On This Day
598 – Balkan Campaign: The Avars lift the siege at the Byzantine stronghold of Tomis. Their leader Bayan I retreats north of the Danube River after the Avaro-Slavic hordes are decimated by the plague.
aurice’s Balkan campaigns were a series of military expeditions conducted by Roman Emperor Maurice (reigned 582–602) in an attempt to defend the Balkan provinces of the Roman Empire from the Avars and the South Slavs. Maurice was the only East Roman emperor, other than Anastasius I, who did his best to implement determined Balkan policies during Late Antiquity by paying adequate attention to the safety of the northern frontier against barbarian incursions. During the second half of his reign, the Balkan campaigns were the main focus of Maurice’s foreign policies, as a favourable peace treaty with Persian Empire in 591 enabled him to shift his experienced troops from the Persian front to the region. The refocusing of Roman efforts soon paid off: the frequent Roman failures before 591 were succeeded by a string of successes afterwards.
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Born On This Day
892 – Shi Jingtang, founder of the Later Jin Dynasty (d. 942)
Shi Jingtang (Chinese: 石敬瑭; 30 March 892[1] – 28 July 942[3]), also known by his temple name Gaozu (高祖), was the founding emperor of imperial China’s short-lived Later Jin during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, reigning from 936 until his death.
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FYI
NASA: Astronomy Picture of the Day
EarthSky News
This Day in Tech History
Interesting Facts
Word Genius: Word of the Day
Open Culture: The Complete “Everything is a Remix”: An Hour-Long Testament to the Brilliance & Beauty of Human Creativity
By Colin Marshall, Open Culture: Understanding Espresso: A Six-Part Series Explaining What It Takes to Pull the Ideal Shot
Wickersham’s Conscience: The Sad Death of DP Review
Wickersham’s Conscience: Gordon Moore and Moore’s Law
By Ernie Smith, Tedium: A Side of Gloss Tedium continues on its long journey to fill its glossary with hundreds of entries, and today’s list takes a long, hard look at all things food-related.
By Ernie Smith, Tedium: When Atari Was Politicized The story of how the “Atari Democrats” came to shape the way politics and technology work together, for good and bad.
By Tyler Rogoway, The War Zone: The Fascinating Anatomy of the Presidential Motorcade Going inside the safest and most dangerous place on the road.
GrrlScientist Senior Contributor Evolutionary & behavioural ecologist, ornithologist & science writer, Forbes: These Tiny Birds Get By With A Little Help From Their Friends
MAYBE PEOPLE DON’T WANT TO STOP GRIEVING…
Maybe they are terrified,
that the grief they feel is the last thing they have left of that person.
That if they move on from the grief,
they will lose the final connection.
The only tie.
Maybe people feel united with their loved one,
in the realm just outside our reality.
United in pain and loss.
Banished to a parallel universe where they can both exist together,
still together.
Maybe that’s just too precious to move on from.
So if you are in this place, or you know someone who is,
maybe you can remind them that they are completely connected to their lost one,
in so many more wonderful ways than just the loss.
How can they not be?
Inch for inch the pain they feel equals the love they shared.
At the end of the day, it’s all just love.
And there is no need to banish either.
They can exist side by side,
grief and love.
And they do,
every day.
Donna Ashworth From ‘LOSS’
Recipes
Master Pieces of My Life Food Talk Daily: the best honeycomb cheesy cracker appetizer ever
I Wash You Dry: Ultimate Grilled Cheese Sandwich
I Wash You Dry: Spatchcock Chicken with Potatoes
By Wren’s Little Nest Food Talk Daily: Pepper and Sweet Corn Skillet Risotto
By Betty Crocker Kitchens: Easy Oven-Baked Chicken Fajitas
Homemade on a Weeknight: 8 Great Sheet Pan Dinners
By Betty Crocker Kitchens: Chocolate Cupcake Recipes
By Ally Billhorn, Food Talk Daily: Cake Mix Easter Cinnamon Rolls
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
- Bruschetta summer pasta salad January 7, 2025This summer pasta salad is everything you want when it’s too hot to cook! Quick, nearly no cook (just boil pasta) and full of bright, fresh, bruschetta-inspired tomato flavours. Also – a useful tip for how to store basil that actually really, truly works! Bruschetta summer pasta salad Every Christmas break, I have intentions of... […]Nagi
- How to store basil January 7, 2025After trying every which way to store basil so it doesn’t turn brown within a day of buying it, I’ve finally learnt how to store basil so it stays perky, green and fresh for over a week. Just stick it in a jar of water and keep it on the counter. That’s right – not... […]Nagi
wikimedia
- Wikimedia Commons picture of the day for January 10 January 10, 2025Picture of the day Kapelle St. Martin-Caplutta Sogn Martin. Breil-Brigels. Wooden main door of the chapel. (Detail).
- Wikimedia Commons picture of the day for January 9 January 9, 2025Picture of the day Art installation “Himmelsleiter” (Billi Thanner) on the tower of St. Lambert's Church in Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia, GermanyThe artwork came from St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna to St. Lambert's Church in Münster in September 2022. It remained there until March 2024 and has been on display at Saint-Eustache Church in Paris since […]
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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?