January 17, 1706-April 17, 1790
If you would not be forgotten,
When you are dead and rotten,
Either write things worth the reading,
Or do things worth the writing.
~ Benjamin Franklin (Poor Richard's Almanack, May, 1738)
First up, from The Franklin Institute, the date thing:
...Franklin was born in Boston on January 6, 1706. But in 1752, Great Britain switched from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar and skipped 11 days. So Franklin’s birthday became January 17. In 1773 he wrote to his wife, Deborah Franklin, “I feel still some Regard for this Sixth of January, as my old nominal Birth-day.”...
Here's a Threefer from Mental Floss:
10 of Ben Franklin’s Lesser-Known Feats of Awesomeness
...nine MORE...6. Ben invented so much cool stuff.
Of course, you probably know that he is responsible for the lightning rod, bifocal glasses and the Franklin stove. But in 1761, Franklin also invented the glass harmonica (or "armonica," as Ben called it). It became quite popular during Franklin’s time and armonica-specific pieces were composed by the likes of Mozart, Beethoven, and Handel.
More of Franklin’s inventions include:
• The library stepstool, a chair whose seat could be lifted and folded down to make a short ladder.
• A mechanical arm for reaching books on high shelves. (Book retrieval – clearly a focus of Franklinian innovation)
• The rocking chair – a chair that rocks.
• The writing chair - a chair with an arm on one side to provide a writing surface. (Activities one can do while seated – also a focus.)
• The odometer - used in Franklin’s time to measure distance along colonial roads used by the postal service.
• A pulley system that enabled him to lock and unlock his bedroom door from his bed.
• The flexible urinary catheter....
And from "11 Amazing Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Benjamin Franklin":
...10. He Could Really Talk About Drinking
On January 6, 1737, Franklin’s Pennsylvania Gazette published 200+ synonyms for the word “drunk” in what was entitled “The Drinkers Dictionary.” The handy list came accompanied by a note from Franklin himself: “The Phrases in this Dictionary are not (like most of our Terms of Art) borrow'd from Foreign Languages, neither are they collected from the Writings of the Learned in our own, but gather'd wholly from the modern Tavern-Conversation of Tiplers. I do not doubt but that there are many more in use; and I was even tempted to add a new one my self under the Letter B, to wit, Brutify'd…”
And finally, Ben Franklin's 200+ Synonyms for "Drunk":
First, a note from Mr. Franklin: "The Phrases in this Dictionary are not (like most of our Terms of Art) borrow'd from Foreign Languages, neither are they collected from the Writings of the Learned in our own, but gather'd wholly from the modern Tavern-Conversation of Tiplers. I do not doubt but that there are many more in use; and I was even tempted to add a new one my self under the Letter B, to wit, Brutify'd: But upon Consideration, I fear'd being guilty of Injustice to the Brute Creation, if I represented Drunkenness as a beastly Vice, since, 'tis well-known, that the Brutes are in general a very sober sort of People."
A
He is Addled,
He's casting up his Accounts,
He's Afflicted,
He's in his Airs.
B
He's Biggy,
Bewitch'd,
Block and Block,
Boozy,
Bowz'd,
Been at Barbadoes,
Piss'd in the Brook,
Drunk as a Wheel-Barrow,
Burdock'd,
Buskey,
Buzzey,
and 185 more
