Friday Facts: Leftover Cod, Pauline, Selleck-san

:: The Mid-Town Lions Club has decided to carry over their popular Friday Fish Fries, normally only held on Fridays during Lent, throughout the rest of April. “Well, we’ve got all these fish still lying around, so why not?” said president Mark Pembroke.

:: Thirty-five percent of the steel used in municipal construction since January 1, 2000 has been imported from China.

:: Total cost of cleaning up the 1999 Backstreet Boys Millennium Tour “Soccer Mom” riot: $13.4m

:: More than two thousand city residents were asked what type of robot they would most be afraid of, if robots ever invaded the city. “Man-Eating” was the most popular answer.

:: Number of pints served at The Blarney Stone on 17th during St. Patrick’s Day 1997: 3,717
::Number of pints served at The Blarney Stone on 17th during St. Patrick’s Day 2007: 7,320

:: A little bit of trivia for fans of “Ripperology:” The legendary serial killer Jack the Ripper was rumored to have a trio of cousins living in our very own city. Two of them were butchers (the third was a librarian, according to legend).

:: Number of working Donkey Kong video game units: 26
:: Number of these units at Sal’s Nickelodeon, on New Park Avenue: 18

:: Following the winter of 1986/1987, a 12-foot wide pothole at the intersection of Fourth Street and Corn Avenue made the Guinness Book of World Records. The pothole was filled in that June, though a sign was erected to commemorate the achievement.

:: The humerus bone of a Triceratops was discovered during the excavation of the new City Hall Annex in 1985. It was determined to be a bone stolen from the Dakota Dinosaur Museum in 1978.

:: In 1991, the city’s fire department was the only one in the nation to accept funds from Universal Pictures to display advertising on the sides of its fire trucks in a strange and ill-conceived marketing push for the movie Backdraft (pictured below). Perhaps even stranger was when they tried the tactic one more time the following year for the fire-less Tom Selleck vehicle Mr. Baseball.

– D. Andrews, B. Brockie, K. Church, J. Morris