Curious sidenote; i've been far more interested in the papal election than in any presidential, etc. election. This has been discussed with my father ("What, you were worried they wouldn't find anyone?") and a labmate or two ('Well, with presidential elections, you know it's either going to be one choice or the other...'). i think my favorite article about the conclave was a historical perspective put up by the Vatican news radio page, notably: "So in 1254 he called a council of the Church at Lyon and this Council determined the rules for councils at future elections. Cardinals were to enter the conclave on the tenth day after the death of the late pope. They were to live in a dormitory with no partitions between the beds. Curtains between beds were not introduced until 1351 as a matter of fact. There was to be no written or verbal communication with the outside world and if no election was made within three days after entering the conclave the cardinals were to receive only one meal a day from outside. And if after a total of eight days they had still not reached a decision they were to receive only bread and water. The first conclave under the new rules took place in 1276."
My labbie Ryan got a text that white smoke was seen over the Vatican (quick overview; all 115 of the Church's cardinals get together in the Sistine Chapel for two sessions a day, at the conclusion of which they vote. 2/3's vote carries the papacy. The ballots are then burned, and the resultant smoke emitted over the roof.. If the vote did not elect a pope, the smoke is black. If a pope was elected, the smoke is white; it's a nice immediate marker for the populace gathered, as the conclave is done in isolation), and immediately we took to livestreaming the events happening in St. Peter's Square, and the eventual "Habemus Papam" announcement. (Also, technology is AWESOME.) So, Pope Francis is from Argentina of Italian descent, holds the degree of a chemical technician, is a Jesuit, likes soccer and to tango and 76. An article i read today recounted that at dinner with the cardinals after the announcement, “He toasted us and he simply said, ‘May God forgive you,’ which brought the house down,” Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York said." i can appreciate a pope with a sense of humor.
Holly, i'm pretty sure you've seen this, but here's an Arrested Development/Papal smashup tumblr.
Also, today we discussed whether or not giving blood would be an effective means of weight loss (not just from the volume, as it's only a small amount, but more from the metabolism generated by having to replace red blood cells). The real question was, does the body immediately replace those cells, or are they replaced over the next 8 weeks? i googled around, and the answer is that the body DOES gear up to replace them: peritubular-associated cells in the kidneys sense the decrease in oxygen levels in the blood due to red blood cell loss, produce the cytokine erythropoietin (yes, THAT erythropoietin) which stimulates red blood cell (erythrocyte) production in the bone marrow (there seems to be a 5-ish day lag). Studies have been done regarding replacement of total hemoglobin (tHb); "RESULTS: After donation of approximately 550 mL of whole blood, the lost amount of tHb of 75 ± 15 g (8.8 ± 1.9%) was recovered after a mean of 36 ± 11 days (range, 20-59 days)."
For funsies, Runner's World has some pretty entertaining motivational posters (Brandon linked a sampling found here, but a total grouping can be found on the RW site). Also, the Hey Runner Girl meme site updated about 2 weeks ago.
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