On This Day
1682 – Bishop Gore School, one of the oldest schools in Wales, is founded.
The Bishop Gore School (Welsh: Ysgol Esgob Gore) is a secondary school in Swansea in Wales, founded on 14 September 1682 by Hugh Gore (1613–1691), Bishop of Waterford and Lismore. It is situated in Sketty, close to Singleton Park and Swansea University. In December 2013 the school was ranked in the second highest of five bands by the Welsh Government, based on performance in exams, value added performance, disadvantaged pupils’ performance, and attendance.
Born On This Day
1857 – Julia Platt, American embryologist and politician (d. 1935)
Julia Barlow Platt (14 September 1857, in San Francisco – 1935) was an American embryologist, politician and mayor.
Life
Julia Platt received her undergraduate degree from the University of Vermont before moving to Cambridge to perform research at the Harvard Annex in 1887. During her time at Harvard, she challenged the anti-coeducational policies in place. In 1889, she left Harvard to take courses and do research at Woods Hole, Clark University, the University of Chicago, Bryn Mawr, the University of Freiberg, the Naples Zoological Station, and the University of Munich. She obtained her doctorate at Freiburg in 1898. She investigated embryogenesis, in particular the head development, from studying sharks and salamanders. Her most notable contribution to the field was her demonstration that neural crest cells formed the jaw cartilage and tooth dentine in Necturus maculosus (mudpuppy embryos), but her work was not believed by her contemporaries. Her claim went counter to the belief that only mesoderm could form bones and cartilage. Her hypothesis of the neural crest origin of the cranial skeleton gained acceptance only some 50 years later when confirmed by Sven Hörstadius and Sven Sellman.[1]
Unable to obtain a doctoral degree from Radcliffe or secure a university position, she said “if I cannot obtain the work I wish, then I must take up with the next best” and then became active in politics, including tearing down a fence to give the public access to the beach at Lover’s Point in Pacific Grove, California. In 1931, at the age of 74, she became mayor of Pacific Grove, California.[2] According to Steve Palumbi and Carolyn Sotka, her prescient pioneering setting up of a marine protected area was crucial to the recovery of the sea otter.[3]
Publications
Platt, J. B. (1890): “The Anterior Head-Cavities of Acanthias (Preliminary Notice)”, Zool. Anz. 13: 239
Platt, J. B. (1892): “Fibres connecting the Central Nervous System and Chorda in Amphioxus”, Anat. Anz. 7: 282-284
Platt, J. B. (1893): “Ectodermic Origin of the Cartilages of the Head”, Anat. Anz. 8: 506-509
Platt, J. B. (1894): “Ontogenetische Differenzirung des Ektoderms in Necturus”, Archiv mikr. Anat. 43: 911-966
Platt, J. B. (1894): “Ontogenetic Differentiations of the Ectoderm in Necturus” Anat. Anz. 9: 51-56
Platt, J. B. (1898): “The development of the cartilaginous skull and of the branchial and hypoglossal musculature in Necturus”, Morphol. Jahrb. 25: 377-464
FYI
STORIES FROM NORTHERN CANADA AND ALASKA: Doctor Stotts, Deep Woods Surgeon
By Cory Max Montoya, Beyond Bylines: Blog Profiles: Women’s Rights Blogs
By Rocky Parker Beyond Bylines: AP Style Rules to Remember for Your Writing
By MessyNessy 13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. DLXVIII): The Last Glimpses of California’s Vanishing Hippie Utopias; Hobbies of Yore; Fox Tossing; Recently colourised footage of the last surviving Tasmanian Tiger, 1933 at Hobart’s Beaumaris Zoo; The largest uninhabited island in the world and more ->
NSFW
Ideas
By Cadhrien: Pretty Realistic Cardboard Antlers
Recipes
By Frau Martina: Carrot and Potato Soup Two Ways – Yellow and Purple
By Ronna Farley: Mom’s Sausage and Shrimp Gumbo
By Regan_Jane: White Asparagus Cream Soup
By cookwewill: Simple Coleslaw With Apples And Bacon
By cookwewill: Pork Tenderloin Skewers With Potatoes
By In The Kitchen With Matt: Homemade Twix Bars
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 23 June 23, 2026Picture of the day As the sun fades away you get to see a real beauty, you get to see some gazelles, you can't actually see any details but their silhouettes glazing within the sun rays
- Wikimedia Commons picture of the day for June 22 June 22, 2026Picture of the day Chrysomma sinense (Yellow-eyed Babbler) in Bhigwan, Maharashtra, India.
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?