A picture is worth a thousand words

...and a picture with words is even more valuable.

A picture is worth a thousand words

What is Halloween?

HALLOWEEN

Halloween is considered by most in the United States as a fun holiday, mostly for children, but it has roots in ancient religions and folklore, including paganism, ancient Roman religions, early Catholic Christianity, Irish folklore, and even British politics! Children and adults alike enjoy this holiday today, with funny costumes, candy, and parties, while some countries observe this time as a remembrance of departed loved ones and religious saints.

Here is a short history of this holiday: History

Halloween is a holiday with ancient roots that had a much greater meaning than the boisterous, costume-filled holiday that we know today. Around 2,000 years ago, the Celts, who lived in what is now the United Kingdom, Ireland, and northern France, had a festival commemorating the end of the year. Their New Year was November 1, and this festival was called Samhain, pronounced sow-en. The end of their year signaled the end of summer, the end of the harvest season, and the beginning of a long, hard winter that often caused many deaths of animals and people. Weaker livestock were often killed and eaten during this holiday, since most likely, they would not survive the winter anyway. Because of this, and the cruel winter to come, this time of year signified death to the Pagan Celtics. They believed the night before the New Year, that the wall between the living and the dead was open, allowing spirits of the dead, both good and bad, to mingle among the living. Some of these spirits were thought to possess living people, cause trouble, ruin crops, or to search for passage to the afterlife.

Samhain was considered a magical holiday, and there are many stories about what the Celtics practiced and believed during this festival. Some say the spirits that were unleashed were those that had died in that year, and offerings of food and drink were left to aid the spirits, or to ward them away. Other versions say the Celts dressed up in outlandish costumes and roamed the neighborhoods making noise to scare the spirits away. Many thought they could predict the future and communicate with spirits as well during this time. Some think the heavily structured life of the Pagan Celtics was abandoned during Samhain, and people did unusual things, such as moving horses to different fields, moving gates and fences, women dressing as men, and vice versa, and other trickeries now associated with Halloween. Another belief is that the Celtics honoured, celebrated, and feasted the dead during Samhain. A sacred, central bonfire was always lit to honor the Pagan gods, and some accounts say that individual home fires were extinguished during Samhain, either to make their homes unattractive to roving spirits, or for their home fires to be lit following the festival from the sacred bonfire. Fortunes were told, and marked stones thrown into the fire. If a person's stone was not found after the bonfire went out, it was believed that person would die during the next year. Some Celts wore costumes of animal skulls and skins during Samhain. Faeries were believed to roam the land during Samhain, dressed as beggars asking for food door to door. Those that gave food to the faeries were rewarded, while those that did not were punished by the faeries. This is reported to be the first origin of the modern "trick or treat" practice. (If you're looking for halloween costumes, check out discount halloween costumes for great deals.)

In the First century A.D., the Roman Empire had taken over most of the Celtic lands. The Romans had two festivals also celebrated at the same time of year as Samhain. One was Feralia, also in late October, was the Roman day honouring the dead. The second festival was for Pomona, the Roman goddess of trees and fruit. Pomona's symbol was the apple. These two festivals were combined with Samhain in the Celtic lands during the four hundred years the Roman Empire ruled over the Celts. The goddess Pomona's apple might be the root of the Halloween tradition of bobbing for apples.

Over the next several hundred years, Christianity had spread to include the lands inhabited by the Celtics and the Romans, but the festival of Samhain was still celebrated by the people. The Christian church reportedly did not like a festival with Pagan roots practiced by Christians, so a replacement was needed. Pope Boniface IV designated May 13 as All Saints Day to honour dead church saints and martyrs. Samhain continued to be celebrated, so in 835 A.D., Pope Gregory IV moved the holiday to November 1, probably to take attention away from the Pagan Samhain festival and replace it. Since All Saints Day was sanctioned by the church, and related to the dead, the church was happy, but many Pagan traditions of Samhain continued to be practiced, including bonfires, parades, and dressing up in costume. All Saints Day was also known as All Hallows, or All Hallowmas (Hallowmas is Old English for All Saints Day). Since Samhain was celebrated the night before November 1, the celebration was known as All Hallows Eve, and later called Halloween. In the year 1000 A.D., the church designated November 2 as All Souls Day, to honour the dead who were not saints, and they eventually became combined and celebrated as Hallowmas.

On All Souls Day in England, the poor would "go a-souling". They would go door to door asking for food, and in return, would pray for the souls of their dead relatives. It was widely believed at the time that the souls of the dead would await passage into heaven until enough people prayed for their souls. The Christian church encouraged this practice to replace the old Pagan tradition of leaving cakes and wine out for the spirits of the dead. The poor would be given "soul cakes", which were pastries made for those who promised to pray for their dead relatives. In some cultures, soul cakes would be given in exchange for a performance or song as well. Children eventually adopted this practice, and were given food, ale, or money.

Jack o'lanterns are a Halloween staple today, with at least two historical roots. The early Pagan Celtic peoples used hollowed out turnips, gourds, or rutabagas to hold an ember from the sacred bonfire, so they could light their home fires from the sacred bonfire. Another tale from folklore gives jack o'lanterns their name. In Irish myth, a man known as "Stingy Jack", who was a swindler and a drunk, who asked the devil to have drink with him. Jack convinced the devil to change himself into a coin so he could pay for the drink, but Jack put the coin in his pocket next to a silver cross, which trapped the devil, preventing him from changing himself back. Jack agreed to free the devil on the condition that the devil would not bother Jack for a year. Next year, Jack tricks the devil into climbing a tree to fetch a piece of fruit. While the devil is up the tree, Jack carves a cross into the trunk, preventing him from climbing back down the tree. In order to get out of the tree, the devil promised Jack not to seek his soul any more. When Jack died, he was not allowed into heaven, because of his drunken and swindling ways, but he was not allowed into hell either, because the devil kept his word. Taking pity on Jack, the devil gave him an ember to light his way in the dark, putting it into a hollowed out turnip for Jack to carry on his lonely, everlasting roamings around the Earth. People from Ireland and Scotland would make "Jack o'lanterns" during this season to scare away Stingy Jack and other evil spirits wandering about.

Over the next several centuries, superstitions about witches and black cats were added to to the folklore and legends of Halloween. Cats were thought of as evil, especially black cats, and were killed by the thousands in Medieval times, possibly contributing to the Black Plague, due to the shortage of the rat's natural enemy, the cat. During this time, the church created the belief that evil witches existed.

In the 1500's, Martin Luther created the Protestant Church, which had no saints, so no All Hallows Day was allowed. On November 5, 1606, Guy Fawkes was executed for attempting to blow up England's Parliament. Fawkes, along with an extremist Catholic organization he belonged to, wanted to remove the Protestant King James from his throne. The English wasted no time to have a celebration to replace All Hallows Day, so Guy Fawkes Day was celebrated from then on. Many traditions of All Hallows Day were practiced, such as bonfires, and children asking for money, but the reasons why were different. Bonfires were known as "bone fires" originally, because they were lit in order to burn an effigy of the Catholic pope, burning his "bones". Two hundred years later, the effigy of the pope was replaced by an effigy of Guy Fawkes, prompting children to go door to door, asking for a "penny for Guy", so they could make their effigy to burn. In the New World, the colonists celebrated Guy Fawkes Day for a while, but as the colonies became the United States of America, Guy Fawkes Day fell by the wayside.

In the United States

Halloween was not a popular observance in early United States history, as most of the early settlers were Protestant. At the time, Halloween was considered mostly a Catholic, Episcopalian, and Pagan holiday, and therefore largely ignored. In the southern colonies, such as Virginia and Maryland, there were some Halloween customs observed. The first common events were called "play parties". These parties got neighborhoods together to celebrate the harvest, dance, sing, tell stories of the dead, tell fortunes, and have pageants for children in costume. By the mid 1800's, immigration increased, and many Irish immigrants, mostly Catholics fleeing the potato famine, brought many Halloween traditions with them. Jack o'lanterns found a new face, the pumpkin, which was very plentiful in the New World. Catholics and Episcopalians sought to preserve their traditions, so started an effort in the late 1800's to popularize and make their holidays known to the general population. By campaigning to put these holidays (Halloween and All Saints Day) on public calendars, magazines and newspapers started to publicize these holidays, and soon became popular in the United States more as a community and family holiday, rather than one of great religious and supernatural importance.

What is Halloween?

Law school students sue their law school (Way too funny)

I guess this law school taught their students a bit too well, since they graduated and promptly sued the school.  You can't make this stuff up.  Hahaha


Watch Video:
http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Law_Students_Sue_New_York-127640498.html

Law school students sue their law school (Way too funny)

Mom of the year!!!!

In this age of political correctness, I'll throw my two cents in on the Government feeling up our children this way. "Hey dirtbags, keep your hands off our children!".  What am I talking about?  A Nashville mom stands up to the TSA to protect her daughter.

Mom takes on TSA, read story:
http://news.travel.aol.com/2011/07/13/mom-arrested-for-yelling-at-tsa-over-daughters-patdown/

Mom of the year!!!!

Tax the evil rich!!!!

What

When did hate become so popular?  Tax the rich, also known as take/steal/confiscate, and give it to another person is alive and well.  Unfortunately.  Funny that taxing the rich doesn't seem to necessarily go to another, but rather it disappears into a big sucking black hole called government spending.  Why don't we just give "the poor" the freedom to take from the rich directly.  It would be great and just imagine someone driving a car you like and being able to go whack them over the head and steal it.  Did I say steal?  I meant to say tax it from them.  See a house you like, well just give "the poor" the "right" to go kick in the front door and confiscate the home.  Did I say confiscate?  I meant to say tax if from them.  Well you get the idea....

To get our kids on board with this type of thinking we should make all children who get A's, B's, and C's in school "give" points to any kids with F's.  We can call it taxing the evil smart kids.

Or we could just move to a flat tax system that treats all of us equal..is that hateful?....

Tax the evil rich!!!!

Notable Quote

I wish it were possible to obtain a single amendment to our Constitution. I would be willing to depend on that alone for the reduction of the administration of our government to the genuine principles of its Constitution; I mean an additional article, taking from the federal government the power of borrowing. -Thomas Jefferson

Notable Quote

Too shocking for adults, but it's taught to 3rd graders

I love that the school board doesn't like the language used, but the mom is literally reading from her kids 3rd grade text book. If the language is inappropriate for a school board meeting, wouldn't someone think it would be inappropriate for 3rd graders? How did this text book get into the classroom?

Too shocking for adults, but it's taught to 3rd graders

You have got to be kidding me

nice

2 High School students are suspended and arrested for having a
leatherman (multi-tool) and a lighter (explosive device). Is this
really how far we have sunk as a nation?
I used to trade Old Timer Knives in school with my teachers, at the
same time half the students in my school had a hunting rifle in their
trucks. Funny that we didn't have the school violence issues then
that we enjoy so much today. I commented on this subject in the past
that we should be going the opposite direction with students today.
Add in shooting classes, gun safety, proper care and maintenence of
firearms, knives 101, and so on. Guns have been part of students
lives for hundreds of years with almost no problems. Agree or
disagree, but what we are doing today is not working.
Read full story here:
http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2011/05/10/2-md-students-punished-after-bag-search/

You have got to be kidding me

I hope that it was a good one.

mom

I hope that it was a good one.

Quote

I firmly believe that parenting is one part motivational speaker to
help our children face life's many obstacles. In our home the word
"can't" is treated as harshly as any other four letter word. I will
be in a world of trouble if my children find out that I would would
welcome traditional four letter words over the word "can't".
Another great quote:
"We will either find a way, or make one." -Hannibal

Quote

InHouston Charity of the month (Eye Care for Kids)

InHouston, an InCity Netowrk, is proud to announce the upcoming charity for the month of May. Each months featured charity will have personel available to you at the InHouston flagship mixer at the UpTown Park Tasting Room on May 11th. I hope you will join us in supporting this outstanding organization by attending InHouston events and spreading the word to others.

About Eye Care for Kids:

Eye Care for Kids Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, formed in 1998 that provides free eye examinations and glasses for low-income, uninsured children in the greater Houston area.

Learn more: http://www.eyecareforkids.org/

InHouston Charity of the month (Eye Care for Kids)

How many Margarita's do your kids need?

http://kingdads.blogspot.com

Applebee's gives toddler a margarita in place of apple juice.  There has to be more to this story.

New Applebee's employment quiz:
Should kids have 1, 2, or 3 margarita's while dining out?  Ummmmmm, the answer is 1?
I guess if you work at Applebee's then you would have failed this test, but then again you're telling me that parents can't tell the difference between apple juice and a margarita.  Something smells fishy with this story.

Read full story:
http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-applebees-toddler-alcohol,0,4921448.story

How many Margarita's do your kids need?

April Fools was fun

Thank you to the ShopSavvy team for keeping April 1st a fun day of the year and allowing me to be a co-conspirator.

If you don't have or use ShopSavvy, well you should to save money today.
http://shopsavvy.mobi/

April Fools was fun

GreyScale is the Best New Smartphone app for singles

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:    Scott Baradell   

(972) 235-3439       
sbaradell@ideagrove.com   

GreyScale Reinvents Loneliness

Startup Raises $41 to Celebrate Isolation and Withdrawal

in a World That's Just Not That Interesting

DALLAS, April 1, 2011 — Introduced today, GreyScale™ is a miraculous, free application for iPhone and Android that allows people who spend most of their time alone to capture and have real-time access to monochromatic photos and videos of themselves -- created by themselves, for themselves.  GreyScale is the best way to experience life's everyday moments without having to share them with people you barely know and could care less about – or anyone else, for that matter.

"GreyScale is the most advanced and intuitive way to enjoy your smartphone, even if you don't have many friends and rarely get out of the house," said Alexander Muse, GreyScale's CEO.  "While some high-profile apps, such at the recently announced Color, encourage users to share everything with everybody, we find this very annoying.  We are happiest when we don't have to pretend to lead exciting lives, since most people today actually lead lives of isolation and withdrawal."  

"Let's face it: it's not just losers who are alone a lot – it's most of us.  And most of us don't look that great in color, either," Muse added. "That's why we like to say that GreyScale is 'Color for the rest of us.'"

"Just as the iPhone changed everything about mobile phones, so GreyScale will transform the way people work and play with themselves," said Jeff Clavier, Founder and Managing Partner, SoftTech VC.  "Once or twice a decade a company emerges from Silicon Valley that can change everything. While not actually based in Silicon Valley, GreyScale is one of those companies."  

GreyScale has raised $41 in financing from an all-star cast of angel investors including Jeff Clavier, Mark Cuban, Dave McClure, David Cohen, Jay Adelson, Gabriella Draney and Aaron Patzer.  Proceeds will be used to develop GreyScale's pioneering technology and provide service on a global scale, particularly in Eastern Europe, where it is expected to be huge.

GreyScale is a Visual Diary

Every photo and video captured using GreyScale is stored on the Web for immediate enjoyment.  Capture every experience without worrying about using up memory; GreyScale has infinite capacity to capture even the most mundane moments of the most monotonous lives.  Each day is monochromatically displayed as a series of thumbnail images.  Tap on any image to go back to the day when it was originally captured for full contextual information.  You can see all your visits to the bathroom, living room couch or mailbox during the past day, week or month. Looking back has never been so detailed, easy or unsparingly honest.

Availability and Pricing

GreyScale is available from various places arguing over who owns the name "App Store." It is free to download and use.

About GreyScale

GreyScale is advancing the Post-VC revolution by inventing new applications for about $41 each. Founded and led by a team of no-name engineers and entrepreneurs, GreyScale is based in Dallas but conveniently located in the area code of Palo Alto, California. To learn more about GreyScale, please visit http://www.shopsavvy.mobi.

Links to Graphics:

GreyScale Logo: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/109866/GreyScale/GreyScale%20Logo.jpg

Icon: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/109866/GreyScale/Icon.png

Website Screenshot: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/109866/GreyScale/Website-Screenshot.png

iPhone Screenshot 1: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/109866/GreyScale/iPhone-Screenshot1.png

iPhone Screenshot 2: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/109866/GreyScale/iPhone-Screenshot2.png

Android Screenshot: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/109866/GreyScale/Android-Screenshot1.png

###

GreyScale is the Best New Smartphone app for singles

My biggest mistake

My biggest mistake in parenting, actually with everything in my life, has been to allow others to influence my decisions.  Listening to the professionals on parenting, reading the latest parenting book, or just old school advice can never address one important fact.  None of the sources know my children.  The few times that I've allowed this parenting system to dictate my decision has either met with failure or just created another problem.  I'm slow sometimes, but I now know why I hate parenting "professionals".

If you know your children, you ought to be able to listen to your instincts to make the right decisions.

My biggest mistake

This is completely gay!

From the title of this post I'm guessing the Department of Education (DOE) would be none too happy if I were a school principal.  I really am unable to express enough as to just how "retarded" this most recent move is by the DOE.  At a time when many are agreeing the Department of Education is a failed experiment implemented by Jimmy Carter and should be abolished.  The DOE is telling schools that they need to monitor children's lunchtime conversations, texts, as well as facebook posts.  Failure to do so could land your local school principal in hot water, including lawsuits, re-education (is this a camp?) for the students/family/school staff of offenders. 

What exactly is deemed offensive by the way?  Really, everything we say or do is bound to offend someone. 


You just have to read more about this: http://dailycaller.com/2011/03/16/fed-instructs-teachers-to-facebook-creep-students/

This is completely gay!

Quotes

"If money can buy it, then it's not really important."

"If money can fix it, then it's not really a problem."

Authors unknown.

Quotes

Politics in my kids school

I'm stunned that my children's school and local school district are using their platform to push a political agenda.  I'm receiving letters in my children's folder, posts on my kids school website, emails from the PTO, and verbal confrontations.   Funny that none of the voices are asking me what I think, but rather a shrill voice advocating their solution is filling my ears.  Rather loudly and frequently I might add.  This group is highly organized and extremely well funded, but who are they?

After some digging I found the part of the master behind the curtain, here we go:
http://savetxschools.org/  (This is the lead for the campaign partnered with school districts and teacher's unions)
http://www.austinvoices.org/  (This is the group that founded and heads the board for Save TX Schools, oh look they are "community organizers" promoting "social justice".  Hmmm, who else was promoting community organizers and social justice.....oh yeah the progressive liberal party).

Their solution:

• Use the $9.3 billion Texas "Rainy Day" Fund to support schools. (So if we use the rainy day fund, what do we do next year? If you haven't noticed this economy is not exactly getting better.)
  
• Sign the paperwork for $830 Million in federal aid for teachers. (We need to get the federal government out of education and if we accept this money the feds will control it all)
  
• Fix school funding laws to be fair to all districts and to our state's growing student population (What does this even mean?)
  

I hope and pray that parents take a step back and think about this situation.  Cuts are going to come with our struggling economy, but is this the answer?  I don't think so and instead of contacting your state rep with the suggested form letter from these biased organizations, how about send a letter of support to your state rep and suggest "your idea".

Politics in my kids school

The Good The Bad The Ugly in Eduction

A couple of stories relating to our education system caught my eye and conjured the thought of a Clint Eastwood movie.

First, "The Good": Teaching outside the box with impressive results
http://www.good.is/post/big-ideas-from-ted-2011-letting-students-drive-their-education/

Second, "The Bad": Union Teachers refuse to work 25 extra minutes
http://www.businessinsider.com/henry-blodget-unionized-rhode-island-teachers-refuse-to-work-25-minutes-more-per-day-so-town-fires-all-of-them-2010-2

Lastly, "The Ugly": Northwestern holds sex toy demonstration classes
http://yourlife.usatoday.com/sex-relationships/story/2011/03/Northwestern-defends-sex-toy-demonstration/44463138/1

The Good The Bad The Ugly in Eduction

Is this the beginning of the nightmare of public schools?

My son recently came home with an assignment about American Presidents.  In the assignment he was told to pick one president, of which he picked George Washington.  Furthermore the instructions stated the students can only use the 3 approved websites to acquire their information on the selected President.  One of the questions asked was to list which political party the selected President belonged to.  Ok and good assignment so far.  Then things went a little off, according to the site below George Washington was part of the Federalist party.  Really?  The same President who warned against having political parties in his Presidential farewell address as well as reaffirmed his status as independent was now magically through history assigned to the Federalist party? 

I know it may seem minor, but the truth is worth pursuing.  Now who do I contact about this?

http://www.ipl.org/div/potus/gwashington.html

Is this the beginning of the nightmare of public schools?