These days, I live in an unincorporated area in the vicinity of Santa Barbara, surrounded by the lush growth only a hundred years of persistent irrigation can produce, four blocks from the mighty Pacific and only three from a quaint little village chock-full of trattorie and tourists.
Holocarpha produces disk achenes germinating within a year of production and ray achenes forming a persistent seed bank.
The final version did not include a provision, originally in the Senate bill, that would fine performers $500,000, personally, for an indecency violation the result of more than two years of persistent lobbying by the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and the Creative Coalition, a nonprofit group founded by actors Ron Silver, Susan Sarandon and others.
(He caps the story with a reminder that the find came after years of persistent fieldwork).
But even 15 years of persistent improvements in his business, a distinguished sake brewery that has been in his family for six generations, have done little to change one vital and depressing fact.
The Treasury, which is hoping a full-blown recovery is under way after almost two years of persistent economic weakness, seized on the widespread nature of the expansion signalled in the figures.
The government's answer to years of persistent inflation has been price controls and Mercal, a state-owned and subsidised grocery chain that offers a limited selection of staples at discounts of up to 40%.
Then, years of persistent fiscal deficits persuaded Americans that belt-tightening was necessary.
Many carried banners decrying budget cuts that after two years of persistent pay and pension cuts, tax increases and benefit losses will they say reduce them to penury.
Contrary to measures focusing on spending, these families haven't escaped poverty – they're probably condemned to many years of persistent poverty in systems that do not take enough care of the disabled.
