The Poe Toaster tradition continues, but if random assholes have their way it won't for much longer:

BALTIMORE, Maryland (AP) -- Continuing a decades-old tradition, a mystery man paid tribute to Edgar Allan Poe by placing roses and a bottle of cognac on the writer's grave to mark his January 19 birthday.

Some of the 25 spectators drawn to a tiny, locked graveyard in downtown Baltimore for the ceremony climbed over the walls of the site and were "running all over the place trying to find out how the guy gets in," according to Jeff Jerome, the most faithful viewer of the event.

Jerome, curator of the Poe House and Museum, said early Thursday he had to chase people out of the graveyard, fearing they would interfere with the mystery visitor's ceremony.

What is wrong with these people? What kind of worthless mouthbreathing Morlock is willing to spoil, for all time and for everyone, something unique, odd, touching and wonderful -- merely to satisfy an overstimulated monkey-mind that will move on to the next shiny soundbite in less than a minute? It's not even real curiosity, it's something grubby, selfish and hyperactive, an infant's "meeeeeeeeee!" high on MTV, a sick conviction that a personal Right to Be Entertained trumps everything.

Fuck.

Hat-tip: Ivy; news stories abound here, mostly rehashes of the same release. Once again, AP writer Brian Witte has good coverage

Oh, and I never did manage to get permission to publish the photo of the Toaster, but someone else either did, or didn't care. I don't suppose it matters much, so here.