Month: December 2007

The best marathons in 2007

Just like last year, I give my you my take on the best marathons in 2007, i.e. amongst the ones I have participated in myself. Incredibly, it looks like that I will reach 31 marathons completed in 2007 alone (still have two to do during the Christmas holiday !) making it 66 in toto for me ultimo 2007.

I have divided the marathons into four groups. I have left ‘my own’ run GARMIN Rudersdal marathon out of my evaluation, of course I find that marathon to be a very, very special one – for a number of both subjective and objective reasons, but nevertheless I’ll not rank it here amongst the other races.

As always, you find links to the races via ‘My marathons’ in the menu.

Overall
1. Vienna (Austria)
2. Rome (Italy)
3. Barcelona (Spain)
4. Storebaelt Nature (Denmark)
5. Banemarathon (Denmark)

Big-city marathons
1. Vienna (Austria)
2. Rome (Italy)
3. Barcelona (Spain)
4. Boston (USA)
5. Chicago (USA)

Nature
1. Storebaelt Nature (Denmark)
    (well, and GARMIN Rudersdal ! ;))
2. Vänersborg (Sweden)
3. Magdeburg (Germany)
4. Natursti (Denmark)
5. Öland (Sweden)

 Small races
1. Storebaelt Nature (Denmark)
2. Banemarathon (Denmark)
3. Vänersborg (Sweden)
4. Sydkystmarathon (Denmark)
5. Zürich New Year Midnight marathon (Switerzerland)
    (DNF for me, but a great experience !)
 

These are lists based on my personal experiences, of course. To mentain memory of the best races ‘ever’, I better have a category of the ‘all-time best’ marathons as well. Here, the big marathons do live up to their famous names !

Best ever
1. New York (USA)
2. Hamburg (Germany)
3. Vienna (Austria)
4. Rome (Italy)
5. Berlin (Germany)

Programmed Philosophy

Being a programmer is fun ! Many things are based on logic, on knowledge of a certain scoped knowledge-material… and then the task is to be creative and find solutions to stated, explicit requirements. Pretty easy, basically, at least after the many hours of studying and learning are over.

Being a Philosopher stinks 😉 You may think and write stuff your whole life… and you may never find out if it was worth a damned penny at all. So why – WHY – at all care to think or contemplate about anything ‘deep’ during your lifetime ? No, no, no… go for the money, fame and sex … and enjoy the ride all the way to the graveyard, right ? Perhaps.

Well…maybe not. Maybe we have in our nature as Human Beings to become philosophical about life and the meaning of it at some point in our lives. So… good news.. for your lazy guys out there, I have created a small piece of vb.net programming that will spare your some efforts. Go on, give it a read and a tought.

Dim GodExists As Boolean
Dim ScienceIsTrue As Boolean
Dim PhilosophicalHeadline As String
Dim Conclusion as String

If GodExists = True and ScienceIsTrue = True Then
 PhilosophicalHeadline = “God exists ! All questions or metaphysical considerations are irrelevant if God exists. Period !”
 Conclusion = “God Exists and let’s Mankind play around with Science. However, God may or may not determine (at any point in Time) to ‘make new decisions’, ultimately underpinning the true permanent consequences of the Natural Laws as we know them.”

Elseif GodExists = True and ScienceIsTrue = False Then
 PhilosophicalHeadline = “God exists ! All questions or metaphysical considerations are irrelevant if God exists. Period !”
 Conclusion = “God Exists and Mankind has fooled itself in the persuit of Science. We know truly Nothing at all (even though we think we do).”

Elseif GodExists = False and ScienceIsTrue = False Then
 PhilosophicalHeadline = “God (or the equivalent) does not exist. Only matter counts in the Universe. However, Science is also not what we think…”
 Conclusion = “God does not exist and Science is a fallacy too. We think we know stuff, but we don’t… and we have no afterlife or heaven to rest in. We are really F***ed !”

Elseif GodExists = False and ScienceIsTrue = True Then
 PhilosophicalHeadline = “God (or the equivalent) does not exist. Only matter counts in the Universe. Science is giving us the correct perception of the Universe.”
 Conclusion = “God does not exist, but Science accounts for the matter and Natural Laws of the Universe, the Biology, the Chemistry and so forth.”
End If


Surely, in the Europe the last conslusion seems to be the most popular. However, I think that all philosophical discussions begin with the question ‘Does God exist ?”. 90 % of the Earth’s population believe he does. What do you think ?

The Illusion of Perfection

The Nature is not Perfect. There is no such thing as a perfect crystal or a 100 % ideal weather forecast 😉 Well, there is not.

We Humans tend live by the Illusion of ‘Perfect’. The perfect life – the perfect education, the perfect house, the perfect partner, the perfect carreer an so on. However, all things only lasts a brief minute on the great Timeline of the Universe. Perfection is a short joy, at best. Perfection is an abstraction, perhaps a fatal one. You may waste your life in the persuit of it – instead of enjoying the real world and your life as it is. 

What is the use of being a perfect mouse in lieu of the concept of ‘Cat’ ?
Who is bigger - the imperfect cat or the perfect mouse ?

Similarly, what is the joy of being the perfect human considering the concept of e.g. cancer ? The concept of war… of poverty… of racism…of not having a chance in life….of loosing your loved ones ? Not to mention the unavoidable concept of Time, the great force that transforms the World and our experiences each second, ultimately taking our lives and bringing us back into the great circulation of matter (and, perhaps, who knows, Souls). What is ‘Perfection’ in these contexts ?

The World as I know It

Having reached a certain age and experience I have decided how the World must be. The World as I know It.

This World is the perfect World not only to me but to the whole World. For generations, people all over the Globe will copy my World. Megastores with ‘Tor Rønnow’-items will replace common trade as we know of it as yet, people will buy clothings like I have etc. and bookstores will contain only one book, the book of My Thoughts for everyone to read and follow. Darwin will be replaced by me and the law of ‘The Survival of The Most Similar’. Everyone must be like me ! Then, I feel safe.

The World as I know It is advanced to such a degree of Perfection that no progress can be made. My World offer no new possibilities and allows no variety in neither taste, personal habits, preferences or lines of thought. Why should it ? My World is already Perfect ! At least, I think so.. and you should never challenge that.

Thus, for eons and eons to come, My World will be replicated and relived again and again… by millions and millions of humans. No change is ever needed, The World as I know It is home safe and can perpetuate itself forever.

But wait a minute – what happens if I change my mind ?

The whole World changes !

Glenn Gould on Marathon

Glenn Gould on Marathon ? Well, actually… no. It is Glenn Gould on Art:

The purpose of art is not the release of a momentary ejection of adrenaline but rather the gradual, lifelong construction of a state of wonder and serenity.

                                                                 Glenn Gould

These words cover so many things in my life, actually, including the persuit of the many marathons. A ladyfriend once suggested that running the marathons is a kind of escapism ? Well, no ! I can understand this kind of ignorance as most ‘normal’ people fail to know themselves, to really look into the deepest and darkest corners of their minds and to confront themselves. I fall in the opposite category: I do not know how not to.

My personal experience is that true happyness and ‘self-love’ is achieved through these lifelong relationships and interests, for my part given in music, chess, spirituality, Nature (especially mountains), skiing, travelling… and… well, yes, I could go on a bit. These days MY MARATHONS, obviously, are my highway No. 1  to transcendence and self-appreciation (not to mention all the great fun, visits to interesting cities and countries and all the many good friends that the marathons have spinned off). 

I don’t mention persons. Of course, love is first and foremost achieved by the love to the important persons in our lives ! However, unlike the things above persons tend to come and go throughout a lifetime… love-affairs begin and end, children grow up and move away, one job is followed by another etc., so if you base your hopes of happyness on others entirely, you will end up short one day, it may come late – but it will come ! What do you do then ? See ?

So – get into a relationship durable for the rest of your life. With yourself ! For example, try on a marathon 😉