Eponym of the week: Vanadis, a goddess of beauty in Scandinavian mythology, corresponding to the Norse goddess Freya. The element vanadium was named for her, because of the multicolored beauty of its chemical compounds. Most of the other eponymous chemical elements, such as einsteinium, curium and fermium, have a more obvious etymological heritage.

One more Bit gleaned from Mickey Rooney's autobiography "Life Is Too Short": Automaker Henry Ford was so impressed with Rooney's portrayal of the title character in the 1940 film "Young Tom Edison" (Edison was a good friend of Ford), that he gave Rooney a new Lincoln Continental, which was in the first year of the luxury car's manufacture.

According to Census Bureau estimates, the population of the United States reached the 300 million mark in October 2006. Who was president when U.S. population reached 200 million?
A) Theodore Roosevelt
B) Franklin D. Roosevelt
C) Lyndon Johnson
D) Jimmy Carter

Previous answer: The first name Vanessa was coined by Jonathan Swift -- not as a character for one of his books, but for a female acquaintance whose real name was Esther Vanhomrigh.

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