Thank you, Captain German!

Hookers at the Point...5 years later. Really, am I supposed to be surprised that they're still hookers? For real? If you told me any of them were out of being prostitutes, I'd be more surprised. Anyway, remember to click the ads. I'll buy you a drink.

First. here's the link to the "Beat It" video. It doesn't work on my computer, but Basil tells me that in the knife fight, their hands are tied right hand to left. This seems unfair to me...if both combatants are right handed, one is at a disadvantage. But, as Basil said, "Knife fights, like life, are often not fair." Truer words have never been spoken.

The Union Oyster House is not only the oldest restaurant in Boston, but the oldest restaurant in continuous operation in the U.S. Also, the Oyster House was the first place in America where the toothpick was used. Seriously, though, how do you prove that? There is no way that someone thought this event was so significant that they needed to chronicle it, right?

The Hynes Convention Center/ICA stop was originally named Massachusetts, before being renamed Auditorium in 1965. In 1990, it took on its current name. I'm thinking ICA stands for Institute of Contemporary Art, based solely on the fact that the Hynes Convention Center is located at 900 Boylston and the ICA is at 955 Boylston, for now. They are currently building a new ICA on the waterfront in Southie...accessible by the Silver Line. which is considered a subway route, even though it's a bus. Go figure.

"Suum cuique", which is above the bar at Jacob Wirth's, is Latin for "To each his own". A good sentiment, if I do say so myself.

A bizarre Australian guy named Rolf Harris wrote "Tie Me Kangaroo Down Spot", apparently because he was influenced by Harry Belafonte. Also, the line "Let me Abos go, Lou" was deemed offensive enough to have the song banned in Singapore. Apparently, nonsense is offensive. So offensive, in fact, that it causes censorship to run rampant in Singapore. Weird. (Upon further investigation, Abos may be a slur for Australian aborigines. Why this would offend the Singaporeans, I have no idea. But Wikipedia has at least a partial list of ethnic slurs. It's interesting, because they're not only slurs to be used by white Americans. One of the first ones is "48'ers", which is used by Alaskans to refer to people from the contiguous 48 states. I don't see this being a slur any more than people from Hawaii referring to folks from the contunuous 48 as "mainlanders".)

Jerry Seinfeld really is 51. He was born April 29, 1954.

Finally, here's a list of the most recent Constitutional amendments, courtesy Basil. His sources are here and here.

22nd Amendment (1951) - Presidential term limits

23rd Amendment (1961) - Presidential vote for District of Columbia: DC gets the vote!

24th Amendment (1964) - Poll tax barred: This was to keep Southern states from preventing black people from voting

25th Amendment (1967) - Presidential disability and succession: Prez dies or resigns, Veep becomes Prez. Prez then nominates new Veep, Congress approves. Prez can declare himself unable to perform duties, Veep takes over. Veep (plus posse) can declare Prez unable to perform, Veep takes over. Etc. (1967)

26th Amendment (1971) - Voting age set to 18 years: If you can die for your country, you get the vote. Side note: this became an amendment only because Oregon threw a hissy fit when Congress tried introducing this as a bill.

27th Amendment (1992) - Congressional pay increases: Any change in pay takes effect after the next election. Side note: this was originally proposed back in 1789, as part of the original Bill of Rights (!). But it took two hundred years to get ratified.