The CFPB was also cracking down on debt buyers- firms that specialize in buying huge spreadsheets of bad debt and then attempting to collect that debt, often without checking to see if the debt had been discharged in bankruptcy or if the statute of limitations had run. You still have an FDCPA claim or bankruptcy…

I tend to think that we are safe from a staged attack, for two reasons.

Rene Marie is an amazing jazz singer who juxtaposes texts and tunes. A few years back, she was slated to sing the National Anthem at some Denver function, and ended up singing “Lift Every Voice and Sing” to the tune of “The Star Spangled Banner.” Naturally it got all sorts of blow-back from the folks who freak out…

I don’t like being lumped with Westboro folks either, but generally if I explain that I’m just an Episcopalian who goes to a church with a female priest who went to Smith and Yale and where we let gay folks get married, it diffuses any suspicion. Which is probably harder to do if you are a Muslim who attends an…

I must find it.

The real answer? How many of those sports writers are employees of ESPN? ABC and other Disney affiliated networks are the absolute masters of cross-promotion. (This included Grantland as well, of course. And it’s a shame that Juliet and Jacoby went the way of Grantland, because all of the podcasts that have attempted…

Until you try to get puke out of a car seat, you don’t get it. The shittiest diaper has nothing on puke.

Came here to say this. I remember that Villanova won it all on an awesome last play, and that is about it. I even had to look up their opponent in the final. Maybe I could make a few bucks betting on an early round upset (I had vague memories of Michian State losing, and they were apparently a 2, so that would be…

“I just thought it was a joke, I didn’t mean anything by it” is the go-to line every time white dudes gets caught singing racist fraternity songs, going to blackface parties, dressing as a nazi for halloween, putting up “send us your daughters!” signs on their houses, etc. Tough shit, man. You made a bad decision, and…

If the collected works of George Plimpton and a million Funbag questions have taught us anything, it is that the disparity between elite professional players and average, everyday recrational players of any sport is much larger than most of us imagine. Maybe tennis has a slight edge, but it would be hard to quanitfy,…

I actually like water crackers, but yes, the other crackers in those Carr’s mixed packs that will blow your mind. Don’t like all of the crumbs of Ritz crackers? Try the similar but exceedingly better butterfly cracker. And oh man, those slightly sweet wheat crackers with a little cream cheese and smoked salmon are…

Your grandmother wasn’t constantly whipping out gimick recipes from Woman’s World Weekly every time you came over as a child? I can’t tell you how many “would you believe I made it with Ritz crackers” desserts I have consumed in my life. Maybe it’s just a midwestern thing.

Given that the guy making the General Sherman Day comment was black, I’m inclined to write it off as a joke rather than a statement of support for the Lost Cause.

You know the whole point of Wikipedia is that anyone (read: you) can fix that kind of thing with a few keystrokes, right?

Cold snowy days call for Wagner opera in my book. (Even better as a skiing soundtrack- fifth blasts on the horn will get your core pointed right down the middle of that mogul field like nothing else.)

And by all means, take to social media and complain about all of the people who are going to be gone in two weeks anyway, so that your friends know that you work out regularly. (I get it, it’s totally obnoxious having people crowd your gym, but we all know the real reason you posted that status.)

Where it gets really screwy is that some Orthodox churches follow a “revised” Julien calender, which has December 25 falling right around Gregorian December 25. Non-revised Julien calendar followers are actually celebrating Christmas Day (as in December 25) on Gregorian January 7.

Not quite- some Orthodox churches still use the Julian calender, which would mean that our January 7 is their December 25. Just when you think you got us Christians figured out, we throw you another curve ball.

Well actually... the Immaculate Conception refers to the conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who, in some traditions, had to have been born without original sin in order to bear the son of God. (Oh yeah, just when you think you have us figured out, we get wierder.) But many practicing Catholics probably couldn’t…

I suppose so, but I think the brunt of the work was actually done years before she spilled the beans. (I never heard the story myself; she told it to my brother when he was trying to quit.)