Tidbits

I'm not Catholic, at present I'm agnostic. But I've always had a soft spot for the Catholic Church, and if I ever decide that I can commit to Christianity and a Christian life, I'd probably go the Catholic route. I visited the Vatican and St. Peter's on one of my trips to Italy in my younger days, and it left an impression, the place is an awesome thing to behold and experience. I always tell my students that the cathedrals in Europe were built to awe, where they wanted you to walk in and say "oh my God." Mission accomplished at The Vatican. Anyway, I'm following the conclave with interest. I'd love to see a non-European become Pope. That could be a shot in the arm the Church needs. Religion is dying in heathen Europe anyway, they should look to Latin America, Africa or Asia. They need a combination of a charismatic figure ( a la John Paul II) who is also open to some serious reforms. Also, most importantly, someone who will address the child sex abuse scandals with candor, seriousness and humility. It is not just that it happened, but almost worse is how the Church authorities reacted and closed ranks afterwards.

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I am victorious in my Dead Pool. If you don't know what I'm talking about, here's the original post. My friend Kyle has capitulated after I took such a commanding lead that it was becoming a rout. We were going to go from July 2012 to July 2013, but he realized the futility of his efforts. My RIP list: Andy Griffith, Michael Clarke Duncan, Arlen Spector, George McGovern and Hugo Chavez. All Kyle had was Ernest Borgnine. Once I grabbed Valerie Harper (to take Chavez's recently vacated slot), he gave up.

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I am enjoying the new David Bowie release, The Next Day. It has been ten years since his last one, and most people had assumed that he had slipped into quiet retirement. Not so. Perhaps a review soon, but I am anxious to hear what our local Bowie expert ANCIANT has to say. I am also really enjoying Pete Townshend's early to mid 80's albums Empty Glass, All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes and even White City - A Novel. So good.

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Exciting news from space. The Mars rover has confirmed what we have long suspected. Not only was there once water on Mars billions of years ago, but water with such perfect balance that, to quote one of the scientists, humans "could have taken a drink." The chances that life exists somewhere out there just increased almost exponentially. The fact that we found that essential conditions for some sort of life (even if only at the micro level) were present so close to Earth, the chances that those same conditions are out there on some of the many billions of other planets or moons is very, very good. Now that they have discovered that life indeed could have existed on Mars at some point, they can search for the evidence that it was there. Perhaps the Martian Chronicles wasn't so far off after all.

ABOVE: If you happened to stop by Mars several billions of years ago, you could have had a refreshing glass of water

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I finally saw "Argo." Enjoyed it a great deal, but I would like to do some more research on the events. Was it actually that close of a getaway? I saw on the news that some Iranian government officials viewed the film and of course, deny it all. In fact, they are looking file a lawsuit against producers Ben Affleck and George Clooney and are demanding an apology from them. Good luck with that.