Susan Stinson

02:34 pm: Plant History and BP
I love trying to consider history with organisms other than humans in mind. It's good for perspective and calms the nerves. For instance, here is a very thorough Plant Trivia Timeline. Sample:

1554  First written record of the tomato.  Italians grew the plant by about 1550.  Thomas Jefferson was the first American to grow tomatoes, in 1781.  Tomatoes were eaten in New Orleans by 1812.  George W. Carver dedicated himself to promoting the tomato, in addition to his work on peanuts.

Also, I just learned this:

Archaeologists use the term BP to mean "years Before the Present", which avoids the whole philosophical debate about AD and BC versus CE and BCE. The only trouble is, the Present, of course, changes every year. Since the BP designation was at least originally associated with radiocarbon dating, archaeologists chose the year 1950 as 'the present'. Radiocarbon dating was invented in the late 1940s, and, also, atmospheric nuclear testing was begun in the 1940s, which makes, at least the theory goes, radiocarbon dates after 1950 virtually useless, anyway.