Photo: Isabelle OHara (Shutterstock)

There are two words that I think we can all agree on that do not belong together and they are as follows: corpse and flower. And yet corpse flowers are not just one thing, they are a huge thing. The Amorphophallus titanum or “corpse flower” is a giant flower that, when blooming, gives off an odor reminiscent of rotting flesh. Corpse flowers are nature’s most fascinating, and if you’re lucky there might be one near you – almost every state has one. Even if you don’t, there is some way you can see a bloom in the next few days and we encourage you to do so.

What the hell is a corpse flower?

Corpse flowers are known as the largest flowering plant in the world. It is a tropical plant native to western Sumatra, Indonesia, and has a life expectancy of 30-40 years. The “spadix” or block tube center can hold up to 15 feet tall, and the leaves become nearly 13 feet wide. The outside is green, like any flower bulb, and the leaves (or petals) are generally dark red or burgundy. The massive flower is part of the Araceae family and is related to smaller plants such as philodendrons, calla lilies, and peace lilies. They also belong to the same family as skunk cabbage (big surprise).

They bloom every seven to ten years on average, and when it does bloom it will only do so once that year. As soon as the flower opens, it gives off a strong, pungent odor that is supposed to be reminiscent of decaying flesh or “flesh” (hence “corpse”). Beth Skwarecki, Senior Health Editor at Lifehacker, recalls that the smell was more like “warm garbage” and compares the experience to “walking past a really mature dumpster on a summer day”.

Why does a corpse flower smell like garbage?

After the planting site Tree hugger, the scientific name of the plant, Amorphophallus titanum, is ancient Greek and means “huge, misshapen phallus”. The giant phallus is just that and is said to attract insects to pollinate its species. The pungent smell attracts insects like dung beetles and meat flies, which feed on dead or rotting material.

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Flower grower Tim Pollak spoke with Live science about the rare plant, adding, “Corpse flowers can also heat up to 36.7 degrees Celsius to further fool the insects,” meaning the plant is mimicking a rotting human in order to survive.

Where can I find a corpse flower?

Corpse flowers are an endangered species, which is why you likely won’t see them on your average hike or have never heard of them before. Though rare, they host – and name – many states and conservatories.

The San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers “Terra the Titan”Bloomed in 2017 and again in 2020. Another corpse flower bloomed last month at the USA Botanical Gardens in Washington, DC, and a corpse flower in Pittsburgh called “Romero” already bloomed in 2016. While there is no dedicated website for tracking corpse flowers in the United States, this is it Wikipedia site has a list of published blooms across the country.

How to see a corpse flower live as it blooms

The Huntington Botanical Gardens in San Marino, California eagerly await the blooming of their corpse flower, which is due every day. The flower – appropriately named “Stankosaurus Rex“- Towers an incredible 82 inches high. There is no telling how high it will be when it blooms, but staff and visitors are excited about this momentous occasion. You can get the bloom on The. follow Live feed from the Huntington Conservatory here.

The live stream will run for the days before the flower opens and will continue throughout the flowering period. So check back often to see Stankosaurus Rex in all of its stinking glory.

Photo: Stockcreations (Shutterstock)

I’ve always been resistant to cleaning things that are outside. The dirt lives outside – the “home of the dirt”, if you will. But now that I live in a house that has its own little piece outside, I see that cleaning up those outside spaces is necessary, especially now that I’m doing quite a bit Cooking in my garden.

Aside from sweeping the patio (a scam I can’t escape) and my garden (lazy and a little bad), my most common outdoor work revolves around my Weber kettle.

A dirty grill is, in a word, gross. It’s so gross that weaker men (such as This one here) entirely on the cooking method, possibly because these men are used to women cleaning up afterwards. In any case, a clean grill is important. Dirty gas grills are slightly more dangerous than their charcoal counterparts, but grease fires can start anywhere there’s grease, and dirty grids and bowls can make your food taste bad and, if left dirty long enough, lead to all kinds of bacterial build-ups. Fortunately, cleaning your charcoal grill isn’t difficult. (If you have a dirty gas grill, read this.)

Scrub the grids at the beginning of each cooking process

There is nothing more beautiful than a purifying fire. Instead of trying to clean your grids while they’re cold and sticky, let them heat for at least five minutes each time you light your grill, then scrub them with a wire brush, some padded foil, or some other grill cleaner thoroughly device of your choice. The high heat carbonizes the stuck on residue and flakes off immediately. Do this every time you grill and you will never have to deal with an unwieldy amount of debris.

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People are not perfect, however, and I would never judge you for accumulating an unwieldy amount of clusters. I’ve never let this happen (since I’ve only had my grill for a few months) so I haven’t had a chance to try cumbersome debris-cleaning methods, but The kitchen tested four different cleaning methods for dirty grills and found that both Easy-Off and a mixture of baking soda and dish soap worked exceptionally well. So try these out if the hot heat doesn’t cut it.

Don’t forget the bowl

Photo: Claire Lower

After a long smoking session or a particularly hamburger-heavy gathering, the bowl of your charcoal grill (the part under the grates) needs some attention. You don’t have to clean your bowl every time you grill, but once a week or month is a good idea depending on how much you’re grilling. If it starts to look and smell greasy (you know the aroma) go ahead and bathe it.

Start by putting all of the ash in the ash trap. The weaver has a nice little sweeper knife system, but I’ve found it can miss some spots and I usually have to brush any remaining ash into the holes with my grill brush or paper towel.

Photo: Claire Lower

Next, grab a bucket of warm, soapy water (I used Dawn) and scrub this bowl. Use a steel wool pad if you encounter stubborn debris.

Photo: Claire Lower

Wipe the soap off with a damp cloth and resist the urge to get your grill “perfectly clean”. You’ll just fill it up with ashes again, and that’s clean enough.

Show some love to the outside

I don’t know what your outdoor environment is like, but mine is full of dust and pollen, and this stuff likes to build up on my lovely charcoal baby. A swiffer or microfiber cloth is usually enough to spice it up and a little glass cleaner is enough to restore its shine, and I love the way it shines.

Photo: Claire Lower

I have never been and will never eat “over” a frozen pizza (once cooked, of course). They are comfortable. They are delicious. They are customizable. But cooking has a way of heating up your kitchen as it takes a fair bit of heat to get all browned and bubbly. Fortunately, there’s another searing source of heat that can make frozen pizza just as well – if not better – than your oven, and it’s out there that’s already hot. That’s right, I’m talking about the grill in your yard.

Grilled frozen pizza has all the makings of a simple but strange midweek dinner. You can grill several pizzas one at a time and eat the first one in a leisurely clip while the next cooks. Grilling a pizza from frozen to hot and crispy takes 20 minutes and the preheating time is significantly shorter than that of your oven.

Photo: Claire Lower

The crust becomes crispier, more bubbly and wonderfully browned. The only downside is you can’t turn on a grill for browned cheese, but I was pretty pleased with the way the cheese melted and browned around the edges thanks to the swirling, indirect heat from the coals. You can grill any frozen pizza, but some are better than others and there are a few strategies you can take to ensure frozen pizza grilling success.

Avoid super thick crusts

I grilled a variety of frozen pizzas last night and found the thinner, crispier crusts to be the best. Thicker pizzas came out a bit doughy and took (obviously) longer. That’s not so bad if you’re just making a frozen pizza (or using a gas grill), but if you’re working with charcoal, you have limited time and want to have as many pizzas cooked as possible (or at least I do). Skip the DiGiorno, I say.

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Stay cheap

Photo: Claire Lower

I love Totino’s Party Pizzas deeply and unanimously, and the grill brings out the absolute best in their cracker-like crust. I mean, just look at that tan (but don’t look at my dirty plate).

Photo: Claire Lower

The Red Baron pizza I grilled was pretty good too, but everyone at the table (and three other people were) agreed that the crust of the fancier Screaming Sicilian was a let down (although the meat was pretty excellent).

If you’re not sure which brand to buy, I highly recommend grabbing a box of party pizzas. They’re incredibly cheap – like a dollar a pizza – and honestly tasted the best of all the pizzas we’ve tried. (Red Baron kind of slapped, though, and I’ll bet the brand pizza would kill.)

Take care of your coals

Again, if you have a gas grill, fuel isn’t really an issue (unless you’re low on propane and propane supplies), but a chimney full of coals is a finite resource. I could get four pizzas out of a chimney and I could probably have picked another one. As with all charcoal, the key is to be careful of your vents.

If you’re using a charcoal grill, keep the lower inlet opening fully open all the time, starting with the outlet opening about halfway open. You want to keep your grill temperature in the range of 375-425 ° C. I know this seems wide, but you will open the grill quite a bit so fluctuations are inevitable. (Also, don’t rely on the little built-in thermometer on top of your grill for an accurate reading – anyone grilling over charcoal should have an external thermometer.) Any pizza, as the coals gradually cool down as they cook. On my fourth pizza, I had both vents fully open.

Just grill

To grill a frozen pizza to crispy, bubbly perfection, you will need:

That’s it.

If you’re working with charcoal, fill a chimney and get it going by lighting a starter cube or newspaper underneath. As soon as the coals are glowing and partially ashed, tilt them to one side of the charcoal grids and place the grillage on top. Open the inlet opening fully and the lower opening about halfway and allow the temperature to rise to at least 375 ° C. If you’re using a gas grill, set up a two-zone system with the burners set on medium high to achieve the same temperature. Place a pizza on the “indirect” side (the opposite side of the coals) and close the lid.

Let the pizza cook for five minutes, then turn it a quarter turn and cook for another five minutes. Repeat the process two more times, then slide the pizza on the direct side for a minute if you want to crisp the bottom. (Be careful here as it can burn, but I like a little char on my pizza.)

Take the pizza out, close the grill and, if you are using charcoal, open the top ventilation a little further. Let the temperature rise again, then place your next pizza on the grill and do it all over again. Repeat until you run out of pizzas (or until your charcoal runs out).

US surfer Carissa Moore Photo: BRIAN BIELMANN / AFP (Getty Images)

The Tokyo Olympics will feature many of our favorite sports like gymnastics, track and field, and swimming – but there will also be six new (or almost new) sports in the mix. Here’s what you need to know to see the newcomers to the “2020 Olympics,” as they are called. (Yeah, we know it’s 2021.)

Baseball and softball

Baseball and softball are among the six, but they’re not entirely new to the games. Baseball (an all-male event) first appeared in the Olympics in 1992, and softball (for women) was added in 1996. Both were dropped in 2008 and are returning this year, though only six teams participate in each. For baseball, these are the United States, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, Israel, and the Dominican Republic. For softball, these are the United States, Japan, Mexico, Canada, Australia, and Italy.

Skateboarding

Skateboarding is going to be a fully Olympic sport for the first time, though it made an appearance at the 2014 Youth Olympic Games. There will be two events: Park and Street.

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The course for Street is designed to mimic an urban street. There are stairs, ramps, railings, curbs, and benches available, and it is up to the competitor to put together a series of moves that take advantage of the features available.

Park skateboarding is done in a bowl, with steep sides that allow for spins and other tricks in the air. Both events have men’s and women’s competitions.

How is it rated? The jury evaluates the movements of the participants according to speed, height, originality and execution.

Who can be seen: Street favorites include Nyjah Huston from the US, Yuto Horigome from Japan and Leticia Bufoni from Brazil. Sky Brown from Great Britain, Heimana Reynolds from the USA and the American-Finnish skateboarder Lizzie Armanto (skating for Finland) can be seen in the park.

surfing

Shortboard surfing (with boards less than eight feet) will be in the Olympics for the first time this year. Men and women compete separately. Four people will run together, but only one surfer can ride a wave at a time.

How is it rated? The jury evaluates the surfers’ movements based on factors such as the difficulty of the wave and the movement they choose, the variety of movements, the originality, the ability to combine movements and the “speed, power and flow” of the movements.

Who can be seen: The USA, Australia and Brazil are the strongest countries here. John John Florence and Carissa Moore are favorites from the US; Also look out for Stephanie Gilmore from Australia and Gabriel Medina from Brazil.

Sport climbing

Three climbing disciplines will be held at the Olympic Games in Tokyo: speed, bouldering and lead. Men and women compete against each other in all three, their placements in each being considered together to determine who will receive a medal.

How is it rated? Speed ​​climbing takes place in head-to-head runs, with the winner of each advance advancing. Times are expected about six seconds per run for men and eight for women.

Bouldering, which is done without a rope because it doesn’t stray too far from the ground, allows participants to make multiple attempts to climb to the top of a specific problem. Climbers have four minutes to climb as many problems as possible; The goal of everyone is to get both hands on the last grip with as few attempts as possible. Getting to a designated zone near the summit isn’t as good as climbing the boulder, but it will still hit someone who didn’t even make it that far.

Lead climbing allows only one attempt per participant, and climbers climb a 15-meter wall one after the other. The further up the wall you can climb within the six-minute limit, the better your score. If there is a tie, the fastest promotion wins.

Who can be seen: The top climbers include Adam Ondra from the Czech Republic, Janja Garnbret from Slovenia and Miho Nonaka from Japan. The Americans to watch out for are Nathaniel Coleman, Colin Duffy, Kyra Condie, and Brooke Raboutou.

karate

Judo has been an Olympic sport for decades, but karate is new to the games. There are two events: kata and kumite. The events are suitable for both men and women, each with three weight classes.

Kata is a demonstration of karate moves against an imaginary opponent, and participants can choose one of 102 pre-arranged sequences to perform. Kumite is a sparring event in which participants compete against each other in pairs.

How is it rated? Judges rate kata based on factors such as strength, speed and technique of movements. Kumite is scored through the individual blows and kicks the competitor takes on the body of his opponent, with each blow earning one to three points. The first person to have an eight point lead over their opponent is the winner of the game.

Who can be seen: In Kata, Sandra Sánchez and Damián Quintero from Spain as well as Kiyou Shimizu and Ryo Kiyuna from Japan are among the front runners. Kumite favorites include Ugur Aktas from Turkey, Anzhelika Terliuga from Ukraine and Irina Zaretska from Azerbaijan.