Wabbit apocalypse

I used to see rabbits frequently in our local area. They were morning creatures, for the most part. If I went out for an early walk I'd see them everywhere. I snapped this photo during one of those walks.

But now all I see is coyotes and foxes. No wabbits. You don't think there could be a connection, do you?

Horrors. You just can't trust nature. It's always eating.

No big splash by the nuns today

This was all I could find today on the nuns/Vatican kerfuffle:

ST. LOUIS (AP) — American nuns rebuked by the Vatican for tolerating dissent say they're willing to hold talks with church leaders but won't compromise their mission.

I think that's excellent. I want more but I understand. Saying anything even mildly argumentative at this point would bring on a massive fight. The damned Vatican is itching to excommunicate the lot of them.

The bottom line is that the nuns won't compromise and neither with the popey guy. Good. It's time for the nuns to say "So long, Catholic church." It's too early to say for sure, but I think they're movin' on out. Go, sisters!

UPDATE: What was a short, 3-paragraph article has morphed into something more substantive. (AP does that: fleshes stories out during the day and republishes the same link, but with more meat.) In any case, the article is great now. Here's how it ends:

Still, Farrell [president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious] gave no sign that her group would back down. In a speech Friday morning, she said the sisters have been asking themselves whether the Vatican assessment was an "expression of concern or an attempt to control?" Farrell ended the address with a phrase she learned while serving the church in Chile when the country was under a military dictatorship.

"They can crush a few flowers, but they can't hold back the springtime," she said, before receiving a standing ovation.

I love these nuns. They are totally cool.

About all those buried bodies

The other day when I was watching the news, there was a story about idiot kids who wrecked a cemetery. Headstones were overturned, monuments were cracked, etc. It was a sorry sight.

I was struck by the lament of a woman who was interviewed for the story. She said (I'm paraphrasing since I didn't save the recording), "Don't they understand that this is all that's left of us when we're gone?"

That simple statement opened a door for me. I'm always flummoxed when people show fierce attachment to dead bodies. Truly, I don't get it. The instant a person dies, the body is meaningless. We should toss it out or better yet, recycle it. What we shouldn't do is put it in an expensive box, bury the box and then visit it on Sundays. I've never understood that.

But this woman's statement opened a door for me. She really believed that graves represent "all that's left of us when we're gone." What a concept. I guess it's true that if you haven't left something worthwhile behind on this Earth, all you are is a dead body rotting in a buried box.

But who doesn't leave something behind? True; sometimes it's wreckage: harm, pain and evil deeds. But sometimes the person leaves a beautiful painting or a history book that she wrote. If you make something wonderful, it will continue to live beyond the moment of your death. If you were a decorator, there will be homes that still show your style. A construction worker leaves buildings in his wake. Politicians leave laws that continue to function. And parents leave children who, in turn, create other children.

But yeah, I guess if you've done absolutely nothing with your life, all that's left of you is that creepy thing rotting inside a box, six feet under. This doesn't change my opinion at all, mind you. Cemeteries are an appalling notion. But it was good to finally understand what people see in this odd cemetery tradition.

Accomplish something in life. Leave something beautiful behind when you depart this Earth. That's why you're here.

Tomorrow is D-Day for American nuns

Storming the beaches.

Tomorrow, the largest group of American nuns will issue their response to the ridiculous charges spewed at them by the Vatican. No way they're gonna lie down for this. I cannot wait to read the response. And the nuns are getting tons of support from Americans:

More than 900 Roman Catholic nuns gathering in St. Louis, Mo., this week to discuss the future of their relationship with the Vatican were surprised to be greeted by supporters with a simple message on their signs: "We're with you, sisters."

We are indeed with you, sisters. Since the Vatican will never back down, I expect this to end with the nuns seceding from the Catholic church and forming their own, independent religious organization. That would be lovely. They could model Catholicism for the Vatican, to show them what it looks like.

Eat it, popey guy. No one in the US is going to bow down to the Vatican's authoritarian edicts. No one.

Is this a metaphor?

THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — A large forest fire that broke out at a remote monastic community where women have not been allowed for a thousand years spread Thursday to a nearby resort area, forcing the evacuation of a seaside vacation village and sending up a thick pall of smoke over the area. 

The article also says:

It was not clear how the fire started Wednesday on the Mount Athos peninsula, a World Heritage site and self-ruled community of Orthodox monks that bans women — and even female animals — from entering. 

When you have rules like that, stuff just bursts into flames. It's basic physics.

The hair makes the man

Mars Science Laboratory Engineer Adam Steltzner has a great Jimmy Neutron thing going on in his hair. It's not wildly evident here, but sometimes he skootches the front of his hair up really high. And that's why I like the guy.

Okay, it's more than that. He makes science fun.

Fame is exactly like the plague

In an America where many people would kill to "go viral" and be known to others, I'm an outlier. In fact, I'm way off the chart. To me, fame is the saddest thing that can happen to a person.

If my horror novel is a hit, I'll be very happy. But I refuse to become personally famous. It's just not happening. I won't be interviewed, won't go on shows, won't appear here and there to promote the book. I ain't doin' nuthin'. The book will sink or swim on its own merits.

Mind you, I'll always be here at the blog and any reader who wants to interact with me will be able to. That was my aim when creating this blog, to give people a way to speak to me. But I will always be a virtual experience. There will be no live video chats, no images of Keith O'Connor in the media. I'm a hermit and that's that. Just saying.

Writers and interruptions

When I write (or edit), I get on a roll. It's an all-encompassing thing and the last thing I need is an interruption. Yet they arrive like clockwork.

What qualifies as an interruption? Sometimes it's a real-life issue, like having to tend to matters out there in the world (ugh). Getting sick can also throw me off, though not always. It depends on the illness. Even changing a prescription drug, or adding a new one, can make me feel so weird that I can't write. Lately, when a doctor suggests a prescription, I say, "Can I skip it?" And usually the doc says "fine" (which makes me wonder why he suggested it in the first place).

In any case, this is a lead-in to say that I'm suffering an interruption. No big deal but I haven't been able to start the final read-through of Xmas Carol. I'll begin tomorrow. And hopefully that will bring an end to this long, long period of editing. I want this book to be finished now.

If you know a writer, don't interrupt him (or her).

Afternoon delight

As I enjoyed the sacrament of espresso this afternoon, I watched last night's CNN coverage of the Mars landing. I may not have stayed up late to watch it, but at least I set the DVR.

It was great. Being the perfect audience, I was nervous about the landing. Didn't matter that I knew things would work out; I just get caught up in the drama. It was so exciting. Everything not only went perfectly, but did so immediately. It was like boom, boom, boom. They got confirmation at every stage of the descent and within a very short time, had photos from the surface to prove it. It was stupendous.

The best part was seeing the faces of the NASA scientists as they learned the mission was a success. They seem to be a very huggable bunch. I always think this when I watch landings. (They also seem like hippies; just saying.) Seeing them cheer as the first results came in was inspiring. This is what real science looks like. I'm so glad I recorded it.

But afterward, I couldn't help but wonder. Is this incredible Mars landing the swan song of a formerly smart, technological society? Will this be like our moon landing, an event never to be repeated? The future of space exploration seems dim, given our financial reality and the dimwitted people we elect as legislators.

Sad but true: I can't imagine our current know-nothing society producing a similar or greater technological feat in the future. We aren't even educating our children anymore and we've placed extreme financial barriers -- like a protective moat -- around higher education. For most young people, it's no longer possible to go to college. This is not only insanity, it is national suicide. Where is the next generation of well-educated Americans supposed to come from?

But if the Mars landing was our swan song, at least it was lovely.

Because it makes so much sense

Have you seen the latest Olympic news? The headline says Disqualified for Cannabis.

LONDON -- American judo fighter Nick Delpopolo was expelled from the Olympics for doping Monday, saying he unintentionally ate something before the games that had been baked with marijuana.

So let's play this out. They disqualified him because marijuana will give him an unfair advantage? Have you ever seen stoned people play sports? Duh. This makes no sense at all.