tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16759761738289820212024-03-05T05:51:02.023-08:00Barefoot Matthew's Brain DumpThis is now my personal blog, where I will cover anything and everything that piques my interest. Barefooting, atheism, video games, and more!Matthew Medinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02178200479000412851noreply@blogger.comBlogger26125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1675976173828982021.post-89266090581706589632016-12-17T22:44:00.001-08:002016-12-17T22:45:49.836-08:00More Historical Artifacts from TyriaAbout a month or so ago, I posted some old artwork I'd found in my stash of files from my time as an artist at Arenanet back in the early days of the development of Guild Wars, and it was one of my most popular tweets ever. I had more than a few requests to do this again, and since I'm a bit of a pack-rat when it comes to my digital files, I figured I would dig up some more images to share with you all, but since Twitter's character limit doesn't really give me a chance to get into the background of the images I'm about to share here, I thought a blog post would better suit my needs. So without further ado, here's some more artwork from the early days of Guild Wars!<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXZGf7stxJ1ouAHbOCOQBx2_vY5LwgVz-lHmwV8Eimad_mnNAUZh_oUEQ0EwQbzHAoSyR91lAUNpxL_Bg3wYOzTQoa8j7bDCKc-rnA2KDSIACwA6Cm2iGJ9U7B8phEQNWKr0MTkyTbvjlI/s1600/AnetColor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXZGf7stxJ1ouAHbOCOQBx2_vY5LwgVz-lHmwV8Eimad_mnNAUZh_oUEQ0EwQbzHAoSyR91lAUNpxL_Bg3wYOzTQoa8j7bDCKc-rnA2KDSIACwA6Cm2iGJ9U7B8phEQNWKr0MTkyTbvjlI/s400/AnetColor.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Arenanet Color Tests</td></tr>
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This first image is just a color test, which shows the original Arenanet logo I designed in various color schemes. We didn't just go to red/black/white, for a while the red/yellow was popular as were the slate blue pairings one row up from the bottom right. Ultimately, the current logo color scheme was chosen for its readability on both black and white backgrounds. The "planet" swoosh in the background survived up to about our first E3 I believe (some of our original dev swag, like the E3 polos have this version of the logo), but was trimmed out for simplicity before we launched Prophecies.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLGs6EZPF5b74eSYwR52CzxJ6glQZ7Pbr6vNCg2YtpkUcm5PAqQd8FMUEAIdV35zTKJu-YJuPwtE2VGc8vNF27pyUkDSPbb3U-2sgNb1WehKedBByJOleKKv_pWc-lfpvaqjt0UggdfSqi/s1600/GuildWarsLogoBanner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="80" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLGs6EZPF5b74eSYwR52CzxJ6glQZ7Pbr6vNCg2YtpkUcm5PAqQd8FMUEAIdV35zTKJu-YJuPwtE2VGc8vNF27pyUkDSPbb3U-2sgNb1WehKedBByJOleKKv_pWc-lfpvaqjt0UggdfSqi/s320/GuildWarsLogoBanner.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Guild Wars Banner Logo</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj109y0eAxySuHxE67z9KeNlpLVCzq_iwu6tSMZVKH0M02ReUNodajTTLYiUtv5-YFEO5lmTyTdoZ-jSBm_gfBsk7UcxBJNPB4bpwVyEYCSYgCbf8C8PbTZQkhLaLimbGmD971BRW28tfjI/s1600/GuildWarsBoxComp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj109y0eAxySuHxE67z9KeNlpLVCzq_iwu6tSMZVKH0M02ReUNodajTTLYiUtv5-YFEO5lmTyTdoZ-jSBm_gfBsk7UcxBJNPB4bpwVyEYCSYgCbf8C8PbTZQkhLaLimbGmD971BRW28tfjI/s400/GuildWarsBoxComp.jpg" width="285" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Guild Wars Banner and Spears Logo and Box treatment</td></tr>
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The above images show a couple of the logo treatments we experimented with for Guild Wars. Amazingly, we all fell in love with the font treatment pretty quickly, and it really didn't deviate much from concept to production, but we went back and forth a lot on adding other elements to the text to make it stand out. The concepts above were rough layouts to get a feel for how other elements might complement the text, but ultimately we fell back again on simplicity and had the plain text embossed and "sexed up" with shine and high end rendering, and left to stand on its own.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCdCmoBSGjUE35n05ed7quDiPoGNSVr68V3YEQIcJKDFerjAcBRjZqI_EQaYznolERuhtxUbB0fCK2ochA_KazmYx-O89FLSAlPOzgLEcQDR93AegO7ziFA2OIviRKRqx_n8gcq9KQcC6Q/s1600/FlagTownGuideMarker.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCdCmoBSGjUE35n05ed7quDiPoGNSVr68V3YEQIcJKDFerjAcBRjZqI_EQaYznolERuhtxUbB0fCK2ochA_KazmYx-O89FLSAlPOzgLEcQDR93AegO7ziFA2OIviRKRqx_n8gcq9KQcC6Q/s320/FlagTownGuideMarker.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tyria Roadmap</td></tr>
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The graphic here is a texture that was applied to road signs in Ascalon in the original Prophecies. In addition to being one of the few in-game assets to actually show a partial map of Tyria, what makes this texture unique is that it was the first use of one of the in-game alphabets that I "authored": Ascalonian. I wanted to have text on the map so that eagle-eyed players would be able to "read" the map. In practice it was probably not very readable given the size of the assets and the texture compression of the original game, but even so I didn't want to just write the names of the places on the map in English, so I spent a weekend researching old scripts and "stole" the Phoenician letters for use as our Ascalonian alphabet. In hindsight I wish I'd used this as a base to craft our own unique alphabet, but as I had no aspirations to do more that this single map at the time, I didn't put much time into this effort.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgKJg0k5kuzBv5oBlm-jsMrywGkVDrtwu3ih9nt5BscVapBD8abPrtMf2E1zsRLQbRN0_sI5PUErN2klLoHmREWRxUQK9mueH-sBD0ROQIo5GsUMxr6b6xjRLwYi51Uddo4PU6yqdLwppO/s1600/UnusedAlphabet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="293" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgKJg0k5kuzBv5oBlm-jsMrywGkVDrtwu3ih9nt5BscVapBD8abPrtMf2E1zsRLQbRN0_sI5PUErN2klLoHmREWRxUQK9mueH-sBD0ROQIo5GsUMxr6b6xjRLwYi51Uddo4PU6yqdLwppO/s320/UnusedAlphabet.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Unused Alphabet</td></tr>
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Speaking of alphabets, the image above was a test I began doing around the time we started working on Factions, for an alphabet that we would have used for the Kurzicks and/or Luxons. However, we dropped this alphabet in favor of building out the Canthan ideograms instead, since that was a much more complicated but ultimately we though more rewarding language challenge. I've returned to this image now and then in case it made sense to do another alphabet, but it never found a home, so here it is, shared from the cutting room floor.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZYzdZ4SnwtoLYKHPDoN7A_kUzJwpGOA4Y2r0633JiNzrE0S7_Ks33BbrEWdhjuW4_-qw11pAlWCWpD-_HiUqHZkWsGgo0qXcQpawXemr03Apu7uj8JS6SPaP5_j-3eQ-RZ6v1gwpQ16Td/s1600/SacredGeometry.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="163" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZYzdZ4SnwtoLYKHPDoN7A_kUzJwpGOA4Y2r0633JiNzrE0S7_Ks33BbrEWdhjuW4_-qw11pAlWCWpD-_HiUqHZkWsGgo0qXcQpawXemr03Apu7uj8JS6SPaP5_j-3eQ-RZ6v1gwpQ16Td/s320/SacredGeometry.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sacred Geometry</td></tr>
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So you can probably tell I'm a bit of a nerd in terms of how I approach creative challenges, and the above image I'm sharing because it demonstrates how I get sucked into the details of environmental storytelling quite a bit. The above texture is from structures inside the mesa at Augury Rock, known in Prophecies as the "Hall of Ascension". Within this space, your player would face the ultimate challenge: yourself, in doppelganger form, in which defeating your shadow self enabled you to "ascend", and become closer to the gods. As an atheist, I wanted to represent divinity through the majesty of science and so I loaded the Hall with representations of "sacred geometry" which is the result of math and art coming together in beautiful ways. If you look closely, you can see the "golden rectangle" repeated throughout, and other shapes that employ the golden ratio, a mathematical term for when the ratio of two quantities is the same as the ratio of their sum to the larger of the two quantities. It's all very nerdy, but I was always very interested in the confluence between science and art, and how geometry is used (or misused) to construe divinity from order and natural law.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyBdAyQ0j9p7kdfhgB0IJYYOruawCHOHE84pMpZR_Ox56YWxBDMJoXOh_2GapDP-JfD2_kOsXYnjjg5Z9vF-LA0Xbg8JDA8_Ou2_lXXMiQ1kpu2TkGMKlSBluMoTSqr3kBV0j60wlOsV8O/s1600/MantleHousing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyBdAyQ0j9p7kdfhgB0IJYYOruawCHOHE84pMpZR_Ox56YWxBDMJoXOh_2GapDP-JfD2_kOsXYnjjg5Z9vF-LA0Xbg8JDA8_Ou2_lXXMiQ1kpu2TkGMKlSBluMoTSqr3kBV0j60wlOsV8O/s320/MantleHousing.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mantle Housing</td></tr>
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This next image is a texture that was used in an unusual way - In most cases, textures are applied to objects at small scale, and repeated so that it can be used at varying distances and sizes. This one was applied to large structures outside the play space around the Krytan region, to represent cities off in the distance, out of our player's reach. In a way it acted more like a matte painting, though it couldn't have depth cuing because of the different ways in which it was used. I can't say I think this technique was highly successful, but I include it here more as an interesting look at how we used to have to do things in the earlier days of game dev - nowadays you would just model all these things and build them into the skybox!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9vLnyDPVzz_dE5rxszgOcmWr6-Kl0LZY0980QmNeMeDKrfJpaVQSdUcMygSxeLAXIxc2tU2eHRgWLEI9pLXqGBwK8p2ykC1nPNCchQTh2utMVdPrwmOnTUAkKTSvPLdM7QaA8wcbuxxSL/s1600/ScreenToTexture.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="88" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9vLnyDPVzz_dE5rxszgOcmWr6-Kl0LZY0980QmNeMeDKrfJpaVQSdUcMygSxeLAXIxc2tU2eHRgWLEI9pLXqGBwK8p2ykC1nPNCchQTh2utMVdPrwmOnTUAkKTSvPLdM7QaA8wcbuxxSL/s320/ScreenToTexture.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Screen to Texture</td></tr>
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Here's another process oriented image. In the days before we had 3D sculpting software like Zbrush and Mudbox, to get detailed 3D elements onto textures it was all hand-authored in 2D and we used a variety of techniques to accomplish this. One thing I did was use the game as a rendering engine...I would set up scenes in the game and screen-capture them. Then I would isolate the elements I wanted, such as the figures from the background, and run them through some old school Photoshop filters (to make them look embossed). I would them take that, composite them together and spend a couple hours touching up the result (since when scaled down onto a 256 x 256, or 512 x 512 texture sheet, a LOT of details just get lost). Nowadays, texture sheets are 2048 x 2048 and up, and creating them usually involves starting with a sculpt in Zbrush.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="338" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcKNJO8HVqxBqQGhzgjWPsTzRj8aiZ3Oz-F-MTFX4Orn2lB2oFrEC9xlMEoi724C2abmIixAmJJOTVwVUZF_CTQiIniHjWkxf7-dSFYU5hKUzjqwDIts7aRM8KtF-SMhHZJyU4lchmBB3a/s400/EstateWineBottles.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wine Bottles</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXwpyecW4pf2GdZwsYDm3HrA5eQzoczzk4KkeZM4jV6T215Xx1YGIA2gWHSAz6NxGr2ouakarBQFfTHfZbN-dsB7B_CunWASSaBjAW-GgW-zK2nZ4YhrSmmn30NLzz2uuSUU6ANmArpW_K/s1600/DurmandPrioryBooks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="195" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXwpyecW4pf2GdZwsYDm3HrA5eQzoczzk4KkeZM4jV6T215Xx1YGIA2gWHSAz6NxGr2ouakarBQFfTHfZbN-dsB7B_CunWASSaBjAW-GgW-zK2nZ4YhrSmmn30NLzz2uuSUU6ANmArpW_K/s400/DurmandPrioryBooks.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Durmand Priory Books</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcKNJO8HVqxBqQGhzgjWPsTzRj8aiZ3Oz-F-MTFX4Orn2lB2oFrEC9xlMEoi724C2abmIixAmJJOTVwVUZF_CTQiIniHjWkxf7-dSFYU5hKUzjqwDIts7aRM8KtF-SMhHZJyU4lchmBB3a/s1600/EstateWineBottles.jpg" imageanchor="1"></a>I'll end this post with some of my favorite kinds of textures and these are from Guild Wars 2. It was probably pretty obvious by this point in my career that I was more interested in the lore and storytelling side of game development than in just straight up being an artist, because whenever I was assigned to do detailed work like wine bottle labels and books, I spent WAY more time on them than was necessary. For the wine bottle labels, I took concept art that was created by our amazingly talented concept artists, and graphic designed them with my alphabet for New Krytan. And when I got assigned to make book objects for populating the Durmand Priory library (or wherever books were needed), I went to town, designing book covers, drawing charts, writing paragraphs (or copying them from the lore pages of our wiki) and just generally indulging my inner lore nerd. Even though I knew most of the text would get compressed and scaled down to unreadability, it didn't stop me from putting all those details in when I authored the books.<br />
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So there you have it. Some more art background geekiness for your viewing/reading pleasure. Hope you all enjoyed it. :-D</div>
Matthew Medinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02178200479000412851noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1675976173828982021.post-15024533958433660992015-01-08T08:37:00.000-08:002015-01-08T08:37:13.358-08:00Chronic DepressionChronic depression is when you wake to a new day feeling refreshed and rested, but nonetheless feeling like the best thing that you can do for yourself is to crawl back into bed and not come out. Ever.<br />
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Chronic depression is when you become overwhelmed with sadness at the idea that your body won't allow you to sleep like you want to, because it's already had enough rest.<br />
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Chronic depression is when you snap at your wife simply for offering her help and standing up for you to solve a trivial problem, but because of the irrationality of the feelings that are overwhelming you, this only makes you feel even more futile and useless.<br />
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Chronic depression is when your son tries to engage you with something that you both share in common and all you can muster is a one-word response, or worse yet, with a yell to leave you alone because they're not yet equipped to recognize how agonized you are at the moment.<br />
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Chronic depression is focusing on every mundane task you can, because there is order in that, and you can make some sense of the world.<br />
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Chronic depression is chronic, and no matter how much therapy you receive or how much support you have...some days you will just be a complete and utter mess.<br />
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Chronic depression is me.<br />
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Chronic depression will recede like the tide, and I will grab onto the moments that matter when it does.<br />
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Chronic depression is waiting.<br />
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WaitingMatthew Medinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02178200479000412851noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1675976173828982021.post-13399722662744066472014-09-23T13:41:00.003-07:002014-09-23T13:41:56.627-07:00HeForShe and HeAndShe<div class="MsoNormal">
Recently Emma Watson spoke before the United Nations to unveil and describe her HeForShe campaign, which is asking men to sign up on their website to show a commitment to supporting gender equality. There have been the usual critiques of the ideas which she presented, and of the motivations of Ms. Watson herself (as well as some pathetic attempts to shame her with threats of leaking compromising photos of the young woman), and even some who have suggested that we should instead use the "HeAndShe" hashtag as a more appropriate banner for the fight for gender equality. </div>
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While I do not often describe myself as a feminist*, I take issue with the central arguments behind those who have offered the HeAndShe alternative, as it implies that men and women can advocate for equality equally. But that's the problem, isn't it? If women and men could advocate for themselves and each other equally, we wouldn't even be talking about equality - it would have been attained. </div>
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The reason HeForShe is important is specifically because we<b> aren't </b>equal yet. I may choose to say I am a humanist rather than a feminist, but my objection to the term is purely semantic, as I believe it's important to support feminism's guiding principles, even if I don't always agree with every feminist. </div>
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To best illustrate my point, I think of it in the following way:</div>
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A man and a woman begin a journey together.<o:p></o:p></div>
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As they walk, their paths deviate.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Eventually the man ends up at the top of a hill, from which
he can see far off into the distance. He remarks about the breathtaking view.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The woman has tried to climb the same hill, but there were
challenges she couldn’t overcome, and the man did not always reach back to help her, so she is only halfway to the top.<o:p></o:p></div>
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She wants to climb up to the top of the hill to be with the
man and see the view for herself, but the constant setbacks and challenges have
worn her down, and she knows it will take much, much longer to get there on her
own.<o:p></o:p></div>
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She waves and calls out to the man, asking him to help her get
to the top of the hill.</div>
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HeAndShe implies either that the man does not need to help
the woman get to the top of the hill, or worse, that the man and the woman are
already on top of the hill together.<o:p></o:p></div>
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HeForShe stands for the man doing whatever he can to help the woman
get to the top of the hill.<o:p></o:p></div>
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There are those who say that HeForShe puts "women and children first". No it doesn't. It means that men should be <b>active participants</b> in achieving equality for women, so that they can <b>both</b> enjoy the view from the hill. Sure, we could just dig in our heels and let women fight their way to the top on their own, but what does that say about us? I won't stand idly by if someone, anyone, is genuinely asking for the same rights I, and others, already have and I am in a position to help. </div>
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This was a deliberately simplistic example, and no I don't pretend to have all the answers or to imply that men aren't also suffering in certain areas or face no gender bias, or that those who are transgender or questioning don't have their own unique challenges. All of those problems exist, and it's not going to be an easy solution, but I agree with Ms. Watson's overriding philosophy, and I feel that we need to start with the most obvious problems first, and right now if we're going to expect women to advocate for both genders equally, we first need to help get them up the hill. </div>
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If you still support #HeAndShe, I have a suggestion for you! Perhaps we can and should re-purpose the #HeAndShe hashtag as the rallying cry for both men and women to advocate equally for those who are transgender or questioning. Imagine a world where everyone stands on the hill together, regardless of who they identify as. What a world that would be!</div>
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If you are a man who believes that we need to be active participants in securing equal rights for women, you can sign up at the HeForShe campaign's website here: <a href="http://www.heforshe.org/" target="_blank">HeForShe's Website</a><br /></div>
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* I personally prefer to champion gender equality under the umbrella of humanism, because gender equality is a HUMAN right, and also because I don't see the issue as a binary equation but rather I believe people's identities exist on a three axis spectrum of gender, orientation and biology. I don't dislike the term feminist, I simply find it doesn't adequately describe my own philosophy.</div>
Matthew Medinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02178200479000412851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1675976173828982021.post-47433367607922959922014-01-21T09:01:00.002-08:002014-01-21T09:03:26.226-08:00Barefoot 365Last year, I started seeing some of my friends and colleagues posting some of their personal photos to their social media feeds with the hashtag #Project365. Being a bit of a voyeur, I always enjoy seeing pieces of other people's lives, and some of the images my friends had posted were quite breathtaking. I looked into it some more and realized that this was not just a random thing my fellow tweeters and facebookers were doing, but there was actually an entire website based around this concept of taking and posting an image a day for a year.<br />
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When I thought about the scarcity of my New Year's resolutions for 2014 (see my previous post below), I made a pledge just over a week ago, that I would participate in my own #Project365. But being that, as a barefooter, I have a rather particular and unique take on life, I thought it would be a good opportunity to do some outreach as a barefooter, and have launched #Barefoot365.<br />
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My project is deliberately designed to show a year in the life of a barefooter. Most times, my barefooting is mundane. But other times, it's not. The point is not for me to show how "cool" or how "brave" or how "smart" barefooting is. My goal, is to show just how "ordinary" being barefoot is.<br />
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People who don't know me, and who meet me for the very first time, are almost always full of questions about my barefooting:<br />
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How do you do that?<br />
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Why do you do that?<br />
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What is it all about?<br />
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And I sometimes feel like these questions are really, really unusual. Because I honestly cannot see how someone can look at me doing something that is <i>completely natural for our species</i>, and ask such questions seriously. In truth, it kind of saddens me that we have climbed so far away from our origins that questions like this seem necessary to many people when they're confronted with something as innate to our species as living barefoot.<br />
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But, I also understand and am sympathetic to these questions, and that is why I am hoping that my #Barefoot365 project will show just how usual my unusualness really is. :-)<br />
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You can find and follow this project at the following link: <a href="http://365project.org/barefootmatthew/365" target="_blank">Barefoot Matthew's #Barefoot 365</a>Matthew Medinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02178200479000412851noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1675976173828982021.post-37746775939221509812014-01-05T09:27:00.004-08:002014-01-05T09:35:42.701-08:00Looking Forward to 2014As I look ahead to 2014, there are two major things that I hope to accomplish this year, so I guess you could call them my resolutions. They are:<br />
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<ol>
<li>Finish writing my book.</li>
<li>Get back into yoga.</li>
</ol>
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I posted these to Twitter, but Twitter is so fleeting that I felt that I needed to also record them here if I was to have any hope of garnering the willpower it will take to accomplish these goals. Fortunately, I'm already well on my way with the first goal of completing my book, as I've used the two weeks that I've had off of work to get really deep into editing the first of the dozen chapters I've already written. I've also been brainstorming the rest of the chapters to get the book to the stopping point that I would like for the first volume. Yes, volume, as in I hope to turn this story into a series of books. I am not focused on that longer term goal yet, though. I first want to get one book written, see how well it's received and then go from there. I like my own writing, and the few people who have read some of my work have consistently complimented me on my writing, so I'm hopeful that this hobby will take off and maybe even launch me in a new direction. The cosmos knows I've been needing something like that for a while.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I'm not going to reveal much about the story of my book yet...even though I've written a dozen chapters (technically there are more, but some of them exist only in a Molskine notebook on my desk) I feel as though it's still too early in the process, and the feedback I've received and hope to continue to receive will likely shift the details of my story somewhat. But I can say that thematically it's a story about holding on to one's humanity; to hope and love and strength in the face of overwhelming challenges.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The second goal shouldn't be too daunting, but I've been procrastinating about it already for a while now. It's hard enough to find physical activities that I enjoy anyway, but I think part of the reason I've been sitting on my hands on this goal for so long is that no matter what physical activity I attempt to get into, I invariably end up with some kind of chronic injury that sidelines me temporarily. Then once it heals up, which usually takes at least a couple of months, my motivation to get back to it has completely evaporated. Example: Three years ago, I was doing yoga once a week and I began to notice a pain in my wrist when doing the downward dog or plank pose. When I checked it out with my doctor, it turned out I had developed a painful cyst in my wrist, and had to get it excised by a surgeon. Recovery took months, including physical therapy to regain the strength I'd lost. By then, I was gun-shy about going back to it.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I know it's entirely possible that the two incidents were unrelated (my cyst could very well have simply been work-related), but this was just the latest in a very long string of injuries I've sustained or noticed while trying to be physical. It's been so bad that I sometimes come to think of myself as "Mr. Glass" from the movie Unbreakable. I should probably take a lesson from my first goal and not get discouraged like that, and work harder to get past my challenges in this regard. I just don't know what I can do when my body is consistently and clearly telling me that being active is a surefire way for me to get hurt.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I guess from the fact that I now feel better about my year ahead, just from having blogged about all of this, maybe I should add "Blogging more" to my list of resolutions this year. I've been somewhat reserved with my blog because a lot of the things that are on my mind end up crossing the line into either the realm of my personal life, or my career, and I don't know that anyone cares to read my petty complaints and observations about my life or work. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
With regards to personal stuff, I never like talking much about my family life to the Internet, as it just feels disrespectful to them for some reason. So when I talk about personal stuff it's usually about things that affect only me, but then if I post like that all the time I feel like people will think I'm just pining to be "swinging single guy" or something, which I'm not. I think part of the reason I fear these things is that many of my most intense interests tend towards the more controversial subjects, like religion, sex and sexuality, and politics. It's tough to find the balance in my blogging between showing myself as a responsible husband and father, and speaking out about the things that interest me most.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Nor do I necessarily want to paint myself as a troublemaker if I am griping about something to do with my job or career (of which there are plenty of topics to choose from, unfortunately), or even if I'm saying something positive, I often feel like I might say something that I probably shouldn't say outside of official channels. I've got drafts of posts you wouldn't believe in this regard. But I'm extremely protective of keeping my job, and so I say nothing at all. </div>
<div>
<br />
And lastly, I'm a wordy person. I write a lot. I write, then I edit, then I write some more, then I edit again. Literally, it can sometimes take me an hour to write a single email. Not kidding. I'm not particularly good with communicating my thoughts the first time, so I iterate a lot. The same holds for me when writing blog entries, and so I expect that writing a single blog post will take a minimum of an hour, and I don't always feel like I will have the time (This one clocked at just shy of 40 minutes - hey, that's improvement!). But as I am now writing more with my book, maybe brevity is a skill I'll begin to pick up on soon.<br />
<br />
So, maybe between the two goals outlined above, I'll have more than enough other good things to blog about here besides work this year. I hope everyone had a Happy New Year and is looking forward to a good 2014.</div>
Matthew Medinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02178200479000412851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1675976173828982021.post-84243862408186319662013-11-10T21:40:00.004-08:002013-11-10T21:40:53.224-08:002013 By The NumbersAs we get close to the end of 2013, I feel like taking a look back at a very incredible and crazy year for me and my career. 2012 was almost entirely wrapped up in one single thing: shipping Guild Wars 2, while 2013 was a hodge-podge of various experiences and challenges, and I feel like I've grown more in this past year as a designer than in the three years previous! :-D So here, for your perusal, is my "hit list" for the year.<br />
<br />
<b>January</b> - <i>(TOP SECRET)</i> Sorry, I can't talk about what I did for the close of 2012 and beginning of 2013. Suffice it to say that some of the things I was involved with during that time have been or will soon be in development.<br />
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<b>February/March/April </b>- <i>Living World: Flame and Frost Retribution.</i> In February I joined the Living World teams to work on Flame and Frost Retribution, specifically as the main designer on the Molten Weapons Facility. I designed most of the main path through the dungeon, scripting all of the encounters and writing scenes and dialogue. The only parts I did not work on in this dungeon were the mid-boss fight against the "computer" and the final fight with the Dynamic Duo. Those two boss fights were implemented by designer extraordinaire Leif Chappelle. I was really happy with how the two of us collaborated to create a story dungeon that IMHO had really great pacing, strong boss mechanics and I also created and implemented the "Sonic Periscope" turret for the release prior to that, but the less said about that, the better. ;-P<br />
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<b>May/June/July </b>- <i>Living World: Bazaar of the Four Winds/Cutthroat Politics</i>. After Flame and Frost, our Living World team moved on to tackle the Labyrinthine Cliffs and the Bazaar of the Four Winds. When our team was told that we would be building out a new public map that was based around a bazaar, I just about flipped my shit. As the most experienced city builder on the team, I was chomping at the bit to get back to flexing some of those muscles. But because this was an open world explorable map instead of a hub I also got to add some fun flavorful events around the area. I worked on the marketplace spawns, conversations and events, though for most of the really memorable characters I give all credit to our amazing writers. For Cutthroat Politics, I worked on the Candidate Trials. While I think that there were some interesting ideas that I was experimenting with in this content, I don't think this ended up being as successful as I would have liked it to be. Maybe it's a concept that I'll be able to return to at some point and prove it out more successfully.<br />
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<b>August/September/October/November </b>- <i>Living World: Tower of Nightmares/The Nightmares Within</i>. After working on a bright, happy release like the previous BotFW, we took a step into darkness as a team and began to work in earnest on building the Tower of Nightmares. One thing that was an immediate difference in this cycle was being moved up to Principal Designer. At Arenanet, that's a "temporary" role but it equates to being something of a "junior" lead designer for a release. A principal designer is responsible for overseeing the release's design, so I got to write the design document for the release, and then oversee the execution of that design and work closely with the design leads and directors to ensure the release aligns with the core pillars of our design philosophy. This does entail more responsibility for managing design, so I took on less actual implementation work this time around. But I did schedule myself to create the opening "The Nightmare Unveiled" story instance, and also implemented the krait obelisk shard scavenger hunt. For the latter I worked really closely with our writing and narrative design experts to ensure that the lore for this was really well thought out. And for the former, I relished the chance to finally be able to build a solo instance, and I had a ton of fun creating something that was exactly the kind of content I enjoy playing. I'm also working on something else that I won't talk about quite yet as it hasn't been released yet, but I'm really proud of as well.<br />
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<b>December - ??? </b>I can't say anything about my next plans yet obviously, but you can be sure it'll be something different based on how the rest of this year has been.<br />
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So that's it for 2013. I'm really curious to see what 2014 will bring for me and my career, but I hope it's as interesting as this year has certainly been!Matthew Medinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02178200479000412851noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1675976173828982021.post-48565707223482394612013-10-31T11:48:00.000-07:002013-10-31T11:48:41.470-07:00First Impressions of the Sensori Venture minimalist sandal from Xero Shoes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BXmOrKtCIAIstNm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BXmOrKtCIAIstNm.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br />
Last week, Xero Shoes announced that they were branching out beyond their "Do it yourself" huarache kits by introducing a new line of "barefoot" sandals which they named the Sensori Venture. The introductory video posted to their website pegged this new sandal as something that was designed to "sit in the middle" between more expensive varieties of minimalist footwear and cheap flip flops and sandals.<br />
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Having given them a few days of road testing, both running in them for 30 minutes and wearing them to work with me, I can honestly say that this is exactly what they promised it would be. :-)<br />
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I received them quite quickly (two days shipping) and I opened the package excitedly. I got the charcoal in a men's size 8, which I was a little bit nervous about, because my normal shoe size is between 9 and 10, but according to their sizing guide, these sandals are slightly different from an ordinary shoe's sizes. And they're mostly right. I printed out their sizing chart and according to this, I should be wearing an 8. When I first opened the package, I thought I had made a terrible mistake. The sandal straps looked like they would be WAY too tight. I slipped them on and sure enough there was absolutely no give.<br />
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Undaunted though, I decided to mess around with the locking straps a bit, and that's when I realized that there was still about 3/4 of an inch of slack. I adjusted the straps, which admittedly wasn't easy but this was most likely down to the newness of the material more than it was any design flaw. It took maybe 15-20 minutes of noodling, but I finally got the straps to a point where they were comfortable. I will say, this is a case where I am right on the edge in terms of sizing. I might at some point pick up the next size up to see if those feel even better, but as they are, it might not be a bad thing for them to be snug.<br />
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That afternoon I took them out to a light run around my neighborhood, and I could tell right away how amazing I'm going to find owning a pair of these. First, a disclaimer. If you know me, and have followed me at all, you probably know I'm a barefoot "purist". Meaning, there's very, very little in this world that bothers me enough to feel a desire to put on shoes. I will tolerate shoes when I need them...it's just that I'm lucky enough that I almost never need them.<br />
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But there is one exception to that rule, and for me that rule is cold, wet ground. Standing on wet asphalt isn't awful for short stretches, but where I run into problems is when I have to be on cold, wet ground for a sustained amount of time. There are two main problems with this for me:<br />
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1. Skin Erosion - I don't know if other barefooters just deal with this, but it really bothers me. The constant moisture in our area seeps into the skin, and after several minutes of exposure, the skin begins to break down. When it does this, I find that it no longer matter how thick or tough my soles are...I will get blisters, or breaks in the skin, or peeling, or any number of skin-related issues that can quickly sideline me from activity.<br />
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2. Stinging->Numbness - One of the most frequent questions that I get from non-barefooters in the winter time is "Don't your feet get cold?" Well yeah, of course they do. When you go outside your hands and feet get cold. So do your ears, and your face...it's a rather silly question honestly. But getting cold feet isn't really a detractor in and of itself. What IS a detractor is that if you spend any amount of time on cold, wet ground like what we experience a lot of during our winters, you do feel the stinging of the cold air/water. But even this is not really a bother by itself. The danger for me really lies in what can happen once you get used to the stinging, and that is numbness. Although your body does have a defense mechanism for dealing with cold extremities (the process is called vasodilation; your body begins to open the blood vessels in the lower legs to shunt additional blood to the digits, turning them pink), it's a cyclical thing, and your body tends to alternate between vasodilation and numbing. It can also be cold enough that vasodilation becomes ineffective, which is when you run the risk of frostbite. For me, whenever I've had any kind of nagging injury from running barefoot, I attribute it to sloppy form, which is almost inevitable when you spend part of your run unable to feel the ground.<br />
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Slipping on the Sensori Venture completely removes the above two issues while still giving me enough ground feel to still get the sense that I'm barefoot. I own another pair of the standard Xero shoes huaraches, but I never really grew to love them because they really were a pain to lace up and they felt really floppy on my feet, like they were going to fall off or fold up under my foot, causing me to twist an ankle. But the Sensori Venture is nothing like them. It fits like a glove, without the confining feel of one. I've never had any interest in trying a Five Fingers type of running or sport shoe, but I always appreciated that they wouldn't have those instability problems of the huaraches. But I never once felt the Sensori Venture move apart from my foot...it felt like an extension of it.<br />
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The Sensori Venture is a really well made sandal, in my estimation, and I do think that they'll be my "go-to" footwear, even for just casual wear. You can even flip the heel strap around and wear them as normal, albeit unusual looking, flip flops. There's only two negatives I have to say, but both are really minor. The first is what I mentioned before about the straps being kind of tight in the beginning. Some of that may get better as I break them in and go for longer and longer runs. The second issue I've had is more of a mind-body error on my part. One of the features of the Sensori Venture is that it has a heel cup. I'm still a little unsure how I feel about this feature. It's supposed to be designed to keep your foot from slipping and sliding on the footbed. Since I've not felt any slipping or sliding, it may very well be doing its job brilliantly. But it also has a heel strap, and that heel strap is covered in a really sift material which is designed not to abrade, but this also makes it so that you don't really feel it at all. And as a result, in my initial testing, it feels to my brain, like the heel strap has clipped down and is now resting UNDER my heel. But it hasn't...I'm simply feeling the heel cup. This is a pretty minor complaint, all things considered, and I may just get used to both of them.<br />
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Either way, I'm really excited by this new line from Xero Shoes. I hope it does really well for the company. The world could only benefit from more people trying to live barefoot, or at least the next closest alternative. :-)Matthew Medinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02178200479000412851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1675976173828982021.post-3939996260946789982013-10-22T11:15:00.001-07:002013-10-22T11:15:07.143-07:00Replies to Spam #1 - White Russian<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I haven't blogged in forever. It's not from a lack of things I want to talk about, it's a lack of time and enthusiasm really. But I've been wanting to do this for a while, so here I am. I get spawm, like everyone. But I'll be honest, I read some of it. Not because I'm interested in what the spammer is offering, but because I find it highly entertaining. I have always wanted to correct grammatically poor spam ads, and respond to particularly creative uses of the English language. So here, without further ado, is the first in what I hope will be a series called "Replies to Spam". Enjoy!</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13px;">Good afternoon</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13px;">My name is Alena. </span></span></i><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Hello Alena! It's technically morning here, but hey, this is the Internet. You're probably in another time zone somewhere.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13px;">I think my email for you is surprise. And i hope it is a</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13px;">nice surprise.</span></span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Hmm. Well, so you can't really email surprise. Surprise is a state of mind. I'm guessing English isn't your native language, so I'll forgive the oversight for now. I believe what you mean to say is "I think my email for you will be a surprise". And you would be right, since I don't know anyone named Alena. I do enjoy meeting new people, so yes, I hope it will be a nice surprise as well. Always capitalize "I" when referring to yourself. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13px;" /><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13px;">I think you will have a question about " where did i find yours email</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13px;">address. I used a services of dating agency.</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">OK, I actually didn't have that question. I safely assume that because I've had this email address for a long time, it appears on a number of lists that I would prefer it NOT appear on. And while I've used dating agencies in the past, that was many years ago, long before I had my current email address. So you having acquired my email through one of those channels is just flat out wrong. Are you lying to me? Already? I'm hurt!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13px;" /><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13px;">They asked me what kind of men i like, and then they offer me to start a</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13px;">correspondence with you via email.</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">This carries the implication that I am the type of man you like, but you fail to detail exactly what that is. For all I know, you may like jocks with three inch thick chest hair and hung like a horse. In which case, your dating agency has some real credibility issues already. What agency did you say this was, again? Oh yeah, you didn't. You're asking a lot from me if you expect me to just trust this unknown dating agency, sight unseen.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13px;" /><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13px;">This agency {%said|Has designated|Has offered%} me that your email address</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13px;">they found at dating site.</span></i><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13px;" /><br />Ahhh! Now I see, the dating agency is the one who lied about getting my email address...but wait, this is a dating agency who found my email at a dating site? So what does the agency do...troll other sites for email adresses? Also, what sort of dating site is this that gives out its members' email addresses? This is all starting to sound really shady! Also, I didn't understand when you said "<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13px;">{%said|Has designated|Has offered%}. </span></span>It's clear to me that English is not your native tongue, so maybe this is simply "lost in translation".<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13px;"><i>As i said you before my name is Alena. And i am absolutely lonely girl.</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">There's that lower case 'i' again. I'm sorry you're feeling lonely. I know how cold and cruel life can be, sometimes. But hang in there, it's going to get better!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13px;" /><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13px;">I was born and live now in Russia in small town in central part. The name</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13px;">of my town is .</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Ohh, Russia! How interesting. I've never heard of the town of . Are there a lot of people in .? I presume they speak primarily Russian in .</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13px;" /><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13px;">My birthday is on July, 31st. I have no children, but i love kids very</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13px;">much.</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Hey, my son's birthday is at the end of July too! I love him very much. I think kids are great. :-) Hmm, although...you don't say what year you were born...I really hope I'm not breaking any federal laws by talking to you.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13px;"><i>Maybe learning more about each other we can have real relations, who knows.</i></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13px;" /><br />Err, yeah. See, thing is, "having relations" is a euphemism for sex. I hate to rain on your parade, but I'm married. And as stated above, I don't know what age you are so I can't even go there mentally.<br /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13px;" /><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13px;">I am search for my true love. I want</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13px;">to have serious relations.</span></i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I hope you do find your true love someday. It's really amazing when you do. Although the "serious relations" does have a tendency to drop off in frequency. Just a friendly piece of advice: telling a perfect stranger you want to have relations with them is probably not a good idea. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13px;" /><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13px;">It is a little about myself. I hope it was interesting for you.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13px;">I will be waiting your answer very much.</span></i><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13px;" /><br />You're right, this email WAS all about you, but it was marginally interesting, hence my reply. You likely won't get it because I'm choosing to respond via my blog, but it was a way to make my day not so boring, so thank you very much for that!<br /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13px;">Yours new friend from Russia. Alena..</span></span><br />
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It's 'your new friend' not 'yours new friend'.Matthew Medinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02178200479000412851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1675976173828982021.post-89386802722880214242013-04-11T08:41:00.000-07:002013-04-11T08:51:04.085-07:00Are you an A-Ninety-Threeist?Wow, it's been a <b><i>long</i></b> time since I blogged.<br />
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I was inspired to write this blog because for the past couple of weeks I've been seeing friends and others in my social media circles getting really confused about what the word "atheist" means. There's no shame in being confused about the definitions, as understanding it not only involves some measure of philosophical underpinnings, but also invokes and inflames people's passions because the word atheist carries negative connotations for many.<br />
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Put simply, atheism is a rejection of the claims in a deity or deities. That's it. Atheism on its own doesn't assert that there <i><b>are</b></i> no gods, it simply rejects existing claims for those gods that have so far been proposed.<br />
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The kicker, and the thing that confuses a lot of people, is that there are only two possibilities when it comes to these god claims: acceptance and rejection. Withholding acceptance of a claim is the same as rejection, and so what many people don't get is that taking a neutral position does not allow you to "bow out" of the proposition. If you do anything other than accept a god claim, you are an atheist regarding that god. To give an example: not many people believe in Mithra these days - we are almost all atheists if we are talking about her.<br />
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What this means, my friends, is that you might very well be an atheist even though you might not think so...but because that word carries so much baggage, you refuse to consider the idea or adopt that moniker, preferring to label yourself agnostic, undecided or "spiritual". The problem with this approach is that it muddies the waters of rational discourse, because it confuses belief with knowledge, which is sadly not uncommon. Knowledge is a highly refined form of belief, so some errors are bound to crop up when discussing such things, but I find it really important to try and foster understanding in this area, so I'll try to explain my meaning.<br />
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You might already be thinking that I'm full of hot air here, so let me simplify what I'm trying to say by using an analogy. First, I must apologize to Matt Dillahunty of the "Atheist Experience" public access show for stealing an example he used on their most recent episode so that I can expand on these ideas with a little thought experiment.<br />
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So let's pretend we have a jar in front of us, and inside that jar is an unknown number of gumballs.<br />
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Now, without turning it over and emptying the jar, we have no way to know with certainty how many gumballs are in the jar. But we can make any number of guesses, with various criteria, and that guess will be a claim, AKA a belief, about how many gumballs are in the jar. So here is my claim: I believe the number of gumballs in the jar is 93. I've just made a claim about the number of gumballs in the jar. Do you believe this claim? You might use your own judgment and reason to assess my claim, or you might just "go with your gut". But tell me: Are you, like me, a Ninety-Threeist?</div>
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Before you get too far down the rabbit hole considering my claim, let's stop and break this down a bit. I'm not asking you if you have a counter-claim about the number of gumballs. I'm simply asking, do you believe <b><i>my</i></b> claim that there are ninety-three gumballs in the jar? You only have two possibilities here: Either you believe my claim (you are also an Ninety-Threeist) or you do not (you are an A-Ninety-Threeist). If you wish to maintain the default neutral position about the quantity of gumballs, you are still an A-Ninety-Threeist because you do not (yet) believe my claim. Reserving or withholding your belief is a soft rejection of the proposition, but it is still a rejection.</div>
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Now, rejecting my claim that there are ninety-three gumballs in the jar does NOT make any kind of counter-claim about the actual number of gumballs. Being an A-Ninety-Threeist does not make you a Seventy-Eightist. The only thing that makes you a Seventy-Eightist is if you turn around and make your own separate claim, and state your own belief that there are seventy-eight gumballs in the jar. </div>
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So to bring this around back to atheism. At some point in the past, a person looked up to the heavens and considered their position in the universe, and that person said "I believe we were put here by something. Some being that is greater than us, and created us." That person has asserted a claim. His fellows, gathered around the campfire for warmth, are now faced with a simple, binary choice. Either they believe the person who made the claim, or they do not. Some will believe his claim. Those who do not might simply leave it at non-belief, while others might put forward beliefs of their own. If one of those people wasn't sure if they believed yet, they have still chosen NOT to believe...yet. If that person who made the claim was the world's first theist, then everyone around who did not agree with the person's claim would be an atheist. </div>
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Hopefully this has given you a clearer idea that atheism is simply the rejection of the claims made so far about a deity or deities. The simplest and most concise way of communicating the atheist position is this: </div>
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"I do not believe in god(s)".</div>
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Yes, it is true that some, maybe many, atheists take it one step further to assert a more powerful phrasing, AKA a belief of their own, such as:</div>
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"I believe there are no gods."</div>
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The thing is - that position is one that is <b><i>informed</i></b> by atheism, but actually goes <b><i>beyond</i></b> atheism. Some people in the non-believer communities call it "strong atheism", or "anti-theism", others prefer to leave it unlabeled, as simply a conviction that their lack of belief is so close to the truth as to become knowledge for them. But this belief is not atheism. It exists in addition to atheism, and springs from atheism.</div>
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The bottom line TL:DR is: Atheism on its own is <b><i>not</i></b> a belief system or a counter claim to theistic propositions. It is a rejection of those propositions, but it can and does give rise to secular belief systems. Because there's no firm name that atheists have agreed upon for this counter-belief, it can indeed be confusing and ends up being associated with atheism, so I hope that this has helped clarify the situation for some of you. </div>
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Next time you're in conversation with others, and someone says "I'm an atheist" what they really mean is "I do not believe in god(s)." Maybe give some thought to ask that atheist "So, what DO you believe?". You might be surprised to know that with the exception of the whole "god" thing, we're pretty much just like everyone else. Thank you for reading! :-)</div>
Matthew Medinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02178200479000412851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1675976173828982021.post-20730038062373155202013-01-23T00:51:00.001-08:002013-01-23T00:56:01.767-08:00An Open Letter to Reverend Leon LuisTo the honored Reverend Leon Luis:<br />
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My name is Matthew Medina. And I'm calling you out. You gave the closing benediction at Monday's presidential inauguration, and in the space of four minutes, called atheists and people of no faith everywhere hateful, arrogant, prejudiced, suspicious, despairing bigots. Let's go to the tape, shall we:<br />
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<a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/video/inauguration-day-2013-rev-luis-leon-delivers-benediction-18274552">The Reverend tells us how he really feels</a><br />
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For those so inclined, here's the highlights of the points you hit. First, you trot out the standard Christian canard that all atheists are angry and arrogant:</div>
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"We pray that you will bless us with your continued presence, because without it, hatred and arrogance will infect our hearts."</blockquote>
Admittedly, upon hearing this, I felt pretty angry. But my anger had nothing to do with a lack of God's presence in my life and everything to do with the fact that you, Reverend, have been given a national platform to spew such ignorance with the implicit blessing of the President, sitting a mere ten feet away with his head silently bowed in assent. Yes, I said ignorance - for how else can I explain the fact that you think nonbelievers must naturally be hateful and arrogant because they don't believe in your deity? How dare you presume to know what's in my heart, or how much I can love? How about you ask my son if he thinks I'm full of hatred, and maybe ask my wife who's been by my side for almost 15 years if she thinks I'm just an arrogant asshole? Hmm?<br />
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Oh but it doesn't stop there, does it Reverend? Another gem falls out of your mouth:<br />
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"We pray for your blessing today because without it, mistrust, prejudice and rancor will rule our hearts."</blockquote>
Ah, yes - I'm completely and utterly incapable of trusting anyone, and boy you should hear the racist things I say throughout the day. And yes, the bitterness is just oozing from every pore. Ah reverend you know us atheists SO well! We're wretches who don't deserve to know friendship or kinship with anyone; we're so heinous and vile. You've seen through the facade of the atheist lies, to our true nature.<br />
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What else is within that sainted pate, my dear Reverend?<br />
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"We pray for your blessing because without suspicion, despair, and fear of those different from us will be our rule of life."</blockquote>
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I'm sensing a pattern here, my man. Why, it's as if you've held up a mirror to show me my blackened soul, my life devoid of any goodness or light, and isolated by my depravity. What shall us atheists do in your view? Suicide seems a noble solution for those sins of ours! Pray, good sir, do you have another gem of wisdom to share about the lack of divine oversight in the lives of nonbelievers?</div>
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"We pray for your blessing, because without it, we will see only what the eye can see."</blockquote>
Uhh, OK. You've confused me on this one. Given that the eye can see many wonderful and glorious things, like sunsets and waterfalls and rainbows and grumpy cat, I'm not really seeing the downside of your argument here. Ah, but of course, you mean to suggest that you, as sacred servants of your god, can see BEYOND what the eye can see. Well, it's true, I myself cannot see beyond what my own eyes can see. Of course, that can change with the aid of a little tool I like to call...science. See, there's this thing called Infrared. Or Ultraviolet. Or X-Rays. Hell, there's an entire spectrum of electromagnetic energy we can see beyond what our eyes can perceive. Take your pick. We happened to evolve on a planet with a sun with a particular wavelength of light, so our ancestors only evolved enough of an eye to see what was needed to survive long enough to procreate. That includes you, by the way. Long story short, you, dear Reverend, still see with the same eyes as everyone else.</div>
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Anything else to share with us awful human beings (aka atheists)?</div>
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"We pray for your blessing because without it, we will only see scarcity in the midst of abundance."</blockquote>
The fuck are you talking about?! Seriously brother, it wasn't bad enough to insult our character, now you're going after our eyesight again? Oooh, I see...it's a metaphor! You mean that we petty atheists are only capable of seeing the shallow surface of things, and how we can't possibly understand the subtle beauty of a child's smile, or the majesty of an inspired piece of art. How sad that without god to show me truth, I can only ever know the color of the forest before me, and not the grand history of the trees arrayed like silent sentinels, and I can never experience the enriching pleasure of the cool earth beneath my bare soles. If only...<br />
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Oh but wait, I skipped over something. Let's go back to this nugget of joy, shall we Reverend?<br />
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"But with the blessing of your presence, We know that we can renew the ties of mutual regard which can best form our civic life."</blockquote>
Humph. OK, let's set all the joking aside. I've been deliberately playing the "bitter, angry" atheist you seem to think we all are. In truth, all the comments above are pretty typical of what we hear again and again, and they've long since ceased to get under my skin.<br />
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So, up until now, I've been playing with your words a little, Reverend. Look, I know you didn't mean to belittle us atheists and our lack of a godly presence in our lives (but let's make no mistake, that's exactly what you did). I'd have even been willing to give you a pass on your other comments and call it ignorance, as it's very possible you don't actually know any atheists, other than the ones you might see on TV, who may admittedly come across looking angry, arrogant, and bitter (but as you can hopefully see from my words here, sometimes we have reason to be). But this implication - that only through the presence of a god can we best achieve a civic life? This...this is bullshit. Atheists, agnostics and the religiously unaffiliated make up a significant chunk of the American population. How dare you suggest that we are somehow inferior at participating in a civic fashion? This attitude is provincial, and backwards, and why most Americans say they wouldn't vote for an atheist for public office.<br />
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My dear Reverend, it's a good thing for you that I don't have hatred in my heart - I forgive you your ignorance of what atheists are really like.<br />
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And Mister President, lest anyone think I'm picking on the Reverend here, I must also say that I'm ashamed that you would sit there with head bowed, hearing these divisive and petty words, and remain silent. You're lucky you don't have to run for re-election, sir.</div>
Matthew Medinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02178200479000412851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1675976173828982021.post-19947471923136597612012-10-27T21:04:00.000-07:002012-10-27T21:05:16.888-07:00Fall BarefootingIt's been too long since I wrote a blog entry. Something about putting to bed a 5-year long project...it has a tendency to juggle your priorities a bit. But here I am.<br />
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So, I wanted to get on here to talk a bit about the "fall" season for barefooting. It's definitely one of the most interesting times of the year for a barefooter. While the rest of the people around me are donning heavy coats, insulated socks and waterproof knee-high boots, I'm splashing in rain puddles, collecting pine needles on my soles and leaving wet barefoot prints everywhere I go.<br />
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Although I tremendously enjoy all those wonderful things about barefooting through the falling leaves and the first cool rains in September and October, no other time of year is as isolating to a barefooter. The primary reason for this is that it shines a spotlight on how much of an "outsider" we are, when we don't follow along with the rest of society by "sensibly" encasing our feet in extra layers of protection as the temperatures drop and the drops start falling from the clouds.<br />
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Every year, from October to December, is without a doubt when I get 90% of the comments about my feet. "Aren't your feet cold?" being the hands-down favorite around here. To which the answer is: Yes. But my hands and head get colder. I never feel cold enough to wear anything over my face, and I wear gloves way more than I wear shoes. Also, your feet actually do adapt to the temperatures and so long as you keep your core warm, you can handle most common temperature changes. We're actually quite resilient in this area, from the heat of summer asphalt to the cold of snow and ice...we can cover a pretty broad spectrum. But most people make a lot of assumptions about the inferiority of their own bodies to adapt.<br />
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In the past week, I've had three complete strangers make comments about my lack of footwear, when in the past six months I heard not a thing. It takes a certain kind of strength to be different from everyone else. And although I tend to think that I'm not really that bothered by what other people think, I'd be lying if I claimed that it didn't still have an impact. Even when the comments are mostly neutral and/or benign, as is most often the case with Seattle natives, you can still feel singled out. And no, I'm not asking for this kind of attention because I am barefoot. In all honesty, I'd much prefer that people didn't even notice. I'm barefoot because it's just a part of who I am. Although strictly speaking, it is a choice I make, to me there is no other choice. In my view, it's as unchangeable as the color of my skin or the shape of my eyes.<br />
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But human beings are, by our very natures, a social species. So straying from the norm, and deliberately setting yourself up for possible ridicule and misunderstandings is not something that should be overlooked, even by those of us who have always danced to the beat of our own drum. I'm thankful that I've been fortunate enough to have been surrounded in my life with thoughtful and supportive friends and family. I've read numerous stories from other barefooters about how shunned they've felt by those that claimed to love them, but then tried to shame them into conform by putting shoes on because it's "proper".<br />
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The bottom line is that this is both my favorite time of year, and my most dreaded time of year, to be barefoot. My feet are happy and free...my mind and my heart are on edge waiting for the inevitable drive-by comment from the next "concerned citizen".<br />
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<br />Matthew Medinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02178200479000412851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1675976173828982021.post-88383680037350587152012-07-07T09:08:00.003-07:002012-07-07T09:08:56.383-07:00My "SkyReal" projectSo I think it's safe to say that if you know me, or have been following me, you know that I love Skyrim. Best game to come out in 2011, hands down, for me. Maybe even further back. I played through the game "to completion" on two characters. Now I put quotes on "to completion" because Skyrim is not the type of game you ever really finish. There's always more to do, and things to find. It's a vast, vast world. But on my first two characters I completed the main story, all the side quests, and a vast majority of the miscellaneous favors, objectives and activities. In essence I played both character until I had emptied my quest logs (not as easy feat). In the process I logged over 350 hours, and all 50 achievements.<br />
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But anyway, despite how much I love the game, there were always some things that bothered me. But the number one thing that I was disappointed by was the feeling of immersion and realism. Although the living world is phenomenal (NPC's go about a daily routine, and things happen whether you participate or not), once you look past the radiant AI characters, the world itself felt less like a world and more like a playground (this is not necessarily a bad thing, it's just not my preferred play style).<br />
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I'm talking about environmental immersion, which I find to be lacking in the vanilla version of Skyrim. Well, thankfully that's why Bethesda makes its editing tools available to the community, and the mods have been steadily pouring forth since the tools were released. And I've continued to scour the offerings looking for choice mods that help with this facet. I'm calling this effort my "SkyReal project". So here below is the short list of mods that I've got installed that help increase environmental immersion in Skyrim. Let's begin, in order of importance:<br />
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1. Realistic Colors and Real Nights (RCRN 3) - Legacy Preset: So what this mod does is provide a complete overhaul on how the game renders environmental post-processing. It amps up the HDR, and makes use of custom shaders to make the world look prettier overall. But the color shifts are more of a subjective thing, so your mileage may vary on whether you like the game better with the richer colors or not. However, I installed this mod for one reason mainly - darker nights. Although I found the nights in Skyrim to be beautiful, you never got the feeling that darkness was dangerous. This changes that. The makers of this mod have created three versions of this mod, with each one making the nights progressively darker. I have the Legacy preset which is the least dark of the settings, but it is definitely darker than vanilla Skyrim - enough to make you cautious about roaming around at night. This mod also works on dark indoor areas as well, which has the effect of making it almost impossible to meander through many of the world's dungeons without a torch. Yep, you now have to make difficult choices about whether to bring out your torch to look around, or if you want to try to sneak through in the dark. And the way that this mod handles the HDR means you can be blinded momentarily when going from pitch black to fully lit - again increasing the tension of dungeon-delving. This is one of the best mods for increasing environmental immersion, so this is why I put it at the top of my list.<br />
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2. Sound<span style="background-color: white;">s of Skyrim (The Wilds and Dungeons) - This is actually a pair of mods, but they really belong together as they provide the same benefits but to different areas of the game. As you can guess from the title, these mods add sounds to the world. But not just a few sounds here and there. No, this is one of the most ambitious audio overhauls I think I've ever heard. Both mods adds tons of new ambient sounds, making the world sound so much more alive. You hear ravens call, wolves howling, moose calls, insects buzzing past your ears, and trees swaying in the breeze with The Wilds. And you hear draugr moaning, rocks falling, metal creaking and a whole host of dungeon life scrabbling around in the dark in Dungeons. Although none of the sounds are tied into any of the game's content, it doesn't really matter. What it does is create an atmosphere which you didn't know was missing...until you install these mods.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">3. Pure Waters - This mod changes the way that the game renders the various bodies of water in Skyrim. By and large it's goal is to make the water in Skyrim more realistic. As with the top mod, some of this is subjective, as what looks real to some may seem not so real to someone else. Water can appear differently in different conditions, so there's no one "correct" way to render water. However, what this mod does which I found to be worth keeping is that it changes underwater to something like I would expect. Submerging yourself with this mod, you'll quickly see the difference, in terms of your loss of visibility. When you combine this mod with the above mod, no longer can you amazingly see from shore to shore when underwater at night. No, this mod will have you waiting for daylight to go swimming unless you want to go groping around in the dark, which feels right to me.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">4. Better Dynamic Snow - This mod is really simple, but it's also really powerful. I actually really consider this less of a mod and more of a bug fix. All it does is apply the default snow texture onto the snow that accumulates when a storm is going on. With the vanilla Skyrim, the accumulation effect simply applied a flat white texture onto surfaces, which works from a distance, but up close just looked horrible. I installed it primarily because of how MUCH snow is in Skyrim, and it left me scratching my head why they chose a flat texture for this effect (when the default snow texture was already loaded in memory, since it was being used for the surrounding terrain).</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">5. Disable Fast Travel* - This mod does exactly what it says it does - you can no longer open your world map and fast travel to any place you desire. If you need to get somewhere, you either walk with your own two feet, or you buy yourself a horse, or you rent yourself a carriage. Now, I put an asterisk on this mod because although I like the amount of environmental immersion is provides, I have opted instead to leave myself the OPTION of fast traveling, but ONLY as a last resort. So, in most games I'm happy to make use of things like fast travel, but for a game like Skyrim where a large amount of the "fun factor" is in just exploring and seeing the world unfolding before you, I want to participate with it and not "skip ahead" just to get to the content. One of the chief reasons I don't play with this mod active though is that while I love the idea of not being able to warp around the world, the game is designed with that mechanic in mind, so your options outside of that are really limiting. Case in point: The carriages you can hire to take you places are only available in, and can only take you to, the capital cities - settlements like Ivarstead or Riverwood are strangely carriage-less. Yet these settlements would seemingly rely heavily on carriages to bring them supplies, etc. from the larger cities. So if someone ever releases a mod which increases the network of carriages, I might re-enable this mod.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">6. Leveling Merchant's Wallets - This is a mod that simply makes more gold available to the game's merchants, and the amount that they have available changes the more you sell to them (they get wealthier) so that you can actually sell things out of your inventory. Now, you could make the argument that this mod actually takes away from environmental immersion because what it does is enable you to pretty much just use a single merchant for the entire game, but I actually see it as a realistic application of capitalism. If I sell all my unwanted gear to a merchant who can afford to buy it all (and there is complete absence of anything like this in the vanilla game which in itself is strange), it makes sense that he could turn around and sell it for more than what he gave me, which would in turn make him wealthier, and finally able to buy more from me the next time I visited. The reason this mod doesn't offend my sensibilities and actually increases my environmental immersion is that I feel as though I'm establishing relationships with merchants, and those relationships are what make buying and selling a better experience. I was never a fan of the way that the vanilla game relies on your speechcraft skill to increase the amount of gold that merchants carry. I am fine with the skill being used to determine how much the merchants will pay you for selling to them, but having their purses being directly tied to my ability to speak eloquently never made any sense to me. This mod fixes that gripe, and you'll never have to worry about hoarding gear in your house or making multiple trips to vendors across the city to offload your junk again.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">So those are the mods I've got installed right now, which help give Skyrim that sense of environmental immersion I was hoping for. If you know of any additional mods that you think should be added to this list, please feel free to post it in the comments below. Thanks for reading, and maybe I'll see you on the road to Markarth!</span>Matthew Medinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02178200479000412851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1675976173828982021.post-26472017352534305602012-05-29T11:04:00.001-07:002012-05-29T11:04:25.023-07:00Up to speedWow, it's been forever since I wrote a blog entry. Well that's what happens when you are A.) Finaling a massive project years in the making, B.) Organizing two meetups and assisting with a third, C.) Being a husband and father and D.) obsessed with following everyone ELSE's social media updates. But today I have been given an extra day of the weekend because my son's school has decided to give them all one more day of rest, and Karen and I split being home with him on those days (as best we can) throughout the year.<br />
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There's a lot to catch up on, so I'll just get right into it. First, I wanted to cover my "Your Day Without Shoes" event which took place this past Saturday. It was not a total failure on my part, but not for lack of trying. The only saving grace of the day was that two very gracious individuals came out to join me, and we turned my failure to put together any sort of organized event into something fun for us. The mistakes I made were good learning experiences, at any rate so if I decide to do this type of thing again, I will already know what not to do. ;-)<br />
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In the end, it was a lot of little things that went wrong, and taken together, they conspired to make the morning a complete disaster. Things like forgetting to charge my cell-phone the night before, or checking the schedule of the venue I chose. But perhaps the biggest blunder of the day was mis-remembering the layout of Greenlake park, and as a result scheduling an event for an area I was clearly unfamiliar with. As a result, it took a while our attendees to find each other, and when we did we had no really good place to be to hand out fliers and spread the word about barefooting. In the end, we went for an impromptu barefoot hike instead, and that was great fun! So I'm really thankful that I have some awesome and understanding folks in my meetup!<br />
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In more exciting news, I was recently given the chance to be featured in a story about barefoot hiking and being a barefooter, that will be published in the Seattle Times very soon! When it comes out, I'll come back on here to talk more about that experience - it was really super positive all around, and I'm excited to see the article, both in print and on the web. My feet are going to be more than just internet famous. :-)<br />
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I will also just lay this tidbit out there - I am trying to plant the seeds of something potentially really exciting, but this is something that only has a remote chance of happening so I won't say anything more on it right now. Wish me luck, though! :-D<br />
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I've been playing Diablo 3 and really, really enjoying it. With one small exception. My account was hacked last Friday, and all my gold taken. I guess I consider that a lesson learned for thinking "Oh I don't need an authenticator to play this game!" - if you're playing, and you haven't picked one up for your smartphone or tablet device, do it. Trust me. I've got two characters to around 35-ish (monk and barbarian) and working on my third, who is around level 12. It's a fantastic looking and sounding game, and really satisfies with its astounding character progression. Monk is my favorite class, of the three I've tried. I might sample Demon Hunter as well, but I don't think Witch Doctor will be a class I go for...really not my play style. Anyway, I've posted it elsewhere but if you want to hit me up in game, my battle tag is barefootmm72#1858.<br />
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In Guild Wars 2 news, we just announced our next BWE which is June 8th-10th! We've all been working really hard, both based on the feedback that we got from the first BWE (in addition to the rest of the game's content) so I can't wait to see what people think. Best of all - you can continue the characters you were playing from the previous play session, so no starting over (well, unless you want to - nothing is stopping you from starting on those alt characters!).<br />
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It's been such a hectic past few weeks and months that as I sit here typing now I can think of three hundred things I could type, and none of them that seem worth typing at the moment, so I guess I'll hold onto those thoughts and try and put them down later, in more frequent blogs.Matthew Medinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02178200479000412851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1675976173828982021.post-44057398503616509082012-02-08T07:30:00.000-08:002012-02-08T07:30:48.131-08:00It's kind of funny that when I was using this blog to promote my barefooters meetup, I never posted my upcoming events, and now that I am using this blog as my own personal internet playground, I am. But that's just the way things go sometimes. So here ya go - if you're in the greater Seattle area, and are looking for something to do this weekend, come out and try a barefoot walk/run along Lake Washington. It's a great, easy urban trail with a spectacular view, and we're sure to get some stares from the many runners that will pass us by, as well as the morning coffee crowd in downtown Kirkland. :-)<br />
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<a href="http://www.meetup.com/Northwest-Barefooters-Meetup/events/50995702/">http://www.meetup.com/Northwest-Barefooters-Meetup/events/50995702/</a>Matthew Medinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02178200479000412851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1675976173828982021.post-63632973523240565332012-01-30T23:17:00.000-08:002012-01-30T23:17:45.301-08:00Church and StateI make no bones about the fact that I'm a staunch supporter of many non-religious causes, but perhaps none are as important to me as the issue of church-state separation. I believe that many Americans, especially those on the conservative side of the political spectrum, don't fully understand the issue and why it is important to stand up to any encroachment from one domain to the other. This subject has been covered in-depth by scholars, politicians and philosophers since the concept of separation was first introduced, and I don't believe that I have any new answers or special wisdom on this matter. But I have wanted to write about my own reasons for continuing to fight this battle, even when the stakes seem low, for some time now. So here we go.<br />
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First, I think it's important to look at all the possible positions that government can take with regards to religion. There seem to be four main positions: I call them Exclusive Support, Inclusive Support, Inclusive Neutral and Exclusive Neutral.<br />
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Exclusive Support is a closed theocracy. This means that the government supports a single religion, to the exclusion of all others. Non-state led religions may or may not be tolerated, but if they exist, they are not supported in any way by government money or resources.<br />
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Inclusive Support is an open theocracy. In this system, the government declares a national religion or religious position, but it also tolerates other faiths and leverages some measure of financial support to many different religions and/or denominations. This is what many conservatives believe our country is, or should be.<br />
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Inclusive Neutral is an open democracy with no specific religion, but many religious ties. In this system, the government remains neutral, in that does not have a national religion or official religious position. It is tolerant of many faiths, including those with no faith, and it makes certain concessions, including financial compensation, to various religions and denominations. This is currently where our country seems to be, and this is also what many liberals believe our country should be.<br />
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Exclusive Neutral is an open democracy with no specific religion, and no religious ties whatsoever. In this system, government remains neutral on religion, and while it tolerates religious belief and freedom of religion, it provides no assistance whatsoever to religion. It neither helps nor hinder religious worship. This position is also called "True Neutral". This is the position that is set forth in the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment (there is some argument on this point, but I hope to demonstrate that there should not be), and is what some people, both believers and nonbelievers, are working very hard to re-establish.<br />
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Both conservatives and liberals seem to favor an Inclusive position, perhaps because the Inclusive position seems, at least on the surface, to be the most tolerant of many religious faiths, which this country has in abundance (the sheer number of Christian denominations alone is staggering). However, there are real problems with an Inclusive position, and I believe that long-term, this position in not sustainable.<br />
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Perhaps the best example of the failure of an Inclusive position is the Washington State holiday displays in Olympia, which have captured national and international media attention for the last few years. The major hurdle with holding an Inclusive position is that to be truly inclusive is impossible. Attempting to support the sheer number of religions and denominations that exist today, in order to not exclude any one religion, is an exercise in futility. It quickly became comical as the public space in Olympia was filled - first with legitimate religious sentiments, and then over time, with one kooky belief system after another.<br />
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The other major problem with Inclusive positions is that while they pay lip service to tolerance, what ends up happening in reality is that a certain subset of religious belief ends up taking a dominant position. In the United States, Christianity in some form ends up at the top of the heap of religious belief, because that is the professed religion of most Americans. Conservatives want to bolster that position and edge other religions out, while liberals wish to bring in more diversity, but not too much to upset the majority. So while Inclusive might seem to be open to diversity in principle, in practice there is still one religion or subset of religions that hold the lion's share of public and, subsequently, government support.<br />
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An example of this was seen very recently (and corrected) in Cranston, Rhode Island. Jessica Ahlquist, an atheist student, recently filed suit after her school refused to take down a sectarian Christian prayer banner that was hanging in the school's auditorium. Conservatives decried her lawsuit because they claimed she was attacking Christianity, in the same vein as "removing prayer from schools" (itself a falsehood - kids are free to pray in school all they want, it's staff-led prayer that was banned, as it clearly shows government support of a particular religion). Some liberals also decried her, claiming that the prayer was doing her no harm and simply a representation of an earlier time, or that the prayer banner was generic enough that she was wrong to be offended by its presence. "Where's the harm?" I kept hearing.<br />
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Thankfully, federal judges from the district level on up to the Supreme Court, are well versed on the Constitutional issues at stake, and tend to rule in favor of taking the Exclusive Neutral position - removing any and all trace of religion from our publicly funded and run buildings. They do this because they know, as did our founding fathers, that despite whatever the majority opinion is on religion, religious freedom is all about protecting the rights of the minority. Of the few. Or even the one. They know that the <b>only</b> way for our government to maintain neutrality on the subject of religion is to leverage no support or hold any opinion at all, until and unless there arises some need for civic or legal disputes to be resolved. Belief must be preserved, but it must be preserved as the private, personal issue that it is.<br />
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The first several words of the First Amendment read: "<i>Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;</i>" and this can only be interpreted one way: the Constitution explicitly prohibits the federal (and for all intents and purposes, the states) government from establishing an official religion, <b>or from favoring or disfavoring one view of religion over another</b>. It's the second part of the clause, and its interpretation, that I feel is lost on many Americans.<br />
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Almost all people are happy to accept the first part of the clause, that speaks to not establishing a state religion, most likely because it addresses the literal letter of the law. But the second part "...or prohibiting the free exercise thereof" is even more important, because it speaks to the <b>spirit</b> of the law - the intent of the establishment clause, which is not simply to keep religion out of government and vice-versa, but which tells us that government must have no voice on matters of religion whatsoever. The free exercise of religion by all can only be accomplished when it is done without bias, and there is only one system under which that is possible, and that is to completely remove government from the discussion via the Exclusive Neutral position.<br />
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The reason why I feel it's vitally important for more Americans to understand this issue is that it speaks to our national identity; what kind of country we were truly meant to be. Every time I hear a conservative author or TV show host talk about how liberals are trying to "secularize" this country, I cringe to think that they have only understood a small part of the brilliance of our founding document. We are a secular country by design. And we must fight to maintain it as such.<br />
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But I also cringe when I hear voices on the liberal side defending school vouchers or faith-based initiatives, in the name of inclusiveness and tolerance, because I fear that they also are ignoring or denying the beauty of our purely secular government.<br />
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And with that, I will close with the timeless and wise words of James Madison, from a letter he wrote to the Rev. Jasper Adams:<br />
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<i>"I must admit moreover that it may not be easy, in every possible case, to trace the line of separation between the rights of religion and the civil authority with such distinctness as to avoid collisions and doubts on unessential points. The tendency to a usurpation on one side or the other or to a corrupting coalition or alliance between them will be best guarded against by entire abstinence of the government from interference in any way whatever, beyond the necessity of preserving public order and protecting each sect against trespasses on its legal rights by others."</i><br />
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I apologize for the lengthy post - this is what happens when you don't blog for a while - it builds up into a massive snowball of text. If you've read this far, thank you for taking the time to do so. Next post will be more fluff, less stuff. :-)Matthew Medinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02178200479000412851noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1675976173828982021.post-24965309552519402822011-12-28T08:33:00.000-08:002011-12-28T08:37:44.991-08:00"Barefoot" Shoes - A RantSo, one of the big deals floating around the barefoot community at large right now is the use of the terms "barefoot shoes" and "minimalist shoes". People like barefoot shoes apparently (although I've only seen this claim espoused by those who make money by selling such footwear, so I'm somewhat skeptical).<br />
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But I have indeed seen more and more use of the term "barefoot shoes", so I think that they may be right that the "masses have spoken". Here's the problem I have though. The masses, i.e. people, are also stupid creatures sometimes, so let's just throw out what people like for a second and consider this rationally.<br />
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"Barefoot shoes" is as inane a statement as is "naked pants", or "topless shirt". There might be something quaint about attaching those types of contradictions together, and that's fine within a particular context (for example, it's particularly effective as a marketing catch phrase because it's attention grabbing). But when we transition those phrases from being quaint to being serious by replacing the word minimalist with barefoot and saying that from now on, those funny shoes will be called "barefoot shoes", all it does is sow confusion. So now, apparently when I tell people I go barefoot, the question will be "Do you mean you wear those funny toe shoes"? Fuck no I don't.<br />
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Pardon my French, but this whole thing really pisses me off. It's not even the specific idea that pisses me off as much as it is the principle involved. Language has meaning, and it does this so that we as a species can communicate concepts and ideas to one another, <b>without confusion</b>. Language does evolve, but we should fight against such evolution when it means reversing the meaning of core ideas.<br />
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Imagine if you will a movement in North Korea to call their system of government democracy. Their "worship" of the Great Leader (and now Jr.) might have some things in common with democracy, but it is distinctly <b>not</b> a democracy.<br />
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Or imagine that enough compulsive liars get together and convince everyone that what they do is actually tell the truth. What becomes of the truth?<br />
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Is "barefoot" as a word, as a concept, worth protecting? You're damn right it is! It's not critically important, the way that truth or democracy are, but it's been enshrined in the language to mean <b>one thing</b>: being without shoes. I will continue to fight the trend towards softening its meaning, because in all honesty - if "being barefoot" someday means that I am actually still wearing shoes...then what the hell am I?Matthew Medinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02178200479000412851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1675976173828982021.post-15130606170775008522011-12-19T11:41:00.000-08:002011-12-19T11:41:18.861-08:00New and Improved!Hey all, and welcome to the format change for my blog. I've got no time to really break in the new format just yet, but I'm changing this blog over to be my personal "unaffiliated" space to rant and rave. I guess I finally realized that I'd like to be able to talk about more than just barefooting (though there will still be plenty of that material, don't worry). But expect to see more topics like religion and atheism, science, pop culture like films and video games, and anything else that gets me fired up enough to write a paragraph or twelve. ;-)Matthew Medinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02178200479000412851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1675976173828982021.post-2713626510538393752011-12-11T10:19:00.001-08:002011-12-11T10:56:50.114-08:00The willPower Method - A 1/2 ReviewSo I attended my first willPower exercise class yesterday. I wanted to give it a thorough review, since I've been reading about it on the internet for some time now, but unfortunately my body had other ideas. Here's what happened, and a short review of what I experienced in the class.<br />
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First a little background: willPower is an exercise modality created by Stacy Lei Krauss, who is a fitness educator and also the Lead Fitness Advisor for Vibram Five Fingers. The willPower method stresses that they are a barefoot workout, and blends elements of dance, aerobics, yoga and pilates to create something unique and dynamic. Needless to say I was excited to try it for myself (even though I was worried about how I would manage the dance portions - Matthew don't dance).<br />
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I arrived right on time (I had to turn in a free pass to the club, and had to jump through about 5 hoops to check Owen into their childcare), and so I didn't get a chance to talk to the instructor Alyson before class, and we got right into it. She first had us do some foot stretching and flexibility exercises. This was the part I was most interested in, because I of course was very curious to see how the foot fitness thing felt as an experienced barefooter. I consider myself to have strong feet because of how much of my life I spend barefoot, but I must admit I was rather surprised by how wrong I was. Or rather, how many strengths I have been overlooking, because some of the stretches and foot poses (in particular trying to get my big toes and your pinky toes on the ground at the same time, without bring the other three toes down) were a significant challenge for me. But it was still a great deal of fun, and I was challenged to improve - I have a lot to practice to get my feet more robust and flexible.<br />
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Then we started on the floor routines which felt more like a typical group fitness class, and given that I haven't really exercised much at all since the end of the summer (when I was biking like a madman), I felt I was keeping up pretty well. I could definitely recognize the yoga and pilates portions of the regimen - and I really enjoyed the challenge of some of the twists, squats and bends. I got in about 30 minutes of solid exercise...<br />
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And then my back muscles locked up. I couldn't bend. I couldn't squat. I hobbled to the back of the class and tried to get it to unclench...but every time I used those muscles at all, I felt them tighten in anger. After resting and catching my breath for around 5-10 minutes, I managed to stretch them out enough to move again, and gingerly made my way over to the side of the fitness area to lie down and bring my knees into my chest. Finally, after lying down, the muscles in my low back gave in and relaxed, and I spent the rest of class doing floor stretches on my own.<br />
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I realize that this was my own fault. I didn't have time to properly warm up my muscles, and I also haven't done any exercise in months. Combine the two and you get what happened to me yesterday. Just another reminder that I'm heading straight on towards 40, and can't simply jump into exercise anymore. :-)<br />
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After the class I sheepishly introduced myself to the instructor (I was mildly embarrassed by my inability to keep up with the 10 or so women in the class). We had been emailing prior to this so she knew to expect me, and we talked about the class and the method, and I told her how glad I was to see a class like this making headway into a typical gym, where shoes are otherwise required. I'm hoping to establish some ties to the people in this fitness movement, as I think that the more allies we gain as barefoot advocates, the more we can all achieve together.<br />
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So I would love to go back and try the class again, but maybe after I've done some more work to get my body ready for that level of activity first. When I do, I'll write up my full review. For now, if you're interested, head over to <a href="http://www.willpowermethod.com/">http://www.willpowermethod.com/</a> and check out the information and links on their website. I encourage everyone, barefooters and non-barefooters, to check it out and maybe even find a class or instructor near you, and experience it yourself.Matthew Medinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02178200479000412851noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1675976173828982021.post-67733675526176386832011-12-08T07:07:00.001-08:002011-12-08T13:40:18.865-08:00Rights is RightsYesterday, I'm sure some of you saw the link I sent around about the stirring speech given by our Secretary of State Hillary Clinton before the United Nations, calling for international cooperation and support for LGBT rights. I was moved by her passionate words, which you can check out here if you haven't already: <a href="http://news.advocate.com/post/13844217337/watch-the-speech-youve-been-waiting-for">http://news.advocate.com/post/13844217337/watch-the-speech-youve-been-waiting-for</a><br />
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I am posting this again, here on my blog, because I want to spread these powerful words in every corner of my "world", but also to extend on what Mrs. Clinton said. It's imperative to me that we change the way we view the LGBT community, but in an even larger way, how we view ALL groups that do not belong to the "majority".<br />
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I do this because I know what it's like to be marginalized, or to feel embarrassed, ashamed and/or inferior. I know this because I'm a member of the LGBT community. Although I've never faced physical threats or feared for my life because of my sexual orientation (I'm a B in that acronym, in case you didn't know), I've certainly felt the pressure to hide my identity, particularly from those I am closest to. So I understand some of the pain that comes from having to hide who you are, and I steadfastly support our administration leading us towards full acceptance and enforcement of human rights for ALL citizens. I have been fortunate enough that the positive experiences and the number of supportive friends and family who know about this facet of my life has greatly outweighed the negatives. But despite all the good fortune I've had, I have also felt the despair which comes from knowing that some people will not or cannot accept who I really am...who I was born to be.<br />
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I am also an atheist, and this too has led me to hide my true feelings, particularly among my closest family, who are all mostly Catholic or spiritual or religious in some fashion. Atheists sometimes complain about being marginalized, and there's an element of truth to that (we're certainly under-represented in government, and believers definitely find it difficult to trust us) but by and large my own shame at my questioning faith has been what has crippled me from being more open about my lack of belief for so long, not pressure from outside. There are, of course, those who would love nothing better than to see atheists all leave the country, but it's been my personal experience that, at least in this country, those people are the minority. Most of my friends and family who are believers would not wish to force their beliefs on nonbelievers...nor do I believe that they would ostracize me for being more open with them about my viewpoints. I think they are simply uncomfortable with the thought of someone who doesn't need a god in their life to give them meaning.<br />
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However, I have faced the same kind of marginalization as a barefooter that I have felt as a bisexual man. The ostracism, the feeling of being unwelcome, the hateful looks. In a way, being a barefooter I have been more exposed to the negative side of other people's attitudes precisely because being a barefooter is visible. Being bisexual is not, and while I've not made a great secret out of the fact, I am also not broadcasting it as it really isn't most people's business. In fact there may be some people who read this blog and think "I didn't know that!". The same is true for my religious beliefs, although I have been much more vocal about those in the past few years.<br />
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But my being barefoot is an obvious and outward symbol of a facet of myself that I no longer choose to hide. If people miss the fact that I am shoeless, it's not for lack of me trying. :-) As a result, I have had many more confrontations with others surrounding my condition as a barefooter than I ever have about being either bisexual or an atheist. I'm not comparing the experiences, in terms of me asking for a campaign to end oppression against barefooters (there isn't even a hint of this).<br />
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<b>I clearly know there's a vast difference between the experiences, in terms of level of acceptance and acts of violence against the LGBT community, which are shameful facts of life even in this country.</b> However, I think the larger point, which is fair to make comparisons about, is that we have to pursue and explore our acceptance and tolerance for others: who they are and how they live. Basically, what Hillary Clinton said so simply: "Gay rights are human rights. Human rights are gay rights."<br />
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I guess I would simplify it even further to say: "Human rights are human rights". Who you love, what you believe, what you wear or don't wear - none of it matters, and none of it should be used to allow any of us to marginalize, discriminate against or abuse each other. Human rights are human rights. And let no one ever take them away.<br />
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<b><i>EDIT: I didn't include this initially because I didn't feel it was relevant to the discussion of the topic, but based on some upset I have seemingly caused, I must include this postscript. I am happily married to a wonderful woman, and have been for twelve years. I realize it's tough for some people to understand, but it is possible to be bisexual AND have a rewarding relationship with one person. How we handle that relationship, and how my sexual orientation impacts that relationship, is between us, and no one else. However, I apologize for my oversight in not including this information in the original post, and I hope that this clarifies the situation and that it helps ease any hurt I have caused with my words.</i></b>Matthew Medinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02178200479000412851noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1675976173828982021.post-41160591904447573882011-12-06T07:42:00.001-08:002011-12-06T08:11:36.977-08:00"Daddy, why are you going barefoot?"I finally heard this question from my son as we crossed through the parking lot to go into Trader Joe's. I have to admit it somewhat surprised me. He's attended many of my barefoot meetups, and he's seen me shop barefoot in stores before. So I suppose I took for granted that my son simply knew that I preferred to be barefoot whenever and wherever possible. But it seems that, although he's had experience of my preference for a while now, the question of "why" might not have occurred to him until then.<br />
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I tried my best to explain to him that first of all, I just don't like wearing shoes, and that I'm more comfortable without them. But I also tried to impress upon him that I've discovered that my being barefoot is a central part of who I am as an individual, and that different people have different ways of living, and of being, and that those differences are something special.<br />
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This brings up something that I don't think we as barefooters do a good enough job of addressing - and that is that going barefoot isn't a matter of choice for us. It IS a choice, in the strictest sense - but it's a false choice. Could I live my life wearing shoes again? Sure, I COULD. But I could also live my life wearing handcuffs, or a mask, or a scuba tank on my back. Those are all choices, but they're not choices any sane, rational person would suggest, because choosing that negatively impacts you day to day. Those of us who have discovered that we are more fulfilled human beings when we don't have to put on shoes - we are making a choice to be barefoot, yes. But for us, there *is* no other choice. Shoes to us, are like scuba tanks for everyone else. I wish that we as a community did more to communicate this thought to others.<br />
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Back to my original thought - I don't know how much of this I am able to articulate to a 7 year old - because as soon as I gave him the straightforward answer that I don't like shoes, he was off and running on another tangent, and I'm not sure he heard the rest of my explanation. :-)<br />
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But that brings up an interesting question about teaching tolerance and diversity to children, and the challenges that we face as parents to accomplish that goal. I think that, like many things, it feels frustrating to try and communicate complex ideas and virtues to a child (and also to some adults), especially a young child who is looking for a simple answer to the question that they've asked. I think that we simply have to keep talking about it with our kids and hope that the deeper meanings are being absorbed, somewhere in their consciousness. Or that they at least know that we have more to say on the subject, and that we will keep the dialogue open, with the hope that someday they will be ready to seek more in-depth answers to life's larger questions.Matthew Medinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02178200479000412851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1675976173828982021.post-20013072335071843322011-12-02T07:37:00.001-08:002011-12-02T08:38:28.470-08:00Barefoot AdvocacyOne question I get asked sometimes is "Why are you always going on about barefooting?" <div>
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There's a really simple answer. It's about raising awareness, and promoting the cause of acceptance of bare feet as the non-issue that it should be. Does that sound contrary enough for you? :-P </div>
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Seriously, it really is somewhat counter-intuitive. We are fighting to be unseen. I go on about barefooting not because I want to, but because I have to. The eventual goal of barefoot advocacy is to become invisible. We want *everyone* to stop caring about what we wear on our feet. But we're not there yet - barefooters still face discriminatory action, and negative attitudes by others. And until we get to a point where this is not the case, I will continue to be vocal in my support for barefooters and to spotlight the positive benefits of living a barefoot lifestyle.</div>
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Is going barefoot really that big of a deal? Of course not, but it can easily be made into one by intolerant people who see it as their role and responsibility to ensure that their ideas of the "norm" are what we all must live by, or by authoritative types who wish to enforce myths about safety and liability or who just gain enjoyment from telling others what to do. Sometimes we are even set upon by good-natured people who believe they are looking out for us. Non-barefooters can't understand until they've tried to enter a business barefoot and been refused entry, or been asked to leave a business for the same reason, or been given strange or even dirty looks by others simply for being who we are.</div>
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I choose to share my experiences, and to advocate for barefooters so that when I run into people at work, on the street, on the trail, or inside a store, I have the chance, however small it is, that those people have "read about" us barefooters and will either A.) think of us in a more positive way or B.) not think about us at all. </div>
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So to answer the posed question in a single sentence: I am always going on about barefooting so that it becomes an ordinary part of the fabric of our culture, and in so doing, it will diminish the importance people place on what individuals have, or don't have, on their feet.</div>Matthew Medinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02178200479000412851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1675976173828982021.post-5836020295372698772011-07-20T07:41:00.000-07:002011-07-20T07:41:59.276-07:00On Being a Dick<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px;">I was pleased to read <a href="http://barefootprof.blogspot.com/2011/07/new-barefooters-dont-be-jerk.html">this </a>recent blog post from the Barefoot Professor, Dr. Daniel Howell, advising new barefooters against being jerks. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px;">As a rule, I wholeheartedly agree with what Dr. Howell is saying. In fact, although he might not have intended it, he is paraphrasing the "Atheist Commandment" which is "Thou shalt not be a dick". I think that such a decree has some unmeasurable value, especially at moderating the tone of the discussion away from confrontation and tension.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px;">However, I also think it's important to remember that sometimes, bad ideas can and will only go away when exposed to the harsh sunlight of ridicule. In other words, although we may attempt to live by the commandment "don't be a dick" as much as possible, sometimes it's advisable to not just bend, but to break this important rule. To show this perspective, I think we can get value from looking at the discussion that we atheists have amongst ourselves about whether we help or hurt our cause by sometimes "being dicks". </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px;">Our leading atheist figures have often been accused of being "shrill" or "strident" for the way in which they question a particular point of dogma, or for implying that believing something without evidence, regardless of what is on the table, is a bad idea. There then follows a backlash from more friendly types of non-believers who will decry such "harsh treatment" of religion, believers, etc. This then inspires the original group to defend their statements which get even more criticism...wash, rinse, repeat. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px;">While I appreciate the gentler side of our causes, as they attempt to cajole our critics with kindness and understanding, I also think that we should value those who will stand firm and challenge those who would spout bad ideas as though they were Undisputed Truth. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px;">I think that Public Displays of Stupidity SHOULD be mocked. If we simply let them slide, there is the chance that we will become numb to stupid ideas, and it will require stupider and stupider acts to elicit our outrage. I guess to sum up, I think that sometimes the best (and only) way to move the markers down the field is to go against that one lone commandment to not be a dick. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px;">I will leave you with the following quote from PZ Myers, of the blog Pharyngula, who discussed this very topic of "playing nice" recently, and had this to say at the end of his blog post (emphasis mine): </span></span><br />
<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px;">So here we are, once again talking about how to communicate, and I fear that we'll lose is the sense of what to communicate [sic]. Don't forget: the truth is our pole star, science is the vessel we use to progress, and a passion to explore and learn is the engine of our purpose. <b>If we lose sight of that in our concern to be gentle with those who impede us, we'll lose our way</b>.</span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px;">So get out there, go barefoot, be proud, be nice, and don't be a jerk/dick. Mostly. </span><br />
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</span></span>Matthew Medinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02178200479000412851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1675976173828982021.post-34206897734645940502011-07-14T21:01:00.000-07:002011-07-14T21:02:26.557-07:00Lighter than AirThis post is inspired by an event which transpired about two months ago, and which has stayed with me this whole time. I was bothered by it then, but I never blogged about it and I wanted to say my piece before I let it go for good.<br />
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So back in the early spring, I had been getting into trying MovNat. (If you're unfamiliar with MovNat, head to www.movnat.com). I was running around on rocks, balancing on logs and beams, and just generally having fun. Well, there's a beautiful park here in Bellevue with a botanical garden, and there's one section of the path that winds through the gardens and is lined with these nice big rocks. They're perfect for jumping on. So this is what I was doing, when along comes the park ranger. He proceeds to ask me just what it is that I'm doing.<br />
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I felt a wave of embarrassment at first because here I am two years shy of forty and I'm jumping on rocks like I'm my son's age. But that quickly passed when I realized that I was in a public park, and who cares if I'm having fun pouncing on rocks. So I proceed to tell him that I was simply working on my balance, etc. He doesn't really let me finish, and then scolds me by telling me that I will "scuff the moss off the rocks".<br />
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I stammered an apology, and moved on, running barefoot down the gravel trail. It hit me within two minutes that his entire argument was nonsensical. And the reason it was nonsensical was because he was making the rather bold assertion that my bare feet would somehow damage the natural environment. And he had no idea just how light I am when I am barefoot.<br />
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Now, I'm a heavy guy. Marriage, a job which has me sitting at a computer all day, and age have conspired to turn me from a once-skinny string bean into an oafish gorilla-type. I'm not happy with the number that the scale continually tries to convince me that I weigh. But despite my weight, I know that when I am barefoot (or even in flip flops), I am distributing that weight evenly across the entire surface of my foot, the way that our foot has evolved to operate. So when I land even my bulk on the rocks at this park, I don't leave a single mark behind, nor do I feel any movement of moss being dislodged. I've become so light on my feet that I no longer make that ubiquitous slapping noise when I wear my flip flops. Going barefoot naturally pushes you to walk "lighter".<br />
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Barefoot Ken Bob describes how, when Harvard professor Dr. Daniel Lieberman tested Ken Bob's barefoot running to ascertain his kinetic impact, both of them were surprised to discover that Ken Bob showed NO discernible impact while running barefoot. What's possible when running is even more possible when walking. Or when jumping onto rocks.<br />
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Which brings me back to the point of this post - I'd like to say now to the park ranger what I wish I had said then: "Hey, buddy, chill the f#$& out."<br />
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</div>There's an old trail saying that says "leave nothing but footprints". Well, I live by that credo, and I've even aspired to take it a step further, because when I go barefoot hiking, I find that even with a careful examination of the trail, it's tough to see even my own footprints (yes, I check). While I may not actually be lighter than air, I certainly feel light enough to not have to worry about destroying the ecosystem of the single most prevalent type of growth in the state.Matthew Medinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02178200479000412851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1675976173828982021.post-86167948486070011322011-05-14T10:55:00.000-07:002011-05-14T11:12:54.084-07:00Free Your Feet, and Your Mind Will Follow?I was planning to post something on this next week, but since Ken Corder from primalbeings.org posted <a href="http://primalbeings.com/2011/05/losing-our-soles/">this blog post on losing our soles</a> yesterday, I thought I would like to reply to that blog post with comments of my own.<br />
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</div><div>For several years, I've used the phrase in the title of this post "Free your feet and your mind will follow" as my internet signature. I've always agreed with the sentiment, even before I discovered that I was in fact an atheist. But it was only after becoming a freethinker that I actually understood exactly why I think that there's a deep connection between our soles and our mind. Although of course there is a physiological component that is obvious (it feels good!), I actually think it's the psychological or intellectual effect that is more important to explore.</div><div><br />
</div><div>In the blog linked above, the author talks about several points linking "naked feet and the sacred", and while I agree with many of the reasons given for these factors, I disagree with some of the author's conclusions. I want to respond to each of the points that he brought up, but from a different point of view. Since I'll be referencing the blog post, now might be a good time to read the original if you haven't already done so:</div><div><br />
</div><div><b><i>Connectedness</i></b> - I have no doubt that for a believer, this is a tempting thought to subscribe to. However, it doesn't address the fact that most of us live in an artificial world, and most barefooters spend the majority of their time on manufactured surfaces - asphalt streets, concrete sidewalks, carpet, tile, engineered stone, and so on. The thing is, going barefoot still feels just as good on man-made surfaces as it does on dirt, grass, and other natural surfaces. It's my opinion that the connection you feel isn't to the earth or to a creator - it's to our NATURAL condition. It stimulates the reptilian core of our brains to hearken back to the way that we all used to live. Many people feel the same feeling of "connectedness" by being naked outdoors. Not because our skin is touching the air and soaking in the sun, but because the act of doing so reminds us that we are still animals - that clothing and footwear are an "unnatural" state for us, still. Why is that an important distinction to make? Because acknowledging that part of ourselves helps us to see that we are all the same. We might have different color skin, different body types, and different minds, but we're all one species. One tribe. One people. Connecting to that ancient past "self" can absolutely promote feelings of good will towards each other. That's a powerful feeling, and something that I think we should all take steps to remember now and then. </div><div><br />
</div><div><b><i>Worth</i></b> - I love this point, and the quote as well. The only thing I would add to this point is that this is very much a humanist argument. Most religions, including those the author cites in his article, instead begin by asserting that humans are inherently flawed and unworthy, and it is only through redemptive acts that we can be saved. The implication that this inherent worth can be derived from spiritual tradition or established religion seems flawed in most cases I can think of.</div><div><br />
</div><div><b><i>Humility</i></b> - Humility and equality are normal human notions, and are not exclusive to religious or spiritual sources. But I agree with the sentiment wholeheartedly that going unshod literally strips us of one of the barriers that makes us feel connected to one another (as I noted in the section above on Connectedness). I think the relevant point here is that shoes, like every other piece of clothing, have evolved from being something that once served a utilitarian purpose and instead are now objects of vanity and status. A willingness to shed one's shoes (or clothes for that matter) demonstrates a willingness to not lord over others with what you have and they don't. It is an important reminder of our equality.</div><div><br />
</div><div><b><i>Health</i></b> - The claims by barefooters that it is healthier for our feet to be bare are, in almost every case, backed up by the medical community. Corns? Bunions? Althete's Foot? Back and knee pain? Almost all shoe-based ailments (back and knee pain are probably because we never really evolved a perfect anatomical solution for standing upright, but shoes certainly don't help the problem). Shoes cause innumerable conditions that going barefoot does not. And the conditions that one can get going barefoot are minor for most of us. There are countries where going barefoot does represent genuine dangers, but in those instances, generally there are larger public health concerns than just going barefoot. We were not born with shoes on. We did not evolve hard, inflexible feet. Those two facts alone tell us everything we need to know, in my opinion, about whether our feet are healthier bare or shod.</div><div><br />
</div><div><b><i>Freedom</i></b> - Ahh, now we get to my favorite point, and why I find myself so enamored of the phrase "Free your feet and your mind will follow". Because to me, although it is "freeing" to lose my shoes, and let my skin breathe, and my toes wiggle, what we are really talking about here is freedom of thought. Barefooters are fledgling freethinkers. Freethinkers are those who do not simply accept the word of whoever they happen to be around. Freethinkers are people who want to know that the things that they believe are actually true. And the notion "shoes are good for you" is one that NEEDS to be challenged. Even something as simple as considering whether we need shoes or not can have long-term repercussions for your thought processes. Because after all, if in challenging such an idea you find out that this is untrue, what ELSE do you think or believe that can stand up to that same level of scrutiny? If you've taken the steps to challenge society's outlook on footwear, which is in many ways a trivial idea, why stop there? Many believers criticize atheists for appearing "strident" or "shrill" in our challenges to their beliefs. Are barefooters that much different when challenging the claims that shoes are both necessary and beneficial? Barefooters and atheists are both practicing a form of freethought. In the former case, I have confidence barefooters will win because that seems to be where the evidence lies. So for me, going barefoot is healthy skepticism put into practice, not subversiveness. </div><div><br />
</div><div>In closing, I think it's important to point out that the words "Free your feet and your mind will follow" is not a direct causal argument, but rather a metaphor for opening your mind. Thinking for ourselves is the greatest thing that we human animals have evolved, and I encourage people of all walks of life to practice it more in every way, barefoot or not. </div>Matthew Medinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02178200479000412851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1675976173828982021.post-64081683473764409372011-05-14T08:39:00.000-07:002011-05-14T08:44:59.606-07:00Foot Care for BarefootersSo today I'd like to talk about foot care. It's a subject that I don't see brought up a whole lot on other barefooter's blogs or websites. But why not? We barefooters expose our feet to extremes of temperatures, a wide variety of environments and even potential dangers. It's true that most critics of our preference for being barefoot greatly exaggerate the dangers of taking off our shoes, but that doesn't mean that going barefoot will make our feet feel good all the time. On the contrary, I think it's even more important for barefooters to pay careful attention to the care and maintenance of their feet, and should practice a regular regimen of foot care so that we can enjoy being barefoot as often as we can.<br />
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Barefooters have to watch out for a number of hazards in the field, but very few barefooters resources talk about the hazards of just ordinary wear and tear - cracked heels, dry skin, skin infections, and so on.<br />
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</div><div>To that end, I've put together this list of ideas that I think barefooters of all stripes can use to keep their feet healthy and hygienic. Some of these may elicit a negative reaction from more hardcore barefooters, but I hope that you'll give me the benefit of reading through my whole post before making judgments. These are my opinions, based on my almost 20 years of going barefoot as often as possible (I'm able to be barefoot between 80-100% of each day). So without further ado:</div><div><br />
</div><div>1. The Deep Clean - Let's face it...when you go barefoot, you get dirty feet. It's inevitable, and typically it's nothing we need to worry about. If we are practicing regular hygiene (showering, wiping your feet, etc.) dirt <b>shouldn't </b>get to the point where it can impact your health or hygiene. But for every speck of dirt we can see, there are many more that we can't. It's this dirt that I think we should be taking care to address now and then. Many barefooters wear their "black soles" as a badge of office, and I can appreciate that fact. However, even if you relish the idea of your dirty soles clearly demonstrating to everyone around you that you proudly go barefoot, it also doesn't hurt to, every once in a while, break out the soap, the loofah and maybe even a nice gritty foot scrubbing cream, and scrub those tootsies. The truth is, if you're a barefooter 24/7 or close to it, chances are that you won't be able to get them completely clean anyway - some residue of dirt sinks below the epidermis or clings to the crevices of your sole pads, making it difficult to ever eliminate every trace or stain of dirt from your soles. The idea here is not to chase after perfectly clean soles - the object of the Deep Clean is to help your body slough off some of the dead skin cells and keep dirt buildup to a reasonable level. This step is particularly relevant to those of us who do not or cannot go barefoot 24/7, as transferring dirt, mold and bacteria from your soles to a sandal or shoe, even for a few minutes, can actually result in infections like plantar warts.</div><div><br />
</div><div>2. The Sole Scrub - This point is sure to raise some controversy among barefooters. I know I've argued this point with a few of my fellow 'footers and I might very well be alone in my thinking on this. But I am going to stand by my views on this: Every few weeks, we should be using a foot file or a pumice stone, and taking down some of the thickened skin that builds up on our heels, balls of our feet and toes. I know, barefooter blasphemy right? Well hear me out for just a second. There's a distinct difference between thick barefooter's pads and callus. One feels smooth and tough, like polished, supple leather. The other feels rough and gritty, almost like sandpaper. Being a barefooter only requires thickened skin, but not to the degree that the skin forms a callus. I've been going barefoot for almost twenty years, and in that time, I routinely do this myself, or go to get a pedicure and get the worst of the callus removed. Contrary to what most barefooters may think, I have never experienced a decrease in my tolerance level without calluses - in fact I personally find that keeping my soles thick, but callus free results in increased sensitivity, not less. The reason that I believe it's unnecessary to carry calluses around is that eventually, calluses can start to dry out, crack and cause pain and open sores. This is not good for people who walk through dirty streets, as you are at increased risk of infection. Again, as in point 1, if you go barefoot with regularity, you should have a nice thick, but smooth, build-up of skin, and then a layer of callus on top of that. Keeping your skin from thickening to the point of drying and cracking is the aim here, so feel free to use this step to whatever level you feel comfortable with. I know that many barefooters will simply flat out disagree with my way of thinking on this point, and I understand their reticence somewhat, so take it or leave it. But it's my opinion, and is backed up by my own experience, that even a little bit of this is better than nothing at all.</div><div><br />
</div><div>3. Water Please - Perhaps it's a fair bit of irony that exposing our bare feet to more moisture can actually result in our feet drying out more than most, but it's something that I've taken note of, living up here in the Pacific Northwest where my feet routinely splash through puddles and rainstorms, and the winter air and the cold can sap moisture from my skin. But no matter where you live, the climate and the environment we walk in can have an adverse affect on your feet. So it helps to apply some moisturizing lotion or creme to your feet on a somewhat regular basis (every day or every week). Because of the climate where I live and how much water my feet are exposed to, I actually do this once a day. I can see and feel a dramatic difference in the quality of the skin on my feet when I don't. The benefit to moisturizing is that you maintain your suppleness and skin elasticity much more when your feet aren't starving for moisture. However, I suppose some people will look at this step and counter by asking how our primitive ancestors got by without moisturizing lotion. It's true, that this is not a requirement for living barefoot. But as a barefooter living in the modern era, with all the pros and cons that that brings, I prefer to have healthy looking feet, with supple, elastic skin instead of flaky, dry itchy skin.</div><div><br />
</div><div>4. Toe Tips - The basics of caring for your toes are even more important for us barefooters than for most. Although not wearing shoes helps us prevent many toe conditions and ailments, we should pay careful attention to the state of our nails and cuticles. Almost all of the injuries I've sustained while barefoot have been to my toes, and could have been prevented with more careful attention to their care. Uneven or long toenails can snag, even on blacktop (and this can actually rip part or all of your nail right off - I have personal experience with this one) or tear, or gather dirt or fungus, which if left unattended could present larger problems. So keep your toenails trimmed, which will help keep dirt from gathering underneath the nail bed, and take care of any ragged cuticles that could peel back to an open sore, which could cause you discomfort or get infected. There are some good products out there (nail oils, etc.) that can help keep your cuticles in good shape, as well as give your toenails an extra does of Vitamin E, which helps them stay strong and prevent chipping and breaking.One note on nail trimming - unlike shod people who are counseled to trim their toenails straight across to prevent ingrown toenails, barefooters can, and should, follow the natural curve of their toes. Without the constrictive forces of shoes to pinch the nails into the skin surrounding the nail bed, ingrown toenails are not an issue for barefooters, even with curved toenails. </div><div><br />
</div><div>5. The Whole Enchilada - This is particularly relevant for barefoot runners, but the lessons here apply to anyone who goes barefoot frequently. As often as we can, we should be checking all the structures of our feet, and doing regular stretches and strengthening exercises to keep them in top shape. Push, pull, flex, point, and massage your feet every way possible. Do this for about 10-15 minutes a day, and make note of any pains, strains, and unusual sensations. In my own personal routine, I do daily check-ins, and every other day I do stretches and strengthening. Very often, our body can send us very subtle signals that something is wrong BEFORE we suffer a debilitating injury. Don't wait until you suffer an arch pull when running...check in with your feet on a regular basis! If something seems out of whack, play gently until if feels back to normal. This is also the easiest step, because it's a great thing to do while sitting at the computer reading an article like this one, or while watching your favorite show or reading a book before bed.</div><div><br />
One other minor point before I conclude this post: Perhaps one of the reasons I subscribe to these things is that I see myself as a barefoot ambassador. In other words, one of the goals I have when I go out barefoot is that am presenting "the case for bare feet" in the court of public opinion. And as an ambassador trying to win acceptance from people to let us live our lives without being hassled for our lack of footwear, the image I present to them is important. Like it or not, I have seen the negative stereotypes of the "barefooter" in the eye of the public: grungy, hippy, long-haired, dirty, smelly, etc. Irregardless of how accurate or inaccurate these stereotypes are, I think that the more effort we put into showing that barefooters can and do take good care of themselves and their feet, the more chance we have of swaying others and changing their minds about what a barefooter actually is. It's easy to dismiss the guy or girl who looks like he doesn't care. I hope that by changing people's views on who they expect barefooters to be, and how well they care for themselves, that we'll be able to get others to stop and think just a bit about their preconceptions about us, rather than make a snap judgment.<br />
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</div><div>So that's it for now. In closing, I acknowledge that some of these tips and suggestions may not be every barefooter's cup of tea. That's OK - each person can choose what works for them. But my philosophy about being a barefooter has always been: put your feet first. We barefooters know - they're pretty special, these feet of ours! And yes, they're amazing in so many ways, and have evolved to take tremendous amounts of punishment and come back fighting. But even with that, we should not simply expect them to handle whatever we throw at them! Treat your feet well, and your whole body will thank you. Barefooters more than any other group of people appreciate how much joy healthy, strong feet can bring. I hope that these tips can help more of my barefoot brothers and sisters keep their feet healthy longer.</div>Matthew Medinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02178200479000412851noreply@blogger.com0