The truth behind the death of James Garfield, America's 20th President

It was the morning of July 2, 1881 when James Garfield was passing through the Baltimore and Potomac train station located just outside of Washington, D.C. Garfield was waiting on a train that would take him up to Massachusetts. Garfield's personal agenda was quickly changed in the train station's waiting room where a man named Charles Guiteau approached the president from behind with a 45 caliber English "Bull Dog" revovler. Guiteau shot Garfield from behind twice; one shot grazed his arm whereas the other stuck in his back.

The first doctor on the scene was Dr. Smith Townsend. Townsend saw the 3.5 inch wound in Garfield's back and did what he could to try to remove the bullet. Townsend was not the last doctor to assess the president. The more that doctors prodded and poked the president to remove the wound, the larger it got. It evenually opened up to be 20 inches!

In 1881, sterilization was not a widely known concept. Doctors had not used gloves or clean medical devices to check up on Garfield. A doctor named D.W. Bliss looked for the bullet. So did the surgeon general of the army and the navy. Nobody seemed to be able to find the bullet. Alexander Graham Bell, the inventer of the early telephone, hooked up a new metal detecting device to Garfield to find the area of the bullet. After Bell thought that he found the bullet's location, surgeons opened up Garfield even further and couldn't find it. It turns out that Bell's metal detecting device was actually detecting the metal springs under Garfield's bed.

Unfortunately, the truth behind the bullet's location was never discovered until the president had passed away. The cause of death is most likely due to an infection after a nick in the president's liver and blood poisoning due to the lodging of the bullet. The bullet was found post- mortem. It was actually lodged in his vertebrae.

After 2 1/2 months of suffering, James Garfield died on September 19, 1881. From this date forward, America's 21st president Chester A. Arthur was sworn in to office. The killer, Charles Guiteau, was charged with capital murder.

His motive was to kill the president for supposedly ruining the grand old Republican Party. There was some evidence to the idea that Guiteau was insane. Guiteau claimed that he was divinely inspired to kill the president. This evidence did not convince the judge to pardon Guiteau from murder. Guiteau attempted to get a pardon from Chester A. Arthur but that too failed. On June 30, 1882, Guiteau walked up to the scaffold and was hanged. Unfortunately, this was not the last president assassination our country has experienced.







http://www.awesomestories.com/biography/charles_guiteau/charles_guiteau_ch1.htm

Awesome stories: Beethoven's Crazy Hair Is an Insight to His Character

In a time when men wore powdered wigs and their physical appearance was an indicator of status, Ludwig Von Beethoven was notorious for dressing unkempt and having a disheveled hairdo. Beethoven was often misunderstood by people he was in everyday contact with. As much as people did not understand Beethoven's fits of temper or willingness to exile himself, Beethoven did not understand the people around him due to his hearing impairment.

Beethoven's hearing impairment was so bad that in the later stages of his life, he would have people write down what they wanted to say to him on paper. This is how historians found out so much about Beethoven's life...primary sources of conversation. The problem is that historians have to use the context of the conversation on paper to determine what Beethoven may have said, because despite his hearing, he could speak well.

After so many years being burdened by deafness, Beethoven wrote a document called the Heiligenstadt Testament that proclaimed to his brothers Carl and Johann how uneasy Beethoven felt with such a hearing condition. He told the brothers that after his death, they should recognize that it was not Beethoven's attitude and mindset that caused him to be misunderstood as much as it was his physical dilemma. He also offered his brothers to be heirs of his possessions.

When the famous composer passed away in 1847, people were eager to snip locks of Beethoven's untamed hair for keepsake. A young composer named Ferdinand Hiller snipped the lock shown here from Beethoven's head and put it in a locket. The locket was passed down to his son Paul and is thought to have made its way to America from Vienna by a Jewish family escaping the Holocaust.

In 1994, Sotheby's auction house sold the lock of hair for $7,300 in America. The owners wanted to establish a Beethoven Center at San Jose State University. They also wanted to do a DNA analysis of Beethoven's hair to learn key things about him. As it turns out, this is only known lock that still remains.

The result of the DNA analysis was that Beethoven's hair had traces of lead that were 100 times the amount that a normal person has. Beethoven had a form of lead poisoning known as "Plumbism" that surely contributed to his abdominal pain and depression. Symptoms of lead poisoning in general include hearing problems, kideny damage, irritability, headaches, and abdominal pain, all of which Beethoven experienced.

http://www.lifespan.org/adam/healthillustratedencyclopedia/1/002473.html

http://www.awesomestories.com/biography/beethoven/beethoven_ch1.htm

How to make Miami University a better campus:

Hey all,

I have thought long and hard about how to make our campus a better place. You may be thinking, "Hey, why are you posting this here instead of being proactive?" Well, I've talked to our Miami University student body president and one who is running for president next term and I hope that they will incorporate my ideas into their term.

Anyways, I write this to prove how easy it is to think of ideas that may better a college community. These ideas that I have are ways to make life more enjoyable while living at college. These ideas will hopefully inspire you, the reader, to think of ways to improve your community, whether it is at college, in the neighborhood, or at work.

My first idea is to replace sugary vending machine drinks with healthier alternatives. The vending machines in academic buildings and dormitories are usually limited to soda, a sport drink, a sugary fruit drink (not juice), and water. I feel that there should be another alternative to these already available beverages. One such drink that I purchased is Everfresh cranberry juice. This cranberry juice has its ingredients listed as: water and high fructose corn syrup as the two main ingredients. The sugar content for this drink is 54 grams. I know this is much less than the sugar content of an average non-diet soda, which is usually 2.5 servings for a 12 ounce bottle (2.5 times the sugar already labeled). Anyways, a great alternative would be an organic juice or a fruit juice that has a high fruit content. Such drinks exist, however, and they may be more expensive that soda or other drinks. However, I support the freedom of choice and I feel that this will benefit everyone on campus who could have access to this change.

My second idea is to have our student center food court called Haines Food Court accept student meals electronically on meal plan cards from the hours of 11am to 12:30pm. This time is specifically allotted for teachers who want to eat on campus at a dining location less crowded with students. I get the concept. Furthermore, I forgot to include that there is a market and small pastry eatery open that takes meal plans, however the pastry eatery has mostly junk and pre-packaged food and the market has the same, except it does have salads and pre-made wraps. However, Haines serves hot food and has a variety of hot food selections. I feel that students would eat a better lunch if they were able to use their meal plan cards at the student center, which is located near the art building, the center for performing arts building, and Shideler Hall, Irvin Hall, Kreager Hall, and Bachelor Hall. Students would benefit from this change.

My third idea would be to have our student activities group called "Afterdark" throw more free broomball and ice skating nights at the Goggin Ice Arena on Friday and Saturday evenings. Broomball is a game that is played on a small ice arena with regular tennis shoes or special foam-soled broomball shoes. The player carries a lacrosse-shaft stick with a rubber trapezoid on the bottom end to smack a ball into a hockey goal. Anyways, the game is tons of fun and is a Miami University tradition. I feel that having a free broomball and ice skating night once a month or so would give students something extra to do on the weekends instead of drinking alcohol. I feel like it would be a great attempt for our school to act on the alcohol board's positive reinforcement to counter alcohol abuse on Miami's campus.

I hope you think about how you can change your community and how you can act on your ideas.

Why do bad things happen to good people?

A life long question to ponder is the question, "Why do bad things happen to good people?" Perhaps a theological question moreso than a philosophical question, I rhetorically ask this to you, the reader.

The theological argument is that there is a higher intelligent power that gives us limited free will. We have limited free will because the intelligent power knows what will happen to us and knows the choices we will make, therefore the argument is that we only have free will in our own minds. A rabbai once told me that a book titled Why Do Bad Things Happend to Good People discusses that bad things happen for a reason. A such example is that a person may be born blind. Seeing is something that people take for granted. If a blind person could gain their vision back for one million dollars, then chances are the money is not an issue. Furthermore, things happen for a reason and there is supposed to be something to gain from the experience. For instance, a blind person can share his or her experiences with others. That person can even support others who are blind by teaching them how to function in society. So again, things happen for a reason but there is something for an affected person or outside persons to gain.

The philosophical argument is that aside from the idea of a higher intelligent power. Perhaps this idea is more agnostic. The idea is that things happen for a reason, and there is nothing to learn from. Whatever happens, just so happens.

Personally, I'm not sure which is the correct belief. I know that I'm having a difficult time dealing with a death in the family.

My father's 2nd cousin is a man named Gary Michael. Gary just passed away. He had cerebral palsy, a developmental disorder. He was confined to a wheelchair his entire life. Gary had formal education and was a bright guy, which you would know if you were to have a conversation with him. Gary was just dealt a horrible hand of life. He has been moved from institution to institution where people care for him. There are some fabulous people in the service industry who help incapacitated people, however, there are some awful people as well. Gary has been abused before, and therefore, he has been to a few institutions.

I went to visit Gary this winter break with my father and brother. I haven't seen Gary for 7 years since. It surely was a good deed to visit him. I felt happy to connect with him again and I know for sure that he was happy that we came out to visit him. The first thing we did was pick him up some food on the road from a grocery store deli. This food, for sure, is much more appetizing than the institution food that they serve.

Upon our visit, we took a small tour of Gary's hall and met his neighbors, who were equally dealt bad hands in life. One man named Rodney suffered from seizures and had complications with medicine that prevents them. He ended up getting sucha bad seizure that he had to have a front piece of his brain removed. Now he has a bad short-term memory. He said, "God bless you," to me while I was walking in the hallway and I said, "Likewise," and began to talk with him. I could tell that not many people do, and for stopping to take the time to talk with him, I made his day. I told him about a movie called Memento that I've recently seen where the character has no short term memory and has to write down notes on small pieces of paper. Rodney lit up and said that he does that too. My brother and father were snickering behind him because they know that he would probably forget the name of the movie that I just told him.

Anyways, back to Gary, he had a terrible cough and when my dad was feeding him, sometimes he'd be wheezing to the point where his face would turn red and he would not be able to take down all his food without fruit juice to wash the food down. We commented about his coughing, yet he said that he was taking medicine to quell his respiratory ailments. Ok, we thought. However, that same cough was the works of a type of pneumonia which caused him to pass away.

During our visit, Gary wanted some money to buy snacks from the vending machines. I had some money in my wallet, so I bought him the danish he wanted and the two cans of fruit juice. I'd buy him anything he wanted to make him happy. I even bought a woman I didn't know a bag of pretzels who asked for them. I gave Gary the remaining 8 single dollars in my wallet apart from a $5 bill I keep in case of emergencies. It seemed like all this guy wanted were a few snacks here or there. I feel like I want more than that in life, and I have such higher priorities than these simple requests. However, these simple requests are what made him happy.

The things to think about are that my family and I did a good deed to visit him before he passed away. Second, could we have spoken up more to have his ailment checked out by a physician as opposed to assuming that medicine that he was taking could solve all his problems? Third, we fed Gary his last meal.

So I leave it up to you to decide why good things happen to bad people. Maybe you have a similar experience or a similar yearning for the answer to the question. There are other explanations to the question that I haven't listed above and I write this to you to think about because it is a great discussion topic. For me, it provokes me to think about my personal beliefs in answering this question. What do you think?

My New Idea: Who wants to be my venture capitalist?

To whom this may concern:

Venture Capitalist Wanted.
Who doesn't like Chinese buffets? They are slopped up by thousands of Americans who love second chances in life. In this case, I talk about a second helping of chicken lo mein. The genius behind Chinese buffets to an owner is that customers file quickly in and out and reservations don't need to be dealt with because the restaurants are typically first come, first serve. People pay a large, yet reasonable amount of money for the amount of food they have at their disposal. They sometimes pay a higher price for quality, but that is not always the case depending on how the restaurant is run and the food is prepared.

Well, a great idea would be to take the traditional method of serving cultural Chinese food, yet put a spin on the quality and type of food so that it is kosher food prepared in a kosher kitchen.

So with that said, I'm confident that buffet style kosher Chinese food restaurants are not readily available to people in urban, suburban, or on college campuses. If they were available, people would be willing to buy kosher food because it fulfills religious preferences and is a more humane way to slaughter animals.

In truth, there is a need for more kosher restaurants in American. This concept of a kosher Chinese buffes is a great one because people who normally keep kosher like variety in their food. The kosher Chinese buffet restaurants offer exotic dishes for people with a finer palate who seek a more diverse food selection. If observant Jews do not prepare food at their house, then they would like the option to let someone else do the cooking for them with certified kosher food.

The restaurant doesn't just apply to observant individuals. People who like traditional Chinese buffets would be missing out on seafood that doesn't have both scales and fins, including shell fish, however anyone can eat at a kosher Chinese buffet because the food is of great quality and people can help themselves to multiple servings. Due to the quality of the food, the price may be slightly higher for a meal in a kosher Chinese food buffet, however people would hopefully appreciate quality and care that is put into the food and also appreciate to know that they really are eating chicken.

Martin Luther King, Bada Bing!

SO, Martin Luther King Day People.

A day to sleep in because you don't have class or a day to wake up and go to class because you were to drunk or high off of your ass to remember that Martin Luther King, Jr. day is a national holiday started in 1986. Still don't believe me, then check out this site www.martinlutherking.org.

Anyways, MLK day for me... I was proactive! Moreso than the acne festering on your face. I woke up at 8:45 and walked to a local cafe where I literally thought would be hipsters in black jeans and a black turtle neck and red beanie jamming on two lap drums with black round glasses and next to him or her a steaming latte. I couldn't have been more wrong than our country's claim to weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Anyways, I went to Koffenya for the first time. I have been known to ask waiters/waitresses and cashiers what their favorite thing on the menu partially because I have high expectations for a good order, I'm indecisive, and I'm almost always satisfied with what I get except for if there's a hair in my food or if the dish has some form of seafood. The cashier told me a chai tea was good, and I said, "How exotic!" The problem was that I had $3, or enough money to make 3 solid phone calls (.99 cents???) An extremely nice lady next to me thought that I was a cunning young lad (or she pittied me) and gave me an extra $2 to afford anything on the menu. My mommy taught me manners so I tactfully thanked her. I chose a medium chai. I had a warm fuzzy feeling in my tummy, kind of like when I got my first balloon hat from Macaroni the Clown. After she generously donated money to my green experience, needless to say on MLK day, I sat down and sipped the hell out of my chai tea like a city slum wino does brown bag booze. I then walked to uptown park where the magic began.

Uptown park has an outdoor stage where the event was held. I didn't yet mention that the skies were grayer than your grandpa Archibald and it was raining "cats and dogs," although I had a hard time finding those creatures. Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity kicked off the memorial and March of an audacious man with a self-evident dream. There were other guest speakers and chorus singers to lighten the mood of an asthetically dreary day, and they did a good job says the boss. The crowd and I pledged our promise to non-violence and acceptance of others and the march began.

It was like leading a herd of cattle to water, let me tell you. People flocked to the town streets with reckless abandon. Today, on our national holiday, we also nationally jay walk. We marched around our small campus, walking past several stationed choruses, until our destined Episcopalian Church. Here, there were small foods, including miniature quiches, Oooh La La! I met many prominent people on campus and people I knew going back to Freshman year. I was even able to recall names! That's my sporadic mind at work. The ceremony was well done, including gospel singing in the church, which is not my area of expertise. I took part in the singing, as did the basketball players I was sitting next to. We sang a song about once being slaves and now being free. I could tell by the looks of peoples faces and the quiet talk that it was a sore subject now turned into a joke by some people, including African Americans! Also, the community gave out two awards to two white people who have advanced diversity acceptance, however I have to say that it is odd that there wasn't an African American who accepted at least one of the two awards. However, I'm sure that the recipients deserved the honor that they received.

Overall, I feel like I am glad that I had the opportunity to be a part of the Oxford community in recognizing a historical man and his daring preaches. Thanks to you, MLK for standing up for what you believe in and showing us all that we can make a difference as individuals. Power to the people! (not a supremacist remark, but a sincere motivational one).