Showing posts with label Nonfiction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nonfiction. Show all posts

4.15.2009

Regional Ghost Story Books

Ghosts of St. Augustine
by Dave Lapham

Florida's Ghostly Legends and Haunted Folklore Volume 2
by Greg Jenkins

During a vacation, people proceed to gift shops often to buy gifts for those friends and family that were not able to make the trip and to take home a remembrance of a time of relaxation and exploration. When I go to the gift shops, I look for books, which will extract me from my mundane life into blissful memories. I was fortunate to discover some regional ghost story books in St. Augustine, FL. These books will be a great addition to my other regional ghost story book collection.

Last night in Key Largo there was a thunderstorm, and I just could not sleep, so I decided to read a few stories from both books. "Florida’s Ghostly Legends and Haunted Folklore" Volume 2, has a more detail description of the ghostly historical locations than "Ghost of St. Augustine" although the latter is entirely dedicated to St. Augustine.

Dexter, an inmate of the Old Jail in St. Augustine haunts the prison looking forlorn for all his nefarious activities. Legends say that tour visitors sometimes sense cold spots or a pungent smell of anonymous insanitary prisoners of bygone days. When I took the animated tour of the Old Jail, I sensed nothing. I have yet to experience anything paranormal; however, it does not discourage me from enjoying eerie tales. A tale from "Ghosts of St. Augustine", Flagler College the former Hotel Ponce de Leon is haunted by the philanthropist that founded most of St. Augustine, Henry Flagler. A student once had the luck to meet his acquaintance after being called upon through rubbing a tile delineating Flagler’s countenance. Viewing Flagler College from a trolley tour bus, I saw college students gamboling on the front lawn caked in shaving cream. Oh, how I wish my undergraduate days were like that.

Take care my small audience, from under a coconut tree.

3.13.2009

Add A Little Pizzazz To Your Vocabulary


I am nowhere near the vicinity of cool. Trying to be trendy with the latest syntax is not my forte. For instance, I once told my friend “let’s roll with it” in front of her younger cousins, which are going to the New York City Public School of hard knocks. They corrected me rather quickly, and I was very embarrassed. However, occasionally, I will flabbergast myself with a clever, urban, raunchy slang.

Last night chatting with a girlfriend on AIM, I employed the term coochy-cobweb to describe the amount of sexual activity in her life. She is not too far from my inept hip (Do people still use that word to define cool?) vocabulary, so we both had a good laugh. I need to give props to Urban Dictionary. We had hours of fun flipping through Mo’ Urban Dictionary at the local Barnes & Noble and then visiting their website. We even made a compilation of the most hilarious words from A to Z, selecting one word from each letter. Be cool, be hip, be snazzy, check out our list courtesy of Urban Dictionary, and maybe you will apply these words in your daily vocabulary surprising the younger generation with your attune ability to adapt.

AIM rape – The act of messaging someone over and over against their will.

Barfarrhea – Diarrhea while vomiting, Barfarrhea is often caused by food poisoning.

Churched – Kinda like “you got served,” except it’s much better. No one likes the church; when you get churched, you got dissed and nobody likes you.

Double bagger – A woman so ugly that having sex with her is only possible with the use of two bags; one over her head, and a second bag over your own head in case her bag falls off.

Electrosexual – Someone who chooses video games over sex.

Fap – Often used to suggest that something is attractive. The onomatopoeic representation of masturbation.

Gigaholic – A geek who just needs to have the latest and fastest computer. My friends call me this.

Highway salute – An extended middle finger from a fist thrust forth while driving in a gesture of anger towards a person to which it is aimed.

Inbox rot - To neither accept, nor decline a friend request from someone on Facebook or Myspace. Used in situations when you don't want to accept someone's friend request, but you also don't want to be rude by declining them.

Jump the couch - A defining moment when you know someone has gone off the deep end. Inspired by Tom Cruise’s behavior on Oprah.

Kraft singles – Dollar bills. Derived from another slang term that refers to money as “cheese.”

L bomb – When someone unexpectedly tells you that they love you. Usually comes out of the blue when you least expect it and are not prepared to respond.

Mad props - A way to say “thank you.”

Naplash – What happens to you when you start nodding off and then you jerk your head back suddenly. It happens a lot when staying on the computer too long. Very dangerous if driving.

Onion booty – Booty that looks so good, it makes a grown man want to cry.

Pop off – To tell someone to fight you or do something, rather than just standing there talking about it.

Qeef – To fart out of the pussy

Retail therapy – Shopping as an outlet for frustration and a reliever of stress.

Sexsuade - To convince someone to agree to, accept, or do something, usually by using the promise of sex (explicit or implicit) or by withholding sex until you get your way.

Thunderwear – Underwear for the extremely obese those who make the earth tremble when they walk. Specifically; thunderbra, thunderthongs, thunderpants.

Uggo - An extremely ugly person. This term is used when you are too lazy to say "extremely ugly person", so, alas, uggo was created.

Voicejail - The loop of options one gets stuck in when trying to navigate voice mail settings.

Whiskey dick - When you've had too much to drink and have a girl back home and cant get it up to perform the deed.

X-Bomb - A completely spontaneous urge to shit that has no "holding" potential. You feel it, and you have literally seconds to find somewhere to put it. The actual shit is usually more gaseous and wet than solid doo-doo, and typically explosive. (The term can be used as both a verb and a noun.)

Youniverse - The entirety of creation that relates to one specific, narcissistic individual. Used to indicate that a particular person has knowledge only of him or herself -- their universe consists only of them.

Zwog - To eat whatever you find under and between the keys on your keyboard.

12.27.2007

Do you have a sweet tooth?


Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History


by Sidney Wilfred Mintz



The commodity sugar today is not seen as an exotic commodity, which it once was, but as a commodity that is essential to everyday life. Sugar is seen as a mundane commodity, for everyone can have it, and much of our food today is comprised of sugar. How did sugar become a common commodity, and what did the transformation of sugar mean for modern society? In Sweetness and Power written by anthropologist, Sidney W. Mintz examines sugar, in particular sucrose, a product produced from sugar cane throughout history in order to answer these questions, and he concentrates on the Britain’s transformation of voracious sugar consumers. He argues that the transformation of sugar, a luxury commodity to a common commodity is due to not one particular attribute, but due to economical, political, and social interconnections, which becomes apparent when history is analyzed.

Mintz supports his argument through dividing the world’s history of sugar into production, consumption, and power. The bulk of Sweetness and Power is dedicated to two chapters, which are Production and Consumption. Majority of the book is written as a historical account of sugar’s history. Even though Mintz is an anthropologist, the book does not contain his fieldwork. However, he does provide some ethnographic material to introduce the significance of food pertaining to human consumption. Nevertheless, the majority of the evidence is secondary sources provided by historians. The primary sources that are present are from correspondent letters, and uniquely enough cookbooks.

Mintz’s book Sweetness and Power consists of an abundant amount of information about the history of sugar that is fascinating. He establishes that British ardent consumption of sugar is related to numerous factors, and he does not boringly list these factors but lets it develop through the context of the book. On the other hand, the books structure was difficult to digest, brusquely it was disorganized. Many parts of his book were redundant; he states the same historical facts in different chapters and within the same chapter. Despite that the book well informs the reader of the journey of sugar throughout history, and if you enjoy reading about the formation of capitalism, Sweetness and Power contains a sweet surprise. It explores capitalism, primitive accumulation, agro-industry, globalization and Marx influence is apparent throughout the book.