Salsify

Salsify is a flowering plant which is also known as goatsbeard. It belongs to Tragopogon in the family Asteraceae, which has more than 140 kinds. It also includes a vegetable which is called salsify and also many ordinary wild flowers and weeds. They grow in pairs. They have milky liquid and powerful taproots. Mostly they have only some upward twigs. Their leaves resemble grass. The colour of its flowers differs from yellow to purple or bronze. It bears its seeds in a dandelion shaped-like globe which are sprinkled by the wind. The origin of this flowering plant is in Asia and Europe but quite a lot of kinds are also found in Australia and North America. Some ordinary kinds of Tragopogon are found in abundance  in some areas where they are known as goatsbeard, ordinary salsify and goat’s beard with no more details. Acanthocarpus is the most well known name for this kind and it is not important for other kinds. This vegetable is the root of purple

colour kind of this plant, Tragopogon porifolius. This root somewhat tastes like oyster and is a bit sweet. Oyster plant is yet another name of this vegetable because of having the flavour of oyster. Its small leaves and stems are also taken in and enjoyed. Its many other kinds like Scorzonera hispanica are also edible. Scorzonera hispanica belongs to another genus of the same family, Asteraceae. Three kinds of goatsbeard were introduced by humans in the continent of North America in the start of the 20th century. These were western (T.dubius), meadow (T.pratensis) and oyster (T.porifolius) salsify which are ordinary bushes in the wastelands of the city.

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PlayStation Plus

PlayStation Plus has been announced by the technology giant Sony on the event of E3 conference yesterday i.e. June 15, 2010. It looks like big guns are being taking out by Sony towards its rivals with this announcement which is actually PlayStation Network’s premium pay-version. It is to lunch to compete with Xbox Live of one of their rivals Microsoft.

It has further been announced by Sony that there is no change in PSN as it will be available for free users and for pay users as well, just like it was previously available. But a few good things will really be enjoyed by those users who are willing to pay USD $18 in terms of a three month’s fee or an annual fee of USD $49 for this PlayStation Plus.

Several premium contents, themes, avatars, access to demos and updates about the games that change every month will be enjoyed by the users of PlayStation Plus, said by CEO and President of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, Jack Tretton, during the E3 conference while talking to media. This new service by Sony will start working from the coming week and will work for users of PlayStation Network only.

It has also been announced during E3 conference that first three months of this new online service “PlayStation Plus” launched by Sony will be absolutely free of cost for its PlayStation Network users. Best thing in this news is that voice messages could also be send through this upcoming online service by the user to other online users. That is really an interesting thing as it will make easy to send a quick invitation to your online friends to play game through “PlayStation Plus”.

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Star Magazine

Some celebrity scandals shock the general public far more than the usual shockers. Political circles and general public were shocked when they heard about the separation of Al Gores after 4 decades of their wedding. The media was in search of a spicy story behind the separation. Star magazine has published a story about Al Gore. The magazine claims that Al Gore was emotionally involved with Laurie David (an environmental activist). Laurie is blamed to be the home breaker.

Laurie has negated the report by Star magazine and said that she is committed to some on else and the rumors are baseless. Laurie had worked on Al Gore’s documentary ‘An inconvenient truth’ as executive producer. The documentary has received an academy award. She and Al Gore are known for their activism for environmental conservation. Laurie and her husband had filed for divorce in 2007. So the gossipers had a suitable scapegoat to be portrayed as a home breaker.

Al Gore has not reacted to the report of Star magazine that seems to be unrealistic as Al Gore is a mature and seasoned politician who wouldn’t go for a scandalous affair to destroy his public image.

Laurie is ten years junior to him and is a career oriented woman. She is not a glamour woman who would fell for a wealthy politician. However, the media often digs out unbelievable stories that put into light the secret lives of celebrities. We can only hope that this is not a true story and Laurie has rightfully denied the report.

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