“This last is the situation, as I see it, between my A Wizard of Earthsea and J.K.Rowling’s Harry Potter. I didn’t originate the idea of a school for wizards — if anybody did it was T.H.White, though he did it in single throwaway line and didn’t develop it. I was the first to do that. Years later, Rowling took the idea and developed it along other lines. She didn’t plagiarize. She didn’t copy anything. Her book, in fact, could hardly be more different from mine, in style, spirit, everything. The only thing that rankles me is her apparent reluctance to admit that she ever learned anything from other writers. When ignorant critics praised her wonderful originality in inventing the idea of a wizards’ school, and some of them even seemed to believe that she had invented fantasy, she let them do so. This, I think, was ungenerous, and in the long run unwise.“

i found the specific quote i was thinking of x

Q: Nicholas Lezard has written ‘Rowling can type, but Le Guin can write.’ What do you make of this comment in the light of the phenomenal success of the Potter books? I’d like to hear your opinion of JK Rowling’s writing style

UKL: I have no great opinion of it. When so many adult critics were carrying on about the “incredible originality” of the first Harry Potter book, I read it to find out what the fuss was about, and remained somewhat puzzled; it seemed a lively kid’s fantasy crossed with a “school novel”, good fare for its age group, but stylistically ordinary, imaginatively derivative, and ethically rather mean-spirited.

damn gurl :’]

;)

Abraham Lincoln loved cats. He was obsessed with cats. When his wife was asked if he had any hobbies, she responded, “Cats.” He used to take home stray cats on a regular basis. One time he found some kittens on a farm during a military meeting and he put them his lap and petted them affectionately. Then he told the owners of the kittens to make sure they were given warm milk after he left.

Gouverneur Morris once tried to unclog the blockage in his dick (historians think he probably had prostate cancer) by shoving a whale bone up his pee hole, which resulted in death

Charles Adams, John Adams’s son, once got drunk and ran naked across Harvard Yard. He was expelled, but when John Adams spoke to the administrators he was readmitted.

James Garfield was a student teacher at a college in Ohio and he had this really pretty smart student named Lucretia Rudolph but was too afraid to talk to her. So, when they were taking a class picture (a super long ordeal then), he bribed the photographer so he could sit next to her in the picture and finally make his move. They were married a year later.

;)

Abraham Lincoln loved cats. He was obsessed with cats. When his wife was asked if he had any hobbies, she responded, “Cats.” He used to take home stray cats on a regular basis. One time he found some kittens on a farm during a military meeting and he put them his lap and petted them affectionately. Then he told the owners of the kittens to make sure they were given warm milk after he left.

Gouverneur Morris once tried to unclog the blockage in his dick (historians think he probably had prostate cancer) by shoving a whale bone up his pee hole, which resulted in death

Charles Adams, John Adams’s son, once got drunk and ran naked across Harvard Yard. He was expelled, but when John Adams spoke to the administrators he was readmitted.

John Quincy Adams wore the same hat every day for 10 years.

Also John Quincy Adams kept a live alligator as a present from Lafayette, which he kept in a bathtub in the East Wing of the White House.

Bonus fact: John Quincy Adams would frequently go to the library very early in the morning (around 4) but he would have to go through the guest rooms to get there, so guests often woke up scared by the president quietly sneaking through their rooms in the middle of the night. This grew to be such a problem that a /whole new hallway/ was built just for John Quincy to get to the library and is still there to this day. Thanks Egg President!

Mansa Musa of Mali was the richest man in all of history (and he wasn’t white!!!) and he was so rich and spent his money so crazily that it actually caused inflation in the Mediterranean and the value of gold fucking plummeted in places like Cairo and Medina, he tried to fix it but it took a really long time for markets to recover. So the entire economy of all of the Mediterranean was actually controlled by one guy for a bit and that’s insane

Frederick the Great of Prussia was all about music. He composed four symphonies and more than a hundred shorter sonatas, as well as being an accomplished flute player himself. He spent so much time playing (when he wasn’t beating the shit out of every great European power) that his head was permanently tilted.

At the height of his power cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar was the 7th richest man in the world with an estimated net worth of $30 Billion. He wrote off $2 billion dollars each year lost to rodents eating his money, and spent $2,500 a month just on rubber bands used to store his cash in bricks.

Former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau (Current PM Justin’s father) was the most outrageous of the world leaders (not in crazy politics, but just harmless shenanigans). He slid down railings in public buildings, danced jigs behind Queen Elizabeth’s back and many more. The most notable example comes from the height of the October Crisis in 1970′s (French-Canadian radical separatists kidnap a few politicians for the separation of Quebec). When he was asked about his plans to solve the crisis, he replied “Just Watch Me”