Friday, October 21, 2005

Meta Micro Content Engine

Yesterday QTSaver started extracting multiple large chunks of microcontent from four sources:
Google
Yahoo
Wikipedia
Dmoz


It is on http://qtsaver.dynalias.com/index1.html and it is a test version for a limited period.

And here is what you get in one click:

Search results for laurel leaves
Search engine: Meta-search (DMOZ + Wikipedia + Google + Yahoo)

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Kalite Baharat-Nurettin Izmirli: http://www.kalitebaharat.com.tr
With over 25 years of experience in the spice industry, our main goal is to maintain customer satisfaction with the highest quality products at the most competitive prices. Kalite Baharat is a leading export company of oregano, laurel leaves, sage. Kalite Baharat is in the business of processing and supplying culinary herbs.

Our facility is a state-of-the-art processing plant, ensuring high quality herb production. Its initial merchandising focus is on oregano, laurel leaves, and sage. Today, Kalite Baharat has become one of main suppliers in these spices.

Quercus laurifolia (Laurel Oak): http://www.cnr.vt.edu/dendro/dendrology/syllabus/qlaurifolia.htm

Quercus laurifolia fact sheet Laurel oak Fagaceae Quercus laurifolia Michx. Leaf: Alternate, simple, entire margins, occasionally with shallow lobes, widest near the middle, 3 to 5 inches long, 1 to 1 1/2 inches wide, thick and persistent, shiny above, pale and smooth below.

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Asterix : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asterix
Those characters usually stick out visually, by not having the round, oversized noses otherwise typical of Uderzo's style. (Obelix and Co. also includes two Roman legionaries drawn to the likeness of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy.) Other side characters allude to people related to the place Asterix is visiting.

In Asterix in Britain, the Britons are used to drinking hot water with a drop of milk. Only when Asterix puts in tea-leaves, given by the druid, the habit becomes tea-drinking. In Astérix in Spain, Astérix ends up in a circus in front of a bull (not a lion, there).

Then Whosemoralsarelastix steals his own money, putting the blame on Asterix. Asterix leaves the village in search of the money to recover his honour.

Asterix and the Laurel Wreath (Les Lauriers de César) Rome Thoroughly chagrined by his succesful brother-in-law, Vitalstatistix gets drunk and boasts to create a salad containing Caesar's laurel wreath. With Asterix and Obelix, he travels to Rome to retrieve it.

One particularly obnoxious soldier is given the Village, by Caesar's hand, which he promply sells for wine. Pushed by his dominant wife, the innkeeper leaves Rome and attempts to claim the village as his own. Rivalries ensue, temporarily splitting the village in half.

Bay leaf: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_leaf

JPG bay leaves Bay leaf (plural bay leaves) are the aromatic leaves of several species of the Laurel family (Lauraceae). Bay leaves are used in cooking for their distinctive flavor and fragrance, and may be used fresh or dried.

The leaf of the bay laurel or "true laurel", Laurus nobilis, is a culinary herb often used to flavor soups, stews, and braises and pâtés in Mediterranean Cuisine.

The leaf of the California bay tree (Umbellularia californica), also known as 'California laurel', 'Oregon myrtle', and 'pepperwood', is similar to the Mediterranean bay, but has a stronger flavor.

The leaf of the Cinnamomum tejpata tree, similar in fragrance and taste to cinnamon bark, but milder. In appearance, it is similar to the other bay leaves, but is culinarily quite different, having an aroma and flavor more similar to that of Cinnamomum cassia.

Delphi: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delphi
Another legend held that Apollo walked to Delphi from the north and stopped at Tempe, a city in Thessaly to pick laurel, a plant sacred to him. In commemoration of this legend, the winners at the Pythian Games received a laurel wreath picked in Tempe.

The shrine dedicated to Apollo was probably originally dedicated to Gaia and then Poseidon. The oracle at that time predicted the future based on the lapping water and leaves rustling in the trees.
Historically, two parties dominated Jersey politics throughout the 19th century and into the 20th century: the Rose Party and the Laurel Party. Originating in the 1770s, the Jeannot party formed around the radical lawyer and Constable, Jean Dumaresq, who opposed the cabal of Jurats who surrounded Lieutenant-Bailiff Charles Lemprière (whose supporters became known as the Charlot party).

Politics of Jersey: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_Jersey

This is likely to change with the introduction of ministerial government expected in 2006. Historically, two parties dominated Jersey politics throughout the 19th century and into the 20th century: the Rose Party and the Laurel Party. Originating in the 1770s, the Jeannot party formed around the radical lawyer and Constable, Jean Dumaresq, who opposed the cabal of Jurats who surrounded Lieutenant-Bailiff Charles Lemprière (whose supporters became known as the Charlot party).

The Jeannots rapidly adopted the nickname of Magots (cheese mites) after their opponents boasted of aiming to crush them like mites. The Charlots and Magots contested power at elections until in 1819 the progressive Magots adopted the rose as their emblem, while the conservative Charlots wore laurel leaves. The symbolism soon became entrenched to the extent that gardens displayed their owners' allegiances, and pink or green paintwork also showed political sympathies.


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What are laurel leaves? - : http://www.killerplants.com/whats-in-a-name/20041001.asp

What are laurel leaves? - killerplants.com What's in a Name? Free Newsletter Signup Sponsored By: What are laurel leaves? By Chelsie Vandaveer October 1, 2004 Also Sponsored By: Gurney's Seed and Nursery—Click here.

Apollo's bay or laurel (Laurus nobilis Linnaeus) is the source of the culinary spice, bay leaf; a seasoning added whole to cooking food, then removed and tossed away before serving. Bay leaf is common in kitchens coming down through the ages from its home along the northern Mediterranean and Asia Minor.

According to Pliny the Elder, wreaths upon the brows of victors began with Livia Drusilla, the wife of Caesar Augustus. Legend says a gift was dropped in Livia's lap by an eagle, "a hen of remarkable whiteness...it was holding in its beak a laurel branch bearing its berries." The hen and her descendents lived at The Poultry, the country mansion of the Caesars on the Tiber River. advertisement Triumphs of Caesar Andrea Mantegna Buy this Art Print at AllPosters.com The laurel branch was planted and propagated, "...the laurel grove so begun has thriven in a marvelous way....

"The laurel itself is a bringer of peace.... With the Romans especially it is used as a harbinger of rejoicing and of victory, accompanying dispatches and decorating the spears and javelins of the soldiery and adorning the generals' rods of office.

(Book XV, Natural History, trans. H. Rackham, 1945, Loeb Classical, reprinted 2000) We speak of laurels, of distinction and honors acquired, but actual crowning with laurel wreaths dwindled with the Renaissance. The berry of the laurel, bacca laurus, or baccalaureate is the distinction bestowed when one is ready for apprenticeship to master an art or science.

Arboles Ornamentales is a beautiful website with numerous photographs of trees. To view close-ups of the leaves, flowers, and berries of Apollo's laurel, click on the link: http://www.arbolesornamentales.com/Laurusnobilis.htm Suggested Reading: Why was this tree sacred to Rome? Herbal Folklore - September 2, 2002 What spice was as valuable as gold and silver?

Plants that Changed History - May 21, 2002 Sweet Leaf Plant Gurney Seed and Nursery® The Natural Sugar Substitute.—Glossy foliage just 10 inches tall, sprinkled with snowy flowers. Dried leaves are 300 times sweeter than sugar. Bring in for the winter.

Laurel leaves: http://www.wiu.edu/users/muvck/laurel.htm

In Greek and Roman times, laurel leaves were woven into a crown and given to outstanding citizens who performed a heroic action. Laurel leaves, also known as bay leaves, are infamous for their bitter, spicy taste found in many food dishes. Not only are bay leaves used for culinary purposes, but they also have medicinal and cosmetic value. The leaves of a laurel grow on trees or large bushes. A laurel plant can also make a successful house plant.

He never went outside to play with other children and because of this, his growth and development seemed to be restricted or slow-moving. When laurel plants are young, they are single-stemmed. When Larry was introduced in the story, he could also be called "single-stemmed."

However, towards the end of the story, Larry begins to accept his father, especially after Sonny is born. This is when Larry's perspective begins to branch out, just as a laurel plant develops multiple stems and thick foliage as it matures.

As a result of Larry's acceptance of his father and new baby brother, Larry seems to earn the crown of laurel leaves. His acceptance and maturity about the situation, especially for a six-year old boy, could almost be defined as a heroic effort.

Laurel leaves ((the Daphne & Apollo fanlisting )): http://www.jedi-hobbit.net/laurel/
About ------- Welcome to Laurel leaves the official fanlisting for Daphne & Apollo as approved by thefanlistings.org. This is a fanlisting for the Roman/Greek myth between the nymph Daphne and the god Apollo.

Bay Laurel leaves (cut) - per oz: http://www.scents-of-earth.com/laurel.html

Bay Laurel leaves (cut) - per oz.

Laurel leaves (cut), a.k.a Bay Laurel or Bay, laurus nobilis - from Greece. Laurel leaves provide a balsam-like, spicy fragrance to any mixture.

Laurel leaves were used in Ancient Greece for fortune-telling and good luck. The winners of ancient Olympic Games were given wreaths of Laurel leaves, which were placed atop their heads.

The Laurel tree is associated with Apollo, the healing god.

Laurel was used in ancient Greece to fumigate or cleanse a space to protect against infections and disease.

Laurel is believed to intensify dreams and spiritual insights, sharpen awareness and expand the senses.

Crossed Laurel Leaves Antique Quilt from the International Quilt ...: http://quilting.about.com/library/library2/bl_galleryho-antq-laurel.htm

Crossed Laurel Leaves Antique Quilt from the International Quilt Festival, Houston - the biggest quilters show in the world - Quilting

SearchQuilting International Quilt Festival Crossed Laurel Leaves Quilt from the Marcus Bros. Textiles "America Collects Quilts" section of the exhibit Crossed Laurel Leaves - a quilt from Pennsylvania, 1859.

Back to Antique Quilt Gallery Index Photos taken by Susan Druding with a Nikon Coolpix900 digital camera. The URL of this page for bookmarking or linking is: http://quilting.miningco.com/librarylibrary2/bl_galleryho-antq-laurel.htm Susan Susan Druding, Quilting Guide Email: quilting.guide@miningco.com Previous Articles Indexed by Date -or- Indexed by Topic From Susan C.


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botanical.com - A Modern Herbal Laurel (Bay) - Herb Profile and Information
http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/l/larbay10.html

Laurel (Bay) Botanical: Laurus nobilis (LINN.)

Daphne. ---Parts Used---Leaves, fruit, oil. ---Habitat---Shores of the Mediterranean.

The smooth bark may be olive-green or of a reddish hue. The luxurious, evergreen leaves are alternate, with short stalks, lanceolate, 3 to 4 inches long, the margin smooth and wavy. They are thick, smooth, and of a shining, dark green colour.

The shrub has been cultivated in Britain since the sixteenth century. It is the source of the ancients' crowns and wreaths for heroes and poets, and the modern term of 'bachelor,' given for degrees, is probably derived from bacca-laureus, or laurel-berry, through the French bachelier. The Delphic priestesses are said to have made use of the leaves.

It grows well under the shade of other trees if they are not too close, and is useful in evergreen plantations. The leaves are much used in cookery for flavouring. They are often packed with stick liquorice or dried figs.

The wood is sweet-scented, and is used for marqueterie work. Onguent de Laurier is prepared from the oil with axonge and the colouring and scenting principles of the leaves and fruit.

Constituents---A greenish-yellow volatile oil is yielded by distillation from the leaves which contains a high percentage of oxygenated compounds. The berries contain both fixed and volatile oils, the former, known as Oil of Bays, includes laurostearine, the ether of lauric acid.

Medicinal Action and Uses---Leaves, berries and oil have excitant and narcotic properties. The leaves are also regarded as a diaphoretic and in large doses as an emetic. Except as a stimulant in veterinary practice the leaves and fruit are very rarely used internally.

Oil of Bays is used externally for sprains, bruises, etc., and sometimes dropped into the ears to relieve pain. The leaves were formerly infused and taken as tea, and the powder or infusion of the berries was taken to remove obstructions, to create appetite, or as an emmenagogue. Four or five moderate doses were said to cure the ague.

The oil of Pimenta Acris, from which bay rum is distilled in the West Indies, and which is also called oil of bay. The leaves of Prunus Laurocerasus, or Cherry Laurel, to which the name of Laurel is now always applied. The margin of these short, strong serrations at intervals.

Laurel Tree: http://www.2020site.org/trees/laurel.html
The name is said to be connected with the Latin word laus, "praise;" but the origin of the associations of the name is Greek. Apollo having slain the Python, the ancient serpent, formed from the slime left after Deucalion's flood, fled for purification to the laurel-groves of the vale of Tempe. Here he became enamored of the nymph Daphne, the daughter of the river Peneus, and on his pursuing her she took refuge in her paternal stream, and was metamorphosed into a laurel. Apollo, returning to Delphi, instituted the Pythian games to commemorate his victory, and the prizes there awarded were chiefly crowns of the leaves and berries of the shrub, which henceforth was looked upon as sacred to the god--the Laurea Delphica, or Apollinaris.

The Laurel was also believed to be a protection against lightning; and accordingly, the Emperor Tiberius, when it thundered, wore a laurel-wreath made from the tree, at the imperial villa on the Flaminian Way, which sprang from a shoot said to have been miraculously sent from heaven to Livia Drusilla. Used as an emblem of truce, like the olive, both trees were equally forbidden to be put to any profane uses; but the crackling of burning laurel-leaves was also employed as a means of divination.

Lindley argued that the true Delphic Laurel was Ruscus racemosus, sometimes called the "Alexandrian Laurel," a low-growing, berry-bearing shrub, with glossy green leaf-like branches, akin to our English Butcher's-broom; but it is more generally considered that the Daphne of the Greeks was our Bay-tree (Laurus nobilis), fine trees of which now adorn the banks of the Peneus.

Its popular name has now, however, been completely transferred to a totally different and unrelated plant, the "Cherry Bay," or "Cherry Laurel" (Prunus laurocerasus, L.). There is little in common between the two plants beyond the evergreen character of their leaves.

Belonging to the natural order Rosaceae, the Cherry Laurel was referred by Linnaeus to the genus Prunus, and is retained in that position by Bentham and Hooker. The genus Prunus is characterized by its fruit being a "drupe"--a succulent fruit, formed from one carpel, with a strong inner layer, or "endocarp," and containing two pendulous ovules, only one of which commonly matures into a seed.

The calyx falls off with the petals. The Cherry Laurel differs from the Plums, and agrees with the Cherries, in the absence of "bloom" from the surface of the fruit; but, together with the Bird-cherry (Prunus padus) and the Portugal Laurel (P. lusitanica), it constitutes a distinct sub-genus (Laurocerasus), characterized by having "conduplicate" leaves and "racemes" of flowers, which appear after the leaves, whilst the rest of the genus have their flowers either solitary or in "fascicles." A "fascicle" is a tuft of flowers whose stalks spring nearly from one point, whilst a "raceme" has an elongated main stalk, or peduncle, giving off successive lateral "pedicels," or flower-stalks.

The Cherry Laurel is exceptional among its congeners in having green shoots, and the yellowish-green tint of its leathery evergreen leaves is also characteristic. They somewhat resemble those of the Orange or of the Magnolia.

They are "ovate-lanceolate" in outline, are provided with a few scattered teeth along their margins, and (like those of many allied "drupaceous," or "stone-fruit" trees) have from two to four glands on their under surfaces. The "racemes" are shorter than the leaves, and the fruits are "ovate-acute" in outline.

The species is one of rapid growth, increasing from one to three feet in height in a single year; but with us it is somewhat more susceptible to the action of frost than its congener, the Portugal Laurel (Prunus lusitanica). Its long racemes of small white flowers are produced after the young leaves, during April or May; and the fruit, which is green at first, ripens to a pure black by October.

The Cherry Laurel is wild in sub-alpine woods in Persia, the Caucasus, and the Crimea, and was first introduced into Europe by Clusius in 1576. He received it from David Ungnad, who was at that time ambassador of the Emperor, at Constantinople, and it is related that all the plants sent home by Ungnad to Vienna perished with the exception of one Horse-chestnut and one Laurel, the latter tree being then known as "Trabison curmasi," the "Trebizonde Date, or Plum."

"It is now got into many of our choice English gardens, where it is well respected for the beauty of the leaves, and their lasting or continuall greennesse. The fruit hereof is good to be eaten, but what physicall vertues the tree or leaves thereof have it is not yet knowne."

"Resembling (for the first twenty years) the most beautiful-headed orange in shape and verdure, and arriving in time to emulate even some of our lusty timber-trees; so as I dare pronounce it to be one of the most proper and ornamental trees for walks and avenues of any growing." "The leaves," he continues, "boiled in milk, impart a very grateful taste of the Almond; and of the berries, or cherries rather (which poultry generally feed on), is made a wine, to some not unpleasant . . . and of the wood are said to be made the best plough-handles."

He then relates, with doubts of his own as to the tree's having come more probably "from some colder clime," the not improbable story that the Laurel was introduced "from Civita Vecchia in 1614, by the Countess of Arundel, wife to that illustrious patron of arts and antiquities, Thomas, Earl of Arundel and Surrey." The Countess certainly did return from Italy in that year, which would be consistent with Parkinson's possession of the shrub prior to 1629, and there are still a number of very old laurels at Wardour Castle, the family-seat.

Ray, in 1688, in his "Historia Plantarum," speaks of the Laurel as being then very common in gardens and shrubberies, and remarkably hardy and quick in growth, braving our winters even in exposed situations; but, on account of its thick and woody branches, not fitted for the close-clipt "topiary-work," then so much in fashion. We may, perhaps, attribute to the introduction of the Laurel, and the naturally rapid increase in the popularity of its bright foliage, the victory of a more natural and less formal style of gardening over the Dutch taste for mazes, alleys, peacocks, and tea-pots in yew or box.

Philip Miller, in that store-house of the botanical and horticultural knowledge of his time, the "Gardeners' Dictionary" (Sixth Edition, 1752), speaks of the Laurel as being susceptible to frost if "pruned up, in order to form them into stems," and recommends as preferable the massing or clumping of many plants together, as then first carried out by the Duke of Bedford at Woburn Abbey.

"The Berries have long been used to put into Brandy, to make a sort of Ratafia, and the Leaves have also been put into Custards."

The infusion of the leaves, known as laurel-water, seems first to have been recognized as "one of the most speedy and deadly poisons in Nature," about the year 1731, by the Abbe Fontana, whose experiments are described in the 70th volume of the Royal Society's "Philosophical Transactions"; but it was the murder of Sir Theodosius Boughton by his brother-in-law, Captain Donaldson, by means of it, in 1780, that first directed general attention to it; and it was not until 1802 that Schrader identified the results of the distillation of the leaves as oil of bitter almonds and prussic acid. Though a few crumpled leaves may produce sneezing, and will rapidly prove fatal from their fumes to moths and butterflies, they may, like peach-kernels, be used in small quantities for flavoring with impunity.

US Dispensatory, 1918: Laurocerasi Folia. Cherry-Laurel Leafes. Prunus laurocerasus. : http://www.ibiblio.org/herbmed/eclectic/usdisp/prunus-laur.html
Cherry-Laurel Leaves Other tomes "Cherry-Laurel Leaves are the fresh leaves of Prunus Laurocerasus, Linn."

Cod.; Kirschlorbeer, G.; Lauroceraso, It.; Laurel-cerezo (Hoja de), Sp. Prunus Laurocerasus is a small evergreen tree, rising 15 or 20 feet, with long, spreading branches, which, as well as the trunk, are covered with a smooth, blackish bark.

The leaves are oval-oblong, petiolate, from five to seven inches in length, acute, finely toothed, firm, coriaceous, smooth, beautifully green and shining, with oblique nerves, and yellowish glands at the base. The flowers are small, white, strongly odorous, and disposed in simple axillary racemes.

The fruit is an oval drupe, very similar in shape and structure to a small black cherry. The cherry-laurel is a native of Asia Minor, but is cultivated in Europe, both for medicinal use and for the beauty of its shining evergreen foliage. Almost all parts of it have more or less of the odor of hydrocyanic acid.

In their recent and entire state cherry-laurel leaves have scarcely any odor; but, when bruised, they emit the characteristic odor of the plant in a high degree. Their taste is somewhat astringent and strongly bitter, with the flavor of the peach kernel.
Cherry-laurel leaves are sometimes substituted by the leaves of other species of Prunus. These are readily distinguished in that they do not possess the characteristic glandular hairs which occur on the basal portion of the leaves and petioles of P.

Cherry-laurel leaves yield a volatile oil containing benzaldehyde and hydrocyanic acid by distillation with water, which they strongly impregnate with their flavor. One pound, avoirdupois, of the fresh leaves yields 40.5 grains of the oil.

The oil resembles that of bitter almonds, for which it is said to be sometimes sold in Europe, where it is employed to flavor liquors and various culinary preparations, but, as the glucoside of cherry-laurel leaves is decomposed more slowly than ordinary crystallized amygdalin, it is liable to hold hydrocyanic acid, and hence to be poisonous. The glucoside referred to has been termed laurocerasin, or "amorphous amygdalin."

That the oil exists already formed, to a certain extent, in the fresh leaves, is rendered probable by the fact, stated by Winckler, that they yield it in considerable quantity when distilled without water.

The fresh leaves are used to flavor milk, cream, etc., and more safely than the oil, though they also are poisonous, when too largely employed. Uses.—The leaves of the cherry-laurel possess properties similar to those of hydrocyanic acid, and the water distilled from them is much employed in various parts of Europe for the same purposes as that active medicine.

But it deteriorates by age, and therefore, as kept by pharmacists, must be of variable strength. J. Broker, a Dutch pharmacologist, has satisfied himself, by numerous experiments, that the proportion of hydrocyanic acid in the leaves varies with the season, the age of the plant, the character of the soil and of the weather, and thinks that, in consequence of this variability, they are inferior for medicinal use to bitter almonds, which in this respect have a more uniform composition. He found the proportion of the acid in the leaves greatest in July, and least in February.

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