over 10am pho (vietnam II on larkin..mmmm), some friends & i were discussing certain religious cults in san francisco (like the followers of the Ultimate Ching Hai, who apparently sells dresses & is tied somehow to Golden Era restaurant in the Tenderloin), and we were surprised by how many and where the cult HQs are located.

so now we are going to embark on a project to create an sf cultmap (perhaps a national one already exists?), some kind of aerial view of the city color-coded by cult activity.

so if you gotta religious cult/any kinda cult & you know the name & where it’s based, send it in. we will build our cultmap.

for what purpose? because it’s interesting? not entirely sure yet. to explore the elements of san francisco that aren’t progressive agnostic or “spiritual” & unaffiliated with any particular organized religion? (not that i have a problem with being progressive agnostic or “spiritual” unaffiliated with any particular organized religion, belonging to said elements myself, much to my grandmother’s dismay [who recently chided me for choosing cremation as my preferred choice of corpse-disposal, as cremation isn't mentioned anywhere in the bible]).

also, i had an interesting encounter with someone a few months ago, and the whole alternative-religion thing’s been knocking around my head a lot lately. a sample of our exchange, which took place in san francisco’s richmond district, at a coffee shop:

INDIVIDUAL WHO SHALL REMAIN NAMELESS: you ever heard of evolution?

ME: excuse me?

IWSRN: you ever heard of evolution?

M: the THEORY of evolution?

IWSRN: yeah.

M: uh, yeah. i’ve heard of evolution.

IWSRN: yeah. i don’t buy it.

END OF EXCHANGE EXCERPT

for your viewing pleasure, a map of flu activity thus far…apparently, it might be a good idea to get a flu shot this year. i’ve never gotten one before, so i have my reservations, but the word on the street is that they COULD SAVE YOUR LIFE, bitches.

this map is from the weekly flu surveillance by the center for disease control:

thanks, dr. bucher. much love, mad respect.