Ben & Verse Links

HOW NEVER TO HATE THIS PAGE (too much)
Ben&Verse may blithely travel on  automatic pilot for years -- as the lovely links it lists sever and the websites die.  So what do you do?  You go to your old, old friend the Britannica (www.britannica.com). Enter a subject into its search box, choose the "Websites" results category - and  wah-lah!  Those sites on "Benjamin Franklin", "American Revolution"  or whatever, come out ranked by quality. Now, you may need to compensate a bit for their juvenile bias, but that's a small price. At the time of writing (May 2003), this service of Britannica was free.

(NOTE - Links from this page open in a separate browser window. After clicking a link, you may have to select that window from the Windows Taskbar [or equivalent] to view the site).
 

FRANKLIN HIMSELF

THE ELECTRIC FRANKLIN: BEN'S BEST LINK PAGE EVER
http://www.ushistory.org/franklin
PULEEZ GO THERE FIRST.  Diverse, authoritative, and fun, it includes BEN'S BEST WEBSITE, it's by  LEO LEMAY (there you can read Franklin's works and a knock-out comment).   There's also the companion to the PBS extravaganza on Ben - plus many oddball  surprises.  YOU MAY NEVER NEED TO COME BACK HERE (but please do anyway!).

FRANKLIN AT YALE. 
www.yale.edu/franklinpapers
Check the "online catalogue" for summaries of the  on-going series of more than three-dozen volumes, providing an excellent  biographical resume.  
 

FRANKLIN'S BEST FRIENDS

FRIENDS OF FRANKLIN
www.friendsoffranklin.org
Franklin fans from all over the earth!  Gang up to celebrate Ben's spirit and learning with tours, events, and on-line news.

THE HISTORY BEN HELPED SHAPE

INDEPENDENCE DAY! 
www.interesting.com/links/FourthofJuly/
Celebrate with flags, T-shirts, and, yep, flag-T-shirts;  patriotic posters and pins; catalogs and coins; and revolutionary exhibits on  line.  It also includes music, a movie, and even biography.  This website's  called "interesting."  They got that right.

LOCAL COLOR OF WARFARE
http://www.ushistory.org/links/index.htm#rev
A varied page, full of interest for those not  so interested in history - including forts, and frigates, and fascinating locales.

POWER HOUSE OF THE PAST
http://revolution.h-net.msu.edu/
An awe-inspiring assemblage of  documents, maps, images, course outlines, and educational sites. 

HISTORY IN YOUR POCKET
www.constitution.org/cs_found.htm
The papers of the Founding Father's in pocket book form.  Also, find out what inspired them and what they have inspired.   See the Athenian constitution and the Franklin Institute's archives on Ben. 

DOCUMENT HEAVEN
www.archives.gov
The National Archives is the basic national repository  of documents, providing a biography of America.  One fun example: search  "Treaty of Paris" to see B. Franklin's signature. 

THE FUTURE THAT BEN’S SPIRIT IS SHAPING

THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE ONLINE
www.fi.edu
Here those with truly youthful (that is, experimental) approaches can visit and explore.

WORDS, WORDS, WORDS

LITERARY LINGO! 
http://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/lit_terms/
An alphabetical list of literary terms (from allegory and aphorism to verisimilitude and verse) defined and explained, with examples -- and very often -- links, as well.

APHORISMS GALORE! 
http://www.aphorismsgalore.com
A rich, very well chosen collection, easily searched by author and broad subject. 

YE OLDE ENGLISH SAYINGS
http://www.goodwords.com/sayings/
It shows the odd origins of a number of familiar expressions.  It's interactive, with an excellent list of links.

EDUCATORS AND STUDENTS

NOT JUST FOR ENGLISH TEACHERS
www. webenglishteacher.com
A delight for lovers of English, with resources for many other subjects, and
fun with puzzles, lessons (K-12), and jokes. A winner of many awards.

NOT "SECONDARY" AT ALL
www.secondaryenglish.com
For language arts teachers in secondary schools. Includes young adult novel reviews, articles, and opportunities for publication.

MENTORING ON THE INTERNET
www.tnellen.comcyberenglog.html
See the latest advances in “CyberEnglish.” That's a mentoring method that helps make a potential writer an effective publisher on the Internet. Watch for humor: a syllabus on the web gets called a “syllaweb.”

FREE RESOURCES FOR LEARNING ENGLISH ONLINE
www.english-daily.com
Free exercises, idioms, common abbreviations, slang, proverbs and more.

TIME TO TELL 'EM OFF
www.deannamiller.com
A liberating experience for students facing bullies – and also life’s larger questions, by the author of the award-winning fantasy, Skybounce.

ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE (ESL)

ESL...PLUS
www.usingenglish.com
Lots of ESL resources for teachers and learners -- including educational pictures. Other features include a grammar glossary for any English teacher.

FUN AND WORK WITH ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE (ESL)
www.tesol.net
Teachers and students learn here to find penpals, teaching materials, activities, and jobs.

ESL MONTHLY FOR TEACHERS
http://iteslj.org
Journal with lesson plans, handouts, research, and ideas.
 

QUOTATIONS
(these sites have biographies & bibliographies, as well)

HANDY ...
www.giga-usa.com/gigaweb1/quotes2/quautfranklinbenjaminx001.htm
I asked for Ben and got somewhere around 50 quotations (one quite  lengthy) all in one list, easily printed out.  This site, based on 45,000  quotations, has outstanding links, including numerous Federal gold mines.

EXTENSIVE...
www.bartleby.com
I asked for Ben and got 80 quotations for a delightful read.   However, each quotation required a separate printing.  This "Great Books" site  draws on three sources, including "Bartlett's" for 86,000 quotations.  Click  Reference, then Quotations.

A BUFFET

FOR MORE OR LESS EVERYTHING 
www.wikipedia.com
The free encyclopedia with articles, written (and ruthlessly edited) by volunteers. 

GOT A QUESTION?
www.answers.com
Get the answer based on scores of encyclopedias and dictionaries.  

A LITERATE BLOGGER
www.nofear.org
“The fact is reality has nothing to do with the truth,” say our ironist, a blogger-in-chief of many elegant resources. (And see the clerihews.)

SPOOKY?
www.sacklunch.net
Covers (among many other topics – and from a wholly different perspective) the SAME subjects you’ll see on both sides of “Ben and Verse.”

John McCall
2003