Mark Twain Quotes

Mark Twain Stache; the new sexy-selfie.

I went to Kauai, Hawaii when my daughter was three months old. I panicked as my maternity leave was coming to an end, and figured a tropical island getaway would calm anxieties about going back to work.
At an outdoor restaurant I ordered fish and chips, and to my surprise, it came with a side dish of food poisoning, so I spent the rest of the day barfing. On that day, we drove to Waimea Canyon. After looking at the canyon, I went back to the rental car and curled up in the back seat.
Later that night, I read the Waimea Canyon pamphlet, where I learned Mark Twain saw the canyon and called Waimea Canyon "the Grand Canyon of the Pacific."
I folded the pamphlet, dropped it to the floor, uttering, "Fucking, Mark Twain."
When I lived in San Francisco as a kid, my dad used to ask, "You know what Mark Twain says about San Francisco?"
And then my brothers, sisters and I would say in unison, with a knowing and annoyed tone, "The coldest winter I ever spent, was a summer in San Francisco!"
My dad, oblivious to our tone, would say proudly, "That's right, kids."
Mark Twain quotes are a dime a dozen, and I imagine his life was spent circling the globe, writing quotes. Maybe Mark Twain has so many quotes because it was the beginning of mass printing and distribution. Or, maybe Twain is the most the insightful person who ever lived.
Ben Franklin also has a line of credits a mile long, but in addition to quotes, he's credited with research and inventions. I once heard a scientist on the radio talking about a Ben Franklin project where the ocean water temperature was recorded frequently on a voyage across the Atlantic, and this led way to Ben Franklin being credited with first charting the gulf stream.
I thought, "Wow, Ben really racked up a list of relevant historical attributes." I likened him to Bill Gates, and The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which provides grants for loads of research and inventions that are going to be revolutionary in our future. Bill Gates will be the Ben Franklin of the future. His name will be stamped on the waterless toilet, sustainable food, and clean energy.
His interests and foundation fund all the work, and therefore will be given all the credit for the work. I think it's totally cool Bill will be the figurehead of a transition in history, but can't help thinking it might chap some scientists' hides that their name will vanish from the evolving documentation.
When history books are being written in a hundred years, just as they are written now, an editor will have to be the chopping block of credit. They'll say, "We only have two hundred pages to describe this 50 year chunk of period, so Joe Schmoe and Jane Duggard, will have to go, just keep Gates. He paid their salaries, after all."
Since it's all a matter of recognition, and were much better off with the work, he might not be the source of inception, but he is certainly the source of vision, so let Bill Gates be the Ben Franklin. There really can only be one. Steve Jobs can be the Mark Twain of this time, Mr. Quotes.