My father was a businessman on Staten Island. One time he ran a credit application on a guy who had just built an eight-foot brick wall around his compound.

Job listed on application: Laborer.

We distribute income on a bell curve and the bottom 20% are poor.

#29 | Posted by eberly

We do? They are?

18. Virginia is a commonwealth. You'll find a different set of justice in the county.

Cities in Virginia are not in counties. Independent governments.

Not a knock against rural living.

Next: The closet.

"Return to the lifestyle of his youth."

That's some funny -----.

RIP.

Please don't let this age Andrea Mitchell any more.

It's the New World order. Bush I's fault.

Dark as the inside of a wrestler's unitard. He knows.

Yes, I know. That's my imagination, and the date is intentional.

13: I moved from near there to NoVa.

What I've learned in 26 years in Virginia:

It doesn't matter how close to a big city you are. If you're in the county as opposed to a Town or City, you're on your own.

11. Another view: Those with enough power who work toward nuclear peace will make future life uncomfortable for themselves.

John F. Kennedy, 1964

"but live in TN, VA, KY..."

Cumberland Gap and surroundings for 100 miles also not for the feint of heart.

OneNut and LftHndThrds.

Careful posters, you've engaged the DR brain trust.

Don't more Alaskans have pilot's licenses than driver's licenses?

Hell, they've got private planes. What do we have here in the lower 48? Uber?

The world's doing just fine. You don't have to make all ends meet. Just one at a time by whatever means, then start running from away from the next one. Been there, done that.

It's the American way.

Debt kills.

"I hate you, Jews. You killed my lord and savior."

Dumfuk, your lord and savior was Jewish.

Sorry. For 10.

11. The Western world is doing a fine job tearing their own houses down from the inside, thanks very much.

No citation (or Muslims) needed.

42. The noise.

That's what I'm talking about. I kept hearing about Moneyball but saw no reference to James. But that was the popular press.

26. Absolutely. Once you get past the initial revelation, or some other less religious term, things generally fall apart.

That initial moment could be subject to scrutiny. See Joseph Smith's golden plates. Lots of questions around them, some very cynical, but they don't really matter.

What matters are bishops and reflexively baptizing all the world's people and magic underwear two hundred years later.

Some folks say much the same about early Christianity. After about AD 300, things started to suck. All the commentary in the world, from NT Wright to all the authors whose presses pay my bills, isn't yet turning enough people to those red-letter words.

One could argue that what's been done in God's name is the worst thing religion has going for it.

39. I think the last book I read for complete pleasure was Bill James' 1986 Baseball Abstract. Why doesn't he get more props? Or does he?

39. I think the last book I read for complete pleasure was Bill James' 1986 Baseball Abstract. Why doesn't he get more props? Or does he?

23. "Never a Catholic one.. that sounds a bit crazy ... but if they don't speak I guess it would be ok."

I'm a weird specimen, an atheist who will defend many aspects of religion and its trappings.

The first monastery was Gethsemani, where Thomas Merton was. It's entirely possible even there to go for four days of silence and encounter zero religion in an in-your-face way. Zero.

Thousands of acres in the knobs of Kentucky is really peaceful.

I love hearing the monks chant Compline in the evening. Very restful.

And it's also in bourbon country. After my first trip to Gethsemani, I went for the 10a tour at Makers Mark.

36.

Let's think back to philosopher Jim Bouton in Ball Four in 1970:

"You can talk like a Nazi ... As long as you're batting .300, no one cares."

Times do change. Or not.

18, 19

I've been on a few religious retreats, including to monasteries. That could be Catholic or Buddhist. Unless you're looking really hard to deconstruct what's there, they are very benign. But hopefully if someone is showing up, it's not to do a sociological study.

I've also been on silent nonreligious retreats, both genders present.

While I've learned to actively cultivate silence in my own life, sometimes distance helps.

Those are retreats for me. I don't envy the breaking of silence, nor when talking is allowed at meals.

"Buy the ticket, take the ride" is my approach.