Today I learned...

[Rath Darkblade]

Today I learned that Helen Keller got her eyes removed in 1911 for cosmetic reasons, because apparently her left eye was bulging out slightly and it ruined the 'magnificent beauty' of her face so out both eyes went and she wore glass eyes for the rest of her life.

That ... sounds like Helen Keller was suffering from a lack of perspective. (Yes, literally too ... sigh).

Today I was reading a book of royal anecdotes and learned a few funny ones.

At one point, King Edward VII of England was being conducted around HMS Victory. His guide drew his attention to a plaque on the deck and said: "This is where Nelson fell, Your Majesty."

"I'm not surprised," replied the King, "I nearly tripped over the damn thing myself."

Edward VII was a stickler for a precise dress code. Once, when an admiral's daughter arrived at a party with a dress once inch above her ankles, he commented, "I'm sorry, I'm afraid you must have made a mistake. This is a dinner, not a tennis party."

Edward's successor, George V, became king in 1910. In 1935 (a year before his death), he met the author John Buchan and told him, "I don't get much time for reading, but when I do I enjoy your books, The Thirty-Nine Steps and so on. Now before you go, the Queen would like to have a word with you." Buchan soon met with Queen Mary who told him, "The King does not get much time for reading, but when he does, I'm afraid he reads the most awful rubbish."

Jumping back to the 18th century for a bit: George II was no fan of English literature. He once asked: "Who is this Pope that I hear so much about? I cannot discover his merit. Why will my subjects not write in prose! I hear a great deal of Shakespeare, too, but I cannot read him; he is such a bombast fellow."

 

[Link the Writer]

In 1409, the young prince Henry (future Henry V) had an arrow to the face in the Battel of Shrewsbury fighting a rebel army led by Harry 'Hotspur' Percy. John Bradmore, a renown English surgeon wad tasked to pull the thing out to save the young man's life, so he designed the Bradmore screw to get in there to get the arrowhead out. Keep in mind, this was a prince, so if Bradmore failed and the prince died? Well... he'd be FUBAR'd. Didn't help he was accused of counterfeiting coins to purchase or sell surgical equipment. Though pardoned by Richard II in 1386, this was a king who had been overthrown by Henry Bolingbroke (Henry IV) in 1399 who was known to be extremely paranoid. So yeah, by 1409 with the prince's life in his hands? Poor Bradmore must've been sweating bullets... er... arrows.

The TL;DR:

- John Bradmore was accused of counterfeit.
- Was pardoned by Richard II in 1386.
- Richard II overthrown by Henry IV in 1399.
- Battle of Shrewsbury in 1409. Prince Henry used to be an adventurer like you, but then he took an arrow to the face.
- John Bradmore has to save this prince's life.
- I don't think Henry IV would've cared about the pardon enacted by the recently deposed king if the boy died in Bradmore's care.

He also wrote lengthy treatises about surgeries he partook in or was consulted in and they came to be known as Philomena.

This is likely the tool he would've used. Yeesh, imagine that going into your face... That poor, poor prince. And keep in mind, this was before chloroform or any other anesthesia, so yes, he would've felt it.

 

[Naomasa298]

Edward Bulwar-Lytton, the man who wrote the opening line "It was a dark and stormy night" also came up with the phrases "the almighty dollar" and "the pen is mightier than the sword" (amongst others).

 

[Rath Darkblade]

In 1409, the young prince Henry (future Henry V) had an arrow to the face in the Battel of Shrewsbury fighting a rebel army led by Harry 'Hotspur' Percy. John Bradmore, a renown English surgeon wad tasked to pull the thing out to save the young man's life, so he designed the Bradmore screw to get in there to get the arrowhead out. Keep in mind, this was a prince, so if Bradmore failed and the prince died? Well... he'd be FUBAR'd. Didn't help he was accused of counterfeiting coins to purchase or sell surgical equipment. Though pardoned by Richard II in 1386, this was a king who had been overthrown by Henry Bolingbroke (Henry IV) in 1399 who was known to be extremely paranoid. So yeah, by 1409 with the prince's life in his hands? Poor Bradmore must've been sweating bullets... er... arrows.

The TL;DR:

- John Bradmore was accused of counterfeit.
- Was pardoned by Richard II in 1386.
- Richard II overthrown by Henry IV in 1399.
- Battle of Shrewsbury in 1409. Prince Henry used to be an adventurer like you, but then he took an arrow to the face.
- John Bradmore has to save this prince's life.
- I don't think Henry IV would've cared about the pardon enacted by the recently deposed king if the boy died in Bradmore's care.

He also wrote lengthy treatises about surgeries he partook in or was consulted in and they came to be known as Philomena.

This is likely the tool he would've used. Yeesh, imagine that going into your face... That poor, poor prince. And keep in mind, this was before chloroform or any other anesthesia, so yes, he would've felt it.

View attachment 595

Ack. Yep, I've heard of this ... and yes, the early 1400s were a brutal time (as was any time marked by prolonged warfare).

But it's not quite right to say there was no form of anesthesia. From the wiki-article on the history of general anesthesia:

Throughout 1200 to 1500 AD in England, a potion called dwale was used as an anesthetic. This alcohol-based mixture contained bile, opium, lettuce, bryony, henbane, hemlock, and vinegar.

Surgeons roused their patients by rubbing vinegar and salt on their cheekbones. One can find records of dwale in numerous literary sources, including Shakespeare's Hamlet, and the John Keats poem "Ode to a Nightingale".

In the 13th century, we have the first prescription of the "spongia soporifica"—a sponge soaked in the juices of unripe mulberry, flax, mandragora leaves, ivy, lettuce seeds, lapathum, and hemlock with hyoscyamus. After treatment and/or storage, the sponge could be heated and the vapors inhaled with anesthetic effect.

The same article also tells me (in the section on Antiquity) that general anaesthetics were developed as long ago as either 4,000 BC (ethanol) or 3,400 BC (opium), both in Sumeria. Needless to say, the evidence is disputed, so I'm taking this with a large grain of salt.

However, poppies and their efficacy were definitely known to the ancient Greeks, as the gods Hypnos (Sleep), Nyx (Night), and Thanatos (Death) were often depicted holding poppies. (Why would they be depicted that way if the Greeks weren't aware?)

The ancient Egyptians had some surgical instruments, as well as crude analgesics and sedatives, including possibly an extract prepared from the mandrake fruit.

Further, before the introduction of opium to ancient India and China, these civilizations pioneered the use of cannabis incense and aconitum. The Sushruta Samhita (a text from the Indian subcontinent on Ayurvedic medicine and surgery, c. 400 BC) advocates the use of wine with incense of cannabis for anesthesia. (By the 8th century AD, Arab traders had brought opium to India and China).

 

[CatrionaGrace]

In the fourteenth century, they used monotone readings of Chaucer for anesthesia.

 

[Iain Aschendale]

Hybristophilia is the phenomenon characterized by sexual interest in and attraction to those who commit crimes.

 

[DLC]

which reminded me of Canada's greatest ever book - Bear (novel) - Wikipedia

 

[Rath Darkblade]

Hybristophilia is the phenomenon characterized by sexual interest in and attraction to those who commit crimes.

Hmm. In ancient Rome, many women (especially those of a high social standing, like senators' wives) were attracted to, and even fantasized about, gladiators.

So, given that people became gladiators because they committed crimes (e.g. petty thievery, defaulting on a debt, or just being on the wrong side of a country that picked a war with Rome) ... would the aforementioned women be hybristophiliacs?

 

[Rath Darkblade]

which reminded me of Canada's greatest ever book - Bear (novel) - Wikipedia

OK. I watched the entire thing, and now I have to ask: what the ever-loving ****???

Obviously I'm in the wrong market. Instead of writing historical fiction (where mythology/fantasy plays a small role), I should be writing fantasy porn, market it to BookTokers, make a gazillion dollars, retire to a little island with lax tax codes and no extradition treaty, and drink piña coladas 'til my liver waves the white flag. ;-P

Sure, it's not going to happen. But wouldn't it be fun if it did? ;-)

 

[Louanne Learning]

Hybristophilia is the phenomenon characterized by sexual interest in and attraction to those who commit crimes.

From what I understand, it's most commonly observed in females, and risk-taking is often associated with masculinity

 

[Louanne Learning]

risk-taking

here's some interesting data - "health risk-taking" increases up to age 30, but "anti-social risk-taking" peaks at ages 16-20, then drops off

 

[Rath Darkblade]

Today, I learned about the Phoebus cartel. For those who haven't heard of it (or forgotten about it), this was a collection of large corporations who banded together in 1925 to increase their own profits by limiting the lifespan of the humble light-bulb, thus forcing customers to buy light-bulbs more frequently. This was an early example of planned obsolescence.

What, cynical? Me? Perish the thought.

 

[Link the Writer]

So apparently the ditty 'the coward who shot Master Howard' is about the murder of Jessie James on April 3, 1882. Bob Ford, wanting to collect the $10,000 bounty, waited until the outlaw (living under the alias Thomas Howard) was unarmed and had his guard down (the man was standing on a chair, back turned to Bob, adjusting a picture) then BLAM!!

And know what's worse? There were other people in the house. Jessie's family. His own wife. His own kids. Who had no idea of his outlaw past, only that some guy walked in and shot their 'poor Thomas'/'daddy' in the head.

No one liked what Bob did, hence the folk rhyme: the dirty little coward who shot Master Howard, and laid poor Jessie in the grave.

Alas, Robert Ford was a complete moron and instead of taking the bounty (which he only got a portion of) and going to the east coast, or hell, Europe where literally no one had a clue who Jesse James was, he dicks around the general region for a decade before someone else decides to kill him in retaliation.

 

[Naomasa298]

Today I learned that the reason we drive on the left, in those countries that do, derives from horseback fighting. Driving on the left means oncoming traffic is on your right-hand side. When duelling or fighting, your sword or lance is held in your right hand, so it's not going across your body towards your oncoming opponent if they're on your right-hand side.

 

[Rad Scribbler]

Today I learned:

The $100,000 bill is the highest denomination ever issued by the U.S. Federal Government. Printed in 1934, it was not intended for general use, but instead was used as an accounting device between branches of the Federal Reserve. It is illegal for a private individual to own this banknote.

100,000 Dollars, Gold Certificate, United States, 1934

The $100,000 bill is the highest denomination ever issued by the U.S. Federal Government. Printed in 1934, it was not intended for general use, but instead…

americanhistory.si.edu

 

[Naomasa298]

Today I learned:

The $100,000 bill is the highest denomination ever issued by the U.S. Federal Government. Printed in 1934, it was not intended for general use, but instead was used as an accounting device between branches of the Federal Reserve. It is illegal for a private individual to own this banknote.

100,000 Dollars, Gold Certificate, United States, 1934

The $100,000 bill is the highest denomination ever issued by the U.S. Federal Government. Printed in 1934, it was not intended for general use, but instead…

americanhistory.si.edu

Canada and Australia have gone 10 better, they both have $1million CAD and AUD bullion coins.

Big Maple Leaf - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Louanne Learning]

Today I learned that Marie Curie was excluded from the French Academy of Sciences in January 1911, probably for reasons related to her gender and religion. In the aftermath, Albert Einstein wrote her a letter:

Prague, November 23, 1911

Dear Madame Curie,

Do not laugh at me for writing to you without anything sensible to say.

But I am so indignant at the vile way in which the public dares to deal with you that I feel the need to vent this anger. I am sure, however, that you deeply despise this mass, both when it fawns over you with servile respect and when it seeks to satiate its thirst for scandal!

I want to tell you how much I admire your intellect, your determination and your honesty, and how fortunate I consider myself to have met you in person in Brussels. Anyone who is not one of these "reptiles" is surely happy, today as in the past, to have among us people like you and Langevin, genuine individuals with whom it is a privilege to come into contact.

If this rabble continues to concern itself with you, simply do not read that nonsense: leave it to the reptiles for whom it was created.

With warmest regards to you, Langevin and Perrin,

Yours most devotedly,

A. Einstein
I love this pic of Einstein with Curie:

 

[Rath Darkblade]

Canada and Australia have gone 10 better, they both have $1million CAD and AUD bullion coins.

Big Maple Leaf - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Do you have a link to the Aussie $1 million dollar coin? I'm curious now. I googled it, and the closest I can find is a ten-shilling banknote from 1913 ... which is only worth $1 million because of its rarity and good condition.

Today I learned that Marie Curie was excluded from the French Academy of Sciences in January 1911, probably for reasons related to her gender and religion. In the aftermath, Albert Einstein wrote her a letter:

Prague, November 23, 1911

Dear Madame Curie,

Do not laugh at me for writing to you without anything sensible to say.

But I am so indignant at the vile way in which the public dares to deal with you that I feel the need to vent this anger. I am sure, however, that you deeply despise this mass, both when it fawns over you with servile respect and when it seeks to satiate its thirst for scandal!

I want to tell you how much I admire your intellect, your determination and your honesty, and how fortunate I consider myself to have met you in person in Brussels. Anyone who is not one of these "reptiles" is surely happy, today as in the past, to have among us people like you and Langevin, genuine individuals with whom it is a privilege to come into contact.

If this rabble continues to concern itself with you, simply do not read that nonsense: leave it to the reptiles for whom it was created.

With warmest regards to you, Langevin and Perrin,

Yours most devotedly,

A. Einstein
I love this pic of Einstein with Curie:

View attachment 636

I am not surprised. I'm reading (slowly, one chapter at a time) a book about scientists behaving badly, or making bad judgments.

Madame Curie was certainly snubbed by the Nobel committee because of her sex -- the committee wanted to award the prize to Becquerel and Pierre Curie -- but M. Curie was a man ahead of his time, and insisted that his wife be honoured too.

As for Einstein ... he may have been a genius, but his letters make it clear that he was almost certainly not faithful to either of his partners. On the plus side, he definitely called out racism in America when he saw it; he walked through the black side of town, gave charity to African-American children, and opened his own house to African-Americans when no-one else would take them.

His own experience of being racially discriminated against (definitely in France and Germany) probably helped to colour his views. The Communists named him a "bourgeois accomplice of the Imperialist West", and the Nazis wanted to hang him. (He left Germany for good partly because the Nazis put out a poster with his face on it, above the legend "NOT YET HANGED"). Lovely. On top of that, he wasn't allowed to be a professor in Germany ... but in America, Ivy League Universities allowed a total of 5 Jewish students, 2 Irish-American students, and no women or African-Americans. (Why do you think Richard Feynman, say, or Jonas Salk never went to an Ivy League university like Yale? Because, depressingly, his parents had the nerve to be Jewish).

In summary, Einstein left one country with utterly racist policies and arrived at another country with almost utterly racist policies. Slight improvement, I guess...?

 

[Naomasa298]

Do you have a link to the Aussie $1 million dollar coin? I'm curious now. I googled it, and the closest I can find is a ten-shilling banknote from 1913 ... which is only worth $1 million because of its rarity and good condition.

Look at the Big Maple Leaf article. It mentions it, apparently, it's called the Big Gold Nugget and has a link, although it's not a dedicated article.

Its face value is AUD$1 million, but it's worth a lot more because it literally weighs a tonne.

 

[JT Woody]

Today YOU ALL learned that October 22 is International Stuttering Awareness Day (ISAD)
Some good articles on their website from speech/language/psychology research to peoples personal experiences around the world.