Your perspective, as always, is instructive. I've had feedback very similar to that, and "walking on air" was decidedly not my reaction to it. Your view is superior.

The juxtaposition of two things that become more powerful and beautiful with age is lovely. Scotch whisky as a kind of maple syrup, too. I like that image!

I'm brand new to your blog--got here via your latest Alternet article (though how I got there is shrouded in internet mist)--and am thrilled to find such an articulate atheist and skeptic who has also confronted the realities of weight-loss and maintenance. Just six weeks ago, after years of some weird kind of hopeful denial during which I gained 80 pounds, I finally said, "Hey, energy in minus energy out equals energy stored," and started keeping a detailed food diary to track a significant calorie reduction. The value, the power, of rationality has been immense; your posts about both atheism and your weight loss have helped me see the path I've taken myself in slowly abandoning mysticism, becoming an atheist, AND being able to deal head-on with The Whole Calorie Thing. What's more, the post where you take Fat Acceptance extremists to task helped me zap the doubts that FA believers planted in my mind when I began blogging about my own weight-loss efforts. Thank you for writing! You're fantastic, a real inspiration. I'm so glad I've found my way to your blog.