Bumper Fish

Today was a fine fall day -- warm enough to leave all coats and jackets on their pegs, mostly clear but with enough clouds to make the sky interesting, and just enough wind to send leaves scattering from their trees occasionally. I was even able to drink artisanal root beer (see Monday) on the deck.

Though not Halloween related, I saw another thing for the first time in my neighborhood recently: a bumper sporting a fish with the words N'Chips inside. This made me laugh. I don't see very many bumper fish in my part of the world, either the originals with ΙΧΘΥΣ or JESUS, or the Darwinfish with legs, or TRUTH eating Darwin, though I've seen all of these at one time or another. Maybe bumper fish aren't something Midwesterners care for all that much.

It turns out, of course, that there's a whole cottage industry devoted to variations, mostly parody or secular, of the bumper fish. My own favorite of these is emblematic of Flying Spaghetti Monsterism.

I see that the FSM web site has expanded considerably since I last visited a few years ago. All the movement needs now is a mendacious bastard along the lines of L. Ron and it could be a real cult (with real, dues-paying cultists) in short order. Here's my own little contribution: it's clear that among the many early prophets of the Flying Spaghetti Monster was the Flying Purple People Eater, who appeared in the late 1950s.