Urban Legends From Space

Author : Bob King
Publisher : Page Street Publishing
Page : 224 pages
File Size : 52,6 Mb
Release : 2019-10-15
Category : Science
ISBN : 1624148964

Get Book

Urban Legends from Space by Bob King Pdf

From chem trails to black holes and supernovas, misinformation about space travels faster than the speed of light. Even the facts we take for granted—like the earth spins once every 24 hours and you can see the Great Wall of China from space—are not as true as one would think. Urban Legends from Space helps you to tell science fiction from science fact. Whether or not you’re into sci-fi or SpaceX, you’ve probably called a meteor a “falling star” and think astronauts float around in space stations because there’s no gravity. Bob King, author of Wonders of the Night Sky and writer for Sky & Telescope magazine, explains the truth behind myths of navigation and landmarks, celestial bodies and government conspiracies. Compasses don’t always point north; the sun isn’t yellow and Galileo didn’t invent the telescope. King explains why some people believed they found Bigfoot on Mars and many other myths—and provides us with concrete evidence to put those misconceptions to bed. No matter what you think you know, there’s something new King can teach you about our universe.

Author : Peter L'Official
Publisher : Harvard University Press
Page : 321 pages
File Size : 45,7 Mb
Release : 2020-07-21
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780674246485

Get Book

Urban Legends by Peter L'Official Pdf

A cultural history of the South Bronx that reaches beyond familiar narratives of urban ruin and renaissance, beyond the “inner city” symbol, to reveal the place and people obscured by its myths. For decades, the South Bronx was America’s “inner city.” Synonymous with civic neglect, crime, and metropolitan decay, the Bronx became the preeminent symbol used to proclaim the failings of urban places and the communities of color who lived in them. Images of its ruins—none more infamous than the one broadcast live during the 1977 World Series: a building burning near Yankee Stadium—proclaimed the failures of urbanism. Yet this same South Bronx produced hip hop, arguably the most powerful artistic and cultural innovation of the past fifty years. Two narratives—urban crisis and cultural renaissance—have dominated understandings of the Bronx and other urban environments. Today, as gentrification transforms American cities economically and demographically, the twin narratives structure our thinking about urban life. A Bronx native, Peter L’Official draws on literature and the visual arts to recapture the history, people, and place beyond its myths and legends. Both fact and symbol, the Bronx was not a decades-long funeral pyre, nor was hip hop its lone cultural contribution. L’Official juxtaposes the artist Gordon Matta-Clark’s carvings of abandoned buildings with the city’s trompe l’oeil decals program; examines the centrality of the Bronx’s infamous Charlotte Street to two Hollywood films; offers original readings of novels by Don DeLillo and Tom Wolfe; and charts the emergence of a “global Bronx” as graffiti was brought into galleries and exhibited internationally, promoting a symbolic Bronx abroad. Urban Legends presents a new cultural history of what it meant to live, work, and create in the Bronx.

Author : Jody Enders
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
Page : 355 pages
File Size : 43,8 Mb
Release : 2005-05-15
Category : History
ISBN : 9780226207889

Get Book

Death by Drama and Other Medieval Urban Legends by Jody Enders Pdf

Part of every legend is true. Or so argues Jody Enders in this fascinating look at early French drama and the way it compels us to consider where the stage ends and where real life begins. This ambitious and bracing study explores fourteen tales of the theater that are at turns dark and dangerous, sexy and scandalous, humorous and frightening—stories that are nurtured by the confusion between truth and fiction, and imitation and enactment, until it becomes impossible to tell whether life is imitating art, or art is imitating life. Was a convicted criminal executed on stage during a beheading scene? Was an unfortunate actor driven insane while playing a madman? Did a theatrical enactment of a crucifixion result in a real one? Did an androgynous young man seduce a priest when portraying a female saint? Enders answers these and other questions while presenting a treasure trove of tales that have long seemed true but are actually medieval urban legends. On topics ranging through politics, religion, marriage, class, and law, these tales, Enders argues, do the cultural work of all urban legends: they disclose the hopes, fears, and anxieties of their tellers. Each one represents a medieval meditation created or dramatized by the theater with its power to blur the line between fiction and reality, engaging anyone who watches, performs, or is represented by it. Each one also raises pressing questions about the medieval and modern world on the eve of the Reformation, when Europe had never engaged more anxiously and fervently in the great debate about what was real, what was pretend, and what was pretense. Written with elegance and flair, and meticulously researched, Death by Drama and Other Medieval Urban Legends will interest scholars of medieval and Renaissance literature, history, theater, performance studies, and anyone curious about urban legends.

Author : Carrie E. Benes
Publisher : Penn State Press
Page : 294 pages
File Size : 45,6 Mb
Release : 2011
Category : History
ISBN : 9780271037653

Get Book

Urban Legends by Carrie E. Benes Pdf

"Explores the role of the classical past in the construction of urban identity in late medieval Italy. Focuses on the appropriation of classical symbols, ancient materials, and Roman myths to legitimate the regimes of various Italian city-states"--Provided by publisher.

Author : Jan Harold Brunvand
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
Page : 485 pages
File Size : 45,5 Mb
Release : 2011-02-07
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780393104165

Get Book

Too Good to Be True: The Colossal Book of Urban Legends by Jan Harold Brunvand Pdf

"If you enjoy these too-good-to-be-true tales, Brunvand's new book will give you hours of pleasure."—Chicago Tribune A fabulously entertaining book from the ultimate authority on those almost believable tales that always happen to a "friend of a friend." Alligators in the sewers? A pet in the microwave? A tragic misunderstanding of the function of cruise control? No, it didn't really happen to your friend's sister's neighbor: it's an urban legend. And no matter how savvy you think you are, you are sure to find in this collection of over 200 tales at least one story you would have sworn was true. Jan Harold Brunvand has been collecting and studying this modern folklore for over twenty years. In Too Good to Be True he captures the best stories in their best retellings, along with their latest variations and examples of how the stories have changed as they move from person to person and place to place. To help you find your favorite, Brunvand has arranged the tales thematically. "Bringing Up Baby" is full of episodes of child-rearing gone wrong, including the grisly tale of the drugged out baby-sitter who mistakes the kid for a turkey. "Funny Business" showcases stories of infamous lapses in customer service, such as the story of the shockingly expensive chocolate chip cookie recipe. And "The Criminal Mind" features both brilliant --if they were real --scams, as well as the purported antics of the less mentally gifted. Whether you want to become an expert debunker or just have plenty of laughs, this book will surprise and entertain you. Illustrated throughout. "Informative and entertaining.... Brunvand has collected more than 200 of the most-repeated and best-known examples of modern folk-myth."—Tampa Tribune "[N]ot only an entertaining anthology, but an excellent introduction to the study of folklore itself."—Publishers Weekly "A fun read... . All the classics are here from the killer upstairs to the Kentucky Fried Rat."—New City "Resonant stories that express our hidden anxieties ... make us laugh, [or] arouse our fascinated horror."—San Francisco Chronicle Book Review "Informative and entertaining... . Brunvand has collected more than 200 of the most-repeated and best-known examples of modern folk-myth."—Tampa Tribune "[N]ot only an entertaining anthology, but an excellent introduction to the study of folklore itself."—Publishers Weekly

Author : Nick Harding
Publisher : Oldcastle Books Ltd
Page : 106 pages
File Size : 42,5 Mb
Release : 2016-11-24
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9781842438985

Get Book

Urban Legends by Nick Harding Pdf

To many, Urban Legends are nothing more than harmless tales told round a camp fire, in a dormitory or round a table in a pub with the express aim of provoking a frisson of fear in the listener through the use of some horrific shock element in a familiar location and to an unlucky protagonist who is known to a friend of a friend of a friend. But is there something working at a deeper level? We have all heard stories of the Deep Fried Rat, the Ghostly Hitchhiker, the Hook Handed Killer or the Poodle in the Microwave but should we take them at face value or greet them with scorn and derision? Did the events in these tales ever really happen or are they the product of over active imaginations fearful of the outside world? In this book Nick Harding sets out to describe a host of Urban Legends suggesting that we should not dismiss them purely as nonsense nor accept them as gospel truth but by striving to understand their underlying meanings we begin to see their true worth as folklore for the modern world. To understand folklore and therefore the realm of the Urban Legend is to understand the psyche of a nation. By understanding Urban Legends we can gain an insight into our own fears and those of our fellow human beings.

Author : Michael Newton Keas
Publisher : Open Road Media
Page : 291 pages
File Size : 48,7 Mb
Release : 2019-01-08
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9781504057721

Get Book

Unbelievable by Michael Newton Keas Pdf

Unbelievable explodes seven of the most popular and pernicious myths about science and religion. Michael Newton Keas, a historian of science, lays out the facts to show how far the conventional wisdom departs from reality. He also shows how these myths have proliferated over the past four centuries and exert so much influence today, infiltrating science textbooks and popular culture. The seven myths, Keas shows, amount to little more than religion bashing—especially Christianity bashing. Unbelievable reveals: · Why the “Dark Ages” never happened · Why we didn’t need Christopher Columbus to prove the earth was round · Why Copernicus would be shocked to learn that he supposedly demoted humans from the center of the universe · What everyone gets wrong about Galileo’s clash with the Church, and why it matters today · Why the vastness of the universe does not deal a blow to religious belief in human significance · How the popular account of Giordano Bruno as a “martyr for science” ignores the fact that he was executed for theological reasons, not scientific ones · How a new myth is being positioned to replace religion—a futuristic myth that sounds scientific but isn’t In debunking these myths, Keas shows that the real history is much more interesting than the common narrative of religion at war with science. This accessible and entertaining book offers an invaluable resource to students, scholars, teachers, homeschoolers, and religious believers tired of being portrayed as anti-intellectual and anti-science.

Author : Paul Harrison
Publisher : Truth or Busted
Page : 96 pages
File Size : 45,9 Mb
Release : 2017-07-27
Category : Common fallacies
ISBN : 0750279141

Get Book

Truth Or Busted: The Fact Or Fiction Behind Science by Paul Harrison Pdf

Truth or Busted's Science title explores popular myths and legends about the world of science, inventions and discoveries in a light and humorous way that kids will find simply unputdownable. Such statements as 'Sneeze with your eyes open and they will pop out' or 'A black hole in our galaxy will eventually destroy the Earth' are examined as well as where the ideas came, whether they have any basis in truth, or whether they are simply folklore, myths or legends. Each statement is given a TRUTH or BUSTED evaluation.

Author : Brendan Nolan
Publisher : The History Press
Page : 162 pages
File Size : 53,6 Mb
Release : 2015-05-04
Category : History
ISBN : 9780750964630

Get Book

Dublin Urban Legends by Brendan Nolan Pdf

Is there a secret tunnel in O'Connell Street? Who stole the Irish crown jewels? And did the word 'quiz' originate in Dublin as the result of a bet? Urban legends are the funny and frightening folklore people share today. Just like the early folk tales that came before them, these stories are formed from reactions to events in the modern world, and are often a window into our current values. For the first time, Brendan Nolan explores the power of Dublin's urban legends – murky stories whispered in classrooms and backstreets, and ripping yarns passed on across the bar. Urban legends may sometimes just be the best of rumours, but the real question is about the truth that lies behind them?

Author : Clara Ines Pardo Martinez,Alexander Cotte Poveda
Publisher : CRC Press
Page : 157 pages
File Size : 45,9 Mb
Release : 2024-06-21
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781040043363

Get Book

Citizenship, Culture and Coexistence by Clara Ines Pardo Martinez,Alexander Cotte Poveda Pdf

This book seeks to contribute to the most recent discussions on Citizenship, Culture and Coexistence in different context considering the importance of these elements for society and urban environments. The book offers different perspectives on citizenship culture and analysis that can be inputs for policy and decision makers to design the policies, strategies and programs that strengthen urban process from culture, art, and education to improve citizen coexistence, respect for differences and better societies in a dynamic world with permanent challenges.

Author : Jan Harold Brunvand
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Page : 911 pages
File Size : 46,6 Mb
Release : 2012-07-16
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9798216160823

Get Book

Encyclopedia of Urban Legends [2 volumes] by Jan Harold Brunvand Pdf

This revised edition of the original reference standard for urban legends provides an updated anthology of common myths and stories, and presents expanded coverage of international legends and tales shared and popularized online. From roasted babies to vanishing hitchhikers to housewives in football helmets, this exhaustive and highly readable encyclopedia provides descriptions of hundreds of individual legends and their variations, examines legend themes, and explains scholarly approaches to the genre. Revised and expanded to include updated versions of the entries from the award-winning first edition, this work provides additional entries on a wide range of new topics that include terrorism, recent political events, and Hurricane Katrina. Entries in Encyclopedia of Urban Legends, Updated and Expanded Edition discuss the presence of urban legends in comic books, literature, film, music, and many other areas of popular culture, as well as the existence of "too good to be true" stories in Argentina, China, Italy, Japan, Mexico, and several other countries. Serving as both an anthology of stories as well as a reference work, this encyclopedia will serve as a valuable resource for students and a source book for journalists, professional folklorists, and others who are researching or interested in urban legends.

Author : Melvin Delgado
Publisher : University of Toronto Press
Page : 309 pages
File Size : 43,8 Mb
Release : 2016-01-01
Category : Science
ISBN : 9781442627482

Get Book

Celebrating Urban Community Life by Melvin Delgado Pdf

Communal celebrations bring out the best in us, offering a place for people to come together and take a break from the routines of daily life. They are a vital aspect of city life and are increasingly popular as an urban development strategy. Celebrating Urban Community Life is a comprehensive guide to understanding and enhancing communal celebrations as a source of community capital. Drawing on case studies from New York, San Francisco, and Toronto, Melvin Delgado discusses the many ways in which fairs, festivals, and parades can enhance communal life. Providing a framework for social scientists, urban planners, and social workers to analyse and foster celebrations that benefit urban populations, the book is a valuable resource for those with an interest in this growing area of academic and practical interest.

Author : Julie A. Buckler
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 128 pages
File Size : 51,7 Mb
Release : 2018-06-05
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9780691187617

Get Book

Mapping St. Petersburg by Julie A. Buckler Pdf

Author : Harry Turner
Publisher : Janus Publishing Company Lim
Page : 207 pages
File Size : 48,9 Mb
Release : 2005
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9781857566512

Get Book

Urban Legends by Harry Turner Pdf

A blend of fact and fiction, this is a collection of stories that demonstrate the brevity and variety of the genre - ranging from the sublime to the outrageous.

Author : Kiran Krishan Nair
Publisher : KnowledgeWorld .
Page : 248 pages
File Size : 42,7 Mb
Release : 2006
Category : Astronautics, Military
ISBN : 9788187966449

Get Book

Space by Kiran Krishan Nair Pdf