(I made some sort of comment to ghostsniper about measuring distance in "tanks of gas". Comes from being in the center of not much. So, it's time to post this one ahead of schedule.

There's a fair amount of babble around the wunderweb about "heading for the hills".
That's ambiguous - I've lived in places where people thought a 2-acre lot was "out in the country".

I like the idea of being able to shoot a rifle anywhere around my house and only have to worry about hitting trespassers.
We all have our dreams ... and a backhoe.

So I got curious the other day: what does a map of US metropolitan areas really look like?
Let's start with larger metropolitan areas. The following map shows the 111 metropolitan regions having over 500,000 population.

I was born in one of them; I've lived in 8 of them - by this definition.
(many weren't large enough to be on this list at the time I lived in them; the one I was born in was larger).

But looking more closely to those areas I'm familiar with, this map could be misleading. Take region 103: Reno (pop 564782). It was about ½ that size when I lived there but the point being is it shows all of Washoe County. Reno proper is just about where the yellow dot is; one gets a bit north of there, especially above Pyramid Lake, and northern Washoe County could be used as the definition of "empty" (except during the damned Burning Man event which tears up the southern end of Black Rock desert - another story.

Or the region I live now - on the NW extremes of region 74 (Boise, pop 824,000). It's hard to see on this scale, but Owyhee County (below Boise's yellow dot) is the extreme SW corner of the state. A 7900 square mile county, south of the Snake River, with a total population under 12,000 people concentrated in three "cities" (the largest has 2,600 people) and half a dozen communities - yet it's considered part of the Boise metro area - even though the county seat is an hour away from Boise City ... and is on the closer side of the county.

One could say the same of the area west of Salt Lake City/Ogden/Provo (region 46, 88, and 82, pop 2.6 mil). West of the I-15 corridor is hard desert.

I'm sure other regions - at least in the west - are similar.

So let's change the map: If I look for the distribution of cities of over 100,000, the map looks like this:

Boise is considered the most "remote" large city of the lower 48; two of the top 10 "remotest" areas of the lower 48 are not far from Boise (River of No Return Wilderness is #1, the Owyhee Canyonlands is #8)

Biggest city in nowhere. Takes me an hour or so to get to Boise proper.

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I'm going to church today. One of my neighbors does guest preaching and although I'm not their kind of Christian (and probably not anyone's kind of Christian), I'm curious to hear what he has to say and how he says it.

Way back when, he and his wife would have been known as "Jesus Freaks" but they're both too young for that era. But they are - or seem to be - sincere in their belief so I don't push back when they try to save my soul. They mean well and they're not pushy about it.

My soul is between me and any God that may exist; declaring a love eternal - or not - for Jesus isn't going to make any difference. I'm headed for purgatory anyway; not good enough for Heaven, not bad enough for Hell. I suspect I'll have lots of company.

Why do I suspect many of today's belief's come from the religious/political class efforts to keep control of the riff-raff?
Perhaps a study of the Church and its activities over the past couple thousand years?

If you desire life ever-after ... "Love your neighbor", "turn the other cheek" ...
Sounds nice at first, but do you really want to live forever??? I mean, longer maybe, healthy, but forever?

Now, I don't really want to dis that sentiment, but most Christians I know and have known, prefer the Old Testament god and use the "I believe! so my sins are forgiven" excuse to justify what they will.

But Jesus also said: "I come not to bring peace, but a sword."
The guy was a shit-stirrer: tossing tables of the bankers, dissing the religious leaders of the time, pissing off those in power; that's the Jesus I can believe in - they do not execute passive beta males in that manner.

In any case, I want to hear my neighbor speak. I know my attending services will encourage them to see me "born again" but I was raised in a hillbilly Presbyterian offshoot church and came to be (inadvertently) leery of holy-rollers and particularly preachers. But they are good neighbors, I like them, and it won't hurt to establish myself as a "good guy" for the coming times.

And when it comes down to it, I'd rather live in a Judea-Christian society than the apparent other alternatives and I will stand with those that do believe "When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace" (Luke 11:21)

Update:
OK. That's enough of that for a while ...

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Only solution is to climb your way out ...

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on another site ... and I got cancelled. :)

A site maybe even less lefty than this one too.

All the squawk about this coming storm back east.

So I commented: "Y'all were bitching about Global Warming. Now you're bitching because it got solved."
And got banned.

Oh ... me bad ...

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published by Jean, Aug 4, 2006

There's something else
I'm meant to do
before I spend
my time with you.

Complete myself
with no regret
for missing what
I don't have yet.

It's up to me,
reassembled,
edges smoothed
and chains untangled.

It isn't selfish
that I'm being.
The purge, the clean
allows my breathing.

So, let me be
for just a while.
Live your life
and let me smile.

The day will come,
not far away,
I'll offer free
my heart away.

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