Everything is invented

A celebration of human ingenuity through the life of Benjamin Franklin by Maira Kalman at And the Pursuit of Happiness.

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John Lofton, the reconstructionist wingnut from the Constitution Party, has an interview with Newt Gingrich, author of a new book called The Creator's Gifts: Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness, that is rather interesting for a couple reasons. First, because Gingrich doesn't seem to know the…
Basic Books has just published The First Scientific American: Benjamin Franklin and the Pursuit of Genius, by Harvard historian of science Joyce Chaplin. I got to read the book in galleys and it was excellent. From his studies of electricity and storms to his charting of the Gulf Stream, Franklin…
If you teach a poor young man to shave himself, and keep his razor in order, you may contribute more to the happiness of his life than in giving him a thousand guineas. This sum may be soon spent, the regret only remaining of having foolishly consumed it; but in the other case, he escapes the…
Benjamin Franklin. Image: source. I admire Benjamin Franklin for many reasons. But I never knew that in 1726, at the age of 20, while on an 80-day ocean voyage from London back to Philadelphia, Franklin developed a "Plan" for regulating his future conduct. He was partially motivated by…