A couple of pretty cool Philly history pieces to look at today.

• First of all, historyofphilly.com has a video that looks at Abraham Lincoln’s funeral procession through Philadelphia.
• Secondly, a write up I did yesterday about how booze helped the Philadelphia Athletics win the 1871 baseball pennant.
• Finally, phillyhistory.org has a write up on a couple of spectacular hotels that were in downtown Philly.

From the state that brought us George W. Bush, Jerry Jones, and Vanilla Ice, we now get this: Bill Nye “The Science Guy” was booed in Waco, Texas for suggesting the Moon did not generate its own light, but reflected light from the sun…several people in the audience stormed out, including woman with three small children who shouted, “We believe in God!” and left.

Almost makes you wish the ATF had burned the whole damn town down.

As you are well aware, I was in Puerto Rico with a “travel companion” last week. Well, I decided to write in today’s Metro about a couple from Philly I met while in Vieques. In other Puerto Rico news, here are some photos from the trip. We were in the rain forest south of Utuado for the first couple of days. A very hairy drive to get there over switchback roads, but it was worth it. Very secluded, extremely relaxing. Took a few hikes, but other than that, just sort of loafed around and drank rum and juice. Then we headed to Vieques, where we went to the tiny town of Esperanza. The island is best known for being the place that the US Navy was driven out of in 2003. It is home to some of the most beautiful, most desolate beaches in the Caribbean. We hiked to nearby Sun Bay, which was beautiful, and also did the Bioluminescent Bay kayak trip. It looked a lot like this. It was very cool, though kayaking at night while wet was a little chilly. Finally, we headed to Old San Juan. Stayed at a very cool, fairly cheap hotel called the Casablanca, which was right in the middle of everything. San Juan was terrific. Great walking town, although the sidewalks were a little narrow. But lots of great restaurants, Spanish architecture, and the El Morro Fort was very cool. I would definitely like to go back to San Juan when I have more time, but we were able to get a lot of hiking around the town in in our short time there. So there you have it. Great trip, lots of fun, I definitely recommend Puerto Rico as a vacation destination (though to be honest I like Mexico a little bit better.)

Jack Nicholson turns 72 today. There are several men who claim to be his father (he doesn’t know who his real father is), and he was brought up believing that his grandparents were his actual parents, and that his actual mother was his sister. He found out the truth in 1974 when a reporter for TIME Magazine told him. Apparently, his grandparents didn’t think he could handle the truth. Anyhow, just curious: what’s you favorite Jack film? Mine is probably the Shining, followed closely by One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Let me know what yours is in the comments below.