A New Biography of Benjamin Franklin's Early Life | Hacker News Reader

A New Biography of Benjamin Franklin's Early Life

newcriterion.com

43 pointsevilsimon14 comments

Franklin created a daily schedule and followed the routine as per the schedule. This article explains about his daily schedule https://bigthink.com/scotty-hendricks/how-did-ben-franklin-g...

FWIW, the article also mentions that in his autobiography he goes on to explain that he was able to stick to his schedule for only a very short time before he abandoned it.

He also had thirteen virtues (http://www.ushistory.org/franklin/autobiography/page38.htm) which he cycled through week by week, concentrating particularly on one of them each week. I always figured this was a bit tongue-in-cheek, though, because his definition of "humility" is "imitate Jesus and Socrates".

Man, I really can't choose between him and Twain for Most Sarcastic American Historical Figure.

I don't know what to make of this description of Franklin.

He apparently lied about his religious upbringing, claiming a Presbyterian youth, when in fact, he'd been raised Congregationalist. Sounds like this was a bigger thing in the 1700s than it would be today, but still...

Today, Franklin would probably be a Redditor, with a side of Anonymous hacktivism.

It's interesting to think about what it'd be like if we could read the tweets or Reddit posts of historical figures from the past.

And how that would change people's impression of them, especially considering how social norms have changed.

http://freemasoninformation.com/2015/01/illustrious-brother-...

I recently attended a non-masons meeting that was hosted at a turn of the century Masonic Temple. The building itself was incredible, if not just a bit spooky. There were photos of members from the early 1900s to present day, but it was very apparent that the average age of the men in the photos has continually increased over time. In other words it looks like today only much older men continue their involvement and new member recruitment likewise skews 55+. My guess is their membership has dwindled significantly in the last 30+ years, at least in the US.

It has dwindled significantly from "the golden age" of Freemasonry which was the 1950's and 60's. That's in part because Baby Boomer men weren't joiners in their youth compared to their fathers. Their fathers had just fought WWII and wanted to continue the sense of brotherhood they found in the military.

But also, Freemasonry has always been cyclic for various reasons. It experienced a huge decrease in membership in the 1800's because of an anti-Masonic thread that was going through the country at the time (there was even a whole political party--the first third party in the US in fact--whose platform was to banish Freemasonry). This is where most of the conspiracy theories about Freemasonry come from.

It has started to cycle back a little in the past 8-10 years. I'm seeing more and more younger guys interested in joining.

Interesting. Assuming you are a mason do you find being a member useful/meaningful in 2018?

Yes, if you like the arts, sciences, mystery, and fellowship.

Very much so.

Mid-40s 32nd degree (AF&AM/AASR) here.

The average age of a mason largely depends on the area. In my particular area, the vast majority are men in their 30s and 40s, and our lodges are very healthy. Our lodges tend to focus more on the esoteric sides of Freemasonry.

In other nearby areas, we've seen lodges completely die out or merge with us, as the membership passes on.

I think that in metropolitan areas, your lodges are generally going to be more healthy and "younger" (30s-40s). If we once again experience a lull in membership, you might watch us all die out once again in a few decades :-).

Interesting. This particular lodge is in a more rural/farming area of Southern California (Santa Paula). One interesting item they had on display was a paid off mortgage note from like 1940.

The overall concept of brotherhood, networking and civic engagement at the local level is appealing to me. The Elks always seemed like an interesting organization too in that sense (they sponsored my scout troop growing up). So I'm not sure how much the esoteric side of things would appeal to me, but that's probably just because I have no idea what that entails.

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