63 Matching Annotations
  1. Feb 2024
    1. As long as money hasexisted, the problem of counterfeit currency has too, but it became aparticular problem once printed notes went into general circulation. Ineighteenth-century North America, Benjamin Franklin – who owned a firmthat printed money for several of the colonies – hit on the idea of misspellingPennsylvania on official currency, on the grounds that forgers would spell it

      correctly and the notes could easily be spotted as counterfeit, but that only went so far.

  2. Jan 2024
    1. This is why choosing an external system that forces us todeliberate practice and confronts us as much as possible with ourlack of understanding or not-yet-learned information is such a smartmove.

      Choosing an external system for knowledge keeping and production forces the learner into a deliberate practice and confronts them with their lack of understanding. This is a large part of the underlying value not only of the zettelkasten, but of the use of a commonplace book which Benjamin Franklin was getting at when recommending that one "read with a pen in your hand". The external system also creates a modality shift from reading to writing by way of thinking which further underlines the value.

      What other building blocks are present in addition to: - modality shift - deliberate practice - confrontation of lack of understanding

      Are there other systems that do all of these as well as others simultaneously?


      link to Franklin quote: https://hypothes.is/a/HZeDKI3YEeyj9GcNWKX4iA

    1. You should read with a pen in your hand andenter...short hints of what you feel...may be useful; forthis be the best method of imprinting [them] in yourmemory. Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)

      original source?

      it's Benjamin Franklin letter to Miss Stevenson, Wanstead. Craven-street, May 16, 1760.<br /> see: https://hyp.is/HZeDKI3YEeyj9GcNWKX4iA/www.gutenberg.org/files/40236/40236-h/40236-h.htm

    1. R-E-S-P-E-C-T, take care of T-C-B

      some may hear the mondegreen T-C-P which confusingly leaves R-E-S-E meaning nothing.

      The initials T-C-B most likely mean "Take Care of Business", which fits in with some of the other variations of Franklin's version including:

      "Ooh, your kisses, sweeter than honey<br /> And guess what? So is my money"

      which equates kisses as being on par with her earnings, for which she expects "propers" (aka props, or proper respect).

  3. Dec 2023
    1. I think that what we have to 01:23:24 do is have the revolution that Benjamin Franklin said we need if because if we don't solve the problem in the United States I don't see us solving the global 01:23:39 problem
      • for: quote - James Hansen, quote Benjamin Franklin, climate crisis - leverage point - political revolution

      • quote

        • If we don't solve the problem in the United States, I don't see us solving the global problem
      • author: James Hansen
      • date: Dec 2023

      • comment

        • Tipping Point network
  4. Nov 2023
  5. Aug 2023
  6. Jun 2023
    1. I would advise you to read with a pen in your hand, and enter in a little book short hints of what you find that is curious or that may be useful; for this will be the best method of imprinting such particulars in your memory, where they will be ready either for practice on some future occasion if they are matters of utility, or at least to adorn and improve your conversation if they are rather points of curiosity.

      Benjamin Franklin letter to Miss Stevenson, Wanstead. Craven-street, May 16, 1760.

      Franklin doesn't use the word commonplace book here, but is actively recommending the creation and use of one. He's also encouraging the practice of annotation, though in commonplace form rather than within the book itself.

    1. By the 1980s the adage had implausibly been reassigned to Benjamin Franklin. The 1986 book “Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching” by Jack C. Richards and Theodore S. Rodgers contained the following passage:[12]1986 (Seventh Printing 1991), Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching: A Description and Analysis by Jack C. Richards and Theodore S. Rodgers, Chapter 7: The Silent Way, Quote Page 100, Cambridge … Continue reading These premises are succinctly represented in the words of Benjamin Franklin: Tell me and I forget, teach me and I remember, involve me and I learn.

      The misattribution of this quote often seen in educational settings likely stems from Richards & Rodgers from 1986.

      See also: - https://hypothes.is/a/cKMkaAZQEe6dq0fkeyNabA - https://hypothes.is/a/YWrJKgZPEe6dy2sJU5KcSw

    2. Several English renderings have been published over the years. The following excerpt is from “Xunzi: The Complete Text” within chapter 8 titled “The Achievements of the Ru”. The translator was Eric L. Hutton, and the publisher was Princeton University Press in 2014. Emphasis added to excerpts:[1]2014 Copyright, Xunzi: The Complete Text, Translated by Eric L. Hutton, Chapter 8: The Achievements of the Ru, Quote Page 64, Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey. (Verified with … Continue reading Not having heard of it is not as good as having heard of it. Having heard of it is not as good as having seen it. Having seen it is not as good as knowing it. Knowing it is not as good as putting it into practice. Learning arrives at putting it into practice and then stops . . .

      The frequent educational quote "Tell me and I forget, teach me and I remember, involve me and I learn.", often misattributed to Benjamin Franklin, is most attributable to 3rd century Confucian philosopher Kunzi (Xun Kuang or 荀子) who wrote:

      Not having heard of it is not as good as having heard of it. Having heard of it is not as good as having seen it. Having seen it is not as good as knowing it. Knowing it is not as good as putting it into practice. Learning arrives at putting it into practice and then stops . . .

      The translation of which appears in Xunzi: The Complete Text, Translated by Eric L. Hutton, Chapter 8: The Achievements of the Ru, Quote Page 64, Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey. 2014.

      Variations of the sentiment and attributions have appeared frequently thereafter.

    3. There is no substantive evidence that Benjamin Franklin crafted this expression.
  7. Feb 2023
    1. About this time I met with an odd volume of the Spectator.[18] It was the third. I had never before seen any of them. I bought it, read it over and over, and was much delighted with it. I thought the writing excellent, and wished, if possible, to imitate it. With this view I took some of the papers, and, making short hints of the sentiment in each sentence, laid them by a few days, and then, without looking at the book, try'd to compleat the papers again, by expressing each hinted sentiment at length, and as fully as it had been expressed before, in any suitable words that should come to hand. Then I compared my Spectator with the original, discovered some of my faults, and corrected them. But I found I wanted a stock of words, or a readiness in recollecting and using them, which I thought I should have acquired before that time if I had gone on making verses; since the continual occasion for words of the same import, but of different length, to suit the measure, or of different sound for the rhyme, would have laid me under a constant necessity of searching for variety, and also have tended to fix that variety in my mind, and make me master of it. Therefore I took some of the tales and turned them into verse; and, after a time, when I had pretty well forgotten the prose, turned them back again. I also sometimes jumbled my collections of hints into confusion, and after some weeks endeavored to reduce them into the best order, before I began to form the full sentences and compleat the paper. This was to teach me method in the arrangement of thoughts. By comparing my work afterwards with the original, I discovered many faults and amended them; but I sometimes had the pleasure of fancying that, in certain particulars of small import, I had been lucky enough to improve the method of the language, and this encouraged me to think I might possibly in time come to be a tolerable English writer, of which I was extremely ambitious. My time for these exercises and for reading was at night, after work or before it began in the morning, or on Sundays, when I contrived to be in the printing-house alone, evading as much as I could the common attendance on public worship which my father used to exact of me when I was under his care, and which indeed I still thought a duty, thought I could not, as it seemed to me, afford time to practise it.

      Even the greats copied or loosely plagiarized the "masters" to learn how to write.The key is to continually work at it until you get to the point where it's yours and it is no longer plagiarism.

      This was also the general premise behind the plotline of the movie Finding Forrester.

  8. Jan 2023
    1. yeaaaaaaah I'm gonna need a link to purchase these if you got one

      reply to u/pipepistolnoscope at https://www.reddit.com/r/antinet/comments/10lqfsn/comment/j62dp7o/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

      These are slightly easier to find in a variety of styles, colors, and materials if you're using European A5 or A6 slip sizes. Search for 6 ring binders which usually come in A5 or A6 sizes for a variety of planners, calendars, and general notes with accessories. Franklin Covey has a variety of binders for their 4.25" x 6.75" note pages and planners which will likely work with index cards, but I haven't tried that.

      If you use US standard index cards 4 x 6" or 3 x 5", you'll want an appropriate 6 ring hole punch to pre-punch your cards as appropriate, but keep in mind the two standard sizes can be slightly off with respect to the binder you find but they're probably close enough it shouldn't be a big issue as most of the binders are slightly larger in both directions to protect the paper inside.

      I recently posted about note taking on the go, so you might find some interesting ideas, methods, modifications or even DIY options there or in the comments: https://boffosocko.com/2022/12/01/index-card-accessories-for-note-taking-on-the-go/

  9. Nov 2022
    1. When he was coming up as a writer, the author and journalist Rex Murphy would write out longhand favorite poems and passages. He was asked, what’s that done for you? “There’s an energy attached to poetry and great prose,” Murphy said. “And when you bring it into your mind, into your living sensibility, by some weird osmosis, it lifts your style or the attempts of your mind.” When you read great writing, when you write down a great line or paragraph, Murphy continues, “somehow or another, it contaminates you in a rich way. You get something from it—from this osmotic imitation—that will only take place if you lodge it in your consciousness.”

      This writing advice from Rex Murphy sounds like the beginning portions of Benjamin Franklin's advice on writing and slowly rewriting one's way into better prose styles.

      Link to Franklin's quote

  10. Oct 2022
    1. The FBI declined several requests to comment for this article.  Among the documents obtained by Rolling Stone —some of which are newly declassified— is a 1968 document discussing funeral plans for Martin Luther King Jr., calling it a “racial situation.” It further notes “Sammy Davis Jr., Aretha Franklin…of this group, some have supported militant Black power concept…[performance at MLK memorial by these prominent entertainers] would provide emotional spark which could ignite racial disturbance in this area.” The agency also tried and failed to connect Franklin to the Black Liberation Army and other so-called “radical” movements. In one case, the FBI detailed her 1971 contract with Atlantic Records “just in case” agents could link Franklin’s business dealings to the Black Panther Party.  Another document titled “Possible Racial Violence” describes an incident in August 1968 when Franklin canceled a show at the Red Rocks Amphitheater near Denver, Colorado. According to local news reports at the time, fans engaged in a “20-minute melee” and  “broke chairs and music stands, damaged a grand piano, and even set fire to trees, bushes and trash piles.”
    2. From 1967 to 2007, the Federal Bureau of Investigation methodically collected information about Aretha Franklin using false phone calls, surveillance, infiltration, and highly-placed sources, according to the documents obtained in September by Rolling Stone.  Franklin’s FBI file — first requested in via the Freedom of Information Act on Aug. 17, 2018 —  is 270 pages long, peppered with phrases like “Black extremists,” “pro-communist,” “hate America,” “radical,” “racial violence,” and “militant Black power” and overflowing with suspicion about the singer, her work, and the other activists and entertainers with whom she she spent time. Some documents are heavily redacted and others indicate that there may be additional materials in the FBI’s possession. Rolling Stone has requested the FBI make available any and all additional records.
  11. Sep 2022
  12. Jun 2022
    1. In the 1960s, the NRA once again supported the push for new federal gun laws. After the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963 by Lee Harvey Oswald, who had bought his gun through a mail-order ad in the NRA’s American Rifleman magazine, Franklin Orth, then the NRA’s executive vice president, testified in favor of banning mail-order rifle sales. “We do not think that any sane American, who calls himself an American, can object to placing into this bill the instrument which killed the president of the United States.”
  13. May 2022
    1. What did Franklin himself think about abortions? In 1728 during his early years as a printer, he generated controversy over something he would end up doing himself. According to “Benjamin Franklin: An American Life” by Walter Isaacson, he “manufactured” an abortion debate, largely because he wanted to crush a rival, but his own opinions may not have been too strong about it. Franklin wrote a series of anonymous letters for another paper to draw attention away from Samuel Keimer’s paper: The first two pieces were attacks on poor Keimer, who was serializing entries from an encyclopedia. His initial installment included, innocently enough, an entry on abortion. Franklin pounced. Using the pen names “Martha Careful” and “Celia Shortface,” he wrote letters to Bradford’s paper feigning shock and indignation at Keimer’s offense. As Miss Careful threatened, “If he proceeds farther to expose the secrets of our sex in that audacious manner [women would] run the hazard of taking him by the beard in the next place we meet him.” Thus Franklin manufactured the first recorded abortion debate in America, not because he had any strong feelings on the issue, but because he knew it would help sell newspapers.

      Benjamin Franklin manufactured the first recorded abortion debate in America to help sell his newspapers and to crush a rival.

    2. Jesuit’s bark, also known to us as quinine, was an important anti-malarial drug. According to Molly Farrell, an associate professor of English and the history of science who first reported on Franklin’s abortion entry in Slate, it was also “mistakenly thought to be an abortifacient.” 
    3. The ninth edition entry, reprinted in Slate, also recommends the use of “Harts-horn.” Harts-horn, according to Merriam-Webster, is an “American pasqueflower.”  According to “Edible and Medicinal Plants of the West” by herbalist Gregory L. Tilford, pasqueflowers were used by Native Americans to induce abortions, or speed up childbirth.  
    1. Copies of The American Instructor:

    2. The recipe details, moreover, assume that these “unmarry’d Women” had the kind of knowledge of arithmetic that the book’s earlier instructional sections had taught. The recipe insists on careful attention to measurement and counting. And it asks the preparer to work with repeated multiples of three. Franklin had a track record of promoting female education, and of arithmetic for them in particular. He advocates for it in his early, anonymous “Silence Dogood” articles, and in his Autobiography singles out a Dutch printer’s widow who saved the family business thanks to her education. There, Franklin makes an explicit call “recommending that branch of education for our young females.”

      Evidence for Benjamin Franklin encouraging the education of women in mathematics.

    3. John Tennent’s The Poor Planter’s Physician to the end. Tennent was a Virginia doctor whose medical pamphlet had first appeared in 1734.*

      Virginia physician John Tennet's pamphlet The Poor Planter's Physician first appeared in 1734, and included details for effecting abortions. Benjamin Franklin found it to be so valuable that he copied it into his book The Instructor (1748).


      Surely the pamphlet had appeared previous to 1734 as there's a copy labeled as the third edition which Benjamin Franklin had reprinted in 1734, which lists him as the publisher.

    4. William Mather’s 1699 Young Man’s Companion also has one (the London book would inspire the very first arithmetic book to be printed in the colonies in 1705, by Franklin’s old boss Andrew Bradford). In Mather’s book, though, the recipe was short, misleading, and ineffective. It includes an entry for “Terms provoked,” a heading also found under comparable medical books with abortifacient concoctions (where the “term,” or period, needs “provoking”). Unfortunately for Mather’s readers, however, he prescribes “stinking Arach,” or goosefoot, which is an emmenagogue (an agent to stimulate or regulate menstruation) but not a reliable abortifacient. He also makes the even more dubious suggestion to “take a draught of White wine” under a full moon.
    5. In this week’s leaked draft of a Supreme Court opinion overturning Roe v. Wade, Justice Samuel Alito wrote, “The inescapable conclusion is that a right to abortion is not deeply rooted in the Nation’s history and traditions.” Yet abortion was so “deeply rooted” in colonial America that one of our nation’s most influential architects went out of his way to insert it into the most widely and enduringly read and reprinted math textbook of the colonial Americas—and he received so little pushback or outcry for the inclusion that historians have barely noticed it is there. Abortion was simply a part of life, as much as reading, writing, and arithmetic.

      Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has written in a leaked draft opinion of Dobs v. Jackson Women's Health that "The inescapable conclusion is that a right to abortion is not deeply rooted in the Nation's history and traditions."

      However, historians have shown that in fact it was so deeply rooted in in early America that Benjamin Franklin, one of the founding fathers of the country actively inserted medical advice about abortion into a widely read and popular primer on math and reading.

    1. SUPP RESSION of the COURSES.NOW I am upon Female Infirmities, it will not be unfeafonable to touch upon a common Complaint among unmarry’d Women, namely, The Suppression of the Courses. This don't only dis¬ parage their Complexions, but fills them, belides, with Sundry Disorders. For this Misfortune, you muft purge with Highland . Flaggy (commonly call'd Belly-ach Root) a Week before you exped to be out of Order ; and repeat the Same 2 Days after : The next Morning, drink a Quarter of a Pint of Pennyroyal Water, or DecoBion , with ia Drops of Spirits of Harts-horn , and as much again at Night, when you go to Bed. Continue this, p Days running; and after Refting 3 Days, go on with it for p more. Ride out every fair Day, ftir nimbly about your Affairs, and breath as

      much as poflible in the open Air. YOU muft feed upon a warm and cordial Diet, enrich’d with a great deal of Muflard, Nutmeg, Horfe-radijh and Garden, l Crejfes ;'at the lame Time avoiding every''"j thing that is aftringent, flegmatick, and 1 windy. And let your Drink be Beer, M brew’d with Sorrel-Leaves , or elfe Ground 1 Ivy-Tea . • 1 T O prevent this Complaint, young Women muft Ihake off Sloth, and make Ufe of their Legs, as well as their Hands* - They Ihou’d be cautious of taking Opiates j too often, or Jefuits-Bark , except in Cafes of great Neceffity; nor muft they long foie pretty Fellows, or any other Trajb whatfoe- ver.

      https://archive.org/details/2574010R.nlm.nih.gov/page/n47/mode/2up?q=misfortune

  14. Jan 2022
  15. Sep 2021
    1. Imitation, Paul says, allows us to think with other people’s brains. It is a key technique — globally and transhistorically — for learning, from babies imitating parents to apprentices imitating masters. And yet imitation is seen in contemporary US society, and schooling especially, as so debased that it is frequently punished. In fact, if Paul is correct (and I think she is, and have thought so for years when teaching writing), we should build imitation into many more of our lesson plans.

      On the importance of imitation...

      I'm reminded of Benjamin Franklin imitating what he thought were good writers to make his own writing more robust.

      See: https://via.hypothes.is/https://www.gutenberg.org/files/20203/20203-h/20203-h.htm

      Maybe the aphorism: "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery," should really be "Imitation is the sincerest form of learning."

  16. Aug 2021
    1. The Echo & Narcissus Writing Club is all about mimicking the work of exceptional writers in order to learn from them.

      I'm reminded here of a portion of Benjamin Franklin's passage in his Autobiography where he describes his writing process and work to improve.

      Also the main plotline of the movie Finding Forrester.

  17. Jun 2021
    1. Writing is a verb, a practice. It is labor. A paper is at least one step removed from that labor and learning. It is a product of your labor, not your labor itself. So our grading system should align with what this course is mostly about, which is your acts of learning, your labors of writing. 

      I'm reminded here of a portion of Benjamin Franklin's passage in his Autobiography where he describes his writing process and work to improve:

      About this time I met with an odd volume of the Spectator.[18] It was the third. I had never before seen any of them. I bought it, read it over and over, and was much delighted with it. I thought the writing excellent, and wished, if possible, to imitate it. With this view I took some of the papers, and, making short hints of the sentiment in each sentence, laid them by a few days, and then, without looking at the book, try'd to compleat the papers again, by expressing each hinted sentiment at length, and as fully as it had been expressed before, in any suitable words that should come to hand. Then I compared my Spectator with the original, discovered some of my faults, and corrected them. But I found I wanted a stock of words, or a readiness in recollecting and using them, which I thought I should have acquired before that time if I had gone on making verses; since the continual occasion for words of the same import, but of different length, to suit the measure, or of different sound for the rhyme, would have laid me under a constant necessity of searching for variety, and also have tended to fix that variety in my mind, and make me master of it. Therefore I took some of the tales and turned them into verse; and, after a time, when I had pretty well forgotten the prose, turned them back again. I also sometimes jumbled my collections of hints into confusion, and after some weeks endeavored to reduce them into the best order, before I began to form the full sentences and compleat the paper. This was to teach me method in the arrangement of thoughts. By comparing my work afterwards with the original, I discovered many faults and amended them; but I sometimes had the pleasure of fancying that, in certain particulars of small import, I had been lucky enough to improve the method of the language, and this encouraged me to think I might possibly in time come to be a tolerable English writer, of which I was extremely ambitious. My time for these exercises and for reading was at night, after work or before it began in the morning, or on Sundays, when I contrived to be in the printing-house alone, evading as much as I could the common attendance on public worship which my father used to exact of me when I was under his care, and which indeed I still thought a duty, thought I could not, as it seemed to me, afford time to practise it.

  18. Apr 2021
    1. As I was gearing up to start my PhD last fall, I received a piece of advice that made a lot of sense at the time, and continues to do so. My colleague, Inba told me to 'write while I read', meaning that I should take notes and summarize research while I read it, and not just read and underline article after article. That way, not only do I not lose my thoughts while I'm reading an article, but I am actively thinking through the arguments in the paper while I am reading it and my writing is thoroughly grounded in the literature.

      This is generally fantastic advice! It's also the general underpinning behind the idea of Luhmann's zettelkasten method.

      I'll also mention that it's not too dissimilar to Benjamin Franklin's writing advice about taking what others have written and working with that yourself, though there he doesn't take it as far as others have since.

  19. Oct 2020
    1. At two this morning, he confesses that he opened the drawer in which his cigars are put away. He only succeeded in locking it up again by a violent effort. His next proceeding, in case of temptation, was to throw the key out of window.

      The Moonstone was also put away in a drawer. This parallel highlights the use of the Moonstone as a symbol for addiction, and its effects on personal relationships. The insidious temptation of addiction can only be resisted by violent effort and self-denial. Addicts become pariahs of society, represented here by the 'foreignness' of Ezra and Franklin. No good Englishman would be an addict, no sir.

    2. “What right has she to suspect Me, on any evidence, of being a thief?”

      How is Franklin so oblivious to the hypocrisy here? What "right" does he have to suspect anybody of being a thief in that case? I believe Collins is trying to push the point that we are quick to take our own knowledge for granted while disregarding this fact for others. Again, another reference to the subjectivity of "truth" and the difficulty in distinguishing it from "belief".

    3. He has failed to do that

      According to Erza, the results of the experiment were only half of those that were expected. It may be possible of course that this is all that took place during that night. Someone else could have been present during Franklin's 'sleep walking' phase, just like how Franklin was observed during this experiment by Erza, and took the stone when Franklin tossed it to the ground? Or perhaps this outcome goes to show a more realistic point of view, in that it would have been actually impossible to replicate the whole night entirely, and that even the fact that they were able to reproduce it to such an extend is in itself an impressive accomplishment.

    4. life had two sides to it

      It's interesting that Godfrey is the character now associated with duplicity when Franklin was the first character said to have multiple sides. Betteredge's discription of Franklin as having an English side, Italian side, German side etc. proved to be not really true when we got to follow Franklin's own narration, or at least not as true as Betteredge implied in his introduction. Meanwhile Godfrey was the goody two shoes boy for most of the book until we started to see some flaws with his engagement to Rachel.

    5. The doctor’s pretty housemaid

      It appears to me that Franklin is very sensitive to beauty, or the lack thereof. He almost never fails to present a person without describing their looks (for better or worse). It seems to almost define them, in his eyes. It would be interesting to search in his text for mentions of appearance and compare it to other narrators.

    6. There was only one way to take with him. I appealed to his interest in Rachel, and his interest in me.

      Franklin has this odd mix of characteristics. at times, he is obtusely unaware of his social status at times and assumes immediate self-importance. at others, he knows exactly who to ask for favors. he has a headstrong approach with Rachel, but manages to wheedle/manipulate Betteredge. like godfrey, he seems to be a smooth talker. just not with the ladies.

    7. Ezra Jennings

      Interesting that he refers to Ezra by his full name (as opposed to the pretty servant). Even though he doesn't know anything about the person but the way he looks, Franklin appears to admire him. On the other hand, perhaps so as to subdue his admiration/jealousy for him, he pities Ezra for "being unpopular everywhere," implicitly preening himself for being so well-known.

    8. I never noticed her.

      Well, at least he's honest about that. it's incredible to me how self-centered Mr. Franklin could be. Up to that point, he barely even recognizes the excruciating pain she must've endured, being treated as non-existent by him; he doesn't exhibit any empathy or sympathy (which is hilarious given that he's chasing Rachel so desperately), as if it is so inexplicable and absurd that she's had feelings for a person so above her societal rank, that it can simply be disregarded. Notice how the entire time he's reading the letter, all he cares about is finding a clue for the Moonstone, or his own ostensible guilt.

      However, he's surely endeavoring to justify himself here, not to be seen to the reader as a supercilious, ill-mannered man!

    9. But she died a dreadful death, poor soul–and I feel a kind of call on me, Mr. Franklin, to humour that fancy of hers

      Aww Betteredge. Even though he's got detective fever he wants to do right by Rosanna's last request. I really like how this chapter lets us see an outside perspective of Betteredge, and how he really is the good guy I thought he was.

    10. I asked him if any slander had been spoken of me in Rachel’s hearing.

      Something intersting Franklin seems to be doing more than the other narrators so far is paraphrasing, so it calls into question the veracity of what he's saying. Obviously the question of the reliability of the narrator is always present even when they're directly quoting passages, but I wonder if he'll keep this up. I have a suspicion Franklin knows more than he's letting us know.

    11. the hospitable impulse was the uppermost impulse

      Earlier in this passage, Franklin made it clear that he objects to Betteredge's 'overdrawn' account of his (Franklin's) character. This quote, is a nice reversal of Betteredge's use of 'uppermost'.

    12. Having heard the story of the past, my next inquiries (still inquiries after Rachel!) advanced naturally to the present time. Under whose care had she been placed after leaving Mr. Bruff’s house? and where was she living now?

      Mr Franklin seems more concerned with himself, than with Rachel. He doesn't ask about how she's doing regarding her mother's death. Similarly, in regards to his own fathers death, he only mentions the inheritance and the responsibilities that came with it. It's a little selfish, no?

    13. I saw her, and heard her, no more.

      It is rather sad that the two characters never met each other again afterwards, similar to the sudden end of the relationship with her and Goffrey. As if the diamond strips all the people away from Rachel one way or the other. Mr Verinder, Goffrey, Franklin, one by one seems to be going away from Rachel. Albeit in Goffrey's case, it might have been a blessing rather than a diamond curse. In general, Rachel seems to be at the center of the diamond 'curse', which begs the question of what is going to follow with regards to the future of that character.

    14. “I do remember! I slept soundly.”

      This seems to suggest that Franklin stole the diamond under the influence of opium, which is also why he forgot that he ever stole it. This also reminds me of that scene with the three indians and the little boy during the First Period, although I am not sure if the two are connected. It also finally explains the role of opium in the plot. I am not sure how this drug works, but to my knowledge this is supposed to be a pain killer. Not sure how it would make someone 'do things' without recollection, which is the only thing that confuses me about all this. Nevertheless, it would be interesting to see what else happened during the period that Franklin cannot recall, as I am sure that it will be revealed at some point later on.

    15. “Yes. My objection is, that your proposal obliges us to wait.”

      It would be rather anti climactic for the mystery to be dependant on waiting for the reclaim of the diamond from the bank. It makes me believe that something else is likely to happen in between that timeframe, perchaps a new fact that reveals a different location of the diamond. At any rate it seems as if this part of the plot (the diamond resting in a bank) may not be what's really going on... Interested to see what is missing here, maybe Franklin will somehow remember something from before that event that renders this fact irrelevant, assuming that Rachel is truthful and did indeed see Franklin steal the diamon.

  20. Sep 2020
    1. I don’t want to force my opinion on you

      This is false. Betteredge himself confesses during this conversation that his thoughts were "muddled" until "Mr. Franklin took them in hand, and pointed out what they ought to see". Furthermore, wasn't it Franklin who pushed Betteredge to write his recollection in the first place? Franklin's influence on the Betteredge is apparent, putting into question the reliability of his narrative as well as Franklin's motives.

      It again brings up the dichotomy of opinion versus fact, subjective versus objective. This reminds me of "In a Grove" by Ryunosuke Akutagawa, which was adapted into the film "Rashomon" by Akira Kurosawa. Very similar themes and narrative structure.

    2. Betteredge, your edge is better than ever

      Hilarity aside, it's interesting that Franklin makes such an obvious pun at Betteredge's name. Is this simply a wink and a nudge from Collins, or is he trying to hint that the character names carry some meaning? Alternatively, could it be that Betteredge is actually a bumbling buffoon who has no clue of what's going on? This pun serves to remind the reader to keep an eye out for clues and double meanings that may be hidden within the lines.

    3. it’s the varnish from foreign parts

      The varnish from foreign parts, not his supposedly good nature. Obviously first impressions aren't everything, but even the word varnish implies it's covering up something that shouldn't be seen, an idea foreshadowed a couple sentences later

  21. Jul 2018
  22. course-computational-literary-analysis.netlify.com course-computational-literary-analysis.netlify.com
    1. which seems to grow keener and keener, as the time comes nearer and nearer when I shall endure and feel no more? How useless to ask these questions! Mr. Blake has given me a new interest in life. Let that be enough, without seeking to know what the new interest is.

      Ezra Jennings expressed his yearning for human sympathy and his admiration for Mr.Franklin here. It appeared to me that nearly every character of the novel had some reason to adore Mr.Franklin. The peculiarity of Jennings is that he had long been plagued by distrust and dwelt in solitude. This and the impending death painted his affection towards Franklin rather melancholy, since this affection was intertwined with his crave for youth, riches, health, etc., all of which he had never, and probably would never have, an opportunity, to possess.

    2. If the excellent Betteredge had been present while I was considering that question, and if he had been let into the secret of my thoughts, he would, no doubt, have declared that the German side of me was, on this occasion, my uppermost side.

      Franklin's resolution to solve the mystery about the Moonstone was taken to a higher level. Previously, he was only piqued by the mystery solely because it can help him restore his relationship with Miss Rachel, but here, as he confessed, the obstinate German side of him, despite him claiming that it was merely the conjecture of Mr.Betteredge, took over. What is fascinating is that in this part of Franklin's narrative, he seemed to profess his determination quite a lot. Perhaps we could run a similar word detection and plot the dispersion of it, to discover how frequently he used words related to determination.

  23. Aug 2016
    1. June Callwood once asked her how she acquired “an exquisitely developed conscience.”Dr. Franklin replied: “You tune it like an instrument. You know, when people start singing they develop an ear. They develop their voice. They begin to hear dissonances that they didn’t hear before. You become attuned to having to make responsible and moral decisions. … [In Quakerism] you don’t have a creed, you don’t sign something; the only proof of your faith or lack of faith is how you conduct your life. Consequently it’s like singing. At every point you say, ‘Am I in tune?’”
  24. Feb 2014
    1. The Benjamin Franklin Programming Practice Model
      • Find a program that you greatly admire and read it.
      • Takes note on the roles, inputs, and outputs of each major component.
      • Take notes on how the components interact.
      • Rewrite the program.
      • Compare your code with the original.
      • Note where you can improve and study accordingly.
    2. Benjamin developed his method in his early teens and worked hard at practicing his craft. Here is the exceprt with a few added line breaks for legibility. About this time I met with an odd volume of the Spectator. It was the third. I had never before seen any of them. I bought it, read it over and over, and was much delighted with it. I thought the writing excellent, and wished, if possible, to imitate it. With this view I took some of the papers, and, making short hints of the sentiment in each sentence, laid them by a few days, and then, without looking at the book, try'd to compleat the papers again, by expressing each hinted sentiment at length, and as fully as it had been expressed before, in any suitable words that should come to hand. Then I compared my Spectator with the original, discovered some of my faults, and corrected them. But I found I wanted a stock of words, or a readiness in recollecting and using them, which I thought I should have acquired before that time if I had gone on making verses; since the continual occasion for words of the same import, but of different length, to suit the measure, or of different sound for the rhyme, would have laid me under a constant necessity of searching for variety, and also have tended to fix that variety in my mind, and make me master of it. Therefore I took some of the tales and turned them into verse; and, after a time, when I had pretty well forgotten the prose, turned them back again. I also sometimes jumbled my collections of hints into confusion, and after some weeks endeavored to reduce them into the best order, before I began to form the full sentences and compleat the paper. This was to teach me method in the arrangement of thoughts.

      Benjamin Franklin on developing proficiency.

    3. The hard part is teaching the consequences of each choice.

      Once you get the syntax and basic language idioms out of the way this is the real problem that faces us no matter what language we pick.