On This Day
240 – Shapur I becomes co-emperor of the Sasanian Empire with his father Ardashir I.[1]
Shapur I (also spelled Shabuhr I; Middle Persian: ?, romanized: Šābuhr) was the second Sasanian King of Kings of Iran. The dating of his reign is disputed, but it is generally agreed that he ruled from 240 to 270, with his father Ardashir I as co-regent until the death of the latter in 242. During his co-regency, he helped his father with the conquest and destruction of the Arab city of Hatra, whose fall was facilitated, according to Islamic tradition, by the actions of his future wife al-Nadirah. Shapur also consolidated and expanded the empire of Ardashir I, waged war against the Roman Empire , and seized its cities of Nisibis and Carrhae while he was advancing as far as Roman Syria. Although he was defeated at the Battle of Resaena in 243 by Roman emperor Gordian III (r. 238–244), he was the following year able to win the Battle of Misiche and force the new Roman Emperor Philip the Arab (r. 244–249) to sign a favorable peace treaty that was regarded by the Romans as “a most shameful treaty”.[1]
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Born On This Day
811 – Muhammad al-Jawad, the ninth Imam of Shia Islam (d. 835)[18]
Muhammad ibn Ali al-Jawad (Arabic: محمد بن علي الجواد, romanized: Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī al-Jawād, c. 8 April 811 – 29 November 835) was a descendant of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and the ninth of the Twelve Imams, succeeding his father, Ali al-Rida (d. 818). He is known by the epithets al-Jawād (lit. ’the generous’) and al-Taqī (lit. ’the pious’). Like most of his predecessors, Muhammad kept aloof from politics and engaged in religious teaching, while organizing the affairs of the Imamite Shia community through a network of representatives (wokala). The extensive correspondence of al-Jawad with his followers on questions of Islamic law has been preserved in Shia sources and numerous pithy religio-ethical sayings are also attributed to him.
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Interesting Facts
Word Genius: Word of the Day
Allan Jaffee (born Abraham Jaffee;[3] March 13, 1921 – April 10, 2023) was an American cartoonist. He was notable for his work in the satirical magazine Mad, including his trademark feature, the Mad Fold-in. Jaffee was a regular contributor to the magazine for 65 years and is its longest-running contributor. In a 2010 interview, Jaffee said, “Serious people my age are dead.”[4]
With a career running from 1942 until 2020, Jaffee holds the Guinness World Record for having the longest career as a comic artist.[5][6] In the half-century between April 1964 and April 2013, only one issue of Mad was published without containing new material by Jaffee.[7][8]
In 2008, Jaffee was honored by the Reuben Awards as the Cartoonist of the Year. New Yorker cartoonist Arnold Roth said, “Al Jaffee is one of the great cartoonists of our time.”[9] Peanuts creator Charles M. Schulz wrote, “Al can cartoon anything”.[10]
Gothamist: Al Jaffee, MAD Magazine’s 95-Year-Old Journeyman Cartoonist
By Open Culture: Al Jaffee, the Longest Working Cartoonist in History, Dies at 102: Discover How He Invented the Iconic “Folds-Ins” for Mad Magazine
ILSR’s Community Broadband Initiative, Recently in Community Networks… Week of 4/10
Ideas
Need a bigger ziploc bag? Just combine two!
This one blew our minds, and we hope it’ll be a great help to you as well.
Sometimes, you just don’t have a gallon sized ziploc bag. And honestly, that’s not really a ‘sometimes’. It’s more like an ‘all the time’.
So when you need a bigger ziploc bag but you only have the smaller ones…
Flip one of the ziploc bags inside out! Then you can combine two bags and interlock their locking strips!
Did that blow your mind? Hopefully. While writing this, my brother told me that this one is old news so maybe it wasn’t as crazy as I thought it was.
But it really is that simple and you can double the size of your ziploc bags just by turning one of them inside out.
Recipes
By Lauryn Bodden, The Spruce Eats: Fire Crackers Saltines get even saltier (and spicier!) in this easy snack recipe
By Victoria Woollaston, Tech Radar: These air fryer salmon bites are so easy and tasty, even kids love them
Taste of Home: Refried Bean-Taco Pizza
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 15 June 15, 2026Picture of the day Mountain gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei), Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda
- Wikimedia Commons picture of the day for June 14 June 14, 2026Picture of the day Wulfenite crystals with calcite, found in the Erupción Mine, Sierra de Los Lamentos, Ahumada Municipality, Chihuahua, Mexico.
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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?