01 January 2024

Possible USA Catholic Hierarchy Changes for 2024

Already Vacant
(All are Dioceses/Eparchies)

09 October 2023

Cardinal Sako born when?

Louis Raphaël I Cardinal Sako, Patriarch of Baghdad (Chaldean), Iraq, revealed in an interview that his parents re-used the birth certificate of his older brother (who had died). His actual birth date is 1 year later than previously thought (thus 4 July 1949). 

The interview can be found here.

Here is the relevant section, in the original language and with a translation (provided by Google Translate):

KNA: Sie haben unlängst Ihren 75. Geburtstag gefeiert.

Sako: Das stimmt nicht. Ich wurde 1949 geboren. Aber ich hatte einen älteren Bruder selben Namens, der gestorben ist. Meine Eltern haben mir seine Geburtsurkunde gegeben. Ich werde also erst nächstes Jahr am 4. Juli 75 Jahre alt.

KNA: You recently celebrated your 75th birthday.

Sako: That's not true. I was born in 1949. But I had an older brother with the same name who died. My parents gave me his birth certificate. So I won't be 75 until July 4th next year.
The correct date is not reflected in any of the usual sources (yet).

06 October 2023

Google Form prompts user to Sign-in to Google - Fixed!

I recently modified a form that I've been using for years for basic feedback on a website I run. All of the sudden the new version had an ugly "Sign-in to Google" prompt at the very start. And to make things 100 times worse, the next line (in red) was "* indicates required question".



Needless to say that was confusing my users considerably!


If this happens, be sure to check all of these settings:

Under Responses:

  • Collect email address: Do not collect
  • Allow response editing: Off
  • Limit to 1 reponse: off

Under Presentation:

  • Disable autosave for all respondents: On

(It was the last one that had me stumped for a while!)

FYI, unsolicited plug: I've been using the extension "Email Notifications for Google Forms" by Digital Inspiration for a few years - just the Standard version - and it works exactly as advertised.

02 September 2023

Corel Paradox - Fresh Install Notes

When you do a fresh install of Corel Paradox (part of WordPerfect Office Professional 2021) it has an interesting, if not useful, feature that is also installed. Namely "PdxRegCl" - which stands for Paradox Registry Key Cleaner.

It does what you expect - clears all of the registry settings related to Paradox. In real life, I can't imagine a need for this outside of developers, and certainly not every single time the computer is restarted.

Simply deleting the utility or renaming it will not fix the issue, it will auto re-install when Paradox is opened.

The fix is to start Task Manager, go to Startup, and disable PdxRegCl. See the image below.


With a new install, you might also be interested in my post about the printing bug and its fix.

(Note: this was a fresh install on Windows 11 Pro (release 22h2))


Corel Paradox Printing Bug Fix

I just recently did a new install of Corel Paradox (no really!) and ran into an old bug that is not well documented on the web. 

After a fresh install, the version shows as 11.0.0.676 (file pdxwin32.exe shows that version and a date of 10 Mar 2010). 

The bug is simple, try to print anything in the application and it immediately crashes. 

The good news is there is a fix, although it can be difficult to find. 

Here is the current location (https://www.wordperfect.com/en/support/updates/#wpo-x5) 

It is called "Paradox Hot Fix 1" (or "Paradox Runtime Hot Fix 1" if using the Runtime version). 

Note that after installing the patch, the version and date of Paradox does not change - so there is no easy way to tell if the patch is installed other than it no longer crashes on print.

FYI, Corel Paradox (developed by Borland) is available as part of WordPerfect Office Professional 2021 but sadly is not included in the Demo version. There have not been any changes to Paradox itself in many years - the hot fix is dated 2010!

However, I am happy to report it installs fine on Windows 11 Pro (release 22h2).

01 August 2023

Cardinal Njue as Cardinal-Elector

In a previous post, we had discussed when a Cardinal loses the right to vote in a Conclave. In brief, it depends on when a Cardinal reaches the age of 80.

We have an unusual situation with John Cardinal Njue, Archbishop Emeritus of Nairobi, Kenya, and Cardinal-Priest of Preziosissimo Sangue di Nostro Signore Gesù Cristo. In his case, we only know the year in which he was born (1944) - but not the month nor day.

So when does he reach the age of 80?

In my opinion, in fairness to Cardinal Njue, one must treat him as if he was born on the last day of the year 1944 - thus losing his vote on 1 Jan 2025 (see the above linked post for details).

I note that on the Vatican website, there is a List of Cardinals in order of Age and on that list his birth date is listed as "31-12-1944" but the bios to which it links only gives the year of birth. This would seem to suggest they agree with my view.

God willing, the need for a Conclave in 2024 will not occur and complete clarification of the issue will not be neccessary.