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EDIBLE FLOWER FACTS

A garden isnt just a place to grow edible vegetables and fruit. There are many flowers that aregrown for their edible parts. Here are some edible flower facts you might consider.

Broccoli is a flower.

Broccoli is usually grown for its green heads. But if the broccoli head is not cut, it goes to theflower stage. These tiny yellow clusters of flowers are just as edible as the tight broccoli head.

Did You Know?

1. California is the United States biggest producer of broccoli, accounting for 98% of thebroccoli grown for US consumption.

2. Broccoli is related to crops such as cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and Kale. They are known ascole crops.

3. The stalk of the broccoli, about one-third of a pound, contains more vitamin C than two and a

half pounds of oranges.

Squash blossoms are edible.

The fruit of the squash, the part normally associated with the squash, actually grows from theflower (as most fruiting bodies in the garden do). But if you pick the squash blossoms before

they fruit, you can fry up the blossoms and eat them. They are also edible raw. Just remember:You wont have squash grow from these as you took away their energy from the fruit. Just plant

a few extra squash plants.

Did You Know?

1. Squash are in the same family as cucumbers and melons.2. Squash have been around for at least 5000 years when Native Americans considered thempart of their staple diet.

3. Zucchini are squash.

Dandelions are edible including the flower.

Those pesky little weeds that gardeners and land owners seem to hate are edible. Though the

dandelion greens are usually eaten, the flowers are just as edible. Use them in a stir fry or onsalads.

Did You Know?1. The dandelion first came from Asia but now exists almost everywhere on the planet!2. The dandelion pollen is preferred by many insects including the honey bee.

Many herbs equal as edible flowering plants.

Many herbs are grown for the leaves. But a lot of herbs can be grown for edible flowers too.Basil, mint and oregano are just a few of the herbs that produce edible flowers.

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Did You Know?1. Basil is closely related to mint, thus its strong, aromatic mint-like smell and flavor.

2. Mint is a very invasive plant and will easily spread everywhere taking over many plants if itgrows wild.

3. Oregano is often used as an anti-infective.

Pansies and Violas

Pansies and violas (also known as Johnny Jump Ups in some places) are edible. They have ataste similar to a grass and give an otherwise boring salad some much needed color.

Did You Know?1. Pansies are actually derived from violas.

2. Pansies and violas come in a huge range of colors including orange and black.3. Pansies and violas are related to violets.

Nasturtium

The nasturtium is a vining plant that produces red, orange and yellow edible flowers. It has a

peppery flavor and is great for additions to salads or a stir fry. Nasturtium is often called watercress, or Indian cress in some places.

Did You Know?1. All parts of this plant are edible.

2. It was often used for blood cleansing when it was first introduced to Europe in the late 1600s.

Roses

All rose flowers are edible, even the wild roses. Roses also have a variety of tastes as well astheir variety of colors. Rose petals are used to flavor water and used in candy making. Some

people use rose flowers in a salad.

Did You Know?

1. In the early 19th century, rose petals were used to make jellies.2. Rose oil is used as a cholesterol lowering agent.

Precautions and Exploration

Always take precautions when introducing new flowers into your diet. Make sure the flower youare eating is absolutely edible. Get a good identification book or contact a local agriculture centerto make sure the flower is edible. Make sure the flowers you pick have not been sprayed with

harsh chemicals like pesticides and herbicides. Always introduce the edible flowers slowly intoyour diet, especially if you have never eaten any of these particular flowers. Be aware of any

allergic reactions you may have.

If you have taken all these above precautions, then you are ready for the world of edible flowers.

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How The Internet Got Started

Internet, as viewed by some is the inevitable result of the combined technologies of variouscommunication tools such as the television and the telephone, and the computer. Without such

technologies, the Internet will not be possible. But others view the Internet as similar to other

great inventions of our time. That the Internet is a product of many radical concepts put together,numerous determined efforts exerted, and the continuous and unstoppable creation of more ideas.

Ideas about creating a system that will allow several different computers to share information

with each other began when the possibilities of a nuclear attack and a breakdown incommunications are looming on the horizon of the United States. Perhaps, there is some truth to

the saying necessity is the mother of inventions.

At the same time, J.C.R. Licklider (of MIT), joined the Defense Advanced Research ProjectAgency (DARPA) in order to head the development of a global network of computers. His vision

of having someone form one computer access data from another computer is basically what the

present Internet is all about.

Leonard Kleinrock, perhaps responding to the vision of Licklider, proceeded to develop the

packet switching theory. This theory described the possibility of placing information of data indatagrams or packets. And several years later, Paul Baran (hired by the USAF) created thepacket switch network, which was based on Kleinrocks work.

In 1965, Lawrence Roberts (also of MIT) attempted to connect a computer in Massachusetts to a

computer in California, using the dial-up telephone lines. Apparently, the telephone line cannotadequately handle the connection, but Roberts work showed wide area networking is possible.

He then joined DARPA and developed the ARPANET. This ARPANET is the original name of

Internet.

ARPANET went online in 1969 using computers from four major universities, the UCLA, the

SRI, the UCSB, and the University of Utah. Such was carried out by the BBN (Bolt Beranek andNewman, Inc) company, which was headed by Bob Kahn.

To make the system more efficient, Kahn collaborated with Vint Cerf (of SRI) to develop thepresent TCP/IP, or Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol. This changed the vehicle of

Internet connection from a vehicle driver (which is NCP) to a communications protocol. TheTCP/IP brought about what Kahn needed in an Internet connection. These are:

1. Each network must be able to stand on its own and need not undergo changes each time itconnects to the Internet2. Information in packets that was sent and lost can be transmitted again.

3. Gateways and routers need not retain information so that the whole system will be simplified.4. Operations at the local level will not be subject to any global control.

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Tornado Facts

In 1925, the Tri-State Tornado Outbreak (happened in Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana) killed689 people. In 1936, tornadoes killed 419 people in Mississippi and Florida. In 1965, 48

tornadoes occurring within 12 hours killed 256 people. In 1974, 148 tornadoes killed 315 people

and injured 5,300 more in 11 States. Unquestionably, tornadoes are dangerous. They wreakhavoc and cause millions of dollars of damages. And they leave the lives along their pathsdestroyed and desolate.

Unfortunately, very little useful information is learned about tornadoes. That is, there are somany facts about tornadoes but that crucial knowledge of how to predict or stop tornadoes is still

missing. What people are left with are theories and approximates. And much information abouttornadoes are either unproven or contradictory.

Still, knowing the basic ideas about tornadoes can shed some light on how an average person

should deal with tornadoes. Here are some basic tornado facts:

Watches vs. Warnings - A watch essentially advises the people of an area that a tornado mayoccur due to an impending storm and other unstable weather conditions. A warning, on the other

hand, tells the people that a tornado has been spotted and the people should seek safe places. Butmany tornadoes occur too fast that a warning is sometimes too late.

Multi-vortex Tornado vs. Multiple Tornadoes - A multi-vortex tornado is just a large tornadocirculation which has several sub-vortices that move around the center of this tornado

circulation. Multiple tornadoes, on the other hand, make up a series of tornadoes that is alsocalled an outbreak.

Cyclonic and AnticyclonicTornadoes - Cyclonic tornadoes usually occur in the north and thewind direction is counter-clockwise. The anticyclonic tornadoes occur in the south and the winddirection is clockwise. But this may not be the case for all tornadoes. Some scientists have

observed a pair of tornadoes in which one is cyclonic and the other is anticyclonic.

Wedge or Rope Tornadoes - Wedge tornadoes are those with larger bases. These are the ones

described as fat twisters The thinner ones, with narrow bases, are called rope tornadoes. Somemay assume that wedge tornadoes are stronger due to their sheer size, but the size of the

tornadoes have nothing to do with how much damage a tornado can cause. That is, some ropetornadoes can wreak more damage than some wedge tornadoes.

The Waterspout - This is a tornado that happens over water. It can easily capsize small boatsand can damage ships. But waterspouts are not recorded as tornadoes, unless they travel andreach land.

The Enhanced F-Scale - This scale, based on the original F-scale developed by Dr. T. Theodore

Fujita, was created to classify tornadoes according to the damage that they have caused. But sucha scale is still largely arbitrary and mainly influenced by the subjective views of scientists and

meteorologists.

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The Turtle - It is a low-lying armored probe that is placed in a tornado so that the drop inpressure can be determined. The engineer/storm chaser, Tim Samaras recorded a 40 millibars of

pressure drop in a large twister that appeared in May 15, 2003. Then, in June 24 of the sameyear, Samaras got a reading of 100 millibars of pressure decrease in a tornado that occurred in

Manchester.