We also showcased several innovations from the intersection of fashion and technology -- a light-up Twitter dress, a pair of "Social Denim" jeans that let you update your Facebook status on the fly and a brilliant "Rocking Knit" chair that uses kinetic energy generated from the chair's gliding motion to knit a winter hat while you sit.

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Since January, 1871 has hosted groups of around 100 people for "hard hat" tours of the area under renovation about once a week, according to Matt Moog, chair of the project to launch 1871.

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Francis later donned the tall, peaked bishop's hat, and wearing simply adorned cream-colored vestments, gently sat back in the mosaic-studded basilica chair, known as the "Cathedra Romana, " that symbolizes the post of Rome bishop.

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