It was once thought that living in rural or nonurban areas meant being cut off from up-to-the-minute cultural, political and professional trends.

FORBES: Movin' On to Happiness

But internet service is at best spotty in rural areas like Bridger, and Buffalo thought he could never come close to getting the number of votes he needed to win one of the orchards.

FORBES: Building Self-Sufficiency, One Tree at a Time

They in turn shipped the boys to what they thought was a prep school in rural Kentucky but turned out to be a Baptist reform school.

FORBES: Shoot To Kill

Surgeries in rural parts of Scotland developed their own dispensaries after it was thought that local populations were too small to support a pharmacy.

BBC: Rural drug dispensaries row takes fresh twist

The focus group, the marketing people, thought that Arcadia had a - denoted something wonderfully rural and sublime, romantic and so it would be Arcadia.

BBC: NEWS | UK | Education | Higher education 'market' warning

In Ethiopia, a major cause of mental stress is domestic violence, which is thought to occur in more than two-thirds of rural families.

BBC: Mental health: Global effort sought

New government legislation is also thought to have helped deter the thieves, but churches - particularly in rural areas - can be targeted because of their isolated locations.

BBC: A church

The lack of a hospitable environment in some cities has slowed what some thought might be Wal-Mart's next big growth phase, following its rapid rise in rural America and the suburbs.

FORBES: Wal-Mart Warranties Don't Threaten Circuity City, Best Buy