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.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beowulf_and_Middle-earth
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
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. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calaveras_Skull
1948:
Fearful of civil war and Soviet intervention in recent unrest, President Edvard Beneš ceded control of the government to the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1948_Czechoslovak_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat
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. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Cult_of_Personality_and_Its_Consequences
1992:
First Nagorno-Karabakh War: Armenian armed forces killed at least 161 ethnic Azerbaijani civilians in the Nagorno-Karabakh village of Khojaly. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khojaly_massacre
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
stance: 1. The manner, pose, or posture in which one stands. 2. One's opinion or point of view. 3. A place to stand; a position, a site, a station. 4. (specifically, climbing) A foothold or ledge on which to set up a belay. 5. (Scotland) A place for buses or taxis to await passengers; a bus stop, a taxi rank. 6. (Scotland) A place where a fair or market is held; a location where a street trader can carry on business. 7. (obsolete, rare) A stanza. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/stance
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
I want to address today the people of Russia. I am addressing you not as a president, I am addressing you as a citizen of Ukraine. More than 2,000 km of the common border is dividing us. Along this border your troops are stationed, almost 200,000 soldiers, thousands of military vehicles. Your leaders approved them to make a step forward, to the territory of another country. And this step can be the beginning of a big war on European continent. We know for sure that we don't need the war. Not a Cold War, not a hot war. Not a hybrid one. But if we'll be attacked by the troops, if they try to take our country away from us, our freedom, our lives, the lives of our children, we will defend ourselves. Not attack, but defend ourselves. And when you will be attacking us, you will see our faces, not our backs, but our faces. The war is a big disaster, and this disaster has a high price. With every meaning of this word. People lose money, reputation, quality of life, they lose freedom. But the main thing is that people lose their loved ones, they lose themselves. They told you that Ukraine is posing a threat to Russia. It was not the case in the past, not in the present, it's not going to be in the future. You are demanding security guarantees from NATO (The North Atlantic Treaty Organization), but we also demand security guarantees. Security for Ukraine from you, from Russia and other guarantees of the Budapest memorandum. But our main goal is peace in Ukraine and the safety of our people, Ukrainians. For that we are ready to have talks with anybody, including you, in any format, on any platform. The war will deprive guarantees from everybody — nobody will have guarantees of security anymore. Who will suffer the most from it? The people. Who doesn't want it the most? The people! Who can stop it? The people. --Volodymyr Zelenskyy https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Volodymyr_Zelenskyy