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IT'’S true that incense sticks – at least in the West – were a feature of the hippie sixties and seventies, when caftans, love-ins, Macarthur Park, bell-bottomed jeans, The Medium is the Message, LSD, Hugh Heffner at the Playboy mansion and more beads than Liberace ever dreamed of were the order of the day.
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GOOD morning. Now we live in a more sedate, not to mention puritanical era. So imagine our surprise yesterday when we spotted a display of boxed incense sticks at our friendly neighbourhood pharmacy. Could it be another sign of China’s increasing links with PNG, we wondered?
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BUT no – the country of origin proved to be Portugal. We were surprised less by the Portuguese fascination with incense than by the fact that someone had apparently discerned a market for it in PNG. With a strong sense of déjà vu, we bought a box without noticing the particular perfume used. Arriving home, we were unprepared for the label on our purchase, which read “wormwood”.
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NOW don’t be incensed, but we then decided to make wormwood the subject of our next Quiz question. So here we go: Wormwood has been well-known since Roman times; what is it and can you detail some of its uses? E-mails to DeeNesenolis@hotmail.com by this coming Tuesday at 5pm please.
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CONTINUING with results for our first Quiz of 2008, we greet Warea Orapa. Warea e-mailed us from Suva, Fiji. Noting that the Quiz referred to Junkers aircraft, Warea added: “The fuselage was made of corrugated metal and aluminium; the powerful engines helped Junkers set records for carrying heavy airfreight, while Bulolo became for a time the busiest airport in the world.” Thanks for that entry Warea – it’s amazing to think that tiny Bulolo once held that remarkable title.
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IRENE Gashu, our Tokyo, Japan Quizzer and a regular visitor to PNG, noted the role of the Junkers in Morobe and added: “These tough aircraft were designed by Hugo Junkers, who was born in 1859; he built the J11, a twin-seater naval patrol plane for the German Navy in 1918, and the Ju52 in 1928.” Thanks to Irene – more results tomorrow. Cheers!
- Dee Nesenolis
Editorial