1. I fell ill this week and stayed home Wednesday and Thursday.

2. Appealing to man’s baser instinct may be morally dubious, but it is nevertheless more wholesome than attempting to re-write his baser instincts.

3. I’ve heard it said that we shouldn’t make judgments about other people’s looks. The trouble is, whether we should or not, we are going to. There are appropriate times and places and circumstances to bring it up, but like it or not, we will form judgments about how other people look.

4. Something to consider: service done on whose behalf is considered intrinsically meritorious, while service done on whose behalf is considered intrinsically malicious?

Thought prompted by reading up on John Brown.

5. Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert passed away this week. This has affected me more than most celebrity deaths, since Dilbert has been a major influence on my life and sensibilities. I’ve been reading it since elementary school, and it helped shape my own sense of humor in many ways. On top of that, Adams strikes me as one of those rare people who genuinely was worth listening to, agree or disagree with him, because his opinions were all honestly formed from an attempt to rationally understand the world around him, not by adhering to some particular trend or another. That is a vanishingly rare trait to find (one I’m trying hard to cultivate myself).

I’ve written a retrospective, which hopefully will be published soon.

6. I am very glad to say, at least, that Adams’s final message announced that he had become a Christian and “accepted Jesus Christ as my personal lord and savior.” Obviously Protestant flavored, but I hope and trust Our Lord will accept him nonetheless, as He accepted St. Dismas.

May his soul, and the soul of all the faithful departed, rest in peace.

7. As a tribute: