Melon

A melon is any of various plants of the family Cucurbitaceae with edible, fleshy fruit.

The word "melon" can refer to either the plant or specifically to the fruit. Many different cultivars have been produced, particularly of muskmelons.

Although the melon is a fruit (specifically, a berry), some varieties may be considered vegetables rather than fruits. The word melon derives from Latin melopepo, which is the latinization of the Greek μηλοπέπων (mēlopepon), meaning "melon", itself a compound of μῆλον (mēlon), "apple" + πέπων (pepōn), amongst others "a kind of gourd or melon".

History

Melons originated in Africa and southwest Asia, but they gradually began to appear in Europe toward the end of the Roman Empire. However recent discoveries of melon seeds dated between 1350 and 1120 BC in Nuragic sacred wells have shown that melons were first brought to Europe by the Nuragic civilization of Sardinia during the Bronze Age. Melons were among the earliest plants to be domesticated in both the Old and New Worlds. Early European settlers in the New World are recorded as growing honeydew and casaba melons as early as the 1600s. A number of Native American tribes in New Mexico, including Acoma, Cochiti, Isleta, Navajo, Santo Domingo and San Felipe, maintain a tradition of growing their own characteristic melon cultivars, derived from melons originally introduced by the Spanish. Organizations like Native Seeds/SEARCH have made an effort to collect and preserve these and other heritage seeds.

Plants vs. Zombies

Plants vs. Zombies is a tower defense video game developed and originally published by PopCap Games for Microsoft Windows and OS X. The game involves a homeowner using a variety of different plants to prevent an army of zombies from entering their house and "eating their brains". It was first released on May 5, 2009, and made available on Steam on the same day. A version for iOS was released in February 2010, and an HD version for the iPad. An extended Xbox Live Arcade version introducing new gameplay modes and features was released on September 8, 2010. PopCap released a Nintendo DS version on January 18, 2011 with content unique to the platform. The PlayStation 3 version was released in February 2011 also with added new co-op and versus modes found in the Xbox 360 version. An Android version of the game was released on May 31, 2011 on the Amazon Appstore, while it was also released to the Android Market (now Google Play) on December 14, 2011. On February 16, 2012, a version was released for BlackBerry PlayBook. Later, a BlackBerry smartphone version of the game was released on January 2013 following the launch of BlackBerry 10. Furthermore, both the original Windows and Mac version of the game have been re-released with additional content in a Game of the Year version. In January, 2015, a free ad-supported version of the game was released for iOS.

Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time

Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time is a 2013 free-to-play tower defence video game developed by PopCap Games and published by Electronic Arts. It is the sequel to Plants vs. Zombies, and was released worldwide on Apple App Store on August 15, 2013 and Google Play on October 23, 2013.

Gameplay

Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time is a free-to-play game, unlike its predecessor, supporting in-app purchasing of coins in order to utilize certain power up abilities: Plant Food, a new power-up, allows plants to power up for varying amounts of time. Each plant has its own ability when given Plant Food. Players are able to complete the whole game without purchasing these abilities, some of which can be earned throughout the game instead of being purchased. Players can optionally start with a tutorial on the basics of the game which takes place in the player's house. After the tutorial, or immediately if the player chose to skip it, the player time-travels first to Ancient Egypt and can use either purchase access to worlds or win in-game World Keys to unlock a series of additional period settings ("worlds"); this required a certain number of stars in earlier updates. The Chinese version has two additional worlds. As players go through levels, they unlock new plants each with advantages and unique boosts.

Zombi 2

Zombi 2 is a 1979 zombie film directed by Lucio Fulci. The film was adapted from an original screenplay by Dardano Sacchetti to serve as a sequel to George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead, released in Italy as Zombi. It stars Tisa Farrow, Ian McCulloch and Richard Johnson, and featured a score by frequent Fulci collaborator Fabio Frizzi.

The film tells the story of a Caribbean island cursed by voodoo, whose dead residents rise as zombies to attack the living. A scientist's daughter journeys to the island after her father's boat turns up abandoned in New York City. Intended as a return to "classic zombie tales" by its writer, Zombi 2 was filmed in Italy, with further location shooting in New York and Santa Domingo.

Produced on a small budget of ₤410 million, the film earned several times its production costs back in international gross. It attracted controversy upon its United Kingdom release, becoming listed as a "video nasty"; however later years have seen a greater appreciation for the film from critics. Frizzi's score has also been released independently of the film, as well as being performed live on tour by the composer.

Zombie

A zombie (Haitian French: zombi, Haitian Creole: zonbi) is a fictional undead being created through the reanimation of a human corpse. Zombies are most commonly found in horror and fantasy genre works. The term comes from Haitian folklore, where a zombie is a dead body reanimated through various methods, most commonly magic. Modern depictions of zombies do not necessarily involve magic but often invoke science fictional methods such as radiation or viruses.

The English word "zombie" is first recorded in 1819, in a history of Brazil by the poet Robert Southey, in the form of "zombi". The Oxford English Dictionary gives the origin of the word as West African, and compares it to the Kongo words nzambi (god) and zumbi (fetish).

One of the first books to expose Western culture to the concept of the voodoo zombie was The Magic Island by W.B. Seabrook in 1929. This is the sensationalized account of a narrator who encounters voodoo cults in Haiti and their resurrected thralls. Time claimed that the book "introduced 'zombi' into U.S. speech".