I guess some people don't understand what their families fought for...

[Boomhauer]

The architect is easy - they took the most untalented clown they could find to design it..

You nailed how the NPS (and the rest of the gov't) works when it comes to selecting artists or contractors or whatever

I've been involved in several projects in the past year of my employment with the NPS. Every single time, they pick incompetent idiots to do the job, whether it's making a film, doing work, or designing something (like historical markers). I'm one of the lowly members of the staff that gets forced to review and make comments and corrections of the work, and invariably, whatever I am reviewing looks like it was created by 4th grade learning disabled students. And then our comments and corrections are ignored, of course, because my boss is too afraid of confronting the incompetent idiots and making them fix their screwups...

I'm so fed up with this crap that I'm ready to turn in my badge and key as soon as I can get a more lucrative job in the private sector...

[Viking]

You nailed how the NPS (and the rest of the gov't) works when it comes to selecting artists or contractors or whatever

I've been involved in several projects in the past year of my employment with the NPS. Every single time, they pick incompetent idiots to do the job, whether it's making a film, doing work, or designing something (like historical markers). I'm one of the lowly members of the staff that gets forced to review and make comments and corrections of the work, and invariably, whatever I am reviewing looks like it was created by 4th grade learning disabled students. And then our comments and corrections are ignored, of course, because my boss is too afraid of confronting the incompetent idiots and making them fix their screwups...

I'm so fed up with this crap that I'm ready to turn in my badge and key as soon as I can get a more lucrative job in the private sector...

Reminds me of Atlas Shrugged.
Fun thing, a couple of weeks ago, my little town erected a bust of the dude who started up the first veterinary school in this country back in the 18th century... I was pleasantly surprised to see that it appears to be a bust that is as accurate as it can be, and not some stupid modern art celebrating him .

[KD5NRH]

If I had submitted that design, it would've been transferred to the round archive immedietly (as is appropriate though)

...and you would now be suing the hack that got his copy approved for about what they're planning to spend building it.

Maybe we should all submit the worst possible ideas we can come up with every time somebody's looking for a memorial design, just so we can do that.

[Manedwolf]

Reminds me of Atlas Shrugged.
Fun thing, a couple of weeks ago, my little town erected a bust of the dude who started up the first veterinary school in this country back in the 18th century... I was pleasantly surprised to see that it appears to be a bust that is as accurate as it can be, and not some stupid modern art celebrating him .

To me, it is the most human of monuments that are the best link to the past, because you can look at the face of the person who did whatever is being honored, and see them as a fellow human being who did something notable. And that's what it's all about.



I have always felt like this statue of Cicero is about to turn and begin one of his eloquent orations. It lets me look at who the man was, an elder statesman with a powerful confidence and presence.

[AZRedhawk44]

That Challenger memorial looks like the way a space shuttle takes off... rotating onto its back as it lifts into space.  The apex of the memorial probably corresponds somehow to the rate of rotation and total altitude of the craft before it blew up.

It's a very beautiful design, IMO and I typically hate modern art.

I second the notion of a simple plaque, a parking lot and a couple of acres.

[peteinct]

I've been there. The memorial is moving because it is just a collection of tributes from everyday people. The place is pretty empty and a strong wind blew the whole time I was there. A local man was a guide and he said he was in negotiations with the gov for payment for his part of the land. Pete

[coppertales]

Land around here goes in the neighborhood of 4000 bucks an acre.  275 acres is about 1,100,000 bucks.  A nice chunk of change in any language.  Build a monolith at the crash site and install some coin eating telescopes along the road so folks can see the memorial.....and be done with it.......chris3