The Cellar Image of the Day

Quote:

It was not a good day to be an arachnophobe in Liverpool. As part of the city's Capital of Culture celebrations, this scary 50ft mechanical spider was suspended from a building near Lime Street station.

Even worse, La Princess, as the creature is known, is to move around the city at speeds of up to 2mph before it escapes down the Mersey Tunnel on Sunday.

The steel and wood spider has sophisticated hydraulics which allow the dozen engineers strapped to its frame to operate its eyes, legs and abdomen

I'd like to know more about the dozen engineers strapped to the spider. I can't see them in the picture.

I would love to be one of the engineers riding/driving that beast!

Bwahahahaahaaa! Kneel before me, puny human! Hey, wait, don't run so fast! Come back!

This must be the same dudes with the giant fairytale puppets.

Looks really steampunk to me.

Why is the spider's booty sticking up like that? Is there a giant bull in the area?

Aha! I've been getting promo emails for weeks about the arrival of La Machine. Good to know what it actually is. Can't wait to see pictures of it in action.

Of course the hate Mail has to add in the comment from the Taxpayer's Alliance. How we ever get to host the European City of Culture is beyond me.

I thought it was a tuft of grass..?
Which is why the pictures in nursery rhymes books always have her outside

Curds and whey = cottage cheese.

I have a great capacity for useless trivia. It's everything else I have trouble remembering.

That reminds me, I remember seeing a sign at a Long John Silvers or something for Cheese Curds. Now that just doesn't sound good.

A young female child with the surname "Muffett"
Was sitting on a small stool, eating cottage cheese.
She suffered from extreme arachnophobia,
and fled when she observed a nearby spider.

Takes some of the fun out of it, really.

I'm not sure about squeaky food, either. Then again, Wheat Nuts squeak, and I luvvvvvv Wheat Nuts.

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Weird food: why is squeaky cheese squeaky?

If you're not from Wisconsin or thereabouts, you may never have heard of the tasty treat squeaky cheese. But you should give it a try.

If you live in the upper Midwest of the United States or the corresponding region in Canada (or anywhere near a cheesemaker) you probably know all about squeaky cheese. But it’s an oddity to much of the nation, where cheese only comes from supermarkets.

The process of making cheese combines a bit of art and science, but to break it down quickly: cheese generally starts with some kind of milk (cow, goat, soy, etc.) to which a coagulant such as rennet or a natural souring culture is added. This forms first soft curds, then harder curds when the whey (liquid) is removed. Then salt and other seasonings are added, the cheese is molded, pressed, banded and aged however long is required for that kind of cheese. Of course there’s much more to it than that, but all we need to know is that the process of cheesemaking results in these little nubby curds after the whey is released and before the cheese is pressed into a block or wheel shape like you see in the grocery store.

Squeaky cheese is simply a bit of the curd taken out before the rest of the batch is aged. It is very fresh (cheesemakers say it is best still warm out of the vat, but can be eaten a couple of days out of the vat) and most often seen made from cheddar cheese. It has a kind of strange texture, a little like silly putty, but it tastes like cheese. The cheese squeaks because it has not been aged at all, thus the texture is squeaky rather than the normal firm aged cheddar that does not squeak. Cheddar cheese is usually aged from two months to four years before being sold.

I've heard Miss Muffett was a real person - her father was head of the Birtish Museum or somesuch, hence her hanging about near spiders.

Truth value unknown.

"Scouse" is a description applied to people who live in Liverpool (scousers) and to their particular accent and dialect. It comes, originally from a kind of sea food broth which was, I believe brought by the vikings...

...obviously not the actual broth brought by the vikings, that'd be past it's use by date....

This thread goes to prove you guys are one crazy lot. I spewed coffee on my key board.

You call them crazy, but you're the one who brought coffee into a Cellar thread...that's just askin for trouble

Some additional pictures from here, La Machines's website.
All photographs are copyrighted to Matthew Andrews.
The first shows the engineers. Or in French, le manipulateurs!
The second shows the slightly cheaty way the spider moves. Hang on, real spiders don't have wheels!

Despite rotten weather La Princesse drew huge crowds.
The snow is one of the special effects, but the rain is just September in Britain.

Personally, I think it is worth occasionally spending large amounts of money for large spectacle.

This was part of the City of Culture events, which have been very successful across Europe - it made a huge difference last time it was in the UK (Glasgow) and seems to be working its magic this time too.

Liverpool is a city with a lot to offer, and pictures of this event will be seen around the world. Not only is it an advert fir the city, but the inhabitents got to see a huge piece of street theatre and enjoy the show. It's something you will remember for a long time - a 50 foot spider in your city.

It's not "free" of course. Nothing is free. The National Opera is subsidised, English Heritage is government funded, the British Museum, the Queen herself, the war in Iraq. We all pay somewhere along the line. You just focus on the spending you agree with and accept the rest as part of living in society.

I like the spider and I applaud Liverpool for having the vision to spend the money. I accept YMMV.

At least the taxpayers can go and see the show for free, unlike here, where the taxpayers are soaked millions building sports stadiums for professional teams, then have to pay again to see the show.