brilliant antique facts

The next time you are washing your hands and complain because the water
temperature isn't just how you like it, think about how things used to be.
Here are some facts about the 1500s:

These are interesting...

Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and
still smelled pretty good by June. However, they were starting to smell, so
brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor. Hence the custom
today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.

Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had
the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the
women and finally the children. Last of all the babies. By then the water was so
dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hence the saying, Don't throw
the baby out with the Bath water..

Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath. It
was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small
animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and
sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Hence the saying
It's raining cats and dogs.

There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house.. This posed a
real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could mess up your
nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top
afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into existence.

The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt. Hence the
saying, Dirt poor. The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the
winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on floor to help keep their
footing. As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until, when you opened
the door, it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the
entrance way. Hence the saying a thresh hold.

(Getting quite an education, aren't you?)

In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always
hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot.
They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew
for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start
over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for quite
a while. Hence the rhyme, Pease porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge
in the pot nine days old ...

Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When
visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of
wealth that a man could, bring home the bacon. They would cut off a little to
share with guests and would all sit around and chew the fat..

Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content caused
some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning death. This
happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes
were considered poisonous.

Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the
loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or the upper crust.

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whiskey. The combination would sometimes
knock the imbibers out for a couple of days . Someone walking along the road
would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the
kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat
and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence the custom of holding a
wake.

England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to
bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a
bone-house, and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25
coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they
had been burying people alive. So they would tie a string on the wrist of the
corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a
bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the graveyard
shift.) to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be, saved by the bell or was
considered a dead ringer.

And that's the truth...Now, whoever said History was boring ! ! !

most incredible film i have ever seen

(not an exaggeration....and PERFECT for this cusp)

Эмбрион from illuzia.net on Vimeo.

i heart george galloway

may seventeenth (fred's birthday) 2005

TWO THOUSAND FIVE....dammit

breathe

i'll take my validation wherever i can get it....

i do declare!

pride and prejudice as a facebook live feed...sweet

(looks better at: http://www.much-ado.net/austenbook/)

Charles Bingley is renting a house in Hertfordshire!
Mrs. Bennet became a fan of Charles Bingley.
Kitty Bennet can't stop coughing!!!
Charles Bingley is now friends with Mr. Bennet and Sir William Lucas.
11 of your friends are attending Assembly at Meryton.
Fitzwilliam Darcy is dreading this evening.
Charles Bingley and Jane Bennet are now friends.
Elizabeth Bennet is not handsome enough to tempt a certain gentleman. Ha!
Mrs. Bennet had a most delightful evening!
Mr. Bennet wishes that Mr. Bingley had sprained his ankle in the first dance.
Elizabeth Bennet promises never to dance with Mr. Darcy.
Fitzwilliam Darcy became a fan of Fine Eyes.
Caroline Bingley is all astonishment.
Lydia Bennet became a fan of Officers.
Kitty Bennet became a fan of Officers.
Caroline Bingley tagged Jane Bennet in her note Visit us at Netherfield.
Jane Bennet finds herself very unwell. :(
Elizabeth Bennet is going to stay at Netherfield with Jane.
Louisa Hurst saw Elizabeth Bennet's petticoat and is absolutely certain it was six inches deep in mud.
Elizabeth Bennet is improving her mind by extensive reading.
Charles Bingley created an event: Ball at Netherfield.
Fitzwilliam Darcy is writing to Georgiana.
Caroline Bingley has suggestions for Mr. Darcy's domestic felicity.
Elizabeth Bennet and Caroline Bingley are attending the event Take a Turn about the Room.
Fitzwilliam Darcy feels the danger of paying Elizabeth too much attention.
Elizabeth Bennet is back at home. Thank goodness!
William Collins tagged 7 of your friends in his note I Propose Myself the Satisfaction of Waiting on You and Your Family.
Lydia Bennet does NOT feel like listening to Fordyce's Sermons.
William Collins is paying his attentions to Jane Bennet.
William Collins is paying his attentions to Elizabeth Bennet.
Fitzwilliam Darcy is not pleased to see Wickham in town.
Elizabeth Bennet and George Wickham are now friends.
George Wickham told Elizabeth Bennet about Mr. Darcy's evil deeds. ;-)
15 of your friends are attending Ball at Netherfield.
Fitzwilliam Darcy is dancing with Elizabeth Bennet.
Elizabeth Bennet is trying to make out Mr. Darcy's character and does not get on at all.
William Collins has been "rejected" by an elegant female.
Mrs. Bennet is all in an uproar.
Caroline Bingley tagged Jane Bennet in her note We're Leaving.
Jane Bennet is in London.
Mrs. Gardiner is visiting Hertfordshire with her husband.
Charlotte Lucas and William Collins are now married.
Elizabeth Bennet is at Hunsford visiting Mr. & Mrs. Collins.
Elizabeth Bennet thought that the pigs were got into the garden, but it was only Lady Catherine and her daughter.
Lady Catherine de Bourgh thinks that Miss Elizabeth Bennet gives her opinion very decidedly for so young a person.
Elizabeth Bennet and Colonel Fitzwilliam are now friends.
Fitzwilliam Darcy is not afraid of Elizabeth Bennet. Well, maybe a little.
Elizabeth Bennet does not perform to strangers.
Charlotte Collins thinks she knows why Mr. Darcy visits so often.
Colonel Fitzwilliam wishes he weren't a younger son.
Elizabeth Bennet is furious at Mr. Darcy for separating Bingley and her sister.
Fitzwilliam Darcy is proposing to Elizabeth Bennet. It is not going well. :-/
Elizabeth Bennet is ??!!
Fitzwilliam Darcy tagged Elizabeth Bennet in his note My Character Requires This to be Written and Read.
Elizabeth Bennet realizes that she never knew herself until this moment.
Elizabeth Bennet has much to conceal when she goes home.
Lydia Bennet is glad that Wickham isn't going to marry Mary King, that nasty freckled thing.
Lydia Bennet and Kitty Bennet joined the group 1,000,000 Strong Against the Officers Leaving Meryton! {join!}
Lydia Bennet is going to Brighton with Colonel & Mrs. Forster!!!!1!
Elizabeth Bennet, Edward Gardiner, and Mrs. Gardiner are attending Trip to Derbyshire.
Elizabeth Bennet became a fan of Pemberley.
Fitzwilliam Darcy is surprised and hopeful.
Elizabeth Bennet and Georgiana Darcy are now friends.
Lydia Bennet and George Wickham are in a relationship.
Jane Bennet tagged Elizabeth Bennet in her note Bad News About Lydia.
Elizabeth Bennet is rushing home.
Fitzwilliam Darcy is determined to find Wickham.
Mrs. Bennet joined the group Widows of Men Killed in Duels.
Mary Bennet is consoling herself with moral extractions from the evil before her.
Mr. Bennet is back home and feeling guilty... but it will pass away soon enough.
Mrs. Bennet left the group Widows of Men Killed in Duels.
Edward Gardiner tagged Mr. Bennet in his note They're not Married, but They Will Be.
Mrs. Bennet is in raptures!
Lydia Bennet and George Wickham are now married.
Mrs. Gardiner tagged Elizabeth Bennet in her note Yes, Mr. Darcy Arranged Everything (and I think he likes you).
Charles Bingley is back in Hertfordshire with Darcy.
Jane Bennet and Charles Bingley are now engaged.
Lady Catherine de Bourgh is in Hertfordshire.
Elizabeth Bennet has been insulted in every possible method.
Lady Catherine de Bourgh is most seriously displeased.
William Collins tagged Mr. Bennet in his note Lady Catherine is Most Seriously Displeased.
Elizabeth Bennet is excessively diverted.
Fitzwilliam Darcy never thought to be made happy by a talk with his aunt!
Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy are now engaged.
Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy are now married.
Jane Bennet and Charles Bingley are now married.
Fitzwilliam Darcy rather enjoys being the object of open pleasantry.
Mrs. Bennet KNEW that single men with good fortunes would want wives.

(looks better at: http://www.much-ado.net/austenbook/)

apolcolyptic smut peddlers...

(was a comment on this video! LOVES it)