The names of the two stone lions in front of the New York Public Library are Patience and Fortitude. They were named by then-mayor Fiorello LaGuardia.

On May 23, 1911, the main branch of the New York Public Library was officially opened in a ceremony presided over by President William Howard Taft. After a dedication ceremony, the library was open to the general public that day. The library had cost $9 million to build and its collection consisted of more than 1,000,000 volumes. The library structure was a Beaux-Arts design and was the largest marble structure up to that time in the United States. It included two stone lions guarding the entrance were sculpted by E. C. Potter. Its main reading room was contemporaneously the largest of its kind in the world at 77 feet (23.5 m) wide by 295 feet (89.9 m) long, with 50 feet (15.2 m) high ceilings. It is lined with thousands of reference books on open shelves along the floor level and along the balcony. The New York Public Library instantly became one of the nation’s largest libraries and a vital part of the intellectual life of America. Dr. Harry Miller Lydenberg served as director between 1934–1941.

Americans consumed more than twenty billion hot dogs in 2000

Hot dog stands and trucks sell hot dogs at street and highway locations. Wandering hot dog vendors sell their product in baseball parks. At convenience stores, hot dogs are kept heated on rotating grills. 7-Eleven sells the most grilled hot dogs in North America — 100 million annually. Hot dogs are also common on restaurants’ children’s menus.

In the US, “hot dog” may refer to just the sausage or to the combination of a sausage in a bun. Many nicknames for hot dogs have popped up over the years. A hot dog can often be seen under the names of frankfurter, frank, red hot, wiener, weenie, durger, coney, or just “dog”.

Honolulu, Hawaii boasts the only royal palace in the United States of America

ʻIolani Palace, in the capitol district of downtown Honolulu in the U.S. state of Hawaiʻi, is the only royal palace in the United States used as an official residence by a reigning monarch and is a National Historic Landmark listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Two monarchs governed from ʻIolani Palace:King Kalākaua and Queen Liliʻuokalani. After the monarchy was overthrown in 1893, the building was used as the capitol building for the Provisional Government, Republic, Territory, and State of Hawaiʻi until 1969. The palace was restored and opened to the public as a museum in 1978.

The state of Tennessee was known as Franklin before 1796

Three counties of the Washington District (now part of Tennessee) broke off from North Carolina in 1784 and formed the State of Franklin. Efforts to obtain admission to the Union failed, and the counties (now numbering eight) had re-joined North Carolina by 1789. North Carolina ceded the area to the federal government in 1790, after which it was organized into the Southwest Territory. In an effort to encourage settlers to move west into the new territory, in 1787 the mother state of North Carolina ordered a road to be cut to take settlers into the Cumberland Settlements—from the south end of Clinch Mountain (in East Tennessee) to French Lick (Nashville). The Trace was called the “North Carolina Road” or “Avery’s Trace,” and sometimes “The Wilderness Road (although it should not be confused with Daniel Boone’s “Wilderness Road” through the Cumberland Gap).

In 1908, the first machine to make lollipops opened for business in New Haven, Connecticut

The idea of an edible candy on a stick is very simple, and it is probable that the lollipop has been invented and reinvented numerous times. The history of the first lollipops in America appears to have been distorted over time. There is some speculation that lollipops were invented during the American Civil War (1861–1865). Others believe some version of the lollipop has been around since the early 1800s. George Smith claimed to be the first to invent the modern style lollipop in 1908 and trademarked the lollipop name in 1931. He used the idea of putting candy on a stick to make it easier to eat and reportedly named the treats after a popular racing horse, Lolly Pop. It initially referred to soft, rather than hard candy. The term may have derived from the term “lolly” (tongue) and “pop” (slap). The first references to the lollipop in its modern context date to the 1920s. Alternatively, it may be a word of Romany origin being related to the Roma tradition of selling toffee apples sold on a stick. Red apple in the Romany language is loli phaba.

The first confectioneries that closely resemble what we call lollipops date to the Middle Ages, when the nobility would often eat boiled sugar with the aid of sticks or handles. The invention of the modern lollipop is still something of a mystery but a number of American companies in the early 20th century have laid claim to it. According to the book Food For Thought: Extraordinary Little Chronicles of the World, they were invented by George Smith of New Haven,Connecticut, who started making large boiled sweets mounted on sticks in 1908. He named them after a racehorse of the time, Lolly Pop.

The term ‘lollipop’ was recorded by the English lexicographer Francis Grose in 1796.

After WWII, the U.S. Department of War was renamed Department of Defense

The United States Department of War, was originally responsible for the operation and maintenance of the United States Army. The War Department also bore responsibility for naval affairs until the establishment of the Navy Department in 1798 and for most land-based air forces until the creation of the Department of the Air Force in 1947. TheSecretary of War headed the war department throughout its existence.

The War Department existed from 1789 until September 18, 1947, when it split into Department of the Army and Department of the Air Force and joined theDepartment of the Navy as part of the new joint National Military Establishment(NME), renamed the United States Department of Defense in 1949.

The Secretary of War, a civilian with such responsibilities as finance and purchases and a minor role in directing military affairs, headed the War Department.

The Pentagon has twice as many bathrooms as necessary. When it was built in the 1940s, the State of Virginia still had segregation laws requiring separate toilet facilities for blacks and whites.

The Pentagon building spans 28.7 acres (116,000 m2), and includes an additional 5.1 acres (21,000 m2) as a central courtyard. It has five façades, listed starting with the north side and moving clockwise: the Mall Terrace Entrance façade, the River Terrace Entrance façade, the Concourse Entrance (or Metro Station) façade, the South Parking Entrance façade, and the Heliport façade. On the north side of the building, the Mall Entrance, which also features a portico, leads out to a 600 ft (180 m) long terrace that is used for ceremonies. The River Entrance, which features a portico projecting out 20 ft (6.1 m), is located on the northeast side, overlooking the lagoon and facing Washington. A stepped terrace on the River Entrance leads down to the lagoon; and a landing dock was used until the late 1960s to ferry personnel between Bolling Air Force Base and the Pentagon. The main entrance for visitors is located on the southeast side, where the Pentagon Metro station and the bus station are located. There is also a concourse on the southeast side of the second floor of the building, which contains a mini-shopping mall. The Pentagon’s south parking lot is located on the southwest side of the Pentagon, and the west side of the Pentagon faces Washington Boulevard.

The concentric rings are designated from the center out as “A” through “E” (with in addition “F” and “G” in the basement). “E” Ring offices are the only ones with outside views and are generally occupied by senior officials. Office numbers go clockwise around each of the rings, and have two parts: a nearest-corridor number (1 to 10) followed by a bay number (00 to 99), so office numbers range from 100 to 1099. These corridors radiate out from the central courtyard, with corridor 1 beginning with the Concourse’s south end. Each numbered radial corridor intersects with the corresponding numbered group of offices (for example, corridor 5 divides the 500 series office block). There are a number of historical displays in the building, particularly in the “A” and “E” rings.

Floors in The Pentagon are lettered “B” for Basement and “M” for Mezzanine, both of which are below ground level. The concourse is located on the second floor at the metro entrance. Above ground floors are numbered 1 to 5. Room numbers are given as the floor, concentric ring, and office number (which is in turn the nearest corridor number followed by the bay number). Thus, office 2B315 is on the second floor, B ring, and nearest to corridor 3 (between corridors 2 and 3). One way to get to this office would be to go to the second floor, get to the A (innermost) ring, go to and take corridor 3, and then turn left on ring B to get to bay 15.

It is possible for a person to walk between any two points in the Pentagon in less than seven minutes.

Just south of the Pentagon are Pentagon City and Crystal City, extensive shopping and high-density residential districts in Arlington. Arlington National Cemeteryis to the north. The Washington Metro Pentagon station is also located at the Pentagon, on the Blue and Yellow Lines. The Pentagon is surrounded by the relatively complex Pentagon road network.

The United States Postal Service has established six ZIP Codes for The Pentagon, to which the place name “Washington, D.C.” is assigned, even though The Pentagon is actually located in Virginia. The Secretary of Defense, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the four service branches each have their own designated ZIP Code.

An average American child watches approximately 28 hours of television in one week

Television has played a pivotal role in the socialization of the 20th and 21st centuries. There are many aspects of television that can be addressed, including media violence research. In 2010 the iPlayerincorporated a social media aspect to its internet television service, including Facebook and Twitter. Also, the use of the television for video games, especially games such as the Wii, has contributed to a growing kinaesthetic connection between television and viewers.

Queen Lydia Liliuokalani was the last reigning monarch of the Hawaiian Islands. She was also the only Queen the United States ever had

Liliʻuokalani was arrested on January 16, 1895, several days after the failed 1895 Counter-Revolution in Hawaii led by Robert William Wilcox, when firearms were found at the base of Diamond Head Crater. She denied any knowledge at her trial, defended by former attorney general Paul Neumann. She was sentenced to five years of hard labor in prison by a military tribunal and fined $5,000, but the sentence was commuted to imprisonment in an upstairs bedroom of ʻIolani Palace, where she composed songs including The Queen’s Prayer (Ke Aloha o Ka Haku) and began work on her memoirs.

During her imprisonment, she abdicated her throne in return for the release (and commutation of the death sentences) of her jailed supporters, including Minister Joseph Nawahi, Prince Kawananakoa, Robert Wilcox, and Prince Jonah Kuhio.



The Queen with her stepson and friends.
Before ascending the throne, for fourteen years, or since the date of my proclamation as heir apparent, my official title had been simply Liliuokalani. Thus I was proclaimed both Princess Royal and Queen. Thus it is recorded in the archives of the government to this day. The Provisional Government nor any other had enacted any change in my name. All my official acts, as well as my private letters, were issued over the signature of Liliuokalani. But when my jailers required me to sign (“Liliuokalani Dominis,”) I did as they commanded. Their motive in this as in other actions was plainly to humiliate me before my people and before the world. I saw in a moment, what they did not, that, even were I not complying under the most severe and exacting duress, by this demand they had overreached themselves. There is not, and never was, within the range of my knowledge, any such a person as Liliuokalani Dominis.
—Queen Liliuokalani, “Hawaii’s Story By Hawaii’s Queen”
Following her release, she was placed under house arrest for a year and in 1896, the Republic of Hawaiʻi gave her a full pardon and restored her civil rights.

She then made several trips to the United States to protest against the annexation by the United States and attended the inauguration of US President McKinley with a Republic of Hawaiʻi passport personally issued to “Liliʻuokalani of Hawaiʻi” by President Dole.

In 1898, Hawaiʻi became an incorporated territory of the United States during the Spanish American War and took control of the 1,200,000 acres (4,900 km2) of land that formerly was held in trust by the monarchy and known as “Crown Land”. This later would become the source of the “Ceded Lands” issue in Hawaiʻi.

In 1900, the US Congress passed the Hawaiʻi Organic Act establishing a government for the Territory of Hawaii.

From 1905 to 1907, the Queen entered claims against the U.S. totaling $450,000 for property and other losses, claiming personal ownership of the crown lands, but was unsuccessful. The territorial legislature of Hawaii finally voted her an annual pension of $4,000 and permitted her to receive the income from a sugar plantation of 6,000 acres (24 km²), which was the private property of her late brother before his election as king.

In 1910, Liliʻuokalani brought an unsuccessful lawsuit against the United States seeking compensation under the Fifth Amendment for the loss of the Hawaiian crown land.

The Queen was also remembered for her support of Buddhist and Shinto priests in Hawaiʻi and became one of the first Native Hawaiians to attend a Vesak Day (Buddha’s Birthday) celebration of May 19, 1901 at the Honwangji mission. Her attendance in the celebration had helped Buddhism and Shintoism gain acceptance into Hawaiʻi’s society and prevented the possible banning of those two religions by the Territorial government. Her presence was also widely reported in Chinese and Japanese newspapers throughout the world and earned her the respect of many Japanese people both in Hawaiʻi and in Japan itself.

She lived in Washington Place until her death in 1917 due to complications from a stroke. She was 79. She received a magnificent state funeral due to her status as a former head of state.

Upon her death, Liliʻuokalani dictated in her will that all of her possessions and properties be sold and the money raised would go to the Queen Liliʻuokalani Children’s Trust to help orphaned and indigent children. The Queen Liliʻuokalani Trust Fund still exists today.

The highest point in Pennsylvania is lower than the lowest point in Colorado

Mount Davis (3,213 ft or 979 m) is the highest point in Pennsylvania. Located in the 5,685 acres (2,301 ha) Forbes State Forest near the hamlet of Markleton in Elk Lick Township, Somerset County, it lies on a gentle crest of a 30-mile (50 km) ridge line extending from central Somerset County southward into Garrett County, Maryland known as Negro Mountain.

The high point was named for John Nelson Davis, an early settler, American Civil War veteran, surveyor, and naturalist known for his studies of the mountain’s flora and fauna. During the Civil War, Davis served in the 102nd Regiment, Pennsylvania Infantry, Company E.

The summit of Mt. Davis may be ascended by car or a number of hiking trails. Its surrounds are noted for their patterns of unusual circular stone formed byperiglacial action. A metal observation tower with a relief map of the region stands near the true high point.

In the U.S. there are approximately 65.8 million cats

Cats are common pets in Europe and North America, and their worldwide population exceeds 500 million. Although cat ownership has commonly been associated with women, a 2007 Gallup poll reported that men and women were equally likely to own a cat.

According to the Humane Society of the United States, as well as being kept as pets, cats are also used in the international fur trade, for making coats, gloves, hats, shoes, blankets and stuffed toys. About 24 cats are needed to make a cat fur coat. This use has now been outlawed in several countries, including the United States, Australia and the European Union. However, some cat furs are still made into blankets in Switzerland as folk remedies that are believed to helprheumatism.

People less often eat cat meat than the flesh of other common domestic animals.

The longest U.S. highway is Route 20, which is over 3,365 miles

The U.S. Route 20 (US 20) is an east–west United States highway. The “0″ in its route number indicates that US 20 is a coast-to-coast route. Spanning 3,365 miles (5,415 km), it is the longest road in the United States, and the route roughly parallels that of Interstate 90 (I-90). However, since numbered US routes are not designated as such within the boundaries of national parks, Yellowstone National Park technically splits the route into two sections.

It and US 30 break the general U.S. Route numbering rules in Oregon, since US 30 actually starts north of US 20 and runs parallel to the north throughout the state. The two overlap and continue in the “correct” positioning near Caldwell, Idaho. This is because US 20 was not a planned coast-to-coast route while US 30 was. US 20 originally ended at the eastern entrance of Yellowstone Park; it was extended in 1940.

The highway’s eastern terminus is in Boston, Massachusetts, at Kenmore Square, where it meets Route 2. Its western terminus is in Newport, Oregon, at an intersection with US 101, within a mile of the Pacific Ocean.

Every single hamster in the United States today comes from a single litter captured in Syria in 1930

Although the Syrian hamster or golden hamster (Mesocricetus auratus) was first described scientifically in 1839, researchers were not able to successfully breed and domesticate hamsters until 1939. The entire laboratory and pet populations of Syrian hamsters appear to be descendants of a single brother-sister pairing. These littermates were captured and imported in 1930 from Aleppo by Israel Aharoni, a zoologist of the University of Jerusalem. In Jerusalem, the hamsters bred very successfully. Years later, animals of this original breeding colony were exported to the USA, where Syrian hamsters became one of the most popular pets and laboratory animals. Comparative studies of domestic and wild Syrian hamsters have shown reduced genetic variability in the domestic strain. However, the differences in behavioral, chronobiological, morphometrical, hematological and biochemical parameters are relatively small and fall into the expected range of interstrain variations in other laboratory animals.

All the poop generated on the US Navy's newest aircraft carrier will be vaporized by plasma.

The US Navy is employing Plasma Arc Waste Destruction System (PAWDS) on its latest generation Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier. The compact system being used will treat all combustible solid waste generated on board the ship. After having completed factory acceptance testing in Montreal, the system is scheduled to be shipped to the Huntington Ingalls shipyard for installation on the carrier.

Municipal-scale plasma gasification is already used commercially for waste disposal in nine locations with five more projects in development. Sites for gasification facilities are often at landfills where recuperative landfill mining can return the landfills to their original states. Plasma arc gasification is a safe means to destroy both medical and other hazardous waste.

In the Northeast of England in the United Kingdom plasma gasification technology is being implemented within the Northeast of England Process Industry Cluster(NEPIC) on Teesside by Air Products. This company is building two units to gasify societal waste to produce energy with the synthesis gas produced.

230 marriage licenses are issued in Las Vegas every day.

Las Vegas came to be known as the Marriage Capital of the World due to the ease in acquiring a marriage license and the minimal costs involved. The city continues to be known as a popular wedding destination for the same reasons, but also as a result of the various types of weddings available.

There are numerous options for wedding ceremonies in Las Vegas. The least expensive option, costing $50, is to marry at the Office of Civil Marriages.
Most weddings performed in Las Vegas may be a civil or religious service dependent upon the wedding venue selected.
With an average of 115,000 weddings a year, the Las Vegas wedding industry is competitive and ceremony locations are plentiful. Most of the city’s major hotels have wedding chapels and many of the local restaurants offer wedding ceremonies. Weddings may also be performed in the local churches, at one of the many golf courses, or at a free standing wedding chapel. Drive-thru weddings are also available.

Chicago has the largest cookie factory, where Nabisco made over 4.6 billion "Oreo" cookies in 1997

The “Oreo Biscuit” was first developed and produced by the National Biscuit Company (today known as Nabisco) in 1912 at its Chelsea factory in New York City, which was located on Ninth Avenue between 15th and 16th Streets. Today, this same block of Ninth Avenue is known as “Oreo Way.” The name Oreo was first trademarked on March 14, 1912. It was launched as an imitation of the Hydrox cookie manufactured by Sunshine company, introduced in 1908.
The original design of the cookie featured a wreath around the edge of the cookie and the name “OREO” in the center. In the United States, they were sold for 25 cents a pound in novelty cans with clear glass tops.
The Oreo Biscuit was renamed in 1921, to “Oreo Sandwich.” A new design for the cookie was introduced in 1924. A lemon-filled variety was available briefly during the 1920s, but was discontinued.
In 1948, the Oreo Sandwich was renamed the “Oreo Creme Sandwich”; it was changed in 1974 to the Oreo Chocolate Sandwich Cookie. The modern-day Oreo design was developed in 1952 by William A. Turnier, to include the Nabisco logo.
The modern Oreo cookie filling was developed by Nabisco’s principal food scientist, Sam Porcello. Porcello held five patents directly related to his work on the Oreo. He also created a line of Oreos covered in dark chocolate and white chocolate. Porcello retired from Nabisco in 1993.
In the mid-1990s, health concerns prompted Nabisco to replace the lard in the filling with partially hydrogenated vegetable oil.

Americans did not commonly use forks until after the Civil War

The word fork comes from the Latin furca, meaning “pitchfork.” Some of the earliest known uses of forks with food occurred in Ancient Egypt, where large forks were used as cooking utensils. Bone forks had been found in the burial site of the Bronze Age Qijia culture (2400 – 1900 BC) as well as later Chinese dynasties’ tombs. The Ancient Greeks used the fork as a serving utensil, and it is also mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, in the Book of I Samuel 2:13 (“The custom of the priests with the people was that when any man offered sacrifice, the priest’s servant came, while the fresh flesh was boiling, with a fork of three teeth in his hand…”). The Greek name for fork is still used in some European languages, for instance in the Venetian, Greek and Albanian languages.

In the Roman Empire, bronze and silver forks were used, indeed many examples are displayed in museums around Europe. The use varied according to local customs, social class and the nature of food, but forks of the earlier periods were mostly used as cooking and serving utensils. The personal table fork was most likely invented in the Eastern Roman, or Byzantine, Empire where they were in common use by the 4th century CE (its origin may even go back to Ancient Greece, before the Roman period). Records show that by the 9th century a similar utensil known as a barjyn was in limited use in Persia within some elite circles. By the 10th century the table fork was in common use throughout what is now the Middle East and Turkey.

By the 11th century, the table fork had made its way to Italy. In Italy, it became quite popular by the 14th century, being commonly used for eating by merchant and upper classes by 1600. It was proper for a guest to arrive with his own fork and spoon enclosed in a box called a cadena; this usage was introduced to the French court with Catherine de’ Medici’s entourage. In Portugal, forks began being used with Infanta Beatrice, Duchess of Viseu, king Manuel I of Portugal’s mother. That happened around 1450. Still forks were not commonly used in Western Europe until the 16th century when they became part of the etiquette in Italy. It had also gained some currency in Spain by this time, and its use gradually spread to France. Even at that, though, most of Europe did not adopt use of the fork until the 18th century.

Long after the personal table fork had become commonplace in France, at the supper celebrating the marriage of the duc de Chartres to Louis XIV’s natural daughter in 1692, the seating was described in the court memoirs of Saint-Simon: “King James having his Queen on his right hand and the King on his left, and each with their cadenas.” In Perrault’s contemporaneous fairy tale of La Belle au bois dormant (1697), each of the fairies invited for the christening is presented with a splendid “Fork Holder.”

The fork’s adoption in northern Europe was slower. Its use was first described in English by Thomas Coryat in a volume of writings on his Italian travels (1611), but for many years it was viewed as an unmanly Italian affectation. Some writers of the Roman Catholic Church expressly disapproved of its use (despite its above-mentioned use in the Bible), seeing it as “excessive delicacy”: “God in his wisdom has provided man with natural forks – his fingers. Therefore it is an insult to Him to substitute artificial metallic forks for them when eating.” It was not until the 18th century that the fork became commonly used in Great Britain, although some sources say forks were common in France, England and Sweden already by the early 17th century. The fork did not become popular in North America until near the time of the American Revolution. The curved fork that is used in most parts of the world today, was developed in Germany in the mid 18th century. The standard four-tine design became current in the early 19th century.

The 20th century also saw the emergence of the “spork”, a utensil that is half-fork and half-spoon. With this new “fork-spoon”, only one piece of cutlery is needed when eating (so long as no knife is required). The back of the spork is shaped like a spoon and can scoop food while the front has shortened tines like a fork. It has found popularity in fast food and military settings.

David McConnell started the California Perfume Company (CPC) in 1886. Today the company is known as Avon, which he named after his favorite playwright William Shakespeare, and Stratford on Avon

As of 2010, Avon had annual sales of $10.8 billion worldwide. It is the fifth-largest beauty company and largest direct selling enterprise in the world, with 6.4 million representatives. Avon Products is a multi-level marketing company. Their “Ding Dong Avon Calling” advertising campaign, which ran from the mid-1950s to 1967, has been called “one of the most deeply ingrained brand identities of the past century”. The company’s CEO is Sherilyn S. McCoy, who was appointed to that position in April 2012. The former CEO, Andrea Jung, became the executive chairman of the board. Jung was the longest tenured female CEO among Fortune 500 companies.

Ninety-nine percent of pumpkins sold in the United States are for the sole purpose of decoration

Pumpkins are commonly carved into decorative lanterns called jack-o’-lanterns for the Halloween season in North America. Throughout Britain and Ireland, there is a long tradition of carving lanterns from vegetables, particularly the turnip, mangelwurzel, or swede. The turnip has traditionally been used in Ireland and Scotland at Halloween, but immigrants to North America used the native pumpkin, which are both readily available and much larger – making them easier to carve than turnips. Not until 1837, does jack-o’-lantern appear as a term for a carved vegetable lantern, and the carved pumpkin lantern association with Halloween is recorded in 1866.

In the United States, the carved pumpkin was first associated with the harvest season in general, long before it became an emblem of Halloween. In 1900, an article on Thanksgiving entertaining recommended a lit jack-o’-lantern as part of the festivities that encourage kids and families to join together to make their own jack-o’-lanterns.

Pumpkin chucking is a competitive activity in which teams build various mechanical devices designed to throw a pumpkin as far as possible. Catapults, trebuchets, ballistas and air cannons are the most common mechanisms. Some pumpkin chuckers breed and grow special varieties of pumpkin under specialized conditions to improve the pumpkin’s chances of surviving a throw.

Pumpkin growers often compete to see whose pumpkins are the most massive. Festivals are often dedicated to the pumpkin and these competitions.

The Ohio towns of Barnesville and Circleville each hold a festival every year, the Barnesville Pumpkin Festival and the Circleville Pumpkin Show respectively. The town of Half Moon Bay, California, holds an annual Art and Pumpkin Festival, drawing over 250,000 visitors each year and including the World Champion Pumpkin Weigh-Off. Farmers from all over the US compete to determine who can grow the heaviest pumpkin. The winning pumpkin regularly tops the scale at more than 1500 pounds. Leonardo Urena, from Napa, California, grew the winner of the 2011 Weigh-Off with a 1,704-pound Atlantic Giant, setting a new California State record. The record for the world’s heaviest pumpkin was broken September 30, 2012, at the Topsfield Fair in Massachusetts. Ron Wallace of Greene, Rhode Island, entered a pumpkin weighing 2,009 pounds. A few days earlier on September 27, a pumpkin grown by Steve Geddes of Boscawen, New Hampshire, weighed in at 1,843.5 pounds at the Deerfield Fair in New Hampshire. That one held the world record for just five days. Prior to that, Guinness World Records had the world’s heaviest pumpkin set in 2010 by Chris Stevens, at a weight of 1,810 pounds, 8 ounces, at the Stillwater Harvest Fest in Stillwater, Minnesota. The town of Morton, Illinois, the self-declared pumpkin capital of the world, has held a Pumpkin Festival since 1966. The town, where Nestlé’s pumpkin packing plant is located (and where 90% of canned pumpkins eaten in the US are processed), held for several years a record for the number of carved and lit pumpkins in one place, before losing it to Boston, Massachusetts, in 2006. A large contributor of pumpkins to the Keene Pumpkin Fest in New Hampshire is local Keene State College, which hosts an event called Pumpkin Lobotomy on its main quadrangle. Usually held the day before the festival itself, Pumpkin Lobotomy has the air of a large party, with the school providing pumpkins and carving instruments alike (though some students prefer to use their own) and music provided by college radio station WKNH.

Ireland’s only Pumpkin Festival takes place each year in Virginia, County Cavan to find Ireland’s biggest pumpkins. This year the biggest pumpkin topped 1300 pounds. The event takes place over a holiday weekend, along with other entertainment and festive parades.
The city of Elk Grove, California, has held an annual Pumpkin Festival since 1995.

The Canadian province of New Brunswick had a bloodless war with the US state of Maine in 1839

New Brunswick (French: Nouveau-Brunswick), is one of the three Maritime provinces in Canada, and the only officially bilingual province (French and English) in the country. The history of New Brunswick can be viewed according to four periods: pre-European contact, French colonization, British colonization and finally, New Brunswick since Confederation.

The aboriginal nations of New Brunswick include the Mi’kmaq, Maliseet/Wolastoqiyuk and Passamaquoddy. The Mi’kmaq territories are mostly in the east of the province. The Maliseets are located in the northwest and the Passamaquoddy tribe is situated in the southwest, around Passamaquoddy Bay. Amerindians have occupied New Brunswick since about 6000-8000 BCE.