His observation isn't groundbreaking in any sense, but man do I feel it. I like shopping and consuming as much as any American, but there's always a moment when I walk through the door with even the most-necessary purchases where I have a debilitating guilt-ridden moment of thinking I'm just a mindless magpie hoarding…

Iiiit is stuck in my head now. Thanks for that.

The problem is that there are literally ten thousand other bands of whom one could say the same, some of which have achieved levels of success comparable to Nickleback's, that don't have uber-memes dedicated to how bad they are. That's how you know it's not JUST about the lack of quality. We could tar so many with…

It has nothing to do with their specific music. I think that part of the problem is that just as their own popularity as a band was beginning to wane, a flood of singers who were totally indistinguishable from each other and not hugely distinguishable from Nickleback inexplicably started going into heavy rotation. I…

There are so many, SO MANY bands from the same latest-90's-earliest-00's that are more richly deserving of universal and untempered scorn. Remember when Daugherty was on American Idol, and at nearly the same instant, 100% of new alt-rock was the same from-the-throat rasping of emo lyrics but with a style that waved…

You must have literally never turned on a radio tuned to an alt-rock station between approximately 1999-2006. Like, you couldn't even hit those stations momentarily, in passing without hearing "How You Remind Me" during those years.

I've done some more research and it seems you're right about that, but the Immaculate Conception does not concern the births of both Mary and Jesus.

The two aren't related, in the sense that just being a virgin would not have made her free of original sin. Sexual contact can be a venial sin (although after marriage it isn't a sin of any kind). There's a lot of argument if someone who is has capital-G Grace CAN accrue sin - either the person so touched would never…

There's a (very common) misconception here that deserves to be cleared up - Jesus isn't free from original sin because he was born to a virgin, he was free from original sin because of the Immaculate Conception, which actually concerns the birth of Mary. MARY was free from original sin, despite being birthed by…

I'm not making any statement about the pre-Petsmart pre-knowledge days of buying your dog in malls. That's where my family got many of our dogs. I'd never on pain of death do it now, but that was how we did it then.

Let me just reiterate: I worked in a museum. The Smithsonian. Which is free. There is no excuse of lack of other activities literally right there taking up most of the space in the building. It's a totally optional retail experience that is easy enough to skip, and to drag a kid who is too young or too immature into a…

The only thing worse than dealing with the various gross shit that comes with having facebook is having to ever acknowledge or discuss your facebook habits or lack thereof in actual real life.

This comment is making ME mentally ill. As in, my brain is vomiting into my skull.

Haha, I've been babysitting my friends' basset puppy sometimes, and the amount of times I have gone back-and-forth with myself over why I shouldn't vs. how much I want one of my own, I cannot even TELL you. At heart I'm still every kid who sees something and wants it for myself.

That seems acutely cruel. I mean, we were in the pet store for a reason - to buy pet supplies. But to take kids to a shelter and let them interact with the animals "just to look"? That's awful, and I'm sure your parents are lovely people, but it still is.

You clearly are not familiar with the style of restaurant being described. They would not have ranch.

Sorry, but if someone's treating you like shit because they think you have no recourse, when in fact you do have recourse, you take that option. This isn't demanding special treatment because of who her dad is, it's using what's available to be treated like a goddamned human being.

This is why I kind of like a place with lackadaisical customer service. It tells me no-one's TOO worried about losing their jobs over small shit. When I go somewhere and get the full Happiest Place On Earth Even Though I'm Working For Tips treatment I suspect managerial malfeasance.

Nope, sorry. Sometimes people will absolutely treat you like shit because they think you don't have any weapons to fight back, so they'll get away with it. If that happens, and it turns out you DO have a weapon, you use it. Even if it's "daddy's name" or whatever disparaging way we're phrasing this. Only a moron would…

Me as well. I had a similar experience as a kid that is just so close to the front of my mind watching this - My family walked into a pet store, and my mom's boyfriend told me very sternly on the way in not to fall in love with any of the dogs. Which was weird, since we went to pet stores fairly often (this was before…