Happy Halloween!
Posted: 31 Oct 2008 09:31
Halloween has its origins in the ancient Celtic festival known as Samhain. The festival of Samhain is a celebration of the end of the harvest season in Gaelic culture, and is sometimes regarded as the "Celtic New Year". Traditionally, the festival was a time used by the ancient Celtic pagans to take stock of supplies and slaughter livestock for winter stores. The ancient Gaels believed that on October 31, now known as Halloween, the boundary between the alive and the deceased dissolved, and the dead become dangerous for the living by causing problems such as sickness or damaged crops. The festivals would frequently involve bonfires, into which bones of slaughtered livestock were thrown. Costumes and masks were also worn at the festivals in an attempt to mimic the evil spirits or placate them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween
Myths:
On Jan. 1, 1600, the human population was 536,870,911. If the first vampire came into existence that day and bit one person a month, there would have been two vampires by Feb. 1, 1600. A month later there would have been four, and so on. In just two-and-a-half years the original human population would all have become vampires with nobody left to feed on, even if our entire species doubled each month.
You have a better chance of being hit by a car on a dark street than finding secret razor blades in candies.
Police and medical centers across the country annually take precautions to prevent candy tampering during the Halloween season. Each year, X-ray equipment is overloaded to check Halloween items for harmful objects, such as razors, needles or other objects that might have been placed there to hurt or kill children.
However, few if any threatening foreign objects are found, with the "unfortunate victim" sometimes revealed as the culprit, in search of media attention. Essentially, these precautions are wasting resources and fueling an urban legend, as well as children's fears.
There have been only two confirmed cases of children being killed by poisoned Halloween candy, and in both cases the children were killed intentionally by one of their parents. The best known, "original" case was that of Texan Ronald Clark O'Bryan, who killed his son by lacing his Pixie Stix with cyanide in 1974.
With the exceptions noted above, no child has been killed or seriously harmed by contaminated Halloween candy.
Many people are under the impression that Halloween is the second-busiest retail holiday of year, beaten only by Christmas. In fact, The National Retail Foundation ranks it sixth overall, behind Father's Day, Easter, Valentine's Day, Mother's Day and the winter holidays. So, as for the pumpkin-happy holiday offsetting the Dow Jones from its financial debacle, don't count on it.
October is usually considered a vigorous month for heavy spending - between Halloween shopping and cooling weather driving consumers to search for winter gear - but it's shaping up to be a nationwide letdown, according to The Wall Street Journal. Consumers have clung so far to their newly modest spending habits. What's more, this year's Fright Night comes on the heels of a back-to-school shopping season that was considered mostly a bust, the newspaper reported.
There has not been a single case of any child being molested by a convicted sex offender while trick-or-treating.
Foremost, it is fairly implausible that a criminal could molest an elaborately dressed child in costume, outside the front door, in front of numerous witnesses and parents.
The "stranger danger" concern is a relatively recent phenomenon, and the emergence of sex offender laws across the country have resulted in thousands of convicted sex offenders abiding by a strict curfew and not answering their doors to trick-or-treaters on the night of Halloween. However, Georgia, New Jersey and Indiana have recently overturned sex offender laws found to be unduly restrictive, according to JURIST, a Web-based legal news and real-time legal research service.
The fact is there is no evidence that indicates these laws actually make children any safer. In 2007, Human Rights Watch concluded in a report that it is unclear whether sex offender laws "do more harm than good," noting that they might encourage harassment and ostracism of sex offenders who have served their time. In addition, most released sex offenders do not re-offend, contrary to popular belief, and most attacks on children occur in their own home by someone they know.
There is no doubt these special considerations are well-intentioned, but there is no reason to think that sex offenders pose any more of a threat to children on Halloween than at any other time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween
Myths:
On Jan. 1, 1600, the human population was 536,870,911. If the first vampire came into existence that day and bit one person a month, there would have been two vampires by Feb. 1, 1600. A month later there would have been four, and so on. In just two-and-a-half years the original human population would all have become vampires with nobody left to feed on, even if our entire species doubled each month.
You have a better chance of being hit by a car on a dark street than finding secret razor blades in candies.
Police and medical centers across the country annually take precautions to prevent candy tampering during the Halloween season. Each year, X-ray equipment is overloaded to check Halloween items for harmful objects, such as razors, needles or other objects that might have been placed there to hurt or kill children.
However, few if any threatening foreign objects are found, with the "unfortunate victim" sometimes revealed as the culprit, in search of media attention. Essentially, these precautions are wasting resources and fueling an urban legend, as well as children's fears.
There have been only two confirmed cases of children being killed by poisoned Halloween candy, and in both cases the children were killed intentionally by one of their parents. The best known, "original" case was that of Texan Ronald Clark O'Bryan, who killed his son by lacing his Pixie Stix with cyanide in 1974.
With the exceptions noted above, no child has been killed or seriously harmed by contaminated Halloween candy.
Many people are under the impression that Halloween is the second-busiest retail holiday of year, beaten only by Christmas. In fact, The National Retail Foundation ranks it sixth overall, behind Father's Day, Easter, Valentine's Day, Mother's Day and the winter holidays. So, as for the pumpkin-happy holiday offsetting the Dow Jones from its financial debacle, don't count on it.
October is usually considered a vigorous month for heavy spending - between Halloween shopping and cooling weather driving consumers to search for winter gear - but it's shaping up to be a nationwide letdown, according to The Wall Street Journal. Consumers have clung so far to their newly modest spending habits. What's more, this year's Fright Night comes on the heels of a back-to-school shopping season that was considered mostly a bust, the newspaper reported.
There has not been a single case of any child being molested by a convicted sex offender while trick-or-treating.
Foremost, it is fairly implausible that a criminal could molest an elaborately dressed child in costume, outside the front door, in front of numerous witnesses and parents.
The "stranger danger" concern is a relatively recent phenomenon, and the emergence of sex offender laws across the country have resulted in thousands of convicted sex offenders abiding by a strict curfew and not answering their doors to trick-or-treaters on the night of Halloween. However, Georgia, New Jersey and Indiana have recently overturned sex offender laws found to be unduly restrictive, according to JURIST, a Web-based legal news and real-time legal research service.
The fact is there is no evidence that indicates these laws actually make children any safer. In 2007, Human Rights Watch concluded in a report that it is unclear whether sex offender laws "do more harm than good," noting that they might encourage harassment and ostracism of sex offenders who have served their time. In addition, most released sex offenders do not re-offend, contrary to popular belief, and most attacks on children occur in their own home by someone they know.
There is no doubt these special considerations are well-intentioned, but there is no reason to think that sex offenders pose any more of a threat to children on Halloween than at any other time.