On the Value of Electricity to Finance Ministers

"Uses of electricity are among the applications of physics that have most clearly served mankind throughout modern history. When, in the early 19^th century, the British physicist Faraday made his first hesitant experiments involving electricity during his public demonstrations, one of those watching was Gladstone, at that time Chancellor of the Exchequer. When he asked if the experiment could lead to any practical benefits Faraday's immediate answer was "One day you will be able to tax it". Few findings can have pleased as many ministers of finance through the ages as those related to the movements of electrons."

-From the Presentation Speech for the 2007 Nobel Price in Physics by Professor Professor Börje Johansson, Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Member of the Nobel Committee in Physics, 10 December 2006.
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/2007/presentation-speech.html

December 6, 1997

Ten years ago today a Minnesotan had a visit with President Clinton in the White House:

"On the morning of Saturday, December 6, Ms. Lewinsky went to the White House to deliver the letter and gifts to the President. The gifts included a sterling silver antique cigar holder, a tie, a mug, a "Hugs and Kisses" box, and an antique book about Theodore Roosevelt.(721) Ms. Lewinsky planned to leave the parcel with Ms. Currie, who had told Ms. Lewinsky that the President would be busy with his lawyers and unable to see her.(722)

Ms. Lewinsky arrived at the White House at approximately 10:00 a.m. She told the Secret Service uniformed officers at the Northwest Gate that she had gifts to drop off for the President, but that Ms. Currie did not know she was coming.(723) Ms. Lewinsky and the officers made several calls in an attempt to locate Ms. Currie.(724) The officers eventually invited Ms. Lewinsky inside the guard booth.(725) When Ms. Currie learned that Ms. Lewinsky was at the Northwest Gate, she sent word that the President "already had a guest in the [O]val," so the officers should have Ms. Lewinsky wait there for about 40 minutes.(726)

While Ms. Lewinsky was waiting, one officer mentioned that Eleanor Mondale was in the White House.(727) Ms. Lewinsky correctly surmised that the President was meeting with Ms. Mondale, rather than his lawyers, and she was "livid."(728) She stormed away, called and berated Ms. Currie from a pay phone, and then returned to her Watergate apartment.(729)

Hands shaking and almost crying, Ms. Currie informed several Secret Service officers that the President was "irate" that someone had disclosed to Ms. Lewinsky whom he was meeting with.(730) Ms. Currie told Sergeant Keith Williams, a supervisory uniformed Secret Service Officer, that if he "didn't find out what was going on, someone could be fired."(731) She also told Captain Jeffrey Purdie, the Secret Service watch commander for the uniformed division at the time, that the President was "so upset he wants somebody fired over this."(732)"

Source: The Starr Report http://www.gooddocuments.com/icreport/dec5181997_m.htm
Hat tip to James Taranto
http://www.opinionjournal.com/best/?id=110010953