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It’s what he would have wanted: The bizarre craze for all-female funeral marching bands sweeping Taiwan

Posted on December 3, 2013 by ankakh

In Taiwan families are taking a different approach to saying goodbye to their loved ones – by hiring all-female marching bands to perform during the service.

Complete with white Go-go boots and matching uniforms, the women twirl batons and play instruments while marching around the dead body.

The service, which lasts two to three hours, has been set up by Yuan-Rong Life which has a popular marching troupe called ‘Xiu Juan Female Music Band’.

For small services Yuan-Rong recommends less than eight band members – costing £27 each – but for larger memorials more.

It is not the first time Taiwan has raised a few eyebrows with their taste of funeral ceremonies.

Strippers are sometimes hired who dance for the deceased.

The Taiwanese phenomenon is labelled by some as scandalous, but many hail it as an important part of the grieving process – and the perfect way of sending off their loved ones with a smile.

Life as a lion whisperer: Breathtaking video footage shows the fierce predators pouncing, being stroked and chasing after cars

Posted on November 22, 2013 by ankakh

They’re fierce predators that rip flesh from bones using razor sharp teeth and strangle their prey, yet new video footage shows lions being as playful as household cats.

Captured by lion whisperer and zoologist Kevin Richardson, 39, in Pretoria, South Africa, the footage was filmed using GoPro camera fitted to his back.

Richardson even managed to attach the camera to the back of a lioness to give a unique viewpoint of the large cats’ prowl.

In an exclusive interview, Richardson told MailOnline he’s been working with the big cats for 16 years.

‘I’ve always been passionate about animals of all shapes and sizes. I got the opportunity to work with two male lion cubs 16 years back and was bitten by the bug.

The lions caught on camera are 10 years old, according to Richardson. As he gets out of the car at the start of the video, Richardson shouts ‘Maggie’ and one of lions bounds towards him before leaping into his arms.

‘If you give them a chin scratch they’re very happy, content cats. As I lie beside them I just think they’re beautiful’, explained Richardson.

‘There are two vital messages that need to be conveyed to the greater mass of people out there’, said Richardson.

‘The first is that lions are under tremendous threat in the wild and their numbers are not sustainable; numbers have dropped from around 300,000 to around between 15 and 25,000 in less than 70 years.

‘The second message is the sick and sinister exploitation of captive bred lions for the ‘cub petting’ industry and the ‘canned’ hunting industry, whereby lions are seen as just a commodity to enrich certain businesses. ‘

According to Richardson, cubs are farmed to be taken away from their parents and hand raised to tame them, making it possible for people to interact with them. To tackle these issues, he has set up The Kevin Richardson Wildlife Sanctuary.

Weather girl who promised to strip naked if France qualified for World Cup keeps to her word… at a distance… in a field

Posted on November 21, 2013 by ankakh

When millions of viewers turned on the TV in France, they were expecting to a see a weathergirl stick to her word and give a forecast naked.

Doria Tillier, 27, had boldly vowed to strip off if the France national football team managed to qualify for the World Cup finals.

With Les Bleus 2-0 down after the first leg of their play-off qualifier against Ukraine, she was confident they would lose in Paris on Tuesday.

But they didn’t – and ended up winning 3-0 on the night, 3-2 on aggregate.

And she did… although not in the way viewers may have expected.

Instead of taking her clothes off on-screen, she made a series of jokes and allowed a long-distance back shot of her running across a field.

Doria said she would be ‘a poil’ – French for naked – but in fact presented the weather from Poil, which is a village near Paris.

‘It was a pathetic stunt – not funny at all,’ said disappointed Canal+ viewer Remy Jacob. ‘Everyone was hoping Doria would be a good sport, but it was all nonsense.’

She just fell into television: Moment worker faceplants in background of live broadcast

Posted on October 24, 2013 by ankakh

KRQE news anchor Jessica Garate says ‘I love how my days are unpredictable – that’s why I work in TV’.

In a recent show, while she was reporting on same-sex marriages, an unnamed person flew into shot and landed with a thud on the floor.

Ever the professional, Mrs Garate, who has been working for Albuquerque-based KRQE since 2004, maintained her composure throughout the incident and didn’t even flinch when the uninvited guest arrived at an alarming velocity.

This could be, of course, because she didn’t notice.

The person who made the unexpected appearance, a volunteer tasked with answering the phones at the station’s call center, didn’t appear to be hurt. She quickly got up and walked off.

Footage of the ‘faceplant’ has gone viral after being posted by Drew J. Lynch on YouTube, amassing over 13,000 views to date.

Beyoncé is pulled off stage by an over-excited shirtless fan during performance in Brazil

Posted on September 16, 2013 by ankakh

Beyoncé was pulled off stage by a shirtless concertgoer during a performance in Sao Paulo, Brazil on Sunday night.

The over-excited fan managed to put his arms around the 32-year-old singer and yank her off the elevated platform she had been singing from.

However, Beyoncé’s entourage were quick to step in, with two security guards rushing onto the stage to disentangle the singer from the grip of the fan.

The incident occurred when Beyoncé moved around the platform and leaned forward to sing to the crowd.

After Beyoncé’s security guards pulled her back onto the stage, Beyoncé quickly resumed singing and dancing in her sequined blue jumpsuit during the performance at the Estadio do Morumbi stadium following the incident.

‘It’s all right,’ she told the crowd as she picked up a Brazilian flag that was tossed onto the stage. She moved toward the man after resuming singing and told him: ‘It’s alright, it’s alright.’

Mother-of-one Beyoncé then stopped her Mrs. Carter show to address the man and ask him his name.

‘I love you all,’ she said towards the end of a 90-second clip YouTube clip, which captured the incident.

‘Did the doctor send you? Man, you are eye candy’: Heart-melting video of dazed husband waking up from surgery and not realizing woman by bed was his wife

Posted on September 11, 2013 by ankakh

Everyone relishes that spark of falling in love for the first time.

But, much as they try, few married couples get to feel it all over again. Unlike gobsmacked Jason Mortensen.

Dosed up on morphine for a hernia operation, the love-struck American couldn’t believe his eyes when he caught sight of the woman by his bed.

Gawping, he had a million questions: ‘Did the doctor send you? Man you are eye candy! Woah. You’re the prettiest woman I’ve ever seen.

‘Are you a model? Who are you? What’s your name?’

The answer blew his mind.

‘I’m your wife,’ she giggled.

In a video that has now amassed more than 240,000 views, Mr Mortensen’s jaw drops. And he’s got a fair few more questions to ask.

‘You’re my wife?!’ the former missionary gasps, ‘Holy sh**! Dang. How long?’

Candice Mortensen, the blonde beauty behind the lens, tries to encourage her husband of six years to eat a cracker as he recovers in an unidentified hospital.

But he is too distracted.

‘It’s hard baby, it’s hard… Do we call each other baby?’

Dumbfounded, he clutches his head: ‘Man I hit the jackpot!’

Now recovered, Mr Mortensen, Vice President of sales at Oltuse Pharmaceuticals in Orem, Utah, is sticking to his every word.

Commenters flooded to praise the ‘husband of the year’ on YouTube after the video was posted on August 30.

Welcome to the scariest job interview ever! LG terrifies applicants by faking massive meteor crash through ‘window’ that was actually an ultra high-definition TV screen

Posted on September 6, 2013 by ankakh

Applicants for a job interview with LG Electronics in Chile had the scare of their lives when the company played a cruel prank on them that has been turned into an amusing TV advertisement.

To promote just how life-like images appear on the company’s 82-inch ‘Ultra HD’ TV, LG created a fake office in which one of its screen was positioned to look like a window.

Four unlucky applicants – two men and two women – were then filmed in the fake office being interviewed for a job with the company.

To begin with, the interview process seems perfectly normal as the interviewer shakes their hand and starts to look at their resume.

But then the cityscape outside starts to change, the blue sky turns black, a meteor emerges from the clouds and suddenly the city explodes.

The combination of high-def images and sound is – apparently – so realistic that each of the four interviewees freaks out, panicking and screaming as they see what they think is their city being destroyed.

Next the lights go out and the poor unsuspecting victims are left in the dark for a couple of minutes to add to the drama.

When the lights go back on, the door suddenly opens and in walks the LG team behind the prank to congratulation the poor unsuspecting targets.

This type of marketing is called a prankvertisement and since the clip appeared on YouTube on Monday it has been viewed more than 700,000 times.

This super-fan in Vietnam chased the Arsenal team bus for miles – and then Wenger and their big-hearted superstar players invited him on for pictures and autographs (and a much-needed rest!)

Posted on July 17, 2013 by ankakh

As Arsenal continued their Asia Tour in Hanoi, the team took some time off to visit the One Pillar Pagoda and naturally were chased by many local fans hoping to catch a rare glimpse of the Gunners in person as they ventured across Vietnam on their team bus to the historic Buddhist temple.

Many tried to dart in and out of traffic on bikes, but it was one man who caught the squad’s undivided attention as he impressively ran alongside the bus, keeping pace despite bumping into a few trees and lampposts. And the bus was soon full of chants from the Arsenal team singing: ‘Sign him up, sign him up.’ One player is heard to joke: ‘He’s fitter than Aaron Ramsey!’

Striker Olivier Giroud filmed the run on his phone before uploading it on to his Facebook page where he claimed the fan had followed the bus for 15 minutes.

So impressed were the Arsenal squad that cheers of ‘sign him up’ soon filled the bus, before the fan eventually jumped on to the back of a bike near the end of his pursuit, to cheers from the Arsenal players.

But by that point the Arsenal touring party had been won over and took time out to allow the fan they have now dubbed as ‘The Running Man’, after the Arnold Schwarzenegger film, on to the bus to get pictures with the players as well as his replica shirt signed.

Wojciech Szczesny, whop helped narrate the video on the Arsenal website, claimed how the team were impressed with the physique of the fan.

Arsenal opened up their Asia tour with a 7-0 win over the Indonesia XI and face Vietnam on Wednesday at the My Dinh National Stadium.

The north London side then travel to Japan where they will face Nagoya Grampus on July 22 and Urawa Red Diamonds four days later to complete their Asia tour.

Now that’s a cool idea! Coca Cola releases soda bottle made entirely out of ICE that melts as you drink it

Posted on July 12, 2013 by ankakh

Coca Cola has released a new bottle made entirely of ice.

Currently only available in Colombia, the design is being marketed as eco friendly since it melts after the coke is consumed, meaning there is nothing left to throw away or recycle.

A Spanish advertisement for Botello de Hielo (bottle of ice) shows beach-goers enjoying the ice cold beverages on a hot day, and then letting their bottles melt away in the sand.

The bottles are wrapped around the middle with red rubber labels in order to prevent frozen fingers. Once the bottle disappears, the labels double as snap bracelets.

According to the soda brand’s website, the bottles have been a hit in beachy Colombia, where vendors are selling an average of 265 an hour.

What’s more, Food Beast has claimed that the bottles are unsanitary, since ice absorbs the dirt and germs from its surroundings.

And other Coke drinkers who prefer to savor the taste have shared their worry that the short-lived bottles put a time limit on drinking it up.

There are, as of yet, not plans to bring the ice bottle to the U.S. or other countries.

Death toll jumps in landslide in southwest China

Posted on July 12, 2013 by ankakh

A landslide the size of a small town has killed at least 18 people and toppled 11 buildings in southwest China, state-run media said, citing local authorities.

The disaster occurred in Sichuan province’s Dujiangyan city on Wednesday, the Xinhua state news agency reported.

By Thursday afternoon, the number of people reported missing had climbed to 107, from 21 the previous day. Rescuers continue to dig through 53 million cubic feet of dirt in search of them.

Flooding that triggered the landslide has affected 1.5 million people and inundated tens of thousands of acres of crops. The torrents have plagued the mountainous region since Monday, smashing bridges and knocking out power to thousands.

They have washed away property worth more than $40 million, provincial officials said.

Xinhua also reported that more than 400 stranded people have been securely moved out of Dujiangyan.

As if it died yesterday: Amazingly preserved woolly mammoth found frozen in Siberia after 39,000 YEARS goes on display in Tokyo (and it’s still woolly!)

Posted on July 9, 2013 by ankakh

A female woolly mammoth, which was found frozen in Russia in May, has gone on display in an exhibition hall in Tokyo.

The 39,000-year-old mammoth will be on display at the hall in Yokohama in the south of the Japanese city from 13 July until September 16.

Visitors and tourists will be able to come and view the extinct creature that was discovered in an ice tomb in the New Siberian Islands, or Novosibirsk Islands, earlier this year.

Parts of the carcass are especially well preserved because they remained entirely frozen for thousands of years.

However, the upper torso and two legs, which were found in the soil rather than the ice, were gnawed by prehistoric and modern predators and almost did not survive.

Visitors to the hall will also be able to clearly see the mammoth’s snout, legs and torso.

The scientists who found the mammoth in May were also able to extract a blood sample from the beast.

It was the first ever well-preserved sample of blood from a woolly mammoth and could be used to recreate the extinct species.

Preserved muscle tissue was also found from the creature, aged between 50 and 60 when she died, according to the Russian team who made the discovery on islands off the northern coast of Siberia.

Semyon Grigoriev, head of the Museum of Mammoths of the Institute of Applied Ecology of the North at the North Eastern Federal University told The Siberian Times: The hope is that at least one living cell of the mammoth was preserved ‘although even with such well-preserved remains, this may not be the case.’

The samples were taken for study to Yakutsk, capital of the Republic of Sakha, also known as Yakutia, the largest region in the Russian Federation.

The carcass weighing around one tonne was then moved to the Siberian mainland and was kept in ice storage before being taken to Tokyo.

Earthquake-proof table invented to save the lives of millions of school children worldwide

Posted on July 5, 2013 by ankakh

Experts once advised people to run for a doorway when the earth begins to shake, now that’s out the window and scientists suggest jumping under the nearest table.

Two Israel scientist have a solution for that: earthquake-proof tables.

Designed to withstand downward impacts of up to one ton, the table is the brainchild of Israeli inventors Arthur Brutter and Ido Bruno.

Brutter and Bruno say the idea came out of the pressing need to protect school children in the developing world at risk of death and injury when earthquakes that strike their structurally unsound schools.

Then Brutter witnessed footage of 2010’s catastrophic Haiti earthquake in which an estimated 200,000 people died as poorly constructed homes and schools easily buckled in the face of the 7.0 magnitude temblor.

‘I looked at pictures of a school that was crushed in the earthquake in Haiti and they really shocked me,’ he said.

The solution is a cheap to make, easy to lift table for school children that can withstand massive impact when used as shelter from earthquake debris.

The tables, when placed in rows like classroom desks, also act as a means of escape.

With debris halted above, students can crawl through the clear passageways created by the tables, as can rescue workers.

First tested by the Israeli military, the desk is now undergoing strict testing at PaduaUniversity’s Structural Engineering department in Italy.

According to Brutter and Bruno, some 300 million school children worldwide are at risk from earthquakes because their buildings aren’t prepared for them. The team sees their earthquake proof table as a way to prevent deaths and injuries.

The two have been applauded around the world for their invention and received numerous awards.

Shocking footage shows Russian doctor caught viciously beating defenceless heart patient who died soon after in intensive care

Posted on July 4, 2013 by ankakh

An experienced doctor was caught on camera twice viciously beating a heart patient as he lay tied to an intensive care bed.

The defenceless patient died soon afterwards and the medic, Andrey Votyakov, blamed his frenzied attack on exhaustion after a busy 24-hour shift.

Police are now probing the Russian doctor – who previous had an unblemished record – for his cruel assault on the middle-aged man soon after he underwent surgery at a hospital in Perm, in the Urals.

The shocking 30-second video clearly shows a verbal argument between a doctor and the tethered patient at the Federal Cardo-Surgery Centre in the industrial city.

Then the doctor hits out, striking the patient first on the head and soon afterwards in the area of his heart.

He was evidently unaware that his brutal attack – which has now cost him his job – was being filmed on a camera focused on the patient’s bed.

‘It was a hard day after a 24 hour shift,’ claimed Votyakov, chief of the prestigious hospital’s anaesthesiology and intensive care department, after the footage went viral on the Russian web.

‘As soon as I came into the room with my team he started to call me various derogative names. And I just got blown away by it.
‘We had spent so much time with his very complicated case to help him recover and he said not a single word of gratitude.

‘And then the chronic tiredness added to it. I got carried away, and I punched him several times at the presence of my colleagues.’

The camera does not show any other doctors or nurses seeking to intervene.

‘We continued the treatment after the incident, but sadly the patient died.

‘I am very sorry for what happened and I want to apologise first of all to the patient himself and his family.’

The incident was in February this year but the footage was only recently made public.

The patient was a man aged ‘over 45’ from Kirov region. There has been no comment so far from the patient’s family.

Votyakov’s boss, Sergey Sukhanov, announced today that he was firing the violent medic.

There were predictions that the doctor would face jail and ruin over his attack, though it is so far unclear what charges he may face.

‘And now on platform phwoar…’ Chinese IT worker unwittingly beams porn onto giant screen at train station

Posted on July 2, 2013 by ankakh

An IT worker has been caught watching porn at work – after he accidentally screened an X-rated film on to a large train station television he had just fixed.

Hundreds of passengers reportedly stopped to stare at the monitor, outside the Jilin Station in China, as the film played for at least ten minutes.

It is believed the technician had hooked his laptop up to the screen – usually used to show adverts – to fix a fault.

But once the job was completed, he apparently failed to disconnect the two devices.

It seems he then turned his attentions to the X-rated film, unaware that it was also being watched by crowds of passengers and passers by outside the station.

The Sun reports that police have questioned the worker, but as yet have not filed any charges against him.

A film has been uploaded to YouTube which shows crowds of people staring in confusion at the screen.

Jenny from the Eastern Bloc: Lopez forced to apologize for singing happy birthday to brutal Turkmen dictator accused of torture

Posted on July 1, 2013 by ankakh

Jennifer Lopez was forced to apologize after a concert in Turkmenistan on Satruday night because she sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to the repressive dictator of the country’s brutal oppressive regime.
Lopez reportedly changed into a traditional Turkmen outfit during her show and personally serenaded Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow – whose government is accused of arbitrarily arresting and torturing political dissidents.
Human Rights Watch ranks Turkmenistan as ‘among the most repressive in the world.’ The human rights group says the former Soviet republic imposes ‘draconian restrictions on freedom of expression and association.’
The group also reports that ‘President Berdymukhamedov, his relatives, and associates enjoy unlimited power and total control over all aspects of public life.’
The concert was sponsored by China National Petroleum Corp – a major investor in Turmenistan’s booming gas industry – was meant to celebrate Berdimuhamedo’s 56th birthday.
Lopez released a statement after the concert apologizing for signing for the president and saying she never would have attended to concert if she had known the country’s human rights record.
According to the statement, the birthday song was a last-minute request made by the company to Lopez and she ‘graciously obliged.’

The concert took place in at a $2billion resort and yacht club on the Caspian Sea that Berdimuhamedow had opened just the day before.
The glitzy performance for a rarity to the Muslim-majority country of five million people. In attendance were government ministers, the heads of state-owned companies and foreign dignitaries.

Super-car smash up: Dramatic video shows moment at least 17 people injured, including children, after it crashes into crowd during rally in Poland

Posted on July 1, 2013 by ankakh

At least 17 people, including two children, were injured at a sports car rally in the Polish city of Poznan after a luxury vehicle skidded into a group of spectators.

At least four people are reportedly seriously injured following the crash, which happened just seconds after the driver pulled away from the start.

The accident occurred at the beginning of the three-day Gran Turismo Polonia event which draws amateur motor enthusiasts from all over Europe. At least 150 luxury cars are taking part in the event.

Footage of the incident shows how the driver of the yellow sports car appears to struggle to turn the vehicle into the start position.

A further amateur video, used by Russian news media, shows just seconds after the driver accelerated away from the start, the vehicle loses control crashing through a crowd of spectators beside the track.

Quoted by La Late News, Joseph Klimczewski, head of Highway Patrol in Poznan, told local news that the driver simply didn’t know how to operate his car.

Police spokesman Andrzej Borowiak said police were questioning the Norwegian motorist involved in the accident.

Polish news service Wypadek said, according to police, the driver was sober.

Indian journalist criticised for filing report from the SHOULDERS of a rescued flood victim in disaster region where 1,000 people died

Posted on June 26, 2013 by ankakh

An Indian journalist has been criticised for appearing on television reporting from a disaster zone while sitting on the shoulders of one of a flood victim.

Narayan Pargaien was in the state of Uttarakhand reporting on floods which have devastated the region when he made his unorthodox broadcast for News Express.

But he has denied the suggestion that he exploited the man by sitting on his shoulders while on camera, insisting that the flood victim ‘wanted to show respect’ because he had never met anyone as important as the journalist before.

A video of Mr Pargaien reporting on the floods swept the internet when it was posted to YouTube earlier this month, with many Indian web users criticising him for apparently using a disaster victim to keep his feet dry.

One commenter denounced him as ‘a disgrace to journalism’, while another said he was ‘a ridiculous reporter’.

In an interview Mr Pargaien, who has nearly two decades of reporting experience, admitted that he was wrong to file the unorthodox report, but said that he only sat on the man’s shoulders after the victim had invited him to do so.

He also blamed his cameraman for revealing the bizarre arrangement, claiming that he had been told he would only be filmed from the waist up.

‘It wasn’t my idea to begin with, but there was this man who took me to his home and asked me to report the damage he had suffered,’ Mr Pargaien told News Laundry.

‘His house was in a miserable condition and he had lost a lot in the flood, and was left with very little food and water.

‘We helped him with some food and some money and he was grateful to us and wanted to show me some respect, as it was the first time someone of my level had visited his house.’

The reporter added that he had paid the man, whom he refused to name, 50 rupees (55p) for his troubles.

He admitted that his actions were ‘journalistically wrong’, adding that he had ‘no problem getting my feet wet’.

The horrific floods in the northern state are believed to have killed 1,000 people, with many thousands more stranded in remote mountainous areas.

Ancient Egyptian statue has started MOVING sparking fears it has been struck by a ‘curse of the Pharaohs’

Posted on June 23, 2013 by ankakh

It sounds like the something from the script of a Hollywood action adventure.

But the ‘mystery of the moving mummy’ – which has seen an Egyptian statue mysteriously start to spin round in a display case – has spooked museum bosses.

The 10-inch tall relic, an offering to the Egyptian God Osiris, was found in a mummy’s tomb and has been at the ManchesterMuseum for 80 years.

But in recent weeks, curators have been left scratching their heads after they kept finding it facing the wrong way. They now believe there could be a ‘spiritual explanation’ for the turning statue.

It is believed that there is a curse of the pharaohs which strikes anyone who dares to take relics from a pyramid tomb.

Experts decided to monitor the room on time-lapse video and were astonished to see it clearly show the statuette spinning 180 degrees – with nobody going near it.

Now scientists are trying to explain the phenomenon, with TV physicist Brian Cox among the experts being consulted.

Scientists who explored the Egyptian tombs in the 1920s were popularly believed to be struck by a ‘curse of the Pharaohs’.

Egyptologist Campbell Price, 29, said: ‘I noticed one day that it had turned around.

‘I thought it was strange because it is in a case and I am the only one who has a key.

‘I put it back but then the next day it had moved again.

Other experts have a more rational explanation – suggesting that the vibrations caused by the footsteps of passing visitors makes the statuette tu

Clerodendrum

Posted on June 21, 2013 by ankakh

The Clerodendrum genus is a large group of plants that contains many interesting specimens which are suitable for indoor growth. The exact number of plants in the Clerodendrum genus is a matter of some confusion—some references list only 200 species, while others go up to 400 or 500. Originally, Clerodendrum were native to tropical Asia and the Eastern hemisphere, although they have since been acclimated throughout the world. Although there is wide variation in the genus, these are typically fast-growing, semi-woody shrubs of between two feet and eight feet in height. They often have large, very beautiful foliage and spectacular clumps of flowers that rise above the leaves in a showy display. In very warm, almost tropical conditions, the plants will bloom year-round, but it’s more likely in temperate growing conditions they will only bloom in the summer growing season. Some species of Clerodendrum produce suckers at the base of the mother plant that can be used for propagation.

Growing Conditions:

Light: Light requirements vary by species. Some require full sun to bloom and perform well; some prefer dappled sunlight. The most common varieties generally prefer slightly strong light.
Water: Ample and regular water during the growing season. If your winters are warm enough, continue watering well throughout the winter. If the winters are cooler, reduce watering in the winter.
Soil: A rich, peat-based potting soil with excellent drainage is beneficial.
Fertilizer: Feed with a weak liquid fertilizer throughout the growing season. Cut fertilizer back to once a month or so in the winter.

Propagation:

Clerodendrum can be propagated by seed, stem-tip cuttings, and removing suckers on more mature plants. To take a stem-tip cutting, remove a portion of the stem several inches long, dip into rooting hormone and place into a fresh pot with potting soil. To root a sucker, it’s best to remove the stem during repotting and include some of the roots with it, then pot it up into a fresh pot.

Repotting:

Repot in the early spring for perennials. Many people grow Clerodendrum as annuals, especially indoors, where they are fast growing enough to provide a lovely display, including their magnificent flowers, but can be tricky to get through a long winter. When you repot, keep in mind that your plant might naturally want to be seven feet tall, so step up the pot size slowly to reduce its growth rate.

Varieties:

There are many, many species of Clerodendrum available to the trade, mostly sold as outdoor annuals or perennials, depending on your climate. Some of the most common ones include:

C. paniculatum. Commonly known as the pagoda flower, a flowering shrub that grows to 8 feet tall and has been planted for decades throughout the American South. Features orange-red tubular flowers.
C. japonicum. A 5- to 6-foot shrub with large, felt-covered leaves and red flowers. Does best in dappled sunlight.
C. bungei. Commonly known as the pink glower bower, a shrub of about 4 feet in height that blooms in the winter and early spring.

Grower’s Tips:

The ideal situation for a Clerodendrum is probably to keep the plant outside on your patio or balcony throughout the summer, then move it inside during the winter months to coax it through cold weather. When you move inside, watch out for pests such as mealybugs, aphids, and mites. Signs of infestation include tiny webs on plants, clumps of white “powdery” residue, or visible insects on the plant. Treat infestations as soon as possible to prevent them from spreading to the rest of your collection. As always, start with the least toxic treatment option first, only progressing to more serious chemicals if your initial efforts fail.

Prison exercise Peruvian-style: Colourful inmates break world record with aerobic display in yard

Posted on June 16, 2013 by ankakh

Dressed in multi-coloured uniforms these tough jail inmates made all the right moves to dance their way into the record books.

At least 1,200 prisoners in Peru’s notorious Lurigancho jail beat the world record for working out at the same time in the yard.

Among them were armed robbers, hitmen, drug kingpins and petty thieves, but they all joined together to perform an aerobic ‘full body’ dancing show.

Using small gaudily-painted wooden platforms, they practiced for more than three months and danced to rock music and reggaton – a mix of hip-hop and reggae.

They were coached by Roger Romero, creator of full body aerobics in Peru.

Lurigancho was originally built to hold 2,500 prisoners, but there are now 7,000 inmates behind its crumbling walls, by far the most overcrowded jail in Peru.