Harvard Magazine, May/ June 2021 (for alumni)

choi

(1) Yesterday's News; From the pages of the Harvard Alumni Bulletin and Harvard Magazine.
https://www.harvardmagazine.com/2021/05/jhj-yesterdays-news-mj21
(with an illustration: "1996[:] An 'ornery' mallard builds her nest in a planter in the Quincy House rooftop garden, and is found to be guarding seven eggs. House and Harvard administrators take the family under their wings until, a few days after the ducklings hatch, the little flock is released along a riverbank out in Concord. House master Michael Shinagel observes: 'It just shows to what lengths a determined mother will go to get her children into Harvard.' ")

Note:
(a) ornery (adj; What's the History of ornery?)
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ornery
(b) mallard
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mallard
(table: species name  Anas platyrhynchos; section 1 Taxonomy and evolutionary history: names)

Generally speaking, a male duck is drake, and a female duck is still a duck.


(2) Jacob Sweet, Clothes Overboard; Two explorers strip to stay aloft.
https://www.harvardmagazine.com/ ... e-clothes-overboard
("THE FIRST hot-air balloon trip across the English Channel * * * John Jeffries, A.B. 1763 * * * Boston-born medical doctor and his more expert partner, French inventor and balloonist Jean-Pierre Blanchard * * * It’s a wonder his jaguar-pelt hat, featured in a contemporary portrait and now housed at Houghton Library, survived. * * * 'I verily believe, between five and six pounds of urine.' * * * Much of the expedition’s non-jettisoned paraphernalia sits in Houghton, donated by Jackson professor of clinical medicine James Howard Means, A.B. 1907, M.D. '11, husband of Jeffries's granddaughter, Miriam")

Note:
(a) John Jeffries
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Jeffries
(b)
(i) Houghton Library
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houghton_Library  
("Funding for Houghton was raised privately, with the largest portion coming from Arthur A Houghton Jr, in the form of stock in Corning Glass Works")
(ii) For pronunciation, see Houghton, Michigan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houghton,_Michigan
("The city of Houghton and the county were named after Douglass Houghton, an American geologist and physician, primarily known for his exploration of the Keweenaw Peninsula")
(iii) The English surname Houghton is "name from any of the various places so called. The majority, with examples in at least fourteen counties, get the name from Old English hoh 'ridge,' 'spur' (literally 'heel') + tun 'enclosure,' 'settlement’' "

(c) "I verily believe, between five and six pounds of urine."
(i) verily (adv)
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/verily
(ii) 1 pound = 0.45 kg

So the statement was an exaggeration.

(d)
(i) Miriam
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miriam  
("older sister of Moses and Aaron")

Miriam, Aaron and Moses were siblings, in the order of decreasing age.
(ii) "The name's etymology is unclear,"  en.wikipedia.org for "Miriam (given name)."