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Happy 300th Birthday Benjamin Franklin
Guinnessy writes "Benjamin Franklin was born on 17 January 1706 in Boston, Massachusetts. Franklin was a man of diverse talents: publisher, inventor, ambassador, politician, wit with some human frailities says NPR. In Physics Today, Philip Krider presents Franklin's work on electricity and the development of the lightning rod, work whose fame helped Franklin obtain aid from the French against the British. In the same magazine, Joost Mertens considers Franklin's explorations of the calming effects of oil on water. Those investigations, it turns out, had a less than calming effect on Dutch scholars. Philadelphia is planning a series of events celebratng Franklin's life throughtout the year."
Without Benjamin Franklin's entreaties to the French for aid in the American Revolutionary War, the Continental Army would certainly have suffered defeat at the hands of the British. For a man to tirelessly crusade for his country like Franklin did at his age and in a time when travel was no simple matter is astounding. Anyone with a quarter of that man's patriotism, devotion, and tenacity could move mountains.
This sig, aah-ah, is comin' like a ghost-sig...
Anyone with a quarter of that man's patriotism, devotion, and tenacity could move mountains.
And the thought that in modern times he'd be locked up under the PATRIOT act is truly sad...
This guy's the limit!
A scientist, an advocate of separation of church and state, an opponent of "intellectual property" (he never patented any of his inventions), and a true patriot to boot!
(I still can't believe he didn't win that "greatest American" contest the History Channel ran a while back...)
"[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz
Flamebait? No. It's the truth.
He first agitated for, and then actively participated in, the armed overthrow of the government, using an army of unlawful combatants backed by a rouge state.
Franklin, along with all the great founders of the United States of America, was undoubtedly guilty of high treason. Of course, as Shakespeare observed, if it prospers none dare call it treason; so Franklin's a hero. Certainly had things gone a little differently there would today be celebrations in the honour of the brave patriot Benedict Arnold.
Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Ben
My favorite quote of his, and quite fitting.
"The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance - it is the illusion of knowledge." - Daniel Boorstin