White and Nerdy vs. Slim Shady -- Enjoy!
Phrases when travelling to Germany
Here are some common phrases that are useful to the traveler to Germany:
(I used www.freetranslation.com for these translations. Please let me know if they're wrong.)
Ich bin ein dummer Amerikaner, tritt bitte meinen Kolben.
I am an American, please show me where my embassy is.
Ich könnte kein Badezimmer finden, deshalb habe ich im Rhein uriniert.
Please direct me to a bathroom, I need to pee real bad.
Ich denke, dass Fußball für nur Frauen und Mädchenmänner ist, wo ein Nördlich Footballgegenstück das Sie bitte können zeigen mir werde gespielt?
I am a huge fan of the World Cup, could you please tell me if Germany is playing today?
Deutsches Bier ist furchtbar! Es hat den Geschmack von pisst.
German beer is great! I would like to try some, please.
Können Sie bitte mich zeigen, wo die deutsche Armee zu Eisenhower übergeben hat?
Could you please show me where the German military museum is located?
(I used www.freetranslation.com for these translations. Please let me know if they're wrong.)
Ich bin ein dummer Amerikaner, tritt bitte meinen Kolben.
I am an American, please show me where my embassy is.
Ich könnte kein Badezimmer finden, deshalb habe ich im Rhein uriniert.
Please direct me to a bathroom, I need to pee real bad.
Ich denke, dass Fußball für nur Frauen und Mädchenmänner ist, wo ein Nördlich Footballgegenstück das Sie bitte können zeigen mir werde gespielt?
I am a huge fan of the World Cup, could you please tell me if Germany is playing today?
Deutsches Bier ist furchtbar! Es hat den Geschmack von pisst.
German beer is great! I would like to try some, please.
Können Sie bitte mich zeigen, wo die deutsche Armee zu Eisenhower übergeben hat?
Could you please show me where the German military museum is located?
French for travellers
Here are some useful French phrases that you should know when traveling to France:
Je mange plus fromage que le petit souris.
I am American, do you speak English?
Mon papa peut battre votre papa.
Do you have change for 50 Euros?
M'excuser, je suis très bu et je peux vomir sur vos bottes.
Excuse me, where is the Louvre Museum?
J'ai juste a commis un crime et aimerait être fermé à clef dans le Bastille.
I need to call the American embassy.
M'excuser, mais avez-vous Poupon Gris ?
Does this train go to Marseilles?
Je mange plus fromage que le petit souris.
I am American, do you speak English?
Mon papa peut battre votre papa.
Do you have change for 50 Euros?
M'excuser, je suis très bu et je peux vomir sur vos bottes.
Excuse me, where is the Louvre Museum?
J'ai juste a commis un crime et aimerait être fermé à clef dans le Bastille.
I need to call the American embassy.
M'excuser, mais avez-vous Poupon Gris ?
Does this train go to Marseilles?
December 7, 1941 - A Day That Will Live In Infamy
I really want to talk about two things in this post. I suppose I could post two posts, but I'm blogging from my office on my lunch break and I just want to make it short and sweet. The main thing is Pearl Harbor Day and the other is about a comment my brother made about arrogance in academia.
December 7, 1941 is a very important date to me because my grandfather, may he rest in peace, was a Pearl Harbor survivor. He should have been on the USS Oklahoma that fateful morning, but instead he was staying with a friend in Honolulu and attending church with him that morning. My Grandfather felt as if God told him to leave the Oklahoma. This is attested by the fact that he took all of his clothes and money with him when he went ashore. Had he not done as the Lord had directed him, my father, myself, and my son (who's named after his Grandpa) would not have been born.
My Grandfather passed away this year. He wasn't able to get to see the memorial that is being dedicated to the Oklahoma on Ford Island today. I hope that America never forgets what happened on December 7, 1941. Tyranny and evil still exist in this world and they must be unequivocally defeated. Whether or not you agree with how our current President has decided to confront evil and tyranny, there are definite parallels between 12/7/41 and 9/11/01. Hopefully the lessons we learned after Pearl Harbor will help us in confronting our current enemy, terror.
Now, regarding my brother's contempt of arrogance in academia. I could not agree more. My brother has taken a more traditional route to his education, while I've taken the indirect route through distance learning with limited interaction on campus. Regardless of the differences in our college education, one fact remains, academia is the new "leaven of the Pharisees". That is not a concept I came up with on my own, "leaven of the academy" is a term a teacher of mine, Matthew Fellows, came up with after speaking with a certain professor.
The aim of academia is to take something and deconstruct it by each of its constituent elements and examine each one of those constituent elements in profound depth until new conclusions are reached. Then after deconstruction, the elements are put back together in a different order and with new conclusions and a new theory, hypothesis, conclusion, (etcetera) exists. But what do we find from all this? Do we find the truth? It was Matt's contention, and mine, that we only end up with more questions and never find the truth. So Matt asked his professor what the truth is and the answer he got was, "The truth is that there is no truth."
Now think about that statement for a few moments..."the truth is that there is no truth". Isn't the purpose of academia to help each student find his or her own truth? If there is no truth, then it only follows that everything is a lie and all is in a state of atrophy. I cannot subscribe to this theory. There is truth, but it comes from a different source than academia. It comes from within us. Each one of us is endowed with a divine ability to distinguish between what is true and what is false. From that point we can choose to investigate further.
When Christ spoke of the leaven of the Phairasees, what he meant was that the Phairasees had replaced the gospel of God with the philosophies of men. Leaven is what makes bread rise and what fills the bread with its flavor. Today's "leaven of the Phairasees" is academia's arrogant assertion that they know what's best (even though there is no truth, according to them) and replacing God's doctrine with the commandments of men. We are starting to see "the leaven of academia" fill the world.
"But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach; and it will be given to him." (James 1:5)
"Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free." (John 8:32)
December 7, 1941 is a very important date to me because my grandfather, may he rest in peace, was a Pearl Harbor survivor. He should have been on the USS Oklahoma that fateful morning, but instead he was staying with a friend in Honolulu and attending church with him that morning. My Grandfather felt as if God told him to leave the Oklahoma. This is attested by the fact that he took all of his clothes and money with him when he went ashore. Had he not done as the Lord had directed him, my father, myself, and my son (who's named after his Grandpa) would not have been born.
My Grandfather passed away this year. He wasn't able to get to see the memorial that is being dedicated to the Oklahoma on Ford Island today. I hope that America never forgets what happened on December 7, 1941. Tyranny and evil still exist in this world and they must be unequivocally defeated. Whether or not you agree with how our current President has decided to confront evil and tyranny, there are definite parallels between 12/7/41 and 9/11/01. Hopefully the lessons we learned after Pearl Harbor will help us in confronting our current enemy, terror.
Now, regarding my brother's contempt of arrogance in academia. I could not agree more. My brother has taken a more traditional route to his education, while I've taken the indirect route through distance learning with limited interaction on campus. Regardless of the differences in our college education, one fact remains, academia is the new "leaven of the Pharisees". That is not a concept I came up with on my own, "leaven of the academy" is a term a teacher of mine, Matthew Fellows, came up with after speaking with a certain professor.
The aim of academia is to take something and deconstruct it by each of its constituent elements and examine each one of those constituent elements in profound depth until new conclusions are reached. Then after deconstruction, the elements are put back together in a different order and with new conclusions and a new theory, hypothesis, conclusion, (etcetera) exists. But what do we find from all this? Do we find the truth? It was Matt's contention, and mine, that we only end up with more questions and never find the truth. So Matt asked his professor what the truth is and the answer he got was, "The truth is that there is no truth."
Now think about that statement for a few moments..."the truth is that there is no truth". Isn't the purpose of academia to help each student find his or her own truth? If there is no truth, then it only follows that everything is a lie and all is in a state of atrophy. I cannot subscribe to this theory. There is truth, but it comes from a different source than academia. It comes from within us. Each one of us is endowed with a divine ability to distinguish between what is true and what is false. From that point we can choose to investigate further.
When Christ spoke of the leaven of the Phairasees, what he meant was that the Phairasees had replaced the gospel of God with the philosophies of men. Leaven is what makes bread rise and what fills the bread with its flavor. Today's "leaven of the Phairasees" is academia's arrogant assertion that they know what's best (even though there is no truth, according to them) and replacing God's doctrine with the commandments of men. We are starting to see "the leaven of academia" fill the world.
"But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach; and it will be given to him." (James 1:5)
"Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free." (John 8:32)
65 years later, USS Oklahoma gets its memorial
Please see the original article at: http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2006/Dec/06/ln/FP612060379.html/?print=on
A Japanese torpedo makes a direct hit on the battleship USS Oklahoma. This dramatic image captures the opening sequences of the attack at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.
USS Arizona Memorial photo collection
This image was taken in the aftermath of the attack at Pearl Harbor. It depicts the battleship Maryland, left, and the capsized Oklahoma, right. It clearly shows the devastation of the attack on Battleship Row.
Posted on: Wednesday, December 6, 2006
USS Oklahoma getting Dec. 7 memorial
By Mike Gordon
Advertiser Staff Writer
GROUNDBREAKING
Seven survivors of the Oklahoma, along with a number of family members, are expected to attend a groundbreaking for the USS Oklahoma Memorial, which is set for 12:30 p.m. tomorrow. The event is open to the public, which can catch a USS Missouri Memorial trolley to the event. There will be a fee, however, for the ride.
The survivors also will be honored when the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard dedicates a new foyer today at its remodeled headquarters — home to the battleship's aft wheel, mounted in a place of honor.
One of the most humiliating images of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was the exposed hull of the USS Oklahoma, a once-proud battleship that had capsized.
Shipyard workers frantically pried open parts of the hull to free trapped survivors, but their heroic efforts couldn't save 429 sailors and Marines who perished in the Oklahoma's flooded compartments.
The loss of life was second only to the battleship USS Arizona. Yet, to the chagrin of those who survived the Oklahoma, the memory of these fallen men was overshadowed by other national memorials to Dec. 7, 1941.
Nothing marks the spot where the crew of the "Okie" died.
That will change tomorrow afternoon on Ford Island. Navy and National Park Service officials, the governor of Oklahoma and former crewmen from the battleship will break ground for the USS Oklahoma Memorial.
The Oklahoma is the only battleship from the attack without a memorial somewhere, said Tucker McHugh, a retired commander in the Navy Reserves and co-chair of the group building the memorial — the USS Oklahoma Memorial Committee.
"That's a shameful oversight, and we are trying to correct that," said McHugh, a 62-year-old banker from Edmond, Okla.
Although the Navy still must approve the final design, the memorial will sit on a 3,750-square-foot plot of land just outside the entrance to Foxtrot 5 Pier, home to the USS Missouri Memorial. As envisioned by the committee, the memorial will list the names of the fallen on granite slabs cut and processed in Oklahoma, McHugh said.
The committee has only raised $260,000 of its $750,000 budget, but organizers are confident they will raise the rest of the money by January and dedicate the memorial on the 2007 anniversary of the attack.
Their optimism has a painfully obvious motivator: The survivors are in their 80s.
"There are only 105 survivors remaining, and they are dying at a rate of 25 a year," said Greg Slavonic, a 57-year-old retired Navy rear admiral from Oklahoma City. "We would very much like to have survivors alive to see this memorial. That is the sense of urgency on our part. We feel that with the groundbreaking, this is a significant milestone for this project."
The memorial project got started in 2000 and no one involved thought it would take this long, Slavonic said. Initially, the Navy did not want the memorial on Ford Island, he said.
"Their feeling was that if we let one of the ships build a memorial — and there were over 100 in Pearl Harbor that day — that would open up Pandora's box," he said. "Other ships would want to have memorials. Our counterpoint was: What's your point? To us that sounded like a great idea."
It took the Oklahoma congressional delegation to get things moving, however. Congress approved legislation in May 2005 ordering the Navy to find space on Ford Island for a memorial to be maintained by the National Park Service.
Oklahomans have gotten behind the effort, donating much of the money raised so far.
"It's a matter of pride in their state," McHugh said. "It is the state's namesake ship."
On the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, the Oklahoma was moored at Foxtrot 5, outside of the USS Maryland and exposed to the brunt of nine deadly Japanese torpedoes. Because the ship was set for an inspection the following day, the hatches to its watertight compartments were all open.
With its hull gashed in the attack, the battleship quickly flooded and rolled over in less than 12 minutes.
Among the dead were six sets of brothers and two sailors who earned the Medal of Honor.
Eventually recovered, the majority of the Oklahoma casualties were unidentifiable and buried as unknowns at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Punchbowl.
The Oklahoma memorial will be built as close to the location of the stricken battleship as possible, McHugh said.
"Some of the men swam to shore and came ashore right where the memorial is going to be, and we view that as hallowed ground," he said. "Some men died there."
The shipyard's tie to the Oklahoma is huge, said shipyard spokesman Kerry Gershaneck. The men of Shop 11, which still exists, risked their lives to free trapped crewmen, even as the attack continued around them. Guided by banging inside the ship, they eventually freed 32 men who were forever dubbed "the cut-outs."
Shipyard workers would right the Oklahoma, but it was decommissioned and sold for scrap in 1947. It sank while under tow to the West Coast.
Someone had kept the aft wheel, though, and it has been at the shipyard ever since, Gershaneck said.
"It is living heritage here," he said. "It is important to us."
The attention this week will doubtless warm the hearts of Paul Goodyear's aging fellow Oklahoma shipmates.
"Our battle lasted only 11 and a half minutes," said the 88-year-old resident of Casa Grande, Ariz. "There was something in that 11 and a half minutes that bonded all those kids into a camaraderie that no one can understand — including ourselves."
And families who have felt the pang of loss for 65 years will rest a bit easier, said Goodyear, who will attend the groundbreaking.
"It is going to be a relief to each and every sailor, but I think the most healing balm will be for the brothers and sisters and grandchildren of these kids," he said. "I hope it is a closure."
Reach Mike Gordon at mgordon@honoluluadvertiser.com.
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• • •
A Japanese torpedo makes a direct hit on the battleship USS Oklahoma. This dramatic image captures the opening sequences of the attack at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.
USS Arizona Memorial photo collection
This image was taken in the aftermath of the attack at Pearl Harbor. It depicts the battleship Maryland, left, and the capsized Oklahoma, right. It clearly shows the devastation of the attack on Battleship Row.
Posted on: Wednesday, December 6, 2006
USS Oklahoma getting Dec. 7 memorial
By Mike Gordon
Advertiser Staff Writer
GROUNDBREAKING
Seven survivors of the Oklahoma, along with a number of family members, are expected to attend a groundbreaking for the USS Oklahoma Memorial, which is set for 12:30 p.m. tomorrow. The event is open to the public, which can catch a USS Missouri Memorial trolley to the event. There will be a fee, however, for the ride.
The survivors also will be honored when the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard dedicates a new foyer today at its remodeled headquarters — home to the battleship's aft wheel, mounted in a place of honor.
One of the most humiliating images of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was the exposed hull of the USS Oklahoma, a once-proud battleship that had capsized.
Shipyard workers frantically pried open parts of the hull to free trapped survivors, but their heroic efforts couldn't save 429 sailors and Marines who perished in the Oklahoma's flooded compartments.
The loss of life was second only to the battleship USS Arizona. Yet, to the chagrin of those who survived the Oklahoma, the memory of these fallen men was overshadowed by other national memorials to Dec. 7, 1941.
Nothing marks the spot where the crew of the "Okie" died.
That will change tomorrow afternoon on Ford Island. Navy and National Park Service officials, the governor of Oklahoma and former crewmen from the battleship will break ground for the USS Oklahoma Memorial.
The Oklahoma is the only battleship from the attack without a memorial somewhere, said Tucker McHugh, a retired commander in the Navy Reserves and co-chair of the group building the memorial — the USS Oklahoma Memorial Committee.
"That's a shameful oversight, and we are trying to correct that," said McHugh, a 62-year-old banker from Edmond, Okla.
Although the Navy still must approve the final design, the memorial will sit on a 3,750-square-foot plot of land just outside the entrance to Foxtrot 5 Pier, home to the USS Missouri Memorial. As envisioned by the committee, the memorial will list the names of the fallen on granite slabs cut and processed in Oklahoma, McHugh said.
The committee has only raised $260,000 of its $750,000 budget, but organizers are confident they will raise the rest of the money by January and dedicate the memorial on the 2007 anniversary of the attack.
Their optimism has a painfully obvious motivator: The survivors are in their 80s.
"There are only 105 survivors remaining, and they are dying at a rate of 25 a year," said Greg Slavonic, a 57-year-old retired Navy rear admiral from Oklahoma City. "We would very much like to have survivors alive to see this memorial. That is the sense of urgency on our part. We feel that with the groundbreaking, this is a significant milestone for this project."
The memorial project got started in 2000 and no one involved thought it would take this long, Slavonic said. Initially, the Navy did not want the memorial on Ford Island, he said.
"Their feeling was that if we let one of the ships build a memorial — and there were over 100 in Pearl Harbor that day — that would open up Pandora's box," he said. "Other ships would want to have memorials. Our counterpoint was: What's your point? To us that sounded like a great idea."
It took the Oklahoma congressional delegation to get things moving, however. Congress approved legislation in May 2005 ordering the Navy to find space on Ford Island for a memorial to be maintained by the National Park Service.
Oklahomans have gotten behind the effort, donating much of the money raised so far.
"It's a matter of pride in their state," McHugh said. "It is the state's namesake ship."
On the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, the Oklahoma was moored at Foxtrot 5, outside of the USS Maryland and exposed to the brunt of nine deadly Japanese torpedoes. Because the ship was set for an inspection the following day, the hatches to its watertight compartments were all open.
With its hull gashed in the attack, the battleship quickly flooded and rolled over in less than 12 minutes.
Among the dead were six sets of brothers and two sailors who earned the Medal of Honor.
Eventually recovered, the majority of the Oklahoma casualties were unidentifiable and buried as unknowns at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Punchbowl.
The Oklahoma memorial will be built as close to the location of the stricken battleship as possible, McHugh said.
"Some of the men swam to shore and came ashore right where the memorial is going to be, and we view that as hallowed ground," he said. "Some men died there."
The shipyard's tie to the Oklahoma is huge, said shipyard spokesman Kerry Gershaneck. The men of Shop 11, which still exists, risked their lives to free trapped crewmen, even as the attack continued around them. Guided by banging inside the ship, they eventually freed 32 men who were forever dubbed "the cut-outs."
Shipyard workers would right the Oklahoma, but it was decommissioned and sold for scrap in 1947. It sank while under tow to the West Coast.
Someone had kept the aft wheel, though, and it has been at the shipyard ever since, Gershaneck said.
"It is living heritage here," he said. "It is important to us."
The attention this week will doubtless warm the hearts of Paul Goodyear's aging fellow Oklahoma shipmates.
"Our battle lasted only 11 and a half minutes," said the 88-year-old resident of Casa Grande, Ariz. "There was something in that 11 and a half minutes that bonded all those kids into a camaraderie that no one can understand — including ourselves."
And families who have felt the pang of loss for 65 years will rest a bit easier, said Goodyear, who will attend the groundbreaking.
"It is going to be a relief to each and every sailor, but I think the most healing balm will be for the brothers and sisters and grandchildren of these kids," he said. "I hope it is a closure."
Reach Mike Gordon at mgordon@honoluluadvertiser.com.
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