Did you catch it before you started the back cut or did the saw tell you something was off? I did the same thing on a maple last year and now I always stand back and point at which way I want it to go before I even fire up the saw.

Yeah the stem is the whole test, squishy brown means rot and firm green means it's just old age. One yellow leaf at the bottom every few months is the plant doing its normal thing, people just panic because it's the leaf they can see. If the stem's solid you can pretty much ignore it and let it fall off on its own.

Step one is just rinse the rice until the water runs clear and then use the right water ratio, and people skip both because they think it doesn't matter. It totally matters. Too much water and you get mush, not enough and you get crunchy rice, and the cooker can't fix either one after the fact. It just sits there doing its job while you blame it for your mistakes. The pot isn't mad at you, it's just disappointed.