Wednesday 22 February 2012

Tomato

Scientific name: Lycopersicon esculentum Mill. 

The origins of the tomato are on the American continent, possibly in places of high altitude, where some wild forms are still to be found. s far as can be ascertained, the Indians did not include tomato in their diet. It is thought that owning to the intense odour of its foliage when touched, the tomato was included among the so-called «devil's herb», which human were forbidden to use. There are indications that the Spaniards brought it to Europe in 1523, and it has been known in Italy since 1544 and in England since 1597.

 It may well first have been grown in Europe as a novelty plant. The forms introduced, at least Italy, had small yellow fruit, from which the plant derives its Italian name, po,odoro or «golden apple». The Europeans improved the tomato, particulary the size of the fruit, and made it more attractive to horticulturists. Gaspar Frutuoso emphasizes the variety of ways in which the tomato was consumed, being «at the same fruit, vegetable and dressing». It is not known exactly when the tomato was first introduced to Portugal.  





What can be concluded is that the plant was widely distributed as a vegetable in Portugal, and Rocha Pitta, referring to the tomato in Brazil, regarded it as a «European vegetable», which leads one to suppose that improved varieties had already returned to America. The tomato was probably introduced to Africa and the Orient by the Portuguese as a «vegetable», possibly from Eurpoe, and subsequently improved, as mentioned above. 

Sunday 12 February 2012

Romantic Jealousy.

Jealousy, this stupid feeling when "negative thoughts and feelings of insecurity, fear and anxiety over an anticipated loss of something that the person values". We all had some moment in our life's when this feeling reaches its higher levels and it makes you do some crazy stuff (I was going to use other word but a friend of mine told me not to use bad words). 

"According to a study done by the University of Texas at Austin, a specific set of brain circuits guides our emotional reactions to threats in the context of sexual relationships. This emotional-cognitive module, they argue, makes man innately predisposed to jealousy over a mate's sexual infidelity. It makes women innately predisposed to jealousy over a mate's emotional infidelity." So guys and girls have some different triggers, or at least they seem to respond to different motives, but it's just theoretical talk. For me the sexual and emotional part can exist in  both gender.

So this emotion is neither subtle nor kind, but it's kinda complex.It throws the mind into turmoil and is difficult to dislodge. It's hard to keep your mind sharp and to be the most happy person all the time, because this emotion it will be in you brain all the time. Probably will get you crazy, and probably you will treat other people like crap because you are frustrated, and probably you will do something against the guy/girl that are "threaten" you and the person you like. But you can give this emotion a road of success and transforming it in a positive thing  because if you have jealous, it means you like the person and if you change this negative jealous and the other people notice that you will improve yourself. 


I'm a jealous guy, but I'm in that moment that I don't give a f&%$, at least most of the times. This feeling is kinda useless. When you are in a relationship, and you have jealousy of all the guys or girls that give some extra attention to the person who is with you, well you are dumb, because you must trust the person. That's one of the most important thing in a relationship. If the other person do something wrong....well....he/she is not the right person to you and deserves to have an STD. But continuing to my opinion, having romantic jealousy is tough to handle, and it hard to not giving in to bad thoughts but you need to be strong and well try always to be a gentleman.  Because bit&%$ love gentlemen's. 

Saturday 4 February 2012

Rice.

Scientific name: Oryza sativa L.


Prior the Portuguese Discoveries, other species of the «rice» already existed in Africa and America, some of which are still grown today, although in limited areas. «Indian rice» came originally from the Orient, where it has been cultivated for thousands of years. Today it is still the staple of many Oriental peoples; for them, rice is the most important cereal, in the same way that wheat is in temperate climates. White or Asian rice was already known in Mediterranean region before the Discoveries. The Santa Cruz Papers states that in Moluccas rice «surge from the hills with no more effort than cleaning the land, sowing and harvesting». 

Valentim Fernandes, writing at the end of the fifth century, notes that on the hillside of Guinea at that time, «rice is twice sown and twice harvested», which would  have been produced using an African species of rice. Pêro Vaz de Caminha, referring to Brazil, also observed that «some of us made for a settlement some three miles from the sea and brought back from there parrots and a root called inhame, which is the bread used there, and some rice». It is thought that rice was bought from Portugal to the islands of Cape Verde, and from there to Brazil, but it may well have come from Orient via Cape Verde. We will never know.

                          


The Portuguese people didn't discover rice, but helped it spread throughout the world.