Saturday, April 21, 2012

Nie tylko miłość ojca do syna, ale także żony do męża, matki, przyjaciółki. Tak trudno kochać. Podtrzymywanie uczucia to walka. Podejmujemy ją każdego dnia. M.Dorocinski http://film.onet.pl/wiadomosci/publikacje/wywiady/marcin-dorocinski-codzienne-powtarzam-kocham-kilka,1,5107832,wiadomosc.html

Sunday, April 1, 2012

The world in six cups of tea

If you don’t count the necessity of drinking water, tea is the most consumed drink in the world. Tea is made by brewing the leaves, buds and/or flowers of the Camellia sinensis plant, commonly called the tea plant. It plays a central role in both religious rituals and secular ceremonies. It has proven health benefits. It can promote either community and camaraderie or solitude and introspection. It can be calming or invigorating. Tea is arguably the most versatile beverage on Earth. A cup of history Historians trace the first use of tea to around 600 BC. According to Tom Standage’s A History of the World in Six Glasses, tea was likely first consumed in the eastern Himalayas by Buddhist monks in India and Taoist monks in China to help facilitate meditation. Europe did not encounter tea until 1610, Standage explains, when Portuguese traders in Macao sent a Dutch ship home with a batch and it eventually made its way to England in the 1650s. As the British Empire expanded, colonizing many parts of the world, so did its stronghold on the tea industry. The British East India Company counted on China as its sole supplier of tea until 1834, when it realized that tea grew naturally in a region in one of its own colonies: Assam, India. To this day, Assam is the biggest tea producing region in the world, and India is the biggest tea producing country in the world. Tea preparation today Masala chai (spiced tea), black tea prepared with milk, sugar, and spices like cardamom, cinnamon sticks, ginger and cloves, is now the hallmark of Indian tea culture. In the northwestern region of Kashmir, locals drink kahwa (green chai), which can be prepared almonds and sugar, as well as local spices such as saffron, cardamom, cinnamon and cloves. In China, green tea is the most ubiquitous class of tea, while white, yellow, pu-erh and oolong teas are cherished delicacies. Tea ceremonies, tea appreciation and tasting services led by skilful tea masters, may feature any of the above. In Japan, the tea ceremony is often held in temples, led by Buddhist priests trained in the art of chado, “the way of tea”, and involves the use of matcha, a powdered green tea. In the predominantly Buddhist country of Tibet, tea is traditionally prepared in monasteries with the addition of butter made from yak’s milk. In Russia, tea is prepared in tea rooms using a samovar, an urn of hot water. A teapot filled with dark, concentrated black tea is diluted with water from the samovar and served. England is world-famous for its afternoon tea, in which the beverage is served with finger sandwiches, scones and petit fours. While in cold climates, tea is used to warm up, hot tea can also be used to cool down, such as Moroccan mint tea, a brew of green tea leaves mixed with mint leaves. Get to know the rest of the article and types of tea! Click Here

What character was removed from the alphabet but is still used every day?

Johnson & Johnson, Barnes & Noble, Dolce & Gabbana: the ampersand today is used primarily in business names, but that small character was once the 27th part of the alphabet. Where did it come from though? The origin of its name is almost as bizarre as the name itself. The shape of the character (&) predates the word ampersand by more than 1,500 years. In the first century, Roman scribes wrote in cursive, so when they wrote the Latin word et which means “and” they linked the e and t. Over time the combined letters came to signify the word “and” in English as well. Certain versions of the ampersand, like that in the font Caslon, clearly reveal the origin of the shape. The word “ampersand” came many years later when “&” was actually part of the English alphabet. In the early 1800s, school children reciting their ABCs concluded the alphabet with the &. It would have been confusing to say “X, Y, Z, and.” Rather, the students said, “and per se and.” “Per se” means “by itself,” so the students were essentially saying, “X, Y, Z, and by itself and.” Over time, “and per se and” was slurred together into the word we use today: ampersand. When a word comes about from a mistaken pronunciation, it’s called a mondegreen. Find out why here. (The ampersand is also used in an unusual configuration where it appears as “&c” and means etc. The ampersand does double work as the e and t.) The ampersand isn’t the only former member of the alphabet. Learn what led to the extinction of the thorn and the wynn. Are there other symbols or letters you would like to learn about? The most popular choice below will be our focus in the near future. Read more at here