I enjoy two of your witty lines especially:
"if you want proof, try mathematics, photography, or a fine Scotch"
"I love the sound of beta decay in the morning!"
I appreciate even more your delightful posts and steady use of facts.
Evolution is quite a beautiful idea, really, for it connects ideas from physics, geology, chemistry, biochemistry, genetics, astronomy, paleontology, archeology, oceanography, et al. into a coherent whole. Evolution is obviously a fact in the sense that it occurred, as we see from all the evidence. Conservatism is an evidence-based outlook on life. Evolution is a grand Theory in the sense that it provides an intelligent understanding of how all the facts are integrated. Like age of the cosmos, age of the solar system, age of the earth, age of the first appearance of life on earth, age of multicellular organisms, vertebrates, mammals, and us.
The TOE is beautiful because it makes sense. And it avoids the chaos of random interventions by a 'designer meddler' who might turn everything upside down in a finger-snap. Hooray for a sane natural world.
And like the age of a good Irish whiskey! Don't forget that.
Thanks for the kind comments. I try to keep things on an even keel--the patience of an archaeologist I guess.