On This Day
1497 – In Florence, Italy, supporters of Girolamo Savonarola burn cosmetics, art, and books, in a “Bonfire of the vanities”.[6]
A bonfire of the vanities (Italian: falò delle vanità) is a burning of objects condemned by religious authorities as occasions of sin. The phrase itself usually refers to the bonfire of 7 February 1497, when supporters of the Dominican friar Girolamo Savonarola collected and burned thousands of objects such as cosmetics, art, and books in the public square of Florence, Italy, on the occasion of Shrove Tuesday.[1][2]
Francesco Guicciardini’s The History of Florence gives a firsthand account of the 1497 Florentine bonfire of the vanities.[3] The focus of this destruction was on objects that might tempt one to sin, including vanity items such as mirrors, cosmetics, fine dresses, playing cards, and musical instruments. Other targets included books which Savonarola deemed immoral (such as works by Boccaccio), manuscripts of secular songs, and artworks, including paintings and sculpture.
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Born On This Day
1804 – John Deere, American blacksmith and businessman, founded Deere & Company (d. 1886)[32]
John Deere (February 7, 1804[2] – May 17, 1886) was an American blacksmith and manufacturer who founded Deere & Company, one of the largest and leading agricultural and construction equipment manufacturers in the world. Born in Rutland, Vermont, Deere moved to Illinois and invented the first commercially successful steel plow in 1837.[3]
1873 – Thomas Andrews, Irish shipbuilder and businessman, designed the RMS Titanic (d. 1912)
Thomas Andrews Jr. (7 February 1873 – 15 April 1912) was a British businessman and shipbuilder. He was managing director and head of the drafting department of the shipbuilding company Harland and Wolff in Belfast, Ireland.
He was the naval architect in charge of the plans for the ocean liner Titanic and perished along with more than 1,500 others when the ship sank during her maiden voyage.[1]
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FYI
By Lofty Minded in Alaska: Five-Acre Almanac: A Story of Wednesday, 2/2/22
By corvidresearch: Butts for nuts: can crows do our dirty work (and should they)?
By Wickersham’s Conscience: By Popular Demand: Bubble Net Feeding
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By Wickersham’s Conscience: WC Answers Your Questions: January 2022 Edition
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via KOTTKE, Open Culture: Browse a Huge Collection of Prison Newspapers: 1800-2020
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Open Culture: Dave Grohl & Greg Kurstin Cover Van Halen’s “Jump,” Celebrating David Lee Roth, One of the Hardest Rocking Jews, on the Fourth Night of Hannukah
By Ayun Halliday, Open Culture: How to Be a Samurai: A 17th Century Code for Life & War
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Women’s Bureau, U.S. Department of Labor: Invitation: Friday, Feb. 11 Webinar | FMLA at 29: What’s the Impact for Working Women?
By MessyNessy 13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. DLXXXIX): An Abandoned Chateau Known as “Little Versailles”; A 17th Century French noblewoman who rejected gender norms and became a sword-fighting opera singer; The last ivory carver in Paris; Utrecht: A City-break alternative to Amsterdam; A Man Claimed He Could Photograph Ghosts, And No One Today Can Prove He Couldn’t; An 8-year-old slid his handwritten book onto a library shelf. It now has a years-long waitlist.; There’s a 193-Acre Zoo in the Catskills For Sale; Hidden Architectural Details of Brooklyn and more ->
By MessyNessy 13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. DLXXXVIII): Behold, Croissant Cereal; The only prehistoric underground temple in the world is in Malta and believed to predate the pyramids by up to 1400 years; The Hospital Room of Julius Klingebiel, Cell 117; Now this, is a reality contest show I’d watch; An Online Treasure Trove of Weird but Cool Concept Cars; Energy Predictions for 2022 from 1922; Louise Willy , one of the first pornographic film stars; And now, Jason Alexander in this 1985 McDonald’s Ad and more ->
By Anna Ben Yehuda Rahmanan, Popular Mechanics: How Brooklyn’s Boldest Custom-Fabricators Execute Projects on a Massive Scale From custom furniture to museum displays to huge public sculptures, each piece created by Youngbuk is an opus to the art of handcrafting.
Min Jeong LeeHiroyuki SekineToshiro Hasegawa, Bloomberg: A Dying Man’s Lost Recipe Made His Daughter a Multimillionaire Kushikatsu Tanaka shares surged after going public. Tanaka gave all the credit to her father’s secret memo.
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NASA: Astronomy Picture of the Day
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 TwoKidsandaCoupon: Easy Everything Bagel Cream Cheese Peppers
Courtesy of Emily Weinberger for Food Network Kitchen: Skillet Hot Honey Chicken with Brussels Sprouts
By Nella Parker, Hersey, Michigan, Taste of Home: Spaghetti with Four Cheeses
NYT Cooking: What to Cook This Week Recipes, guides and more for the week of February 6th
By Ali Francis, Bon Appétit: The 20 Recipes BA Readers Love the Most A chili from the ’90s, all the cookies, and, yes, *that* focaccia.
Food Network: 15 Football-Shaped Foods Perfect for Game Day It doesn’t matter if your guests are team sweet or team savory — these fun snacks are sure to score you a few extra points!
Food Network Recipes: 15 Galentine’s Day Dishes Perfect For Spoiling All Your Pals This February 13th, we’re remembering the important things in life: friends, waffles and work!
By Carolyn Lewis, Taste of Home: 60 Pretty Vegetarian Pasta Recipes
DamnDelicious
RecipeTinEats
- 5 Minute Fall-apart Massaman Lamb Shoulder October 11, 2024This is a recipe for a succulent fall-apart tender lamb shoulder that is slow cooked in a rich massaman curry sauce, presented in a grand roast lamb centrepiece form. My current most-made lamb shoulder recipe. Got 5 minutes to make it? 🙂 5 Minute Fall-apart Massaman Lamb Shoulder This recipe is going to save you... […]Nagi
- Irene’s Cretan biscuits (Greek almond cookies) October 4, 2024These traditional Greek Cretan biscuits are here courtesy of Irene, the very Greek mother of my very Greek hairdresser. Does it surprise anybody that I spend most of the time at the salon discussing food with everybody and anybody? 😂 Meet Irene, beloved local Greek grandmother and baker If you love buttery shortbread biscuits and... […]Nagi
wikimedia
- Wikimedia Commons picture of the day for October 13 October 13, 2024Picture of the day In 1909, US Navy engineer Robert Peary completed an expedition that he claimed was to the North Pole. Although this is heavily disputed by modern historians, he was credited for the achievement at the time.
- Wikimedia Commons picture of the day for October 12 October 12, 2024Picture of the day View of the Basilica of Our Lady of Aparecida with the walkway called "Passarela da Fé", connecting the old and the new church, in the foreground. Today is the feast of Our Lady of Aparecida and public holiday in Brazil.
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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?