The pistachio, Pistacia vera in the Anacardiaceae family, is a small tree originally from Persia (Iran and Iraq) which now can also be found in regions of Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, Greece, Tunisia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, India, Pakistan, Egypt, Sicily, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan (especially in the provinces of Samangan and Badghis), and the United States, specifically in California. The tree produces an important culinary nut.
Pistacia vera often is confused with other species in the genus Pistacia that are also known as pistachio. These species can be distinguished from P. vera by their geographic distributions (in the wild) and their nuts. Their nuts are much smaller, have a strong flavor of turpentine, and have a shell that is not hard.
Archeologists have found evidence from excavations at Jarmo in northeastern Iraq, that pistachio nuts were a common food as early as 6750 BC. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were said to have contained pistachio trees during the reign of King Merodach-Baladan about 700 BC. The modern pistachio nut P. vera was first cultivated in Western Asia, where it has long been an important crop in cooler parts of Iran and Iraq. It appears in Dioscurides as pistakia πιστάκια, recognizable as P. vera by its comparison to pine nuts. Its cultivation spread into the Mediterranean world by way of Iran from Syria: Pliny in his Natural History asserts that pistacia, "well known among us," was one of the trees unique to Syria, and in another place, that the nut was introduced into Italy by the Roman consul in Syria, Lucius Vitellius the Elder (consul in Syria in 35 CE) and into Hispania at the same time by Flaccus Pompeius. The early sixth-century manuscript De observatione ciborum (On the observance of foods) by Anthimus implies that pistacia remained well known in Europe in Late Antiquity. The pistachio is one of two nuts mentioned in the Bible. The pistachio is mentioned only once, in Genesis 43:11, while the almond is mentioned many times.
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A family adventure featuring a helpful lesson in listening to your parents and the importance of family. This creative parody of the beloved story of Pinocchio is a classic retelling with a clever VeggieTales twist. Once upon a time, a lonely toymaker named Gelato decided to carve a little boy out of wood. Imagine his surprise when he learned that this little toy boy could walk ... and talk ... and definitely had a mind of his own! When Pistachio tries to do things his way he lands in a "whale" of a situation! Will he decide to listen to the wisdom of a loving father in time to save his whole family from becoming fish food?
The little boy that woodn't
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Franck and Paul are working as team buddies in their Paris police unit. They are sent on a mission in Toulon to solve a drug traffic mystery, but things get out of hand when Paul learns that Franck has an affair with Valeria, his wife, who also happens to work in the police forces...
Keywords: colleague-colleague-relationship, paris-france, toulon
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The Ice Cream Social updates the classic variety show format, blends in aspects of the talk show format, and envelops the whole in comedy. Combining elements of Laugh-In, American Bandstand, Ed Sullivan, and Charlie Rose, the Ice Cream Social is a weekly hour-long party with an ensemble cast of regulars and an ever-changing array of guests and performers.
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Watch the action unfold as Ketzal Sterling and the crew take you to Australia, New Zealand and the land where it all started, Japan! There's hot Japanese track action, the requisite visits to the tuning houses, and we watch Ketzal and some crazy import hardcases hit 300kph! This time round we modify a $3000 car that we found in a garage and race it against an Aston Martin DB7, an M3 and a host of GTRs! Along with our Battle Day and the madness that is High Octane.
Keywords: car, craziness, drifting, engine, high-octane, high-speed, highoctane, illegal-street-racing, motorway, performance-cars
Plot
Watch the action unfold as Ketzal Sterling and the crew take you to Australia, New Zealand and the land where it all started, Japan! There's hot Japanese track action, the requisite visits to the tuning houses, and we watch Ketzal and some crazy import hardcases hit 300kph! This time round we modify a $3000 car that we found in a garage and race it against an Aston Martin DB7, an M3 and a host of GTRs! Along with our Battle Day and the madness that is High Octane.
Keywords: car, craziness, drifting, engine, high-octane, high-speed, highoctane, illegal-street-racing, motorway, performance-cars
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Scuba-diver turned beach-bum Jonathan Slade is forced back into his previous milieu - the world of international espionage - in order to retrieve Black Boxes from an American jetliner that crashed under mysterious circumstances into the Black Sea. With his computer-hacker younger brother, Slade travels to a resort on the Russian-Turkish border to begin his quest. To his surprise and dismay, he's now joined by another secret agent, a beautiful but highly-skilled woman named Alex. As they begin diving in search of the downed jetliner, Slade and Alex begin to suspect they're being manipulated by higher-ups who may not be committed to American interests.
Keywords: airplane, bare-chested-male, bare-chested-male-bondage, black-box, black-sea, brother-brother-relationship, explosion, fistfight, hand-grenade, jail
Alfie Slade: [to Jonathan] You're a jock. The only ideas you've ever had are in your dick.
Pierce Tencil: The box, Jonathan. Give it to me.::Jonathan Slade: I don't have it.::Pierce Tencil: Don't be stupid, Jonathan. You know that I can make you give it to me.
Jonathan Slade: [referring to Alex] This chick is deadlier than Charlie Manson.
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Mike Thompson is a former U.S. government agent whom is called on by his no-nonsense ex-employer Hanson to stop a terrorist named Mustapha who breaks out of a maximum security military prison aboard a battleship with the help from his aide Eddy Williams a former agent-turned-mercenary armed with an unstoppable rapid-firing, multi-use machine gun whom the U.S. government wants back at any cost. Mike is forced to rely on his former partner-in-crime Pappy, and a CIA agent named Corle, to help him try to track down Eddy hoping to lead him to Mustapha before they can plan their next terrorist strike.
Keywords: battleship, candy-store, chase, desert-eagle, dream-sequence, fantasy-sequence, independent-film, lasersight, mercenary, shootout
The Ultimate Weapon Has Arrived...and Nothing Can Stop It!
[last lines]::Mike Thompson: Here you go, Pappy.::Pappy: What's this?::Mike Thompson: The keys to Williams' Porsche. I figure that ought to be more then enough to cover the 20 grand that Williams owes you.::Pappy: Ah, may the good lord bless you, Mike.::Corey Parker: I don't know about any of you, but I think it's about time I get out of this business.::Mike Thompson: Me too. What about you, Pappy? What are you gonna do next?::Pappy: Well, I always wanted to take up wrestling.::[cut to a silent montage of Pappy wrestling a large bear at a local bar before a group of patrons whom are cheering him on]
Hansen: Look, Miles I'm in no mood for any jokes today. I just had surgery done on my teeth. What are you talking about?::Miles: Mustapha Amad, we lost him.::Hansen: Look, it took six agencies over three years to get that son of a bitch! How could we lose him?::Miles: Someone broke him out.::Hansen: Someone? How many were there, Miles?::Miles: Just one. Your old friend, Eddy Williams.::Hansen: We had that guy locked up in that goddamn battleship, so how could we lose him?::Miles: It took Williams only five minutes to break him out.::Hansen: Okay... so in order to find Mustapha, we need to find Williams.::Miles: So, what do you want to do?::Hansen: What do I want to do? We get the right man for the job, you got that? Now, get your fat ass off my desk!::Miles: All right, all right!
Sally: Hey, Pappy, you ex-wife's on the phone. This is the second time she's called today. She says your three months behind on your alimony payments... whatever that means. She says if you don't pick up the phone and talk to her about it right now, she's gonna have your ass on a silver plater.::Pappy: Tell the old fart that I'm in Mexico!::Sally: All right, Pappy.::Pappy: [to Mike] My ex. God, that woman is an absolute menance! So... how are you doing with your beer?::Mike Thompson: Fine, Pappy. Fine::Pappy: Now what's so damn important that you have to interupt my afternoon water sports?::Mike Thompson: I need your help.::Pappy: [sarcastic] So what else is new?::Mike Thompson: This is different. It's Williams. I need you to help me find him.::Pappy: [serious tone] Williams? That no good bastard owes me 20 grand.::[writes something down on a notepad]::Pappy: Here, check this place out. It used to be one of his hangouts downtown. Meanwhile, I'll put the word out on the street.::Mike Thompson: Thanks, Pappy. I owe you one.::Pappy: Don't thank me. Now, just get the hell out of here and let me get back to my water sports.
Martha: [aims a shotgun at Pappy] Mexico my ass!
[under fire from William's rapid firing machine gun]::Pappy: Jesus, Mike! When you build a gun, you sure don't fuck around!
[seeing the rapid firing machine gun beeping and malfunctioning, about to detonate]::Eddy Williams: You changed the code!
[Thompson and Pappy are blocked from driving away from Thompson's house by Hansen and several agents]::Hansen: Hey, Thompson. Where are you going?::Mike Thompson: [sarcastic] We're going on a little hunting trip.::Hansen: Mind if me and my boys tag along?::Mike Thompson: This is none of your business, Hansen. We made a deal, you broke it. Now, get out of my way!::[Hansen's men reach for their sidearms]::Hansen: Relax. Everyone relax. You're gonna see Williams, aren't you? Back it up. Care to level with me? I've got all day.::Mike Thompson: All right, I'll level with you. He's got Corey. He wants me. We're gonna make a trade. My life for hers.::Hansen: Very good. Now, we're getting somewhere. Only, it's not quite going down that way.::Mike Thompson: You start screwing around Hansen, Corey's gonna die.::Hansen: Put your finger down, sucker! Corey's a big girl. She's an agent. She knows the risks. She can handle herself. Now, here's how it's gonna go. You are going in there wearing a wire and you are gonna lead us to Williams hideout and he is gonna lead us to Mustapha. I'm still calling the shots here. The two of you better cooperate or I'm gonna throw both of your asses in jail. You're no good rotting in a federal prison.::Pappy: The man's definitely got a point, Mike.::Hansen: Very good, Pappy. Nice to see that you still have half-a-brain.
sit down and fire away,
i know it's tricky when you're feeling low,
when you feel like your flavour
has gone the way of a pre-shelled pistachio...
i know you're weighed down
you're fed up with your heavy
your boots
laced with melancholy notion's all you own...
i do - like sugar - tend toward the brittle and sticky when spun
and i know my demeanor
has gone the way of a photo left out in the sun...
so i try to keep myself in lillies and flax seeds...
oh what a folly- fooling just yourself...
sit down and smoke away,i wouldn't knock it till you're in them shoes
oh watch as ours subtlety blows away as a blusher gives way to a bruise...
but seemly, we'd freely make a trade-off
a dry rot to take the weight off