"That Dingo Stole My Yater Fin!" And Other Unfortunate Cultural Blunders of Tasteless Humor and Cockamamie Reasoning

In the Delta Flight Path, This Morning

The other day my wife (and son) accidentally left our car unlocked overnight.  In many urban places this would be begging for a morning scratching one's head over where one might have parked the car the night before, and then a subsequent slapping one's forehead over the sure cause of the absent automobile.  Certainly New York is high on the list of places to never leave anything unlocked for fear of instant ramifications.  And so it was when I realized the Yater fin was missing from the back seat where it had been put to pasture in favor of the Greenough fin, slapping of the forehead was the next logical step.  It is moments like these where the cultural assumption that being stupid and being a surfer is sufficient due course going one way and certainly necessary going the other, might actually find its toe hold in reality.  Surely I should have observed that nothing else was missing from our car.  Surely I would have noticed that cellphone chargers, a coin stash of considerable girth and a number of stylish clothing options had not gone missing.  No, my first thought was "god damn, a surfer saw my car was unlocked and nabbed my Yater fin!" I saw past all reasonable course of action (like checking the boot to see if I or my wife had stuffed it back there) and fully accepted that some eagle-eyed surfy burglar had the nous to pounce while happening down an obscure Brooklyn street.  This morning, driving back from what I can only describe as a wonder-session of knee high, clean and perfectly fun sunrise waves, I was lucky enough to tune in to the right radio station.  I heard what I think might be sixty percent of this program, but what I did hear made my mind wander into good places.  If you've got the moment today or tomorrow or next week, listen to this.  Watch out for the social scientist's use of the curious phrase "began to become."  That cracked me up.  Oh and yeah, I found the Yater fin.  In the boot.  Stupid surfer.