zoo

LZP and I thought it would be a good idea to go to the zoo.

That part was. Being there when other people were? [Doubtful mouth-scrunch]

Learn from our experience, that our suffering be not in vain. (Suffering in veins is unavoidable. It's called family, it's in your blood, yo.) Do not make the mistake of going to the Bronx Zoo on a Wednesday, the designated "suggested donation" day. It's great that it's there, though it seems to have little impact on education [shame in own species, engaged] - but really, just let the almost $30 entrance fee segregate as intended. IT IS WORTH IT.

We heard a woman telling her daughter, in all earnestness, that a red panda was a teddy bear. People were standing on one side (the wrong one) of open-air cages screaming, then being baffled that the animals wouldn't come near, then not notice that when people were quiet the animals would start moving closer. A boy aged about nine years pounded maniacally on the not-as-thick-as-you'd-think glass at the gorilla cage, with an adult female right next to the glass. LZP and I became progressively more liberal selecting children for deposit in the gorilla pits, lion fields, gator ponds, etc.

But there was one overheard highlight.

Adult Male to Presumably Have Fathered Boy: Do you know why flamingos are pink?
Boy Child: Because they're stupid. [statement]