Ben Franklin

Ben Franklin was a big time troublemaker. I mean, he was all about self improvement and being productive but in the end, it was all about Ben.
I don’t know why I’m so disappointed in this. I don’t know what I expected from Ben. He’s just a dude. I mean he was a smart dude who did a great many things.

I’m only 60 pages in this 500 page book. 500 pages! If I had a biography it would be like 5 pages long, full of pictures…of other people doing interesting things, but I digress.

So it turns out Ben Franklin started his own newspaper by playing two other existing newspapers against each other. Back in old time Philly (love the Boys II Men song) there were three presses one of which Ben owned and two others that pressed papers. Ben didn’t have his own paper so he thought up a little scheme: Destroy one of the presses to make room for his paper.

Anyhoo Ben wrote letters under pseudonyms to one of the papers, attacking the other pressman personally. But what I think is funny is the names he chose and here they are: Martha Careful and Celia Shortface! What? Really? Martha Careful? Celia Shortface? Come on. I mean really? Celia Shortface. That’s funny. His plan worked. The press that he aimed his attacks at folded and he got his newspaper.

Moral of the story: If you’re going to write letters to destroy someone, make sure you use clever names like Celia Shortface and Martha Careful.
I love it. Oh Ben you intrigue me.