Habemus Papem

I wish Benedict XVI peace and strength. He's going to need both. Methinks that the Catholic church may end up in even worse schism than it is already. Given his age and the short duration of the conclave I can't help wondering if he was a compromise candidate whilst Southern America and Southern Africa get their act together and decide which kind of pope they want. The late Gerald Suster in 'The Elect' did a good job of showing how badly that might go wrong. I certainly hope that Benedict lasts longer than John-Paul I.
 
Now that there's a vacancy as head of the Inquisition - oops, sorry Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, one wonders whether policies will change. Ignoring insignificant matters such as contraception and AIDS, under Ratzinger's leadership the Congregation declared that centring prayer was "...incompatible with the Catholic faith and [could] cause grave harm...", thus putting many North American monks and nuns all-a'flutter.
 
Had John-Paul II lived, he would probably have canonised Hildegard of Bingen fairly soon. One wonders what Benedict's position will be. She'd make a splendid German saint, but her visions and prophesies wer investigated by one of Benedict's predecessors and I have the feeling that had Ratzinger been at the head of the investigation, he'd have declared her heretic. Bavaria and the Niederrhine never really have go on too well.
 
I still wish Benedict strength and peace, but... Vaya con Dios, John-Paul II.

So was Benny-boy anything to do with Opus Dei? The worrying thing for me is, while I'm not too good with photos as you know, the picture of him here reminds me of that white-haired English actor who is always turning up as the sort of vicious criminal boss type in gangster films.

For the faithful the important thing is that the Church now has a Shepherd: the name, the person, the color of his skin, is less important. The decisive thing is that that man, whoever he might be, had become Peter, the new Vicar of Christ. His geographic origin, his age, are secondary features. It is the successor of the Prince of the Apostles that they awaited, that they are applauding.

Given your comments about the Africans, Ffetch, I wonder if we should read more into that statement.

As for his association with Opus Dei, perhaps someone with a more thorough grounding in Catholicism ought to comment. I'm not sure whether membership of the Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei is a matter of public record, or even whether Ratzinger would have been allowed to be a member of such a sub-group whilst holding office in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.I'll say simply that as leader of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith he was a known fan of Escrivá, the founder of "Opus Dei" and gave a personal testimony in support of Escrivá's canonisation. As for your quote, it's clear that not all Cardinals from, say, Brazil, are 'applauding', Prince of the Apostles or not.

convergent technology

So my Nokia 6810i phone died, terminally hosed. It was this device, only about two years old, that you sort of used to make mobile phone calls, maybe send text messages. It was their first cheapish tri-band, had a keyboard that fitted my fingers, and did its job wonderfully. I went to get another phone. After protesting that I just wanted to make phone calls and use text, I walked out with what is now the bottom of the range, with built-in camera, download tunes from the net whilst on the move, listen to radio, exchange picture messages, keep my diary and half a dozen other things I don't really understand.
 
But it has a smaller keypad, severe complexity exchanging batteries if, as I do, I need a spare, and a select button by pressing the centre of a four-direction toggle. This last means that you have to hit the thing dead centre, or it'll toggle left, right, up or down and select something I didn't want. It comes with a manual aimed at a retarded four-year-old, emphasis being on which end to stick in your ear, then a jump-cut to managing your download list. Does it tell me how to move stuff to and from the exchangeable data card? Does it tell me how to turn off the features I don't want?
 
If I want convergent technology I want it to converge on my terms. That includes there being a model available that does the traditional things as well as my old phone used to. There is one, of course, the communicator, but they want an extra three hundred quid for it, in a time when technology prices are still dropping. I can't help thinking that I'm paying the price for the service proveiders having teamed up with the handset makers to ensure that all this 3G bandwidth gets used, even if it's because I've accidentally selected web-browsing because I wasn't looking at the screen.

Well you've got to use all that bandwidth, or else what would be the point? And I'm sure you'll be syncing with Outlook and using the phone to take furtive snaps of your nethers soon, just like the kids do.
 
Try telling them you just want a phone that will text and which is waterproof! Surely, this wild feature bloat is the sign of a fashion market instead of a technical market: no regard is paid to actual function, as long as there's lots of it and it's got l33t akr0nymZ. It's the same thing that sells 4x4s to mums and sports clothing to mall rats. Bah, humbug!

Outlook. OUTLOOK! Why would I want to connect my (fairly secure) phone service up to Outlook. I have this other great idea... I'll just turn off all my firewall features and leave the DSL on while I go on holiday for a fortnight. I've emailed your suggestion about waterproof textphones to the assistant I normally go to in the shop. I'm sure there's one around. It probably has a built-in dive compass.

Parasite Pals - A tapeworm has never been so cute.

That's freakish and bizarre. 'Much love is to be shared'? I don't think so.