Statues

MEXICO CITY - Adios, Heydar Aliyev, late strongman of distant Azerbaijan. Now that your statue has been hauled away from the Paseo de La Reforma, the Mexican capital's grand boulevard, where will Mexicans go now when they want to meditate on your legacy of KGB membership, fraudulent elections and human rights violations? Early Saturday, in the darkness sometime after midnight, Mexico City officials wrapped up the bronze statue of Aliyev, the ruler of Azerbaijan from 1993 to 2003, and ferried it away on a truck.

It's not every day you get to see a giant statue of son getting a wedgie from an even bigger statue, but that is what happened to Colin Kaepernick's parents on Sunday. Rick and Teresa Kaepernick, parents of the 49ers quarterback, were walking into the Georgia Dome to watch their son's team take on the Atlanta Falcons when they noticed something strange.  They took a photo of it and posted it on Twitter. As you can see, it's an Atlanta Falcons statue giving their son a wedgie.

The San Juan Capistrano dinosaur is one step closer to extinction after city planning commissioners voted to evict the 40-foot long Apatosaurus statue from a petting zoo in the heart of the city's oldest neighborhood. Commissioners said the dinosaur, which peeks onto historic Los Rios Street from the tiny zoo, does not reflect the history of San Juan, which would have been underwater when such animals roamed the Earth. Carolyn Franks, owner of Zoomars Petting Zoo, said she plans to appeal the commission's 4-2 vote.

A statue depicting a seemingly contrite Adolf Hitler kneeling in prayer in the former Jewish ghetto in Warsaw is causing a stir in Poland. Artist-provocateur Maurizio Cattelan created the statue, titled "Him," in conjunction with an exhibit at the Center for Contemporary Art in Warsaw. Cattelan's statue is visible to the public only through a hole in a gate, according to reports. Viewers can see the statue's back, but not its face. The artwork has been drawing condemnation.

We travel, we craft bucket lists , we read about exotic destinations that will open a window on the world, but do we actually retain anything? Here's a chance to find out. Napa Valley-based freelance writer Bob Ecker created the Travel Quiz 2012 for his travel column at Examiner.com . It has 25 brain-busters that will leave you thinking, singing and maybe embarrassed about how few you can answer. The answers will be posted next week (though I've already seen them)

BOGOTA, Colombia - Nearly a century ago, Konrad Preuss did pioneering work in Colombia's most important archaeological zone, called San Agustin. But the German archaeologist also took 35 stone statues back to Germany, and now residents of the southern Colombian region where he worked have mounted a campaign to get them back. About 1,800 residents of the Andean community of the San Agustin region signed a petition this month in a grass-roots effort to urge Colombia's government to make a formal request for the return of the intriguing artifacts.

Among Superstorm Sandy victims still struggling to recover: Liberty Island. The Statue of Liberty remains indefinitely closed to the public due to damage on the island, joining another shuttered national icon, the Washington Monument, which has been closed due to damage from an Aug. 23, 2011, earthquake. The statue, the pedestal and base came through the storm, which made landfall Oct. 29 in southern New Jersey, without significant damage. But the docks that bring visitors to the island were seriously damaged, and more than half of the bricks in the walkway that circles the island in New York Harbor were dislodged and tossed about as water came probably within 10 to 15 feet of the statue's base, said National Park Service spokesman Mike Litterst.  Security screening and concessionaire facilities also were damaged.

Brandon Ty Garner died on the day he was born: July 1, 2011. He came into the world at 24 weeks, 5 days. His lungs hadn't developed. He lived for six hours. Very few people ever saw him. Nearly a year and a half later, his parents remain swaddled in grief. They visit his grave twice a week, even though it's an hour's drive from their Menifee home, and decorate it for each holiday he cannot share with them. Full coverage: City Beat Recently they put up a small Christmas tree, full of colorful lights and ornaments.

Down the narrow corridor that runs through one of California's oldest neighborhoods, behind the perfectly preserved 200-year-old houses, the source of a heated debate in San Juan Capistrano pokes out his leathery neck with a goofy smile. The city resting amid south Orange County's green-covered hills is known for its tight embrace of a rich history: Hundreds of horses march through the streets each year to welcome the swallows' expected return to the mission; an old-world Spanish motif of stucco walls and terra cotta roofs includes even burger joints and banks; and on historic Los Rios Street, there are strict rules about what belongs and what doesn't.

MEXICO CITY -- That big, hulking statue of the Caucasian strongman has got to go. Such was the recommendation Friday of a special committee appointed to resolve one of the odder controversies to beset this capital. At issue: the city government's decision to allow Azerbaijan to erect a monument to its late president, Heydar Aliyev, on the iconic Reforma Boulevard, prime real estate in the sprawling megalopolis. The bronze and marble statue generated protests and a running debate in the media.