drive trucks, and the hummer. All the other SUV's were designed for false security, a big, heavy vehicle will protect the family. SUV's are top heavy, they handle terrible, they do not have the same crash protections as cars - that's right, cars are expected to be more crashworthy than SUV's, because they are "trucks" and the crash worthiness of cars do not apply. So if you drive a chevy trailblazer (or whatever its called) my corolla survives a head on crash with a barrier better than your trailblazer. I checked out SUV's when one of my sons wanted to buy one, they look cool (sometimes) but drive awful, handle awful, brake terrible, crash dangerously. I remember back in Oklahoma, when I worked for a health care corp, out chief financial officer (a hopeless okie) adopted a child and he went out and bought a Ford Explorer so his wifey and child would be safe driving to the shopping mall...what an idiot.

Many experts now say the rollover propensity of the SUV is more to blame for fatal accidents than faulty tires.

I looked up front crashes for explorer and Ford has greatly improved the performance since the explorer first came out: a 60 mph front crash (into stationary object) would total the explorer and buckle the frame underneath the driver, but driver would only have leg injury, no head injury. So ok, the explorer is finally as "safe" as a car like a Taurus ("safe" is a relative term in a 60 mph crash...)

Movie: The Beautiful Country

I show a film in my Political Film class, called Three Seasons which I have discussed earlier in this blog, and when I researched the movie I was directed to another film about vietnam, The Beautiful Country. I have never heard of it before, it was never released in US, Nick Nolte has a small cameo role in it, and I never got around to finding it on internet and buying it (I have since joined NetFlix which is the ONLY way to preview movies - NetFlix is genius) but I found it in the 3 for $10 bin at the local Movie Gallery. I had to see the end five times before I was satisfied that it really ended that beautifully - I can't get over how intense this film is, I mean tears in my eyes throughout the film and the ending is so peaceful, beautiful. I won't give away any spoilers here, but this is truly an amazing film. "Bihn" is a young man who is half American, half Vietnamese, he is discriminated against, told he is "ugly" (since he is not genetically pure) and his mother gives him money to take a boat (illegally of course) to escape Vietnam (this is 1990's). you can only imagine the deprivation he experiences. But it is worse than I could imagine. He eventually makes it to the US, "The Beautiful Country," and searches for his father. There is an incredible spiritual message in the film - at one point the movie Wall Street was playing on a television, Michael Douglas is giving his speech about "greed is good!" and contrast that with the ending. I mean, when you strip away all the veneer of our lives, what is the one thing that is most important? Love. We search for all sorts of stuff that will make us happy, the perfect job, a power career (most of my students who want to "go to law school" want to go because they are from a working poor rural western PA family and want to be POWERFUL as an adult, the equate that with success and happiness...boy are they ever wrong) and like me, my ultimate airplane (yes I have been thinking about it, just checked out a bank that gives 15 yr loans, 10% down, just under 6% interest, I could buy a used Piper Warrior for about $360 a month) or my ultimate job location (somewhere near NYC or cape cod) - - but none of that stuff is what makes life meaningful. Love. Like the love between a mother and her child, or a father and his child, or in the case of this movie, the love a son has for the father he never knew. I have sent the used copy to my son Nathan, but the new copy from Barnes and Noble will be here soon, if anyone wants to borrow it - this is a definite political film movie for the fall semester.

Young Hillary Clinton

Here is the evolution of Hillary Clinton, turns out even in elementary school she had problems with contested elections! I liked the part where she suggests her homeroom class President might just get assassinated, and when she talks about her husband's campaign (Hillary, you dont have a husband, you are ten years old!).

Le Mepris - "Contempt"

I saw the Jean Luc Godard film, "Contempt" starring Bridgette Bardox and Jack Palance. Jack is an American, crude, wants to make a movie about Odesyus (written by Homer) and hires the great Fritz Lang to direct it. Lang has his own ideas about the picture, wants to make it a very romantic tribute to the greek gods. Palance is angry, the script isnt being followed, while watching the dailies he laughs at a nude scene, "the audience will like this!" he laughs, but hates what Lang is doing. Later, he gets Lang to put some more nude scenes in the movie. Bardox is the wife of the screenwriter. They live a petite bourgeoisie life, arguing about nothing, living an inconsequential life full of petty bickering. they are jealous of one another, and at times seem to want to flirt for seemingly no reason other than boredom. "Do you love me?" he asks Bardox, and she says, "I despise you!" Great line! I despise you. Godard does a great job with sets, colors, and Bardox - dear buddha, she has a perfect body, he shows her nude, face down many times, she is perfect (1963). The furniture is great, mod chairs and couches, deep blue (cold?) and bright red (hot, lust?). Godard of course was a leftist, anarchist, and had contempt for the bourgeoisie - the camera in the film within a film is often pointing to the audience as though to say, you are just as shallow as these people! The ending is a surprise - a let down? but Godard endings are often like that - I dont understand why his endings are such let downs. maybe I should study Godard more, maybe read a book on him. I saw a film of his called "Vacation" and I followed it until about 2/3 way through and then completely lost it - it was as though the film deconstructed itself before the audience's eyes. But Bardox was amazing, the mod sets were great, and the Italian locations were great too.

Joe McDoakes: everyman of the film shorts!

The Joe McDoakes series of short film lasted 14 yrs, from 1942 to 1956, always starring George O'Hanlon as the harassed Joe. I just saw "So you won a free vacation" on AMC, laughed so hard. Here is "so you want to be in pictures" which I havent seen but it gives you an idea of the series. Joe is the all american guy, hard working, honest, believes in the goodness of others, and he always gets screwed! His wife is constantly criticizing him, complaining, nothing he does is good enough or ever works out, but he is such a nice guy. i mean you know how every short film will end, with Joe getting screwed again, but he is so lovable you still like him and appreciate his positive attitude regardless of the crap life hands him. He is also the voice of George jetson, the TV cartoon series. His son followed him in movies. The above you tube video has a cameo appearance by Ronald Reagan.

"Uncontacted People" at risk

Amazon Indians from one of the world's last uncontacted tribes have been photographed from the air, with striking images released on Thursday showing them painted bright red and brandishing bows and arrows.

The photographs of the tribe near the border between Brazil and Peru are rare evidence that such groups exist. A Brazilian official involved in the expedition said many of them are in increasing danger from illegal logging.

"What is happening in this region is a monumental crime against the natural world, the tribes, the fauna and is further testimony to the complete irrationality with which we, the 'civilized' ones, treat the world," Jose Carlos Meirelles was quoted as saying in a statement by the Survival International group.

One of the pictures, which can be seen on Survival International's Web site (http://www.survival-international.org), shows two Indian men covered in bright red pigment poised to fire arrows at the aircraft while another Indian looks on.

Another photo shows about 15 Indians near thatched huts, some of them also preparing to fire arrows at the aircraft.

"The world needs to wake up to this, and ensure that their territory is protected in accordance with international law. Otherwise, they will soon be made extinct," said Stephen Corry, the director of Survival International, which supports tribal people around the world.

Of more than 100 uncontacted tribes worldwide, more than half live in either Brazil or Peru, Survival International says. It says all are in grave danger of being forced off their land, killed and ravaged by new diseases.

Biking Trails in Pittsburgh

I finally got my rear down to pittsburgh with my bike and rode the trails along the riverfront. I started downtown, went out east to the Hot Metal Bridge, then east on the carson street trail, turned around came back all the way to station square then went back, across hot metal bridge and to the beginning. Maybe 20 miles or so. Great views of the city.

Hot Metal Bridge named after the Alisa Furnace iron works, the first iron smelting furnace in Pittsburgh (1848) - trains would come across the bridge to the steel mills carrying molten Iron, thus the name of the bridge.

They used to name Furnaces after women, because they were so tempermental (seriously!). Alisa Furnace blew up in 1903 or 1904, killing 14 workers (burned to death). nowadays they would name that Furnace "Hillary." (Had to get that in).

But I really enjoyed biking in the city, and plan to do it alot more.

Novel: "A Long Way down" Nick Hornby

Great novel about 4 people who individually have decided to throw themselves off the roof new year's eve, only they meet each other and decide to go on living, for 6 weeks, and keep in touch and see how life turns out. The author has to get into the minds of a middle aged TV host, a 50ish single mother who has cared for her disabled son for 20 years, a 20 something rock star whose band broke up and girlfriend left him, and a teenage girl haunted by the disappearance/death of her older sister and her traumatized parents. Whew! What a read. it was hard to keep the 4 characters straight, because the reader finds out about them chapter after chapter, each chapter written in first person of that character. So you learn about them in their own words, and in the words of the three other people. Great novel, a good read. thanks Noah for the present!

Hillary as the Monty Python Black Knight:"you may not pass, Obama!"

Here is Hillary explaining to the Monty Python knight why she is staying in the race and will see him in Denver! What is so funny is that the dialogue and the action go together very well!

pictures of loft building Penn Ave

This is the Penn Garrison lofts. Only a few have brick walls and beamed ceilings, the rest are wallboard/plaster walls and look like any apartment. There is a one bedroom with study, brick and beams, august 15 for $1250 a month. Seems expensive. But apt is downtown and walking distance from every theater, including PNC park. I would get one parking space.

Update: electric cars

So where are we with electric cars?
General Motors: GM is building a joint venture electric car in China, I mean the whole thing, parts, manufacturing, from the ground up. They are already marketing a hybrid SUV in china. the thing is, these cars really dont get good gas mileage, because they are huge vehicles. And they are very heavy. My 2003 corolla 5 speed recent mpg record: 35 mpg, 37 ,pg, 38mpg, 40.2 mpg for the last month. The mpg on a hybrid Buick Lacrosse, which is what they are building, is probably high 20's maybe 28 at the most. They are also planning to market the Volt (shown in picture)which will be a plug in electric vehicle with a 1 liter gas/ethanol engine that will recharge batteries while driving to extend range.
Nissan: plans an electric car by 2010, thinking of marketing first in israel (picture shown). Also plans electric commercial vehicles.
Toyota: New Prius will be more efficient and faster, but no new technology. They are planning a change from nickel to lithium batteries. In the future, 2010, a plug in hybrid (which is now available as after market add on).
Honda: the Clarity (shown) will be available as hydrogen car monthly lease about $600 only in California where limited hydrogen fueling stations will be available. honda dropped its Insight hybrid, and its Accord hybrid - insight too small, Accord's cost versus increased mpg wasn't marketable. Honda will come up with a plug in electric by 2010 also, maybe Clarity will be plug in powered by hydrogen generator
Other: ZAP industries market many electric vehicles, I question if americans would find them attractive.
Tesla: independent manufacturer, focuses on performance. See video!

Jim Croce and his wife Ingrid - before "bad bad leroy brown"

I didn't know Jim Croce and his wife were folksingers before he was "discovered." Here is a you tube of Jim and Ingrid singing Spin Spin Spin, a minor hit. They are really good - she is very cute in a '60's way - I want to check out their music.

The Ultimate Humiliation

An airline pilot was found hiding behind a shed wearing only flip-flops and a wristwatch as a nighttime romp in the woods with a flight attendant ended with both under arrest.

Jeffrey Paul Bradford, 24, of Moon, and Adrianna Grace Connor, 24, both employees of Pinnacle Airlines Inc., were at a diner on the outskirts of Harrisburg on Sunday night before they apparently decided to walk into the woods, police said.

"They told the officer they wanted to go do it in the woods, essentially," said Lower Swatara Township Police Sgt. Richard Brandt. "That's the best answer they had."

The two somehow became separated, and people who live in the neighborhood summoned police around 9:30 p.m., saying they had seen a naked man and an intoxicated woman.

A helicopter with heat-seeking equipment was called in, and Mr. Bradford was discovered hiding behind a shed shortly before midnight.

His only attire was a pair of flip-flops and a wristwatch.

Here is funny clip of Jimmy Kimmel pretending to be a drunken pilot at an airport.

Tennessee Republican Party and the KKK

Here is the you tube video posted by Tennessee Republican party about Michelle Obama. What is funny is that the republicans in tennessee don't get it: you put a bunch of uneducated white people saying they're pround to be an American, attacking a very educated, sophicated black woman. Racist. One guy says he's pround to be American because we saved Europe in both world wars - I think France had alot to do with winning WWI and Russia certainly was the country that kicked Hitler's "Heiny" from Stalingrad all the way to Berlin. After the racist campaign run against Harold Ford Jr. when he was running for office, you'd think tennessee's republicans would hide in a closet somewhere. In many ways, Tennessee is more like Ohio than any of its southern neighbors, in fact, recent Governor's of tennessee were born in Ohio but moved to Tennessee during adulthood. Memphis is the actually the capitol city of Mississippi (think about it, its true), the rest of the state is very non southern. But there is a latent racism in the state, scratch a little and it comes out.

It is often remarked that Tennessee was the birth place of the KKK, and Nathan Bedford Forrest was the ring leader along with Georgia's George B. Gordon (remember Gordon at Sharpsburg, Stonewall Jackson tells him to hold his position until relieved and Gordon tells him he'll hold the position until hell freezes over, and he was then shot FIVE TIMES in the face but did not withdraw until Jackson sent him word - you gotta admire a man like that even if he was KKK). But the post war KKK was more political than racial, it was the 20th KKK that gave it a bad name (what am I saying?!) Post war KKK was very aristocratic, disenfranchised souther leaders, 20 th century KKK was "rise of the rednecks" (I read that in a history book) and was about jobs - "lower class" whites wanting to restrict the upward mobility of blacks. But back to the point: The Tennessee republicans ran stories about Harold Ford Jr's "dating" and suggested that he was some young black stud runnin' around with our white women.

I really like Nashville, and Vanderbilt University - but the rest of that state is hopeless, esp Memphis. My last weekend in Memphis I went to Beale street saturday night with a date, and it smelled of urine and stale spilled beer - lots of loud, publically drunk people, and young black boys dancing in the street for tip money. The next day I heard that someone was choked to death by a bouncer at BB King's club. Nice place.

Chop Shop - great movie shot in Queens

Another Ramin Bahrami movie, following his big hit on the Indie circuit, Man Push Cart (apart from Sarah Silverman's comment, "man push cart, who gives a shit?") Well it was a great indie film for those of us who do not need the plot and meaning of a movie spelled out for them. This was the last night of the Silk Screen film festival, featuring asian films. Chop Shop was shot in queens, NYC, in a part of Queens rarely seen, the auto junk yards and repair shops near the airports and the mets stadium. This film stars a 12 yr old boy and his 16 yr old sister, both living in a one room, one bed "apartment" in a car repair shop. he works for different auto repair shoplettes, and she works in a food truck and prostitutes herself at night. Grim. Ahmad Razvi, the actor and star of "Man Push Cart" was there, and some audience members wanted to know where this was shot and so forth - they couldn't believe it was in NYC. "Why aren't those children in school?" someone asked - get real - who cares if they are in school? He told me they shot the film with a Panasonic camera, but the camera was 50 - 100 feet from the actors, they used a high intensity lens to zoom in on actors. that way the actors were far from the cameras, and the real people in the film weren't self conscious about being filmed. the director told the shop shop street vendors that he was a student shooting a class documentary, and he shot alot of scenes (run through) with a video camera, and then slowly introduced more film crew, and then brought out the actual cameras. It looks like a documentary, but it is a film starring actors with supporting cast of real people. They interviewed 2000 boys before they selected their "star." Truly an amazing film, about a part of america few people have seen. This and "Man Push Cart" are truly amazing films. I plan to buy them as soon as they come out on DVD - great films for my class, Political Film.

Pres. Bush continues to be shallow and misleading

Here is a photo of Russian troops marching into Poland in 1939. Now read my rant:

The latest "framing" from Bush is that anyone who doesn't agree with his invasion of Iraq is appeasing terrorists. he continues to include the invasion of iraq with the war on terror, with 911 and the attacks on NYC. If we appease, he argues, they will strike again. Not agreeing with his policies means we are inviting more airplane attacks i guess. Then he mentioned the late Sen. Borah of Idaho who was an isolationist during the "peaceful" years between WWI and WWII - we might think of them as peaceful years, but they weren't very peaceful in Germany where the German people thought the politicians sold them out over the armistice and Versailles treaty. Borah expressed regret at not having been able to "talk" to Hitler before his invasion of Poland.

Ok, Sen. Borah didn't get it: Germany's position was that German territory was given up for the creation of Poland, that German citizens in those areas were now Polish citizens, and Hitler's initial goal was the reunification of greater Germany - which meant Austria, the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia, Alsace Lorraine (France), and western Poland. Bush talked of how Hitler invaded Poland to expand his Empire: actually, he invaded to create what he and the German people considered greater Germany, that all Germans would be geographically in Germany. When he invaded Greece,Eastern Europe, and then USSR, THAT was his beginning of the empire he talks about in Mein Kampf (the book that outlines his campaign against jews, his intentions to invade Russia...its all there before any war broke out, I guess no one took him seriously). Historical analogies are always poor: no events occur exactly the same way twice. Hitler's position was that Poland was harassing Germans living in Poland, that he wanted to "protect" the freedoms of these Germans, and that Poland had been provacative militarily: Hitler "framed" his invasion as a pre emption invasion of an enemy of the German state. "REMIND YOU OF ANYONE?" as Craig Ferguson says in his monologue.

I could "frame" Bush's invasion of Iraq as similar to Hilter's invasion of Poland.

And don't forget, Russian invaded Poland simultaneously with Germany, and Russia became our ally in WWII. When Iraq invaded Kuwait, what did George 41 say about it? He compared it to German invasion of Poland. Now his son George 43 is using the same example - recycling "political spin" - doesn't he have his own advisors to come up with something new? he has to recycle the crap his Dad said?

Hors de prix - Priceless

Great french film comedy, staring Audrey Tautou who also starred in Spanish Apartment; God is Great and I'm Not; da vinci code; Dirty Pretty Things, and my favorite A Very Long Engagement. She was great in this comedy, and she is always great. I think the only film she ever did that was main stream american cinema was Da Vinci code with tom Hanks, which wasn't a very good movie. But her French films and wonderful and I have seen them all at Cinemagic in Squirrel Hill - it is the best theater in Pittsburgh. Although expensive ($8.50). Anyway she plays a young woman who seduces older rich men for their money, she makes a mistake and seduces a hotel waiter (dressed in a tux) not realizing he isnt wealthy. Her lover finds out, dumps her, and she takes revenge by making the poor waiter buy her everything she wants until he is ruined. So now, both ruined, she begins to try to find more wealthy men, and he somehow ends up in a similar role with an older wealthy woman. So what is priceless? Love, of course. Beautiful film, great shots of Monte Carlo, the French Riviera, and lots of breakfast scenes in hotels and room service showing incredible french pastry and deserts - every French movie features food and wine!

Guerilla Gardener - new twist on sustainability

You have heard of community garden's? Here is a new twist. This guy plants gardens in public areas in London, but its against the law. So he plants his gardens at night to avoid arrest - yes, arrest. Notice the vehicle he drives - a vintage MGB GT, with the back gate up. (Great car).

Bill O'Reilly's meltdown remix!

Here is Bill O'Reilly's f**king meltdown remixed as a dance tune. This is very well done - I can't get the song out of my head!....

Donnie's Eulogy - (one more time...)

Donnie was a good bowler, and a good man. He was...He was one of us. He was a man who loved the outdoors, and bowling, and as a surfer explored the beaches of southern California from Redondo to Calabassos. And he was an avid bowler. And a good friend. He died -- he died as so many of his generation, before his time. In your wisdom you took him, Lord. As you took so many birght flowering young men, at Khe San and Lan Doc (voice rising) AND HILL 364! These young men gave their lives. And Donny too. Donny...who...who loved bowling. (Walter clears his voice). And so, Theodore -- Donald--Karabotsos, in accordance with what we think your dying wishes might well have been, (Walter gives a slight shrug) we commit your mortal remains to the bosom of (Walter is peeling the plastic lid off the coffee can)the Pacific Ocean, which you loved so well. (as he shakes out the ashes) Goodnight, sweet prince. (The wind has blown all of the ashes into the Dude, standing just to the side of and behind Walter. The Dude stands, frozen. Finished eulogizing, Walter looks back) Shit, I'm sorry Dude. (Walter starts to brush off the Dude with his hands) (Dude speaks) Goddamnit Walter! You fucking asshole! (Walter speaks) Dude! Dude, I'm sorry! (The Dude is near tears and speaks) You make everything a fucking travesty! (Walter) Dude, I'm -- it was an accident! (Dude, shoving Walter) What about that shit about Vietnam? (Walter) I'm sorry--- (Dude) What the fuck does Vietnam have to do with anything! What the fuck were you talking about?!? (Walter) Shit Dude, I'm sorry--(Dude) You're a fuck, Walter! (Walter wraps his arms around the Dude) Awww, fuck it Dude. Let's go bowling.

Irina Sendler - holocaust hero

Irena Sendler, a Polish woman who saved thousands of Jewish children during World War Two by smuggling them out of the Warsaw Ghetto, died in the Polish capital on Monday after a long illness, local media said.

Israel's Holocaust remembrance authority, Yad Vashem, said in a statement that it mourned her death.

The web portal of Poland's leading daily, Gazeta Wyborcza, said Sendler, 98, died in Plocka Street hospital early on Monday. The hospital declined to comment on the report.

Yad Vashem chairman Avner Shalev said: "Irena Sendler's courageous activities rescuing Jews during the Holocaust serve as a beacon of light to the world, inspiring hope and restoring faith in the innate goodness of mankind."

Using her position as a social worker, Sendler regularly entered the ghetto, smuggling around 2,500 children out in boxes, suitcases or hidden in trolleys.

The children were then placed with Polish families outside the ghetto, created by Nazi Germany in 1940 for the city's half a million strong Jewish population, and given new identities.

But in 1943 Sendler, who led the children' section of the Zegota organization which helped Jews during the war, was arrested and tortured by the Gestapo.

She only escaped execution when Zegota managed to bribe some Nazi officials, who left her unconscious but alive with broken legs and arms in the woods.

Ashley Love's senior art exhibit

I really enjoyed Ashley Love's art exhibit. She had drawings, digital art, and poetry. Ashley plans on being a teacher. She will be very successful - she has been a good student, is extremely artistic and creative, and is a person of faith. It is so wonderful to meet students like Ms. Love.

Big Lebowski in the 'burgh

Saw the Big L for first time in a movie theater - the color was much better - it was filmed in Technicolor. There were some college students in the back that kept the movie moving along with screams and laughter. The audience would stifle their laughter because they didnt want to miss their favorite lines. they screamed when Jesus made his strike and did his dance. My favorite part is when Walter does donnie'sw eulogy, and starts with Vietnam, Khe Sahn, and (his voice gathering and increasing ) and hill 364! Of course! Everyone remembers Hill 364! Remember the Alamo! Remember Hill 364! Great movie.

Derek Martin's Art Exhibit: "The Bird House"

Derek Martin hosted a reception displaying his senior art project: a family of Penguins. The reception was in a store front on Slippery Rock's main street, across from the Brew Pub. The location added to the exhibit: brick walls, old wooden floor, blackened windows, one overhead light that contributed a natural light "border" for the exhibit. Here is the YouTube video.

Time magazine's Five Mistakes Hillary Made

Time mag is BS. Here are the mistakes Hillary made. (1) voting for the Iraq war resolution. If insignificant me knew in 2002 that George W. and ghouls were planning to invade Iraq, why didn't Hillary and Bill know that, with all their DC insider connections. Yes, she knew George W. was going to invade Iraq, that's why she voted for the resolution. She knew he would somehow tie Iraq to 911 and the war on terror. She didn't want to be seen as "Weak" on the war against terror when she came up for re election in 2006, and she had to be re elected if she was going to run for President in 2008. So mistake number one: she went against her principles and made an opportunistic vote about GOING TO WAR for god's sake! (2) Time said she didn't know how much funds could be raised over internet. You got to be kidding me. Howard Dean knows how to raise money over the internet - is her brain turned off? How stupid are her advisors and campaign organizers? (3) She didn't understand the proportional delegate selection system. Again, what is her problem? Read the fu**king rules before you play the game. (4) She didn't take caucuses seriously. Again, give me a break. Every delegate counts, one by one, they add up to the magic number you need to get the nomination. Caucuses are taken seriously by long shot candidates: the front runner needs to take them seriously too. (5) Her stump speeches: her voice is annoying. Some journalist says she sounds like the assistant principal of your middle school giving an announcement over the loud speaker at 7:30 am during homeroom. Go to a speech coach. Take some lessons from actors about how to address an audience (she has this tendency to shake her head "no" when she is saying how much we need something (if we need something so much, why is she shaking her head "no"?) (6) her husband Bill. This is a guy who supposedly raped one of his campaign workers while he was campaigning gor Governor of Arkansas. Lock him up. keep him out of sight. (7) Top down campaign. Since Jimmy Carter won Iowa in 1976, everyone knows that a bottom up campaign is what you need. Everyone except Hillary. (8) her senate race. She easily won the Senate in 2000 despite the impeachment trial of her husband. that is because she ran in a state known for electing liberals and intellectuals (Patrick Moynihan was the incumbent who retired). The USA ain't new york. (9) Her phoney issues: cutting the federal tax on gas is BS, everyone knows it. It would drive up gas prices, people would lose jobs, there is no way she is going to tax oil companies $8 billion, Congress would not pass that, Prez would not sign it. What happened to the gas tax issue now? Is she introducing it to the Senate? Nothing. It was a phoney election day idea. She has forgotten it now. No kidding, as if everyone didn't realize that. (10) Her attacks on "elite" Obama. No one can take that seriously. She calls someone else an "elite?" That's like Genghis Khan calling someone a Mongol (wait, that's insulting to Genghis Khan). She was perceived as calculating and phoney. Finally, the election analysis is dead wrong. in pennsylvania, supposedly she won it because "workers" and "retired people" liked her ideas. No. Racial intolerance has an inverse relationship with education: the more education a person has, the less racially intolerant they are. The less education a person has, the more intolerant they are. "Working people" in Pennsylvania are most disproportionately white, and racially intolerant. Retired people are from an older generation, a generation where "African Americans" were Negroes (or worse). She won Pennsylvania because of the white vote. thats it. Obama needs to connect with lower educated, lower income whites: he has to in order to win. So that's my analysis. Some reporters are saying Hillary is staying in the race to slowly get her supporters prepared for her to endorse Obama: she must convince her supporters to support Obama and not be pissed off. I don't think so. That is giving Hillary too much credit for being a loyal democrat and wanting McCain defeated. I think she is so narcissistic that she can't believe she isn't winning. Besides, if Obama loses in November, then McCain would be up for re election in 2012, and he would be 76 yrs old (if he lives that long). Hillary has her eyes set on 2012 - she wants Obama to lose. She doesn't care if more people die in Iraq because of it - she voted for the damn war to begin with, for her re election and her Presidential aspirations.

Hillary supports suspension of the federal gas tax for the summer months. Economists (read that "elitists") have said that hypothetically the average driver might save about $28, but side effects would happen. With the price of a gallon of gas lowered, consumers might actually drive more and increase demand. This would lead oil companies to increase price. Lost revenue would appear as either a $8 billion deficit, or would reduce highway fund by $8 billion and eliminate lots of planned maintenance on highways. Less maintenance means less jobs, about 300,000 nationwide.

"I think a lot of people don't understand my plan," Clinton responded on CBS' "The Early Show." "I want to the oil companies to pay that $8 billion this summer instead of having the money come out of the pockets of consumers and drivers."

Can you imagine Congress passing a bill that hits oil companies for $8 billon? No way would that get through congress. You think Pres Bush would sign that into law? no way. She knows even if Congress passes it (which is an almost impossible probability) that Bush would veto it, and the Dem's obviously do not have the numbers to override his veto.

Hillary says Obama's opposition is just another example of him listening to elitists and not listening to the people. Sen. Clinton will say anything for a vote, no matter how stupid or pointless. Has she introduced legislation for her plan? Just empty talk, more spin on Obama being an elitist - all spin and no substance. And its working: Obama's lead in NC is dropping, he is behind in Indiana. Again, this is a train wreck happening and no one seems to be able to stop it.

O bama as RFK - Hillary as Hubert Humphrey

I am fed up. What is Sen. Clinton thinking? First, she says Obama is elitist because he says working people are bitter and that causes them to cling to their religion, guns, church. In 1969 i was a freshman at a lutheran college, and my theology class had cases in faith, one being a mom and dad who were confused by protests, by racial desegregation, by the women's movement, and switched churches to a fundamentalist lutheran church : their bitterness turned them to embrace things in their lives they felt they could control, or were rock solid. Sociologists and political Scientists have been analyzing this since 1970's. So is Hillary like dumb or something? of course not, she knows what obama is referring to. She wants to characterize him as "elitist" in order to hurt him, spin him wrong. She knows what he is talking about: her attack is so phoney, and she knows it, she wants to manipulate voters and prey on their prejudices.

Here is Bobby Kennedy's speech abridged: He acknowledged that the effort may have been “doomed from the start” and admitted that the South Vietnamese governments, which his brother’s administration had supported, had been “riddled with corruption, inefficiency, and greed,” adding, “If that is the case, as it may well be, then I am willing to bear my share of the responsibility, before history and before my fellow citizens. But past error is no excuse for its own perpetration. Tragedy is a tool for the living to gain wisdom Now, as ever, we do ourselves best justice when we measure ourselves against ancient texts, as in Sophocles [from Antigone]: ‘All men make mistakes, but a good man yields when he knows his course is wrong, and he repairs the evil.’ The only sin, he said, is pride.”

Why can't sen clinton say something like that? She was wrong voting for the Iraq resolution, she did it so she could get re elected and it was wrong. Instead we get her bullshit and traditional politics.

Sen Clinton's machine is out to destroy Obama. She supports the prejudice shown in the PA primary: retired pennsylvanians voted predominately for Sen Clinton: its not that they are retired ( as the stupid news analysts tell us) it is that they are from an older generation - they voted against obama not because they are retired but because they are from a generation that is racially intolerant. So Sen Clinton is hoping that old racists will help her win in Indiana primary.

I am so sick of this. Sen Clinton might win the nomination, but she is not electable. Her negatives are too high. There is no way i would support her given her destruction of Obama - he is the better candidate, he is the bobby kennedy of today, and she is the hubert humphrey who will stop him and end in defeat.

My prediction: a Sen Clinton nomination, a democratic party torn apart, Sen McCain ( a good decent man) will get elected, and Sen Clinton will be a pariah, the person who destroyed the party, and hopefully a new demo party will be built from the ashes.

This is a slow train wreck. I don't know why the Demo party hasn't stopped this, other than that the Clinton's have so many insiders in the party they can't even save the party to spite themselves.

Top Gun - gayest movie ever!!!

Here is Quentin Tarrentino's take on the movie Top Gun. This is from a movie, but someone edited it with Top Gun scenes to drive the story home. This movie is so 1980's, with the blow dry hair and the Ronald Reagan military themes. I laughed out loud watching this - too funny. Top Gun is a one man's struggle with his latent homosexuality, Maverick is fighting his homosexual urges, Iceman is trying to get him to go the gay way, and at the end... Swordfight!!!!