J. R. R. Tolkien

J. R. R. Tolkien drew on Beowulf when creating the fictional world he called Middle-earth for The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien (pictured), a fantasy author, linguist, and philologist, took many elements from the Old English poem Beowulf, including names, monsters, and heroic-age customs and beliefs. He emulated its style, creating an impression of depth and adopting an elegiac tone. Tolkien admired the way that the poem, written by a Christian looking back at a pagan past, used symbolism without becoming allegorical. The names of races, including ents, orcs, and elves, and placenames such as Orthanc and Meduseld, derive from Beowulf. The Riders of Rohan are distinctively Old English. The werebear Beorn in The Hobbit has been likened to the hero Beowulf himself; both names mean "bear" and both characters have enormous strength. Scholars have compared some of Tolkien's monsters, including Gollum, the trolls, and the dragon Smaug, to those in the poem. (Full article...)

Milam Residence

• ... that the facade of geometric shapes on the Milam Residence (pictured) also provides shade to the interior?
• ... that when offered, soldiers under Russian general V. P. Taranovsky chose imprisonment in Algeria rather than continuing to fight or serving as labourers?
• ... that the tugboat R. B. Forbes was the first iron mercantile vessel built in New England?
• ... that Sukanya Ramgopal is the first woman Ghatam player in Carnatic music?
• ... that an estimated 1,050 Jews were killed in the Rakaŭ Ghetto between its creation and liquidation?
• ... that in 1749, James Davis became the first printer to set up shop in the colony of North Carolina?
• ... that the genus Xochiquetzallia was named after the Aztec goddess of flowers?
• ... that Demi Lovato started an Internet feud with a frozen yogurt shop—and lost?

Missile strike site in Kyiv

• Russia launches an invasion of Ukraine (missile strike site pictured).
• The Winter Olympics conclude in Beijing, China.
• At least 204 people are killed due to mudslides and floods in Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
• In American football, the Los Angeles Rams defeat the Cincinnati Bengals in the Super Bowl.

February 25: Soviet Occupation Day in Georgia (1921); National Day in Kuwait (1961)

Edvard Beneš

• 628 – Khosrow II, the last great king of the Sasanian Empire, was overthrown by his son Kavad II.
• 1866 – Miners in Calaveras County, California, discovered a human skull that a prominent geologist claimed was proof (later disproved) that humans had existed during the Pliocene.
• 1948 – Fearful of civil war and Soviet intervention in recent unrest, President Edvard Beneš (pictured) ceded control of the government to the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia.
• 1956 – In a speech to the 20th Congress of the Communist Party, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev denounced the personality cult and dictatorship of his predecessor Joseph Stalin.
• 1992 – First Nagorno-Karabakh War: Armenian armed forces killed at least 161 ethnic Azerbaijani civilians in the Nagorno-Karabakh village of Khojaly.