halloween

[Guest guest]

>

>good morning all,

just wondering what you all do for Halloween? Do you have trick/treaters come

to

your house? What do you give them? The usual sugary unhealthy stuff,

healthy vegan treats?

We usually do not have trick or treaters come to our house. And we usually go

to

bed early, so I just turn off all the lights in the house and no one comes by!

[Guest guest]

we don't exaclty live in a umm..good part of town. the only trick or treaters are

A. little pre schoolers and there parents going around like at 4-5pm, before the sun goes down

B. the older "kids...like 15 yr olds, who don't dress up and just want free stuff....

for A. group, i usually wasn't home from work yet or the like to catch them.

and for B...they would get "so, where's your costume?"

its generally a moot point anyways, so rarely home on halloween. and besides, my abode is behind another home. hard to see and get to.

a lot of folks go to shopping districts and trick or treat at businesses and storefronts. i would have been absolutely horrified and mortified to do such a thing as a wee fraggle. it was all about going out as soon as it got dark and going as far as possible. it was also a great excuse to get beyond certain "night time restrictions" like being in bed by 10pm...

PETA lists all the commercial candies and assorted crap which happen to be vegan (tho i wonder where they lower the bar to? i mean, how do they know if the sugar came from a vegan source?)

fraggle

damselfly Sep 29, 2009 12:18 PM halloween

 

 

 

>>good morning all,just wondering what you all do for Halloween? Do you have trick/treaters come toyour house? What do you give them? The usual sugary unhealthy stuff,healthy vegan treats?We usually do not have trick or treaters come to our house. And we usually go tobed early, so I just turn off all the lights in the house and no one comes by!

 

 

 

 

 

And everyone got excited about the technology. And I guess it was pretty incredible watching a missile fly down an air-vent. Pretty unbeliveable. But couldn't we feasibly use that same technology to shoot food at hungry people? You know what I mean? Fly over Ethiopia, "There's a guy that needs a banana.Shooooooooooooom"

the Stealth Banana

Smart Fruit!

 

Bill Hicks

[Guest guest]



We never get any here - too far out - between two small villages.

 

We do celebrate as Samhain though, going to open rituals, and meeting friend.

 

Jo

 

-

fraggle

Tuesday, September 29, 2009 7:22 PM

Re: halloween

 

we don't exaclty live in a umm..good part of town. the only trick or treaters are

A. little pre schoolers and there parents going around like at 4-5pm, before the sun goes down

B. the older "kids...like 15 yr olds, who don't dress up and just want free stuff....

for A. group, i usually wasn't home from work yet or the like to catch them.

and for B...they would get "so, where's your costume?"

its generally a moot point anyways, so rarely home on halloween. and besides, my abode is behind another home. hard to see and get to.

a lot of folks go to shopping districts and trick or treat at businesses and storefronts. i would have been absolutely horrified and mortified to do such a thing as a wee fraggle. it was all about going out as soon as it got dark and going as far as possible. it was also a great excuse to get beyond certain "night time restrictions" like being in bed by 10pm...

PETA lists all the commercial candies and assorted crap which happen to be vegan (tho i wonder where they lower the bar to? i mean, how do they know if the sugar came from a vegan source?)

fraggle

damselfly (AT) mosquitonet (DOT) com Sep 29, 2009 12:18 PM halloween

 

 

 

>>good morning all,just wondering what you all do for Halloween? Do you have trick/treaters come toyour house? What do you give them? The usual sugary unhealthy stuff,healthy vegan treats?We usually do not have trick or treaters come to our house. And we usually go tobed early, so I just turn off all the lights in the house and no one comes by!

 

And everyone got excited about the technology. And I guess it was pretty incredible watching a missile fly down an air-vent. Pretty unbeliveable. But couldn't we feasibly use that same technology to shoot food at hungry people? You know what I mean? Fly over Ethiopia, "There's a guy that needs a banana.Shooooooooooooom"

the Stealth Banana

Smart Fruit!

Bill Hicks

[Guest guest]

At 8:18 AM -0800 9/29/09, damselfly wrote:

>just wondering what you all do for Halloween? Do you have trick/treaters come

>to your house? What do you give them? The usual sugary unhealthy stuff,

>healthy vegan treats?

>We usually do not have trick or treaters come to our house. And we usually go

>to bed early, so I just turn off all the lights in the house and no

>one comes by!

>

 

I don't have trick or treaters, but in the 60s and 70s, my mother

used to give away small apples, packaged peanut butter cheese

crackers, or pennies. She hated buying junk, and although I do recall

collecting candy on halloween and probably eating it, I don't recall

eating much candy because we didn't have it around the house. Given a

choice, I've always preferred carrots and fruit.

 

It's no longer " safe " to give away apples, though. I think sometime

in the 70s, someone put razor blades or pins in apples (or was that

an urban myth?). So since then, only packaged junk has been de

rigueur. It would be a fun tradition if it were possible to give away

homemade vegan treats. Probably it depends on your neighborhood and

whether you know the children.

[Guest guest]

I live in an apartment complex and there aren't many kids so nobody does

trick or treat.

Judy

 

 

On

just wondering what you all do for Halloween?

[Guest guest]

the apples and razor blades and posion candies are what you could call a "semi" urban legend

back in the 60's, pple told stories of pins and needles, razor blades and assorted nastiness in candy and apples handed out on halloween. the old man who hated kids, the crazy person who wanted to hurt someone, etc and so forth. for the record, most of them were hoaxes. researchers looking into it could never seem to find a true incident of it occuring. if they did find an "actual" occurance, it turned out to have occured after the fact. ie: kid heard tales of pins and razors, kid put pin into apple, ran to show parents.....another case i heard of was a kid ingesting a family member's drugs, and blaming it on the halloween candy

there was at least one real case back in the 70's. but, again this was after the fact. a father fed his child poisoned hallween candy.

things went nutty in the early 80's, when the whole tylenol scare happened. i remember seeing news stories about the dangers of this and that, and hospitals offering free x-rays of candy. AFAIK, no hospital ever found anything....

is it possible that it could happen? anythings possible. personally i think its the general "fear of strangers" that pervades this country nowadays that is fueling the fears.

 

yarrow Sep 29, 2009 3:00 PM Re: halloween

 

 

 

At 8:18 AM -0800 9/29/09, damselfly (AT) mosquitonet (DOT) com wrote:>just wondering what you all do for Halloween? Do you have trick/treaters come>to your house? What do you give them? The usual sugary unhealthy stuff,>healthy vegan treats?>We usually do not have trick or treaters come to our house. And we usually go>to bed early, so I just turn off all the lights in the house and no >one comes by!>I don't have trick or treaters, but in the 60s and 70s, my mother used to give away small apples, packaged peanut butter cheese crackers, or pennies. She hated buying junk, and although I do recall collecting candy on halloween and probably eating it, I don't recall eating much candy because we didn't have it around the house. Given a choice, I've always preferred carrots and fruit.It's no longer "safe" to give away apples, though. I think sometime in the 70s, someone put razor blades or pins in apples (or was that an urban myth?). So since then, only packaged junk has been de rigueur. It would be a fun tradition if it were possible to give away homemade vegan treats. Probably it depends on your neighborhood and whether you know the children.

 

 

 

 

 

And everyone got excited about the technology. And I guess it was pretty incredible watching a missile fly down an air-vent. Pretty unbeliveable. But couldn't we feasibly use that same technology to shoot food at hungry people? You know what I mean? Fly over Ethiopia, "There's a guy that needs a banana.Shooooooooooooom"

the Stealth Banana

Smart Fruit!

 

Bill Hicks

[Guest guest]

i also seem to recall that the few times i got fruit, my father took it away as well. he used it for bait or something...(my father happened to be a trapper.....)

sure..sugar laden snicker's bars are fine..real fruit, oh no, thats bad....

strange world we live in....

yarrow Sep 29, 2009 3:00 PM Re: halloween

 

 

 

At 8:18 AM -0800 9/29/09, damselfly (AT) mosquitonet (DOT) com wrote:>just wondering what you all do for Halloween? Do you have trick/treaters come>to your house? What do you give them? The usual sugary unhealthy stuff,>healthy vegan treats?>We usually do not have trick or treaters come to our house. And we usually go>to bed early, so I just turn off all the lights in the house and no >one comes by!>I don't have trick or treaters, but in the 60s and 70s, my mother used to give away small apples, packaged peanut butter cheese crackers, or pennies. She hated buying junk, and although I do recall collecting candy on halloween and probably eating it, I don't recall eating much candy because we didn't have it around the house. Given a choice, I've always preferred carrots and fruit.It's no longer "safe" to give away apples, though. I think sometime in the 70s, someone put razor blades or pins in apples (or was that an urban myth?). So since then, only packaged junk has been de rigueur. It would be a fun tradition if it were possible to give away homemade vegan treats. Probably it depends on your neighborhood and whether you know the children.

 

 

 

 

 

And everyone got excited about the technology. And I guess it was pretty incredible watching a missile fly down an air-vent. Pretty unbeliveable. But couldn't we feasibly use that same technology to shoot food at hungry people? You know what I mean? Fly over Ethiopia, "There's a guy that needs a banana.Shooooooooooooom"

the Stealth Banana

Smart Fruit!

 

Bill Hicks

[Guest guest]

Poisoned candy scare

 

 

The poisoned candy scare was a moral panic in the United States during the 1970s and 1980s regarding the threat that children could be in danger of ingesting razor blades, needles, or poison introduced to candy by tampering, especially during traditional Halloween trick-or-treating. Apart from one incident—actually an act of premeditated murder by a trick-or-treater's father—there have been no recorded incidents of deliberately poisoned candy during Halloween or any similar occasion.[1]

 

 

 

 

 

 

Origins of candy tampering

Although the origin of the candy tampering myth is uncertain, there are two events in particular that no doubt played a large role in how the crisis was shaped within the public's mind.

The first event took place in 1964, where an annoyed New York housewife started giving out packages of inedible objects to children whom she believed were too old to be trick-or-treating. The packages contained items such as steel wool, dog biscuits, and ant buttons (which were clearly labeled with the word â€poisonâ€). Though nobody was injured, she was prosecuted and pleaded guilty to endangering children.

The second milestone in the spread of the candy tampering myths was an article published in the New York Times in 1970. This article claimed that "Those Halloween goodies that children collect this weekend on their rounds of ‘trick or treating’ may bring them more horror than happiness." (28 Oct 1970, p. 56). The article then went on to give specific examples of potential tamperings.

In 2008, candy was found with metal shavings and metal blades embedded in it. The candy was Pokémon Valentine's Day lollipops purchased from a Dollar General store in Polk County, Florida. The candy was determined to have been manufactured in China and not tampered with in the United States. The lollipops were pulled from the shelves after both a mother reported a blade in her child's lollipop and several more lollipops with metal shavings in them were confiscated from a local elementary school.[2]

Canada

In 2008, some cold medicine was discovered in cases of Smarties where the candies are handed out to the children.[3]

Contemporary legends and reality

Over the years various experts have tried to debunk the various candy tampering stories. Among this group is Joel Best, a University of Delaware sociologist who specializes in candy tampering. In his studies he researched newspapers from 1958 on in search of candy tampering. Of these stories fewer than 90 instances might have qualified.

Upon closer examination nearly all of these claims were false or hoaxes created by the child. Within the reports of candy tampering Best has only found five child deaths that were initially thought to be caused by homicidal strangers.

In 1970, a 5-year-old boy, Kevin Tosten, from the Detroit area, died after eating his uncle's hidden heroin stash. The family tried to protect the uncle by creating a story about drugs being found in the child's Halloween candy.

In a 1974 case, an 8-year-old boy from Pasadena, Texas died after eating a cyanide-laced package of Pixy Stix. A subsequent police investigation eventually determined that the poisoned candy had been planted in his trick-or-treat pile by the boy's father, who also gave out poisoned candy to other children in an attempt to cover up the murder. The murderer, who had wanted to claim life insurance money, was executed in 1984.[4]

Media and the myth

Despite the falseness of these claims the news media promoted the story continuously throughout the 1980s, with local news stations featuring frequent coverage. During this time cases of poisoning were repeatedly reported based on unsubstantiated claims or before a full investigation could be completed and often never followed up on. This one sided coverage contributed to the overall panic and caused rival media outlets to issue reports of candy tampering as well.

By 1985, the media had driven the hysteria about candy poisonings to such a point that an ABC News/Washington Post poll that found 60% of parents feared that their children would be injured or killed because of Halloween candy sabotage.

Advice columnists entered the fray during the 1980s and 1990s with both Ann Landers and Dear Abby warning parents of the horrors of candy tampering.

 

"In recent years, there have been reports of people with twisted minds putting razor blades and poison in taffy apples and Halloween candy. It is no longer safe to let your child eat treats that come from strangers." –Ann Landers

 

"Somebody's child will become violently ill or die after eating poisoned candy or an apple containing a razor blade." –Dear Abby

As recently as 2004, fire departments and hospitals have encouraged parents to bring their Halloween candy to be x-rayed or scanned by metal detectors for inserted razors or needles.[5]

This collective fear also served as the impetus for the "safe" trick-or-treating offered by many local malls

References

 

 

^ "Halloween Poisonings". snopes.com. http://www.snopes.com/horrors/poison/halloween.asp. Retrieved 2009-07-16. ^ "Metal-Filled Lollipops Seized By Deputies At Elementary School - Orlando News Story - WKMG Orlando". Local6.com. 2008-02-14. http://www.local6.com/news/15304726/detail.html. Retrieved 2009-07-16. ^ "Cold medication discovered in Halloween candy". CBC. 2008-11-07. http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2008/11/07/smarties-tainted.html. Retrieved 2008-11-08. ^ Taxas Department of Criminal Justice and Ronald Clark O'Bryan

 

And everyone got excited about the technology. And I guess it was pretty incredible watching a missile fly down an air-vent. Pretty unbeliveable. But couldn't we feasibly use that same technology to shoot food at hungry people? You know what I mean? Fly over Ethiopia, "There's a guy that needs a banana.Shooooooooooooom"

the Stealth Banana

Smart Fruit!

 

Bill Hicks

[Guest guest]

No one does it where I live either because I live in a mobile home park with age limits.Patricia--- On Tue, 9/29/09, Judy Goldsmith <judyjtg wrote:Judy Goldsmith <judyjtgRE: halloween Date: Tuesday, September 29, 2009, 12:33 PMI live in an apartment complex and there aren't many kids so nobody doestrick or treat.Judy On just wondering what you all do for Halloween? ---To send an email to -! Groups Links<*> /<*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional<*> To change settings online go to: /join ( ID

required)<*> To change settings via email: -digest -fullfeatured <*>

[Guest guest]

At 4:30 PM -0400 9/29/09, fraggle wrote:

The poisoned candy scare was a moral panic in the

United States

during the 1970s and 1980s regarding the threat that children could be

in danger of ingesting razor blades, needles, or poison introduced to

candy by tampering, especially during traditional Halloween trick-or-treating. Apart from one incident-actually an act of

premeditated murder by a trick-or-treater's father-there have been

no recorded incidents of deliberately poisoned candy during Halloween

or any similar occasion....

>>

 

 

Wow! I'd suspected it was media hype. Just goes to show, the

people most likely to do you in are the people you see every day (bwa

ha ha). But ya know, it makes me suspicious about the source of those

urban legends. Which corporations were the biggest candymakers in the

70s? Hmmm...given what we've learned about the coverups and truly evil

goings-on in many " it's all about profit no matter what "

industries, including the nicotine pushers, the nuke power utilities,

the energy traders, etc., I wonder if the sugar pushers were trying to

increase market share. Or the packaging industry.

 

And my other thought is this: so you really *can* depend on the

kindness of strangers [doing pollyanna dance, singing " all

sweetness and light " ditties].

[Guest guest]

The apple thing was an urban legend.Patricia--- On Tue, 9/29/09, yarrow <yarrow wrote:yarrow <yarrowRe: halloween Date: Tuesday, September 29, 2009, 12:00 PMAt 8:18 AM -0800 9/29/09, damselfly wrote:>just wondering what you all do for Halloween? Do you have trick/treaters come>to your house? What do you give them? The usual sugary unhealthy stuff,>healthy vegan

treats?>We usually do not have trick or treaters come to our house. And we usually go>to bed early, so I just turn off all the lights in the house and no >one comes by!>I don't have trick or treaters, but in the 60s and 70s, my mother used to give away small apples, packaged peanut butter cheese crackers, or pennies. She hated buying junk, and although I do recall collecting candy on halloween and probably eating it, I don't recall eating much candy because we didn't have it around the house. Given a choice, I've always preferred carrots and fruit.It's no longer "safe" to give away apples, though. I think sometime in the 70s, someone put razor blades or pins in apples (or was that an urban myth?). So since then, only packaged junk has been de rigueur. It would be a fun tradition if it were possible to give away homemade vegan treats. Probably it depends on your

neighborhood and whether you know the children.---To send an email to -! Groups Links<*> /<*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional<*> To change settings online go to: /join ( ID required)<*> To change settings via email: -digest -fullfeatured <*>

[Guest guest]

I close my garage door, put my dog in the house, turn out the lights and pretend to not be home. My grandson goes trick or treating with his father, somewhere far away from my neighborhood. He takes the most part of the year to eat his candy, as I distribute it quite sparingly to him. Years ago I would buy a bunch of candy (before I was as socially-conscious) put it in a big bowl and set it out side. When the bowl was empty (usually very fast) I would collect the bowl if it was still there, and proceed to close up shop. I know--I'm just no fun!

In this world

Hate never yet dispelled hate

Only love dispells hate.

This is the law,

Ancient and inexhaustible.

-- the Dhammapada

[Guest guest]

My husband and I used to pretend we weren't home. Actually, it was my idea and he thought I was mean.Patricia--- On Wed, 9/30/09, Randall Rice <broezekiel2 wrote:Randall Rice <broezekiel2 Re: halloween Date: Wednesday, September 30, 2009, 7:00 AM

 

I close my garage door, put my dog in the house, turn out the lights and pretend to not be home. My grandson goes trick or treating with his father, somewhere far away from my neighborhood. He takes the most part of the year to eat his candy, as I distribute it quite sparingly to him. Years ago I would buy a bunch of candy (before I was as socially-conscious) put it in a big bowl and set it out side. When the bowl was empty (usually very fast) I would collect the bowl if it was still there, and proceed to close up shop. I know--I'm just no fun!

In this world

Hate never yet dispelled hate

Only love dispells hate.

This is the law,

Ancient and inexhaustible.

-- the Dhammapada