
On a dreary day near Lake Geneva in 1816, Lord Byron offered a ghost tale contest, which inspired Mary Shelley to write Frankenstein. It was also the birthplace of John Polidori's The Vampyre, his first vampire fiction written in English. Polidori was Byron's personal physician, and he may have modeled his aristocratic bloodsucker on his patient—making Lord Byron the inspiration for the majority of vampire representations that followed. (According to some versions, Polidori took a piece of fiction written by Byron and utilized it in his novel.) Varney the Vampire, a popular penny dreadful from the 1840s, Carmilla, a novella about a lesbian vampire from the 1870s, and, of course, Stoker were all influenced
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In Dorset, Minnesota, where a new mayor is chosen every two years by drawing names from a hat, a three-year-old named Robert Tufts was elected mayor in 2015. "Being nice and no poopy talk," he says as his governing style. In 2018, I believe we can all agree that the world could benefit from more Robert Tufts in positions of power.
The Nabataeans revered their dead and took special care to honor them as they transitioned from this world to the next. They constructed over 1,000 protected tombs in the mountains surrounding the city. These tombs coexist with depictions of their gods, creating a sense of fluidity between the sacred and the mundane.
Well, it is in Spain, but not in the Iberian Peninsula. A fun fact about Spain is that the highest mountain in the country is Mount Teide (3718 meters). This mountain is situated in the Canary Islands and is an active volcano. As a consequence of its eruptions, the beaches of the island of Tenerife are of black sand instead of white.
With over 500 million copies sold, Don Quixote is the best-selling novel of all time. The novel by Miguel de Cervantes, about a man who becomes obsessed with tales of knights and decides to become one, is the one that gave us the phrase "tilting at Windmills" to describe a noble but futile endeavour. Since its publication in 1612, Don Quixote's misadventures as he travels across the Spanish countryside seeking to right wrongs and uplift downtrodden peoples have entertained generations of readers. Don Quixote is also regarded as one of the first novels ever written.
Pigeons have been kept as pets for a very long time. Pigeons are seen in Mesopotamian art dating back to 4500 BCE! Scientists believe these works of art are the first photos of birds ever recorded. Pigeons have also been a key food source for thousands of years. These findings have led to the hypothesis that pigeons were the first birds mankind domesticated.
Glass, contrary to popular belief, is not a solid... liquid... or gas. Glass cools to form a "amorphous solid," which allows molecules within the glass to continue moving.
Some spiders not only like to serenade their prospective partners with a dance, but they also like to offer a gift wrapped in silk to sweet talk their way into a date. However, these men can be quite sneaky and cheap at times. Instead of flies and other insects, they offer a cheap knockoff such as scraps of leaves or old gifts that haven't worked with other females.
The other 97.7% are ethnically Chinese. This is because Taiwan was ruled by the Qing Dynasty for 200 years from 1683 to 1895. During this time, the locals were pushed out in the same way native Americans, Canadians, Australians and New Zealanders were by Europeans. This isn’t an upbeat Taiwan fact but it’s important to know.
Nowadays, there are just 500,000 indigenous people made up of eight different tribal groups. Sadly, their 26 native languages have become almost extinct. Unemployment rates are high and education levels low. However, since the 80s there has been a bit of a revival and several cities host indigenous cultural events. Will it be enough?
Nowadays, there are just 500,000 indigenous people made up of eight different tribal groups. Sadly, their 26 native languages have become almost extinct. Unemployment rates are high and education levels low. However, since the 80s there has been a bit of a revival and several cities host indigenous cultural events. Will it be enough?