Good News or Bad news

[Dr Iguana]

Well, it should go like this-

Add the cottage cheese to the milk. Find a little girl. Sit her down on a little padded stool (or a tussock of grass). Give her the mix to eat. Wait for the spider.

[cornettracing80]

pass it to the left doc
after that post i am sure you know what i mean...cough,cough

[Dr Iguana]

Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet
Eating her curds and whey
There came a big spider that sat down beside her
And frightened Miss Muffet away.

Cottage cheese is simply the curdled milk (curds) removed from the remainder of the milk (whey). To put it back in is recreating Curds and Whey.

In early times milk was far too valuable a food commodity to just throw away. It still had to be consumed even if it was curdled. This is the source of yoghurt and all forms of cheese. Curds and whey would usually be eaten with bread, bran, or some other grain mixed into it and this is the source of breakfast cereals.

In the early 1800s there was a quack medic in London, his name was Morphet. He claimed to have invented one of the usual “panacea for all disease remedies” so much in fashion at the time. This one consisted of a mix of curdled milk, spiders, and several other nasty things. To show that it could also prevent disease he called a group of suckers together for a demonstration. His little daughter was sat down on a stool and given the mixture. When a spider floated to the top she screamed, threw down the bowl and ran. End of demonstration. This is supposed to be the source of the nursery rhyme.



Edited because I missed a line out of the rhyme.

[cornettracing80]

toke..toke...holy crap he actually has an explanation..cough
and i thought i found a hook up in the U.K.

[Gary's Mum]

Oh Doc you so make me laugh

How many times have I repeated that rhyme and never new the story behind it.

If nothing else this Isis Adveture is such a source of information
I think I'm learning more than I ever did at school (not that that takes alot of doing)

[kitkit]

lol!! thanks for that tip... duno if i'll be able to do it though as the milk etc is shared between all of us... unless i get the last of a carton and finish it off myself! it ain't too bad here, have got another person kind of interested in the isi adventure.. or at least helping me with the riddle for a pyramid! lol
Thanks for the story behind little miss mupet, didn't know anything about the rhyme at all!

[Dr Iguana]

It may be unfair to paint Dr Morphet a total charlatan; he may well have had genuine faith in the medicine he had put together. His reliance on spiders to protect against disease may have been without foundation, but it was not without precedent.

From very earliest times it was thought that spiders could ward off illnesses. This usually took the form of wearing a spider on a chain or cord around the neck. This may have been in a tiny cage woven from stiffened grass or horsehair and, at the top end of the range, in fine ball cage of filigree silver or gold. Many thought that the spell worked only if the spider was alive but a dead spider was the next best thing. This could be in a locket or baked into a clay or ceramic bead. A spider encased in amber was highly desirable.

Many simple people would go to a Wise Woman to have a concoction made up to cure an ailment and this would often include spiders in a mixture of other things. Spider webs would be laid on open wounds to prevent infection.

My own Grandmother would never allow a spider to be killed in the house, as it would bring bad luck. “I thou would live and thou would thrive, let the spider run alive.” This memory affects me today; if there is a spider in the house I will simply put it outside. I have never knowingly harmed a spider.

[steve]

G.N
SW gave us our prebooking for the Isis II. (Can’t wait for it to arrive)

B.N.
I can't find the prebooking for the NKubit. (Can’t wait to prebook it)

[LouIsis]

Can’t wait for it to arrive
Can’t wait to prebook it

Yes you can (2x)

But your message is very clear, and I totally agree.

[erin-rae]

VGN: I passed my motorbike test yesterday! so will now have a full license, and once saved enough money, will get a motorbike and get out and about!

Congratulations! Here's hoping you can get a bike soon and get out there!

[steve]

G.N.
We’ve all ordered the harder of the two Isis IIs

B.N
If we then in the future order a second Isis II or limited edition, it will be easier

[Happyhannah]

GN:

All work related things have now completely ceased for me. I have nothing to do now until September. Well, maybe some preparation FOR September, but anyway...

I am now comfortably in a climate where the outdoor temperature is BELOW my body temperature.

BN:

My body clock refuses to acknowledge GMT and persists in waking up at 3am.

Due to early waking and a lack of work to do I am in a state of general ennui. As a result I have been spending inordinate amounts of time posting on this forum and googling in vain for passwords.

Adding to this is the fact that my computer in all its shininess is currently at my Mum's house, nearly 200 miles from me, and I'm stuck here with an ancient, slow laptop that won't charge and in fact only receives power from the mains if something heavy is pressing against the back of it. So, needless to say, games are out of the question. This is annoying, as Evilkeen has finished level 70 of Pyrahunters, and I'm only on 68

Anyway, minor things, but posting them at least wasted a small amount of time

[edit] And if I turn away from the computer screen I'm faced with the massive pile of stuff I haven't unpacked yet. I'm choosing to ignore it and hope it goes away.

[steve]

G.N.
It won’t be long till you get into the top ten posters then Happyhannah.

B.N.
You then will get accused of being blether.

[cornettracing80]

am i "blether"?..what ever the hell that means

[steve]

am i "blether"?..what ever the hell that means

Blether is a word that is used in everyday language in my little corner of the world, I think it is used all over Scotland, but I may be wrong.
I firmly believe that I have used the word in the right context here, I did however do a quick Google of the word, just to see what the oracle came up with.

blether Scot

Verb
to speak foolishly at length

Noun
1. foolish talk
2. a person who blethers (Old Norse blathr nonsense)

This is however slightly different than I was previously lead to belive, in everday language I think that the word means more to speak at length, and less of the foolish.
If the dictionary is correct with its history of the word, then I apologise if folks think that I am calling them foolish. I just meant people who talk a lot about anything and everything.

I also apologise if the occasional wee Scottish word or phrase creeps in to my posts, I do try to write in a form that is understood internationally, however that is not the way I speak at home

So,

B.N.
cornettracing80 thinks I am slagging him off.

G.N.
I'm not.