The cheesy antics had everyone giggling.

1st. Fid[dler]. Will it please you Gentlemen to hear a new Lesson, or a Song A-la-mode. Sir For[mal]. S’bud you impertinent Raskal get you gone, / Or I’le so batter that Musical sconce of yours. / Song A-la-mode Quotha, I had as lieve hear a / Gibb Catt howl, and as much pleasure I take in’t.

Donaldo Macedo's work suggests traditional education intends to stupidify in an effort to conceal humanity's ability to transform the world and create history.

The dawn of the oil age was fairly recent. Although the stuff was used to waterproof boats in the Middle East 6,000 years ago, extracting it in earnest began only in 1859 after an oil strike in Pennsylvania. The first barrels of crude fetched $18 (around $450 at today’s prices). It was used to make kerosene, the main fuel for artificial lighting after overfishing led to a shortage of whale blubber.