Best line from an insurance rep I've heard in recent memory

"It's not that we did not pay that charge, it was allocated to your deductible."  So, actually, it is that you didn't pay it. 

Some days I despair for my country.

bits of culture and books

1. The new US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is seeking feedback on how to make mortgage disclosure forms more understandable. If you have a few minutes, go and vote for the alternative you find easiest to understand.

2. I am seriously amused that Patrick Stump’s song This City, now free on iTunes, includes a lyric using the word “gentrification.”
( Civil War, understanding comics, economics and economic collapse, funky numbers )