Someone who is following the Vatican/Catholic Church more closely than I:

what kind of clusterfuck are they in? A senior cardinal in the UK just resigned and there seem to be problems cropping up for all kinds of other cardinals (the one who stepped down in Los Angeles is in a world of hurt). I can't believe the cardinal in Ghana was saying that gay priests and pedophilia are White people problems.

WTF is going on?

Among these reasons: is this why the conclave has been moved up?

is this why the conclave has been moved up?

Maybe? I haven't read too deeply, but the Grauniad is reporting (from an Italian newspaper) that there's a cabal of senior Vatican officials who have been engaging in homosexual activities, and getting blackmailed over it. The claim is that the report documenting this was initiated as a result of the Vatileaks scandal (the Pope's secretary was selling information), and the day it was given to Benedict XVI was the day he announced his retirement.

I have to admit that it's all a bit too breathless and scandalous for me, like something out of a Dan Brown novel. Just seems kind of unlikely--but then I would have thought a sitting President getting blown by an intern in the Oval Office was unlikely, too.

Shows how much I know.

what kind of clusterfuck are they in?

The just-resigned Pope had a report drawn up on an enclave within the Vatican of apparently gay Bishops and Cardinals who've been having indiscreet sex, and are now being blackmailed. Most think this is the reason he resigned, because at 86 (or whatever he is), he just doesn't want to deal with the shit storm that's coming. So...there's a lot of fallout coming and there's probably a lot of backstage shenanigans right now as various parties are engaged in damage control and protecting themselves etc.

Holy crap you guys.

There were THREE major fires in and around San Antonio today. The SMALLEST one, in an apartment block, had my usual route home completely blocked off by police and fire trucks. The smoke was so thick you could only see the lights.

It didn't help that Texas has had major windstorms today. I was on a support call, and the front door of the office I was talking to blew open!

Yipes, chrismg, stay safe!

Also I am a bit appalled at the soprano bashing going on here. Like Jilli, I used to sing soprano in HS. Unlike the rest of you, I didn't realize there was any social significance to whether I was in the one group or the other, probably because I sang in a small a capella group, not a full size choir.

I was joking.

I was a soprano in highschool, became an alto in college. Can sing with tenors now and sometimes parts of the bass line.

If I was a fantastically wealthy eccentric (instead of the just-getting-by eccentric my lifestyle currently is), I would take voice lessons. I miss the vocal range I used to have, but age, screaming my lungs out at rock concerts, and trying to hold conversations in loud, smokey goth clubs have done awful things to my voice.

Yeah, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bash.

I changed from a first alto to a second soprano after my tonsils and adenoids were removed when I was a teenager. Second soprano is boring.