Back Out

Not much to say this morning and no riding today. I yakked my back and moving is more painful than Bush's excuses not to meet the mothers of deceased war heroes parked outside his Texas ranch. Predict I'll be riding again on Monday. Until then, lots of minimal motion and lifting.

So when in pain, what to do? Eat gobs and gobs of unhealthy food! Went to the Pinion Plaza for a steak breakfast and I feel bloated and sicker than before. Then I had a white mocha with whipped cream. Yuck, yuck, yuck. I feel like I just took a dirty chemical bath and now weigh about 300 pounds, which isn't too far from the truth.

Reading The Da Vinci Code again after reading Angels and Demons a few weeks ago. If I were Catholic, Dan Brown would be a very dangerous and threatening person to my faith. He's articulate, knowledgeable, and has an uncanny talent for connecting the dots to the most obscure facts. The actions sequences are a little lame and Deus ex Machina at times (not unlike the Star Trek transporter). Even so, he provides thoughtful insight into why the Catholic Church is the way it is.

Which leads me to my humble opinion as to why religion is such a presence in our lives and I'm not talking the spiritual aspect. I'm thinking more of the intellectual side of things. Turning the Wayback Machine to the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Outside of the big population centers like Paris and London, who was generally the most educated member of the local community? The parish priest, who could read and write and serve as Rome's pipeline to the masses. The Church anointed political figures (including kings and emperors), educational curriculum, and community morals. Again, IMHO, not all of this was bad because it served to give the community a sense of togetherness. When the Church interfered with rational thought and verifiable science, that's when they crossed the line and kept Man from evolving (Da Vinci, again, and his brethren). Notice how far we've come, and in a really short time, since the Age of Reason took hold. Imagine where we would be today if minds had been a little more open 500-600 years ago.

Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo got zero stars from Roger Ebert. Hollywood is losing money at the box office because their recent major releases are aimed at the all-important 13-25 demographic (War of the Worlds, Charley and the Chocolate Factory, and (shudder) Dukes of Hazzard). I miss the days when movies were made by adults for adults. Sean Connery says he won't make movies again while they're being green-lighted by immature idiots (paraphrase). Good for him!

Back to work.