History Hound Travels

Do you recognize these artifacts? These are oil lamps from ancient times. Not quite what you think of when someone says lighting fixtures is it? Oil lamos work by partially submerging a wick into a pool of oil (umm, d’uh). You light the wick, and as it burns, it draws oil up from the resevoir. You refill the lamp via the larger hole in it, and you can use many different types of oil in it, but olive oil was the most popular choice in ancient times. The light from an olive oil lamp is brighter than that from a candle.

These days, it costs less than a dime a day to burn an electric light bulb, and olive oil is selling for about $8 a quart. I’m sure thankful for ol’ Ben Franklin, aren’t you? Thanks to him, burning the midnight oil is a lot cheaper than it was back in ancient times. Guess that’s why they went to bed early, huh?

Remmeber when I said

Did you know that I look up some incredibly weird stuff on wikipedia? Well, I do, but that is not today’s topic, LOL. I just wanted to put in a plug for wikipedia, because it is an awesome resource. Today, I looked up, as the title suggests, acne. I’d thought that acne might be a relatively recent problem, given that it is often exacerbated by stress, and we are seeing an increase in the stress levels of teens.

The truth is: yes and no. There is apparently evidence that some early pharoahs suffered acne, and the very word comes from the Ancient Greek for point or peak. I guess that means that folks have been looking for the best acne treatment cream for thousands of years, huh?

I’m still puzzled over the fact that we have been looking for a cure for this malady for all these thousands of ears, and yet, just this morning, I woke up with a zit beside my nose. I mean, I know I am in great company, there with the pharaoh and all, but dang. Wrinkles and zits just should not be on the same face.

I guess I can file this under current events, huh?