On This Day
1538 – Treaty of Nagyvárad between Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I and King John Zápolya of Hungary and Croatia.[6]
The Treaty of Nagyvárad (or Treaty of Grosswardein) was a secret peace agreement between Emperor Ferdinand I and John Zápolya, rival claimants to the Kingdom of Hungary, signed in Grosswardein / Várad (modern-day Oradea, Romania) on February 24, 1538.[1] In the treaty, they divided Hungary between them.
Ferdinand recognized Zápolya as John I, King of Hungary and ruler of two-thirds of the Kingdom, while Zápolya conceded the rule of Ferdinand over western Hungary, and recognized him as heir to the Hungarian throne, since Zápolya was childless.
But in 1540, just before Zápolya’s death, his wife bore him a son, John Sigismund Zápolya, and the agreement failed. John Sigismund was elected King of Hungary as John II by the Hungarian nobility. Ottoman Sultan Suleyman I, to whom John I had once sworn fealty, also recognized John II as King and his vassal. The struggle with Ferdinand and his successors resumed until 1571.
1870 – Hiram Rhodes Revels, a Republican from Mississippi, is sworn into the United States Senate, becoming the first African American ever to sit in Congress.[5]
Hiram Rhodes Revels (September 27, 1827[note 1] – January 16, 1901) was an American politician, minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and a college administrator. Born free in North Carolina, he later lived and worked in Ohio, where he voted before the Civil War. Elected by the Mississippi legislature to the United States Senate as a Republican to represent Mississippi in 1870 and 1871 during the Reconstruction era, he was the first African American to serve in either house of the U.S. Congress.
During the American Civil War, Revels had helped organize two regiments of the United States Colored Troops and served as a chaplain. After serving in the Senate, Revels was appointed as the first president of Alcorn Agricultural and Mechanical College (now Alcorn State University), a historically black college. He served from 1871 to 1873 and 1876 to 1882. Later in his life, he served again as a minister.
Born On This Day
1463 – Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, Italian philosopher (d. 1494)
Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (US: /ˈpiːkoʊ ˌdɛlə mɪˈrændələ, -ˈrɑːn-/,[1][2] Italian: [dʒoˈvanni ˈpiːko della miˈrandola]; Latin: Johannes Picus de Mirandula; 24 February 1463 – 17 November 1494) was an Italian Renaissance nobleman and philosopher.[3] He is famed for the events of 1486, when, at the age of 23, he proposed to defend 900 theses on religion, philosophy, natural philosophy, and magic against all comers, for which he wrote the Oration on the Dignity of Man, which has been called the “Manifesto of the Renaissance”,[4] and a key text of Renaissance humanism and of what has been called the “Hermetic Reformation”.[5] He was the founder of the tradition of Christian Kabbalah, a key tenet of early modern Western esotericism. The 900 Theses was the first printed book to be universally banned by the Church.[6] Pico is sometimes seen as a proto-Protestant, because his 900 theses anticipated many Protestant views.[7]
1670 – Maria Margarethe Kirch, German astronomer and mathematician (d. 1720)[31]
Maria Margaretha Kirch (née Winckelmann, in historic sources named Maria Margaretha Kirchin; 25 February 1670 – 29 December 1720) was a German astronomer. She was one of the first famous astronomers of her period due to her writing on the conjunction of the sun with Saturn, Venus, and Jupiter in 1709 and 1712 respectively.[1]
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FYI
Sally Clare Kellerman (June 2, 1937 – February 24, 2022) was an American actress and singer.
Kellerman’s acting career spanned over 60 years. Her role as Major Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan in Robert Altman’s film M*A*S*H (1970) earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. After M*A*S*H, she appeared in a number of the director’s projects: the films Brewster McCloud (1970), Welcome to L.A. (1976) (produced by Altman, directed by his protégé, Alan Rudolph), The Player (1992), and Prêt-à-Porter (1994), and the short-lived anthology TV series Gun (1997). In addition to her work with Altman, Kellerman appeared in films such as Last of the Red Hot Lovers (1972), Back to School (1986), plus many television series such as The Twilight Zone (1963), The Outer Limits (1965), Star Trek (1966), Bonanza (1966, 1970) The Minor Accomplishments of Jackie Woodman (2006), 90210 (2008), Chemistry (2011), and Maron (2013). She also voiced Miss Finch in Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird (1985).
At age 18, Kellerman signed a recording contract with Verve Records, but her first album (Roll with the Feelin’, on the Decca label) was not recorded until 1972. A second album, Sally, was released in 2009.[1] Kellerman also contributed songs to the soundtracks for Brewster McCloud (1970), Lost Horizon (1973), Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins (1975), and Boris and Natasha: The Movie (1992).
Kellerman did commercial voiceover work for Hidden Valley Ranch salad dressing, Mercedes-Benz, and Revlon.[2] Kellerman’s animation work included The Mouse and His Child (1977), Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird (1985), Happily Ever After (1990), Dinosaurs (1992), Unsupervised (2012), and The High Fructose Adventures of Annoying Orange (2013). In April 2013, she released her memoir Read My Lips: Stories of a Hollywood Life, describing her trials and tribulations in the entertainment business.
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https://youtu.be/B-AhHbVKUNc
Just A Car Guy: the New York Times just published a long article about the 2015 massacre of 9 bikers in Waco, and though avoiding reporting on the cops, and the sharpshooters, that killed the bikers, it’s in depth on the aftermath of the killings, and what the bikers had to deal with to get out of jail
Just A Car Guy: 914-6 M471, 1 of 23, Panama-Alaska Rally car from the 1997 event. 25 day, 10,000 mile rally, 2nd overall. It’s been the car photographer and Porsche-phile Jeff Zwart uses for work and pleasure since 1973
Fireside Books presents Shelf Awareness for Readers for Friday, February 25, 2022
By Open Culture: The Psychology of Messiness & Creativity: Study Shows How a Messy Desk and Creative Work Go Hand in Hand
By Ayun Halliday, Open Culture: When Eartha Kitt Spoke Truth to Power at a 1968 White House Luncheon
By Ted Mills, Open Culture: Starship Titanic: The Video Game Created by Douglas Adams (Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy), with Help from John Cleese & Terry Jones
By Open Culture: The Medieval Masterpiece, the Book of Kells, Has Been Digitized and Put Online
By Open Culture: Hannah Arendt Explains How Propaganda Uses Lies to Erode All Truth & Morality: Insights from The Origins of Totalitarianism
James Clear: 3-2-1: Thinking clearly, being bold, and making each day a masterpiece
By Matt Goff, Sitka Nature: Birds, Bryophytes, and Mysteries
NSFW
Reminder:
NASA: Astronomy Picture of the Day
Ideas
By JTAAUSTEX: Glow-in-the-dark Stage Portrait With CNC
By MsB2020: Cat Tree for Your Climber Cat
By magpiesmiscellany: Crepe Paper Forsythia Branches
By Creative D2H: Paper Mache Fairy Garden Tree House
By RayP24: Paper Fractal Tree With Glowing Tips
Recipes
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.
By Kelli Foster, The Kitchn: 12 Slow Cooker Dinners for When It’s Too Cold to Leave the House
By Lois Alter Mark, The Kitchn: I Tried the Super-Easy Popcorn Cake Recipe and It’s So Good, I Can’t Stop Eating It
Sally’s Baking Addiction: Fudge Chocolate Pastry Tarts
Sally’s Baking Addiction: St. Patrick’s Day
DamnDelicious
RecipeTinEats
- Spinach French Onion Cob Dip – Australia’s favourite dip! June 19, 2026Meet Australia’s favourite dip!!! This Spinach French Onion Cob Dip is made using a French Onion Soup mix and is served in a cob bread loaf. It is unapologetically retro, gloriously unfashionable, breaks every real-food rule I preach, and is completely addictive!! Spinach French Onion Cob Dip This dip has been a fixture at Australian... […]Nagi
- 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
wikimedia
- Wikimedia Commons picture of the day for June 21 June 21, 2026Picture of the day Bags of organic fertiliser adorn newly-planted fields against a backdrop of the Western Catchment in the Nilgiri mountains. Tamil Nadu, India
- Wikimedia Commons picture of the day for June 20 June 20, 2026Picture of the day Flower of a Geranium sanguineum, bloody crane's-bill. Focus stack of 51 photos.
E-book Deals:
The Book Junction: Where Readers Go To Discover Great New Fiction!
Mystery & Thriller Most Wanted
Book Blogs & Websites:
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?