Have you noticed that most of the new state quarters jangling around in myriad pockets and purses are... how to say this... lame? Well, you're not the only one. Slate.com offers a hysterical deconstruction of the ones out so far, and what they seem to say about the internal psychology of U.S. states and their bland and risk-averse inhabitants. Case in point: my adopted home state of Massachusetts, who opted for a sorry-looking Revolutionary Minuteman against an outline of the state's boundaries. Now I'm all for us being the Cradle of Liberty and whatnot, but why not something a little more inspiring then, like Old Ironsides, or the Boston Tea Party? Or how about the "divine" cod, the once-abundant major export of New England, the trade of which paved the way to American self-sufficiency and independence in the first place, so much so that a wooden codfish totem was hung in the Massachusetts State House for centuries, and the nouveau riche of Boston referred to themselves with pride as the "codfish aristocracy"? Or for the love of Yaz, Eck, and Teddy Ballgame, why not Fenway Park? No, instead we settle for some weak Colonial Williamsburg-esque piffle. Oh, well.