Quote by Gravity

even if i did spent 5 precious minutes stressfully running around quarks when i misunderstood a clue :D

Skillful humblebrag there.

Another vote of accord. Cheers for Res!

The timing of this following the Grammys caused an odd bit of humor on Twitter for me this morning. A friend was said something about how he was going to ignore Twitter this morning because of the news about the Pope and the Grammys. I then responded in joking surprise about the Pope winning a Grammy for his album, "Benedict Does Britney".

This then led to a series of Benedict-ized Britney Spears parody suggestions, including:

"Touch of My Hand"
"It's Benedict, Bitch."
"Oops, I Molested Again"
"Boys (The Non Co-Ed Remix)"
"Me Against The Gays" feat. The Mormons
"Gimme More (Tithes)"

I now leave you with the mental image of Pope Benedict the Nth dancing out of the Vatican suggestively with the new hit single "Baptizer" playing in the background with a bunch of Caridinals backing him up.

Even though I was born and raised in the Catholic church, all that remains of my Catholocism is a curiousity about the "real" history of the religion. Hard to be a Medieval historian without being a religious historian.

All of that aside, the Church is at a crossroads. Benedict elevated many Cardinals, so it is unlikely the upcoming conclave will elect a liberal reformist. But there is a unique opportunity to elect a moderate. Take a look at all of the names tossed out today and realize that it is highly unlikely that any of them will emerge as the next Pope. There have been rumblings of electing a Latin American cardinal, I think there is a better than even chance of that happening. I also think there is a slightly less likely chance of an Italian returning to the Seat of Peter. You will hear the possibility of an African cardinal being elected. I view this as highly unlikely, despite Pope watchers making noises about it. They are more likely to elect an American cardinal over an African cardinal.

So, the best LGBT Catholics can expect is a moderate reformer. Latin America is the best place for a moderate reformer to come from, followed by an Italian/Western European, and then US American (Timothy Cardinal Dolan has been mentioned by some Pope watchers).

If the Church chooses to elect a traditionalist expect a cardinal from Africa or Eastern Europe. They will not elect another German. This Pope was (and still is) wildly unpopular in Italy. When he was elected the headlines read "Tedesco Pastorale" (German Shepherd). The Italians thought Benedetto was too "rigido." There will be no Opus Dei candidates and a Jesuit is highly unlikely too. Expect Dominican as the leading possibilty out of De Orderes Majeure. I also rate the chances of an older (70+ years old) candidate to be slim. The conclave will want stability so they most likely will try to elect a cardinal in his early 60's.

On a final note, expect the next Pope to really shake up the higher offices (SCDF, Vatican Secretary of State) by reassigning certain cardinals elsewhere (Gerhard Cardinal Mueller who is the head of the Inquisition/SCDF comes immediately to mind). All of my predictions go out the window if they elect a familiar of Ratzinger.

The last Pope to retire did so in 1415...so these are odd days in the Vatican where the Pope usually goes out feet first.

Now we see how terrible my predictions are...

~Jeff
aka Lorenius

Weren't Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 1&2 both set between episodes 3&4? I wonder if it will touch on the Starkiller storyline again.

The last couple saturdays i have been playing while you guys have been playing, i want to say that you guys are very entertaining while i am playing. :cheer:

Quote by kiddkasper

I think it's fair to say that Benedict has been decisive at times. Perhaps the next Pope will bring more unification and healing.

Well he cant bring less, in deference to any catholics here i wont say more.

I think it's fair to say that Benedict has been decisive at times. Perhaps the next Pope will bring more unification and healing.

That was unexpected i will be curious to see if we get such a traditionalist as the next pope.

For those of you interested in this story, Pope Benedict XVI has resigned his position as head of Catholic Church. His reasons given are his advanced age and that he feels he is no longer of strength in body and mind to carry out the necessary tasks his office requires of him.

For more, read here.

fashion is forever changing so i vote yes, PLEASE change the uniform :D

Very well done even if I never did find those freakin' mushrooms. Hopefully we can do something like this again sometime.

Victory is mine bwhahahahaha,

Oh right im supposed to be gracious in victory arent i, well that is no fun now is it :D

In all seriousness it was a really imaginative event and i thoroughly enjoyed it even if i did spent 5 precious minutes stressfully running around quarks when i misunderstood a clue :D

Congratulations Res you had a brilliant idea and executed it really really well.

Thank you, Res! It was a blast!

Thank you to everyone who attended! We had an amazing amount of people show up, and my only regret is that not everyone could participate due to bugs with the foundry. For the few who the foundry crapped out on, you have my apologies, and to the rest, I hope you enjoyed the event!

I learned a lot from running this event, not only in doing the first Scavenger Hunt event to utilize the Foundry, but in when and how to conduct a proper event. It was truly an honor to run this for the fleet, and I look forward to running an even better event in the future!

The winners are as followed for the event;
1st place: Milmar
2nd Place: Andrew
3rd Place: Eurrsk
4th Place: Severus Ran
5th Place: Melia

With much love,
Res

Good job on your event, Res :)

I know that you put a lot of effort into preparing for it. It was a good turn-out and I know that everyone had a good time!

Good job, and I look forward to the next one :)

Cheers,
Dave.

Quote by calx

is anyone doing a european one?

Oh that sounds fun. However come to the US one, it will be warmer...that equals less clothing on guys!

Thank you so very much Halish for your response, it was what I'd hoped it would be. Every part of it was very respectful and informative but above all....it was pure honesty. Your willingness to be openly honest with your members is what spurred my/our loyalty in the first place/beginning. I, like you, struggle with some of the more important aspects of this game and what it is truly missing.

Though I can't literally shake your hand. Please know that if I could I would. It takes a real person/man to go to the depths you took to explain things and admit the behind-the-scene mechanics of what happened. Thank you. :)

I can say this much without hesitation and with pure conviction. You have a true gem with Elquin, he loves this game with an unmatched passion. He has been there for everyone time and time again and he may very well be the glue for the moment that holds what's left of this guild together. We'll see what this new content improves for all of us...or not. But in the mean time, if Elquin requests something so that he can keep applying that glue...then my advice would be to give it to him. This is the only game I play (outside of checkers with my mother) and it is made very enjoyable when I'm able to team up with Elquin...and his enthusiasm! :woohoo:

Hope to see you in game more Halish...but in the event I/we don't...at least we know why now.

Have a blessed day. :)

a European and longer cruise would the next goals once we've completed the first one

I agree that we should commemorate all four of those days you mentioned, Nick. Too many people don't know enough about LGBT history or just shrug it off and take it for granted, but the majority of the world still oppresses homosexuality.

Though this isn't really an "official" holiday, something like it might also be worth noting on our calendar? It's called Anti-Bullying Day.

wish i could make it but it's midnight for me and work on MOn :( boo

have fun anyways!