The Dogfolk and the Bird Watchers Should Be Friends

A storm has been a-brewin' in Prospect Park this spring. According to the New York Times, dog owners who allow their dogs off-leash freedom in the park, are clashing with the bird watchers. Apparently, the dogs come along and scare all the birds away with their splashing and barking and general doggy-ness. From the bird watchers' perspective:

Dogs distress birds and can trample the delicate underbrush where birds feed and nest. Bird watchers say they have been answered with exclamations of “Nazi!,” “creep!,” R-rated curses and, occasionally, “I’m going to kill you,” when asking dog owners to respect the laws, which permit untethered animals in three meadows only after 9 p.m. and before 9 a.m.

There's a link to a video (which I can't seem to embed here, so make some popcorn and then go watch yourself), that shows a confrontation between a bird watcher and a dog owner where the dog bounds toward the edge of the lake and the waterfowl fly away:

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Brooklyn is a Bad Ass Name: No Shit

According to Social Security Administration, Brooklyn is the most popular female baby name beginning with “B” in the majority of the United States except for one place: New York.  The reason for this is obvious. Real New Yorkers know how fucking cool Brooklyn is. If you live in Brooklyn and name your kid Brooklyn, you’re a poser.

Yo, that’s like walking around Times Square wearing an I Heart New York tee shirt. Don’t do that shit. You look like a tourist. Same thing goes for naming your baby girl Brooklyn if you live here; Fahgettaboudit.

Ain’t nobody naming their babies “Manhattan” or “Queens," because we all know what the best borough is.

These parents who live in Montana naming their little girls Brooklyn wish desperately that they (too) lived in Brooklyn. I don’t blame them, dude. Brooklyn is the shit. If there was a choice between living in Idaho and living in Brooklyn, uh…Brooklyn hands fucking down.

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FIPS JUICY: BEST STORIES OF THE WEEK

In case you spent all week getting all sports fan psycho with the basketball playoffs in our backyard and the NFL Draft, here's a roundup of juicy FIPS news that graced the pages of our blog this week:

* Windsor Terrace Bar Name Gets the Tomahawk Bar Chop

* Ken Burns Buys An Apartment with a Fucking Swimming Pool in Brooklyn

* Cool or Not Cool: Prospect Park's New Sound Track

* Credit Card Skimming on the Rise in Park Slope?

* Parody of MTA Subway Changes for Summer 2014

* Park Slope Comic Duo Starts Campaign to Buy Patrick Stewart a Stroller

Park Slope Craigslist Blotter

AVAILABLE: Hypnobirthing

Welcome to a special Mother's Day edition of the Craigslist Blotter! Now, where do moms come from? Well they come from babies. I don't want to get all technical but their lady biz gets all itchy when it happens so they need something to ease that. And the latest Park Slope fad is Hypnobirthing. The same technique that is used to get people to stop smoking or cluck like a bird when you say "sassafras" can provide you with a discomfort free childbirth. For you. Not the kid. He'll still be crying his eyes out. Oh and it'll be incredibly helpful If you aren't in the 25% of the population that is unhypnotizable.

FOR SALE: Teapot              

You can't just take her to brunch you lazy son of a…mom. It's time for gift shopping for Mother's Day. I looked at the antiques available in the neighborhood and this is the first thing that struck me. It's a 500 dollar teapot. That's leaves and water. That's 500 dollars. You don't put bourbon in it or nothing?

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Windsor Terrace Bar Name Gets the Tomahawk Chop

The Washington Redskins. The Cleveland Indians. The Atlanta Braves. All three are storied sports franchises that have existed for years with names that Native Americans kind of take offense towards. Aunt Jemima. Uncle Ben. Lucky from Lucky Charms. All three are mascots that have played off racial stereotypes for decades in the the interest of enticing consumers. In America, we're big fans of cultural appropriation.

Take Mohawk Tavern, a recently-opened bar over in Windsor Terrace from the same folks who brought you Park Slope's Skylark & Gowanus' Lowlands Bar. Over at KensingtonBK, a blog that I didn't know existed until coming across this story, they recently posted a short interview with the co-owners. It didn't take long for commenters to voice their opinion on the name, reminding us that the Mohawk people are a tribe of Native Americans who have already endured enough, including years of battles with alcohol addiction. They don't need some Brooklyn bar piling on by naming itself after the tribe.

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