Author: Steve DiMatteo

The United States’ religious makeup continues to shift, as nearly a third of Americans now identify as religiously unaffiliated, which could include describing oneself as atheist, agnostic, or simply “nothing in particular.” According to the recent Pew Research Center findings, the number currently stands at about 28 percent, which is actually lower than what was found in recent years – in 2022, the estimate stood at 31 percent. However, even with the slight dip in year-to-year numbers, the long-term trend is stark: Since 2007, the number of Americans identifying as religiously unaffiliated has grown from 16 percent in 2007 to…

Minor league baseball is a treasure trove of bizarre promotions, and one of the most popular traditions in recent years has become teams rebranding as special, alternate identities for a series of games each season. Many of these rebrands are food-related, while others run the gamut of having some sort of local connection to just being plain weird. In the case of the Double-A Somerset Patriots (an affiliate of the New York Yankees), they’ve gone with the former for 2024, rebranding as the Jersey Diners (at one point, the name “Greasy Spoons” was considered, which might be even better). New…

In the college football world these days, it doesn’t really even matter who plays in the postseason bowl games, which will become even more evident as the playoff format is set to expand. As you might expect, the proliferation of college football bowl games – often featuring teams with losing records at this point – comes down solely to how much money the NCAA can make through bowl sponsorships. This has never been more evident than what happened in the 2023 Pop-Tarts Bowl, which featured a live Pop-Tarts mascot that made a tremendously grand entrance, danced, and partied its way…

No doubt we’ve all thought about jumping into those giant aquariums at Bass Pro Shops, but rarely have any of us acted on it. However, one Alabama man finally let his intrusive thoughts win this past week – possibly aided through the use of alcohol and/or drugs – and did a full-on cannonball into a Leeds-area Bass Pro Shops aquarium, swimming in it for about five minutes before police arrived. The 42-year-old nude man, who also took some time to stand under a waterfall, got out of the water to yell at a couple police officers on the scene, then…

If you’ve ever been to a Dunkin’ location and visited the bathroom, you know you’re probably putting your life into some sort of jeopardy. The things often seen in there weren’t meant for human eyes, but it’s unfortunately something we’ve all had to deal with in our own way. In Winter Park, Florida, one man has perhaps experienced the worst a Dunkin’ bathroom has to offer, as an exploding toilet in one of the chain’s restrooms left him with “severe and long-term injuries,” according to a recently filed lawsuit. The explosion, which happened in January of 2022, left Paul Kerouac,…

If you’ve been out on the road and seen a Jeep in recent years, you’ve probably noticed the army of rubber ducks on its dashboard. Walking through a parking lot, you might feel an army of rubber ducks watching you from all sides, monitoring your every movement. Your eyes don’t deceive you, and you aren’t going crazy. “Duck duck Jeep” is totally a thing, and here’s why. What Is Ducking? The process of “Ducking” is pretty simple: It’s a show of respect between Jeep owners, where one Jeep owner will leave a toy rubber duck on another Jeep owner’s vehicle,…

Garth Brooks has released a new album called Time Traveler, which is great news for all fans of Garth Brooks and, well, country music lovers (so long as you don’t believe that tongue-in-cheek internet rumor about him being a serial killer). But there are a couple catches if you want to hear Brooks’ new music. First of all, it’ll only be available as part of a CD box set called The Limited Series, similar to what the artist did in 1998 and 2005. Secondly, if you want to get your hands on the CD box set – which includes Time…

Charles Dickens visited the United States in 1842, partly to see the young nation for himself but also to push for the implementation of international copyright, as Americans were pirating his works at will without paying him a cent. Though he was initially excited to get a glimpse of the new republic, the immensely popular author came away disappointed by what he found. Dickens was repulsed by the institution of slavery and “attacked the American press whom he blamed for the American’s lack of general information.” The American dream being nothing more than a fantasy? Americans in general being ignorant…

It was an honest mistake, but it’s still pretty jarring to see a picture of Dracula wearing a Star of David – the symbol of Judaism – medallion necklace on a box of children’s cereal. It might sound unbelievable, but it really happened in 1987, as General Mills put Bela Lugosi’s famous vampire visage on the box of Count Chocula cereal for the Halloween season. Four million boxes hit supermarket shelves in early October of that year and were quickly met with protests from consumers and Jewish newspapers. How Did the Dracula Count Chocula Box Go So Wrong? Since we’re…

The U.S. defense budget is inching ever closer to the $900 billion mark, and yet, the most powerful military in the world is having trouble locating one stealth fighter jet. Maybe U.S. military technology is too good (except when trying to shoot down unidentified objects over the Great Lakes, apparently). The military lost the F-35B Lightning II jet Sunday afternoon after the pilot was forced to eject from the advanced stealth aircraft over South Carolina. And now, Americans in the state – specifically north, around Lake Moultrie and Lake Marion where the jet was last known to be flying -…