The Discovery of the Inscription on a 1,000 Year Old Comb

Scratching My Head

The most important topic of 1,000 years ago
Some of these links are affiliate links. This lets me create great content at no cost to you. Thank you for your support!

Scientists recently translated a sentence from an approximately 1,000 year old comb: “May this tusk root out the lice of the hair and the beard.”  This sentence is the oldest known piece of writing using an alphabet.

Scientists recently translated a sentence from an approximately 1,000 year old comb: “May this tusk root out the lice of the hair and the beard.”  This sentence is the oldest known piece of writing using an alphabet.
MidJourney prompt: a monkey scratching another monkey’s head, on black isolated plain –v 5 –s 250

I had a great laugh at the irony of this. We translate an ancient saying, and it’s not about the gods, or soap, or even a love story.

It’s about lice.

Think about that for a moment. Of all the things that survived, we now know one of the most important things to people 1,000 years ago was combing nits out of their beards. And yes, I’m thinking of monkeys picking out bugs from their fur right about now.

Parents know all too well of these little creeps: the louse. Notoriously spread through contact between school-age children, they creep and crawl all over your scalp. They are hard to get rid of, too, requiring a really hot cycle in the washing machine and vigilance with a comb. And more often than not, several doses of over-the-counter medication. In several doses. That’s because they take days to hatch, and hair falls all over the place.

They aren’t harmful in the sense that you’d get a horrible disease from them, unless you count being grossed out.

Well, I can tell you with all sorts of authority that dealing with lice on your child is made about a million times worse in a custody situation. Because, as I mentioned, lice takes days to hatch, and hair falls all over the place.

Did I mention that lice takes days to hatch?

Coincidentally, the number of days to hatch is approximately the same number of days between households in (what I consider) to be a typical custody schedule. So, what ends up happening is that your child keeps getting reinfected.

When this happened, of course my ex-husband (let’s call him B, which may or may not be the first letter of B’s name … totally, purely, 100% coincidence if it was) and I were on the same page with these lice:

Me: B, you need to wash everything in hot water.

B: Why?

Me: Because she has lice.

(A week and a half later:)

Me: B, you need to wash everything in hot water.

B: Why?

Me: Because she has lice.

(A week and a half later:)

Me: B, you need to wash everything in hot water.

B: Why?

Me: Because she has lice.

(A week and a half later:)

B: You need to take her to the doctor.

Me: Why?

B: Because she has lice.

Me: Did you wash everything in hot water?

B: No. But she needs prescription medication because she keeps getting lice.

Me: So you didn’t wash everything in hot water?

B: This is getting out of hand.

Me: How much does this medication cost?

B: $250.

If only ancient people had $250 prescription lice medication.

Book Promos

I am totally behind on my newsletter stuff, so I hope you forgive me for mashing this all up here on you. I promise, none of the promos have to do with lice.

Doomed Legacy (Book 9) by Matt Coyle just dropped! Perfect time for some thrills this holiday season. It’s another book (hence the Book 9) about PI Rick Cahill. Mr. Coyle also won some awards, which generally means the book won’t have annoying typos and constant POV shifts like a lot of self-published books do. I purchased this to give a read because it looks really good. I’ll let you know in an upcoming newsletter when I finish it.

Thy Killer’s Keeper by Edita A. Petrick features ex-FBI agent and profiler John Salton as he puts his far-out theories to the test. A futuristic crime suspense story.

Hidden Pieces by Mary Keliikoa … Sheriff Jax Turner must pull the pieces of his broken life together to save a young kidnapped girl.

The Group Promos

Download a bucketload of free books by signing up to the authors’ newsletters. Not guaranteed to be as cool as me.

Thank you everyone for checking these out! Nothing I have in this newsletter is a paid sponsorship, but I do trade for a mention in other authors’ newsletters.

Happenings

We needed this monkey.

I decided to switch over to fantasy reading because legal fiction was getting too boring for me. Are lawyers really this boring? Am I really this boring?

Right now, I’m catching up on the Fantasy & Science Fiction magazine for bite-size stories, which is free to read on the Kindle Unlimited.

I’m also gearing up for another season of the Wheel of Time, which I hope is better than the last season (which sucked). If you prefer reading the tomes, the Kindle has all of them bundled into one purchase. You can also get the companion if you want to skip over the reading part and get to the “who is this?” part for the TV series.

FDA Registered Allergy and Chemical Free Head Lice Treatment - Electric Head Lice Comb - Out Performs Other Head Lice Combs and Lice Shampoo - Removes Lice and Eggs

$48.99
as of December 3, 2023 11:26 pm

Nix Electronic Lice Comb, Instantly Kills Lice & Eggs and Removes From Hair

$21.00
$20.05
as of December 3, 2023 11:26 pm

Nit Free Terminator Comb, Professional Stainless Steel Louse and Nit Comb for Head Treatment, COLORS MAY VARY

$19.95
$12.55
as of December 3, 2023 11:26 pm

1 Piece Red Hair Nit Comb Stainless Steel Teeth Remove Head Nits Fine Bristles Head Nit Combs For Pets Kids And Adults

$4.29
Amazon.com
as of December 3, 2023 11:26 pm

Lice Comb - (Pack of 2) Stainless Steel Professional Lice Combs and Head Lice Treatment to Effectively Get Rid of Hair Lice and Nits, Best Results for Infection and Re-infection in Kids & Adults

$11.99
as of December 3, 2023 11:26 pm

8 Pieces Flea Lice Combs Double Sided Lice Removal Comb Hair Grooming Comb with Metal Teeth (Orange, Blue, Purple, White, 3.5 x 2 Inch, 3.54 x 1.57 Inch)

$6.99
$6.49
Amazon.com
as of December 3, 2023 11:26 pm

Nix Lice Removal Comb, Removes Dead Lice & Eggs from Hair, 2-Sided

$8.67
Amazon.com
as of December 3, 2023 11:26 pm

10 Pieces Hair Nit Combs Remove Head Nits Fine Stainless Steel Teeth Head Nit Comb For Pets Kids And Adults

$9.99
Amazon.com
as of December 3, 2023 11:26 pm

4 Piece White Fine Tooth Nit Combs Double-Sided Detection Removes Head From All Types Of Hair White Nit Comb For Kids Adults And Pets

$4.99
Amazon.com
as of December 3, 2023 11:26 pm

Premium 5 Piece Lice Kit - Nit Removal Fine Tooth Comb and Magnifier Full Treatment Set - Louse and Nit Combs Removes Eggs with Rounded Tips for Comfort

$13.99
as of December 3, 2023 11:26 pm

 

If you like this post, please PIN it! This helps me know what people like and create better content.