#Benjamin Franklin Wade

[postersbykeith]

[odinsblog]

Funny how SCOTUS “originalists” ignore this history

Benjamin Franklin is revered in history for his fixation on inventing practical ways to make everyday life easier. He was a prolific inventor and author, and spent his life tinkering and writing to share his knowledge with the masses.

One of the more surprising areas Franklin wanted to demystify for the average American? At-home abortions.

Molly Farrell is an associate professor of English at the Ohio State University and studies early American literature. She authored a recent Slate article that suggests Franklin’s role in facilitating at-home abortions all started with a popular British math textbook.

Titled The Instructor and written by George Fisher, which Farrell said was a pseudonym, the textbook was a catch-all manual that included plenty of useful information for the average person. It had the alphabet, basic arithmetic, recipes, and farriery (which is hoof care for horses). At the time, books were very expensive, and a general manual like this one was a practical choice for many families.

Franklin saw the value of this book, and decided to create an updated version for residents of the U.S, telling readers his goal was to make the text “more immediately useful to Americans.” This included updating city names, adding Colonial history, and other minor tweaks.

But as Farrell describes, the most significant change in the book was swapping out a section that included a medical textbook from London, with a Virginia medical handbook from 1734 called Every Man His Own Doctor: The Poor Planter’s Physician.

This medical handbook provided home remedies for a variety of ailments, allowing people to handle their more minor illnesses at home, like a fever or gout. One entry, however, was “for the suppression of the courses”, which Farrell discovered meant a missed menstrual period.

“The book starts to prescribe basically all of the best-known herbal abortifacients and contraceptives that were circulating at the time,” Farrell said. “It's just sort of a greatest hits of what 18th-century herbalists would have given a woman who wanted to end a pregnancy early.”

“It's very explicit, very detailed, also very accurate for the time in terms of what was known ... for how to end a pregnancy pretty early on.”

Including this information in a widely circulated guide for everyday life bears a significance to today’s heated debate over access to abortion and contraception in the United States. In particular, the leaked Supreme Court opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade and states that “a right to abortion is not deeply rooted in the nation's histories and traditions.”

Farrell said the book was immensely popular, and she did not find any evidence of objections to the inclusion of the section.

“It didn't really bother anybody that a typical instructional manual could include material like this,”she said. “It just wasn't something to be remarked upon. It was just a part of everyday life.”

(continue reading) more ←

[tomorrowusa]

« America is being led astray by a small handful of folks who are drunk-driving on originalism—and not in a funny Marx Brothers, spin-around-in-circles-and-all-fall-down sort of way. No, it’s in a children-murdered-in-their-classrooms, women-hemorrhaging-in-parking-lots, environmental-and-health-regulations-destroyed kind of way. And that’s because the whole nation is currently lashed to a small, stupid, perpetually changing theory of legal interpretation variously known as “originalism,” or “textualism,” or “original public meaning,” or “history and tradition.” A theory that is—unless you were born in the 1990s—younger than you are. »

—Dahlia Lithwick at Slate.

The Republican Supreme Court is only "originalist" when it furthers GOP aims to be originalist.

The US Constitution nowhere mentions presidential immunity. But because of some obscure comment by Benjamin Franklin, the Bush-Trump justices act as if it's written on top of the document in bigger print than the Preamble.

When you vote for president and US senator you are voting for the folks who appoint and confirm Supreme Court justices. Remind vote slackers and the third-party curious about this.

If Hillary Clinton had won in 2016, SCOTUS would currently be: 6 moderate progressives, 1 conservative, and 2 batshit crazy corrupt reactionaries. Of course Roe v. Wade would still be in effect.

[gvtted-ratz]

>request/idea rules<

requests: open

>marvel<

anthony "tony" stark/iron man, peter benjamin parker/spider-man, wade wilson/deadpool, helmut zemo, james "bucky" barnes/winter soldier, matthew "matt" murdock/daredevil, franklin "foggy" nelson, frank castle/the punisher, william "billy" russo/jigsaw, miguel o'hara, spider-punk/hobart "hobie" brown (smatsv)

>horror/thriller<

slashers/antagonists

billy lenz (black christmas 1974), brahms heelshire, martin mathias (martin 1977), harry warden/the miner (og and remake), asa emory (the collector), jason voorhees (og and 2009 remake), michael myers (og and rz remake), lester sinclair (house of wax), vincent sinclair (house of wax), mark hoffman (saw 4/5), lawrance gordan (saw 2004), hannibal lecter (nbc hannibal), will graham (nbc hannibal)

final/”good” guys

arkin o'brien (the collector/the collection), nicholas "nick" henry jones (house of wax), peter strahm (saw 4/5), adam faulkner stanheight (saw 2004), david radford (saw 0.5)

>games<

error 143

micah yujin

john doe +

john doe

duskwood 

richy rogers, phil hawkins, jake "hakermen", thomas, daniel "dan" anderson

killer frequency

forrest nash, henry barrow

the price of flesh

machaete, thomas (tom), jackal (jack/dean), derek goffard, matt goffard, mason heiral, dragon (jace/jason), komodo (mike/michael), the announcer (fox/ren hana)

that's not my neighbour 

physicist/dr. w. afton, milkman/francis mosses, hoon (milkman doppelganger), scarlet milk (milkman doppleganger), pilot/steven rudboys, d.d.d agent (hazmat guy), teutates taranis, abducius morail, yog sothoth

studio investigrave games

rody lamoree, vincent charbonneau, protagonist, co-worker, normal guy, fake protag, fake co-worker

call of duty (+modern warfare 2)

könig, simon "ghost" riley, kyle "gaz" garrick, john "soap" mactavish, alejandro vargas, rodolfo "rudy" parra, gary "roach" sanderson

>tv/movies/web-series<

the batman (2022)

the riddler/edward nashton

 there will be blood (2007)

eli sunday

marble hornets (2009-2014)

masky/timothy "tim" wright, skully/jay merrick, alexander "alex" kralie, hoody/brian thomas

>will not do<

• incest

• suicide

• ddlg/ddlb

• scat/urine

• pregnancy

• heavy angst

• age regression

• teacher/student

• sa/rape/non-con

• full smut/sex scenes

• illnesses/issues we're unfamiliar with (ask)

• underage/child anything (papa, uncle, child, etc. reader &/or character) - this includes childhood friend AUs

• fem reader (including pronouns/detailed anatomy due to high discomfort) - anything else is fine

> can/will do<

• fics (1k+)

• past abuse

• headcanons

• past self-harm

• drabbles (100-1k)

• alpha/beta/omega

• polyamory relationships

• blood, gore, violence, etc.

• anything soft, comfort, fluff

• aus (soulmate, cafe, bookstore, etc.)

• some ships/otps/rarepairs (feel free to ask)

• death of character/reader (character/reader kills the other)

• nearly any pronouns (including neos, just provide pronouns)

• male/masc, gender-neutral, nonbinary, trans male reader, inhuman reader (this includes monster, alien, divine etc.)

• "steamy" scenes/dub-con <- will be posted on ao3 ONLY (link will be provided for requests)

[snitling]

Not only would Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce and Wade Wilson be friends, but BJ Hunnicutt would also never get another fucking moment of peace in his life

[skylarynns-silverado]

Character Source List

Sources [usually films or television shows - anything else will have notation] will be in bold. Characters will be formatted with their in-universe name, followed by the original character in italics. Name formatting will be [First Name] [Middle Name] ["Nick Name"] [Maiden Name/Original Surname] [Married Name/Taken Surname] as applicable. I will probably also be adding links to everything, but later.

Wanted: Dead or Alive 1958-1961 Joshua Everett "Josh" Randall - Josh Randall

Rawhide 1959-1965 Randolph Jacob "Rowdy" Yates - Rowdy Yates

The Magnificent Seven 1960 Franklin Vaughn "Frank" Randall - Vin Giovanni Vittorio "Gio" Auditore - Bernardo O'Reilly Brittony "Britt" Calvin - Britt Byron Allen Lee III - Lee Carlos "Chico" Hernandez - Chico

The Dollars Trilogy 1964-1966 Jonas Blake "Joey" Yates - The Man With No Name / Joe/Manco/Blondie

Hang 'Em High 1968 Jeremy Cooper "Jed" Yates - Jed Cooper Rachel Warren - Rachel Warren

Once Upon a Time in the West 1969 Emilio "Harmonica" Arman - Harmonica Jorge Gutierrez - Cheyenne

Rustlers' Rhapsody 1985 Revelin "Rex" O'Houlihan - Rex O'Herlihan Peter Twist - Peter

Silverado 1985 [to be honest I'm taking almost all the characters, but main characters/love interests:] Emmett Martell - Emmett Paden Cassidy - Paden Tyree Ransom Ekker - Tyree Hannah Kincaid Weslan [Cobb] - Hannah Weslan Malachi "Mal" Johnson - Malachi "Mal" Johnson Jacob "Rattlesnake Jake" Martell - Jake Stella Bonneville - Stella Rae Johnson - Rae Johnson Phoebe Hartshorne - Phoebe

Quigley Down Under 1990 Matthew Quigley - Matthew Quigley

Maverick 1994 Bret Maverick [Jr.] - Bret Maverick Annabelle Bransford - Annabelle Bransford

The Marshal 1995 Veronica "Ronnie" Davis - Veronica Cole

The Quick and the Dead 1995 Jessamy "Jessie" MacIntyre - The Lady / Ellen Cameron "Cam" McPhee - The Kid / Fee Herod Cortney "Cort" Cobb - Cort

The Magnificent Seven 1998-2000 [much like Silverado I'm taking almost all the characters, but main characters/love interests:] Christian "Chris" Larabee - Chris Larabee Vincent Ulysses "Vin" Tanner - Vin Tanner Nathan Jackson - Nathan Jackson John Daniel "J.D." Dunne - J.D. Dunne Buck Wilmington - Buck Wilmington Ezra Phineas Standish - Ezra Standish Mary Travis - Mary Travis Casey Welles - Casey Welles Inez Recillos - Inez Recillos

Firefly 2002 Robert Malcolm "Bobby" Reynolds - Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds Zoe Martinez - Zoe Alleyne Washbourne Jayne Cobb - Jayne Cobb Eleena Vasquez - Inara Serra Simon Morgan - Simon Tam River Morgan - River Tam Kaylee Frye - Kaywinnit Lee "Kaylee" Frye Sheppard Book - Derrial Book

Supernatural 2005-2020 John Winchester - John Winchester Dean Winchester - Dean Winchester Samuel "Sam" Winchester - Samuel "Sam" Winchester

3:10 to Yuma 2007 Daniel "Dan" Evans - Daniel "Dan" Evans William "Will" Evans - William Evans Benjamin "Ben" Wade - Ben Wade Charles "Charlie" Prince - Charlie Prince

Six of Crows 2015 Caspian/Casimir "Caz" Zima Winters - Kaz Brekker Haruko - Inej Ghafa Christophe "Kit Benny" Benoit - Jesper Fahey Wyatt Vanderbilt - Wylan Van Eck Hannah "Nan" Gallagher - Nina Zenik

The Magnificent Seven 2016 Samuel "Sam" Chisolm - Sam Chisolm Joshua "Josh" Faraday - Josh Faraday Manuel Vasquez - Vasquez Goodnight "Goody" Robicheaux - Goodnight "Goody" Robicheaux Billy Rocks - Billy Rocks Red Harvest - Red Harvest Emma Cullen - Emma Cullen

The Hunters 2020 [a series I am currently working on writing] Elias Hawkins - Elias Walker Hawkins Lucas "Luke" Hearne - Faolan Lucas "Luke" MacTiernan Auryon "Aury" Hearne - Auryon "Aury" Hearne-MacTiernan Hawkins Sebastian "Owl Eyes" St. James Cheyenne - Sylvain Alistair Abigale "Abby" McKenzie - Kindra Arden

Jessta James Music Videos 2021-2022 [specifically Hell's Coming With Me, Loaded Gun, and War Cry] Josiah "Josey" James - Jessta James

Original Characters 2023+ [that I've made for the project] Melissa "Missy" Ekker - Tyree's mother Bethany "Beth" Skinner - a love interest

[eclecticquotables]

"Go to heaven for the climate and hell for the company." - Benjamin Franklin Wade

[msclaritea]

Patrick Stewart Calls Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness Filming 'Frustrating and Disappointing' - IGN

Ryan Dinsdale

BY RYAN DINSDALE

UPDATED: JAN 4, 2024 9:50 AM

POSTED: JAN 4, 2024 9:42 AM

Professor X actor Patrick Stewart has called his experience filming for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness "frustrating and disappointing", though may still return to the character for the upcoming Deadpool 3.

Speaking on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Stewart was asked to confirm if he, like some other actors filming for the Marvel Cinematic Universe entry, were actually interacting with their colleagues or just playing the part solo.

"It was alone," Stewart said, shaking his head. "I think the big scene, each one of the leading actors had the same experience. They were shot on their own. It was a frustrating and disappointing but that's how it has been. The last few years have been challenging."

The "big scene" Stewart references saw Benedict Cumberbatch's Doctor Strange appeal to the Illuminati for help, which in this multiverse was made up from the likes of Stewart's Professor X, John Krasinski's Mr Fantastic, Lashana Lynch's Captain Marvel, Hayley Atwell's Captain Britain, and more. Each member of the Illuminati was then cut down by a savage Scarlet Witch, played by Elizabeth Olsen.

Despite the poor experience, Stewart admitted conversations were happening surrounding Deadpool 3, the upcoming Marvel entry starring Ryan Reynold's Deadpool, Hugh Jackman's Wolverine, and seemingly a lot more of the characters from the X-Men films.

Stewart was first asked if he knew how many times Professor X had died in his eight film appearances before laughing at the answer: four, meaning a 50% death rate. "I don't know [what that implies]," he laughed. "But I do now have every confidence that he's still around."

Deadpool himself wasn't around for the Mutant Massacre crossover, but it's a story that would make for good fodder for the next movie. In this story, the X-Men join forces with several other Marvel heroes to prevent Mister Sinister's mercenary squad the Marauders from slaughtering the sewer-dwelling Morlocks. It's a conflict that would pair well with Wade's habit of protecting mutant underdogs. Given how Deadpool 2 and X-Men: Apocalypse have both teased the arrival of Sinister, it's about time we see this twisted geneticist pop up somewhere in the X-Men cinematic universe.

The first storyline on Deadpool's relaunched 2012 comic started the series off on a bizarre note, as Wade had to deal with the reanimated corpses of America's past presidents, not to mention the pesky ghost of Benjamin Franklin. Somehow, the franchise just doesn't seem complete until we get to see Deadpool and Abraham Lincoln go head-to-head in the boxing ring.

When neither Cable nor Deadpool's comics were selling particularly well in the early 2000s, Marvel combined them together and instantly reinvigorated both characters. The opening storyline in Cable & Deadpool set a strong example for the series, pitting the two unlikely friends against one another over possession of a virus that can remake the physical appearance of anyone exposed to it. If Cable is going to stick around this franchise, there are far worse places to look for inspiration.

Deadpool 2 featured a tease for "M-Day," a disastrous event in Marvel's comics where Scarlet Witch all but wiped out the mutant race. Why not lean into that tease and give us a full-blown adaptation of House of M, the story that culminated in M-Day? The bulk of this story explores an alternate reality where Magneto and his family reign supreme. We'd like to see how Deadpool fares in a world like that. That's not to mention the long-term consequences House of M could have on the larger X-Men universe..."

BIG MISTAKE. HUGE, COS.

Why? Because I discovered months ago that the entire Star Trek franchise has been under the thumb of the Cult of Scientology for years. Not sure about the original, but for those who don't know, it had some very subtle Queering, so I'm pretty sure they wanted to fully queer Kirk and Spock in the reboots, but ended up just doing a side character. In addition:

David Birkin, having not one, but two appearances, playing Captain Picard as a child.

Bryan Singer, a known Pedo and serial assaulter, remaining attached to the X Men franchise for years (and they are linked)

Majority of the actors being British, where Scientology and it's Satanic roots come from

Ian McKellen joined in promoting the actress, Ellen Page, as Transgender

IGN, a COS partner, actively engaged in harassment of Benedict Cumberbatch, through negative articles and by repeatedly tweeting a short video, detailing one of the most traumatic events in his life (the kidnapping in Africa)

A character in Strange New Worlds (note, the piggybacking of his mcu character) La'an Noonien Singh, who it seems 'whined' about being bullied because of her 'infamous' last name. Pre-Programming. If they bullied the actor once, they did it a 100,000 times on social media, because of his name

One of the Strange New Worlds writers, also wrote the last project that Tom Holland did, which gave him so much trauma, he decided to take a year off, for which the Cult tried to threaten him using social media

His tormenters also used trolls to accuse the British actor, again repeatedly, of stealing a role, Khan, from BOTH East Indians and Mexicans. After years of this we finally realized that if anyone was guilty of that, it has been Richardo Montalban. He is European Spanish...white European. So, it was another lie

Picard also engaged in that new, strange, activist writing that Hollywood has been into, whereby they ruin an iconic, white male character

They even try AGAIN, to promote Elizabeth Olsen, in this article. Let me make it plain, so that there's no mistake about this, because our group IS privy to info, sometimes and so far, it's usually correct. Elizabeth Olsen wasn't just acting as a meme thirsty actress on DS2. She acted as a SPY for Disney competitors. Now, if any of the COS partners, like Universal or WB want a piece of that chick, they can go ahead.

And ALL THIS, I actually just kept to myself, specifically out of respect for SIR Patrick Stewart. I should know better and if Hollywood doesn't stop pushing these actors to do and say stupid shit in public, they won't have anyone left, worth having any respect for. Good God, he even uses the same narrative that Olsen used during DS2 promotions, where she complained about the Green Screen. What's so ironic is that for an actor to show they can stay in character and work, using a Green Screen is to show real skill in your craft. These two say they can't hack it.

Deeply disappointed in this man.

[archivyrep]

Archivists and archival themes in the National Treasure franchise

Occasionally, archives are shown in popular culture, whether in film or other media. This is because, as Jeff O'Neal put it, "Hollywood loves a library" because the "combination of ambiance, seclusion, hidden knowledge, and the sheer beauty of shelves upon shelves of books" make libraries a fantastic setting for films. Hollywood does not portray the debate within the archival field or any nuances. There is a lot of the confusion between libraries and archives in the Star Wars franchise. To start this, let me begin with the National Treasure franchise.

Reprinted from my Wading Through the Cultural Stacks WordPress blog on July 28, 2020.

In the 2004 movie, the first of the franchise, two would-be thieves do research in the Library of Congress and try to find "a way to break into the National Archives so they can steal a priceless historical document." While there are parts of this movie which make some cringe (understandably), like historical inaccuracies and bad preservation practices, some say that "anything that...puts butts in the seats at the National Archives is alright by me."

Diane Kruger (as Dr. Abigail Chase, the archivist), Nicolas Cage (as Benjamin Franklin Gates, treasure hunter), and Justin Bartha (as Riley Poole, a computer expert) look at the Declaration of Independence, courtesy of the Peel Archives blog.

In the film, Chase is an archivist working at the National Archives and is accidentally kidnapped when he "steals the Declaration of Independence" leading to wacky and historically inaccurate adventures. As some archivists make clear, she is not typically "archivisty" or "librarianistic" but instead is "all Channel suites and evening dresses," meaning that while she "wears attractive clothing she manages to avoid the sexed up male-fantasy version of the librarian/archivist." She isn't "your wilting-flower variety information professional." Instead, she is "full of feistiness and one liners throughout ridiculous and dangerous events" but does, jokes the archivists, "lose points for allowing Cage to use the Declaration as a bullet shield." Another review by a fellow archivist, Kyle Neill, adds that "Chase comes to embrace the adventure, although she, like any good archivist, remains fiercely protective of the Declaration document" and that the team is "ultimately successful, locating the treasure deep underground in Manhattan." At the end of the film, as Neill writes, Chase isn't drawn to "the gold jewelry, statues, or other artifacts found in the huge underground cavern." Rather, she is fascinated by "what she identifies as scrolls from the lost Library of Alexandria."

However, as Catherine Lucy, Technical Services Manager/Archivist at Fontbonne University wrote in Solo, the quarterly newsletter of the Lone Arrangers chapter, depictions like the one in National Treasure end up reinforcing "stereotypes that surround the profession," especially of archivists. The film that followed, National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007), is worse, having Nicolas Cage return as a treasure hunter, hoping to solve the "mystery behind Abraham Lincoln's assassination with missing pages from his killer's, John Wilkes Booth, diary," with his father (played by Jon Voight) assisting him. And of course, Chase, still working at NARA, assists him. They have some sort of fight behind Mount Rushmore, discovering a secret indigenous city of gold. That's where the movie becomes silly and worthless. Sure, it grossed a lot of money, but that doesn't mean that it is a good film. In fact, the movie critics gave it awful reviews. For instance, Peter Bradshaw, in The Guardian, writes that although the film is sometimes entertaining it is "mostly pretty tired, with worryingly semi-serious conspiracy theory stuff" while Roger Ebert notes the strange plot holes, saying that there is no plausibility or logic in the film. Ebert notes how the movie has the same National Archivist and only praise it for its "completely unbelievable special effects." Ebert similarly criticized the 2004 film, calling it so silly that "the Monty Python version could use the same screenplay, line for line."

Beyond this, Lucy mentions two articles which review mentions of archives in popular culture: Tania Aldred, Gordon Burr, and Eun Park's "Crossing a Librarian with a Historian: The Image of Reel Archivists" in 2008 and Arlene Schmuland's "The Archival Image in Fiction: An Analysis and Annotated Bibliography" in 1999. The first of these articles talk about National Treasure, notes the librarian character in The Mummy, while noting films like In the Name of the Father and Citizen Kane (considering the character is an archivist). [1] They also reviewed The Mask of Dimitrios (1944), Carlton-Browne of the F.O. (1959), Agnes of God (1986), Treasure (1990), Secret Nation (1992), Just Cause (1995), Ridicule (1996), The Avengers (1998), Blade (1998), John Carpenter’s Vampires (1998), 8mm (1999), Erin Brockovich (2000), Bartleby (2001), Possession (2002), Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones (2002), and The Time Machine (2002). Looking at a sample set of 21 films, they found 14 male archivists and 7 female archivists, with almost half of the female characters wearing buns. Almost half of the characters were only cameos, which is unfortunate. They found that reel archivists are "physically and behaviourally following...established stereotypes," and are not used interchangeably as "librarians in the films." This article attempts to fulfill the call by the writers for further study:

Future research, including an expansion of the current study to increase the sample film size, is clearly necessary in order to solidify the results we have discovered. As well, the study, or related studies, should be expanded to include other forms of popular culture such as television programs, movies, and advertising; an exploration of the positive or negative portrayal of reel archivists; the amount of technology reel archivists are portrayed as utilizing; an examination of the archives represented in films; and a comparison of archival characters in books-to-film with their counterpart literary sources...The current study benefits the archival profession by providing a solid base for archivists to begin examining their portrayal in the media...the influence of the media means that its vision or perception is imparted to the public on a regular basis, and thus ultimately shapes how the archival profession is viewed, either positively or negatively. By examining how the public perceives them, and how they are being portrayed, archivists can gain a better understanding of themselves and their perceived place within society, identify areas of longer-term concern, and thus work toward strengthening that position.

The second article looks at 128 novels, noting how perceptions of librarians are shaped by films like The Music Man, and looking at various novels. [2] Schumland notes that, simplistically, archives are "not only repositories for the source documents of history, but for history itself" which many authors and filmmakers have not recognized. She also notes that the fact that documents or information is stolen from archives "implies that archival holdings have value" although not every author follows this advice, with archivists as custodians of paper and "representatives of history." As such, records are either seen as history, secrets, or garbage in fictional writings, although many fictional archives "represent more than just collections of papers," having the potential to reveal the truth, represent history, and provide information. However, stereotypes are often useful tools for authors, acting as a shorthand for character description. Furthermore, male archivists are often in supervisory roles while female archivists are not, with archivists generally middle-aged to elderly.

© 2022 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

Notes

[1] In their analysis, they eliminated Journey to the Far Side of the Sun (Doppleganger) (1969), Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), The Name of the Rose (1986), The Phantom (1996), The Bone Collector (1999), Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), DaVinci Code (2006), and Silent Hill (2006) after watching all these films.

[2] Schumland specifically reviews Robertson Davies' The Rebel Angels, Robert Barnard's The Case of the Missing Bronte, Robert Goodrum's Dewey Decimated, Martha Cooley's The Archivist, Carol Shields' Swann, A. S. Byatt's Possession, Catherine Aird's The Stately Home Murder, Peter Hoeg's Smilla's Sense of Snow, P. D. James' Original Sin, Jeffrey Archer's Honor Among Thieves, Frank McDonald's Provenance, Charles A. Goodrum's The Best Cellar, Clive Cussler's Treasure, Caroline Preston's Jackie by Josie, Julie Smith's Huckleberry Fiend, David Carkeet's I Been There Before, Ralph Mclnerny's On This Rockne, and many others. She also talks about various other authors like Robert Ludlum, Sarah Bird, Elizabeth Scarborough, Duncan Kyle, Katherine Neville, Terry Pratche, and Patricia Cornwell, along with the role of archives in Lempriere's Dictionary.

[art-of-manliness]

Sunday Firesides: Benjamin Franklin Was Fine, and You’ll Be Too

We probably think we use social media as an entertaining distraction. But the deeper drive underlying our urge to keep scrolling is the simple fear of missing out. We ever feel we’re one swipe away from finding ideas that will help advance our careers, inspire our creativity — maybe even allow us to live forever — and that if we step away from our feeds, we will end up left behind and left out. As an antidote to that (often subconscious) worry, it’s helpful to think of someone like, say, Benjamin Franklin, who lived before social media existed, and yet still managed to invent, create civic organizations, write books still quoted today, and help found a country. When we consider Franklin’s social-media-free-yet-still-fully-flourishing life, certain assurances arise that we may lay hold of: Trust that over thousands of years, humans have developed avenues — conversations, books, podcasts — that offer sufficient exposure to ideas that will optimize your thinking and creativity, while not sabotaging the attention span necessary to synthesize those ideas into something useful and original. Trust that if you do have a problem in your life, you will feel prompted to seek out an answer, and can go directly to it, rather than wading through hours of TikToks for the solution to randomly arise. Trust that if a scientific discovery was made that significantly enhanced human well-being, beyond the standard protocol of eating right, exercising, and getting sufficient sleep, it would be all over the news, and you wouldn’t have to watch a hundred reels to hear about it. Trust that if social media was essential to living your best life, then given the proportion of the population who uses it, and the amount of time people spend on it, society’s health, happiness, and innovation would be leapfrogging forward, and it’s safe to say this isn’t the case. Trust that Benjamin Franklin, as well as Plato, da Vinci, Tolstoy, Eisenhower, and every other eminent artist, philosopher, and leader of the past millennia (and your dad in 1990, to boot) was fine without Facebook, reddit, TikTok, X, and Instagram, and, if you decide to cut out or cut back on using these platforms, you’ll be fine too.   Help support independent publishing. Make a donation to The Art of Manliness! Thanks for the support! http://dlvr.it/T8yWPG

[frimleyblogger]

The Lieutenant Conundrum

How is lieutenant pronounced and has the British aversion to loo anything to do with toilets? #linguistics #pronunciation

Noah Webster might have radicalised the way that words were spelt in America, but some of his suggestions fell on stoney ground, such as tung for tongue, wimmen for women, and iland for island. He also waded into the debate around which letters should be included in the alphabet. Benjamin Franklin had argued that c, j, q, w, x, and y were unnecessary and that they should be replaced by symbols to…

[kwebtv]

Bowler - LWT / ITV - July 29, 1973 - October 21, 1973

Sitcom (13 episodes)

Running Time: 30 minutes

Stars:

George Baker as Stanley Bowler

Fred Beauman as Reg

Renny Lister as Doreen Bowler

Gretchen Franklin as Mum

Christopher Benjamin as Supt. Chamberlain

Johnnie Wade as Nigel

[misalpav]

sooooooo the american instructor or the young man's beft companion by sir benjamin franklin has instructions to abortion in it. is it really so unamerican if the founding fathers were searching for a way to make it happen? I'm not saying franklin is perfect but the point is abortion isn't new to the 20th and 21st century with the passing of roe v. wade, it existed much much much prior to that.

do not try without professional supervision

notice how he just mentions the whole situation as a misfortune and presents the solution with absolutely 0 religious dilemma (he was a deist that grew up in a puritan family). anyone saying that “the inescapable conclusion is that a right to abortion is not deeply rooted in the Nation’s history and traditions" (*cough* alito *cough*) clearly hasn't studied history well enough bc if abortion can make its way into one of the most studied mathematical textbooks of the period then how tf do you justify that statement.

[nykhia]

Go to heaven for the climate and hell for the company.

Benjamin Franklin Wade

[that-one-girl-who-writes]

“Go to heaven for the climate and hell for the company.”

― Benjamin Franklin Wade.

[nondualreality]

Go to heaven for the climate and hell for the company.

Benjamin Franklin Wade