code: public static URI appendPathOrDie(URI base, String path) {
      try {
        return appendPath(base, path);
      } catch (URISyntaxException e) {
        throw new RuntimeException(e);
      }
    }
docs: Appends the given path to the given base URI. It throws an {@link RuntimeException} if
  the inputs are malformed.
  
  @param base the base URI
  @param path the path to append
  @return the URI resulting from appending the base and the path