Question, who came up with the first knock, knock joke?

You might be surprised to discover it was Shakespeare.

"William Shakespeare's impact in your life is much bigger than just some required reading in your high school English class. It's believed that almost 2,000 words appeared for the first time in his plays and poetry — including many that are regulars in our everyday modern vocabulary, such as "downstairs," "eyeball," and "bedroom." He also built on existing language by changing words that were previously used as nouns into verbs, and by adding prefixes and suffixes to create new variations."

Here's a few of the better known ones,

Lie low

Green-eyed monster

Heart of gold

Fair play

Break the ice

Wild goose chase

It's all Greek to me

Forever and a day

As good luck would have it

And Love is blind, first coined by Chaucer in 1405, but Shakespeare popularized this phase in the Merchant of Venice
in 1605.

And, that joke, Knock-knock?  "Congrats, Shakespeare! You are the father of the knock-knock joke. While used to cheesy effect today, this line, when uttered multiple times by the Porter in Macbeth, demonstrates a deft sense of cleverness.

 "https://shakespeare.mit.edu/macbeth/macbeth.2.3.html#:~:text=Knock%2C%0Aknock%2C%20knock!%20Who%27s%20there%2C%20i%27%20the%20name%20of

 

This is going to hurt...A taste for the hedonist.

It's always the way on a gorgeous summer's day, isn't it? You get out the garden furniture, pour a nice cold beverage, put up your feet—and then you hear the unwanted whine of a mosquito ready to bite you into itchy misery...

When it comes to being a mosquito meal, however, some people seem more susceptible than others. Now, researchers from the Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands have discovered one surprising culprit: drinking beer.

The team—led by biophysicist Felix Hol—came to this conclusion after bringing thousands of female Anopheles mosquitoes to the Lowlands music festival in 2023.

Fortunately, the researchers didn't let the biting bugs loose on the attendees—but instead invited the participants to take part in a special trial conducted in a unique pop-up lab built from connected shipping containers.

Approximately 500 festival-goers volunteered for the experiment. First, they filled out a questionnaire about their diet, hygiene and behavior at the event.

Next, to test their attractiveness to the mosquitoes, each volunteer placed their arm inside a specially designed cage containing the insects.

Tiny holes allowed the mosquitoes to smell the person's arm—but prevented them from actually biting.

A video camera recorded how many mosquitoes landed on the arm compared to a sugar feeder.

The team found that subjects who drank beer were 1.35 times more attractive to mosquitoes than those who abstained.

The study also found that the insects were more likely to target people who had been intimate with a partner the previous night.

In contrast, recent showering and using sunscreen were found to make people less attractive to mosquitoes.

https://www.newsweek.com/mosquitos-attraction-beer-drink-bites-2127475

Patricia, you may have those mosquitoes!  We also have blackflies here , you only know the blackfly has bit you is when the blood trickles down your face....nasty litte buggers!

Amy, Alaska, not so jokingly calls mosquitoes, its state bird. And you can buy tiny leg hold mosquito traps in most of the gift shops. Unfortunately, with so many forests, ponds, lakes and rivers, they've set up shop and moved in permanently.

There is a small bird, don't know its proper name; that is black on top, white tail and white underside. It's said to eat its body weight in mosquitoes twice over each day. The bird sanctuary staff put up and maintain, as do many parks and recreational spots, bird houses for them. A worse menace, to my way of thinking, are tiny black biting noseeums.

We don't have the large biting flies, but I've run into them in my travels through the west, horrible creatures!

I found the article interesting because of what attracted the mosquitoes to people.

As I did, seeing Shakespeare still relevant.

Good morning.

Warmer this morning temp is 51°  not sure if we shall see rain or not today.
Company coming this morning, will be nice to see them as it has been a while.
Making this a quickie..
Enjoy your day and stay safe.

Time to say "Good Night Everyfriend"!

This was one of those days that kept going on and on and on and on!  I never seemed to get finished.  And tomorrow is another day!

I loved all the "bug stuff" that you gave us PATRICIA!  You sure have a lot of good stuff to report!  I don't think I ever heard any of that "bug stuff" before!  I guess one is never too old to learn something new!

I'm off to the sleeping quarters!  I'm tired right up the gazoo!  I'll be back tomorrow.  I wish you all a peaceful nights sleep and a great day tomorrow.  See you then!  Sleep tight and don't let the bed bugs bite!  (That's what my Gramma used to say to us when we started up the stairs at night)

Good morning..

 Looks as though we have had some rain overnight and our starting temp is 55°.
Thoroughly enjoyed our company yesterday, lots of laughs and catching up. Raked the pinecones and needles off the front lawn..looks much nice now.

Today is a day of rest,have soup for lunch and maybe burgers for supper.

Jane ,do we ever get finished? We don't have to "look" for work it always finds us! I gave David some of your cole slaw, he loves it on a pulled pork sandwich!

Patricia, do you have snakes there?

Rick we have given the furnace a short run just to get the house warm then turn off again. All too soon it will be on for the winter.

Enjoy your day and stay safe.

Quote from: Amy on September 14, 2025, 07:04:36 AMRick we have given the furnace a short run just to get the house warm then turn off again. All too soon it will be on for the winter.

I have those old steam heated iron radiators here, and I like to brush them out before I turn on any heat to get the dust out of them. The heat makes the dust circulate, and it's more efficient. My ambition for cleaning them has been very low this year, but I better get at it. Only one done so far.  I have confidence in the boiler (fingers crossed).

Good morning, nothing new here, 42 and raining. Meet and greets, morning routine and feeding everyone is done plus coffee just finished brewing.

Jane, I read something interesting yesterday. I was curious because someone recently, perhaps you, had said, don't let the bedbugs bite. It first appeared in an 1896 book and actually was talking about fleas.

Next week will be somewhat busy with grocery shopping on Tuesday, a haircut on Wednesday, and the library on the 19th. The drain replacement finally finished last week, but now they're putting in plaster board in the hallways to cover the holes they cut to reach the hallway pipes. On my floor, they've painted over white and sanded the walls down. The next step will be overall painting. Then, hopefully, we're done until the next big project is announced.

Amy, I've had the heat on and the humidifier going for two weeks now. If I don't run it in the winter, I get headaches from the lack of humidity and dry out until I get headaches and my skin burns.

No snakes here, thankfully. No ticks, either or raccoons, opossums, fireflies, alligators, or hummingbirds.  There's probably a lot more we don't have in the arctic, but those are the ones I thought of.

Anchorage is similar to Seattle, and we have far less humidity, sometimes below three percent even with the rain we've had. Today is five percent.

Ruthie sent me a link to a bread recipe, sweet pumpkin sourdough bread with a cinnamon swirl center. She knows I'm thinking about making my own bread again, or perhaps buying a bread machine. Here's the link if you, or perhaps Jane, might like to try it. https://gatherednutrition.com/pumpkin-cinnamon-swirl-sourdough-bread/

Rick, I've had my heat on since the first week in September. I usually turn it off in April and back on in October, but it has been so rainy this year. I set it at 72 during the day and 64 at night. If we have the winter prophesied, I'll probably keep it warmer due to air whistling in around the windows.

Good morning.

Starting out at 37° this morning. Busy day ahead, more pickled beets to do . Robins are hammering the Mountain Ash berries soon the tree will be bare.
 
Patrica, we will have the heat on soon enough. We do have some light wood that if a quick fire is needed will do.

Better get the day started.

Enjoy your day and stay safe.

[/b]Good Morning Everyfriend!  I've been up and attem since 5:30 this morning.  Cooper wasn't due until just before 7 today but I still can't sleep in!

It's a beautiful day in Central Pennsylvania!  The sun is out and the air is slightly moving!  Cooper took me for a morning walk and we had a good breakfast.  I have some stuff to do around here so I better get busy.  I wish you all a pleasant day!  Make it your own in every way!  And be sure to tell us how you did that.  We're the curious type!

Good morning, still raining, still in the forties, and I'm finished with the usual to-dos. Nothing to do here but play catchup and finish my PSP lessons.

Almost 2:00 here so good morning and good afternoon. Sunny and 80ish, and nothing to do.  Actually do have things to do, but I'm not going to do them today.

A little bit after ten now.  Time to pack it in for the day.  Doing nothing isn't easy.

Morning all!

It looks like we will be staying below 80^o today and tomorrow with a possibility of some showers today and definite (not a super good word when it comes to the weather forecasters these days) period of rain on Wednesday.

OLM  hasn't posted for five days, hope she is doing okay.

Not much to do today, but I did get some pet wipes to try and clean the cats up a little. Oscar is not much into cleaning himself now and Shan's long hair sometimes picks up crud. They are both close to nail cutting time, always a trial with the result being I get cat-u-punctured and a nail or two get missed.

Just got word that my youngest sister and SIL will be visiting the beginning of October.

That is pretty much it for now.

Good morning

 Starting out at 40° this morning. Yesterday was busy, another 22 pints of beets done  making it over 50 lbs of beets pickled.Labeling and putting away today ,that is it for beets!

Rick,  Actually do have things to do, but I'm not going to do them today.  Doing nothing isn't easy. Gave me laugh, thank you!

MG, I take it the cats don't care for their pedicure?

Better get the day started.

Enjoy your day and stay safe.

Good Morning Everyfriend!  I will be travelling this coming weekend....well, I'll be leaving on Thursday late afternoon.  My granddaughter is going to Maryland to celebrate her birthday with her Mom and she's dropping me off for a visit with my sister on the way.  My Sister is 15 months older than me and still living alone in her home.  Neither of us drive any more so we don't get to visit face-to-face any more.  This will be a special time!

I hope you are all doing well and taking care of yourselves!  Keep on keeping on!  We need to stay in there and do whatever suits us.  I noticed some of you saying that you weren't going to do anything.  I have lots of days like that!  You don't think it's part of the aging process, do you?  Oh well!  Whatever it is, it's us...or at least it's me! 

I wish you all a great day!  Make it your own in every way!  And come by and tell us how you did that....or how you didn't do that!

Good morning, 41 and still raining, with a dense fog, while the weather folks keep telling us it will be partly cloudy.

I'll be out most of the day shopping with friends and lunch somewhere, that's it for my day, haircut on Wednesday and neighbor's package delivery on Friday, instead of the library.

MG, cutting Farrah's nails is a contortionist act. She is not fond of it, and you have to plan an ambush beforehand. So many people use old long sleeved shirts on cats, hoist them up and do it that way. You can even buy the equipment online. I've thought about it many times. 

Jane, have a good visit with your sister. My sister lives a long way from here, but, we do talk and email, more than when we lived close.

Amy, what ever will you do with fifty pounds of pickled beets?

Another afternoon slipping away. Temp is 71° on this sunny day. My sister just called to chat, she had to say goodbye to one of her cats, he was 18yr old.
 
Some work got done but some got let for whoever wants to do it.

Patricia, Kyle likes pickled beets and we have friends that also like them, so jars go home with them to enjoy. We certainly could use some rain here, if you have any to spare.