TIL: Today I Learned

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aimee, I am sad to learn that you are not a follower of Humon.
 
They can offset it in their books as being far cheaper than actually putting up advertisements.
 
Today I learned that straining during defecation can lead to prolapsed rectum (e.g. pooping out your own intestines). That's a relief to know.
 
TIL the composer of the score for Halt and Catch Fire, Paul Haslinger, was a member of Tangerine Dream from '85 to '90.
 
Actually it just says that you cannot print or edit scanned pictures if they have an embedded digital watermark. Somebody had just watched the Lethal Weapon films when they designed that.
 
Today I learned that mixing all the drinks from a soda fountain into one cup is called a Suicide Soda.
 
Recently I learned that a loose group of Los Angeles session musicians known as The Wrecking Crew played on thousands of sessions, including hundreds of top-40 hits.
 
TIL that ethical veganism is a "philosophical belief" and so is protected in UK law, a tribunal has ruled for the first time.

Ethical veganism is a "philosophical belief" and so is protected in law, a tribunal has ruled for the first time.
The landmark legal case was brought by vegan Jordi Casamitjana, who claims he was sacked by the League Against Cruel Sports because of his ethical veganism.
His former employer says he was dismissed for gross misconduct.
The judge ruled that ethical vegans should be entitled to similar legal protections in British workplaces as those who hold religious beliefs.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-50981359
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TIL that the guy who shot President Garfield was a complete nutter.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_James_A._Garfield

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_J._Guiteau
Guiteau became something of a media sensation during his entire trial for his bizarre behavior, which included his frequently cursing and insulting the judge, most of the witnesses, the prosecution, and even his defense team, as well as formatting his testimony in epic poems which he recited at length, and soliciting legal advice from random spectators in the audience via passed notes. He dictated an autobiography to the New York Herald, ending it with a personal ad for "a nice Christian lady under 30 years of age". He was oblivious to the American public's hatred of him, even after he was almost assassinated twice himself. He frequently smiled and waved at spectators and reporters in and out of the courtroom.

Guiteau sent a letter in which he argued that Arthur should set him free because he had just increased Arthur's salary by making him president.[41] At one point, Guiteau argued before Cox that Garfield was killed not by the bullets but by medical malpractice ("The doctors killed Garfield, I just shot him").[42] Throughout the trial and up until his execution, Guiteau was housed at St. Elizabeths Hospital in the southeastern quadrant of Washington, D.C. While in prison and awaiting execution, Guiteau wrote a defense of the assassination he had committed and an account of his own trial, which was published as The Truth and the Removal.

To the end, Guiteau was making plans to start a lecture tour after his perceived imminent release and to run for president himself in 1884, while at the same time continuing to delight in the media circus surrounding his trial. He was found guilty on January 25, 1882.[43] After the guilty verdict was read, Guiteau stepped forward, despite his lawyers' efforts to tell him to be quiet, and yelled at the jury saying "You are all low, consummate jackasses!" plus a further stream of curses and obscenities before he was taken away by guards to his cell to await execution. Guiteau appealed his conviction, but his appeal was rejected.

Twenty-nine days before his execution, Guiteau composed a lengthy poem asserting that God had commanded him to kill Garfield to prevent Secretary James G. Blaine’s "scheming" to war with Chile and Peru. Guiteau also claimed in the poem that Vice President Chester A. Arthur knew the assassination had saved the United States and that Arthur's refusal to pardon him was the "basest ingratitude". Guiteau also (incorrectly) presumed that now-President Arthur would pressure the Supreme Court into hearing his court appeal.[44] He was hanged on June 30, 1882, in the District of Columbia, just two days before the first anniversary of the shooting.[45]


A drawing of the jail where Guiteau was confined after his arrest.
While being led to his execution, Guiteau was said to have continued to smile and wave at spectators and reporters. He notoriously danced his way to the gallows and shook hands with his executioner. On the scaffold, as a last request, he recited a poem called "I am Going to the Lordy", which he had written during his incarceration. He had originally requested an orchestra to play as he sang his poem, but this request was denied.[46]

After he finished reading his poem, a black hood was placed over the smiling Guiteau's head and moments later the gallows trapdoor was sprung, the rope breaking his neck instantly with the fall.[47] Guiteau's body was not returned to his family, as they were unable to afford a private funeral, but was instead autopsied and buried in a corner of the jailyard.[47] Upon his autopsy it was discovered that Guiteau had the condition known as phimosis, an inability to retract the foreskin, which at the time was thought to have caused the insanity that led him to assassinate Garfield.[48]

With tiny pieces of the hanging rope already being sold as souvenirs to a fascinated public, rumors immediately began to swirl that jail guards planned to dig up Guiteau's corpse to meet demands of this burgeoning new market.[47] Fearing scandal, the decision was made to disinter the corpse.[49] The body was sent to the National Museum of Health and Medicine in Maryland, which preserved Guiteau's brain as well as his enlarged spleen discovered at autopsy and bleached the skeleton. These were placed in storage by the museum.[49] Parts of Guiteau's brain remain on display in a jar at the Mütter Museum in Philadelphia.[6]
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"I'm going to the Lordy", yikes.
 
The_J said:
The phimosis supposedly caused his insanity?
I'm devided between finding this utterly crazy and very reasonable.
Click to expand...

Looks like I used the wrong adjective for the guy heh.

If you want to know more about the assassination, there is a good episode of it on Amazon Prime streaming called American Experience.
I forget which episode number it is.
 
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