Beetle,
I was amazed that you were shocked about this. I thought San Francisco's reputation for this kind of thing was known world wide.
Keep the article "handy". Perhaps others around the world need to know that San Francisco has a "wacky" reputation. The people that participate in such things say they have "mastered" their self consciousness and try to "bait" others into the same way of thinking. I personally think it's a "stroke" of genius as far as publicity goes. It got a "rise" out of you, so the tactic is definitely working. But herein lies the "rub"... This kind of thing has been going on there for quite some time, and as far as Americans go, it only comes as a shock to people who live in the bible belt states such as "KY" (that's Kentucky). San Francisco will always "head" in a different direction than mainstream America. They just "beat" to a different drum there.
