College athletics and football recruiting.

There's an argument that it's harder to sell a university and its football program if the university is in the "middle of nowhere" and/or if the location has bad weather (read: cold, windy winters) for certain programs like the University of Illinois. This is blatantly false since some of the most successful and historic football programs are located in or near medium metros or college towns. Let's just look at a number of Big Ten football teams and then a few other programs who share location "issues" and bad weather.

Big Ten
Michigan (Ann Arbor): Sometimes referred as A2, Ann Arbor, is about an hour drive to  Detroit, though how many students actually spend a night in Detroit to party it up?

Michigan St. (East Lansing): The city of East Lansing has a population of approximately 48,870 according to wiki.

Penn St. (State College): Again, according to wiki State College has a population of approximately 41,992.

Iowa (Iowa City): Population is around 74,398.

Nebraska (Lincoln): Located in the capital of Nebraska, it only has a population of 258,379. The last time I heard Lincoln wasn't New Orleans in terms of night life.

Purdue (West Lafayette): The city of West Lafayette has a population of 45,872.

Wisconsin (Madison): Probably, besides A2, the best college town within the Big Ten but still suffers the Midwest winters.

Mid-Majors
NIU (Dekalb): Arguable the most successful football program in the state of Illinois and one of the few MAC football powerhouses. They have a horrid track record when it comes to bowl games: They simply get crushed. Plenty of NFL players from NIU's program. Dekalb, located west of Chicago, is about an 1 hr and 15 min. drive from the city.

Boise St. (Boise): Like Wisconsin, the university is located in its state capitol which is home to about 205,671 people.

Independent 
Notre Dame (South Bend): Located in South Bend which has a population of about 101,735. About an 1 and 30 min. drive to the city of Chicago. Probably the most storied football program besides Nebraska and Penn St. listed.

When Ron Zook was hired to be Illinois' head football coach in 2005 top recruits came to Urbana-Champaign. Part of it was because Zook was a great recruiter and the other was implanting the idea that they were pioneers in helping Illinois become a winning program, something that it wasn't in years past. So the recruits came and they started winning, sorta (out of seven seasons, the Illini went to three bowl games, winning two of the three). This in spite of where the university is located - central Illinois, two hours south of Chicago - and the bad Midwest winters top recruits came. The Urbana-Champaign metro has about 231,891 living souls, which, besides Madison, is the largest metro in the list.

It helps to have a winning a program. It's better to have a head coach that knows how to recruit and how to recruit the right players to fit his system. The winning will come, slowly but surely, but until that happens the recruits need to buy into the vision of the coaching staff.

Verdict: Location and weather doesn't really matter. The vision and system of the head coach, aided with his recruiting abilities, matters more.

The Catholic Geeks

New link added called The Catholic Geeks. The name says it all: Catholics who consider themselves geeks.

Technology progs.

What's worse, someone who doesn't use every feature of a smartphone, making themselves use older methods of doing things, or someone who thinks that person is somewhat backwards? Take for example the quote below from AndroidCentral.com that I found in the comment box.

"Or you can find a payphone and carry loose change for phone calls. Or carry a paper map in your pocket. Or perhaps a camera around your neck?"

The person was responding to an OP where the OP stated he didn't need NFC (ability to pay without an actual credit/debit card) and that people who needed it were lazy. Basically you can go wallet/purse-less. Now, okay, I can see why people who responded got upset but I do see his point. There are some who think whipping out your wallet to swipe your card is truly archaic, but then again people still pay with cash. But here's my response to the quote above:

1. A vast majority of people use cards to pay.
2. Paper maps are actually handy to be honest when technology fails. Learning how to read  a map is a dwindling skill that is useful when needed.
3. Some people do carry around cameras. Nikon. Canon. Pentax. DSLR versions. Heck, there are even people who carry around film cameras.

Stick to the OP's point: not every feature that is seen as convenient is a necessary function for those who do not  mind living their daily lives in less sophisticated ways. Remember, some places don't even accept cards to pay (certain bars, certain small shops, food purchase during opera break) so logic follows that they also don't accept NFC. So that flagship android phone with NFC capabilities? It has no place in such establishments. That 1K iPhone? Useless. At least at all the establishments I've visited cash was always accepted. Cash is king.