St. Augustine had comment that I think might be relevant to the Conservapedia thing I found the quote appropriately enough via Wikipedia

[link]

Usually, even a non-Christian knows something about the earth, the heavens, and the other elements of this world, about the motion and orbit of the stars and even their size and relative positions, about the predictable eclipses of the sun and moon, the cycles of the years and the seasons, about the kinds of animals, shrubs, stones, and so forth, and this knowledge he hold to as being certain from reason and experience. Now, it is a disgraceful and dangerous thing for an infidel to hear a Christian, presumably giving the meaning of Holy Scripture, talking nonsense on these topics; and we should take all means to prevent such an embarrassing situation, in which people show up vast ignorance in a Christian and laugh it to scorn. The shame is not so much that an ignorant individual is derided, but that people outside the household of faith think our sacred writers held such opinions, and, to the great loss of those for whose salvation we toil, the writers of our Scripture are criticized and rejected as unlearned men. If they find a Christian mistaken in a field which they themselves know well and hear him maintaining his foolish opinions about our books, how are they going to believe those books in matters concerning the resurrection of the dead, the hope of eternal life, and the kingdom of heaven, when they think their pages are full of falsehoods and on facts which they themselves have learnt from experience and the light of reason? Reckless and incompetent expounders of Holy Scripture bring untold trouble and sorrow on their wiser brethren when they are caught in one of their mischievous false opinions and are taken to task by those who are not bound by the authority of our sacred books. For then, to defend their utterly foolish and obviously untrue statements, they will try to call upon Holy Scripture for proof and even recite from memory many passages which they think support their position, although they understand neither what they say nor the things about which they make assertion.

* De Genesi ad litteram libri duodecim, translation by J. H. Taylor in Ancient Christian Writers, Newman Press, 1982, volume 41

I'm going to give Augustine a break about "even a non-Christian" and the use of word "infidel" given that he died in the 5th century C.E.

Nah, if I have any more caffeine today, I'll never go to sleep tonight. A quandary!!

A request for advice from the cooks among us: The last time I cooked a roast, mixing several flavors as seasoning on the outside worked really well. This time I thought I'd do the following:

• add coriander to the more savory spices I'm rubbing it with prior to cooking
• top it with kalamata olives, slices of plum, and feta cheese for the last hour
• add kalamata olives to the onions and celery that I surround it with to absorb cooking juices

Does this sound like it would be a good idea, or result in a weirdly sweet prune roast reminiscent of Rachel Green's beef trifle?

I'm going to give Augustine a break about "even a non-Christian" and the use of word "infidel" given that he died in the 5th century C.E.

Dude. Using "C.E." means that you're anti-Christian. Or at least that's what Conservapedia says....

Well, Non-Christian at least.

Does this sound like it would be a good idea, or result in a weirdly sweet prune roast reminiscent of Rachel Green's beef trifle?

I think it could work. I do a pomegranate/cherry pork roast that works with fruit. I might be a little concerned about the plums burning, but if you're only doing them for an hour, it could totally work. Although I'm not sure why you're adding the plums, sounds good with just olives and feta. But OTOH, I'm all for random cooking experiments.

add kalamata olives to the onions and celery that I surround it with to absorb cooking juices

I expect the olives will do more flavoring than absorbing the flavor. I'd be a little worried about bitterness. Though I frequently love olives in savory dishes.

The coriander sounds good. I'm iffy on the plum. Generally a milder sweet flavor would be used with a roast - like carrots or sweet onions or apples even. Also, I don't think the plum is going to survive that heat and impart flavor the way you want it to.

But I'm curious about your roast and will need a review once you've had it.

Although I'm not sure why you're adding the plums, sounds good with just olives and feta.

I'm aiming for a rich mix of flavors like a Moroccan tajine. But rice is off the menu for now, and I like a brown crust on beef so I'm reluctant to simmer it in a covered earthernware pot—hence the plums, as dates would probably shrivel to inedible rubbery plugs over an hour's baking.

Hmm, I may add the olives and plums a little later, like 40 minutes from completion.

Is this roast beef, Matt? I think it might be a little sweet. If it's chicken or pork though, go for it.

Yep, a 3lb. roast top sirloin. I'm also cooking with my dad's sweet tooth in mind, so somewhat sweet is good. I just don't want it to taste like a dessert.