You Just Never Know ...

... where you're going to run across a discussion about, or pictures of (good or bad) heraldry.  In this case, I ran across a recent string of posts in a guitar and musician forum, My Les Paul, at http://www.mylespaul.com/forums/backstage/85456-coat-arms.html

Johan Åberg posted there about a coat of arms he has designed for himself and his family.  He goes on to discuss the symbolism of the various elements.  It's a decent design, all in all, and is, I think, pretty impressive, all things considered.

Then, of course, someone else had to get into the conversation with "Here's mine".

Alas, of course, it's really just the not-terribly-well-designed coat of arms of the State of Alabama, with a rock guitarist substituted for France Modern in the first quarter.  (More information about the Alabama coat of arms can be found on-line at: http://www.archives.state.al.us/emblems/st_coa.html, where it is noted that "The original design of the Alabama coat of arms was made in 1923 by B. J. Tieman, New York, an authority on heraldry."  Frankly, I have to question how much of an "authority" he really was, but maybe that's just me.)