Does Caffeine Help Sleep Deprivation?not really

this paper Originally it was published on our sister site Free think. Freethink has partnered with the Build for Tomorrow podcast to introduce new episodes every month.Apply Here To learn more about the crazy and bizarre things from the history that shaped us, and how we can shape the future.

Jason Pfeiffer, Editor-in-Chief of Entrepreneur Magazine, Host Build for tomorrow Podcasts have a fun hobby. He examines newspaper archives to discover how people who lived 100 years ago imagined life in the 21st century.

One of the old pipe dreams: climate-controlled housing.

We, the mere ordinary people of today, live better than the royals of the past.

“If all the heating is electric and you need 70 degrees in your house, set the thermostat to 70 degrees. The temperature does not exceed that point. This temperature is kept uniform regardless of the outside weather. “It will be,” Charles Steinmetz predicted, since 1921, an electrician in Schenectady (apparently called by the enviable nickname “Thunderbolt Counterfeiter”).

And it’s just looking at life 100 years ago, a moment in the whole range of human life. Rewinding further, Feifer explains. You realize how wonderful things exist in our daily lives.

“We live in a fantasy world and rarely stop to thank it,” says Pfeiffer.

Here are five ways we, as mere ordinary people today, can live better than the royals of the past.

1. Royal purple

You may already know that purple is the color of the royal family, but do you know why?

To begin with, purple was very expensive for what it took to make it: it had to be distilled from the dehydrated mucous glands just behind the rectum of a particular snail.Around BBC:

“Before squeezing, drying and boiling from the calcified coil of the thorny Murex Sea snail, tens of thousands of dried lower branch glands were cloth whose fibers retained the invertebrate odor throughout the dyeing process. It took me to color even one small sample of. Marine excrement. “

Insulting the sense of smell, these snails had to be imported from Lebanon into Europe (the name “Tyrian Purple” refers to Lebanese tires).

Then, of course, there was a law — it was illegal for the common people to wear purple. Only the royal family could wear it.

“In the 11th and 12th centuries, Europe begins to develop dense urban spaces, as we are aware of today, and this causes social problems,” says Feifer.

“Suddenly we need a way to distinguish the different people in the city … the serf had to wear the serf’s clothes. The lord had to wear the lord’s clothes. Nobody Can be identified, so you can never pass as someone you are not. “

2. Peace and tranquility … and private sex

The next time you curl up in bed and read a book privately (it is recommended to wear purple), remember the height of the royal family, at least compared to medieval Europe.

“For most people in the Middle Ages, the concept of personal space literally didn’t exist,” says Feifer.

“You worked, ate, lived crushed by others, and at night the whole family shared a bed. Sometimes strangers and travelers jumped into bed and kept warm. This wasn’t strange to them, just … how was it? “

Witnesses were needed for royal sex.

In fact, Feifer explains that the privacy we experience in intimate moments was extravagant, even if the royal family was not given.

Proving pedigree is paramount in a society where family pedigree determines who controls the land. However, DNA testing was centuries apart, so some notary was needed to prove that the man and woman in question were true parents.

“When you’re a royal family, sex isn’t just about sex. It’s a formal act of expanding the royal lineage, which is a national issue,” says Feifer. “So it … has to be confirmed. This meant that royal sex required witnesses.”

When it comes to privacy, another way to be better than yesterday’s royalty is the bathroom. Thanks to modern plumbing, many of us can safely assume that no one can see our business.

“If you live in an aristocrat and live in a castle called a toilet, bathroom, or flush toilet, it’s called a garter robe,” explains Andrew Rabin, an English professor at the University of Louisville. Podcast.

“And basically what it is is a hole that goes out of the castle, like you sit in this hole and do your job, and it will literally drip from the sides of the castle.”

3. Perfume

credit: Luis Acosta Via Getty Images

The royal family may have suffered from the injustice that they may have been found doing business high up in the castle, but what about the general public? The assumptions are similar, but much more … down to Earth. Fortunately, engineers at the time found an important hack.

“In a medieval city, the second floor of the house protruded into the street. There are two reasons for this, one is that it is now possible to build wider streets. This is because the streets are animals. It was convenient because it could be crowded in a place full of people. “

“But two, because then people could walk under these overhanging upstairs.”

If these people happen to get too close to the edges of these overhangs, Rabin explains, they risk ending up with “a surprising new way to style (their) hair.”

However, even if the hair remained free of urine and feces, it faced a panoramic scent from the street, a powerful blend of human and animal excrement and body odor. Rabin says it’s a misconception that medieval people didn’t take a bath — they did, which simply didn’t do much to mitigate the onslaught of harmful odors.

The Royals were lucky to get the perfume, but not all of their employers can say the same. So take a deep breath and rest assured that sniffing is like a dream for medieval royalty.

4. Language

Literacy is one thing, but at the turn of the last millennium in England, the common people were not even allowed to speak the same language as their rulers.

“After the conquest of Norman in 1066, when various groups from France invaded and occupied Britain, the British ruling class spoke a language called Norman French,” Pfeiffer said.

“In fact, several generations of rulers will pass before any of them can speak their people’s language. You go through Richard Lionheart, also known as Richard the First of England. I know. English accent? No, he didn’t speak English. “

Anyway, the average person may not have had the opportunity to speak to the king, but the implications of this distinction between royalty and the common people extended to legal affairs. This was true even after Norman French was a distant memory.

“Even after the monarchy and the court abandoned French and spoke English, barristers and lawyers had to learn how to speak this’Law French’,” Rabin said.

Therefore, in this sense, all that is required to live like royalty today is to be able to speak the same language as the elected leader and read legal documents (the text itself is more like Law French than English). Even if it feels like).

5. Sugar

credit: William West Via Getty Images

The last way to live like a royal family is to pamper your sweet teeth.

“Sugar cane is a modern invention. Sugar beet: a modern invention. Corn syrup: a modern invention-and a lot of factory processing is needed to get its sweetness,” said Egyptian art and architecture professor in the episode. , UCLA’s Near Eastern Language and Culture Bureau.

“The sugar in the ancient world came from fruits. If you had access to the fruits … and if you squeezed it … you could get the sugar, but it was hard to get. “

Like purple, sugar was unusual because it was difficult to procure and manufacture. Modern society has managed to overturn the script.

“At that time, sugar consumption was a sign of status. Thousands of years later, industrial sugar is now one of the cheapest substances available. Therefore, the status marker has been reversed.”

The next time you taste your favorite dessert, enjoy it as a royal joy.

Check out the Build for Tomorrow episode for more information. Here..

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