On This Day
1275 – Traditional founding of the city of Amsterdam.
Amsterdam (/ˈæmstərdæm/ AM-stər-dam, UK also /ˌæmstərˈdæm/ AM-stər-DAM,[9][10] Dutch: [ˌɑmstərˈdɑm] ⓘ; literally, “The Dam on the River Amstel”) is the capital and most populated city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 921,402[11] within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the urban area[6] and 2,480,394 in the metropolitan area.[12] Located in the Dutch province of North Holland,[13][14] Amsterdam is colloquially referred to as the “Venice of the North”, for its large number of canals, now designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.[15]
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969 – The Byzantine Empire recovers Antioch from Arab rule.
The siege of Antioch in 968–969 was a successful military offensive undertaken by leading commanders of the Byzantine Empire in order to reconquer the strategically important city of Antioch from the Hamdanid Dynasty.
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Born On This Day
921 – Chai Rong, Chinese emperor (d. 959)
Chai Rong (Chinese: 柴榮) (27 October 921[2] – 27 July 959[3]), later known as Guo Rong (郭榮),[note 1] also known by his temple name as the Emperor Shizong of Later Zhou, was the second emperor of the Later Zhou dynasty of China, during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. He reigned from 954 until his death in 959. He succeeded his uncle-in-law Guo Wei (Emperor Taizu), whose surname he had adopted.
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1479 – John Gage, English courtier (d. 1556)
Sir John Gage KG (28 October 1479 – 18 April 1556) was an English courtier during the Tudor period. He held a number of offices, including Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (1542–1547), Comptroller of the Household (1540–1547), Constable of the Tower (1540–1556) and Lord Chamberlain (1553–1556).
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FYI
NASA: Astronomy Picture of the Day
EarthSky News
This Day in Tech History
This Day In History
Interesting Facts
Word Genius: Word of the Day
Wickersham’s Conscience: Return of Bird of the Week: Cape May Warbler
Wickersham’s Conscience: A Tanager Sampler, Part 2
Wickersham’s Conscience: The Furnaridae Problem
Gabriel Iglesias: Happy Halloween
Cleared Hot Podcast: Bridging The Gap – Prepared vs. Paranoid
Jack CarrUSA: Israeli Military Expert Yaakov Katz – Danger Close with Jack Carr
Recipes
Food Network: Halloween Oreo Roll
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
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?