Trader Joe's "red" velvet cupcakes

I got a 4-pack of these cupcakes the other day and was greatly disappointed. Sure, the price was right, but that's all they had going for them. For starters, the red velvet cake part was not red. They looked like your basic chocolate cupcakes. "Psshh, you big baby," you say. "Nuh-uh!" says I. A gigantic part of the allure is that these things are RED. Mine were not red. Ergo, disappointment.

Secondly, I found the cake to be really dry. Not crumbly, thankfully, just something I can't bear to call moist. The frosting helped me get over most of that, but it shouldn't have to. Actually, the frosting didn't do much for me, but I won't blame my beloved Trader Joe's for that since I have issues with store-iced cupcakes.

Conclusion: 2 stars out of 5

It's My Cause Because! Brickfish

Permanently Borrowed? Brickfish

Kiss with a Fist

The song is about violence. Lots and lots of mutual violence. On their MySpace page, the band Florence and the Machine claim that it's really about emotional violence in a relationship that thrives on drama and oneupmanship. Since there is no actual mention of anything in the song itself of something mental, emotional, or psychological, the song is not about that.

It's just a song that condone's domestic abuse and should not be endorsed.

Among many other places, you can find the lyrics here: http://www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/3530822107858724512/

Romance language vs. romance novel

When the Romans invaded Spain, the country was known as Iberia and the people spoke Ibero. The Romans, being Romans, enforced their language onto the people so the people of Iberia began to speak Latin in addition to their native languages.

Through time, the language evolved and became known as Romanice ("ro-MA-ni-kay") and eventually romance. The people were really fond of love stories. Any book lying that wasn't written in classical Latin had a very high probability of being a love story. As with any language, slang takes hold and changes meanings. At first, they would have asked, "Is that a love story?" it eventually became, "Is that a romance?"

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Handshakes in Late 19th Century America

Around the time of the American Civil War, there were several different handshakes and each signified something different. When two men made a contract, such as buying property, they would each spit into their palm and then shake. As a greeting, they would shakes hands the same way that we do now.

Women had options when shaking hands with men; they could shake normally or present their hand to be kissed. If a woman presented her hand, she would hold her hand out about waist level with her palm down and wrist limp. The man would lightly hold her fingers, bend the wrist so the downward angle was more pronounced, bring her hand up while bowing to meet it, and give the lightest kiss to the back of her hand. If a man initiated the shake, the woman would place her hand into his to be kissed. If the woman wanted to be informal or as a slight to the man, she could change the kiss into a shake by how she positioned her hand.

If they wanted to flirt, the kiss could be more than a light brush. A more discrete way was either could give a squeeze while he as kissing her hand and no one watching would be any the wiser.

Of course, none of this would happen if either one was bare handed. Gloves must be worn by each before they could touch or it was highly improper.

If a man brushed a finger across the other man's palm while they were shaking, it meant he was propositioning him.