On This Day
1662 – Diarist John Evelyn records skating on the frozen lake in St James’s Park, London, watched by Charles II and Queen Catherine.[5]
John Evelyn FRS (31 October 1620 – 27 February 1706) was an English writer, landowner, gardener, courtier and minor government official, who is now best known as a diarist. He was a founding Fellow of the Royal Society.
John Evelyn’s diary, or memoir, spanned the period of his adult life from 1640, when he was a student, to 1706, the year he died. He did not write daily at all times. The many volumes provide insight into life and events at a time before regular magazines or newspapers were published, making diaries of greater interest to modern historians than such works might have been at later periods. Evelyn’s work covers art, culture and politics, including the execution of Charles I, Oliver Cromwell’s rise and eventual natural death, the last Great Plague of London, and the Great Fire of London in 1666.
John Evelyn’s Diary was first published posthumously in 1818, but over the years was overshadowed by that Samuel Pepys. Pepys wrote a different kind of diary, covering a much shorter period, 1660–1669, but in much greater depth, within the same era.[1]
Among the many subjects Evelyn wrote about, gardening was an increasing obsession of Evelyn’s, and he left a huge manuscript on the subject that was not printed until 2001. He published several translations of French gardening books, and his Sylva, or A Discourse of Forest-Trees (1664) was very influential in its plea to landowners to plant trees, of which he believed the country to be dangerously short. Sections from his main manuscript were added to editions of this, and also published separately.
Born On This Day
624 – Hasan ibn Ali, the second Shia Imam (d. 670)[23][24]
Hasan ibn Ali (Arabic: حسن ابن علي, romanized: Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī; c. 625 – 2 April 670) was a prominent early Islamic figure. He was the eldest son of Ali and Fatima and a grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He briefly ruled as caliph from January 661 until August 661. He is considered as the second Imam in Shia Islam, succeeding Ali and preceding his brother Husayn. As a grandson of the prophet, he is part of the ahl al-bayt and the ahl al-kisa, also is said to have participated in the event of Mubahala.
During the caliphate of Ali (r. 656–661), Hasan accompanied him in the military campaigns of the First Muslim Civil War. After Ali’s assassination in 661, Hasan was acknowledged caliph in Kufa. His sovereignty was not recognized by Syria’s governor Mu’awiya I (r. 661–680), who led an army into Kufa while pressing Hasan for abdication in letters. In response, Hasan sent a vanguard under Ubayd Allah ibn al-Abbas to block Mu’awiya’s advance until he arrived with the main army. Meanwhile, Hasan was severely wounded in an abortive assassination attempt by the Kharijites, a faction opposed to both Ali and Mu’awiya. This attack demoralized Hasan’s army and led to widespread desertion. Ubayd Allah and most of his troops also defected after Mu’awiya bribed him. In August 661, Hasan signed a peace treaty with Mu’awiya on the condition that the latter should rule in compliance with the Quran and the sunna, a council should appoint his successor, and Hasan’s supporters would receive amnesty. Hasan retired from politics and abdicated in Medina where he died either from illness or poisoning, though the early sources are nearly unanimous that he was poisoned. Mu’awiya is commonly viewed as the instigator in the murder of Hasan, which removed an obstacle to the succession of his son Yazid (r. 680–683).[1][2]
Critics of Hasan call his treaty with Mu’awiya an indication of weakness, saying that he intended to surrender from the beginning. Given Mu’awiya’s military superiority, supporters of Hasan maintain that his abdication was inevitable after his soldiers mutinied and that he was motivated by the desire for unity and peace among Muslims, which was reportedly predicted by Muhammad in a Sunni hadith. Another Sunni hadith, also attributed to Muhammad, predicted that the prophetic succession would last for thirty years, which was probably interpreted by some early Sunni scholars as evidence that Hasan’s caliphate was rightly-guided (rāshid).[3] In Shia theology, the divine infallibility (isma) of Hasan as the second Shia Imam further justified his course of action. As the rightful successor of Muhammad in Shia Islam, Hasan’s all-inclusive temporal and religious authority came from divinely-inspired designation (nass), which was not annulled by abdication to Mu’awiya, who usurped only the temporal authority. The imamate and caliphate are viewed as separate institutions in Shia Islam until such time that God would make the Imam victorious.
FYI
NASA: Astronomy Picture of the Day
James Clear: 3-2-1: The last 30 days of the year, the power of thoughts, and certainty
By Joshua Sokol, Quanta Magazine: A Mathematician Who Decodes the Patterns Stamped Out by Life Corina Tarnita deciphers bizarre patterns in the soil created by competing life-forms. She’s found that they can reveal whether an ecosystem is thriving or on the verge of collapse.
Apologies for the paywall~
By Jin Yu Young and Victoria Kim, The New York Times: ‘Gangnam Style’ Brought K-Pop to the World, but Haunted Its Creator In 2012, the song took over the internet, and it helped pave the way for the global success of Korean pop. But Psy, the artist behind it, spent years trying and failing to replicate the phenomenon.
The Marginalian (Brain Pickings): Nick Cave on music, mystery, and the relationship between vulnerability and freedom; how to be a swimmer in the stream of time; sublime botanical art
The Marginalian (Brain Pickings): John Steinbeck on how to think better, the fascinating science of mushrooms and music, Jack Kerouac’s love letter to November
The Marginalian (Brain Pickings): Storytelling and the art of tenderness, David Bowie on creativity and his advice to artists, the poetic science of the aurora borealis
By Ernie Smith, Tedium: Rejection, In Four Parts How rejection shapes the way we think, for good and bad—and if we let it, we take important lessons from it. (Tylenol helps in this process, we hear.)
By Ernie Smith, Tedium: A Sealant Story How caulk became a standard household building and maintenance staple. If you own a house, you probably have a caulking gun lying around.
By Ernie Smith, Tedium: A Tale of Two Tablets A year after the JingPad dropped on the market and its parent company immediately disappeared, a new entrant in the Linux tablet game, the Fydetab Duo, aims to do things the right way. Can it succeed?
NPR: Better late than never! Take it from these late bloomers who followed their dreams
Al Cross and Heather Close at The Rural Blog: Quashing methane emissions on public lands; getting justice for homeowners who have polluted wells; saying ‘you all’ or ‘y’all’ . .
By Mike Diago, Eater: The Return of the American Rail Dining Car Changes at Amtrak may revive the beloved tradition of enjoying chicken cordon bleu and Moroccan beef with chickpea salad with fellow travelers.
University of Idaho Killings and the aftermath | EP. 091 | Mike Force Podcast
Recipes
By Sheela Prakash, The Kitchn: 5 Fast and Easy Chicken Bite Recipes Ready to go in 20 minutes with only a few ingredients.
I Wash You Dry: Cheesy Pork and Rice Skillet
By Handy_Bear: Belgian Tarte Au Riz Inspired Rice Cake
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
- Easy Slow Cooker BBQ Shredded Beef June 16, 2026Slow Cooker BBQ Shredded Beef is what you make when you want a big batch of crowd-pleasing food with relatively little effort. The succulent pulled beef is smothered in an incredible homemade barbecue sauce, and there’s so many ways to serve it – pile into sliders, heap onto plates or stuff into baked potatoes! Easy... […]Nagi
- 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
wikimedia
- Wikimedia Commons picture of the day for June 18 June 18, 2026Picture of the day Red-headed weaver (Anaplectes rubriceps leuconotus) male building nest in the Soysambu Conservancy, Kenya.
- Wikimedia Commons picture of the day for June 17 June 17, 2026Picture of the day Lt. Col. Nick Rutgers preparing his F-15 Eagle for flight
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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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