On This Day
The Battle of Forum Gallorum was fought on 14 April 43 BC between the forces of Mark Antony and legions loyal to the Roman Senate under the overall command of consul Gaius Pansa, aided by his fellow consul Aulus Hirtius. The untested Caesar Octavian (the future emperor Augustus) guarded the Senate’s camp. The battle occurred on the Via Aemilia near a village in northern Italy, perhaps near modern-day Castelfranco Emilia.
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1071 – Bari, the last Byzantine possession in southern Italy, is surrendered to Robert Guiscard.[2]
The siege of Bari took place 1068–71, during the Middle Ages, when Norman forces, under the command of Robert Guiscard, laid siege to the city of Bari, a major stronghold of the Byzantines in Italy and the capital of the Catepanate of Italy, starting from 5 August 1068. Bari was captured on 16 April 1071 when Robert Guiscard entered the city, ending over five centuries of Byzantine presence in Southern Italy.
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Born On This Day
1126 – Averroes, Andalusian Arab physician and philosopher (d. 1198)[27]
bn Rushd (Arabic: ابن رشد; full name in Arabic: أبو الوليد محمد ابن احمد ابن رشد, romanized: Abū l-Walīd Muḥammad Ibn ʾAḥmad Ibn Rušd; 14 April 1126 – 11 December 1198), often Latinized as Averroes (English: /əˈvɛroʊiːz/), was an Andalusian[1] polymath and jurist who wrote about many subjects, including philosophy, theology, medicine, astronomy, physics, psychology, mathematics, Islamic jurisprudence and law, and linguistics. The author of more than 100 books and treatises,[2][3] his philosophical works include numerous commentaries on Aristotle, for which he was known in the Western world as The Commentator and Father of Rationalism.[4]
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1442 – John Paston, English noble (d. 1479)
Sir John Paston (before 15 April 1442 – November 1479) was the eldest son of John Paston and Margaret Mautby. He succeeded his father in 1466, and spent a considerable part of his life attempting to make good his father’s claim to the lands of Margaret Mautby’s kinsman, Sir John Fastolf. A number of his letters survive among the Paston Letters, a rich source of historical information for the lives of the English gentry of the period. Although long betrothed to Anne Haute, a first cousin of Elizabeth Woodville, he never married, and was succeeded by his younger brother, also named John
FYI
NASA: Astronomy Picture of the Day
EarthSky News
This Day in Tech History
Interesting Facts
Word Genius: Word of the Day
By Brian Murphy, The Washington Post: Virginia Norwood, pioneered Earth imagery as ‘Mother of Landsat,’ dies at 96 A male colleague once quit rather than work under Ms. Norwood’s leadership. When he asked to return, she turned him down.
By Dylan Loeb McClain, The New York Times: Virginia Norwood, ‘Mother’ of Satellite Imaging Systems, Dies at 96 A pioneer in aerospace, she invented a technology that has enabled scientists to map and study the earth for more than 50 years.
Virginia Tower Norwood (January 8, 1927 – March 26, 2023) was an American aerospace engineer, inventor, and physicist.[1] She was best known for her contribution to the Landsat program,[2] having designed the Multispectral Scanner[3][4] which was first used on Landsat 1. She has been called “The Mother of Landsat” for this work.[5]
(Her last car, a blue six-speed Mazda Miata, was driven until Ms. Norwood couldn’t renew her license during the pandemic.)
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By Lazarus, Medium: 60 Insanely Useful Websites That’ll Come in Handy Someday
Text—Tayo Bero, Cover Photo—Shak Oteka, Photos—Nicole Reynolds Beside: How to Feast with Ancestors Cultural preservationist Gabrielle Carter is reviving traditional Southern foodways on her family’s farm in North Carolina.
By Mark Anthony Green, Photography by Fanny Latour-Lambert, GQ: Inside Donald Glover’s New Creative Playground
Rare Historical Photos: Laika: The Soviet Space Dog Sent on a One-Way Trip into Orbit, 1957
By Ernie Smith, Tedium: Socket To Me Why the processor socket, an important part of most desktop computers, lost its upgrade path as computers became smaller and more integrated.
Recipes
By Lesley Balla, Taste of Home: 75 Cheap Dinner Ideas for Weeknight Meals
By Ivis Estrada, Taste of Home: 10 Million-Dollar Recipes
By Julie Meyers, Lisa Kaminiski, Taste of Home: Facebook Flipboard Twitter Pinterest Email Home Recipes Ingredients Chocolate & Cocoa Our Most Decadent Chocolate Desserts
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 13 June 13, 2026Picture of the day An image of the Immaculate Heart of Mary on a stained-glass window located in a church in St. Peters, Missouri. Today is the feast day of the Immaculate Heart in the Roman Catholic Church.
- Wikimedia Commons picture of the day for June 12 June 12, 2026Picture of the day A memorial to victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting in front the Stonewall Inn in New York City. On June 12, 2016, a terrorist shot and killed 49 people and wounded 53 more in a mass shooting at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, USA.
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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.
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