Best and Worst 9/11 Tributes
Some of the most wonderful and most wacky 9/11 tributes.
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Best: National September 11 Memorial and Museum - Although not without its share of controversy, the 9/11 Memorial being constructed at Ground Zero, the site of the original World Trade Center, promises to be an awe-inspiring tribute to the victims of the tragedy. The 16-acre memorial site will be home to a museum, two large waterfalls and reflecting pools and over 400 trees.(Photo: REUTERS/MIKE SEGAR/LANDOV)
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Worst: Twin Towers Beijing, China - Beijing built its replicas of the Twin Towers before the Sept. 11 attacks, but when New Yorkers caught wind of the towers just before the Olympic games were scheduled to begin in 2008, tempers flared. The towers are a part of the New York exhibit in Beijing’s World Park, but since New York no longer has the towers, some say Beijing should get with the times.(Photo: REUTERS/Wilson Chu)
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Best: Twin Towers, Bronx, NY - New York City transit worker Matt Galcik wanted to take memorializing the victims of September 11 into his own hands, so he built a 12-foot replica of the towers in the backyard of his Bronx, New York, home.(Photo: New York Daily News)
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Worst: 9/11 Wine - Long Island vintner Lieb Cellars is selling a special wine that it boasts is made from grapes grown “90 miles from the site of the World Trade Center.” Although Lieb claims that 6–10% of proceeds go to the National September 11 Memorial and Museum, many New Yorkers aren’t feeling the idea of getting drunk from the memories of September 11.(Photo: LiebCellars.com)
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Best: Documentary: All Our Sons: Fallen Heroes of 9/11 - Finding herself dissatisfied with media coverage of the New York firefighters involved in the harrowing search and rescue mission at Ground Zero, native New Yorker Lillian Benson decided to tell a story she felt no one else would. Her documentary, All Our Sons: Fallen Heroes of 9/11, honors the Black firefighters that gave their lives in service on September 11.(Photo: Lightwave Pictures)
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Worst: 9/11 Coloring Book - Publisher Really Big Coloring Books, Inc. has found itself in really big trouble over its September 11 memorial coloring book that some are calling racist and insensitive. The coloring book, We Shall Never Forget 9/11: The Kids' Book of Freedom, features drawings of the Twin Towers burning and Osama Bin Laden in the moments before he was shot hiding behind one of his wives.(Photo: Really Big Coloring Books, Inc.)
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Best: T-shirts! - In the ten years since the towers fell Americans have been supporting the memorial fund, victims funds, and just about any other September 11 related fund they way they know best, T-shirt sales. (Photo: UPI Photo/ArchieCarpenter/Landov)
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Worst: Pop-up Coins - A number of commemorative coins have popped up since September 11, but none so confusing as the pop-up coin produced by the National Collector’s Mint. The makers of the coin claim that the coin’s rising Twin Towers are crafted from “priceless silver recovered from a bank vault in the ashes of Ground Zero” and calls the coin “World Trade Center Commemorative.” However, officials and duped consumers alike are angry about the marketing of the curious coin that is not sanctioned by any government agency and has no connection to the 9/11 Memorial that is being built at the World Trade Center site.
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Best: Cartoon Strip Unity - America’s best funnies are banding together to dedicate their Sunday comic strips to victims of the September 11 attacks. After the strips are published, they will be gathered together and exhibited in museums across the country.(Photo: CartoonistsRemember911.com)
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Worst: 9/11 Snow Globes - A number of souvenir outlets are selling snow globes featuring scenes referencing September 11, such as the Twin Towers, and even of New York City firefighters raising the American flag at Ground Zero. But when the actual day was called a “snow globe of terror” and looked like this, is a snow globe the best way to memorialize the day?(Photo: DouglasOgg.com)
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Best: 9/11 Day of Service - In 2002, two New Yorkers personally affected by the September 11 attacks came together to begin what is known today at the 9/11 National Day of Service. The purpose of the organization is “to provide a positive and forward-looking way for Americans and others to forever honor and remember the 9/11 victims, survivors and the many that rose in service in response to the 9/11 tragedy.”(Photo: Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
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Worst: Parachute Chair - Although the company that produces the Seatchute does not explicitly mention September 11 in its advertising, the company that produces the parachute-ready office chairs says it has sold more than 70 chairs to clients in Manhattan. The inventive chair was originally designed for airplane seats, but the company decided that there was a market among high-rise employees.(Photo: Seatchute.com)
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Best: 9/11 National Quilt - In a creative memorialization of those affected by September 11, the Steel Quilters of United States Steel Corporation created a massive quilt tribute that features quilt pieces from all 50 states as well as Canada, Spain, Denmark and Australia. The quilt is constructed of 3,466 blocks, measures eight-feet high by 30-feet wide and is embellished with the names of some of those who perished in the attacks. The quilt is currently on display in New York City.(Photo: American Folk Art Museum)
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Worst: Terror Chess - A range of September 11-inspired game boards have been made in commemoration of the event; some respectful and austere and others downright scary — but the worst of them all has to be the Terror Chess Set created by a Canadian soldier. The chess set features on one side Western icons and leaders such as President Obama, the Twin Towers and the Statue of Liberty, and on the other side Taliban insurgents, complete with a woman dressed in a Burka as the queen.(Photo: TerrorChess.com)
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Best: Flight 93 National Memorial - On September 11, one of the hijacked airplanes was set on a crash course to Washington, D.C., when its passengers and crew fought to regain control of the plane from the terrorist hijackers. Unfortunately, the hijackers crashed the plane in a Pennsylvania field and everyone onboard perished. A memorial was established at the site of the crash and will be formally dedicated this year on the 10th anniversary.(Photo: Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
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