Prayer circles have several interpretations across different religions. The most common definition of a prayer circle is where participants simply join hands in a literal circle of prayer, often as part of a vigil. Muslims who make the pilgrimage to Mecca will form concentric circles around the Kaaba in prayer, and these too are commonly referred to as prayer circles.

A more modern definition of the prayer circle has recently been coined, referring to a growing number of online communities where people visit certain websites in order to share their thoughts and prayers with other like minded worshippers, usually within specially designated message board areas.

With the internet’s rapid growth among all sectors of society, many faith-based peoples have found a niche on the internet where they can share their prayers, thoughts and wishes with one another. It’s not known who was the first to set up an online prayer circle, but today there are hundreds.

An online prayer circle is often a vigil set up by a participant in honor of someone close to that participant. Larger online prayer circles are also formed in honor and remembrance of the victims of notable disasters or tragedies. Though religious in tone, online prayer circles are by and large non-denominational.

Strawflower is a warm-weather annual with daisy-like flower heads in yellow, pink, bronze, cream, purple or white. From late spring until fall, strawflower bears flowers on the ends of the branches. What look like ray flowers or petals are actually modified leaves surrounding the central corolla. The bracts are papery with a straw-like crackly texture, hence the common name.

Several species are grown as ornamental plants and for dried flowers. When cut young and dried, the open flowers and stalks preserve their color and shape for years. The genus name Helichrysum is derived from the Greek words helisso (to turn around) and chrysos (gold). Common names include immortelle and everlasting.

Helichrysum augustifolium is steam distilled to produce a yellow-reddish essential oil popular in fragrance for its unique scent, best described as warm, rich and buttery, with green notes of wood, spices and herb. Mentally, the oil is very supportive and comforting. It is believed by some to open the right side of the brain and improve creativity as well as increase dream activity.

The oil is antibacterial, anti-viral and anti-fungal. The literature and aromatherapy lists are full of anecdotal evidence of Helichrysum’s power when used on rashes or skin irritations. It acts by causing the blood to be reabsorbed into the tissue, alleviating the pain caused by pressure on the nerves.

The kiwifruit is the edible berry of a woody vine distantly related to other fruits such as blueberry and flowering plants such as rhododendron. It was originally known by its Chinese name, Macaque peach. Also known as the Chinese gooseberry, the fruit was renamed for export marketing reasons in the 1950s. It was briefly known as the melonette, and then called the kiwifruit, named after the brown flightless bird that serves as New Zealand’s national symbol.

New Zealand exported the fruit to the United States in the 1950s. In the 1960s and 1970s, Frieda Caplan, founder of Los Angeles-based Frieda’s Specialty Produce, played a key role in popularizing kiwifruit in the United States, convincing supermarket produce managers to carry the odd-looking fruit.

Gold Kiwifruit have a smooth, bronze skin, a pointed cap at one end and distinctive golden yellow flesh with a less tart and more tropical flavour than green kiwifruit. It has a higher market price than green kiwifruit. It is less hairy than the green cultivars, so can be eaten whole after rubbing off the thin, fluffy coat. While the skin of kiwifruit is often removed before serving, it is completely edible.

It is a rich source of vitamin C, with a potassium content slightly less than that of a banana. The skin is a good source of antioxidants. It is often reported to have mild laxative effects, due to the high level of dietary fiber. Raw kiwifruit is also rich in the protein-dissolving enzyme actinidin, which is commercially useful as a meat tenderizer but can be an allergen for some individuals. Specifically, people allergic to latex, papayas or pineapples are likely to be allergic to kiwifruit.

Kiwifruit also serves as a natural blood thinner. A recent study performed at the University of Oslo in Norway reveals that, similar to popular mainstream aspirin therapy, consuming two to three kiwifruit daily for 28 days significantly thins the blood, reducing the risk of clots, and lowers fat in the blood that can cause blockages.

Ginger is a tuber that is consumed whole as a delicacy, medicine, or spice. Cultivation of ginger originated in Asia and has since spread to West Africa and the Caribbean. It is cooked as an ingredient in many dishes and can also be steeped in boiling water to make ginger tea, to which honey, sliced orange or lemon fruit is often added.

It is often used as a spice in Indian recipes and is one of the main spices used for making curries and other vegetable preparations. In China, sliced or whole ginger root is often paired with savory dishes such as fish, and in some parts of the Middle East ginger powder is used as a spice for coffee. In Japan, ginger is pickled to make gari, which is often served and eaten after sushi. It also acts as a food preservative and has been proven to kill the harmful bacteria salmonella.

Ginger is a stimulant to the digestive tract which aids in digestion. It may also decrease pain from arthritis and have blood thinning and cholesterol lowering properties that may make it useful for treating heart disease. Ginger compounds are active against a form of diarrhea which is the leading cause of infant death in developing countries, and has been found effective in multiple studies for treating nausea caused by seasickness, morning sickness and chemotherapy. When taken into the nostrils ginger causes severe sneezing.

Ginger beer was first produced as an alcoholic beverage in the 1700s and became very popular in Britain and North America. In Kenya and Tanzania, ginger beer is a very popular drink called tangawizi, which is the Swahili word for ginger. Stoney Tangawizi is a product of the Coca-Cola Company.

The Meyer lemon is a citrus fruit native to China, thought to be a cross between a true lemon and a mandarin orange or sweet orange. The Meyer lemon was introduced to the United States in 1908 by the agricultural explorer Frank Nicholas Meyer, an employee of the United States Department of Agriculture who collected a sample of the plant on a trip to China. It is commonly grown in China potted as an ornamental plant.

The fruit is yellow and rounder than a true lemon with a slight orange tint when ripe. It has a sweeter, less acidic flavor than the more common grocery store varieties of lemon and has a fragrant edible skin. All lemons are widely known as powerful digestive aids. The combination of high acidity and fiber are effective in cleansing digestion organs.

The white coating or inner rind of a lemon contains the highest vitamin content per volume of most any food. Some studies show that the white coating of a single lemon can contain ten times the amount of Vitamin C as an entire bottle of Vitamin C supplements.

A lemon battery is a device used in experiments proposed in many science textbooks around the world. It is made by inserting two different metallic objects, for example a galvanized nail and a copper coin, into a lemon. The copper coin serves as the positive electrode or cathode and the galvanized nail as the electron-producing negative electrode or anode. These two objects work as electrodes, causing an electrochemical reaction which generates a small potential difference.

In practice, a single lemon battery is incapable of lighting a light bulb. One would need about 500 lemons wired in parallel to light a standard flashlight bulb.

Parsley is a bright green biennial herb, often used as spice. It is common in Middle Eastern, European, and American cooking. It is used for its leaf in much the same way as coriander, although parsley has a milder flavor.

A type of parsley is grown as a root vegetable in Central and Eastern European. It produces much thicker roots than those cultivated for their leaves. Although little known in Britain and the United States it can be used in soups and stews. Parsnips are among the closest relatives of parsley, although root parsley tastes quite different.

Parsley is widely used as a companion plant in gardens. It attracts predatory insects including wasps and predatory flies to gardens, which then tend to protect plants nearby. For example, they are especially useful for protecting tomato plants as the wasps that kill tomato hornworms also eat nectar from parsley. While parsley is biennial, not blooming until its second year, even in its first year it is reputed to help cover up the strong scent of the tomato plant, reducing pest attraction.

Chinese and German herbologists recommend parsley tea to help control high blood pressure, and the Cherokees used it as a tonic to strengthen the bladder. When crushed and rubbed on the skin, parsley can reduce the itching of mosquito bites. When chewed, parsley can freshen bad breath.

Parsley should not be consumed as a drug or supplement by pregnant women. Parsley is high in oxalic acid, a compound involved in the formation of kidney stones. Parsley oil contains furanocoumarins and psoralens which can lead to extreme photosensitivity if used orally.

Bert Kaempfert was a German orchestra leader and songwriter. He made easy listening and jazz oriented records and wrote the music for a number of well-known songs, such as Strangers in the Night and Spanish Eyes.

He was born in Hamburg, Germany, where he received his lifelong nickname, “Fips”. He studied at the School of Music and was hired by Hans Busch to play with his orchestra before serving as a bandsman in the German Navy during World War II. He later formed his own big band, toured with them, then worked as an arranger and producer.

One contributor to Kaempfert’s music was guitarist-bassist Ladislav “Ladi” Geisler, who popularized the famous “knackbass” (crackling bass) sound, which became the most distinctive feature of many Kaempfert recordings. It is a treble staccato bass guitar sound in which the bass string is plucked with a pick and immediately suppressed to cancel out any sustain.

Tahitian Sunset was sampled extensively by the lo-fi dance artists Lemon Jelly as their track In the Bath.

Shallots probably originated in Asia, traveling from there to India and the eastern Mediterranean. The name “shallot” comes from Ashkelon, presently a city in Israel, where people in classical Greek times believed shallots originated. It is a relative of the onion, and tastes a bit like an onion, but has a sweeter, milder flavor. Finely sliced deep-fried shallots are used as a condiment in Asian cuisine.

Like garlic, shallots are formed in clusters of offsets with a head composed of multiple cloves. Their skin color can vary from golden brown to gray to rose red, and their off-white flesh is usually tinged with green or magenta. Shallots are much favored by chefs because of their firm texture and sweet, aromatic yet pungent flavor.

Shallots are propagated by offsets, which, in the Northern Hemisphere, are often planted in September or October, but the principal crop should not be planted earlier than February or the beginning of March. In planting, the tops of the bulbs should be kept a little above ground, and it is a commendable plan to draw away the soil surrounding the bulbs when their roots have taken hold. They come to maturity about July or August, although in cooler climates they can be harvested later.

The shallot in Iran is often crushed into yogurt. Iranians enjoy yogurt in this way, especially in restaurants and Kebab-Saras where kebabs are served. Most shallots are grown wild, harvested, sliced, dried, and sold at markets. Buyers will often soak the shallots for a number of days then boil them to get a milder flavor. Crispy shallot chips are also used in Southern Chinese cuisine. In Indonesia, sometimes it is made into pickle which is usually added in variable kinds of traditional food. Its sourness increases one’s appetite.