Curse you, Vanessa, for pointing out my fatal flaw!!

I don't know why the name-changing tradition continued, but I know it started with Pope John II, because his birth name was Mercurius. Apparently a Pope sharing the name with a Roman God was unacceptable.

Also, I know they have a rule where the Pope, at the time of his election, has to be younger than 80, probably for those reasons. (Although such a rule did not prevent short reigns, as in the case of John Paul I.)

Thanks for the info, Jess.

this is likely going to be really cynical, but where's the wisdom in electing someone who's 78 to be the leader of the church? How healthy and long-lived is he likely to be? We could be seeing conclave in a mere year or two if things don't go all that well for him. That would suck for a whole host of people. (I mean, of course, regardless of how 'good' he is for the position etc. because I have no grasp of that, nor would I even pretend to)

Why do the popes need to change their names?

You guys don't really need this site to tell you that Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger has been elected Pope Benedict XVI, do you? I didn't think so.

apparently my computer can't watch their videos... anyway, though. what an anticlimactic chimney to release the smoke from:

i mean, if I was announcing to the world that I'd chosen a new religious leader, I'd have used a far more exciting chimney, say made from bricks or stone, or anything other than humble ol' stove pipe like off my grandpa's cabin.

pfff.. that smoke didn't look white... I want my money back.

Pam, it was all in the name of good-natured razzing. You know, one of those 'chill out, it's not the end of the world' kind of comments. We're all in pretty deep right now, those of us with exams and those of us without (and I don't just mean me) - hence the wink after the comment about judging people based on exams. I didn't think it deserved to elicit a 'fuck off' from you, but if you're really that stressed, then okay, I will 'fuck off.'


perhaps my comment about going out partying wasn't called for, but I'm tired of hearing - from a whole pile of us - that no one wants to go where the others of us want to go. Sometimes we have to make concessions for the better good - if we want to hang out with our friends. And sometimes we have other plans and we don't want to go out with a particular group of friends, and that's fine too. I just think we all need to - at times - work in some compromises, and then respect eachother, instead of being disappointed because someone among us has chosen a sportsbar, or an irish pub or whatever other sort of place ends up getting chosen. The point is not the venue, it's the friends who go. or maybe I'm missing the point.

and besides, Pam, this part wasn't supposed to be specifically criticizing you, I think it's something everyone here needs to think about - myself included - that maybe the point of going out sometimes, whether it's chili's or whatever scruffy murphy's is called now, or the plant, is not to go to a rockin' place, but to hang out with friends.


and maybe I'm just speaking my mind because I can't really speak my mind in other areas of my life right now, and i figured my friends would be able to take a little shit from me now and then. and hell, if I'm burning bridges at work, why not everywhere? ;)


Mary- I'll see if I can join you on Thursday, it was so much fun just to be in that environment last weekend, I'll try my best to join you.

As for Friday/Saturday (I think I've lost the actual plans...) I don't know that I'm free but we'll see... Jeremy deserves some fun for his b-day.

How odd, Jess. I have not had that problem at all, either with Firefox or (admittedly, an emulated version of) Internet Explorer. Has anyone else seen this problem?

So I got an email this morning from the contact form:

From: Ortega(ortega_f@mail15.com)

Dear Webmaster,
We have several hotel websites and we are looking for webmasters with sites of similar content.
I think a link exchange will be mutually beneficial. If you are interested please contact me and I will give you all the relevant details.
If we got the wrong person please pass this on to your webmaster so he can deal with our request.

Kind Regards,
Ortega Floid