I was thinking about the opening of White Teeth by Zadie Smith, in which a British character attempts to gas himself in front of a Halal butcher's and is prevented from doing so by the butcher because it wouldn't be kosher.

I was thinking about the opening of White Teeth by Zadie Smith, in which a British character attempts to gas himself in front of a Halal butcher's and is prevented from doing so by the butcher because it wouldn't be kosher.

There were comments for Dan Savage at one point? Jesus, those must have been a nightmare.

There were comments for Dan Savage at one point? Jesus, those must have been a nightmare.

A full run of Firefly would have been beautifully painful. A lot of people act like we would have had all of these wonderful characters with us for forever, but remember this is Joss Whedon we're talking about. Could you imagine Inara dying just as she and Mal get together? Or think about Whedon's weird thing for the…

A full run of Firefly would have been beautifully painful. A lot of people act like we would have had all of these wonderful characters with us for forever, but remember this is Joss Whedon we're talking about. Could you imagine Inara dying just as she and Mal get together? Or think about Whedon's weird thing for the…

Has a character ever been introduced to the world with a better line than "he's as useless as a marzipan dildo"? That is the guy's first line in the entire series - it's so perfect.

Has a character ever been introduced to the world with a better line than "he's as useless as a marzipan dildo"? That is the guy's first line in the entire series - it's so perfect.

I've been a fan of City since before they got good, but you're almost right. The only reason I liked them back then was my irrational and all-consuming hatred of United.

Adjusted R-squared doesn't mean anything if your dependent variable is binary, such as likes/doesn't like True Blood. You're better off using a logit model.

The review for the first record is almost as scathing, as I recall.

Also "Goldbluming."

From what I understand, @avclub-d009e8b6ce98ad61a7b7a69cd1ad10d9:disqus , most of the insurance companies are actually on board with the mandate because pregnancies (and abortions) are so expensive relative to the cost of birth control that it actually makes economic sense to remove even the small impediment of a…

I forgot to include a bit about the Tea Party types making almost exactly the same arguments you're making to disguise their objection as anything other than the xenophobia that it is, @avclub-854f2515de779af9ffcca768eeae22f6:disqus , but I'm sure you can fill in the blanks.

@avclub-854f2515de779af9ffcca768eeae22f6:disqus : While I'm glad that you're giving my case full consideration (disclosure: I have blatantly ripped it off from Matt Yglesias over at Slate), I don't think the point is the dividing line between what is reasonable to deny and what is not acceptable. The people who are…

@avclub-854f2515de779af9ffcca768eeae22f6:disqus : A thought experiment for you:

Ace predicted early on that Mike wouldn't like him…

"No! T!"

This was my first take as well, but the more I think about it, the more I think it's just about Gettin' Up Morning's training schedule. Walter doesn't seem like the type to play the strategy or manipulate the odds like Escalante (remember, he wanted the seasoned jock Ronnie to ride GUM initially, whereas I can imagine…

The young man believes that Walter never paid a stud fee for Gettin' Up Morning's siring. Walter says that "the Colonel," presumably the owner of Delphi, Gettin' Up Morning's father, bequeathed him the stud fee. The young man, who is the colonel's son in law, is challenging the Colonel's competency to make that…