A marathon and a stupid woman

This morning Marco and I walked out to Summit Avenue, four blocks from our home, to check out the Twin Cities Marathon.

The Twin Cities Marathon is dubbed "the most beautiful urban marathon in America". I have no idea if that's true, but I can say that today was absolutely gorgeous. The race actually finishes in our neighborhood, and the last stretch goes down Summit Avenue. It's a wide boulevard with historic Victorian homes and large trees and flowering gardens.

The sun was bright, the sky was blue and some maple trees were turning bright red and yellow. It was 80 degrees out (27 celsius) so everyone was in t-shirts and summer dresses. Crazy weather for October! There were people cheering for the runners all along the road and everyone was in a great mood. The winner was a Russian man named Mykola Antonenko.

Here's a video of the leaders running down Summit Ave:



Last night Marco and I were also out to enjoy the gorgeous warm weather and we encountered a jaw-droppingly stupid woman.

We went to the outdoor patio at W.A. Frost, a restaurant by our house. We were walking down the sidewalk when an unexpected barrage of fireworks began just a block or two away (probably for the marathon). The bangs were really loud and unexpected and made everyone around us jump. But one woman walking her dog turned to us gasping saying "oh my gosh, I just nearly died of shock. I thought someone was attacking us. I thought it was the Iranians. They're all crazy, you know."

Marco and I were just so surprised at this idiotic statement we just kind of gawked in stunned silence as she walked off. But in retrospect we both regret not telling her off. We couldn't believe how much she sounded like someone totally duped by propaganda, the sort you find on FOX news and other Bush lapdogs. I mean, how could Iran possibly attack us here in Minnesota, and WHY? Does she really believe Iranians are on the verge of bombing us? With what bombs? How? How many people are duped like her?

It irritates me so much to hear people live in this kind of stupid artificial fear. Their all like docile, feeble cows, driven around by propaganda.