A closer look

Founding Father Benjamin Franklin published an astrological column in his famous Poor Richard's Almanack under the pseudonym Richard Saunders, mostly to mock actual astrologers. In his very first edition, he used astrology to falsely predict the exact date of death for a rival almanac publisher, driving the poor man crazy when he had to publicly prove he was still alive. Using celestial charts for eighteenth-century petty trolling is a level of historical pettiness that deserves way more recognition in our textbooks. Franklin literally manipulated the positions of the stars just to ruin a competitor's business, proving that American entrepreneurship has always been built on elite-level hating