On This Day
870 – The city of Melite surrenders to an Aghlabid army following a siege, putting an end to Byzantine Malta.[1]
The siege of Melite was the capture of the Byzantine city of Melite (modern Mdina, Malta) by an invading Aghlabid army in 870 AD. The siege was initially led by Halaf al-Hādim, a renowned engineer, but he was killed and replaced by Sawāda Ibn Muḥammad. The city withstood the siege for some weeks or months, but it ultimately fell to the invaders, and its inhabitants were massacred and the city was sacked.
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Born On This Day
1597 – Henry Gage, Royalist officer in the English Civil War (d. 1645)
Sir Henry Gage (29 August 1597 – 11 January 1645) was a Royalist officer in the English Civil War.[1]
Early life
Gage was born at Haling, in Surrey, the son of John Gage and Margaret Copley. The family were Catholic[2] and long intermarried with other prominent Catholic families, including that of Sir Thomas More, the former Lord Chancellor.
At the age of twelve Henry was sent abroad for a Catholic education at the English Jesuit College in St Omer, where he was a student from 1609 to 1614.[3] After spending three years at the English College, Rome,[4] from 1615 to 1618, Gage decided the priesthood was not for him. At the age of 22 he became a professional soldier in the Army of Flanders.
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FYI
NASA: Astronomy Picture of the Day
By Rebecca Straus, Apartment Therapy: 6 Plants That Naturally Repel Mosquitoes You might even already have a couple in your garden.
By MessyNessy 13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. DCXIII): A Treehouse in Tuscia; Gucci arrives in Detroit; Marlon Brando on Rejecting His Oscar for ‘The Godfather’; Africville, Canada, a settlement that was bulldozed in the 1960s; Citroen’s Art Deco Champs Elysées showroom and more -> Printed 110 years ago. (August 14, 1912);
By Shanti Escalante-De Mattei, ARTNews: Medieval Pub Buried Under Grazing Pasture Is Unearthed in England
2022 T-Rex Race on Sunday, August 21st at Emerald Downs.
Huge dinosaur skeleton unearthed in Portuguese garden – BBC News
Jack CarrUSA: Mark Greaney: Armored
Recipes
By Rachel Reiss, Kitchn: I Tried Stanley Tucci’s Recipe for Zucchini Pasta and My Only Regret Is Not Trying It Sooner
By Betty Crocker Kitchens: Our Most Over-the-Top Dessert Yet
Just the Recipe: Paste the URL to any recipe, click submit, and it’ll return literally JUST the recipe- no ads, no life story of the writer, no nothing EXCEPT the recipe.
DamnDelicious
RecipeTinEats
- Coffee Cake with Cinnamon Streusel June 12, 2026Firstly, thank you for the Jaffle love. 🥰 Hit the Jaffle button above to see what he got up to today! Secondly – cake. Specifically, Coffee Cake! A classic crumb cake with a jammy cinnamon ribbon, loaded with lots and lots of nubbly, extra crunchy cinnamon streusel. Outrageously good. Coffee Cake with Cinnamon Streusel This... […]Nagi
- Introducing Jaffle! June 10, 2026Meet Jaffle! Future Chief Taste Tester. Son of a Dozer friend. A little bundle of golden, fluffy joy! 48 hours of instant happiness I didn’t expect to get a new puppy so soon after saying goodbye to Dozer. To be honest, I wasn’t sure when I’d be ready. And I had it in my head... […]Nagi
wikimedia
- Wikimedia Commons picture of the day for June 16 June 16, 2026Picture of the day View of Kirchberg an der Jagst, Germany, from the river Jagst. At the right the listed bridge, build in 1779; behind it the hill which supports Kirchberg Castle (top) and the old town of Kirchberg.
- Wikimedia Commons picture of the day for June 15 June 15, 2026Picture of the day Mountain gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei), Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda
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Welcome to the Stump the Bookseller blog!
Stump the Bookseller is a service offered by Loganberry Books to reconnect people to the books they love but can’t quite remember. In brief (for more detailed information see our About page), people can post their memories here, and the hivemind goes to work. After all, the collective mind of bibliophiles, readers, parents and librarians around the world is much better than just a few of us thinking. Together with these wonderful Stumper Magicians, we have a nearly 50% success rate in finding these long lost but treasured books. The more concrete the book description, the better the success rate, of course. It is a labor of love to keep it going, and there is a modest fee. Please see the How To page to find price information and details on how to submit your Book Stumper and payment.
Thanks to everyone involved to keep this forum going: our blogging team, the well-read Stumper Magicians, the many referrals, and of course to everyone who fondly remembers the wonder of books from their childhood and wants to share or revisit that wonder. Isn’t it amazing, the magic of a book?