I’m a school nerd. As a kid I looked forward to the beginning of the school year—labeling those multicolored folders, decorating my desk or locker, and (rapture!) cracking open those glorious textbooks. I was that troublemaker who was always asking for extra credit work, who did the even-numbered...
GSN (formerly the Game Show Network) has stolen the title I’d hoped to use for a history of the U.S. for a new quiz program: The American Bible Challenge. Hosted by now-too-rich-to-be-a-redneck Jeff Foxworthy, the show will let contestants match wits while racking up cash for their favorite charities....
The sweet creamy monstrosity once known as “Big Butter Jesus,” having melted in a lightning-induced inferno in June 2010, is proving true to its namesake: It will rise again. The Solid Rock Church of Monroe, Ohio, has commissioned a replacement statue with features worthy of Lee Majors—52 feet...
Back in my ultimate frisbee-playing days, I’d travel throughout the Midwest and South for tourneys. One of my teammates (I’ll call him Shmuel) was finishing rabbinical school at Hebrew Union College and decided to pull a prank on an unsuspecting waitress. Our meal stop took us to a greasy spoon...
In grade school, I thought “Venerable” was a name—the Venerable Bede’s name, to be precise. As it happens, “venerable” is the first step on the path to canonization. (Bede was apparently venerable long enough for the term to stick; he’s a saint now.) One of our latest...
