Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires

The GOP couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

We still have time to mess this up!

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

American History and Black History Cannot Be Separated

Innocent people don’t delay justice.

You can’t love your country only when you win.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

Take your GOP plan out of the witness protection program.

A consequence of cucumbers

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

We’ll be taking my thoughts and prayers to the ballot box.

Consistently wrong since 2002

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

Republicans in disarray!

Come on, man.

The words do not have to be perfect.

You are here: Home / Pet Blogging / Duck Blogging / Thursday Evening Open Thread: Monumental

Thursday Evening Open Thread: Monumental

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Barring universal conversion to Islam (which is vanishingly unlikely, for reasons) the making of what Terry Prachett referred to as ‘I Can See Your House From Here’ monuments will not perish from human society. That granted, what shall we put up in our public spaces to valorize our strength? Well…


Nancy Schon’s monument stands across from the Boston Common and not far from the State House. The mother duck is, by design, nicely sized for a toddler to sit on her back. There’s a ‘Make Way for Ducklings’ spring celebration every year, where people bring their kids dressed up as ducks, and the ducks get dressed up for local events, too. There are probably purists who are offended by the objectively pro-cop bias of the original book (a friendly policeman holds up traffic to permit the duck family to cross a busy street), but the ducks themselves are blessedly non-partisan.

I have fond memories of the Central Park Alice in Wonderland and Balto statues, which also have a noble history as climbing structures for small children.

Maybe we should stick to using animal or kiddylit statues for our commemorative sculptures, for a generation or two?


Reader Interactions

158Comments

  4. 4.

    Immanentize

    I need a quick assist — can someone give me a good definition of a “lionfish” as in a disruptive commenter — Im on a chat and need a quicky definition. Thanks!!

  5. 5.

    tokyokie

    The statue of Hachikō outside Shibuya Station in Tokyo. It’s not only a tribute to a wonderful story, it’s the landmark everybody uses for meeting people in the area. (And I say this as a cat person.)

  12. 12.

    MomSense

    Vigeland Park in Oslo, Norway is one of the most amazing places. The statues are incredible.

  20. 20.

    raven

    @Immanentize:

    Sealioning
    A subtle form of trolling involving “bad-faith” questions. You disingenuously frame your conversation as a sincere request to be enlightened, placing the burden of educating you entirely on the other party. If your bait is successful, the other party may engage, painstakingly laying out their logic and evidence in the false hope of helping someone learn. In fact you are attempting to harass or waste the time of the other party, and have no intention of truly entertaining their point of view. Instead, you react to each piece of information by misinterpreting it or requesting further clarification, ad nauseum. The name “sea-lioning” comes from a Wondermark comic strip.

  21. 21.

    raven

    @MomSense: They are crazy looking fish with big spikes. They actually are great eating but dangerous to clean. I caught on on the gulf and we sushi’d it on the dock and it was great.

  23. 23.

    Immanentize

    @raven: I turned over a rock near Tartuga when snorkling with the family one day and under was a big ass lionfish.  I told a local and he swam out immediately a speared it with a stick.  I was impressed with his determination.

  25. 25.

    SiubhanDuinne

    I adore the Make Way for Ducklings sculptures, especially their seasonal and occasional garb — warm scarves in winter, flowery straw hats at Easter, Red Sox caps at World Series time, etc. A few months ago, I mused on FB that it would be encouraging to see them all in PPE, and practically before I hit “post” I got a photo back from a Boston friend showing all of them wearing surgical masks.

  27. 27.

    RSA

    “When you’re smashing statues, save the pedestals. They come in handy.”

    Any idea where this quote is from? I’m a huge fan of Stanislaw Lem, but it doesn’t match my memory of anything I’ve read by him. (I could imagine an ironic comment by Trurl or Klapaucius, but I don’t recognize it.)

  29. 29.

    different-church-lady

    You know, I gotta give Trump this: racism has never been less popular than it is right now.

  31. 31.

    Immanentize

    @raven: That’s what seems to have happened.  But they are really successful at taking over habitat.  Slow and steady….

  33. 33.

    dmsilev

    A sculpture, not a statue, but I’m quite fond of The Bean in Chicago. Ok, technically it’s called Cloud Gate, but nobody actually calls it that.

  36. 36.

    rikyrah

    BREAKING: Steven Mnuchin is now flat-out REFUSING to disclose the businesses receiving $500,000,000,000 in bailout funds, claiming the info is "confidential"4.5 MILLION businesses received government funds. Zero transparency. Unconscionable, jaw-dropping corruption.— Public Citizen (@Public_Citizen) June 11, 2020

  39. 39.

    oatler.

    “By clicking register below, you are acknowledging that an inherent risk of exposure to COVID-19 exists in any public place where people are present. By attending the Rally, you and any guests voluntarily assume all risks related to exposure to COVID-19 and agree not to hold Donald J. Trump for President, Inc.; BOK Center; ASM Global; or any of their affiliates, directors, officers, employees, agents, contractors, or volunteers liable for any illness or injury.”

  45. 45.

    Ken

    @raven: Apparently they are really stupid (if a fish can be stupid) and just walk along the ocean floor easily speared.

    In fairness they don’t need to be bright, what with the “touch me and die screaming” thing. Of course that strategy breaks down once the sharpened stick is invented.

  47. 47.

    Spanky

    @raven:  That was going to be my suggestion for a statue that enhances its surroundings too.

    Being there beats the hell out of pictures.

  51. 51.

    Redshift

    @Redshift: Related, someone pointed out on Twitter that most of these Confederate statues were generic soldier bodies designed to have different heads attached (which I had actually known), and suggested replacing them with dinosaur heads.

    I think that would be extremely popular, and unlike another historical figure, there is no chance they would later be discovered to have done something that would provoke outrage.

  52. 52.

    Kent

    @Redshift:

    @Redshift: Related, someone pointed out on Twitter that most of these Confederate statues were generic soldier bodies designed to have different heads attached (which I had actually known), and suggested replacing them with dinosaur heads.

    I think that would be extremely popular, and unlike another historical figure, there is no chance they would later be discovered to have done something that would provoke outrage.

    They were also all made in foundries in the north as there weren’t any left in the south by then.  Same generic statues cast by the hundreds and sold to racist towns across the south.

    But yes, dinosaur or lizard heads!

  53. 53.

    rikyrah

    Anna Wintour is not long for Conde Nast…that much is clear from multiple conversations I've had with sources. She has not only lost the confidence of her staff…those who didn't already have confidence are no longer scared of her.— Yashar Ali ? (@yashar) June 11, 2020

  55. 55.

    August West

    Somewhat related to the the debate over monuments

    What Are We to Do With Cinematic Monuments to the Confederacy?
    https://www.vulture.com/article/gone-with-the-wind-and-cinematic-monuments-to-the-confederacy.html

    Amazon Weighs The Dukes of Hazzard’s Streaming Future
    https://www.vulture.com/2020/06/amazon-dukes-of-hazzards-streaming.html

    I didn’t think I’d have to say this in 2020, but fuck the goddamn Confederacy and scumbags like Trump who wish to celebrate it

  56. 56.

    Martin

    Gonna have to go with NYC on this one – lady liberty, alice in wondereland, hans christian anderson, fearless girl, even the Lenin statue is great considering the city it’s in.

  58. 58.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @raven: I think the bigger question is if fish can be smart.  I think my brother caught the same bass four times in about an hour on Memorial Day weekend.

  59. 59.

    Martin

    Honorable mention to Cabazon Dinosaurs which, last time I stopped by was a creationist store, and creepy AF.

  61. 61.

    August West

    A statue of Robert Baden-Powell will receive 24-hour security instead of being removed after it was placed on a target list by anti-racism protesters, a council in England has said.

     

    On Thursday, a group of local residents vowed to defend the statue of the founder of the Scout Movement in Poole Quay, Dorset, after the council said it would be temporarily removed.

     

    The monument had been included on a list of statues to be toppled due to Baden-Powell’s associations with the Nazis and the Hitler youth programme, as well as his actions in the military.

    h/t https://www.yahoo.com/news/robert-baden-powell-statue-dorset-114428702.html

  64. 64.

    evodevo

    We have some very nice thoroughbred racehorse statues in downtownLexington…moved the resident confederates to the cemetery a couple years ago…put them in with all the other dead causes…

  65. 65.

    Feathers

    @Redshift: Man, I loved climbing up that triceratops and sliding down the tail. There was usually a line. I see that he is now behind a fence and unable to be climbed upon. Boo! Boo! Boo!  I never knew that he had a name and was a book character. I just mispronounced his dino-name as Tri-sir-rop-tops.

  68. 68.

    Martin

    @Omnes Omnibus: Uh huh. I went to all this effort to catch that fish. I meant for him to get away – he didn’t outsmart me! I’ve been hearing this excuse for years from fishermen. Dumb, drunk, at least be honest you were outsmarted.

  70. 70.

    Robert Sneddon

    Lord Wellington has a famous statue on Queen Street in Glasgow. It’s not the statue that’s famous though, it’s the fact it’s in Glasgow and surrounded by Glaswegians who will “cononate” him at the slightest excuse.

    The town council has basically given up trying to stop Glesca folk doing this because, well it’s Glesca.

  71. 71.

    different-church-lady

    @August West: There’d be a very good reason not to stream The Dukes of Hazzard even if there weren’t a single Confederate flag in the whole damn series.

  74. 74.

    trollhattan

    @Martin:

    Seattle’s Fremont District has a ginormous Lenin, which is quite a shock if you see it in person not knowing it’s there. Very Fremont.

  76. 76.

    August West

    Trump has plenty of allies in the Rethuglican party when it comes to celebrating Confederate generals:

    Protesters rallied outside of the Tennessee state Capitol Wednesday after lawmakers voted to keep a bust of a Confederate general and Ku Klux Klan leader on full display in the capitol, following arguments that removing it would erase history and could be offensive to some.

     

    A House committee in Nashville voted 11 to 5 Tuesday to continue displaying the bronze bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest, which has survived public protests and demands for its removal since it was erected in 1978.

     

    Rep. Jerry Sexton (R), who voted against the bust’s removal, appeared to excuse the state’s history of racism.

     

    “It was not against the law to own slaves back then. Who knows, maybe some of us will be slaves one of these days. Laws change,” Sexton, who is white, told the legislative panel. “But what about the people that I represent, that it will offend them if we move this? They’ll be offended. They won’t like it. But it doesn’t seem to matter.”

     

    He went on to question House Democrats’ understanding of ethics, since they support abortion.

     

    “Who decides what is ethical, what is right, when we’re killing millions of babies every year in this country because of abortion,” Sexton said.

     

    h/t https://www.huffpost.com/entry/tennessee-capitol-to-keep-forrest-bust_n_5ee23012c5b6625b095bb628

  77. 77.

    CaseyL

    Dinosaur fans: If you can ever get up to Alberta, Canada, the Royal Tyrrell Dinosaur Museum is the best, best, best.

    Lifelike statues of velociraptors (? I could be remembering wrong.  Could be herbivores, like iguanadon) on the front lawn, which you’re not supposed climb up onto but everyone does.

    A skeleton of Canada’s Own Allosaurus gracing the entrance.

    A glass-floored room with a garden of Cambrian trilobites under your feet.  Plus a zillion more trilobites in display cases, with more variety than Baskin Robbins flavors (flavours).

    Really, an amazing museum.  Plus Alberta has Dinosaur Provincial Park, where every rainy season brings more dinos out of their limestone matrix and you literally cannot take a step without walking on bits of dino bone.

    Wonderful stuff.

  81. 81.

    Sab

    Our local neighborhood movie theater, built in 1935 and saved from economic collapse many times since then, has posted on its marquee ” Closed forever.” I am seriously bummed, although I cannot imagine going there anytime soon.

    My mother, then age 80, was outraged when it was declared as “historic” since she watched it being built from the window of her second grade class. Highland Square neighborhood, if Momsense is reading.

    They tried Art Theatre. That failed several times. Then they tried first run theater of sort of woke action films, plus we have a bar, and that worked really well.

    I wonder how many very cool neighborhoods that have scraped themselves back from obscurity and decline will be able to recover from this period. In my town took them 75 years to recover from the Depression.

    Trump managed to blow them up in les than 4 years from sheer incompetence welded to malevolent intentions. I personally think the incompetence was as damaging as the malevolence.
    Trump didn’t want to torch the economy. He just did it because his people are idiots.

  82. 82.

    Feathers

    @Robert Sneddon: In case another reason to hate on Harvard is needed, the statue of John Harvard in the freshman quad is similarly anointed by the the students. Prospective students touring the campus are encouraged to rub it for good luck.

  83. 83.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    North End state rep says Columbus statue a symbol of Italian heritage and North End persistence, so knock it off with the beheading

    Fuck that state rep. Columbus was a bad Italian figure to choose from in the first place. Why not just adopt Galileo and replace Columbus? What would those “Columbus is a symbol of Italian heritage” assholes have to say to that?

    Galileo defied the Catholic Church in the name of the truth and science. That’s a hero in my eyes

  84. 84.

    Mike in NC

    We can take a little comfort in the fact that there will never be a statue of Trump, unless Fat Bastard installs it himself on one of his seedy properties. He may have already done so.

  87. 87.

    Ladyraxterinok

    @MomSense:

    Agreed! I stumbled onto the statues during my 1st trip to Europe in 62. I had never heard of the statues, the park, or the sculptor before. The place blew me away!

    ?

  89. 89.

    CaseyL

    @trollhattan:  @Roger Moore:  Besides Lenin and the troll, Fremont also has “Waiting for the Interurban” – a small group of people waiting for the long-vanished streetcar.

    Locals dress them up for holidays, family occasions, the Solstice Parade, to keep them warm in winter, and whenever else they feel like it.  The dog has a human face because the sculptor had a falling out with the Council member in charge of the project, and so put his face on the dog’s body.

  90. 90.

    NanaR

    Speaking of worthy statues in NYC, check out the rendering of Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man on Riverside Drive around 150th St.

  91. 91.

    Miss Bianca

    @oatler.: OMG…it’s like he’s planning to make his *entire fanbase* sign a COVID-19 NDA?!

    I wonder if this will be the final straw breaking some MAGAt camel’s back. I wonder, but not with any actual sense of wonder.

  93. 93.

    cain

    @August West:

    I haven’t seen the dukes of hazzard since the 80s and I actually have no desire to watch it now. I don’t think that show actually ages well.

    But it was great during friday nights on CBS – 7pm – Incredible Hulk, 8pm Dukes of Hazzard and 9pm – Dallas (that’s when we kids had to go to bed)

  95. 95.

    kindness

    I remember playing on the statue of Jonah’s Whale in the children’s section of the Central Park Zoo when I was a kid.  I wasn’t sure what the name was so I googled it and I’ll be damned, it got moved to Queens in 1997.  It’s been a lot of decades since I’ve been to the Central Park Zoo.  The Bronx Zoo has always been much better.

  96. 96.

    Uncle Cosmo

    As a mathematician and sometimes WW2 buff, I am inordinately ;^D fond of this utterly inanimate but manifestly numerate monument outside the main building of the university in Poznań , which commemorates Marian Rejewski, Henryk Zygalski, and Jerzy Różycki, the three Polish mathematicians (and Poznań University graduates) who did the crucial early work on breaking the Enigma codes & then lateraled it to the Brits and Bletchley Park.

  97. 97.

    Elizabelle

    @oatler.:   I hope the Secret Service and police and arena workers are allowed to mask and glove up.

    Petri dish full of MAGAts.  In a town famous for a race massacre, on Juneteenth.  What could go wrong?

  98. 98.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Martin:

    He even uses the “black people are arrested so much because they commit most of the crimes” bullshit

  99. 99.

    Anotherlurker

    @MomSense: Lionfish are beautiful creatures, in their natural range which is the Indo Pacific.

    However, they are a flat out out of control invasive species, not only in the Gulf of Mexico, but the entire Western Atlantic and the Caribbean.   They were introduced by aquarists who dumped their unwanted specimens into the sea, thinking that they wouldn’t survive.

    Well, they survived and they are aggressively elbowing native species out of many niches.  I have caught them in Fla. and I have friends in the Northeast who have seen them while SCUBA Diving and have caught them while wreck fishing.

    They are a serious danger to the native species.

    BTW, they are excellent eating!   (Spread the word)

    I am a lifelong fish freak and former Docent at a Fla. Marine Laboratory

  101. 101.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    Patsy the Dog in Juneau Alaska:

    https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/3625

    There’s also a cool Russian Orthodox church in the town.

    Juneau is a great place to visit but you would never want to live there….unless you live to fish…and smoke tons of weed…and vote Republican.   Then it’s paradise.

  102. 102.

    germy

    ALBANY – Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan Thursday ordered the removal of the Philip Schuyler statue from the front of City Hall.

    Schuyler, a major general in the Revolutionary War, was “reportedly the largest owner of enslaved people in Albany during his time,” a release from the mayor’s office read.

  104. 104.

    VOR

    I visited Budapest, Hungary many years ago. They took down the old Soviet statues and put them in a park on the outskirts of the city. Then some enterprising soul discovered Weatern tourists would pay money to see them so now the park is basically a tourist trap.

  105. 105.

    catclub

    @oatler.: The immunity that McConnell wants for corporations, so that their employees won’t sue them for getting sick, would look better if he were insisting that companies follow strict safety guidelines in order to earn immunity. Instead there are NO mandatory Federal safety guidelines for Covid 19 and workers.

  107. 107.

    Elizabelle

    @Anotherlurker:  Have heard that lionfish and snakeheads are delicious eating.  If a bit challenging to deal with.  (Those quills!)

    Broil or saute or grill that invasive species.

  109. 109.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Galileo defied the Catholic Church in the name of the truth and science. That’s a hero in my eyes.

    Aaaaaaand that’s the reason the paesani will never consent to re-heading a Colonectomized statue with the great astronomer – most of them goombahs are still line-dancing in goose-step to the tune of “The Vatican Rag”.

  110. 110.

    catclub

    @cain: How many television series can YOU think of that have a type of clothing named for it.

     

    Daisy Dukes.

  113. 113.

    MoxieM

    I think taking a picture or two of your rugrat (s) on the Ducklings is very much a coming of age, or delaying of tantrum, experience for many parents in the greater Boston area. I have one somewhere, along with rugrat on the play structure on the Cambridge Common (oooh perverts!), the U.S.S.Constitution, and Swan Boats. Otherwise known as “out of town family”

     

    ETA: Seaman, the Newfoundland dog who went with Lewis & Clark has a statue!

  114. 114.

    Uncle Cosmo

    Dr. Rofer will like this one: Oscar Wilde and Eduard Vilde on a bench in front of the Cafe Wilde, Tartu, Estonia. Two late-19th century literary types separated by a common surname (adjusting for transliteration). I’ve been there but failed to get a photo of splitting the difference between them.

  115. 115.

    prostratedragon

    @dmsilev:
    Of course, everyone knows it’s a jellybean. Picks up reflections of its surroundings well, you can use it to better understand what mappings are.

    I also like the Ooo-weee fountain near it on Michigan, the Moore at Art Institute and the beady-eyed Picasso, which Royko used to say was just so Chicago. In fact once you get away from the figural, there’s a lot of good public sculpture here.

  117. 117.

    JoyceH

    Off topic, but I just saw a clip of Trump giving an interview, and lordie, did he look bad! Huge purple bags under his eyes. Anyone else see recent footage and notice significant deterioration?

  119. 119.

    Aleta

    Hachiko was part of my childhood. People arrange to meet at his statue, not just because it’s convenient to find but because his greatness came from waiting to meet. Some still observe the anniversary of his death. Even now I can get a little choked up.

  121. 121.

    Roger Moore

    @cain: 
    I think the most troubling thing about the Dukes of Hazzard is that it’s a solid hour (minus commercial breaks) of thoughtless stereotypes about the South. The traitor flag on the car is just the tip of the iceberg; you could digitally erase it and the show would still be incredibly offensive.

  122. 122.

    Citizen Alan

    @August West: From my recollection of puberty, the popularity of the Dukes of Hazzard came entirely from Daisy’s cut-off shorts and occasional shots of a shirtless Tom Wopat and/or John Schneider. I still have no idea what anyone ever saw in Duck Dynasty.

  123. 123.

    J R in WV

    @raven:

    Apparently they [Lionfish] are really stupid (if a fish can be stupid) and just walk along the ocean floor easily speared.

    IIRC, Lionfish are super poisonous on those long spikes or fronds they have. So almost nothing attempts to prey on them, but people, which they haven’t adapted to yet…

    Interesting that they make delicious sushi — kinda like those poisonous puffer fish the Japanese like so much.

  124. 124.

    NotMax

    That’s twice today the word valorize has appeared on the front page – when validate would serve both better and more clearly.

  126. 126.

    prostratedragon

    @Citizen_X:
    James Joyce on a street in Trieste, Italy, like any pedestrian. Never dug up a good story why he’s there, beyond there must have been a wealthy fan.

  127. 127.

    Citizen Alan

    @Roger Moore: Looking back, I think the most disturbing thing about Dukes of Hazzard was that it was set in a small town in rural Georgia (I think it was supposed to be Georgia anyway) … and there were no black people. I can’t recall any African Americans ever appearing on the show except for one black sheriff of a neighboring county who was a recurring antagonist, and even he was only in 3 or 4 episodes.

  129. 129.

    Amir Khalid

    @catclub:

    Instead there are NO mandatory Federal safety guidelines for Covid 19 and workers.

    Shocking. Worker safety and health is not supposed to be a political issue. In my country, every sector that has been allowed to reopen since lockdown is required to comply with strictly enforced standard operating procedures, designed by the Health Ministry, to ensure social distancing and hygiene. If you look at the numbers I post/link to every day in the Covid-19 thread, you see the evidence that these SOPs save lives.

  132. 132.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Aleta: I’ve been to Manitoba. You’ll have to get a *lot* more specific when referring to giant mosquitoes.

  135. 135.

    PaulWartenberg

    Did anyone mention the statue honoring the Boll Weevil in Enterpirse, Alabama?

  138. 138.

    Anotherlurker

    @Elizabelle: The spines of Lionfish and related species are easily delt with by either using a glove when filleting and removing the spines with a stout pair of shears.  They should be handled carefully.

    I have never had occasion to deal with a Snakehead.

    BTW, Lionfish are members of the Scorpionfish family which includes 50+ species of U.S. Pacific Coast Rockfish.   Many of these species are popular sport fish on the US West Coast.  I can attest to their excellent eating.

    There are 3 related species in the New England area. They are usually marked as Ocean Perch.

    I believe commenter Kent could add some info.

  140. 140.

    Bill Arnold

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    He even uses the “black people are arrested so much because they commit most of the crimes” bullshit

    Well, to be fair, police are known to be arrested very infrequently compared to the US general population; less than 1/2000 times as often. (Nice job if one wants to commit crimes like domestic abuse.)
    Study finds police officers arrested 1,100 times per year, or 3 per day, nationwide (Tom Jackman, June 22, 2016)

    To be clear, police are not committing crimes at anywhere near the level of civilians. Stinson’s data found 1.7 arrests of police per 100,000 population over the seven years of the study, where the general arrest rate in 2012 alone was 3,888 arrests per 100,000 population.

    (Yeah, they confuse not being arrested with not committing crimes, very big time.)

  149. 149.

    James E Powell

    I screwed up and accidentally put this in the thread above. I was not able to delete or edit it.

     

    Back when John Prine, passed, we discovered there were quite a few fans in this community.

    I figured that some might be interested in seeing Picture Show: A Tribute Celebrating John Prine. I’d say if you are a fan, it is a must watch. There’s a new song at the end.

    It’s available till Sunday June 14th. It is also a fund raiser.

  150. 150.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Immanentize:

    Inlove lionfish – great eating. They’re incredibly stupid, though, and hang around for the spear.

    When diving Belize, our guides ask if we mind if they spear some;!we’ve gotten 10-20 per dive trip.

  151. 151.

    JAFD

    @MoxieM: Has been customary, for many years, for the children of Newark and environs, to  be photographed seated onthe lap of Gutzon Borglum’s statue of Abraham Lincoln, in front of the old Essex County Courthouse.

    A block away is Rosa Parks, seated on bus bench – children and grownups can sit next to her.

  157. 157.

    Searcher

    @Uncle Cosmo: You also have to recall the existence of the Knights of Columbus, who basically are sad because the Masons won’t let Catholics in, who are also responsible for “IN GOD WE TRUST” / “UNDER GOD” being added to our money/pledge in the 50’s.

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