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10 Uses For Lightning That Ben Franklin Never Guessed

io9.com — It can power a time machine, steal Superman's strength and even help Zack Morris graduate high school. Oh, lightning – is there anything you can't do? Long before nuclear energy and genetic engineering joined the team, lightning reigned as the top catch-all explanation for the funky phenomenon of the week. (Includes videos)

Who dugg this? Made popular Dec 1, 2008

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  • supersonicjim, on 12/01/2008, -3/+181.21 Jigawatts!
  • lizzie24601, on 11/30/2008, -3/+17Yeah, didn't you hear? Ben Franklin was actually Zeus.
  • deadapostle, on 12/01/2008, -0/+12They pulled this list off of the lightning entry on wikipedia under "Pop culture references"
  • JoeF8577, on 12/01/2008, -1/+11Dugg Up becuase you are correct, he only harnessed it.

    Dugg Down becuase no where in the explanation or the article does it say that Franklin invented lighting.
  • Tenlow, on 12/01/2008, -1/+10Jigga what?
  • Dumbledorito, on 12/01/2008, -0/+8Weeding out the overly-conductive from the golfing community?
  • MCA2142, on 12/01/2008, -1/+7Nowhere in the article does it say that Ben Franklin "invented" lightning.
  • inactive, on 12/01/2008, -1/+6Mmmmmmmmm, jigawatts
  • hmalhi93, on 12/01/2008, -0/+5He woulda been pretty creepy if he guessed some of that stuff.
  • maximilen, on 12/01/2008, -0/+3Buried. Tesla was Zeus. Ben was Dionysus
  • JeddHampton, on 12/01/2008, -0/+3"In English the initial g of giga is usually pronounced /g/ (with a hard g as in giggle) but is sometimes pronounced /dʒ/ (with a soft g as in giant).

    This latter pronunciation was formalized within the United States in the 1960s and 1980s with the issue by the US National Bureau of Standards of pronunciation guides for the metric prefixes.[1] A prominent example is found in the pronunciation of gigawatts in the 1985 movie Back to the Future.

    According to the American writer Kevin Self, a German committee member of the International Electrotechnical Commission proposed giga- as a prefix for 109 in the 1920s, drawing on a verse by the humorous poet Christian Morgenstern that appeared in the third (1908) edition of Galgenlieder (Gallows Songs). This suggests that a hard German [g] was originally intended as the pronunciation. Self was unable to ascertain at what point the alternative pronunciation came into occasional use, but as of 1995 it had died out.[2]"

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giga
  • browwiw, on 12/01/2008, -0/+3They forgot the one where getting hit by lightening gives you psychic abilities.
  • T8erT0T, on 12/01/2008, -0/+311. Be used as topic material in a ***** list to attract web traffic.
    Actually, that was found in an old journal of his.
  • jonclaude, on 12/01/2008, -0/+3When this baby hits 88 miles per hour, you're gonna see some serious *****
  • ryannerd, on 12/01/2008, -0/+3What about the film Powder?
  • ZER0JACK, on 12/01/2008, -4/+6Jigawatts.
  • lex0nyc, on 12/01/2008, -0/+2Pancakes, baby!
  • mushtakrakish, on 12/01/2008, -0/+2force lightning.
  • earlvanze, on 12/01/2008, -0/+2That's what she said.
  • lex0nyc, on 12/01/2008, -0/+2I thought he was an antonymous collective?
  • tr909, on 12/01/2008, -1/+3agreed, it's Gigawatts. Doc Brown just mispronounced it. It's not like giga-anything was talked about much in '85.

  • ChileanGoD, on 12/01/2008, -0/+2Unreal Tournament's lightning gun.
    http://www.unreal-info.net/ut2004/images/lightning ...
  • CaviMike, on 12/01/2008, -2/+4Have you even SEEN Back to the Future?
  • ChinezePanda, on 12/01/2008, -0/+2I was going to say time travel then I saw the picture.

    Damn you digg!

    Or shoudl I say....

    "Great Scott!!!!"
  • lizzie24601, on 12/01/2008, -0/+1Dude, if any Doctor Who entirely merits hating, it's "Daleks in Manhattan."
  • ripter, on 12/01/2008, -0/+1Bury for Dr. Who hate.
  • Slog, on 12/01/2008, -1/+2Articles bashing Doctor Who are in no way digg-worthy.
  • ametitul, on 12/01/2008, -1/+2nice topic :)) this can make some people curious and read it
  • Dumbledorito, on 12/01/2008, -2/+2Or lets you channel electricity, allowing you to pursue your creepy "Mrs. Robinson" fantasy with your boss' wife... at least until Mulder and Scully show up. But it serves you right for electrocuting Jack Black.
  • vilebender, on 12/02/2008, -0/+0"Ben Franklin was a rebel indeed, he liked to get naked while he smoked on the weed!"
  • bodhibay, on 12/01/2008, -1/+1No *****?
  • inactive, on 12/01/2008, -7/+6Gigawatts.
  • Godsreflex, on 12/01/2008, -8/+3fu***** lame
  • bodhibay, on 11/30/2008, -15/+9Because Franklin invented lightning?
  • korrea301, on 12/01/2008, -9/+2How about to capturing to power your home?

    http://www.homeimprovementcorner.com
  • pstroll, on 12/01/2008, -18/+5HEY EVERYONE!!! ANOTHER STUPID TOP 10 LIST ON DIGG!!!!!11

    EVER WONDER WHAT A MEDIOCRE HACK MIGHT CONCEIVE ABOUT BEN FRANKLIN ?! WELL DIGG WILL LINK YOU THE ANSWERS!

    TOP 10 SUBSTITUTES FOR TOILET PAPER
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