Lizzie Borden’s middle name was Andrew, after her father. Other women with traditionally men’s names include Anne Rice, who was born Howard Allen O’Brien, and Orson Welles’s oldest daughter Christopher, who received the name he’d chosen for a son because he and his wife were so positive they were having a boy they did not have a backup.
Gail Borden, Jr., developed the first successful cans of condensed milk in 1853, allowing milk to be kept in liquid form and shipped without spoiling. It took some time for Borden to come up with a method to condense it without burning or curdling it. The company got a huge boost during the Civil War as a way to provide milk to the troops. The Borden company later branched out to other dairy products and foods.
The most famous resident of Bordentown, NJ, was Joseph Bonaparte, former King of Naples and Spain and brother to Napoleon I of France. He arrived incognito, calling himself “Comte de Survilliers” and lived at an estate named Breeze Point for 17 years in the 1820s and 1830s. He entertained distinguished guests such as Henry Clay, Daniel Webster and the future 6th U.S. President, John Quincy Adams.
“The Devil and Daniel Webster” is a short story by Stephen Vincent Benét. Benet’s story centers on a New Hampshire farmer who sells his soul to the Devil and is defended by Daniel Webster.
Daniel Webster was the politician who introduced legislation to produce postage stamps for the U.S. Post Office, the first of which were issued in 1847. The first stamp to bear Webster’s portrait was not issued until April 12 of 1870, 18 years after his death. In all, Daniel Webster is honored on 14 different US postage issues, more than most US Presidents.
In a 2007 interview on The 700 Club, singer Pat Boone claimed that he is the great-great-great-great grandson of the American pioneer Daniel Boone. He is a cousin of two stars of Western television series: Richard Boone of CBS’s Have Gun – Will Travel and Randy Boone, of NBC’s The Virginian and CBS’s Cimarron Strip.
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It is quite likely that Pat Boone, despite his claims, is not a direct descendant of Daniel Boone. Much research has been done on his claim, and while it is agreed that he may be related to the famous Kentuckian, it is very unlikely that he is a descendant. It’s far more likely that he was told this information by his parents and that it falls into the category of family lore, without factual basis.
Daniel Webster served as Secretary of State under three different U.S. Presidents: W. Harrison, Tyler, Fillmore. The only other Sec’y State with that distinction was James G. Blaine (Garfield, Arthur, B. Harrison).
Webster’s Dictionary refers to any of the line of dictionaries first developed by Noah Webster in the early nineteenth century. His first dictionary, A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language, appeared in 1806. The term “Webster’s” has become a generic trademark in the U.S. for comprehensive dictionaries of the English language.
Madeleine Albright, Condoleezza Rice, and Hillary Clinton are the highest-ranking women in the history of the U.S. Cabinet, having held the post of Secretary of State, the most senior cabinet position, held in the 1800s by Daniel Webster. Frances Perkins was the first woman to serve in the Cabinet after women gained the right to vote in 1920; she was appointed Secretary of Labor in 1933 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Jerry Rice holds the all-time records for most receptions, most touchdown receptions, and most receiving yards by an NFL wide receiver. He holds over 100 NFL records, the most of any player by a wide margin. He was selected for the Pro Bowl 13 times, named All-Pro 12 times, won three Super Bowls and has been called the greatest player in NFL history.
Pilaf is a rice dish that is made with a seasoned broth. The word ‘pilaf’ comes from the Turkish word ‘pilav’ and comes to English through the Greek word ‘pilafi’. Reference to the dish dates back as far as 400 BCE.
Texas wild rice is a perennial plant found only in a small area along the San Marcos River in central Texas, and is in danger of extinction due to loss of suitable habitat in its limited range and to pollution. The pollen of Texas wild rice can only travel about 30 inches away from a parent plant. If pollen does not land on a receptive female flower within that distance, no seeds are produced.
Four US states have an official state grain. Arkansas and California’s is rice (Oryza sativa), Wisconsin’s is corn and Minnesota’s is Northern wild rice (Zizania palustris).
Wood grain is the longitudinal arrangement/pattern of wood fibers. It can mean a variety of things, such as the direction of the wood cells (straight grain, spiral grain), surface appearance or figure, growth-ring placement (vertical grain), plane of the cut (end grain), rate of growth (narrow grain), relative cell size (open grain), and other meanings.
A cube can be bisected evenly by planes nine times.
“Doubling the cube”, or the Delian problem, was the problem posed by ancient Greek mathematicians of using only a compass and straightedge to start with the length of the edge of a given cube and to construct the length of the edge of a cube with twice the volume of the original cube. They were unable to solve this problem, and in 1837 Pierre Wantzel proved it to be impossible because the cube root of 2 is not a constructible number.
Several great mathematicians did develop methods to double the cube with “neusis” constructions, including Newton, Descartes, Omar Khayyám, and some of the ancient Greeks. What they couldn’t do, as panache45 points out, was to achieve the result using only a compass and unmarkable straight-edge.
Of these constructions the most famous is the bold solution in three dimensions achieved by Archytas of Tarentum.
Penny voice: That’s all I know. Oh, wait! Fig Newtons were named after a town in Massachusetts, not the scientist.