View From the Bushes

We're sort of in crisis mode here at work. Fortunately, while I can see the crisis from where I am, and it shook the widows a bit as it passed, it doesn't look like it's headed in this direction. As a result I should still be able to take Monday off. It will be the first day I've taken off this year, considering that I get 22 vacation days a year, going three months without using any is pretty good, and I feel like I've earned it, or in any case that I need it. There was a noticable improvement in my mood a couple of days ago when I decided to take Monday off, though I may have been the only one who noticed it.

Anyway, back to the crisis, given the recent stories of bloggers getting fired for posting about work, I probably shouldn't go into too many details so I'll just toss out some terms: failed back-ups, employee table, recursive linked deletions, day-old pizza, eye-watering flatulence and a Venn diagram with a hole the size of Utah. No lives were lost, but only because we were lucky.

On Monday I'll be taking the day off from my blog as well. My guess is that the pope will have passed on by that point so here's the process for selecting a new pope. As someone who got most of his information from Dan Brown's "Angels and Demons," this was very informative. The only thing I don't know the answer to is since:

• The maximum number of electors from the College of Cardinals is 120. The college is currently composed of 194 cardinals.
• Any cardinal who turns 80 before the day the Papacy is vacated, either by death or resignation, cannot take part in the election. Currently, 135 cardinals are eligible to vote under this rule (15 of those 135 would be disqualified from the vote because the limit is 120).

How do they determine which 15 don't get to vote?

Carpe Diem Quam Minimum Credula Postero
Ross