Total Eclipse Of The Moon

Bummer. All ready to take photos of Tuesday morning's total eclipse of the moon, but The City gets a blanket of fog, eclipsing the eclipse.

Fortunately, it was a cloud-free and fog-free night on October 27, 2004, during a previous total eclipse of the moon visible from San Francisco, when I took this shot from my roof. As the moon was in the total eclipse stage, it took on an eerie blood-red color, which washed out as the sun's rays returned.


Sights like this used to absolutely freak out pre-scientific god-believing indigenous peoples. A bloody moon much like this saved Christopher Columbus and his fourth voyage crew after being stranded in Jamaica for almost a year, wearing out their welcome with the natives. Columbus knew that a total eclipse of the moon would occur on February 29, 1504 and told the natives that the gods, angry with them for scaling back provisions for him and his famished men, would make the moon disappear. As this happened, Columbus then told them the gods had forgiven them just as the eclipse ended. He and his crew did not go hungry again.

Pat Tillman

There are many unanswered questions about the death of Bay Area native and unabashed atheist Pat Tillman. Tillman famously abandoned a promising pro football career in 2002 to enlist in the US Army to help fight the Taliban in Afghanistan. In 2004, he was killed in action in Afghanistan. Initial reports indicated he was killed by a hostile ambush. Subsequent reports tell a more complex scenario: he was killed by "friendly fire" and even that may not have been accidental. The Associated Press obtained military records through the Freedom of Information Act revealing that "Army medical examiners were suspicious about the close proximity of the three bullet holes in Pat Tillman's forehead and tried without success to get authorities to investigate whether the former NFL player's death amounted to a crime."

Tillman was well-read and held views which were critical of the Iraq war and did not support President Bush's re-election. He had arranged a meeting with political dissident Noam Chomsky, to take place after his return from Afghanistan.

Could Tillman's death be a calculated murder, covered up by the highest levels? The US military is always conformist and increasingly and dangerously evangelical; handling their "poster boy" who was deviating sharply from the party line was certainly an agenda item for top brass.

Onion Breath

Who likes onion breath? Well, no one likes onion breath, but these words take on a sweeter meaning with a new children's book. Onion Breath tells the fun story of two brothers who are fussy eaters, refusing anything but mac-and-cheese. Mother does not know how to get them to eat new things, but Shmirna, the nanny, does. Shmirna tells the boys that spiders crawl into their open mouths at night, and the only way to stop the spiders is having onion breath by eating something new - onions. The macabre gambit works, and the boys learn the value of trying new things.

The quirky-fun story is told in clever rhyme, and the bright artwork really pops off the pages with its blend of sketches, fabric designs and occasional cut-and-pasted photos. I tuned into my "inner child" while reading the book, and enjoyed the flights of imagination, the humor, and even the scary spiders of Onion Breath.

Page 34 of this book has a matter-of-fact reference to atheism: Now try the side dish and don't make a face. We're all atheists, so no need to say grace. The story moves right along, just as life should move right along for all of us.

We've all seen ostensibly secular children's books that slip in overt religious messages. Onion Breath may seem to be the flip side of this, but that comparison is unfair because the book is not pushy, preachy, or apologetic about atheism. It's just a book about atheists written by atheists with one reference to atheism just to fit a rhyme. No hushed tones, no focal point, no big deal.

Onion Breath authors Steph and Dan Allosso have donated a box of the books to the freethinking summer camp Camp Quest, and the book is available for purchase through the Onion Breath website.

The Allossos have included an epilogue and a paragraph on the back cover that describe the atheism reference. Ideally, this would not be necessary, but then again, this is possibly the first children's book about an atheist family. Can the era of "Atheist? So what?" be upon us in the future? That's a pleasant thought, and a trendsetter may very well be Onion Breath.