Random trivia

[!--emo&:)--][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/smile.gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'smile.gif\' /][!--endemo--] Much of the credit then goes to Maverick again, this time for having read the books [!--emo&;)--][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/wink.gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'wink.gif\' /][!--endemo--]
 
Errr... no, no credit to me. You answered yourself without any help from me. [!--emo&:blink:--][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/blink.gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'blink.gif\' /][!--endemo--]



By the way, it looks like Perun has a soft spot for a brainy woman! [!--emo&:P--][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/tongue.gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'tongue.gif\' /][!--endemo--]
 
[!--QuoteBegin-Maverick+Aug 8 2005, 04:54 PM--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(Maverick @ Aug 8 2005, 04:54 PM)[/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--QuoteEBegin--]...no, no credit to me...
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Of course. Just wanted to acknowledge you having read the unreadable [!--emo&:)--][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/smile.gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'smile.gif\' /][!--endemo--]
 
Reading the unreadable is a second nature. I read what people post on this board, don't I? [!--emo&:D--][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/biggrin.gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'biggrin.gif\' /][!--endemo--]
 
I've read both Mein Kampf and Frankenstein. It took me three years to get through Mein Kampf. I had to read Frankenstein for English 100.
 
[!--QuoteBegin-Perun+Aug 8 2005, 10:44 AM--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(Perun @ Aug 8 2005, 10:44 AM)[/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--QuoteEBegin--]CHARLOTTE!!!!!!!

You did it once again (well, halfway at least)!

"Mein Kampf" and "Frankenstein" are two of the worlds best-known and most-cited books, yet hardly anyone has actually read them.
In the case of "Frankenstein", this is because of the reputedly long and boring passages of Christian philosophy (as I haven't read it, I can only say what I read about it).
"Mein Kampf" is virtually unreadable because of the lack of grammar structure or logic. I tried to read this book and failed; I attended a reading of it where an actor was reading passages and commenting them.

BTW, I also failed with "Ulysses" so far [!--emo&:P--][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/tongue.gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'tongue.gif\' /][!--endemo--]
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How is literary quality objective, as you stated it was? That seems to me to be the MOST subjective aspect of their lives. By the same token, you could include the Bible in there too. Very few people actually have read directly from it, yet many claim to know exactly what's in there.
I think 'they're both vegetarians' is a much more objective choice for something they had in common. It's a yes/no proposition, whereas different people judge literature by different standards.

Ignore this....I'm just bitter about not winning [!--emo&:lmao:--][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/lol.gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'lol.gif\' /][!--endemo--]
 
Ignored [!--emo&:P--][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/tongue.gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'tongue.gif\' /][!--endemo--]
 
Though I will take this opprotunity to post a new question, inspired by Perun's last one.


Mary Shelly did indeed come up with the story of Frankenstein as part of an afternoon bet with friends. Why were they inside that afternoon instead of persuing usual 19th century passtimes, like gardens, walks, horseback riding, etc?
 
As much as I hate replying again, I think I have the correct answer.

Because they were persuing another favourite 19th century activity: having a contest in writing horror-stories? [!--emo&:P--][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/tongue.gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'tongue.gif\' /][!--endemo--]
 
Her husband and her had been invited at Lord Byron's Italian residence. The bet was to write the story overnight. Few people enjoy their gardens at night. [!--emo&:P--][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/tongue.gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'tongue.gif\' /][!--endemo--]
 
It was a stormy night. [!--emo&:P--][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/tongue.gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'tongue.gif\' /][!--endemo--]
 
[!--QuoteBegin-IronDuke+Aug 9 2005, 05:31 PM--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(IronDuke @ Aug 9 2005, 05:31 PM)[/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--QuoteEBegin--]Keep guessing Mav.
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Ah well, since I'm being awful today anyway:
It was during the snowy summer of 1816, when the world was caught in a long cold volcanic winter caused by the horrible eruption of the Indonesian volcano Tambora.
 
Charlotte beat me to it.. [!--emo&:angry:--][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/mad.gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'mad.gif\' /][!--endemo--] [!--emo&:P--][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/tongue.gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'tongue.gif\' /][!--endemo--]

anyway, my suggestion:

(quote from [a href=\'http://www.expreso.co.cr/centaurs/posts/bio/frankenstein.html)\' target=\'_blank\']http://www.expreso.co.cr/centaurs/posts/bi...nkenstein.html)[/a]

The weather went from being beautiful and radiant to melodramatically tempestuous. Torrential rains and incredible lightning storms plagued the area, similar to the summer that Mary was born . This incredible meteorological change was due to the eruption of the volcano, Tambora, in Indonesia. The weather, as well as the company and the Genevan district, contributed to the genesis of Frankenstein.
 
Charlotte got it right on!

When Tambora erupted, clouds of volcanic ash were spread around the globe, causing a climatic disruption which saw frost and snow every month of the year 1816. Hundreds of thousands of subsistance farmers starved to death, and millions of animals died from a lack of forage.

The Infamous 'Year Without Summer' of 1816 led to people like Shelly being couped up inside all the time with little to do. She and her friends decided to entertain themselves by writing horror stories.
 
To keep in the vein of horror. Where does the myth of the vampire have its genesis?
Clue: it's in the question, anybody with half a brain can put two and two together [!--emo&:D--][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/biggrin.gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'biggrin.gif\' /][!--endemo--].
 
Anything to do with [a href=\'http://www.maidenfans.com/imc/index.php?url=album01_ironmaiden/vladtepes&link=albums&lang=eng\' target=\'_blank\']this[/a]? [!--emo&:P--][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/tongue.gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'tongue.gif\' /][!--endemo--]
 
The 1st book of Moses? [!--emo&:blink:--][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/blink.gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'blink.gif\' /][!--endemo--]
I seem to remember reading somewhere that the first mention of a vampire is in a drama by a Roman I forgot...
 
This is not to answer the question but I thought it was interesting.

In the same bet that brought life to Frankenstein, another guest, Dr John Polidori (Byron's physician), came up with The Vampyre. According to Wikipedia, the story later became a strong influence on Bram Stoker's Dracula.

Funnily enough there's a connection to Mein Kampf as well. Hitler operates here with the so called "blood theory" which implies that Jews are like vampires sucking the blood of Aryan race.

(Sorry about the detour [!--emo&^_^--][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/happy.gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'happy.gif\' /][!--endemo--] )
 
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