Vacancy, Conclave, Smoke . . . in a nutshell

In case you haven't heard, Pope Benedict XVI recently announced his resignation.  It is the first time a pope has resigned in 600 years.  Otherwise, obviously, a papal vacancy has been the result of the death of the previous pope. 
Chances are you will be seeing a lot of news concerning the upcoming conclave, or election of a new pope, in the media.  The most recent conclave was in 2005 when Pope Benedict XVI, formerly Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, was elected pope after the death of Blessed Pope John Paul II. 
I didn't pay a lot of attention to the previous conclave, or at least I don't remember much about it in detail.  (That probably had something to do with having an energetic one-year-old and experiencing the joys of "all day" sickness early in my pregnancy with Nathan at the time). 
So, this morning I decided I was going to learn all there was to know about history and procedure of the papal conclave.  After 14 pages poured out of my printer, I realized it was going to take a bit longer than I had previously thought! 
As God would have it, this link appeared in my Facebook news feed shortly after that.  I have just clicked around the surface of Electingthepope.net, but I can tell it is just what I was looking for and would be helpful to anyone interested in papal history or merely how the conclave to elect a new pope works.
One thing I have heard a lot in the media already concerns the "black smoke" and the "white smoke."  What is that all about?
It should come as no surprise that the results of the conclave are not communicated to the world in the form of texts or Facebook.  A special temporary stove and chimney are set up in the Sistine Chapel for the conclave.  Once ballots are counted, they are burned.  If the electors did not agree, an additive will be added to the burned ballots and black smoke will appear coming from the chimney.  If the results produce a successful election (2/3 + one supermajority vote and the acceptance of the elected person), the additive will be left out of the fire and white smoke will pour from the chimney.  This is the first signal to all of the people gathered in St. Peter's Square and the world that a new pope has been elected.
Of course, this information and more can be found on Electingthepope.net. 

May your day be blessed.