No, sorry, they aren’t having an excess of fun with it. Instead, many schools have banned it because it “includes religious elements, the cult of death, the mockery of death.”

I can’t decide if it’s funny or sad that they take it so seriously. I mean I know some people in the United States would also love to see Halloween banned, due to various historical meanings, but I’ve never understood the arguements completely.

After all, if you don’t celebrate Halloween due to its Pagan origens, shouldn’t you do the same to Christmas? Lots of Pagan symbolism used there too.

I’ve had people get mad at me for asking that question.

The concerns in Russia also relate to moral and spiritual issues. I don’t know many people who are interested in the spiritual or moral side of Halloween. Most people want to dress up in ways they won’t the rest of the year and get candy. That goes double for kids. And since they’re talking about school parties, that’s relevant.
Even the more adult parties aren’t about the spiritual side. One might argue about moral issues, but that is more likely relevant to individual behaviors that may or may not be present the rest of the year.

I hope my kids have lots of Halloween fun tonight.

Technorati Tags: Russia, halloween

Eep. No, it is not too soon to start thinking about Christmas. After all, it’s almost Halloween. Get with the program.

As a general geek, there are some things I find nearly irresistable when it comes to Christmas shopping. Some things would have general appeal, while others are strictly for geeks.

The 15″ Gigantor Digital Photo Frame, for example. I would think a lot of people would enjoy being better able to display their photos. 15″ may be a little large for some purposes, but there are smaller digital photo frames available.

I couls also picture myself enjoying a Palmsize R/C Helicopter, making it zoom around and driving people nuts. Size matters at times, and smaller can be better… or at least more annoying when you fly it around the house or office.

These Bi-Color LED Blow On-Off Candles I really adore. A really cool idea for candles. Blow on, blow off. Potentially romantic, yet geeky, yet no worries about fire.

The Soldius 1 Solar Charger appeals to the greener geek in me. I don’t have much that would need one, but given my habit of forgetting to charge my cell phone, it could be really, really useful. Unfortunately, my cell phone isn’t on the list, so I’d have to check the specifications pretty carefully.

I bought one of the Fuze Necklaces for my sister for her birthday. She loves it.

I like the Flying Alarm Clock, but not for its usual use. Oh no. I’d much rather try to sneak it into someone room and have it set for just a minute or two before their regular alarm clock goes off. Is that wrong of me?

Then there’s my more practical side, which says that if you’re going to use a laptop and an Internet hot spot, you need a good firewall. The Yoggie Gatekeeper Pro meets that notion nicely. It’s a hardware firewall that connects to the laptop but doesn’t need to be plugged into the wall.

That’s the trouble with sites like ThinkGeek.com. I can shop at them all day. It’s much, much worse than heading out to the mall.

Technorati Tags: geek, geek gadgets, thinkgeek, christmas, christmas gift ideas

When I saw the headline on Discovery News talking about teen pregnancy in dinosaurs, I just had to read the story. Had to.

It really doesn’t surprise me that dinosaurs could get pregnant before they reached their full growth. That’s true of a lot of animals. Interesting that they could figure out that it happened, though.

Technorati Tags: dinsaur teen pregnancy, dinosaurs, science, paleontology

I spent Sunday - Wednesday evacuated from my home due to the fires in San Diego county. I’m one of the lucky ones, having been merely inconvenienced. My home didn’t burn; no one in my family was hurt and we think we all still have our homes.

I took a few pictures, but I also found some on Flickr for this post. Since I wasn’t near to any of the active fires, I didn’t get any of the really dramatic shots.

1. Smoky sun - I took this picture the first day of the fires:
   
2. Ash under the door - We didn’t get too much ash fall here, but clearly there was enough that it came in under the door.
   
3. Fire map 1: Includes much of the Witch Fire
   
4. Fire Map 2 - Potrero fire area
   
5. Fires by satellite - Photo by theritters
   
6. Downtown San Diego covered in smoke - Photo by theritters
   
7. Harris Fire - Photo by sarah.c
   
8. Ashes on a car - Photo by tinyfroglet. This is how my mother’s house was hit by ashes in the 2003 fires. So far we haven’t had it that bad here yet this time.
   
9. Fire truck - Photo by Miro-Foto
   
10. Back yard on fire - Photo by Miro-Foto
    
11. Flag and sun in smoke - Photo by djloche
    
12. Fire over hills - Photo by selynne
    
13. Hillside on fire - Photo by Miro-Foto
    

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There’s a lot of information online about how to handle various skin problems, such as acne and warts. And you just have to wonder if they really work. There are titles like Acne Free In 3 Days, Mole, Wart & Skin Tag Free In 3 Days and the Skin Lightening Report.

I think of the three ebooks there, the one I understand least is the skin lightening one. I speak as a woman with plenty of freckles. Is it really so necessary to be rid of them?

Wart, mole and acne removal I definitely get. My grandfather had acne so bad he hadn’t wanted to have kids at first, for fear they would get it badly too. Obviously he changed his mind, but things like that can be really uncomfortable to deal with, on both a personal and a social level.

A lot of books love the 3 day solution. It’s a time frame people understand, I suppose, and so long as results start to appear people are going to feel good about it even if the job isn’t quite done. If it’s long enough to see progress, that’s pretty good.
Of course, assuming that these solutions work, they’re a lot cheaper than going to the doctor, and less painful when it comes to the things that have to be surgically removed.

It’s something I’ll consider if I get another out of control batch of acne. Doesn’t happen often at my age, but maybe every several years something gets a little resistant to the usual treatments.

Technorati Tags: skin care, ebooks, home remedies

Well, probably not. Most people really aren’t going to put in Lab Furniture in their homes, whether you look at the basement or garage.

Really the furniture brings me back to high school and college lab courses. Much better looking, though. And the Design Your Workbench feature is a lot of fun. But frankly a lot of them look like they could be very functional as heavy use computer desks. They have setups for multiple monitors.

The workbenches are for all kinds of work. They have drafting tables as well as the other kinds of workbenches.