Another anniversary for today: the completion of Emperor Norton's dream 71 years ago.

Here is a great article on the backstory on some men influential to the emergence of Al-Qaeda. It is long, but rather fascinating and really drives the point that the whole issue is not black and white as many would like to paint it (Muslim = Bad/Terrorist, etc). There is tension within their own ranks and only time will really tell who has the greater influence on the Islamic peoples of the world. From a Westerner's perspective (actually from a human perspective period) it is important to learn how and why people different from ourselves process information and make the decisions they do. Only then can we learn from them and they from us.

In the midst of everything else that was going on this past weekend, I hope a few of you hoopy froods had a great Towel Day. I just got a new one from work, almost more of a blanket than towel. That is all.

Memory-al Day....

Well, I'm in my office at work, not where most people would prefer to be on this day, but the office is quiet and I am happy to exchange this day for the little trip I have to New York. Since it is quiet I have "This Binary Universe" by BT playing and it is soothing me. Which is important right now. This morning I watched an ambulance take my father away.

He had gotten up, been out in the garden, and come in when my niece and nephew were having breakfast. He was unable to form a complete sentence and was slurring the words he could manage. He was having a stroke. I'm waiting to hear if we were able to get help in time and that hopefully no permanent damage results from this. He will survive, but the phrase 'diminished capacity' encompasses so many options that I do not want to contemplate right now. Last night we had celebrated the completion of our remodeling project on the house my parents own in San Francisco and it being rented out for more than they had expected. It was also the 6 month mark since his hip replacement surgery. I was visiting a friend on Saturday evening with Josh and Lisa, and it was a reminder of how fragile and resilient life is. Our friend recently had a heart attach and needed 6 bypasses. He is recovering surprisingly well and the sequence of events leading to this attack border on the miraculous. I did not need this for that to sink in. If you know my dad, please keep him in your prayers. Thank you.

UPDATE: They are keeping my dad in the hospital in Santa Rosa. They are not sure what caused this since he is already on a high dose of blood thinners and has no bleeding in the brain, but it was very mild and they think we caught it early enough that he should not have long term effects. He has no paralysis, can read aloud from a book without problems, etc., but still has difficulty putting his own thoughts into a cohesive verbal structure. There may need to be some relearning of speaking in the future, but we will count our blessings if that is the extent of the damage. It is still early, but we have reasons to be positive.

Bay to Breakers

I'll post my race photo's when they become available May 22, but I did want to say how much fun it was. This was the 97th edition of the 12K (7.46 mile, for the conversion impaired) race making it one of the oldest races in California, along with the Dipsea. It also happens to be my third running and came 20 years after my first. Five of us from Calistoga Ranch took part along with four others that we met up with prior to the race. As I mentioned to several people already, while I have run quite a bit in the past it has been six months since I went out and ran anything at all. And that was just three miles to see if I could still do it. Our April backpacking trip to Havasupai was the most recent real workout I have given myself. So I had no serious intention of running the whole thing. My personal goal was to run to the top of the Hayes Street Hill (just short of the 3 mile mark) and see how I felt at that point. Both of the previous times I have run I was able to be in the top 10,000, thereby getting my name in the SF Examiner, but thought that probably was out of reach this time. Anyway, with the huge crush of people it took a full 25 minutes just to get to the starting line. Which is no longer a real issue since your official time starts when the chip you carry crosses the start line, regardless of the race start. And surprisingly, I think it actually worked in my favor. The crowd was already getting enough separation so I could run right from the beginning and had only a few stoppages due to overcrowding. Jens, Ramon, and I kept in each others sights until about the 5 mile mark but we lost track of the others almost from the start. So, as I was saying, the 3 mile mark would have been sufficient if I had had a side ache or could feel a blister coming on. But the weather was perfect for running, I was feeling great, the pace was not really pushing it, so I just kept going and ran the whole thing. All of us had decent runs with Jens S. finishing in 1:10, Jens H. finishing in 1:14, me at 1:16, Ramon at 1:17, and Sara at 1:18. Several of the others finished together at 1:19. That time put me at finisher position 5,568 and into the SF Examiner for a third time. Can any of you see my ego super-inflating right now? Neither can I. I am somewhat sore today but I feel far better than I would have expected given the zero training prior. Plus I was the only one in costume and that has to count for something. You will have to wait for pictures to see if my bad habit helped or hindered me.

Now my next little adventure is a week away, where I will be heading off to New York and getting beyond the airport for the first time. It has always just been a jump point on the way to Europe. I have never spent any time on the East Coast at all, so this will be fun no matter what I get into. Very much looking forward to it....

Photoshop time, now//with//slashies///

I promise to never RickRoll anyone with my links or to link to "That Which Shall Not Be Named"/LemonParty/Tubgirl/any other images of that ilk. If you know about these, shame on you and if not, for your own mental health do not look for them. Permanent scarring is guaranteed and not worth it.

Some funny...


like "The Matrix Triplets" by dsclink

This Function by Andy Iceprey, Ugly Baby by Broz_Tito, Unhappy by checkerboardriot, Speakers Done by Fototark, Lake Scene by Alligator

Or some technical skills....


like "Diced" by Supdog or


"1440" by TelefunkenU47

Death by Damat01, Domo by Def_Sheppard, LetMeShowYouMyDrawers by Hansen'sDisease, OnionWings by Hellion_666, Dragon by Impishimpi, Acid by JayOh, Atomium by JohnnyTheBoy, Creep by NightmareTony, Butterflies by Shark_Slave, Reflect by Supdog, 1452 by TelefunkenU47, LastPost by TravelingFreakshow, PlugMeIn by WhooptiDew

Eisley and links to astound and amuse

Tomorrow I am going to see Eisley at Great American Music Hall for the San Francisco leg of their spring tour. I am excited. I am also sitting here with a big grin on my face because the album "Future Shock" by a band that is new to me, Dejavoo, is kicking my ass. Great, great tracks with creative samples, lots of energy, and infectious sonic noodling. Highlights as I listen to it a second time through are VERSOTRAN "The only choice...the only choice...the only choice", WAITING, A STORY, FUTURE SHOCK, and LOUD & NASTY. All available here among other places....I'm glad to see Transient is still releasing excellent music after sooooo many years. Keep it coming.

UPDATE: My cousin's wife's family in Myanmar all survived the cyclone, although it destroyed the roof on their home and did a lot of damage to their property. Things are pretty bad for many of the people in the area right now, obviously. Keep all those people and those affected by the China earthquake in your prayers if you are the praying kind.

Newspaper Blackout Poetry not a new form as it is derivative of large scale works like Radi Os by Ronald Johnson or A Humument by Tom Phillips, who in his turn was borrowing from the techniques of William S. Burroughs , but it is certainly interesting and the results please me. I might try this style myself as a creative exercise.

Just WOW....
More by Mark Osborne with a great track by New Order backing it. I love stuff like this.

Definitely ODD but captivating at the same time....

A short flash puzzle game.
And the sequel. You can only play the first chapter for free, though. Simple point and click interface, but I love the settings and the rather obvious influence of the Czech design team's namesake on the overall feel of the game.

Some links that had me crying mirthful eyejuice*:

#1 A recent thread relating to the abhorrent grasp of the English language exhibited by the questioners and respondents on the Yahoo!Answers Boards coughed up this gem.

#2 If you ever played with a 2600 'back in the day' this will bring back memories. That in turn spawned this photoshop contest "Unreleased 2600 games"

My favorite horse and jockey

Separated at birth????




I have a new appreciation for Broken Toy after listening to his "Beatmachine" track on the new Echo compilation. I love the psytrance coming out of South Africa!

*Thank you Josh for all you do to make our lives that much more fun!

The Supai Challenge

As promised here are several pictures from the recent Havasupai backpack trip. The twelve hour drive to AZ was really not that bad, but the twelve coming back were not nearly as tolerable. I'm glad Josh was able to spell me some of the time because my hip was locking up from the limited motion in the car after all the hiking we had done. The last time we were in the Supai, I thought I was in better shape, but we actually improved on our time coming out and Josh cut nearly half an hour off the final mile of ascending switchbacks, so kudos to him. I did end up with a couple blisters, which are healing fine and should not be an issue when I run the Bay to Breakers in a couple Sundays.

And several more. Just click to embiggenate: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11, #12, #13, #14, #15

The trip itself was great. I got to meet a number of new, interesting people and the setting was just as gorgeous as I remember, with the added bonus of blooming FLOWERS, which were definitely not present in the fall. We ended up with doing 32+ miles, most of that with full packs, but these trips always leave me more energized than tired, and it was definitely worth the aforementioned 24 hours of driving. I borrowed my brother's camera and did not realize until I got home that it was date-stamping all the pictures (maybe that doesn't annoy anyone else, but it does get on my nerves - I'll get over it).

I'm sure everyone has heard of the cyclone in Myanmar by now, and the exponential death toll calculations - from 350 to 4000 to now 40,000 plus dead and a million homeless. My cousin is married to a Burmese girl and at first I did not think too much about it since her family lives quite a ways inland, but the damage was not simply contained at the shores. I feel the need to check with them to see if everyone is okay. It is sad that the regime in control there is unwilling to accept help in situations like this because they think it makes them look weak and maybe this will help change that, but I don't count on it. I would love to visit Myanmar and hopefully someday I'll get a chance. Not on this upcoming trip though. Something for the future.

Finally, here is a brief interesting article on the real cost of health care. "If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it's free." There is also some interesting coverage in US News & World Report's latest issue on "medical tourism", where people are traveling to places like Thailand and India to have major operations done rather than deal with the health care system here in the US. Just food for thought.