# Happy Birthday, Ben! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 17, 2006, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-ben/340359 "2006-01-17T14:48:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2006, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-ben/340359/1 "2006-01-17T14:48:14Z")
Today is the 300th birthday of one of the patron saints of the Dope, Ben Franklin. **throws confetti** Happy Birthday, Ben! ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2006, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-ben/340359/2 "2006-01-17T14:53:00Z")
Heh, my SO was named after him. Happy Birthday, Ben! ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2006, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-ben/340359/3 "2006-01-17T15:00:27Z")
Wish “The First American” a happy birthday by downing a pint of _Poor Richard’s Ale_ today! It is roughly based on colonial beer recipes. "September 2005— two award-winning brewers with ancestral ties to Benjamin Franklin joined with the Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary Commission and others to select a recipe for Poor Richard’s Ale—a beer for Americans nationwide to hoist in January 2006 to celebrate. " Breweries all over the country are brewing this beer, you can find the one closest to you at this webpage: [http://www.beertown.org/events/pra/sites.aspx](http://www.beertown.org/events/pra/sites.aspx) ---
**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2006, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-ben/340359/4 "2006-01-17T16:45:45Z")
I shall find the little stuffed Ben figure that I purchased at the Ben Museum in Philadelphia and honor it with a cold beverage this evening! ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2006, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-ben/340359/5 "2006-01-17T16:55:42Z")
> [@Mr Bus Guy](#): > > I shall find the little stuffed Ben figure that I purchased at the Ben Museum in Philadelphia and honor it with a cold beverage this evening! Which museum – the Franklin Institute? ---
**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2006, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-ben/340359/6 "2006-01-17T17:06:38Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > Which museum – the Franklin Institute? In Franklin Court - that sound right? I believe it was the site of the original post office. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2006, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-ben/340359/7 "2006-01-17T17:22:54Z")
> [@Mr Bus Guy](#): > > In Franklin Court - that sound right? I believe it was the site of the original post office. Ah, that one. I always take people to see Franklin’s house (which I love) when we’re doing the “highlights of Philly” tour, but have only actually been in the museum there once. ---
**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2006, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-ben/340359/8 "2006-01-17T17:30:33Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > Ah, that one. I always take people to see Franklin’s house (which I love) when we’re doing the “highlights of Philly” tour, but have only actually been in the museum there once. I love that historic old area, but unfortunately since the dipwad BIL moved my sister and the kids out to near Denver, I have little excuse to go back in the near future. Last time I was in town, there was a Cuban place on 2nd or 3rd that I’d kill to go back to once more. The Ben doll is about Beanie Baby-sized, and he has this funny grin on his face. He sat on the monitor before we moved and I just found him in a box last week. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2006, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-ben/340359/9 "2006-01-17T17:37:03Z")
> [@Mr Bus Guy](#): > > Last time I was in town, there was a Cuban place on 2nd or 3rd that I’d kill to go back to once more. It’s still there. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2006, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-ben/340359/10 "2006-01-17T17:44:00Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > It’s still there. 😉 Make a reservation, I’ll be out Friday! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2006, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-ben/340359/11 "2006-01-17T20:04:31Z")
Until 11:59 p.m. Eastern Standard Time today, you can participate in an [esperiment sponsored by the Franklin Institute](http://sln.fi.edu/flip/index.html) (which is, understandably enough, closed to honor the tercentenary of Ben’s birth). I just did the experiment and got 7 heads in 10 flips. Although I used a Lincoln cent as per the suggestion, I’d have tossed a [Franklin half dollar](http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&c2coff=1&q=Franklin+half+dollar&btnG=Search&sa=N&tab=wi) had I had any lying around my apartment. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2006, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-ben/340359/12 "2006-01-17T20:31:07Z")
I used a dime because that was what I had in my coinpurse. 8 heads, 2 tails. ---
**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2006, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-ben/340359/13 "2006-01-17T20:37:45Z")
7 heads, 3 tails. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2006, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-ben/340359/14 "2006-01-17T21:46:35Z")
Thanks, Mr. Franklin, to you and yours for making dissent respectable and giving liberty a fighting chance. Even if some of your nation’s children have chosen to forget that. :: stares severely at newspaper headlines :: ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2006, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-ben/340359/15 "2006-01-17T21:54:14Z")
I salute Ben Franklin. My favorite Political figure of all time. Jim ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2006, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-ben/340359/16 "2006-01-17T22:48:03Z")
Was he really born on 17 January? Or did he have to change his date of birth when the calendar reforms took place in the 1750s?