@jabel We knew a rural farmer and ‘Recorded Minister’ as traditional Quakers said, who practiced water divining (dowsing) on the side. Reportedly he was good at it. He got into more than one conversation about whether this was witchcraft or a divine gift to be used with gratitude.
\n","url":"https://micro.blog/JohnBrady/96040453","date_published":"2026-08-19T15:48:21+00:00","author":{"name":"john brady","url":"","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2023%2F21%2F25456.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"JohnBrady"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-19 15:48","date_timestamp":1787154501,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"95984467","content_html":"@joshuapsteele None that I know of. 4000 Weeks was probably worth skimming.
\n","url":"https://micro.blog/JohnBrady/95984467","date_published":"2026-08-18T17:03:44+00:00","author":{"name":"john brady","url":"","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2023%2F21%2F25456.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"JohnBrady"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-18 17:03","date_timestamp":1787072624,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"95969504","content_html":"@tinyroofnail I’ve enjoyed the bridge series. Thanks.
\n","url":"https://micro.blog/JohnBrady/95969504","date_published":"2026-08-18T12:18:40+00:00","author":{"name":"john brady","url":"","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2023%2F21%2F25456.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"JohnBrady"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-18 12:18","date_timestamp":1787055520,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"95930915","content_html":"@ReaderJohn Curious what he thought. I wondered if the newer book is a sort of implied answer to Hillbilly Elegy: coming out of Appalachia (this time actually Appalachian), dealing with culture shock at an Ivy League university…
\n","url":"https://micro.blog/JohnBrady/95930915","date_published":"2026-08-17T19:29:07+00:00","author":{"name":"john brady","url":"","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2023%2F21%2F25456.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"JohnBrady"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-17 19:29","date_timestamp":1786994947,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"95916716","content_html":"@jabel As I read it, more and more of those “mountains of money” are imaginary. I try to follow news about the debt, private finance etc. My understanding of money is very poor, but none of it looks good. Sometime soon rather than “burning through” that money we may suddenly find that it wasn’t really there.
\n","url":"https://micro.blog/JohnBrady/95916716","date_published":"2026-08-17T14:47:19+00:00","author":{"name":"john brady","url":"","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2023%2F21%2F25456.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"JohnBrady"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-17 14:47","date_timestamp":1786978039,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"95876810","content_html":"@tinyroofnail Oh man I know that bridge so well. We lived in OH not far from Wheeling.
\n","url":"https://micro.blog/JohnBrady/95876810","date_published":"2026-08-16T18:26:22+00:00","author":{"name":"john brady","url":"","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2023%2F21%2F25456.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"JohnBrady"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-16 18:26","date_timestamp":1786904782,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"95853702","content_html":"@drewbelf +++
\n","url":"https://micro.blog/JohnBrady/95853702","date_published":"2026-08-16T06:40:04+00:00","author":{"name":"john brady","url":"","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2023%2F21%2F25456.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"JohnBrady"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-16 06:40","date_timestamp":1786862404,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"95831263","content_html":"@jabel I think this funeral director has developed a sort of niche business with green burial people, Muslims, Orthodox Jews, and I suppose now us, who have non-mainstream funeral agendas. The cemetery where we buried our departed member had a “green burial” section! We didn’t use it because we value grave markers, which apparently are not OK with the green people. I’d imagine Ithaca NY has a lot in common with Bloomington IN; I bet you could find green burial options around there.
\n","url":"https://micro.blog/JohnBrady/95831263","date_published":"2026-08-15T18:46:46+00:00","author":{"name":"john brady","url":"","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2023%2F21%2F25456.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"JohnBrady"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-15 18:46","date_timestamp":1786819606,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"95829803","content_html":"@jabel Cremation is forbidden in the Orthodox Church, and the casket is open at the funeral unless there’s some specific reason to keep it closed (badly damaged body, maybe?)
\nRunning on a bit: it used to be that there was opposition to embalming the body, and in recent times this has re-emerged in the American Church. (Good!) At a recent funeral ,we worked with a local funeral director (why aren’t they called ‘undertakers’ anymore?) who was fine with having an un-embalmed body kept overnight in the church for the traditional vigil and psalm reading. It was really nice. We had an interesting nuts-and-bolts conversation about how this would work. It involved a lot of hidden dry ice.
@ReaderJohn It’s a sad story. I’m mostly unhappy about the enablers who did everything to persuade this fragile person to keep climbing a tall, shaky ladder from which he’d almost inevitably fall.
\n","url":"https://micro.blog/JohnBrady/95827033","date_published":"2026-08-15T16:54:37+00:00","author":{"name":"john brady","url":"","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2023%2F21%2F25456.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"JohnBrady"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-15 16:54","date_timestamp":1786812877,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"73179125","content_html":"Divna Ljubojević - Agni Parthene. I listen to this often.
\n","summary":"","url":"https://abbamoses.micro.blog/2025/09/02/divna-ljubojevi-agni-parthene-i.html","date_published":"2025-09-02T15:51:43+00:00","author":{"name":"john brady","url":"","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2023%2F21%2F25456.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"JohnBrady"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2025-09-02 15:51","date_timestamp":1756828303,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"72249521","content_html":"I’m drifting toward being one of those “Workflowy for everything” cultists.
\n","summary":"","url":"https://abbamoses.micro.blog/2025/08/21/im-drifting-toward-being-one.html","date_published":"2025-08-21T20:17:16+00:00","author":{"name":"john brady","url":"","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2023%2F21%2F25456.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"JohnBrady"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2025-08-21 20:17","date_timestamp":1755807436,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"69868116","content_html":"Bill Kauffman on artists spurning state sponsorship:
\n\n\n\n\nConscientious objectors who wish neither to wield nor submit to power are as impractical as unemployed poets, whiskey priests, and dandelions.
\n
The libertarian/anti-statist view has never had much of a constituency, but I’ve been thinking about how rapidly it seems to be losing ground these days.
\n","summary":"","url":"https://abbamoses.micro.blog/2025/07/18/bill-kaufman-on-artists-spurning.html","date_published":"2025-07-18T15:32:04+00:00","author":{"name":"john brady","url":"","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2023%2F21%2F25456.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"JohnBrady"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2025-07-18 15:32","date_timestamp":1752852724,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}}]}