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Miscellaneous Rambling

Quite an eventful couple of days. I just found out that I'm being sent to Las Vegas next month on business, which is cool. I'm staying at the Wynn, which would typically lie beyond my cost range but due to logistics, that's where I'm staying. Marie is colored green with envy, but I'm looking forward to it, even if the work will be real and rather tiring. I'm sure I'll sneak in at least a few hours for recreation. And without Marie, I'll be able to sample some of that Vegas call girl entertainment. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas (except the chlamydia, I suppose).

Ceiling. Trastevere

You want to get freaked out for Halloween? Check out Drew Mariani's episode, The Demon of Brownsville Road. Facebook post. It's about a family who bought a house haunted by a demon that refused to leave.

Ceiling. Trastevere

When the owner first consulted a priest about the problem, the priest told him he had two options: (1) Run . . . sell the house to a skeptic and move on; (2) Fight the demon himself, with help from the Church. He chose the latter. Which is probably good. It can apparently be hard to sell a haunted house: 'Haunted' houses present a very real challenge for realtors. Nearly 50% of potential buyers would never buy a house that is reputed to be haunted.

Ceiling. Trastevere

The new podcast is up: "Halloween, Short History of Early Zen, the Fall of the Empire and BLM, Riggenbach."

Halloween: Okay to celebrate? Of course. Without appreciating evil, you can't appreciate good.

Short History of Zen: Shakyamuni through the Bodhidharma to Hui-Neng: We sketch its earliest history to the seventh century, where it first noticeably took on its mature form. Mahayana Buddhism + Taoism = Zen.

Lightning Segments: Two Russian jokes, Jeff Riggenbach, Albert Jay Nock

Does the Fall Matter? The Fall of the Roman Empire isn't just interesting for nerds. It tells us something about today's political issues. If it weren't for the way the Empire collapsed, we wouldn't have the Black Lives Matter movement today.

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