Saturday, August 28, 2010

Leck Mich Im Arsch / Leck mir den Arsch fein recht schön sauber

Leck mich im Arsch (literally "Lick me in the arse") is a canon in B-flat major composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart with lyrics in German. It was one of a set of at least six canons probably written in Vienna in 1782. Sung by six voices as a three-part round, it is thought to be a party piece for his friends. A literal translation of the song's title and lyrics into English would be "Lick me in the arse". A more idiomatic translation would be "Kiss my arse", or even "Get stuffed".

Leck mir den Arsch fein recht schön sauber (English: Lick my ass right well and clean) is a canon for three voices in B-flat major, K. 233/382d, long thought to have been composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart during 1782 in Vienna.

Lyrics:
Leck mire den A… recht schön,
fein sauber lecke ihn,fein sauber lecke,
leck mire den A…
Das ist ein fettigs Begehren,
nur gut mit Butter geschmiert,
den das Lecken der Braten mein tagliches Thun.
Drei lecken mehr als Zweie,
nur her, machet die Prob'und leckt,
leckt, leckt.
Jeder leckt sein A… fur sich.

Translation:
Lick my ass nicely,
lick it nice and clean,
nice and clean, lick my ass.
That's a greasy desire,
nicely buttered,
like the licking of roast meat, my daily activity.
Three will lick more than two,
come on, just try it,
and lick, lick, lick.
Everybody lick his own ass himself.

A midi version of the Leck Mich Im Arsch can be found here: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bc/Leck_mich_im_Arsch.mid

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leck_mich_im_Arsch
And: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leck_mir_den_Arsch_fein_recht_sch%C3%B6n_sauber

Friday, August 20, 2010

Oak Island Money Pit

There are many 19th-century accounts of Oak Island, but some are conflicting and/or are not impartial. Further, physical evidence from the initial excavations is absent or has been lost. A basic summary of the history of the pit is as follows:

In 1795, 16-year-old Daniel McGinnis discovered a circular depression in a clearing on the southeastern end of the island with an adjacent tree which had a tackle block on one of its overhanging branches. McGinnis, with the help of friends excavated the depression and discovered a layer of flagstones a few feet below. On the pit walls there were visible markings from a pick. As they dug down they discovered layers of logs at about every ten feet. They abandoned the excavation at 30 feet.

About eight years after the 1795 dig, another company examined what was to become known as the "Money Pit." The Onslow Company continued the excavation down to approximately 90 feet and found layers of logs about every ten feet and layers of charcoal, putty and coconut fibre at 40, 50 and 60 feet. At 80 or 90 feet, they recovered a large stone bearing an inscription of symbols. Several researchers apparently attempted to decipher the symbols. One translated them as saying: "forty feet below, two million pounds lie buried." The pit subsequently flooded up to the 33-foot level. Bailing did not reduce the water level, and the excavation was abandoned. It was later suspected the flooding was due to a previously dug channel that was fed from the ocean, thus creating the possibilities of the pit being “trapped”.

Investors formed The Truro Company in 1849, which re-excavated the shaft back down to the 86-foot level, where it flooded again. They then drilled into the ground below the bottom of the shaft. According to the nineteenth-century account, the drill passed through a spruce platform at 98 feet, a 12-inch head space, 22 inches of what was described as "metal in pieces", 8 inches of oak, another 22 inches of metal, 4 inches of oak, another spruce layer, and finally into clay for 7 feet without striking anything else.

The next excavation attempt was made in 1861 by a new company called the Oak Island Association which resulted in the collapse of the bottom of the shaft into either a natural cavern or booby trap underneath.

The pit was left alone until 1893 when a wealthy local resident, Frederick Blair, decided to block the flow of sea water into the shaft by blowing up the channel with dynamite. He went deeper than ever before, reaching a level of one hundred and fifty-one feet. Unfortunately, all he found for his trouble was seven inches of rocks, more wood and then thirty-two inches of loose metal. He reached a level of one hundred and seventy feet, struck iron plate and then the shaft flooded again

Further excavations were made in 1866, 1893, 1909, 1931, 1935, 1936, and 1959, none of which were successful. Franklin Roosevelt was part of the Old Gold Salvage group of 1909 and kept up with news and developments for most of his life.

Excavation by the Restall family in the early 1960s ended tragically when four men died after being overcome by fumes in a shaft near the beach. In 1965, Robert Dunfield leased the island and, using a 70-ton digging crane with a clam bucket, dug out the pit area to a depth of 134 feet and width of 100 feet.

Around 1967 Triton Alliance, Ltd. and purchased most of the island. In 1971, Triton workers excavated a 235-foot shaft supported by a steel caisson to bedrock. According to Blankenship and Tobias, cameras lowered down the shaft into a cave below recorded the presence of some chests, human remains, wooden cribbing and tools; however, the images were unclear, and none of these claims have been independently confirmed. The shaft subsequently collapsed, and the excavation was again abandoned. This shaft was later successfully re-dug to 181 feet, reaching bedrock; work was halted because of lack of funds and the collapse of the partnership.

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oak_Island



Saturday, August 14, 2010

Aki Ra

Aki Ra is unsure of his age, but believes he was born in 1970. His parents were killed by the Khmer Rouge. Orphaned in the Khmer Rouge camp, he was taken in by a woman named Yourn who raised him and several other orphaned children until he was conscripted into the Khmer Rouge army at about 10 years of age. Aki Ra fought for the Khmer Rouge until 1983 when he was captured by the Vietnamese. He was conscripted into the Vietnamese army on threat of his life while still a boy. He later served with the Cambodian army as a teenager and still later received landmine clearance training with the United Nations. Having laid thousands of landmines as a soldier and working for the UN to remove them he discovered he was quite adept at clearing landmines and UXOs (unexploded ordnance), and decided to make it his trade.

Having no equipment or demining tools, he used what was at hand to reach his goal of making his country safe for his people: a knife, a Leatherman, a stick and his wits. He would de-fuse the landmines and UXOs he found in small villages throughout the areas where he had fought and bring home the empty casings to a house full of de-fused ordinance. Aki Ra began charging them a dollar to see his collection, using the money to help further his activities. Thus began the Cambodia Landmine Museum.

While working in villages he found both many children permanently injured by landmines or orphaned. He brought them home to live with he and his wife Hourt. Some of the children who moved to their home were also street kids from Siem Reap and Phnom Penh. Eventually he had brought home over 2 dozen boys and girls. The first child Aki Ra brought home was a 9-year old boy who had lost his leg to a landmine and was living on the street. His wife Hourt had no idea Aki Ra would be returning with little boy, but when he returned home she took the child to her family and said "Look, now I have a son".

The one-time guerrilla has cleared about 20 per cent of the unexploded ordnance in Siem Reap province with his bare hands. The Cambodian Mine Action Centre says five million unexploded devices still blight the countryside. They are difficult to find and pose a random threat. The most prolific deminers employ 1000 people and shift 3000 devices a month. Aki Ra, on the other hand, recently cleared his 50,000th land mine in 2006 (remember: that’s still with only just a stick and knife and the figure doesn’t include unexploded shells – Josh).

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aki_Ra





Saturday, August 7, 2010

Katzenklavier

A cat piano or Katzenklavier (German) is a musical instrument with polyphonic aftertouch described by Athanasius Kircher. It consists of a line of cats fixed in place with their tails stretched out underneath a keyboard. Tails would be placed under the keys, causing the cats to cry out in pain when a key was pressed. The cats would be arranged according to the natural tone of their voices.

The instrument was described by German physician Johann Christian Reil (1759-1813) for the purpose of treating patients who had lost the ability to focus their attention. Reil believed that if they were forced to see and listen to this instrument, it would inevitably capture their attention and they would be cured.

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katzenklavier