On This Day
1597 – Imjin War: Korean Admiral Yi Sun-sin routs the Japanese Navy of 300 ships with only 13 ships at the Battle of Myeongnyang.
In the Battle of Myeongnyang, on October 26, 1597, the Korean Joseon Kingdom’s navy, led by Admiral Yi Sun-sin, fought the Japanese navy in the Myeongnyang Strait, near Jindo Island, off the southwest corner of the Korean peninsula.
With only 13 ships remaining from Admiral Won Gyun’s disastrous defeat at the Battle of Chilchonryang, Admiral Yi held the strait as a “last stand” battle against the Japanese navy, who were sailing to support their land army’s advance towards the Joseon capital of Hanyang (modern-day Seoul).
The actual numeric strength of the Japanese fleet that Admiral Yi fought is unclear; various sources indicate the number of Japanese ships could have been anywhere between 120 and 330 ships, though the low end of this range appears to be a count of actual warships and the high end appears to be referring to the entire Japanese fleet (including roughly 200 supporting non-combatant ships).[2]: 312 [5] Regardless of the size of the Japanese fleet, all sources indicate that the Japanese ships heavily outnumbered the Korean ships, by at least a ten-to-one ratio.[1]: 302 In total 30 Japanese warships were sunk or crippled during the battle. Tōdō Takatora, the commander of the Japanese navy, was wounded during the battle and half of his subordinate officers were also wounded or killed.[4] Given the disparity in numbers of ships, the naval battle is regarded as one of the most tactically brilliant victories in the history of warfare, and a humiliating naval defeat for the Japanese. Even after the victory, however, the Joseon navy was still outnumbered by remaining Japanese forces, so Admiral Yi withdrew to the Yellow Sea to resupply his fleet and have more space for a mobile defense.[6] After the Korean navy withdrew, the Japanese navy made an incursion into the western coast of Korea, near some islands in Yeonggwang County.
Read more ->
1892 – Ida B. Wells publishes Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases.
Ida Bell Wells-Barnett (July 16, 1862 – March 25, 1931) was an American investigative journalist, educator, and early leader in the civil rights movement. She was one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).[1] Over the course of a lifetime dedicated to combating prejudice and violence, and the fight for African-American equality, especially that of women, Wells arguably became the most famous Black woman in America.[2]
Born into slavery in Holly Springs, Mississippi, Wells was freed by the Emancipation Proclamation during the American Civil War. At the age of 16, she lost both her parents and her infant brother in the 1878 yellow fever epidemic. She went to work and kept the rest of the family together with the help of her grandmother. Later, moving with some of her siblings to Memphis, Tennessee, she found better pay as a teacher. Soon, Wells co-owned and wrote for the Memphis Free Speech and Headlight newspaper. Her reporting covered incidents of racial segregation and inequality.
In the 1890s, Wells documented lynching in the United States in articles and through her pamphlet called Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in all its Phases, investigating frequent claims of whites that lynchings were reserved for Black criminals only. Wells exposed lynching as a barbaric practice of whites in the South used to intimidate and oppress African Americans who created economic and political competition—and a subsequent threat of loss of power—for whites. A white mob destroyed her newspaper office and presses as her investigative reporting was carried nationally in Black-owned newspapers. Subjected to continued threats, Wells left Memphis for Chicago. She married Ferdinand L. Barnett in 1895 and had a family while continuing her work writing, speaking, and organizing for civil rights and the women’s movement for the rest of her life.
While her work contains extensive documentation of lynchings — she was one of the first to do so — her work is notable for its real-time reporting on the prevalent incendiary propaganda about Black rape that was used to justify the practice.[3]
Wells was outspoken regarding her beliefs as a Black female activist and faced regular public disapproval, sometimes including from other leaders within the civil rights movement and the women’s suffrage movement. She was active in women’s rights and the women’s suffrage movement, establishing several notable women’s organizations. A skilled and persuasive speaker, Wells traveled nationally and internationally on lecture tours.[4]
In 2020, Wells was posthumously honored with a Pulitzer Prize special citation “[f]or her outstanding and courageous reporting on the horrific and vicious violence against African Americans during the era of lynching.”[5]
Read more ->
Born On This Day
1902 – Henrietta Hill Swope, American astronomer and academic (d. 1980)
Henrietta Hill Swope (October 26, 1902 – November 24, 1980)[2] was an American astronomer who studied variable stars. In particular, she measured the period-luminosity relation for Cepheid stars, which are bright variable stars whose periods of variability relate directly to their intrinsic luminosities. Their measured periods can therefore be related to their distances and used to measure the size of the Milky Way and distances to other galaxies.
FYI
The Passive Voice, From Digital Pubbing: 7 Simple Social Media Tips for Successful Authors
https://youtu.be/ifs8crL5p4E
Ideas
By IreteH: Light Up the Darkness – Halloween Costume
Instructables: Unusual Uses Contest!
Recipes
By In The Kitchen With Matt: Barbie Cake
DamnDelicious
RecipeTinEats
- Salted Caramel Cheesecake March 13, 2026If you’re looking for a Salted Caramel Cheesecake with big caramel flavour in every bite, you’ve found it. Swirls of buttery caramel baked right throughout the creamy cheesecake filling and extra caramel swished over the top, this is rich, creamy, sweet, salty and completely unapologetic! This Salted Caramel Cheesecake was irritatingly hard to crack! When... […]Nagi
- JB’s French Pork Schnitzel March 10, 2026People say adding “French” to something doesn’t mean it’s better. But my passport would like to disagree! These schnitzels get a French flair with Herbes de Provence in the breadcrumbs. Now they’re French Pork Schnitzels – escalope de porc panées. Let’s go! French Pork Schnitzel Hi everyone, today we are making Pork Schnitzel the French way.... […]Chef JB (RecipeTin)
wikimedia
- Wikimedia Commons picture of the day for March 16 March 16, 2026Picture of the day A pair of white storks mating in Nové Veselí, Czech Republic.
- Wikimedia Commons picture of the day for March 15 March 15, 2026Picture of the day Common cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis), Arrábida National Park, Portugal. The common cuttlefish is one of the largest and best-known cuttlefish species. They are a migratory species that spend the summer and spring inshore for spawning and then move to depths of 100 to 200m during autumn and winter. They only have a […]
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?