Like everyone else, I was quite surprised to learn on Monday that Pope Benedict XVI was going to resign. He was getting old enough that everyone just expected him to die in office like everyone else.
Naturally that has set off a flurry of speculation about his successor. Quite a number of men are considered in the running and Paddy Power has set odds on just about every member of the College of Cardinals. However, because of the so-called Prophecy of St. Malachy, interest has focused predominently on two men to suceed as Peter the Roman:
The first is Cardinal Tarcisio Pietro Evasio Bertone. He is currently the Vatican Secretary of State and seen as Pope Benedict's right hand man. He also happens to be from the Romano region of Italy, giving him an easy identification as a possible Peter the Roman. However, there are a few things going against him.
First is his age. He just turned 78 and the Vatican has a bit of a habit of replacing a long pope with a short one and a short one with a long one. If Cardinal Bertone were elected, his reign would look to be as short or possibly shorter than Benedict's.
Second, Cardinal Bertone is strongly tied to the policies of Pope Benedict and his elevation would be seen as a continuation of those policies. However, those policies are not particularly popular with the cardinals and much of the leity right now.
Third, Cardinal Bertone has been tied to several controversies in the past few years and his elevation would only increase these levels.
The second man that is getting a lot of Peter the Roman buzz is the current betting favorite, Cardinal Peter Turkson. After the world-wide work that Pope John Paul II did, many in the Catholic Church have expected a non-European pope. If it weren't for his age, Cardinal Francis Arinze would probably have the inside track, but he just turned 80 and I suspect that the Vatican is looking for a man a bit younger than Benedict was when he took office.
Cardinal Turkson fits the bill much better. He is only 64 and seen as a strong leader from Africa. He also has the distict advantage that although he is from Ghana and oversees Churches in that region of Africa, he has held Vatcian office for several years and is well aquainted with Vatican politics. He has been stationed in Rome long enough that people in Ghana refer to him as Peter the Roman as a badge of honor.
There is one other point that Cardinal Turkson fits while others do not: he is dark skinned. I've not been able to find a credible source, but there seems to be a belief that the last pope will have dark skin (the notations usually read "black pope"). This tidbit is not in St. Malachy's prophecy of Peter the Roman when read, but it is credited to him. I suspect that it may have come from a "reading in" of the prophecy rather than any specific wording. Early beliefs probably centered around this pope being evil and then evolved into his having dark skin.
We should find out next month anyway and then we can evaluate everything from there.
Friday, February 15, 2013
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Talk Like a Pirate
This is a kindergardner version of a drinking song. I dare you to listen to it once and not find yourself humming or singing part of it at some point later in the day.
Tuesday, February 05, 2013
Lonely Zombie
There has been an upsurge in Zombie related entertainment (The Walking Dead, World War Z) lately. Why I'm not sure, but monsters seem to go in cycles and vampires have been done in a bit by Twilight.
In that spirit, here's the Lonely Zombie song from the folks at HISHE. They did a shortened version of this song as an end tag on their Resident Evil parody and then expanded the song when it was shown to be so popular. The contrast between the nature of the song and the lyrics is very funny.
In that spirit, here's the Lonely Zombie song from the folks at HISHE. They did a shortened version of this song as an end tag on their Resident Evil parody and then expanded the song when it was shown to be so popular. The contrast between the nature of the song and the lyrics is very funny.
Monday, February 04, 2013
Post Super Bowl Thoughts
I would like to pat myself on the back for calling the Super Bowl winner two weeks ago, but I can't really take all the credit. A friend of mine pointed out that when the Ravens beat the Colt, he thought the Ravens had this air about them very much like the Super Bowl XL (2005-6) Steelers, including an incredible dumb luck win over the #1 seed (in 2006 it was the Colts) that should have gone the other way.
Still, it does feel good to be right and the game wasn't half bad either. The first half was entertaining but a little off-putting with the 49'ers failing to punch it in and turning the ball over on a couple of drives. Sports announcers always remind the viewers how no team has ever come back from a defict of more than 10 points to win the Super Bowl and that held up again.
I honestly think the game would have ended up being a total bust if it hadn't been for the power failure. That clearly gave the 49'ers time to rest and regather themselves. I actually missed the third quarter and Mrs. X and I opted to flip over to Downton Abbey about halfway through the power failure. So I didn't see San Francisco's grind back into contention. I rejoined it in time for the kickoff after Baltimore had kicked a field goal to go up 31-23. Much as expected, the Niners went right down the field and got another touchdown, but was not that surprised when the failed on the 2-point conversion.
I figured the next drive would be make or break and I wasn't far off. The Ravens did manage to get close enough for a field goal which did force the Niners to go for a touchdown. As they drove the field, I was honestly expecting San Francisco to score said touchdown and was actually wondering if they had left too much time on the clock as they looked as though they would score before the two-minute warning and Baltimore would only need a field goal to win or tie (echos of New England).
Then came four failures. I think the Niners should have run the ball at least one more time (perhaps on third down) as a means of softening the blitz and perhaps catching the Ravens by surprise. Then there was the controversial non-call on 4th down. The ball would have been near impossible to catch in-bounds so I don't think pass interference was even considered. Holding could have been called, but I think the official kept the flag in his pocket for three reasons.
First, the officials had been allowing a lot of close stuff go. There were several non-calls earlier in the game that often get called. But the officials seem to have made the decision to let things go unless things were blatently obvious.
Second, officials in the playoffs have been notoriously hesitant about throwing flags near the end of the game on critical plays unless it is just too obvious to ignore, especially if they are on some short pass in the end zone.
Third, and I think this is actually the most critical, as much as the defender was fighting and holding on to the reciever, the reciever was hand fighting and trying to push off the defender. Neither man was playing completely clean to where the fault of the other was blatently obvious.
San Francisco fans will grumble and complain but I saw nothing wrong with making a no-call there and nothing inconsistent with it either.
Now, on to the commercials. They were particularly unmemorable this year. Usually, one might say that they were either good or bad or there might be a debate about which ones they liked or didn't. I simply can't remember most of them as they made almost no impression on me.
The only one that comes to my mind that I remember and like was the M&M's "Anything For Love". One, I like M&Ms; two, I like that song; and three, it took us a second, but the primary actress there is the same actress who plays Santana on Glee. I've seen a fair amount of love for Dodge's "Farmer" ad, which I missed. However, most of the love for this ad seems to stem for people's love of Paul Harvey and you have to pay close attention to notice that it's an ad for a Dodge truck.
The consensus worst ad was the Go Daddy ad featuring the Supermodel and the Nerd. If left to simple devices, the ad might have been funny, however, the producers elected to amp up the audio on the kissing to levels I've not even heard in adult films. Even if the Nerd had magically transformed to a Calvin Klien model (which was Mrs. X's favorite ad), the audio would have sickened anyone watching. It was memorable but for all the wrong reasons.
So here's to the end of another football season. Now we'll wait two and a half months until the draft and then four months after that to the start of the 2013 season.
Still, it does feel good to be right and the game wasn't half bad either. The first half was entertaining but a little off-putting with the 49'ers failing to punch it in and turning the ball over on a couple of drives. Sports announcers always remind the viewers how no team has ever come back from a defict of more than 10 points to win the Super Bowl and that held up again.
I honestly think the game would have ended up being a total bust if it hadn't been for the power failure. That clearly gave the 49'ers time to rest and regather themselves. I actually missed the third quarter and Mrs. X and I opted to flip over to Downton Abbey about halfway through the power failure. So I didn't see San Francisco's grind back into contention. I rejoined it in time for the kickoff after Baltimore had kicked a field goal to go up 31-23. Much as expected, the Niners went right down the field and got another touchdown, but was not that surprised when the failed on the 2-point conversion.
I figured the next drive would be make or break and I wasn't far off. The Ravens did manage to get close enough for a field goal which did force the Niners to go for a touchdown. As they drove the field, I was honestly expecting San Francisco to score said touchdown and was actually wondering if they had left too much time on the clock as they looked as though they would score before the two-minute warning and Baltimore would only need a field goal to win or tie (echos of New England).
Then came four failures. I think the Niners should have run the ball at least one more time (perhaps on third down) as a means of softening the blitz and perhaps catching the Ravens by surprise. Then there was the controversial non-call on 4th down. The ball would have been near impossible to catch in-bounds so I don't think pass interference was even considered. Holding could have been called, but I think the official kept the flag in his pocket for three reasons.
First, the officials had been allowing a lot of close stuff go. There were several non-calls earlier in the game that often get called. But the officials seem to have made the decision to let things go unless things were blatently obvious.
Second, officials in the playoffs have been notoriously hesitant about throwing flags near the end of the game on critical plays unless it is just too obvious to ignore, especially if they are on some short pass in the end zone.
Third, and I think this is actually the most critical, as much as the defender was fighting and holding on to the reciever, the reciever was hand fighting and trying to push off the defender. Neither man was playing completely clean to where the fault of the other was blatently obvious.
San Francisco fans will grumble and complain but I saw nothing wrong with making a no-call there and nothing inconsistent with it either.
Now, on to the commercials. They were particularly unmemorable this year. Usually, one might say that they were either good or bad or there might be a debate about which ones they liked or didn't. I simply can't remember most of them as they made almost no impression on me.
The only one that comes to my mind that I remember and like was the M&M's "Anything For Love". One, I like M&Ms; two, I like that song; and three, it took us a second, but the primary actress there is the same actress who plays Santana on Glee. I've seen a fair amount of love for Dodge's "Farmer" ad, which I missed. However, most of the love for this ad seems to stem for people's love of Paul Harvey and you have to pay close attention to notice that it's an ad for a Dodge truck.
The consensus worst ad was the Go Daddy ad featuring the Supermodel and the Nerd. If left to simple devices, the ad might have been funny, however, the producers elected to amp up the audio on the kissing to levels I've not even heard in adult films. Even if the Nerd had magically transformed to a Calvin Klien model (which was Mrs. X's favorite ad), the audio would have sickened anyone watching. It was memorable but for all the wrong reasons.
So here's to the end of another football season. Now we'll wait two and a half months until the draft and then four months after that to the start of the 2013 season.
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