Marathon Maybe Man

I have never run a marathon. Oh, I have ran for at least 26.2 miles straight many times, but never in an organized, timed, "official" marathon. Currently, my favorite long run is from my Nob Hill home in San Francisco across the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito and back, which is about marathon distance. While I frequently run organized 5K, 10K, and 12K races, marathons don't really appeal to me. Maybe it's the super-early start time (5:20 AM? Say WHAT?). Maybe it's because they always seem to be scheduled when something else is going on that I don't want to miss. Maybe it's because entry fees are so high. Someday I might run an "official" marathon, but it's not a strong goal right now.

I have never walked a marathon. Walking a marathon? Yes, for some reason marathons are becoming increasingly popular with the mall-walking set. Finishing a marathon seems to be a badge of honor, even if it takes seven hours to walk the whole thing. Also increasingly walking marathons are the fund-raiser set. (You've probably had them approach you to "sponsor" them at $x per mile.) Nothing wrong with mall-walkers or fund-raisers, but it seems the original idea of a marathon (or a 5K, 10K, 12K) as an athletic contest to mark the fastest possible time (a "personal best") is waning. There's even a new word for this phenomenon: Walkathon.

The latest marathon I will miss is today's San Francisco Marathon. No conflicts, not much going on with me today, but I was out late last night with friends, indulging in food and drink of the empty-calorie variety. There will be many 26.2 mile runs that I will do between now and the next marathon in the Bay Area, and maybe I'll do an "official" one soon. Maybe.


Bonus Marathon Trivia: The event is named after the Battle of Marathon in which the Greeks defeated the Persians in 490 BCE. According to legend, a warrior ran from the Grecian cities of Marathon to Athens -- about 26.2 miles -- to inform the citizens of the victory. (Some versions of this story have the warrior dropping dead after finishing his run!)

Gnarly Head

My oenophile friends and I (FreeThinker is a wine dilettante) made a pleasant discovery tonight: a robust zinfandel named Gnarly Head. A 2004 vintage from nearby Lodi, this spicy low-tannin yet full-bodied old vine Zin with blackberry and licorice tones was a hit with Dana, Dave, Mark, Rick, Jen, and me. A beautifully deep, thick, rich shade of purple is seen through the bottle, and in the glass.

We enjoyed this "Night of Zin" in lower Nob Hill at a quaint and cozy candlelit nook in the old Fitzgerald Hotel called "The Hidden Vine." Hidden indeed, it's tucked deep inside the hotel. The only other way in or out is a stairway to a small alley. Kudos to Dana on letting us all in on this wonderful secret.

Lance Armstrong, American Atheist Athlete

A tip of the bike helmet to Lance Armstrong, who just won his 7th Tour de France and who, years ago, won his battle with cancer. We all know of his triumphs, but do we all know he did it all without relying on any gods? No prayers, no lucky charms, no divine intervention at all. Lance Armstrong believes in himself, not in the supernatural. He believes in training, focus, and determination. He believes in surgery, chemotherapy, and medicine. He does not believe in gods. He's not overt about his atheism, but it consistently shines through in what I've read about him.

From his 2000 book It's Not About the Bike:

At the end of the day, if there was indeed some Body or presence standing there to judge me, I hoped I would be judged on whether I had lived a true life, not on whether I believed in a certain book, or whether I'd been baptized. If there was indeed a God at the end of my days, I hoped he didn't say, "But you were never a Christian, so you're going the other way from heaven." If so, I was going to reply, "You know what? You're right. Fine."

From TIME magazine, 2003:

Interviewer: "For a miracle man, you're not very religious."

Armstrong: "I don't have anything against organized religion per se. We all need something in our lives. I personally just have not accepted that belief. But I'm one of the few."

From a UK Times interview, 2004:

Armstrong is deeply suspicious of organised religion ... Armstrong believes it is possible to be a good person while not believing. "I think we all have obligations to be good, honest, hard-working, caring and compassionate," he says. "You have to try and it won't always be easy but you try your best. I do not believe that because you are not prepared to submit yourself to a god or a higher being, that when you get to the end of the road, you will be sent down. I'm not prepared to believe that."

From ET Newsmagazine, 2004:

"If there was a god, I'd still have both nuts."

It's refreshing to have an American sports hero (and role model) who doesn't "thank God" for his success or drop to his knees to "pray," on-camera or off. His bracelet is not the "WWJD" bracelet. He doesn't waste time with the supernatural. He knows his athletic prowess comes from within himself, and his cancer recovery comes from medical science.

Deservedly, this American Atheist Athlete is now planning to relax a bit and enjoy the rock and roll lifestyle with his foxy paramour, Sheryl Crow. Rock on, Lance!

The Long And Winding Run

Summertime ... and the running's easy. When I have a few hours to spare, I like to go for a long run. Today I did one of my long winding runs -- from Nob Hill to Fisherman's Wharf, then west along the beach, across the Golden Gate Bridge to Marin County, then back. About 15-20 miles all told. I've been running since High School, in countless cities and towns, and it does not get any better than this. (Runner's World magazine recently ranked San Francisco the #1 best running city in America.) The weather is nice for running year-round. There are so many varied running paths, from park trails, steep hills, compacted beach sand, and a personal favorite, slalom-running through pedestrians on the sidewalks. Sometimes I get to do the dog-jump, when I encounter a resting canine on the sidewalk.

I need to start carrying my camera with me on my runs. Each run is a little adventure. For example, today (near Polk/Bay Streets) I observed something odd as I approached a man and woman, who were walking in the direction I was running. The man seemed to be carrying a naked woman, and the woman seemed to be carrying another naked woman. Running closer, I see the man is holding legs and the woman is holding a torso (with a shaved head). What an odd sight! A perfect photo opportunity. Only as I pass them do I realize they are carrying two halves of a mannequin. I give them a quizzical look after I pass them, and blurt out, "...ménage à trois?" I could hear them laugh heartily even through my music-pumping headphones. I didn't look back; hopefully they didn't drop the mannequin!

Dolby Digital DVD Delight

The DVD player in my "home theater in a box" setup has been on the fritz for well over a year now. I can watch DVDs on my computer, but it's not quite the same as on my TV's bigger screen and my 5.1 speaker setup. I really, really like the full Dolby Digital or DTS audio that's encoded on most DVDs. It completes the whole experience. When I set up my DVD player, it would not work with my older TV. Until I upgraded my TV, I played DVDs and only had the audio. This was an unplanned way to gain appreciation for the 5.1 sound. I watched -- er, listened, to most of "Jurassic Park" without the video signal. It was still enjoyable with just the isolated audio!

Finally, I bought and set up a new DVD player today. This one's a DVD recorder, and it also has a VHS player built in to make for easy VHS-to-DVD transfers. I'll get started on that project soon; like many people, I have a sizable collection of videocassettes that I don't watch much anymore. Burning them to DVDs will let me archive them and save a lot of space.

Setting it up was easy, but I could not detect that glorious Dolby Digital 5.1 (and DTS) sound I have been missing. Only stereo sound was coming from only two speakers. After some research I realized an optical digital audio cable was needed between my new device and my receiver. (This is the best possible audio connection available today; superior to the analog red/white audio cable.) After buying and attaching an optical digital audio cable, I now have it ... all 5 speakers and the subwoofer doing their duty. Wow! Crisp highs and thunderous bass swirling all around the room. Who needs earthquakes when my setup can shake the walls on my command?

I hope my neighbors like it as much as I do!

Use Your Illusion II

Okay, one more optical illusion, then it's on to other posts before we all go blind. Look at this one and focus on one of the wheels. If you're like me, you'll see the other wheels slowly turning.

And I'm not even intoxicated right now.

Are you?

Use Your Illusion I

Ever since I was a freethinking and precocious kid, I have loved optical illusions. Not so much the ones where the answer always is "They are both the same length," but more ones that really fool the eye. Like the fantastic architecture of M.C. Escher drawings and the "Magic Eye" deep-vision images.

I stumbled across this diagram and the caption "The squares marked A and B are the same shade of gray." Take a look. No way, right?

Way. I opened this image in Photoshop, and used the clone stamp to brush the color of A over to B. Indeed, they are both the exact same shade of gray!

The Garrison-Martineau Project

This afternoon I participated in a novel discussion group called The Garrison-Martineau Project, in which religious people and non-believers gather for open discussion of their respective theological mindsets. It's not a debate; rather, it's a calm, structured discussion led by a trained Facilitator.

The Garrison-Martineau Project gets its name from the unlikely friendship between William Lloyd Garrison and Harriet Martineau in the mid-1800s. Garrison was a Christian and an advocate for ending slavery in the United States. Martineau was an Atheist in England, a social activist and the first female sociologist. Both were members of the same literary circle, and both maintained a respectful letter-writing dialogue.

Attendees are divided evenly between believers and non-believers and then break away into groups of four (two believers and two non-believers) and a Facilitator. In today's session, due to a last-minute cancellation by a local church group, the believers were the minority (!) so each breakaway group had one believer and three non-believers.

Despite the disparity, the three-hour session worked well. First, our Facilitator had us briefly introduce ourselves to the other three (our name, where we live, our jobs) and then we each spoke for about five minutes about our own personal theological journey, and the life experiences that brought us to our current mindsets. After each person spoke, another would "mirror" the speech by summing it up in about two minutes. This provided empathy and insured that each person's views were clearly understood.

The next round was dedicated to each of us speaking of our concerns on any issue that concerns us on religion's role in life (or lack of a religious role in life) that connects with us on a personal level.

Have you ever spoken publicly about your own journey that brought you to your current philosophy on religion? I have not before today, and I heartily recommend it. It seemed like I spoke for much longer than five minutes: there's been quite a long journey in my life! (I'll post my personal story here some other time.) It was cathartic to talk about it and it was fascinating to hear other people's stories. Deep stuff, but we all have a story. Our stories are rarely told: generally, you just don't do this at the dinner table or at work or even in places of worship!

The Garrison-Martineau Project uniquely helps to bridge the "culture war" that unfortunately makes many of us feel isolated, alienated, and separated from our fellow humans who have different mindsets. Hearing and being heard is very empowering. Get involved!

Bistro Burger Lunch

Connie, a friend and former coworker, has been traveling the world since being off the payroll. I guess some bills are piling up, because she is starting a new job in San Jose. Some of Connie's other friends and former coworkers and I got together for an al fresco lunch at Bistro Burger to catch up and to wish Connie well in her return to the workforce. Lunch hours are rarely this pleasant. Here's a (rather overexposed) photo of me, Tomiko, Ciel, Ruby, Lili, Connie, and Yvonne.

Faith-Based Terrorism

Like all caring humans, I am deeply saddened by today's act of faith-based terrorism in London. Forty innocent working-class people dead, hundreds injured, and for what? If the claims of responsibility of an al-Qaida group are correct, we have yet another case of apocalyptic violence committed "in the name of God." This kind of mayhem is not limited to a splinter sect of the Islamic faith. All the world's major religions have a violent history, and a justification of the use of violence. The ambiguity of these religion's sacred texts typically provides justification for using violence in the name of their god(s). The Islamic Jihad, the Israel/Palestinian conflict, the US abortion clinic bombings, etc. are all separate battles but they all have religion in common.

Let's call it what it is: faith-based terrorism.

My thoughts and charity are with the victims and their friends and families; I offer no prayers because praying does not accomplish anything. Praying did not accomplish anything for the suicide bombers either; they almost certainly were praying before their horrific acts. They are not being rewarded as martyrs in an afterlife. They are not enjoying heavenly nookie from 72 virgins.

Someday we will all realize that we are all in this together; we have one precious planet and one shared humanity. We don't need to cling to gods anymore. We don't need to kowtow to any religion. We don't need to prepare for an afterlife. Once we all evolve to this stage, there will be no more incentive to view "those other people" as infidels.   Peace!

God Save The Drag Queen

Happy Independence Day!

Doesn't W look fetching in this hoop skirt?

Pot Clubs Outnumber Fast-Food Joints

Here in San Francisco, there are now more places to score some weed than there are to find a Big Mac.

There are about 40 medical marijuana clubs in The City; the number of McDonald's is half that. (the ubiquitous Starbucks, however, continues to outnumber pot clubs. Caffeine is still king -- it's the most popular drug here and just about everywhere.)

These figures will change in time, of course. With more people getting the munchies, could fast-food joints be opening more locations?