F
Fabian
397; fiancé of Urania, in Williamsburg; Fabian means cautious, inclined to using delaying tactics (hence quoits?). And there's that Fabian Society, founded 1884 for the gradual introduction into the US of Socialism, named after Quintus Fabius Maximus.
Factors
251; "Warehouses of the" at Scanderoon
Fair Anchor, The
271
Falconer, Captain
258; of the Falmouth Packet; Dixon gives him Emerson's Watch for safekeeping,
318
96; Falmouth is at the mouth of the River Fal, in Cornwall at the southwestern tip of England; a "packet" is a passenger boat carrying mail and cargo on a regular schedule; 317; 704
False Bay
On the southern part of Cape Peninsula; the area is also known as Constantia; MAP
falsum in unum Principle
132; "False in one (element, false in all)" Roman Law on witnesses shown to be unreliable, and by extension any fatal flaw
Fang
24; aka Learnéd English Dog; 644
farinaceous
739; rich in starch, or having a mealy texture
Farlow, Robert
446; on M-D Line crew; 460; 492
Fatum in Denario vertit
674; Latin: "Misfortune turns into money" ("If you get a lemon, make lemonade")
Faust
558; literary creation of Goethe, one who makes a pact with the Devil.
Feather Row
185; There remains a Feathers Place at the bottom of Greenwich
Park, a short walk from the observatory.
Voam's torpedo (electrick eel) aka El Peligroso, 426; major discussion of, 430-434; as compass, 434; 469
Fell
215; a barren field
Felucca
252; a narrow sailing ship usu. in the Mediterranean
229; Feng Shui (pronounced "phong shway") is a Chinese philosophy, developed over 5,000 years ago, about the relationship between humans and their environment. It is about how everything in our external environment has a connection to our inner, spirtual world, and affects our well-being; 288; 487; "that undifferentiated condition before Light and Dark,--earth and Sky, man and Woman,--a return to that Holy Silence which the Word broke, and the multiplexity of matter has ever since kept hidden, Above from Below, the map from the mapped" (Tao De Jing, describing Feng Shui), 523; 542; Feng Shui Website
Fepp, Highwayman
111
Fermat's Last Theorem
336; Pierre de Fermat (1601-1665) was a lawyer and amateur mathematician. In about 1637, he annotated his copy (now lost) of Bachet's translation of Diophantus' Arithmetika with a theorem (there is no A to the Nth power plus B to the Nth power that equals C to the Nth power for any N greater than 2) of which he never published the proof; The Whole Story; Wikipedia entry
111; Laurence Shirley, 4th Earl Ferrers (August 18, 1720 – May 5, 1760) was the last aristocrat hanged in England, for shooting and killing the steward charged with receiving rents. Ferrers pleaded insanity but was convicted of murder, none the less. On May 5, 1760, dressed in a light colored suit embroidered with silver (the outfit he had worn at his wedding), he was taken in his own carriage from the Tower of London to Tyburn and there hanged. It has been said that as a concession to his order the rope used was of silk;
hanging of, 111; Details of the Hanging; Wikipedia entry
Fields, Eliza511-17; of Conestoga (named), 532
Fields, Joseph
536; Eliza's father, of Conestoga Creek
Fields, Seth
511; husband of Eliza, 540
Fifty-five
330; 1755
Figg, the Great
389; bladesman (knife-fighter)
Finger, Great
189; "reaching in from the Distance, pausing at Draco"; That Finger in Gravity's Rainbow
Finger of Corsica
726
Finial
273, 428
634; The oldest surviving texts of the Gr�nlendinga saga (or Vinland Saga) are found in the Flateyjarbók written between 1382 and 1395 for a wealth farmer Jon Hakonarsson. The family heirloom was eventually given to an Icelandic bishop, who in turn presented it to the king of Denmark in the seventeen century. The Flateyjarbók is now in the Royal library of Copenhagen
"Finnbogi saga ins ramma" (The Saga of Finnbogi the Strong) is one of the last Old Icelandic Family Sagas. Of considerable interest to folklorists and students of comparative literature courses, this saga purportedly recounts the life adventures of one Finnbogi Asbjornson, a tenth century Icelander renowned for his prodigious strength. Although external evidence does suggest that there was indeed someone name Finnbogi, born in Flateyjardale, who lived in Vididale and Trekyllisvik, it can not be proven. [1]
And this, from a now-defunct website:
- Two brothers from Iceland, Helgi and Finnbogi, came to Greenland. Freydis, daughter of Eric the Red, went with the brothers to Vinland. In Vinland there came up some disagreement between the two groups of settlers and Freydis lied to her husband that Helgi and Finnbogi had mistreated her. Then Freydis's husband and his men attacked the group of Helgi and Finnbogi. Freydis's men killed Helgi and Finnbogi and all the men in their group. Freydis herself killed five women. They then went back to Greenland. When Leifur found out what had happened he got very angry. But he couldn't do anything because Freydis, the murderess, was his sister.
Fiona
563; dancing girl in the Black Hole of Calcutta
142; an English astronomer who suggested to King Charles II that he establish a royal observatory, which King Charles did (at Greenwich in 1676) and appointed Flamsteed first astronomer royal; 211; 438; 479; 772
Flanders
230
Flautuer
668
Flight
517; 531; Dixon's over the Fells, 596; 296; 625; 651; 677; 740
Florinda
109
214; "A Dramatic Pastoral, in Three Acts" written by David Garrick in 1758; Read the play...; Florizel and Perdita are also the young lovers in Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale (1592-94) which was based on Robert Greene's romantic nouvella, Pandosta (1588);
Flower-de-luce298; aka Fleur de Lys or Fleur-de-lis, being the origin of the heraldic emblem of the Kings of France. The legend is that early in the sixth century, the Frankish King Clovis, faced with defeat in battle, was induced to pray for victory to the god of his Christian wife, Clothilde. He conquered and became a Christian and thereupon replaced the three toads on his banner by three Irises, the Iris being the Virgin's flower. in Locust-Street, Philadelphia; "Flower of Light" 688; Wikipedia entry
Flux
237; O.E.D.: to bleed/flow copiously; in this instance: menstruation
Fluxions
220; the Method of Fluxions is a branch of differential calculus concerned chiefly with the study of the rate of change of functions with respect to their variables especially through the use of derivatives and differentials:
- "Type II superconductors, however, permit the field to penetrate through the sample in quantized amounts of flux. These quanta are comprised of circulating vortices of current and the flux contained in the vortices. The total flux in a vortex is 2 x 10-7 Gauss-cm2. Great numbers of these vortices, or fluxoids as they are frequently called, can exist in a superconductor. For example, at a field intensity of 80 kilogauss (8 Tesla) there are 4 x 1011 fluxoids/cm2. These fluxoids and their interactions with defects in the superconductor give rise to the high current carrying capabilities of superconducting magnets." [2]
602; 721
Fops
21; The fop is a stock character who appears from time to time in fiction. He is a person who makes a habit of fastidiously overdressing and putting on airs, aspiring to be viewed as an aristocrat. In English, the word fop is older, but the meaning of an overdressed, frivolously fastidious man may not be; Shakespeare's King Lear contains the word, in the general sense of a fool, and before him, Thomas Nashe, in Summer's Last Will and Testament (1592, printed 1600): "the Idiot, our Playmaker. He, like a Fop & an Ass must be making himself a public laughing-stock." Osric in Hamlet has a great deal of the fop's affected manner; 314; Wikipedia entry
"For He's A Jolly Good Fellow"
118
"Force Intensifier"
600
Fort Detroit
674
Fort George
566; founded in New York by the East India Co and later became
Madras where Bodine jumps ship (p566); where Zacharia Hood was granted refuge, 570
Fort Loudon
490
Fort Pitt
330; Fort Pitt stood (some ruins remain) at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, in Western Pennsylvania, where they form the Ohio River. Originally a French fort named Fort Duquesne, it was renamed Fort Pitt when English took it in 1758; the English also named the place Pitts-bourgh on
the same day; 661
Fort Stanwix
531; Built in 1758 to guard a strategic portage along a major transportation route, ... Fort Stanwix guarded the centuries old Oneida Carrying Place. This strategic Iroquois Confederacy portage in upstate New York bridged the waterways between the Atlantic Ocean and the Great Lakes. The events that occurred at the site included the development of European and later American-Indian affairs, the melding of diverse cultures, and the protection of the Mohawk Valley during two world wars: the French and Indian, and the American Revolutionary Wars.
Fortune
176
Fort William, Calcutta
152; location of Black Hole of Calcutta, in the 9' x 7'6" room of which "146
Europeans were oblig'd to spend the night of 20-21 June 1756"
First, a wee joak:
- How Scotland was Created
- At the beginning of time God was discussing the creation of the world with the Angel Gabriel. Leaning back in His golden throne, He told him of His plans for Scotland.
- "Gabriel," said God, "I am going to give Scotland towering mountains and magnificent glens resplendent with purple heather. Red deer will roam the countryside, golden eagles will circle in the skies, salmon will leap in the crystal clear rivers and lochs, and the surrounding seas will team with fish. Agriculture will flourish and there will be a glorious coming together of water with barley to be known as whisky. Coal, oil. and gas - all will be there. The Scots will be intelligent, innovative, industrious and......."
- "Wait a minute!" interrupted Gabriel. "Are you not being just a wee bit too generous to these Scots?"
- But the Almighty replied, "Not really. I haven't told you yet who their neighbours are going to be!"
311; In 1745 the Scottish Jacobites (aka the Highlanders), led by Prince Charles Edward Stuart ("Bonnie Prince Charlie," the grandson of James II), rose up against the British in a last attempt to restore the Stuarts to the throne. The rebellion was quashed at the Battle of Culloden in January 1746. This lost battle ended the risings of the Jacobites, though Prince Charles escaped and went into hiding for several months before leaving Scotland; After 1745, the English banned the Scottish Clan system, the kilt, many of the loved Scottish traditions and were particularly harsh in the punishment of holdouts; 745; Blind Jack Metcalf and; MORE
Fougueuse, La
567; French: "the impetuous one"; "a French Bomb-Ketch"
38; Dixon follows it by deciding to answer "that of God" in Mason. Dixon, a Quaker, recalls the admonition of George Fox (English, 1624-1691) who is usually credited with founding the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers).
'Be patterns, be examples in all countries, places, islands, nations, wherever you come, that your carriage and life may preach among all sorts of people, and to them. Then you will come to walk cheerfully over the world, answering that of God in everyone; whereby in them you may be a blessing, and make the witness of God in them to bless you.' (George Fox, 1656) [1]
Fractal geometry
In colloquial usage, a fractal is "a rough or fragmented geometric shape that can be subdivided in parts, each of which is (at least approximately) a reduced/size copy of the whole." [3] The term was coined by Benoît Mandelbrot in 1975 and was derived from the Latin fractus meaning broken or fractured.
A fractal as a geometric object generally has the following features:
- fine structure at arbitrarily small scales
- is too irregular to be easily described in traditional Euclidean geometric language.
- is self-similar (at least approximatively or stochastically)
- has a Hausdorff dimension that is greater than its topological dimension (although this requirement is not met by space-filling curves such as the Hilbert curve)
- has a simple and recursive definition. [4]
Because they appear similar at all levels of magnification, fractals are often considered to be 'infinitely complex'. Obvious examples include clouds, mountain ranges and lightning bolts. However, not all self-similar objects are fractals — for example, the real line (a straight Euclidean line) is formally self-similar but fails to have other fractal characteristics.
"this slavery within Slavery" 150; 204; "Shoreline tending to Infinite Length" 354; "'as above, so below'" 721; Fractal Geometry Website; Wikipedia entry
Franklin, Dr. Benjamin (1706-90)266; American statesman, scientist, inventor and writer; interrogating Mason & Dixon about their connections, 268-69; as Poor Richard ("Let us go out into the Nights Main Drama!"), 294-95; and the Paxton Boys, 310; "out in the Thunder-Gusts" 394; 442; 463; 488; "Toy image of" 548; "American Promotheus" 565; "success in London" 613; 656; 760; and the New Style; MORE; Wikipedia entry
Franz
217
Frederick
659; his "rank'd Automata"
Frederick of Prussia (1712-86) (reigned 1740-86)
160; aka Frederick II, the Great; 550
Frederick the Third
612; Frederik III (1609-70) was king of Denmark and Norway from 1648 to his
death; he founded the Royal Library in Copenhagen.
Freemasons
394; 479
Fret
243-44; ornamental network
Friar's Valley
174; on St. Helena
Friendly Islands
319
Friggs
658; Philadelphia land speculator at M-D Line
Frikkadel
146; dish which Dixon "reinvented"
Fritz
551; "a couple of"
Frizzen and Flint
343; In 18th & 19th c. guns and pistols, the flintlock was a lock having a flint in the hammer (aka "frizzen") for striking a spark to ignite the charge; MORE
Frome
181; the River Frome rises in the Cotswolds near Miserden and then follows a
rather U-shaped course past Edgewotth and Chalford before running through
Stroud and on into the Severn to the SW of Gloucester.
Fry, Professor
395
Fuh-kien School
544; Fukien is a Chinese province, though the name may just be used for its amusement value.
Fulhams
25; loaded dice
Futurity
Aka "the future"; Gateways to, 19; 118; 163; 182; 195; 196; 212; 297; 333; 499; 569; 574
References
- ↑ The Saga of Finnbogi the Strong
- ↑ More from this Website
- ↑ Falconer, Kenneth, Fractal Geometry: Mathematical Foundations and Applications, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., 2003, xxxv, ISBN 0-470-84862-6
- ↑ Falconer, Kenneth (2003). Fractal Geometry: Mathematical Foundations and Applications. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., xxv. ISBN 0-470-84862-6.
