Weekend Open Thread

… a president had a pet hyena? Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), 26th President of the United States, was given a hyena by the Ethiopian emperor Menelik II (1844-1913). The hyena was just one of Roosevelt’s unusual pets – the feisty outdoorsman also had a one-legged rooster, a badger, and a small bear. (TR was known for his … eclectic … tastes in wildlife.)

… a lawyer once made the ultimate sacrifice in defending his client? In 1871, lawyer Clement Vallandigham (1820-1871) was defending a client in Ohio against a charge of murder, claiming the victim had actually shot himself while drawing his pistol from a pocket at the same time he was rising to a standing position. Vallandingham selected a pistol he thought was unloaded, put it in his pocket, and enacted the event as he believed it had happened. As he drew the gun from his pocket, it went off, the bullet striking Vallandingham in the stomach. Vallandingham died of his wound the next day, but the re-enactment was enough for the jury, and Vallandingham’s client was found not guilty of murder. (Perry Mason couldn’t have done a better job.)

… the greatest attendance at a college football game took place in 2016? On September 10, 2016, a total of 156,990 people attended the game between the University of Tennessee and Virginia Tech. The Volunteers beat the Hokies in the “Battle of Bristol,” 45-24. (I would’ve loved to have had the concessions income that day!)

… the original title for Maurice Sendak’s 1963 children’s book, Where the Wild Things Are, was supposed to be something else? Sendak (1928-2012) was going to call it Where the Wild Horses Are, but realized early on that he couldn’t draw a horse. At the suggestion of his editor, he changed the drawings to “things” that would be used to represent boisterous children, and a classic was born. (He wasn’t just horsing around, was he?)

… an American first lady was also a newspaper columnist? Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962), wife of the 32nd President, Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945), wrote a syndicated newspaper column titled “My Day,” in which she shared her thoughts on political and social issues. The column – which she wrote six days a week – ran from 1935, during her husband’s first term, until September 26, 1962, just six weeks before her death. By the 1960s, though, the column had become so filled with political commentary that one syndicate dropped it due to its content. (Not unlike the political columnists of today, I think.)

… the word “witch” comes from an Old English word that means “wise woman”? The original word was wicce, and at one point wiccans were highly respected people. (You respected them or they’d turn you into a newt.)

Now … you know!

Mr. No Shoulders.