Matthew Brettingham (1699–1769) was an English architect who rose from modest origins to become one of the best-known architects of his generation. Much of his principal work has since been demolished, particularly his work in London, where he revolutionised the design of the grand townhouse. As a result, he is often overlooked today, remembered principally for his Palladian remodelling of numerous country houses, many of them in East Anglia. Brettingham's practice constructing townhouses for the aristocracy was substantial. Major commissions included Norfolk House and Cumberland House. Drawing inspiration from Italian urban palazzi, and from Andrea Palladio's rural villas, he created a style and arrangements of rooms perfectly suited to the mid–18th century nobility. As Brettingham neared the pinnacle of his career, Palladianism began to fall out of fashion and neoclassicism was introduced, championed by the young Robert Adam. (Full article...)

• ... that the first owners of Fallingwater (pictured), a house in Pennsylvania, were rumored to hide tables when the house's architect visited?
• ... that in 2008, artist Rutherford Chang collected around 4,000 ink-dot portraits from The Wall Street Journal and reorganized them alphabetically into a yearbook-style publication?
• ... that in 1997, several merchants of North Kent Mall in Grand Rapids, Michigan, did not know who owned the mall?
• ... that in 1858, when 400 Black Americans experiencing discrimination in California resettled on Vancouver Island, clergyman Edward Cridge integrated Christ Church to welcome them?
• ... that Georgia O'Keeffe's Hawaii series began as a commercial art commission for Dole pineapple juice?
• ... that Mariel Molino starred in the first Amazon original film for Mexico?
• ... that the tower of a North Dakota TV station was the world's tallest man-made structure from 1963 to 1974 and again from 1991 to 2008?
• ... that Tim Johnston pledged not to become a minister if he was elected to the House of Keys, but did so anyway?
• ... that some drug trafficking factions in Brazil have partnered up with evangelical churches?

• In computing, Andrew Barto and Richard Sutton (pictured) are awarded the Turing Award for their work on reinforcement learning.
• A wildfire in Japan's Iwate Prefecture was the largest in the country in at least five decades.
• Chinese architect Liu Jiakun is awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize.
• The United States imposes—and later partially delays—tariffs on Canada and Mexico and increases tariffs on China, incurring retaliatory tariffs from Canada and China.

March 11: Commonwealth Day in the Commonwealth of Nations (2024); National Heroes and Benefactors Day in Belize (2024)

• 1851 – The first performance of Verdi's Rigoletto took place at La Fenice in Venice (poster pictured).
• 1864 – The Great Sheffield Flood killed at least 240 people and damaged more than 600 homes, after a crack in the dam holding the Dale Dike Reservoir caused it to fail.
• 1993 – The U.S. Senate unanimously confirmed Janet Reno as the first female United States attorney general.
• 2007 – Georgian authorities accused Russia of orchestrating a helicopter attack in the Kodori Valley, in the breakaway territory of Abkhazia.

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Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number is a 2015 top-down shooter game developed by Dennaton Games and published by Devolver Digital. A sequel to Hotline Miami, it focuses on the prelude and aftermath of that game's protagonist's actions against the Russian mafia in Miami. The player takes on the role of several characters throughout Hotline Miami 2, witnessing the game's events from their perspectives. In each level, the player is tasked with defeating every enemy through any means possible. The game was released on 10 March 2015 for Linux, OS X, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, and Windows. It received positive reviews, with critics praising the soundtrack, but the gameplay, level design and narrative received mixed reactions. The game featured a scene depicting sexual assault, which triggered a mostly negative response from media outlets and led to it being refused classification in Australia. (Full article...)

• ... that tobacco brands like Marlboro, led by John Hogan (pictured), turned Formula One into a global sport because F1 cars evaded European tobacco advertising restrictions?
• ... that one incident in Vatican City caused it to have the highest murder rate in the world in 1998?
• ... that the earliest of the authentic portraits of Mozart shows the prodigy wearing the clothes of Archduke Maximilian Francis of Austria, given as a gift by Empress Maria Theresa?
• ... that a rookie WNBA player crafted a leg sleeve to avoid discomfort and did not expect it to become a fashion trend?
• ... that the oldest depiction of the Amida Triad in Japanese art was donated to the Imperial Household by Hōryū-ji in 1878?
• ... that Barack Obama listed an anti-war song as one of his favorite songs of 2022?
• ... that an "everliving" stonecrop has helped diabetic mice?
• ... that footage of the 1970 Minneapolis teachers' strike uncovered in 2022 showed an 11-year-old Prince speaking in favor of the striking teachers?
• ... that the tower of 32 pillars only has 24 pillars?

• Andrew Barto and Richard Sutton are awarded the Turing Award for their work on reinforcement learning.
• A wildfire (pictured) in Japan's Iwate Prefecture becomes the largest in the country in at least five decades.
• Chinese architect Liu Jiakun is awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize.
• The United States imposes—and later partially delays—tariffs on Canada and Mexico and increases tariffs on China, incurring retaliatory tariffs from Canada and China.
• Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost soft-lands on the Moon as part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services program.

March 10: Harriet Tubman Day in some parts of the United States;

• 1695 – Nine Years' War: At the Battle of Sant Esteve d'en Bas, Catalan miquelets attacked a column of French regular infantry and caused them to surrender.
• 1959 – An anti-Chinese uprising began as thousands of Tibetans surrounded the Potala Palace in Lhasa to prevent the Dalai Lama from leaving or being removed by the Chinese army.
• 1968 – Vietnam War/Laotian Civil War: North Vietnamese and Pathet Lao forces overwhelmed the American, Laotian, Thai, and Hmong defenders of Lima Site 85.
• 1977 – Astronomers using NASA's Kuiper Airborne Observatory discovered a faint ring system around Uranus.
• 2008 – The New York Times revealed that Eliot Spitzer (pictured), Governor of New York, had patronized a prostitution ring.

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Ann Arbor is a city in and the county seat of Washtenaw County in the U.S. state of Michigan. Founded in 1824 by John Allen and Elisha Rumsey, it was named after the wives of the village's founders, both named Ann, and the stands of bur oak trees they found there. A college town, Ann Arbor is home to the University of Michigan (founded 1837), which significantly shapes the city's economy, employing about 30,000 workers. The city's economy is also centered on high technology, with several companies drawn to the area by the university's research and development infrastructure. The 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851, making it the fifth-most populous city in Michigan. Located on the Huron River, Ann Arbor is the principal city of its metropolitan area, which encompasses all of Washtenaw County, and had 372,258 residents in 2020. Ann Arbor is included in the Metro Detroit area and the Great Lakes megalopolis. (Full article...)

• ... that the private showings of Alexander McQueen's posthumous final collection Angels and Demons (final look pictured) ended with a whisper saying "There is no more"?
• ... that Charlton Hunt was a cousin of the author of "The Star-Spangled Banner" and a grand-uncle of a Nobel Prize laureate?
• ... that "Create", the theme song to the 35th anniversary of Super Mario Bros., features various Nintendo references?
• ... that Paraguayan drag artist Usha Didi Gunatita dressed as Santa Claus and visited children in a cancer hospital?
• ... that while six EF5 tornadoes hit the United States during the 2011 tornado season, there has not been an EF5 tornado in more than ten years?
• ... that the editors of the Red Army newspaper Qьzьl Armies were seen as opponents of the reform to introduce a Latin script for the Tatar language?
• ... that the Father Louis Hennepin Bridge was called "elegant" while also having a "Mussolini kind of quality"?
• ... that Sonya Williams made her first stock investment using Sharesies, the company that she co-founded?
• ... that the discovery of the Bunnik Hoard was a result of metal detectorists searching for a farmer's lost tractor keys?

• A wildfire (pictured) in Japan's Iwate Prefecture becomes the largest in the country in at least five decades.
• Chinese architect Liu Jiakun is awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize.
• The United States imposes—and later partially delays—tariffs on Canada and Mexico and increases tariffs on China, incurring retaliatory tariffs from Canada and China.
• Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost soft-lands on the Moon as part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services program.

March 9

• 1776 – Scottish political economist Adam Smith's book The Wealth of Nations, the first modern work in economics, was published.
• 1891 – Kaʻiulani (pictured) was appointed the heir apparent to the throne of the Hawaiian Kingdom.
• 1925 – The Royal Air Force began a bombardment and strafing campaign against the mountain strongholds of Mahsud tribesmen in South Waziristan, present-day Pakistan.
• 1956 – In Tbilisi, Georgia, soldiers suppressed mass demonstrations against Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev's policy of de-Stalinization.
• 1957 – The Andreanof Islands earthquake struck Hawaii and the Aleutian Islands, causing more than $5 million in damage from ground movement and a destructive tsunami.

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Anna Filosofova (1837–1912) was a Russian feminist of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Born into a noble family, she married Vladimir Filosofov at a young age and had six children. Concerned with the plight of serfs, Filosofova became a feminist in the late 1850s, educated in the salon of Maria Trubnikova. Alongside Trubnikova and Nadezhda Stasova, Filosofova was an early leader of the Russian women's movement; the three were called the "triumvirate". They founded and led several organizations to promote women's cultural and economic independence, such as a publishing house and a women's shelter. They pressured government officials to allow higher education for women, resulting in the creation of the Bestuzhev Courses. From 1879 to 1881, Filosofova was exiled, suspected of revolutionary sympathies; abroad, she became a theosophist. In later life, she participated in the Russian Revolution of 1905 and chaired the first Russian women's congress in 1908, becoming a revered feminist figure. (Full article...)

• ... that Isabel Coursier (pictured) was only 15 years old when she became the first North American to break the world record for women's ski jumping?
• ... that Samba Yonga and Mulenga Kapwepwe founded the Women's History Museum of Zambia to counter a colonialist perspective on women's history?
• ... that Barbara Neumann invented one of the first nanomaterials to be produced on an industrial scale?
• ... that the music video for "Breakfast" was reimagined by Dove Cameron after the Supreme Court of the United States' decision to overturn Roe v. Wade?
• ... that Czech Romani social worker and human rights activist Elena Gorolová worked as a metalworker in her youth?
• ... that Episode 8055 of the Australian television soap opera Neighbours is the first episode in the show's history to star and be directed and written entirely by women?
• ... that Danielle Sassoon, a former acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, credits her study of the Talmud for preparing her for her future legal career?
• ... that the ending of the music video for Hoshimachi Suisei's "Bibbidiba" was called inspiring to struggling women?
• ... that Shirley A. Pomponi helped to create a cancer drug out of a sea-sponge compound?

• A wildfire (pictured) in Japan's Iwate Prefecture becomes the largest in the country in at least five decades.
• Chinese architect Liu Jiakun is awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize.
• The United States imposes—and later partially delays—tariffs on Canada and Mexico and increases tariffs on China, incurring retaliatory tariffs from Canada and China.
• Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost soft-lands on the Moon as part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services program.

March 8: International Women's Day; Aurat March in Pakistan

• 1576 – A Spanish colonial officer wrote a letter to King Philip II containing the first mention of the Maya ruins of Copán in present-day Honduras.
• 1910 – French aviator Raymonde de Laroche became the first woman to receive a pilot's licence.
• 1963 – The Ba'ath Party came to power in a coup d'état by a clique of quasi-leftist Syrian Army officers calling themselves the National Council for the Revolutionary Command.
• 1966 – Nelson's Pillar, a large granite pillar topped by a statue of Lord Nelson in Dublin, Ireland, was severely damaged by a bomb.
• 1979 – Images taken by Voyager 1 proved the existence of volcanoes on Io (pictured), a moon of Jupiter.

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The history of infant schools in Great Britain began in 1816, when the first infant school was founded in New Lanark, Scotland. It was followed by other philanthropic infant schools across Great Britain. Infant teaching came to include moral education, exercise, and an authoritative but friendly teacher. Infant schools increased the education that many children received before leaving school to work. State-funded schools in England and Wales were advised in 1840 to include infant departments. Infant education came under pressure to achieve quick academic progress, notably through rote learning. Beginning in 1905, infant lessons in England and Wales shifted towards more child-centred methods of teaching, where education was meant to reflect the preferences of children. The child-centred approach reached its peak following a report in 1967. In 1988, a more centralised curriculum was introduced. The term "infant department" was used widely in Scotland in the 1960s but is no longer much used there. (Full article...)

• ... that Brian Driscoll (pictured) became the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation by accident?
• ... that censorship in communist Poland delayed the publication of the novel Zaziemskie światy for nearly a decade due to its "inappropriate ideological basis" and positive portrayal of the United States?
• ... that the Russian government has been blamed for helping to escalate the Wars in the Caucasus by pursuing a policy of neocolonialism?
• ... that the concept of Weighing Souls with Sand reflects the guitarist's grief over the death of his first girlfriend?
• ... that Naenano was once known as "the face that Japanese girls most want to have right now"?
• ... that the Hennepin Avenue Steel Arch Bridge had to be put up for sale before it could be demolished?
• ... that Erin LeCount regularly rehearsed at a music venue owned by her primary school teacher?
• ... that Jacinda Ardern said that she was "sometimes a reluctant participant" of a documentary film about her?
• ... that an author referred to her book Accidental Gods as "dad non-fiction"?

• A wildfire (pictured) in Japan's Iwate Prefecture becomes the largest in the country in at least five decades.
• Chinese architect Liu Jiakun is awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize.
• The United States imposes tariffs on Canada and Mexico and increases tariffs on China, but then reverses the majority of tariffs on Canada and Mexico within 24 hours.
• Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost soft-lands on the Moon as part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services program.

March 7: Feast day of Saints Perpetua and Felicity (Catholicism, Anglicanism, Lutheranism)

• 1573 – A peace treaty brought the Ottoman–Venetian War to an end, ceding Cyprus from the Republic of Venice to the Ottoman Empire.
• 1871 – José Paranhos, Viscount of Rio Branco, began a four-year premiership as Prime Minister of the Empire of Brazil, the longest in the state's history.
• 1941 – The German submarine U-47, one of the most successful U-boats of World War II, disappeared with 45 men on board.
• 1965 – Unarmed civil rights activists marching from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, were attacked by police (pictured) on "Bloody Sunday".
• 2021 – A series of four explosions at a military barracks in Bata, Equatorial Guinea caused at least 107 deaths.

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Les Holden (6 March 1895 – 18 September 1932) was a fighter ace of World War I. He joined the Australian Light Horse in May 1915, serving in Egypt and France. In December 1916, he volunteered for the Australian Flying Corps and qualified as a pilot. As a member of No. 2 Squadron, he gained the sobriquets "Lucky Les" and "the homing pigeon" after a series of incidents where he limped back to base in bullet-riddled aircraft. Holden was awarded the Military Cross, achieved five aerial victories, finishing the war as an instructor with No. 6 (Training) Squadron in England, earning the Air Force Cross. After leaving the Australian Flying Corps in 1919, he became a manager at Holden's Motor Body Builders. He joined the part-time Citizen Air Force before starting an air service as a commercial pilot. In 1929, he located Charles Kingsford Smith and Charles Ulm in the north-west Australian desert after the pair were reported missing. Holden was killed in a passenger plane crash in Australia. (Full article...)

• ... that Norse Peak (pictured) is the namesake of a wilderness area, a wildfire, and a fleece jacket?
• ... that Mark Leiter spent four months working as a corrections officer while rehabilitating from shoulder surgery?
• ... that the two regions most devastated by Typhoon Yagi in Vietnam declined government funding for recovery efforts?
• ... that Benjamin Schreiber argued that his life sentence ended after he was resuscitated?
• ... that a National Guard pilot died while pursuing a reported flying saucer in 1948?
• ... that Philip S. Low received a PhD from the University of California, San Diego, before Philip S. Low received a PhD from the University of California, San Diego?
• ... that when the French web series Blow Up briefly aired on television in 2014, its allotted airtime was too short to fit some of its episodes?
• ... that American Football's American Football, regarded by the band as a side project, went on to achieve cult status?
• ... that "Point the Finger", a comic-book story written in 1989, has been described as "Trump fiction"?

• A wildfire (pictured) burning in Japan's Iwate Prefecture becomes the largest in the country for at least three decades.
• Chinese architect Liu Jiakun is awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize.
• The United States imposes tariffs on Canada and Mexico and increases tariffs on China, incurring retaliatory tariffs from Canada and China.
• Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost soft-lands on the Moon as part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services program.
• At the Academy Awards, Anora wins five awards, including Best Picture.

March 6

• 845 – The Abbasid Caliphate executed 42 Byzantine officials who had been captured in the sack of Amorium of 838 for refusing to convert to Islam.
• 1447 – Tommaso Parentucelli was elected as Pope Nicholas V in Rome.
• 1904 – Scottish National Antarctic Expedition: Led by William Speirs Bruce (pictured), the Antarctic region of Coats Land was discovered by the Scotia.
• 1988 – The Troubles: In Operation Flavius, the Special Air Service killed three volunteers of the Provisional Irish Republican Army conspiring to bomb a parade of British military bands in Gibraltar.
• 2000 – The Marine Parade Community Building, the mural cladding of which is the largest installation art in Singapore, was opened.

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Leroy Chollet (March 5, 1925 – June 10, 1998) was an American professional basketball player. Chollet enrolled at Loyola University New Orleans and led the Loyola Wolf Pack to their first championship. Louisiana schools were segregated at the time; Chollet had an African-American great-grandparent and was pressured into leaving Loyola when this was revealed. He moved to New York and played three seasons for Canisius College. Chollet played for several professional teams, including the Syracuse Nationals. During the inaugural season of the National Basketball Association (NBA), Syracuse reached the 1950 NBA Finals. An ankle injury limited Chollet's second year in the NBA. He married Barbara Knaus and, after retiring from professional basketball in 1952, he moved to her hometown, Lakewood, Ohio. They had three children: Lawrence, Melanie, and David. In Lakewood, Chollet worked on the construction of St. Edward High School and became a teacher and a varsity head coach. (Full article...)

• ... that the salmon Eosalmo (fossil example pictured) likely never migrated to the ocean?
• ... that professional baseball player Eric Reyzelman was twice cut from his high-school baseball team?
• ... that the Dakhni and Amanat Khan caravanserais, built to provide lodging to travelers, are situated on a little-used, Mughal-era highway between Agra and Lahore?
• ... that Huwie Ishizaki was often asked to "write his real name", despite Huwie being his actual name?
• ... that Joss Whedon was hired to "contribute creatively" to each film in Phase Two of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, in addition to writing and directing Avengers: Age of Ultron?
• ... that in the official historiography of the Chinese Communist Party, Wei Baqun is considered one of its great early peasant-movement leaders, along with Mao Zedong?
• ... that Post Malone publicly called his debut album "mediocre" less than a year after its release?
• ... that the Ming dynasty fantasy novel Journey to the South – whose protagonist accidentally amputates his right leg and converts to Buddhism – alludes to popular one-legged spirits?
• ... that Vince Gill once mooned a crowd that poorly received him as an opening act for Kiss?

• The United States imposes tariffs on Canada and Mexico and increases tariffs on China, incurring retaliatory tariffs from Canada and China.
• Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost (rendering shown) successfully soft-lands on the Moon as part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services program.
• At the Academy Awards, Anora wins five awards, including Best Picture.
• A roadmap towards providing developing countries with US$200 billion a year by 2030 is agreed to at an extended session of the 2024 United Nations Biodiversity Conference.

March 5: Ash Wednesday (Western Christianity, 2025); Learn from Lei Feng Day in China; St Piran's Day in Cornwall, England

• 1811 – Peninsular War: At the Battle of Barrosa, Anglo-Iberian forces trying to lift the Siege of Cádiz defeated a French attack but could not break the siege itself.
• 1825 – Roberto Cofresí, one of the last Caribbean pirates, was apprehended after his flagship sloop Anne was captured by authorities.
• 1936 – The prototype (pictured) of the Supermarine Spitfire flew for the first time.
• 1960 – Cuban photographer Alberto Korda took his iconic photograph Guerrillero Heroico of Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara.
• 1981 – The ZX81, a pioneering British home computer, was launched by Sinclair Research, and went on to sell more than 1.5 million units around the world.

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James Madison (1751–1836) was a Founding Father of the United States and its fourth president, serving from March 4, 1809, to March 4, 1817. Dubbed the "Father of the Constitution" for his role in creating the U.S. Constitution, he had been dissatisfied with the weak government under the Articles of Confederation, and helped organize the Constitutional Convention of 1787. He then joined Alexander Hamilton and John Jay in writing The Federalist Papers, a series of essays that remains prominent, and served in Congress. With Thomas Jefferson, Madison organized the Democratic-Republican Party, and was Jefferson's secretary of state from 1801 to 1809. Madison was elected president in 1808, was re-elected in 1812, and led the U.S. in the War of 1812, which convinced him of the need for a stronger federal government. He presided over the creation of the Second Bank of the United States and the passage of the protective Tariff of 1816. Historians have ranked him as an above-average president. (Full article...)

• ... that Bob Foster named a small cactus species (pictured) after his best friend, Charlie Glass, with whom he undertook more than a dozen plant-hunting expeditions to Mexico?
• ... that Autechre used something called "the system" during the composition of Sign?
• ... that a Roman Catholic archbishop was the first person to translate William Shakespeare's works into Polish?
• ... that there was once a stalagmite heist from the longest cave in Arkansas?
• ... that the Korean royal palace Deoksugung mixes Korean and Western architectural styles?
• ... that May You Stay Forever Young is the first Hong Kong film to be banned following the amendment of the Film Censorship Ordinance?
• ... that Reine Abbas chose the name Wixel Studios, a blend of "Weird Pixel", in recognition of being one of the only gaming studios in Lebanon?
• ... that the Ibn Shillif brothers, evading the Ottoman authorities' pursuit after leading a local rebellion, found safe haven in the Alawite villages of Ayn al-Kurum and Annab?
• ... that Tina Leung dressed as her comic book alter ego when accepting an award for the House of Slay?

• Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost (rendering shown) successfully soft-lands on the Moon as part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services program.
• At the Academy Awards, Anora wins five awards, including Best Picture.
• In the German federal election, the CDU/CSU, led by Friedrich Merz, wins the most seats in the Bundestag.
• Archaeologists announce that the empty tomb Wadi C-4 near Luxor, Egypt, was that of the pharaoh Thutmose II.

March 4: Feast day of Saint Casimir (Catholicism), Mardi Gras / Shrove Tuesday (2025)

• 1386 – Jogaila, Grand Duke of Lithuania, was crowned King of Poland as Władysław II Jagiełło (pictured), beginning the Jagiellonian dynasty.
• 1773 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart departed Italy after the last of his three journeys there.
• 1899 – Cyclone Mahina struck Bathurst Bay, Queensland, killing more than 300 people in one of the deadliest natural disasters in Australian history.
• 1918 – A case of influenza was recorded at Camp Funston, Kansas, conventionally marking the beginning of the Spanish flu pandemic.
• 2017 – Construction began on a 69-metre (226 ft) statue of the Buddha at Wat Paknam Bhasicharoen in Bangkok.

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USS Congress was a nominally rated 38-gun wooden-hulled, three-masted heavy frigate launched on 15 August 1799. She was one of the original six frigates of the newly formed United States Navy and, along with her sister ships, was larger and more heavily armed than standard frigates of the period. Her first duties were to protect American shipping during the Quasi-War with France. In 1804 and 1805, Congress helped to defeat the Barbary corsairs in the First Barbary War. During the War of 1812, she made several extended cruises with President: the pair captured 20 British merchant ships. At the end of 1813, due to a lack of materials to repair her, Congress was placed in reserve. In 1815, she took part in the Second Barbary War and made patrols through 1816. In the 1820s, she helped suppress piracy in the West Indies, made several voyages to South America, and was the first U.S. warship to visit China. Congress spent her last ten years as a receiving ship until she was broken up in 1834. (Full article...)

• ... that a 1920 article segregated members of Isopyrum into the new genus Paraquilegia – assigning it P. grandflorum, P. caespitosa, P. microphylla (example pictured), and P. uniflora – but had the "rather less fortunate" effect of expanding Semiaquilegia beyond S. adoxoides?
• ... that the publication of Ten no Hate Made – Poland Hishi, the first legally published manga in Poland, has been described as the event that created the manga fandom in the country?
• ... that when Wilson Starbuck's play Sea Dogs was staged in 1939 it "contained some of the foulest language heard on Broadway" at that point in history?
• ... that Harry Clarke's Geneva Window was never installed in Geneva because of the "grave offense" it might cause?
• ... that Michal Pivoňka's father was demoted at work as a result of his son signing with the Washington Capitals?
• ... that more than 5,000 genres on Spotify use the suffix -core?
• ... that blackface minstrel show performer George L. Wade was also a race car manufacturer?
• ... that transportation during the 2024 Summer Olympics and Paralympics accounted for 53 percent of the games' carbon footprint?
• ... that a specimen of Tyrannasorus rex had six legs and wings and was killed by a legume?

• In the German federal election, the CDU/CSU, led by Friedrich Merz (pictured), wins the most seats in the Bundestag.
• Archaeologists announce that the empty tomb Wadi C-4 near Luxor, Egypt, was that of the pharaoh Thutmose II.
• At the British Academy Film Awards, Conclave wins four awards, including Best Film.
• Mahamoud Ali Youssouf is elected chairman of the African Union Commission.

March 3: Liberation Day in Bulgaria (1878); Hinamatsuri in Japan

• 1284 – The Statute of Rhuddlan was enacted, introducing English common law to the Principality of Wales.
• 1875 – Bizet's Carmen premiered at the Opéra-Comique in Paris, with mezzo-soprano Célestine Galli-Marié in the title role (pictured).
• 1891 – Shoshone National Forest in Wyoming was established as the first national forest in the United States.
• 1913 – Thousands of women marched in Washington, D.C., "in a spirit of protest" against the exclusion of women from American society.
• 1991 – Rodney King was beaten by Los Angeles Police Department officers during an arrest, causing public outrage that increased tensions between the African-American community and the police department over police brutality and social inequality.

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Hughie Ferguson (2 March 1895 – 8 January 1930) was a professional footballer. He was one of Scotland's most sought-after young players before signing for Motherwell F.C. to begin his professional career. He played as a centre forward and finished as the top goalscorer in the Scottish Football League on three occasions. His 284 league goals remains a club record and, by 1925, he was the highest-scoring player in the history of the Scottish League. In 1925, Ferguson moved to Cardiff City F.C.; he was the club's top goalscorer for four consecutive seasons. He scored the winning goal in the 1927 FA Cup final and scored in the 1927 FA Charity Shield. Ferguson returned to Scotland with Dundee F.C. in 1929, but struggled to reproduce his goalscoring form. Six months after his arrival, he lost his place in the team and committed suicide. He is one of only seven men in the history of the English and Scottish Football Leagues to have scored 350 league goals. (Full article...)

• ... that Naide Gomes (pictured) broke the Portuguese long-jump record fourteen times in her career, raising it from 6.56 metres to 7.12 metres?
• ... that Documented is the first non-Chinese newsroom in the United States with its product on WeChat?
• ... that Mao Zedong ordered the lenient treatment of bandit leader Cheng Lianzhen, as he thought it rare for a female bandit leader to be from an ethnic minority in China?
• ... that the building Seokjojeon was meant to symbolize the Korean Empire's authority, but it was completed just months before Japan annexed Korea?
• ... that Fritz Strassmann, a co-discoverer of nuclear fission, concealed a Jewish woman in his home during World War II?
• ... that thimble cactus is one of the most commonly grown nipple cacti because it breaks into pieces at the slightest touch?
• ... that 19th-century tightrope walker Madame Saqui performed well into her seventies?
• ... that Michel Langevin described Rush's Didacts and Narpets as "a Max Roach–esque avant-garde jazz piece"?
• ... that the 2025 Love Islander Danielle Sellers once appeared on a farming show on a derivative of OnlyFans?

• American actor Gene Hackman (pictured) and his wife are found dead at home, with circumstances being investigated.
• In the German federal election, the CDU/CSU, led by Friedrich Merz, wins the most seats in the Bundestag.
• Archaeologists announce that the empty tomb Wadi C-4 near Luxor, Egypt, was that of the pharaoh Thutmose II.
• At the British Academy Film Awards, Conclave wins four awards, including Best Film.

March 2: Adwa Victory Day in Ethiopia

• 1484 – The College of Arms, one of the few remaining official heraldic authorities in Europe, was incorporated by royal charter in the City of London.
• 1776 – American Revolutionary War: Patriot militiamen from Georgia and South Carolina attempted to resist the British action to seize and remove supply ships anchored at Savannah, Georgia.
• 1949 – The B-50 Superfortress Lucky Lady II landed in Fort Worth, Texas, to complete the first non-stop circumnavigation of the world by airplane.
• 1962 – Playing for the Philadelphia Warriors, American basketball player Wilt Chamberlain (pictured) scored 100 points in a game against the New York Knicks, which remains an NBA record.
• 2022 – Russian forces captured the city of Kherson, the only regional capital to be taken during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

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Beverly White (1928–2021) was an American politician of the Democratic Party who served in the Utah House of Representatives from 1971 to 1991. Born in Salt Lake City, she was raised in Tooele after the death of her mother and graduated from Tooele High School. White held multiple positions in the Democratic Party at the local, state and national levels, and attended many state and national conventions. In 1971, she was appointed by Governor Cal Rampton to the state house, where she served as assistant whip and was at times the only female committee chair. She was the longest-serving consecutive female member of the Utah Legislature at the time of her death. A delegate to every Democratic National Convention from 1964 to 2004 (with the exception of 1976, when she was an alternate), White served as the secretary of the Utah Democratic Party from 1971 to 1987. White also served on a hospital board, wrote a book about female legislators, and aided in the creation of a satellite campus for Utah State University. (Full article...)

• ... that the annual operating cost of the Grain Belt Beer Sign (pictured) dropped from $48,000 to $7,500 after it was renovated with LED lighting?
• ... that Pan Shu had to write psychological theory in secret during the Cultural Revolution?
• ... that a 1922 Brazilian film was presumed lost for more than 90 years until a copy was rediscovered in 2023?
• ... that peasant Agnieszka Machówna repeatedly deceived Polish nobles into thinking that she was a noble?
• ... that a former professional football player stated his intention to buy the rights to a 25-year-old children's sports game in his podcast?
• ... that Yuika was allowed by her parents to take a music-related course after playing one of her songs to them?
• ... that Walnut Valley, the neighborhood most affected by the 2023 Little Rock tornado, reported theft and illegal dumping during rebuilding efforts?
• ... that the fictional character Moira Pollock was described as a "battleaxe"?
• ... that a butt of malmsey was required to make "Tyre that is excellent", as part of a mixture of "fat Bastard, two gallons of Cute [and] Parrel?

• In the German federal election, the CDU/CSU, led by Friedrich Merz (pictured), wins the most seats in the Bundestag.
• Archaeologists announce that the empty tomb Wadi C-4 near Luxor, Egypt, was that of the pharaoh Thutmose II.
• At the British Academy Film Awards, Conclave wins four awards, including Best Film.
• Mahamoud Ali Youssouf is elected chairman of the African Union Commission.
• President of Romania Klaus Iohannis resigns from office, and is succeeded by Ilie Bolojan in an acting capacity.

March 1: Disability Day of Mourning; Saint David's Day; Independence Day in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina; Longtaitou Festival in China (2025); Yap Day in Yap State, Federated States of Micronesia

• 1562 – An attempt by François, Duke of Guise, to disperse a church service by Huguenots in Wassy, France, turned into a massacre, resulting in 50 dead, and starting the French Wars of Religion.
• 1869 – The Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev (pictured) finished his design of the first periodic table.
• 1921 – The Australian cricket team, led by Warwick Armstrong, became the first team to complete a whitewash in the Ashes, an achievement that would not be repeated for 86 years.
• 1936 – Hoover Dam, straddling the Arizona–Nevada border on the Colorado River, was completed.
• 1992 – A Bosnian-Serb wedding procession was attacked in Sarajevo, resulting in what is widely considered the first casualty of the Bosnian War.

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Anactoria is a woman mentioned in the work of the ancient Greek poet Sappho (pictured), who wrote in the late 7th and early 6th centuries BCE. Sappho names Anactoria as the object of her desire in a poem numbered as fragment 16. Another of her poems, fragment 31, is traditionally called the "Ode to Anactoria", although no name appears in it. As portrayed by Sappho, Anactoria is likely to have been an aristocratic follower of hers, of marriageable age. The English poet Algernon Charles Swinburne's "Anactoria" was published in 1866 and is written from the point of view of Sappho, who expresses her lust for Anactoria in a long, sexually explicit monologue written in rhyming couplets of iambic pentameter. Swinburne's poem created a sensation by openly approaching then-taboo topics such as lesbianism and dystheism. Anactoria later featured in an 1896 play by H. V. Sutherland and in the 1961 poetic series "Three Letters to Anaktoria" by Robert Lowell. (Full article...)

• ... that red velvet cake (example pictured) has been described as "the Dolly Parton of cakes"?
• ... that Hidayat Arsani, the governor of the Bangka Belitung Islands in Indonesia, was dumped into a trash can as a baby by his birth parents?
• ... that Operation Dugo commemorates the death march from the Auschwitz concentration camp annually on 18 January with the consumption of falafel?
• ... that the 1990 Serbian general election returned only two women to the National Assembly of Serbia?
• ... that a desire to be separated from Chicago has led 33 counties in downstate Illinois to hold referendums on secession?
• ... that the Mazarrón I shipwreck combines Phoenician and local Iberian shipbuilding techniques?
• ... that the Sparkles emoji (✨) is used by large software companies to represent artificial intelligence?
• ... that the exterior of Shamsher Khan's tomb originally featured richly painted designs, of which only traces survive?
• ... that Bargain Hunters, a game show with elements of home shopping, was described as having "all the most irritating traits of game shows"?

• In the German federal election, the CDU/CSU, led by Friedrich Merz (pictured), wins the most seats in the Bundestag.
• Archaeologists announce that the empty tomb Wadi C-4 near Luxor, Egypt, was that of the pharaoh Thutmose II.
• At the British Academy Film Awards, Conclave wins four awards, including Best Film.
• Mahamoud Ali Youssouf is elected chairman of the African Union Commission.
• President of Romania Klaus Iohannis resigns from office, and is succeeded by Ilie Bolojan in an acting capacity.

February 28: Tibetan New Year begins (2025); Kalevala Day in Finland; Peace Memorial Day in Taiwan

• 202 BC – Rebel leader Liu Bang declared himself Emperor Gaozu of Han after overthrowing the Qin dynasty, the first imperial dynasty of China.
• 1897 – Ranavalona III (pictured), the last sovereign ruler of the Kingdom of Madagascar, was deposed by French military forces.
• 1928 – Indian physicist C. V. Raman and his colleagues discovered what is now known as Raman scattering, for which he later became the first Asian to win the Nobel Prize in Physics.
• 1975 – A London Underground train failed to stop at the terminal Moorgate station, crashing and causing the deaths of 43 people.
• 2002 – During a period of religious violence in Gujarat, India, mobs of Hindus attacked Muslims in Naroda Patiya and in Chamanpura, resulting in 166 deaths.

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John Wick is a 2014 American action thriller film directed by Chad Stahelski and written by Derek Kolstad. The film stars Keanu Reeves (pictured) as John Wick, a retired hitman who seeks revenge against the men who killed his dog, a final gift from his deceased wife. It also stars Michael Nyqvist, Alfie Allen, Adrianne Palicki, Bridget Moynahan, Dean Winters, Ian McShane, John Leguizamo, and Willem Dafoe. Principal photography began in October 2013, on a $20 million to $30 million budget, and concluded in December. Stahelski and Leitch focused on long, highly choreographed single takes to convey action. Following a successful marketing campaign, John Wick, which was released on October 24, 2014, became a modest success, grossing $86 million worldwide. It received applause for its style and its action sequences. John Wick is seen as having revitalized the action genre and began a successful franchise that includes four other films, a prequel television series, as well as video games and comic books. (Full article...)

• ... that the Plutonium Finishing Plant, which processed more than 66 metric tons of plutonium between 1949 and 1989, was demolished (animation pictured) between 2016 and 2021?
• ... that portions of a protected area in Benin have been entrusted to vodún spirits to protect them from destruction?
• ... that the 2025 U.S. Open Cup will not include its defending champions, Los Angeles FC?
• ... that a lost stone monument for a park in Seoul that closed in 1919 was discovered lying in the grass in 2002?
• ... that the Quad Cities forecast office of the National Weather Service has been directly struck by both an F1 tornado and a historic derecho?
• ... that the hashtag #AlDubEBTamangPanahon set a Guinness World Record in 2015 with 40,706,392 uses in 24 hours, coinciding with the television event "Tamang Panahon"?
• ... that Elizabeth Teeter was originally cast as Lydia Deetz in Broadway's Beetlejuice in 2020, but did not get to play the role until 2022?
• ... that "Gyutto" was used by many couples to cope during the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan?
• ... that Episode 6867 of EastEnders was criticised for its depiction of Milton Keynes despite not being filmed there?

• In the German federal election, the CDU/CSU, led by Friedrich Merz (pictured), wins the most seats in the Bundestag.
• Archaeologists announce that the empty tomb Wadi C-4 near Luxor, Egypt, was that of the pharaoh Thutmose II.
• At the British Academy Film Awards, Conclave wins four awards, including Best Film.
• Mahamoud Ali Youssouf is elected chairman of the African Union Commission.

February 27: Feast day of Saint Gregory of Narek (Catholicism)

• 1776 – American Revolutionary War: A Patriot victory at the Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge resulted in the arrests of 850 Loyalists over the following days.
• 1814 – Peninsular War: In the south of France, Spanish, British and Portuguese soldiers under the command of the Marquess of Wellington defeated French soldiers in the Battle of Orthez, causing the French to retreat east.
• 1988 – The Armenian community of Sumgait in Azerbaijan was the target of a violent pogrom (memorial pictured).
• 1996 – The multimedia franchise Pokémon was launched with the release of the video games Pocket Monsters Red and Green.

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The Roswell incident is a conspiracy theory that alleges that debris from a United States Army Air Forces balloon (pictured) recovered in 1947 near Roswell, New Mexico, was part of a crashed extraterrestrial spacecraft. The debris was from the top-secret Project Mogul, which used high-altitude balloons to detect nuclear tests. Roswell Army Air Field personnel, unaware of Mogul, gathered the material and announced the recovery of a "flying disc"; the statement was retracted within a day. To obscure the source of the debris, the Army reported that it was a conventional weather balloon. In 1978, retired Air Force officer Jesse Marcel revealed that the weather balloon had been a cover story and speculated that the debris was extraterrestrial. This became the basis for long-lasting and increasingly complex and contradictory UFO conspiracy theories, none of which have any factual basis. The conspiracy narrative has become a common trope in fiction. The town of Roswell promotes itself as a UFO tourism destination. (Full article...)

• ... that 1ES 1927+654 (pictured), a galaxy in Draco, exhibited such extreme nuclear activity that it challenged conventional models of black-hole environments?
• ... that the musical career of Louise Beach has ranged from nationally recognized compositions to a children's book about the viola?
• ... that the alpine columbine has been cultivated for centuries, and other columbines have often been mistaken for the species for decades?
• ... that the Lutheran pastor Théodore Beck employed modern education methods at the École alsacienne in Paris in the 1880s: no prizes and no corporal punishment?
• ... that Jonathan Rado invited the Lemon Twigs to record their debut album at his house while they were on a school break?
• ... that Ivan Petrovtsii's vulgar poems were condemned by senior Ukrainian officials in spite of their popularity?
• ... that the CSS-10 aircraft was not produced, despite passing its state trials, as the license for the production of its engine was abandoned?
• ... that the University of Southwestern Louisiana basketball scandal resulted in one of only five times that the NCAA has applied the "death penalty" against a member institution?
• ... that Simeon Barclay's "sculpture of a chicken on its own little mini-mountain" references a traditional Indian game?

• In the German federal election, the CDU/CSU, led by Friedrich Merz (pictured), wins the most seats in the Bundestag.
• Archaeologists announce that the empty tomb Wadi C-4 near Luxor, Egypt, was that of the pharaoh Thutmose II.
• At the British Academy Film Awards, Conclave wins four awards, including Best Film.
• Mahamoud Ali Youssouf is elected chairman of the African Union Commission.
• President of Romania Klaus Iohannis resigns from office, and is succeeded by Ilie Bolojan in an acting capacity.

February 26

• 747 BC – According to Ptolemy, the reign of the Babylonian king Nabonassar (name in Akkadian pictured) began, marking a new era characterized by the systematic maintenance of chronologically precise historical records.
• 1914 – RMS Britannic, the third and largest Olympic-class ocean liner of the White Star Line after RMS Olympic and RMS Titanic, was launched at the Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast.
• 1979 – The Superliner railcar entered revenue service with Amtrak.
• 1995 – Barings Bank, the oldest merchant bank in London, was declared insolvent after its head derivatives trader in Singapore, Nick Leeson, lost £827 million while making unauthorised trades on futures contracts.
• 2014 – Former editor-in-chief of Hong Kong newspaper Ming Pao Kevin Lau was stabbed, prompting concerns and protests about media freedom.

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Martha Bradley (fl. 1740s – 1755) was a British cookery book writer. Little is known about her life, except that she published the cookery book The British Housewife (pictured) in 1756 and worked as a cook for more than 30 years in the fashionable spa town of Bath, Somerset. The British Housewife was released as a 42-issue partwork between January and October 1756. It was published in a two-volume book form in 1758, and is more than a thousand pages long. It is likely that Bradley was dead before the partwork was published. The book follows the French style of nouvelle cuisine, distinguishing Bradley from other female cookery book writers at the time, who focused on a British style of food preparation. The work is carefully organised and the recipes taken from other authors are amended, suggesting she was a knowledgeable and experienced cook, able to improve on existing dishes. Because of the length of the book, it was not reprinted until 1996; as a result, few modern writers have written extensively on Bradley or her work. (Full article...)

• ... that the tuatara Henry (pictured), who was named after Henry VIII, was planned "to have lots of wives"?
• ... that Los Angeles's Hollyhock House was built for someone who lived there for only one year?
• ... that a journalist attributed Bonnie Blue going viral to the "outrage economy"?
• ... that the male members of the band Dingo got bottom pats from local men during a Moroccan photoshoot for the album Kerjäläisten valtakunta?
• ... that the editors of The Philadelphia Inquirer deliberately held back information from the newspaper's TV newscast, Inquirer News Tonight, so as not to be scooped?
• ... that the villain of a Doctor Who story reappeared after 49 years?
• ... that the FBI tried to convince H. Bruce Franklin that Leibel Bergman, a fellow communist activist, was an FBI informant?
• ... that a group of K-pop fans performed a dance with the goal of convincing a company to commit to 100% renewable energy?
• ... that the thumb cactus crawls over other plants in cultivation – unless you grow it upside down?

• In the German federal election, the CDU/CSU, led by Friedrich Merz (pictured), wins the most seats in the Bundestag.
• Archaeologists announce that the empty tomb Wadi C-4 near Luxor, Egypt, was that of the pharaoh Thutmose II.
• At the British Academy Film Awards, Conclave wins four awards, including Best Film.
• Mahamoud Ali Youssouf is elected chairman of the African Union Commission.
• President of Romania Klaus Iohannis resigns from office, and is succeeded by Ilie Bolojan in an acting capacity.

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

• 1843 – Royal Navy captain Lord George Paulet began a five-month occupation of the Hawaiian Islands.
• 1933 – USS Ranger (pictured), the United States Navy's first purpose-built aircraft carrier, was launched.
• 1951 – After being postponed due to World War II, the inaugural Pan American Games opened in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
• 1994 – Israeli physician Baruch Goldstein opened fire on Palestinian Muslims praying at the mosque in Hebron's Cave of the Patriarchs, killing 29 people and wounding 125 others.
• 2009 – At their headquarters in Pilkhana, members of the Bangladesh Rifles began a mutiny that resulted in 82 deaths.

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Overdrawn at the Memory Bank is a 1984 science-fiction television film starring Raul Julia and Linda Griffiths (pictured). Based on a 1976 short story by John Varley from the Eight Worlds series, the film takes place in a dystopian future where an employee at a conglomerate, played by Julia, gets trapped inside the company's computer, where he is monitored and later abetted by a character played by Griffiths as he affects the real world. It was co-produced by Canada's RSL Films in Toronto and the New York television station WNET. Because of its limited budget, the motion picture was shot on videotape instead of film and was pre-sold to small American cable companies. It premiered on CBC Television in 1984 and was broadcast on American Playhouse in 1985. The film had a mixed reception from critics. Overdrawn at the Memory Bank was featured in the eighth-season finale of the comedy television series Mystery Science Theater 3000 in 1997. (Full article...)

• ... that Diana Vicezar (pictured) created recycled housing for street dogs, a recruitment platform for international students, and a podcast about Latin American students in Ireland?
• ... that the Weeping Angels, despite appearing as stone statues, are portrayed by actresses?
• ... that series fiction often suffers from "melodramatic inflation", requiring increasingly dramatic threats, which can lead to prequels and spin-offs?
• ... that 9 to 5 actor Dabney Coleman flew to New York City to pursue acting the day after an actor stopped by for a drink?
• ... that a set of 12th-century Swedish murals in Finja Church is the main achievement of a workshop that decorated at least ten other churches?
• ... that Ren Jinping fought the backlash against a crime film by calling it educational?
• ... that the California FAIR Plan could have nearly $5 billion of exposure to damage from the Palisades and Eaton Fires while only having $377 million on hand to pay claims?
• ... that statements about the character Ridley's reasons for not being in the fighting game series Super Smash Bros. led to Internet memes about the character's large size?
• ... that William Bartram was both the father of William Bartram and the grandfather of William Bartram?

• Archaeologists announce that the empty tomb Wadi C-4 near Luxor, Egypt, was that of the pharaoh Thutmose II (relief pictured).
• At the British Academy Film Awards, Conclave wins four awards, including Best Film.
• Mahamoud Ali Youssouf is elected chairman of the African Union Commission.
• President of Romania Klaus Iohannis resigns from office, and is succeeded by Ilie Bolojan in an acting capacity.
• A bus falls off a bridge over the Las Vacas River in Guatemala City, killing at least 55 people.

February 24: Independence Day in Estonia (1918)

• 1711 – George Frideric Handel's Rinaldo, the first Italian-language opera written specifically for the London stage, premiered.
• 1809 – Napoleonic Wars: French admiral Louis Thomas Villaret de Joyeuse (pictured) unconditionally surrendered to British forces, ending their invasion of Martinique and beginning a five-year occupation of the island.
• 1979 – Uganda–Tanzania War: Ugandan government forces fled Masaka as the Tanzania People's Defence Force bombarded and captured the town.
• 1989 – United Airlines Flight 811 experienced uncontrolled decompression after leaving Honolulu International Airport, Hawaii, blowing seats out of the aircraft and killing nine passengers.

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Donald Forrester Brown (23 February 1890 – 1 October 1916) was a New Zealand recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for valour in the face of the enemy that could be awarded at that time to members of the British and Commonwealth armed forces. Born in Dunedin, Brown was a farmer when the First World War began. In late 1915, he volunteered for service abroad with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF) and was posted to the 2nd Battalion, the Otago Infantry Regiment. Fighting on the Western Front, he performed the actions that led to the award of the Victoria Cross in September 1916 during the Battle of Flers–Courcelette, part of the Somme offensive. As he was killed several days later during the Battle of Le Transloy, the award was made posthumously. His Victoria Cross was the second to be awarded to a soldier serving with the NZEF during the war and was the first earned in an action on the Western Front. (Full article...)

• ... that Lambrini Girls (pictured) have described their January 2025 debut album Who Let the Dogs Out as "a party for pissed off, gay, angry sluts"?
• ... that Qatari calligrapher Fatma Al Sharshani was commissioned by Paris Saint-Germain FC to design a skateboard and some Arabic lettering for their shirts?
• ... that some practices found in Jewish customs of etiquette can be traced back to ancient Rome?
• ... that after chicken keeping was legalized in some U.S. cities, Coastal Farm & Ranch began holding seminars on the subject?
• ... that during a 1989 visit to the United States, Boris Yeltsin said that "there would be a revolution" if the average Soviet citizen knew of the quality of grocery stores in the United States?
• ... that Nourah al-Qahtani was sentenced to 45 years in prison based on alleged social media activity?
• ... that the 1992 video game Otogirisō reinvigorated interest in adventure games in Japan?
• ... that from 1853 to 1855 the State Emigrant Refuge and Hospital on Wards Island in New York City was the largest hospital complex in the world?
• ... that Susan B. Anthony delivered her initial speeches advocating for women's rights at a quilting bee?

• Archaeologists announce that the empty tomb Wadi C-4 near Luxor, Egypt, was that of the pharaoh Thutmose II (relief pictured).
• At the British Academy Film Awards, Conclave wins four awards, including Best Film.
• Mahamoud Ali Youssouf is elected chairman of the African Union Commission.
• President of Romania Klaus Iohannis resigns from office, and is succeeded by Ilie Bolojan in an acting capacity.
• A bus falls off a bridge over the Las Vacas River in Guatemala City, killing at least 55 people.

February 23: The Emperor's Birthday in Japan (1960)

• 1725 – J. S. Bach first performed his Shepherd Cantata for the birthday of Christian, Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels (pictured).
• 1854 – The Orange River Convention was signed in Bloemfontein, with the United Kingdom agreeing to recognise the independence of the Orange Free State in present-day South Africa.
• 1886 – American inventor Charles Martin Hall discovered an inexpensive method of producing aluminium.
• 1987 – SN 1987A, the first supernova that modern astronomers were able to study in great detail, was observed from Earth occurring in the Large Magellanic Cloud.
• 2021 – Riots in four Ecuadorian prisons, caused by gang rivalries, resulted in the deaths of 79 inmates.

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Eddie Gerard (February 22, 1890 – August 7, 1937) was a Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and manager. Born in Ottawa, Ontario, he played professionally for ten seasons for the Ottawa Senators, as a left winger for three years before switching to defence. He was the first player to win the Stanley Cup four years in a row, from 1920 to 1923, three times with the Senators and once as an injury replacement player with the Toronto St. Patricks. After his playing career he served as a coach and manager, working with the Montreal Maroons from 1925 until 1929, and winning the Stanley Cup in 1926. He coached the New York Americans for two seasons before returning to the Maroons for two more seasons, then ended his career coaching the St. Louis Eagles in 1934. Regarded as one of the best defenders of his era, Gerard was one of the original nine players inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1945. He was also inducted into the Canada's Sports Hall of Fame. (Full article...)

• ... that George Washington (pictured) was first exhibited at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, and later relocated during the 1976 Bicentennial to Trenton?
• ... that the Directorate General of Higher Education in Indonesia had been dissolved twice before being re-established in 2019?
• ... that San Antonio declared January 13 to be "Tabyana Ali Day" in honor of the actress and writer Tabyana Ali?
• ... that one analysis of the song "Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell" cites the ancient Roman orator Quintilian?
• ... that Edward III's Breton campaign ended in a truce that was "astonishingly favourable" to the English?
• ... that the fantasy writer M. A. R. Barker wrote the neo-Nazi novel Serpent's Walk in 1991, but his authorship was only confirmed in 2022?
• ... that one of the first Polish film producers was prevented from screening his first film in Poland?
• ... that Fuzhou Road was once the centre of the Chinese publishing industry?
• ... that nekonomics includes the leveraging of stray cat populations on islands to draw tourists?

• Archaeologists announce that the empty tomb Wadi C-4 near Luxor, Egypt, was that of the pharaoh Thutmose II (relief pictured).
• At the British Academy Film Awards, Conclave wins four awards, including Best Film.
• Mahamoud Ali Youssouf is elected chairman of the African Union Commission.
• President of Romania Klaus Iohannis resigns from office, and is succeeded by Ilie Bolojan in an acting capacity.

February 22

• 1371 – Robert II became King of Scots as the first monarch of the House of Stewart.
• 1959 – Lee Petty won the first edition of the Daytona 500, a NASCAR auto race at the Daytona International Speedway (pictured) in Florida.
• 1974 – Samuel Byck attempted to hijack an aircraft at Baltimore/Washington International Airport with the intention of crashing it into the White House to assassinate U.S. president Richard Nixon, but he was stopped by police.
• 2019 – A group broke into the North Korean embassy in Madrid, Spain, and stole several mobile telephones and digital storage devices.

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The Virgo interferometer is a large-scale scientific instrument near Pisa, Italy, for detecting gravitational waves. The detector measures minuscule length variations in its two 3-kilometre (1.9-mile) arms induced by the passage of gravitational waves. The project, named after the Virgo galaxy cluster, was first approved in 1992 and construction was completed in 2003. After undergoing important upgrades between 2011 and 2016 (during which LIGO made the first detection of gravitational waves), Virgo made its first detection on 14 August 2017. This was followed by the detection of GW170817, the only gravitational wave also observed with classical methods (optical, gamma-ray, X-ray and radio telescopes) as of 2024. Virgo is managed by the Virgo Collaboration, gathering 940 members in 20 countries, in cooperation with similar detectors such as LIGO and KAGRA. (Full article...)

• ... that some railings in London have kinks (example pictured), indicating their original use as stretchers?
• ... that Yu Xiangdou, unlike most other publishers in Ming-dynasty China, enjoyed including illustrations of himself in his works?
• ... that Frank Lloyd Wright paid more for a well at his Taliesin West estate than he had paid for the land itself?
• ... that Yuval Raphael, who is set to represent Israel at Eurovision 2025, survived the October 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel by hiding under dead bodies for eight hours?
• ... that the horses pulling the Disneyland Main Street Vehicles' streetcars include Belgians, Brabants, Clydesdales, Percherons, and Shires?
• ... that the delegation of the British Virgin Islands at the 2024 Summer Olympics was supported by a scholarship named after their chef de mission?
• ... that Canadian heritage minister Pascale St-Onge was the bassist on an all-lesbian alternative rock quartet?
• ... that North and South Korean politicians have expressed fondness for Seoul's third-oldest restaurant?
• ... that scholars have discussed whether a 19th-century artwork by Sengai should be titled "○△□" or "□△○"?

• Archaeologists announce that the empty tomb Wadi C-4 near Luxor, Egypt, was that of the pharaoh Thutmose II (relief pictured).
• At the British Academy Film Awards, Conclave wins four awards, including Best Film.
• Mahamoud Ali Youssouf is elected chairman of the African Union Commission.
• President of Romania Klaus Iohannis resigns from office, and is succeeded by Ilie Bolojan in an acting capacity.
• A bus falls off a bridge over the Las Vacas River in Guatemala City, killing at least 55 people.

February 21

• 1746 – Jacobite rising of 1745: The siege of Inverness ended with British forces surrendering to the Jacobite army.
• 1862 – American Civil War: The Confederate Army began an attempt to gain control of the Southwest with a major victory in the Battle of Valverde.
• 1952 – A number of student protesters demanding the establishment of Bengali as an official language were killed by police in Dhaka, East Pakistan.
• 1965 – American Black nationalist Malcolm X (pictured) was assassinated while giving a speech in New York City's Audubon Ballroom.
• 1973 – After accidentally straying into Israeli-occupied airspace, Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114 was shot down by two fighter aircraft, killing 108 of the 113 people on board.

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Tesla has labor disputes in the United States, Germany and Sweden, including an ongoing strike in Sweden. Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, has expressed his opposition to unions on Twitter (now called X). These tweets are currently under scrutiny by US courts to determine whether they are protected free speech or unlawful. All unionization efforts at the Tesla Fremont Factory and Gigafactory New York in the United States have been unsuccessful. In Germany, Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg and Tesla Automation have elected works councils, but they have not signed collective bargaining agreements with the German trade union IG Metall (members pictured). The Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg works council is divided into pro-union and anti-union factions. In Sweden, mechanics who are members of the trade union IF Metall have been on strike since October 27, 2023, making it the longest strike in Sweden since 1938. The strike has since spread, with other Swedish, Danish and Norwegian unions calling for solidarity strikes. (Full article...)

• ... that the catalogue for Tanzania. Masterworks of African Sculpture highlighted traditional artworks such as a Sukuma mask (pictured)?
• ... that Ankarette Twynho's hanging for poisoning a duchess was a cause célèbre, and has been described by one modern historian as "judicial murder"?
• ... that China has sanctioned more than 100 foreign individuals and entities with asset freezes and other restrictions?
• ... that technical issues in the minute before their November 2024 BBC Radio 1 performance meant that South Arcade had to set up while the presenter was announcing them?
• ... that Kasey Morlock was one of five NCAA Division II women's basketball players selected for the 25th-anniversary team?
• ... that Doctor Who series 13 told only a single story, the first time for the show since 1986?
• ... that the scientific name of a species of crustacean is named after ambassador Lamtiur Andaliah Panggabean and her two children?
• ... that Milton Nascimento did not enter himself into the second edition of the Festival Internacional da Canção, yet placed second?
• ... that one-dollar pizza slices, a unique part of the culture of New York City, were originally sold near homeless shelters?

• At the British Academy Film Awards, Conclave (director and Outstanding British Film co-winner Edward Berger pictured) wins four awards, including Best Film.
• Mahamoud Ali Youssouf is elected chairman of the African Union Commission.
• President of Romania Klaus Iohannis resigns from office, and is succeeded by Ilie Bolojan in an acting capacity.
• A bus falls off a bridge over the Las Vacas River in Guatemala City, killing at least 55 people.

February 20: Day of the Heavenly Hundred Heroes in Ukraine (2014)

• 1685 – The French colonization of Texas began with the landing of colonists led by Robert de La Salle near Matagorda Bay.
• 1959 – Canadian prime minister John Diefenbaker cancelled the Avro CF-105 Arrow (pictured) interceptor-aircraft program amid much political debate.
• 1970 – Wat Phra Dhammakaya, one of the largest Buddhist temples in Thailand, was founded in Pathum Thani.
• 1998 – At the age of 15, American figure skater Tara Lipinski became the then-youngest winner of an Olympic gold medal in the history of the Winter Olympic Games.

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Huaynaputina is a volcano in a volcanic plateau in southern Peru. Lying in the Central Volcanic Zone of the Andes, it was formed by the subduction of the oceanic Nazca plate under the continental South American plate. Huaynaputina is a large volcanic crater, lacking an identifiable mountain profile, with an outer stratovolcano and three younger volcanic vents within an amphitheatre-shaped structure that is either a former caldera or a remnant of glacial erosion. The volcano has erupted dacitic magma. In the Holocene, Huaynaputina has erupted several times, including on 19 February 1600 – the largest eruption ever recorded in South America. Witnessed by people in the city of Arequipa, it killed at least 1,000 people in the region, wiped out vegetation, buried the surrounding area with 2 metres (7 feet) of volcanic rock and damaged infrastructure and economic resources. The eruption caused a volcanic winter and may have played a role in the onset of the Little Ice Age. Floods, famines, and social upheavals resulted, including a probable link with the Russian Time of Troubles. (Full article...)

• ... that Antimonumento +65 (pictured) bears the names of 65 miners who were trapped 19 years ago today and died during the Pasta de Conchos mine disaster?
• ... that Joanna of Montfort became known as the "Flame of Brittany" after she led the successful defence of Hennebont against a besieging French army in 1342?
• ... that Nagi Nemoto made her VTuber debut on a classic television set?
• ... that National Hockey League players have not yet participated at the Olympics since the league entered its second century of operation?
• ... that Swen Swenson was born in Norway but pioneered a drainage system for Nicollet County while living in New Sweden?
• ... that the Alt Llobregat insurrection took place without any looting or killing?
• ... that Devello Z. Sheffield petitioned for the release of an assailant who had left him with over 30 wounds?
• ... that the 1924 film Tkies-kaf had no director until its lead actor volunteered?
• ... that the Māori-language name for Cave Rock, Sumner—Tuawera—means 'cut down as if by fire'?

• At the British Academy Film Awards, Conclave (director and Outstanding British Film co-winner Edward Berger pictured) wins four awards, including Best Film.
• Mahamoud Ali Youssouf is elected as chairman of the African Union Commission.
• President of Romania Klaus Iohannis resigns from office, and is succeeded by Ilie Bolojan in an acting capacity.
• A bus falls off a bridge over the Las Vacas River in Guatemala City, killing at least 55 people.

February 19: Family Day in Canada (2024)

• 1811 – Peninsular War: Outnumbered French forces under Édouard Mortier routed and nearly destroyed Spanish troops at the Battle of the Gebora near Badajoz, Spain.
• 1903 – A blockade against Venezuela (depicted), caused by President Cipriano Castro's refusal to pay foreign debts, was lifted.
• 1942 – World War II: U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, authorizing the forcible relocation of over 112,000 Japanese Americans to internment camps.
• 1948 – The Southeast Asian Youth Conference, which is believed to have inspired armed communist rebellions in different Asian countries, opened in Calcutta, India.

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Benjamin F. McAdoo (1920–1981) was an American architect mainly active in the Seattle area. Born in Pasadena, California, he was inspired to study architecture by a mechanical-drawing class and the work of Paul R. Williams. After working as a draftsman for local architectural firms and the Corps of Engineers, he pursued his Bachelor of Architecture degree at the University of Washington. The first licensed Black architect in the state of Washington, his work featured a modernist aesthetic influenced by the Northwest Regional style. After designing a number of low-income houses and apartments throughout the 1950s, he was hired by the Agency for International Development to design modular houses in Jamaica. He returned to Seattle after a period of work in Washington, D.C., and pursued civic commissions. Outside of work, he participated in the NAACP, hosted a weekly radio show on racial issues for several years, and unsuccessfully ran for a seat in the Washington House of Representatives. (Full article...)

• ... that according to one cacti nurseryman, the Texas nipple cactus (pictured) is so easy to grow that connoisseurs almost look down on it?
• ... that Thomas Burdet supposedly plotted treason against King Edward IV in 1477 after he killed Burdet's favourite white deer?
• ... that 23 tons of dog food were once stolen from the Malibu Feed Bin?
• ... that Alf Jacques crafted more than 80,000 wooden lacrosse sticks in his lifetime?
• ... that the Chinese silent film Lustrous Pearls has been described as blurring the differences between male and female bodies through long shots?
• ... that by 2006, Catholic sister Rosalind "Sister Roz" Gefre has given an estimated 7,000 massages at St. Paul Saints baseball games?
• ... that Inky the octopus attracted worldwide media attention after escaping from the National Aquarium of New Zealand?
• ... that Benedictine monk Brother Justus helped make stills so that farmers could illegally make alcohol during the Prohibition?
• ... that even mpreg enthusiasts disapprove of "ass babies"?

• President of Romania Klaus Iohannis resigns from office, and is succeeded by Ilie Bolojan (pictured) in an acting capacity.
• A bus falls off a bridge over the Las Vacas River in Guatemala City, capital of Guatemala, killing at least 54 people and injuring several others.
• The Baltic states complete synchronization of their power grids with continental Europe's, disconnecting from Russia's.
• The ruling Vetëvendosje party, led by Albin Kurti, wins the most seats in the Assembly of Kosovo.
• The Patriotic Union, led by Brigitte Haas, wins the most seats in the Landtag of Liechtenstein.

February 18

• 3102 BCE – According to Hindu scriptures, Kali Yuga, the last of the four stages that the world goes through as part of the cycle of yugas, began.
• 1814 – War of the Sixth Coalition: French troops led by Napoleon forced the Army of Bohemia to retreat after it advanced dangerously close to Paris.
• 1977 – The Xinjiang 61st Regiment Farm fire started during Chinese New Year when a firecracker ignited the wreaths of late Mao Zedong, killing 694 personnel.
• 2014 – A series of violent events (pictured) involving protesters, riot police, and unknown shooters began in Kyiv that culminated in the ousting of Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych five days later.

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More than 70 people died of methanol poisoning in the Russian city of Irkutsk in December 2016. Caused by the consumption of adulterated surrogate alcohol, it was the deadliest such incident in Russia's post-Soviet history. Russian consumption of surrogate alcohol rose rapidly in the early 2010s amid worsening economic conditions because they were commonly available and cost less than government-regulated vodka. In the Irkutsk incident, people drank hawthorn-scented bath oil which was typically made with and labeled as containing drinkable ethanol. At least one batch was made instead with a toxic amount of methanol (pictured with ethanol), causing injuries and deaths among residents of Novo-Lenino, a neighborhood in Irkutsk. An investigation found that the surrogate alcohol's producer sourced the methanol from an employee of a local windshield washer fluid production facility. The Russian government increased punishments for illegally producing and selling alcohol, and they made it more difficult to acquire surrogate alcohol. (Full article...)