Benjamin Franklin's Treatise on Flatulence

  Benjamin Franklin, that noted statesman from Philadelphia and signer of the Declaration of Independence, was a man of many talents and interests.  Among his many accomplishments outside of his role in the Continental Congress was the publishing of Poor Richard's Almanac, the establishment of the Postal Service, as well as the invention of bi-focal eyeglasses, and of the odometer to tell how far wagons (and later, automobiles) had traveled, the invention of the lightening rod, the invention of the household iron furnace (now known as the Franklin Stove), swimming fins, and the invention of an unusual musical instrument called the glass armonica (by which Amadeus Mozart was particularly impressed), and the production of numerous aids for the disabled, including an extension arm to grab things out of reach and the first flexible urinary catheter.

While Franklin was undoubetdly in possession of great mental faculties, and even though he had long-standing friendships with many scientists, statesmen, and philosophers, he held a quarrelsome attitude toward established academia.  He was particularly unimpressed with the academic socities of Europe, which he considered to be pretentious, and to produce little to benefit the common man by their works. 

It was in 1781, while serving abroad as United States Ambassador to France, that Benjamin Franklin expressed his displeasure with The Royal Academy of Brussels in a very colorful way.  The Academy had endorsed a "Prize Question" among its membership to produce a mathematical equation of staggering complexity, emphasizing that the winning contributor had to illustrate the UTILITY of his equation.  Franklin, seeing no practical use for a hypothetical equation produced by a top scholar over the course of an entire year, playfully suggested that the intellectuals' mental abilities might be better applied to flatulence.

3 Spirits That Should Haunt Your Liquor Cabinet

Penn 1681, Bluecoat, and Vieux Carré Absinthe...
Yes, real ABSINTHE is legal again!

Its no secret that the southeast corner of Pennsylvania has a lot to offer those who enjoy fine beverages in moderation.  Great beer from America's oldest brewery, Yuengling in Pottsville, as well as micro-brews from numerous sources, such as Weyerbacher in Easton, Victory in Downingtown, and Tröegs in Harrisburg, vie to satisfy the thirst of a region that already boasts over 50 local wineries.  Now the connoisseur may satisfy his or her jaded palette with a choice of three distilled beverages produced in this same area by Philadelphia Distilling.  

Roadside America, Shartlesville, Pa

What lies within this building, located just off exit 23 of Route I-78 in Shartlesville, is the product of the lifelong obsessions of one man.

Scale model of the Highland Hotel

At the turn of the last century, a young Laurence Gieringer, age 5,  gazed out his bedroom window at what appeared to him as a miniature building atop Neversink Mountain, near Reading, Pa.









One fateful night the youngster crept out of his home into the darkness, convinced that the Highland Hotel was actually a doll house with twinkling lights inside.  Quickly he became lost in the woods, and was not found until the next day by frantic searchers.

A Ghost Town in the Making - Centralia, Pa

The neighboring town of Ashland
is what Centralia used to look like.

Main Street, Centralia, Pa was once
the heart of a bustling small town.

Downtown Centralia was once home to over 2,000 residents, several churches, 2 theaters, several stores, a bank, and a post office, but little remains today.  Centralia Borough was created in 1866 as a coal mining town, and the local coal mines were the largest employer for most of the town's history.  However, what gave life to the town would also be its undoing.  In 1962 the town council had made the decision to reduce the waste in one of its landfills by burning it when the weather and wind conditions would be favorable.  So it was in May of that year that members of the volunteer fire department set the trash alight, as they had done in previous years.  Unfortunately, this particular landfill was located in an abandoned strip mining pit, and the fire spread to an exposed vein of coal.

Centralia, Pa, as seen from the air

An attempt was made to contain the fire by digging a large trench around it and filling it with water.  Residents think this idea would have worked, if only the town had authorized weekend and holiday pay.  It was on Memorial Day weekend that the fire escaped from  the nearly completed trench while the workers were home with their families.  Had they worked through the holiday the town may have been saved.

One of the last homes left standing
was once part of a large row of houses.

The town reached national attention in 1981 when 12 year old Todd Domboski was nearly swallowed by the Earth in his back yard.  He had been playing with an older cousin when the ground collapsed beneath his feet, leaving him clinging to the lawn while his lower body hung precariously over a sink hole over 100 feet deep.  Quick aid by his cousin saved his life, for had the fall not killed him, the lethal levels of carbon monoxide at the bottom of the pit surely would have.

The Smoking Highway, Centralia, Pa

The old Pa Route 61, just south of Centralia, has suffered from the coal fire that has burned beneath the town since 1962.  Having been repaired several times, and still deteriorating at an alarming rate, nearly one mile of it was finally closed in 1993, the state installed earthen berms at either end, and traffic was rerouted to a new road to the west of the original highway.   The old road was left intact, however, and is now a popular place to explore.

Disclaimer: It is not the intent of StrangePA, its creators or contributers to encourage or recommend the exploration of any grounds under which an active mine fire is burning, or to which gasses, smoke, steam, or any combination thereof may at any time be vented. We do not assert that such activities are in any way safe, and cannot be held responsible for damages resulting from dangerous gasses, heat, fire, or sudden collapse of ground, or any other incident which may occur in such areas.
 

The original Route 61 is behind an earthen berm
while the detour created in 1993 is to the left.





Abandoned Building, Route 61, Centralia, Pa

Along Route 61, just south of Centralia, Pa is an abandoned building easily accessible from the roadway.  Its original purpose remains a mystery to most explorers, but speculation includes a machine shop, a wash house, or convenience store, or perhaps it was the gas station that played a pivotal role in bringing seriousness the Centralia mine fire to the attention of the townspeople.  In 1979 Mayor John Coddington, who was also as a gas station owner, inserted a rod into one of his underground tanks of gasoline to measure the level remaining.  To his suprise the measuring rod became quite warm, so he then inserted a thermometer and discovered that his gasoline had been heated to 172 °F (77.8 °C) by the coal vein fires burning deep below the town.  Whatever it once was, its now an interesting example of nature slowly taking back what man has left behind.

London calling...

*Actual bears may not be pink or bipedal.
*² Bears tend to eat their shopping companions.

 



A friend of mine sent me this image of an advertisement poster in a London subway car some time ago.  It refers to the process by which out-of-state visitors can recoup the sales tax on their purchases by submitting various paperwork after their trip, and features Pennsylvania's famous pink, bipedal* bears... whom, it must be noted, simply adore a weekend at the outlet malls*² in Reading or the Poconos.