Refresh for new random facts
1. The original 12 stocks on the Dow Jones were cotton oil, sugar, tobacco, gas, cattle, electric, gas, lead, coal, leather, utility, and rubber companies.
2. The S.O.S. brand of steel-wool soap pads, stands for "Save Our Saucepans."
3. Ajax cleanser was the first company to use animated characters in its television commercials.
4. Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos renamed the company to Amazon from the earlier name of Cadabra.com because he saw the potential for a large volume of booksales online, much like the Amazon is the most voluminous river.
5. Sara Lee is named for the daughter of Chicago bakery owner Charles Lubvin. He first named a cheesecake after his daughter, then in 1951 his company.
6. Nathaniel C. Wyeth, son of artist N.C. Wyeth, brother of artists Andrew, Carolyn and Henriette Wyeth, developed the plastic soda bottle while working as an engineer for the DuPont Company.
7. Frozen food entrepreneur Clarence Birdseye also invented a recoilless harpoon for whaling and a fast process for converting sugar cane waste into paper pulp.
8. Philip Morris, the first owner of the Marlboro brand, died of lung cancer.
9. Schoolboy Antonio Gentile of Suffolk, Virginia, received $5 for his winning drawing in a Planters Peanut 1916 contest. Mr. Peanut was born.
10. Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard tossed a coin to decide whether the company they founded would be called Hewlett-Packard or Packard-Hewlett.
When me and old Abe used to sit by the fire he would tell me the darndest tales about this great land of ours.
