Dancing Plague of 1518

The Dancing Plague (or Dance Epidemic) of 1518 was a case of dancing mania that occurred in Strasbourg, Alsace (then part of the Holy Roman Empire) in July 1518. Numerous people took to dancing for days without rest, and, over the period of about one month, some of those affected died of heart attack, stroke, or exhaustion.

The outbreak began in July 1518, when a woman, Frau Troffea, began to dance fervently in a street in Strasbourg. This lasted somewhere between four to six days. Within a week, 34 others had joined, and within a month, there were around 400 dancers. Some of these people eventually died from heart attack, stroke, or exhaustion.

Historical documents, including "physician notes, cathedral sermons, local and regional chronicles, and even notes issued by the Strasbourg city council" are clear that the victims danced. It is not known why these people danced, some even to their deaths.

As the dancing plague worsened, concerned nobles sought the advice of local physicians, who ruled out astrological and supernatural causes, instead announcing that the plague was a "natural disease" caused by "hot blood." However, instead of prescribing bleeding, authorities encouraged more dancing, in part by opening two guildhalls and a grain market, and even constructing a wooden stage. The authorities did this because they believed that the dancers would recover only if they danced continuously night and day. To increase the effectiveness of the cure, authorities even paid for musicians to keep the afflicted moving. Some of the dancers were taken to a shrine, where they sought a cure for their affliction.[citation needed] Historian John Waller stated that a marathon runner could not have lasted the intense workout that the men and women died from hundreds of years ago.

Russell Brand says no to Katy Perry's $44 million fortune in 'amicable' divorce

WHEN you're legally entitled to half your ex-wife's $US44 million fortune, ($40.87 million) it's rare that a divorce would ever be amicable, but somehow Russell Brand is playing the nice guy.

Lawyers for the couple finalised the divorce papers on Tuesday, but Brand reportedly doesn't want a cent from Perry's fortune.

The couple, who married in October 2010, did not sign a pre-nup meaning everything they earned during their 14-month marriage is combined and halved.

According to Forbes magazine, the Firework singer earned a whopping $44 million between May 2010 and May 2011 and Brand is legally entitled to $20 million of it.

But The Get Him To The Greek actor has reportedly done the honourable thing by his higher-earning ex-wife and won't touch a dime.

"This divorce is as amicable as it gets, and Russell was a mensch (Yiddish for a good person)," a source told gossip website TMZ.

Reports of marital strife plagued the couple in the months prior to their December 2011 divorce, but Brand says he still holds a candle for his former wife.

“I’ll always adore her and I know we’ll remain friends,” he said in a statement.

Tree of 40 Fruit

Sam Aken is an art professor at the University Of Syracuse, US. After growing up on a farm, he became an artist and it’s with these two that he has been able to develop the unbelievable Tree of 40 Fruit. In 2008, the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station was shutting down an orchard due to funding problems. The orchard was home to a number of antique, heirloom and native stone fruit varieties; some of which were about 150 to 200 years old. Losing this orchard would have meant the extinction of these rare fruits. Aken bought this orchard and dedicated the years that followed learning ways to graft parts of these trees onto one single fruit tree; in a project he called “Tree of 40 Fruit”.

He worked with over 250 varieties and developed a timeline that showed when each fruit blossomed in relation to others. He started by grafting few of these onto the root structure of a working tree. Two years later, he used the chip grafting method to add more varieties as separate branches. The chip grafting technique helped him take a sliver from a fruit tree (including the bud), insert it into an incision made on the working tree and tape the sliver into place. This is left to heal over winter. If the branch grows well, it’s pruned back so that it can grow as a normal branch on the tree.

Five years later and after grafting several branches, Aken has his first tree of 40 fruits. The tree looks normal most of the year but during spring, a stunning patchwork of white, red, pink, and purple blossoms. These then turn into peaches, plums, almonds, nectarines, cherries and apricots during the summer. They are all unique and rare varieties. The plant is not only beautiful; it preserves the world’s diversity of stone fruit. They are grown for commercial use mostly and are selected depending on their largeness, their look and taste. This therefore means that out of hundreds of stone fruits grown all over the world, only a few are commercially viable.

Aken has been able to grow 16 trees so far and they can be found in museums, private art collections and community centers around the US. He picked the stone fruits inter-compatibility and diversity. He also added garlic and peppermint to keep away the deers. His plan is to grow this variety of trees in a city setting. Does he eat the fruits or what happens to them afterwards?
“I've been told by people that have [a tree] at their home that it provides the perfect amount and perfect variety of fruit. So rather than having one variety that produces more than you know what to do with, it provides good amounts of each of the 40 varieties. Since all of these fruit ripen at different times, from July through October, you also aren't inundated. Personally, I give away most of the fruit that comes from my trees,” he said.