General Lee's New Writeups

Lighter'd Knot (thing)

2002-01-21T06:05:58Z

Undoubtedly pronounced as a contraction of "lighter wood". Also known as "fat lighter", it is the knotty remnant of a particularly resinous variety of conifer, the longleaf pine. Also known as "fat pine", or "heart pine", the longleaf pine is prized for its strength and resistance to insects and rot. It is found in abundance throughout the southern United States.

The lighter'd knot is best known as an excellent source of fuel, mainly utilized as kindlin' wood for fires. Most Southerners prefer to cook and heat with hardwood such as oak, which is notoriously difficult to ignite. The lighter'd knot solves this problem, as it contains a tremendous amount of flammable resin. One relatively small piece of lighter'd can be lit easily with a match and used to start a very large pile of even green oak. It may also be used as an excellent torch.

The knots have traditionally been gathered in old-growth forests, usually found lying under…

Get your ass to Mars: An Atlanta E2 gathering (Whizbang the Second Coming) (idea)

2002-01-17T07:32:15Z

1/21/02--UPDATE:, for once, Mrs. General's hectic schedule allows her to come along, too. For those of you who haven't had the pleasure, she cooks even better than me (and smells better, too). Also, instead of Babe the Blue Ox, we'll be in the fancy little car with no lid. Woohoo--booze for all !!!!

Get this shit: I'm coming to ATL, and General Sherman by God better not be anywhere around. Hopefully y'all have taken his matches away by now. Think what the bastard could have done with one of my high-falutin' crack lighters. Bastard.

Anyway, I will be travelling north from the WMBB on Friday afterlunch, through the thriving metropolis of Dothan, AL, and then Eufaula. Thence northward into GA; Columbus to ATL at a speed Babe the Blue Ox wasn't designed to travel, but will anyway, under the heel of my boot.

Those brave souls who would like a ride this way or that are invited to pay yer money and take yer chances. Actually, you won't…

Grouper and oysters and shrimp, oh my! An E2 New Year's gathering on Florida's Gulf Coast (idea)

2002-01-16T18:08:41Z

January 1, The Year of our Lord 2002:

The Alpine in my Blazer, Babe the Blue Ox, has, as it nearly always does, mercifully picked a song which may just keep me from fucking dying: an obscure track called "Bound for Glory" on an even more obscure album by Barefoot Servants, a 1994 project led by a guy named Jon Butcher. He looks like Jimi Hendrix, sings like Rod Stewart (sort of), and plays a slide guitar that would scare the living shit out of Robert Johnson and the devil himself.

"Lay my head down on the (kitchen) table
Fix my Sunday coat and tie
They worked my body to a sorry state
On a tiny sailing ship bound for glory...

Sail away, there's money
In them cotton fields
Sail away, gonna strike it rich in America
There's room enough for everyone
In the ground below...

Now my daddy was a story teller
But the king, his daddy, was before…

Sunday coat and tie (thing)

2002-01-16T16:28:13Z

A Southern expression referring to a man's best (and often only) decent suit of clothes. Composed of a pair of trousers, matching jacket, white shirt, and tie.

These items are also referred to as your Sunday-go-to-meetin' clothes.

Also known as Sunday best in certain circles.

The Forgotten Coast (place)

2001-12-12T02:24:37Z

The Forgotten Coast is an area of the Florida Panhandle encompassing Gulf and Franklin counties. So named because of the few sleepy communities dotting its coastline such as Beacon Hill, Port St. Joe, and Apalachicola, this area still largely resembles the romantic pre-war Florida that is depicted in so many sepia-toned postcards. The area also was of considerable importance to maritime interests in the last century as the site of the Beacon Hill and Cape San Blas lighthouses.

Ironically, the term Forgotten Coast has been popularized in the 1990s by greedy real estate moguls who seek to commercialize one of the last unspoiled areas of Florida. Currently, there is a huge furor among Gulf County locals about The St. Joe Company or Arvida's plans to relocate U.S. Highway 98 from its current coastal route through St. Joe Beach to…

The World's Most Beautiful Beaches (place)

2001-12-08T17:12:41Z

"The World's Most Beautiful Beaches" is an area of the Florida Panhandle in and around Panama City Beach, Florida.

The term was coined in the early 1970s by the Panama City Beach City Council in an attempt to attract more tourists to its beautiful, yet largely undiscovered sugar-white sand. A more common but less flattering term for this area was and still remains the Redneck Riviera.

Panama City Beach is now known as one of the top five Spring Break destinations for North American college students. MTV coverage beginning in 1993 helped to bring a wide variety of students in from all over the country, as opposed to visitors exclusively from Alabama and Georgia.

Not just a Spring Break destination, Panama City Beach plays host to over one million tourists annually from all over the globe. With its Mediterranean climate, most beach attractions may be enjoyed ten months out of the year.

Taking a cue from the local tourist moguls, the NBC network affiliate (at that time), Channel 13, changed its call letters to WMBB in 1978.