"When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading." - Henny Youngman

Disclaimer: my cold hit its peak (or should that be nadir?) sometime overnight, and I used up all my energy during services this morning. So if this comes out as unintelligible babble you'll just have to deal with it. With that caveat, in no particular order....

Kudos to the people at O'Reilly Auto Parts, and particularly a young employee who tends to mumble and whose name, therefore, I've never caught. I went in yesterday in hopes of getting a gasket for the Rambler's transmission pan and he couldn't bring up anything on his screen. He said he'd do some research later and get back to me.
Right.
He called later in the day! Said he'd found one he thought might be a match and would have it at the counter for me by 1 p.m. today, perfect timing for a stop on the way home from church.
He called again today while we were at lunch with the kids to say it had arrived and was not a match. However, with help from a couple of other employees he'd found one that they all agreed was correct. It's in a warehouse in CA and won't arrive until late in the week but I told him to order it and call when it came in.
That's unusual service these days, and I hereby recommend O'Reilly's to anyone looking for a '66 Rambler tranny gasket, or any other auto part.

Even without the additional drag of a cold I'm wasted on a Sunday afternoon. I don't ask my body to do anything more than reach for the remote, and I feed it whatever it wants regardless of nutritional value. When they send me home from church with the desserts left over from last night's poker party it it's pretty much uninhibited sugar gluttony washed down with Diet Coke.
Amen.

Aside from my cold and a coughing fit while preaching I had a great time at Pathway this morning. We didn't have the lower attendance I expected on a holiday weekend - visitors cancelled out vacationers - and they came to the services with energy and focus. Whether in front of a congregation or a classroom I've been at this long enough to know when people are engaged, and they were today. Second hour that was reflected in good, perceptive questions. Yeah, it was a good morning at Pathway Bible Church.

I spent time this afternoon working on our vacation itinerary and it only increased my eagerness for that getaway. Seriously, folks, camping on the Oregon coast is about as good as it gets. Quiet, beautiful, slow, and - did I mention? - beautiful.

Dogs have four legs. Tables have four legs. Therefore, tables are dogs.
That's called a false syllogism. I had to learn all about the various kinds of false syllogisms in a college philosophy class, but I've forgotten almost every bit of that course's content. And neither of us needs a college level course to tell us there's a truckload of bogocity in that statement.

Alas, some false syllogisms come wrapped in skilled writing by guys with lots of letters after their name. Most Americans aren't real good at critical thinking, never mind critical reading, and can accept the bogocity without realizing they're being played. That kind of skilled manipulation happens all the time in the political arena; it's a job requirement for the pol. But it also happens in the field of science.
Yep, even the guys in lab coats can get so enthused about their work and subsequent world view that they turn tables into dogs.

I read this article before heading into church this morning. The subject of the piece, the famous Richard Leaky, says a number of interesting things, including that we're all African. But the one that had my shaking my head comes about halfway into the article where he says:
"If we're spreading out across the world from centers like Europe and American that evolution is nonsense and science is nonsense, how do you combat new pathogens, how do you combat new strains of disease that are evolving in the environment?" he asked.
Huh??
First, Europe and America are where all the idiots live. (Note; he lives in Africa.) Then, in one fell swoop he posits that anyone who rejects (macro)evolution as the explanation for everything in the living universe also rejects science in toto, labeling it "nonsense." But wait! There's more! He goes on to say, in the same sentence, that those people can't, or at least aren't interested in combating new pathogens and diseases that will develop from (micro)evolution.

Excuse me, Mr. Leaky, but that's two truckloads of hooey, and I suspect you know as much. It's elitist, dismissive, and the same kind of nonsense you decry. You know there are scientists from virtually every field, including biology, paleontology and medicine who reject (macro)evolution as a reasonable explanation for the complexity and diversity of the living universe. Furthermore, there are multitudes who accept a Creator's work and who have dedicated their lives to eradicating diseases, old and new, including in the most remote areas of Africa. (If you need names, sir, I can provide them, and their email addresses.)

Sometimes I think Leaky's variety of knowing misrepresentation is intellectual bullying. He knows most readers of that article won't stop and think through his tables-to-dogs sleight of hand, and as a result he gets them to accept his conclusions based on his last name and its reputation.

OK, I'm getting too worked up for a Sunday evening. Time for some supper and mindless TV.
And cookies.
Lots of cookies.