What did you learn today TIL

[ObiDongKenobi]

Today I learned that on or about May 25, 2025 I will become a great-grandfather. The projected due date coincides with my granddaughter's 26th birthday.

No mention of a wedding being planned, at least that I have heard. (Okay boomer!  🤦‍♂️)

It's been a while since we had a baby in the family, circa 2005.

Many congratulations, PS.

[Mike3854]

ȚIL Costco (COST) sells about 200 million $1.50 hot dogs a year, more than all of the Major League Baseball stadiums in North America combined.

I am not a Costco guy. I'm a Sam's Club guy. One of my staples is their Roasted Chickens. I was told by a worker they sell 950 million chickens each year. Mind boggling.
If I could just get out of the store without grabbing a piece of pizza from the deli every time I go I'd probably weigh 20 pounds less.

[MissBarbara]

More boring historical anecdotes from Miss Barbara!

The U.S. vice president is often described as being "a heartbeat away from the presidency." But the vice president isn't necessarily the only office-holder who could be "a heartbeat away from the presidency." In fact, one man was "a heartbeat away from the presidency" twice, and in two separate positions. And he's someone virtually no one knows today.

Here's what happened:

In 1850, President Zachary Taylor died in office, and he was succeeded by his vice president, Millard Fillmore. Since that occurred more than a century before the 25th Amendment was ratified, at that point, if the vice president's chair was empty, due to the vice president either dying on office or succeeding to the presidency, it remained empty until the end of the term. At that point, the Presidential Line of Succession extended from the vice president to the President Pro Tempore of the Senate and then to the Speaker of the House. In July 1850, when Taylor died and Fillmore succeeded him, the President Pro Tempore of the Senate was William King, and he was "a heartbeat away from the presidency."

Fast forward 2 years, and in 1852, the Democrats chose Franklin Pierce as their presidential candidate, and William King as the vice presidential candidate. Pierce won the election in a near-landslide, and Pierce became president and King vice president. At that point, King was again  "a heartbeat away from the presidency."

Unfortunately, King's story has a sad ending. When King was selected the vice presidential nominee at the Democratic convention in June 1852, he was already suffering from tuberculosis, which was then an incurable disease. In fact, on Inauguration Day on March 4, 1953, King wasn't even in the country, since he was down in Cuba where the warm climate was more favorable to his disease. As a result, Congress passed a resolution to allow him to be sworn in while in Cuba, and he remains the only vice president who was sworn in on foreign soil. King returned to the U.S. in late March, and he died from his disease on April 18, 1853, serving as vice president for only 44 days. Pierce ended up serving without a vice president for close to an entire term.

Bonus Anecdote Within an Anecdote!

While Pierce served all but 44 days of his term without a vice president, that wasn't the longest a president served without a vice president. In 1841, President William Harrison died only 30 days after he was inaugurated, and his successor, John Tyler, served all but 30 days of his term without a vice president.

Extra Special Bonus Anecdote Within an Anecdote Within an Anecdote!

I described William King as "someone virtually no one knows today." He is known, in some circles, as President James Buchanan's gay lover. King and Buchanan were very close friends, and they shared a home for 13 years, from 1840, when King and Buchanan were both serving in the Senate, until King's death.

Personally, I find the claims of their gay relationship to be spurious. It was not unusual at the time for fellow members of Congress to share quarters, nor was it unusual for two men to have a close, intimate friendship that remained Platonic. King was a very fastidious man, including his dress, comportment, and they way he kept his home, and while that is a modern-day stereotype of a gay man, it's certainly not an indication that King -- or Buchanan -- were gay, or lovers. Nor is the fact that Buchanan remained a bachelor throughout his life.

Last night I masturbated using an anal vibrator and a crop ton of lube. Everything was very slippery down there, and I had an absolute magnificent orgasm. 

Okay, I only added that last part to see if anyone actually read this far.

[Writers Bloque]

More boring historical anecdotes from Miss Barbara!

The U.S. vice president is often described as being "a heartbeat away from the presidency." But the vice president isn't necessarily the only office-holder who could be "a heartbeat away from the presidency." In fact, one man was "a heartbeat away from the presidency" twice, and in two separate positions. And he's someone virtually no one knows today.

Here's what happened:

In 1850, President Zachary Taylor died in office, and he was succeeded by his vice president, Millard Fillmore. Since that occurred more than a century before the 25th Amendment was ratified, at that point, if the vice president's chair was empty, due to the vice president either dying on office or succeeding to the presidency, it remained empty until the end of the term. At that point, the Presidential Line of Succession extended from the vice president to the President Pro Tempore of the Senate and then to the Speaker of the House. In July 1850, when Taylor died and Fillmore succeeded him, the President Pro Tempore of the Senate was William King, and he was "a heartbeat away from the presidency."

Fast forward 2 years, and in 1852, the Democrats chose Franklin Pierce as their presidential candidate, and William King as the vice presidential candidate. Pierce won the election in a near-landslide, and Pierce became president and King vice president. At that point, King was again  "a heartbeat away from the presidency."

Unfortunately, King's story has a sad ending. When King was selected the vice presidential nominee at the Democratic convention in June 1852, he was already suffering from tuberculosis, which was then an incurable disease. In fact, on Inauguration Day on March 4, 1953, King wasn't even in the country, since he was down in Cuba where the warm climate was more favorable to his disease. As a result, Congress passed a resolution to allow him to be sworn in while in Cuba, and he remains the only vice president who was sworn in on foreign soil. King returned to the U.S. in late March, and he died from his disease on April 18, 1853, serving as vice president for only 44 days. Pierce ended up serving without a vice president for close to an entire term.

Bonus Anecdote Within an Anecdote!

While Pierce served all but 44 days of his term without a vice president, that wasn't the longest a president served without a vice president. In 1841, President William Harrison died only 30 days after he was inaugurated, and his successor, John Tyler, served all but 30 days of his term without a vice president.

Extra Special Bonus Anecdote Within an Anecdote Within an Anecdote!

I described William King as "someone virtually no one knows today." He is known, in some circles, as President James Buchanan's gay lover. King and Buchanan were very close friends, and they shared a home for 13 years, from 1840, when King and Buchanan were both serving in the Senate, until King's death.

Personally, I find the claims of their gay relationship to be spurious. It was not unusual at the time for fellow members of Congress to share quarters, nor was it unusual for two men to have a close, intimate friendship that remained Platonic. King was a very fastidious man, including his dress, comportment, and they way he kept his home, and while that is a modern-day stereotype of a gay man, it's certainly not an indication that King -- or Buchanan -- were gay, or lovers. Nor is the fact that Buchanan remained a bachelor throughout his life.

Last night I masturbated using an anal vibrator and a crop ton of lube. Everything was very slippery down there, and I had an absolute magnificent orgasm. 

Okay, I only added that last part to see if anyone actually read this far.

Hear! Hear!, MissBarbara is sharing some interesting facts. Thought the anal masturbation is a funny red herring. Thank you for sharing!

[MintJulie]

Okay, I only added that last part to see if anyone actually read this far.

I am not a historian, but I knew most of that.  Maybe from posts over the last 8 years of knowing you. I love your history lessons. 
I read it all and enjoyed it, especially that last paragraph. 

[Pornhubby]

Okay, I only added that last part to see if anyone actually read this far.

  and woo.

[purpleshoes]

Last night I masturbated using an anal vibrator and a crop ton of lube. Everything was very slippery down there, and I had an absolute magnificent orgasm. 

Okay, I only added that last part to see if anyone actually read this far.

Hang on, I thought I was through laughing, but I need another minute. 

Okay, first of all, you've never posted an historic tidbit that wasn't informative and fascinating.  👍

Second, you get kudos for knowing that the word Platonic is supposed to be capitalized. Like so many brand names (Kleenex and Styrofoam for example) the word is most often used so generically that you rarely see it written as a proper name. 👏

Last, but certainly not least, it's good to know your sex toys are working properly and being put to good use. 😉

[Shiela_M]

Okay, I only added that last part to see if anyone actually read this far.

If every one of my classes during school added tidbits like that every now and again, I'd have been a straight A student.

Also, even though you said you only added it to see who read that far, I'm also noting that you never said it wasn't true... nasty! I Love It!😘

[Writers Bloque]

Okay, I only added that last part to see if anyone actually read this far.

If every one of my classes during school added tidbits like that every now and again, I'd have been a straight A student.

Also, even though you said you only added it to see who read that far, I'm also noting that you never said it wasn't true... nasty! I Love It!😘

That's why MissB is epic. She pulls it off well, leaving us mystified and wondering. I bet she could outdo most romance novel authors with it.

[Mike3854]

Interesting post. Thank you s much for the history lesson.
I agree Sheila, teachers utilizing different ways to hold your attention is important. This method is extra special.
My education from back in the 70s and 80s is a bit rusty. Correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't the highlight of a story called the climax? The term makes sense in this case.

[Raceway]

I began watching the Tattooist of Auschwitz TV series and gave up after three episodes. I tried reading the book on which the series is based and likewise gave up after a few pages.

What caught my eye in the TV series was the red triangle worn by one of the prisoners. I thought red = criminal. I was wrong:

• Red: Political prisoners (incl. Freemasons)
• Green: Criminals
• Blue: Foreign forced labourers
• Yellow: Jews
• Purple: Jehovah's Witnesses
• Pink: Homosexuals and pedophiles
• Black: Roma and Sinti ("Asoziales")

I don't see any consistent pattern in the choice of colours, but red might have been associated with communists, and yellow with "Jude" patches. I've no idea why Jehovah's Witnesses were assigned purple. The pink = homosexual association persisted after the War.

Another thing I learned was "Sinti" = gypsy, and "Asoziales" also included vagrants, prostitutes, drug addicts, pacifists, mental patients, and lesbians.

I visited Auschwitz (Oświęcim) in the mid-sixties and was surprised to see rows of solid brick buildings. Here's a photo I took at the time.



What I didn't know until later was that the part open to visitors is Phase I of the camp, built to house political prisoners (mostly Polish) and POWs (mostly Russian). The endless rows of wooden huts, the gas chambers, and the crematoria came later.

[Dudester]

I began watching the Tattooist of Auschwitz TV series and gave up after three episodes. I tried reading the book on which the series is based and likewise gave up after a few pages.

What I didn't know until later was that the part open to visitors is Phase I of the camp, built to house political prisoners (mostly Polish) and POWs (mostly Russian). The endless rows of wooden huts, the gas chambers, and the crematoria came later.

I began being a bookworm in third grade when we were taken to the public library and received our library cards. Over the next few years I developed a deep interest in World War Two, more specifically, the Pacific theater and more specific than that-ships. Although I was aware of the European theater of operations, I paid little interest because I was becoming aware of a millennia of squabbling between nations and endless wars because some king or ruler wanted more land, or to nurse a particular grudge.

It was in junior high that the holocaust came into view. I had problems then, and still do, with wanting to eradicate an entire race of people, although.....I am autistic and my skin color was a problem in a hispanic town where I was endlessly told that I wasn't wanted, wasn't appreciated and being told that I should just leave town. I didn't understand the level of hatred directed at me and that started a fire in me (and it did start small) to be a cop that would later come to fruition, but I digress.

In high school, we were required to read "The Diary of Anne Frank." I guess that the intention of educators was to teach the stupidity of racism, but I had an issue with the length of that book (along with other required reading in high school). I would have got the gist of the story in 50 pages (the book is 268 to 368 pages, depending on the version). Yeah, the holocaust was a horrible thing and there are people burning in hell for their contribution to that horrible event. Yeah, the lessons of the holocaust should be taught and the event should never be forgotten. To the people that have visited the concentration camps, you are more actualized than I am and you have my respect.

[ObiDongKenobi]

TIL (thanks to an online word game) that all my life I have confused the uvula with the epiglottis.  Thousands of people are grateful I didn't become a doctor.

[Pornhubby]

I read Anne Frank, Elie Wiesel,  and watched the French film Night and Fog. I own a copy and showed it to my kids when they studied WWII. I have visited the National Holocaust Museum. My son went to Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen a few  summers ago.

I’m not Jewish. I would like to think I am self actualized.

I find your comments incredibly glib and inappropriate Dude. Maybe if they made you wear a “gringo star” and put you in a cage at the border, you’d realize your white privilege butt-hurt has no  absolutely no relevance to this discussion.

But don’t worry, your President has a “concept of a plan” for deportation of aliens and even naturalized citizens. Steven Miller, the Jewish Nazi, will be in charge.

I’ll take that shower now. Hopefully with water, not Zyklon-B.

[Writers Bloque]

I read Anne Frank, Elie Wiesel,  and watched the French film Night and Fog. I own a copy and showed it to my kids when they studied WWII. I have visited the National Holocaust Museum. My son went to Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen a few  summers ago.

I’m not Jewish. I would like to think I am self actualized.

I find your comments incredible glib and inappropriate Dude. Maybe if they made you wear a “gringo star” and put you in a cage at the border, you’d realize your white privilege butt-hurt has no  absolutely no relevance to this discussion.

But don’t worry, your President has a “concept of a plan” for deportation of aliens and even naturalized citizens. Steven Miller, the Jewish Nazi, will be in charge.

I’ll take that shower now. Hopefully with water, not Zyklon-B.

My parents made us watch "Schindler's List" on ABC every year it was on. No playing, joking or goofing off. My mom and dad would sit with reverence because that war showed us the depths humanity fell to.

Recent politics aside, (this is a bit of a hard subject to throw jokes about stars and National Socialist Workers Party around lightly in)

I do not think it should be taught in school. It is too heavy of a subject for kids to understand. you can give respectful outlines, but telling grade schoolers about gas chambers and how 6.4million people were heartlessly eradicated would be a terrible hill to climb and die on.

I respect both of your opinions, but comparing being a white outcast in a latin town to Nazi controlled Europe has no where near the severity of the genocide of ww2. And calling Miller a Jewish Nazi as a bit low.

I could make examples of the modern generation's "Othering" of people being just like the nazi's did to start WW2, but I wont, because it is a terrible subject where humor can barely be found.

[Pornhubby]

And calling Miller a Jewish Nazi as a bit low as.

https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/amp/rcna179816

One of the few holdovers from the early Trump days, Miller was a speechwriter and senior counselor under Trump in his first term. By the end of Trump’s term, he held tremendous sway over immigration policy and had helped purge the ranks of officials he deemed not aggressive enough in deterring border crossings. He helped shape many of the harshest immigration policies Trump implemented, including the so-called Muslim travel ban and the use of Title 42 to shut down the border entirely.

His main skill has always been taking Trump’s worst impulses about immigrants and making them almost palpable for moderate listeners. But given a title to match his ambitions and a direct line to Trump, he’ll have little to prevent him from being as extreme as he’d always hoped. Among the plans that Miller is spearheading are mass deportation camps to hold those collected in ICE workplace sweeps while being processed for expulsion and reinstating Title 42 at the border.

Aside from cracking down on undocumented immigrants, he has his sights on limiting immigration, as well. Miller has supported an end to birthright citizenship and pledged to “turbocharge” his efforts to strip naturalized citizens of their legal status. He has also prepared to end parole programs for migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Venezuela and Nicaragua and let Temporary Protected Status protections expire for more than 800,000 people.

[Writers Bloque]

And calling Miller a Jewish Nazi as a bit low as.

https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/amp/rcna179816

right, says the company facing bankruptcy. But still IDGAFF what you say or do anywhere else, but all I am saying that its not a good subject to do it in.

[Writers Bloque]

And calling Miller a Jewish Nazi as a bit low as.

https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/amp/rcna179816

One of the few holdovers from the early Trump days, Miller was a speechwriter and senior counselor under Trump in his first term. By the end of Trump’s term, he held tremendous sway over immigration policy and had helped purge the ranks of officials he deemed not aggressive enough in deterring border crossings. He helped shape many of the harshest immigration policies Trump implemented, including the so-called Muslim travel ban and the use of Title 42 to shut down the border entirely.

His main skill has always been taking Trump’s worst impulses about immigrants and making them almost palpable for moderate listeners. But given a title to match his ambitions and a direct line to Trump, he’ll have little to prevent him from being as extreme as he’d always hoped. Among the plans that Miller is spearheading are mass deportation camps to hold those collected in ICE workplace sweeps while being processed for expulsion and reinstating Title 42 at the border.

Aside from cracking down on undocumented immigrants, he has his sights on limiting immigration, as well. Miller has supported an end to birthright citizenship and pledged to “turbocharge” his efforts to strip naturalized citizens of their legal status. He has also prepared to end parole programs for migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Venezuela and Nicaragua and let Temporary Protected Status protections expire for more than 800,000 people.

right, but is there any reliable source that says he directly said any of that? or is it more scare tactic propaganda from a minority fringe group that lost a democratic and free and fair election?

[Pornhubby]

And calling Miller a Jewish Nazi as a bit low as.

https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/amp/rcna179816

right, says the company facing bankruptcy. But still IDGAFF what you say or do anywhere else, but all I am saying that its not a good subject to do it in.

Daily Mail:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14069583/amp/stephen-miller-donald-trump-advisor-deputy-chief-staff-immigration-hawk.html

New York Times:

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/11/us/politics/stephen-miller-trump.html

PBS:

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/amp/show/trump-begins-to-name-appointees-who-could-oversee-his-mass-deportation-plans

CBS:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-mass-deportation-plan-cost-consequences-60-minutes-transcript/

Miami Herald:

https://amp.miamiherald.com/news/local/immigration/article295379159.html

Just because you don’t want to read about it doesn’t make it untrue. The desire to do it.

What his uncle says about him:

The uncle of incoming White House deputy chief of staff for policy, Stephen Miller, spoke out Tuesday against the longtime Trump ally‘s hardline stance on immigration, telling The Daily Mail that it‘s a bit rich considering Miller’s family history. “More than 70 of our family who were denied entry to the US from 1925-1940, because of their ethnicity/religion, due to the xenophobia of the ‘America First’ political faction of the day, were all gassed or machine gunned by the Nazi Einsatzgruppen in WWII,” Dr. David Glosser told the outlet. Miller, an architect of Donald Trump’s controversial family separation policy who has espoused white nationalist talking points, was previously a speechwriter for Trump. In that role, Miller filled the campaign with increasingly dark rhetoric about immigrants “poisoning the blood” of the U.S. Glosser compared that language to the way Nazis justified extermination camps. “The killers‘ political masters’ rhetoric had portrayed them as being sub-human, criminal, or even demonic elements that needed to be expelled, expunged, and eventually exterminated,' the retired neuropsychologist said. “The same pattern of seeking power by exciting and exploiting racial anxieties and blaming scapegoats in times of plague, economic, or social turmoil has been a tragic element of human history since time immemorial.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/stephen-millers-uncle-trashes-his-mass-deportation-plan/

[Writers Bloque]

And calling Miller a Jewish Nazi as a bit low as.

https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/amp/rcna179816

right, says the company facing bankruptcy. But still IDGAFF what you say or do anywhere else, but all I am saying that its not a good subject to do it in.

Daily Mail:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14069583/amp/stephen-miller-donald-trump-advisor-deputy-chief-staff-immigration-hawk.html

New York Times:

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/11/us/politics/stephen-miller-trump.html

PBS:

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/amp/show/trump-begins-to-name-appointees-who-could-oversee-his-mass-deportation-plans

CBS:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-mass-deportation-plan-cost-consequences-60-minutes-transcript/

Miami Herald:

https://amp.miamiherald.com/news/local/immigration/article295379159.html

Just because you don’t want to read about it doesn’t make it untrue. The desire to do it.

What his uncle says about him:

The uncle of incoming White House deputy chief of staff for policy, Stephen Miller, spoke out Tuesday against the longtime Trump ally‘s hardline stance on immigration, telling The Daily Mail that it‘s a bit rich considering Miller’s family history. “More than 70 of our family who were denied entry to the US from 1925-1940, because of their ethnicity/religion, due to the xenophobia of the ‘America First’ political faction of the day, were all gassed or machine gunned by the Nazi Einsatzgruppen in WWII,” Dr. David Glosser told the outlet. Miller, an architect of Donald Trump’s controversial family separation policy who has espoused white nationalist talking points, was previously a speechwriter for Trump. In that role, Miller filled the campaign with increasingly dark rhetoric about immigrants “poisoning the blood” of the U.S. Glosser compared that language to the way Nazis justified extermination camps. “The killers‘ political masters’ rhetoric had portrayed them as being sub-human, criminal, or even demonic elements that needed to be expelled, expunged, and eventually exterminated,' the retired neuropsychologist said. “The same pattern of seeking power by exciting and exploiting racial anxieties and blaming scapegoats in times of plague, economic, or social turmoil has been a tragic element of human history since time immemorial.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/stephen-millers-uncle-trashes-his-mass-deportation-plan/

Never once did I say I would never read about it. Nor said it was untrue. But I am calling out the salt and butthurt of the sources of information. I find it hysterically ironic for one side to "Other" a man and his followers, comparing the man to Hitler, and his followers storm troopers, but then the majority of the country handed the evil orange man a trifecta victory. Seems slightly suspicious as to the motives of people who spent years after the man left office swinging on the man's nuts, so to speak.

But I digress, my original point is that the Holocaust is one of the subjects that should never be taken lightly. I lost family to the war, as Soldiers and Victims. All I ask is you both do not make light of it.