Believe me, you probably wouldn't want to go back, once you had been there.

Almost equally miserable a town is Orange, MA, right next door.

These towns, some 75 miles west of Boston, are small and still declining old mill towns where little if any industry now exists, where housing prices are about the lowest in the state, where the incidences of domestic violence are high, as are high school dropout and teen pregnancy rates. Unlike several Massachusetts mill towns which have seen dramatic revivals and gentrification in the last 20 years, Athol and Orange are not so lucky.

Now on to the game. I'm not sure I understand the rules. If I misspell "atheist" will I get nominated? Or do I have to say something really stupid like "atheism is just another form of religion" to get nominated?

It is dismal. Cheap though. I know people who bought houses in that area and commute into the 495/128 tech area because of the huge price differential.

Interethting.

and spell it correctly once in your post just to make a point. I think it was exceedingly funny.

With that said, I am not sure that I understand this game. And if I do understand it, it is about my pay grade because I am not the most creative person alive nor do I do well with fantasy. So---can you give an example of what you are thinking?

"Athiest" to me looks like a variation on "ath" or "athy." The progression would be:

X is athy
Y is athier than X
Z is the athiest of the lot.

So this competition is to determine who or what is the athiest. Are protons athier than Chris Hedges? Is Lincoln, NE athier than Enlil? Where does Elad fall on the athiness scale?

To determine the victor of each match, just pull a reason to vote for one person/place/thing out of your ass and go with it. There's no need to be consisteInt with the ad hoc definitions of ath. It's like theology--a bunch of made up rationalizations for extant opinions.

I suppose I've nominated protons, Chris Hedges, Lincoln, NE, the Sumerian god Enlil, Elad, theology, and rationalization with this post.

I'm one of the most athiest (sic) people around here.

"we were all Catholics. We believed in the teaching of Cathol" -- Eddy Izzard

She has her own hymns.

What her adorers call themselves dimbear knoweth not.

"It's 'i' before 'e' except after 'c.' And except for atheists, who get their own special rule."



I think some believers in the Religion forum are the athiest. Assumng "athy" is a synonym for "pithy," and also assuming the latter word is pronounced with a lisp.