I’ve written often about the physical feats of many of our Village residents, ie dragon boaters, pickleball players, archers and the many records broken and medals won. Another achievement that is prevalent here, is the intelligence of many of our residents. I am continually being blown away with their superior knowledge, whether it be in literature, history, current events, psychology, law you name it or their artistic talents;  drawing, painting, sculpturing, writing poems, books etc.  I come from a family that has some very smart and highly educated members, but you know in those families there is always one who thinks outside the box, years ago I was probably considered the black sheep. I think I got much more attention from not being so smart, so you see I was the one having all the fun. Homework? Talk on the Telephone? I don’t have to tell you what I was doing. Also, because I was dodging a lot of questions about what was I doing, I developed great sales skills which is the direction my career took. It is only now in my later years that I regret that I did not pay more attention, if only to be better at trivia and the New York Times crossword puzzles. Anyway, I get really really impressed with many Villager’s knowledge. For example,  the other day at the Civil Discourse Club’s meeting the discussion was Freedom of the Press in the Internet Age.  The presenter took us back to the early 1600 and named the first press that ran off printed material for people to read, he then took us through the different eras and how the politicians and the Countries reacted to the written word.  Iknow I over simplified it but it was really interesting.  After the presentation was over the members are open to discussion and one very, very knowledgeable individual got up and said that actually the Chinese had printed words 1000 years before.  There was some discussion about what was the name of the press and he didn’t know that, which is understandable, but the fact he knew about the 1000 years before was impressive enough for me.   A woman got up and because it was  her first meeting she introduced herself  and said  she was considered a ridge runner  raised in a coal mining town in Kentucky.    Visions of the Coal Miner’s Daughter flashed through my mind, and yet as she spoke her intelligence shone through and  everyone listened intently,  She was a wealth of information.  At the end of her discussion, she off handedly mentioned the name of the press in the 1500s that no one the prior member did not know.   What, you really knew that? I am  just so impressed and think it is wonderful that the Villages attracts such a versatile group of people from all over the world and that they are willing to share their years of study with us.  Did Einstein come from Kentucky?  Could this be his Daughter?