Month: October 2016

WHAT’S UP WITH THE JACK-O’-LANTERN? A young man, Blake Lott posted on Facebook “When and why did it become a social tradition for people to sit around a table and carve spooky vegetables together? 🎃 👻 Did you know the original jack o’ lantern was actually a turnip ”     “”

THE LEGEND OF “STINGY JACK”People have been making jack-o’-lanterns at Halloween for centuries. The practice originated from an Irish myth about a man nicknamed “Stingy Jack.” According to the story, Stingy Jack invited the Devil to have a drink with him. True to his name, Stingy Jack didn’t want to pay for his drink, so he convinced the Devil to turn himself into a coin that Jack could use to buy their drinks. Once the Devil did so, Jack decided to keep the money and put it into his pocket next to a silver cross, which prevented the Devil from changing back into his original form. Jack eventually freed the Devil, under the condition that he would not bother Jack for one year and that, should Jack die, he would not claim his soul. The next year, Jack again tricked the Devil into climbing into a tree to pick a piece of fruit. While he was up in the tree, Jack carved a sign of the cross into the tree’s bark so that the Devil could not come down until the Devil promised Jack not to bother him for ten more years.Did You Know?The original jack-o’-lanterns were carved from turnips, potatoes or beets.Soon after, Jack died. As the legend goes, God would not allow such an unsavory figure into heaven. The Devil, upset by the trick Jack had played on him and keeping his word not to claim his soul, would not allow Jack into hell. He sent Jack off into the dark night with only a burning coal to light his way. Jack put the coal into a carved-out turnip and has been roaming the Earth with ever since. The Irish began to refer to this ghostly figure as “Jack of the Lantern,” and then, simply “Jack O’Lantern.”In Ireland and Scotland, people began to make their own versions of Jack’s lanterns by carving scary faces into turnips or potatoes and placing them into windows or near doors to frighten away Stingy Jack and other wandering evil spirits. In England, large beets are used. Immigrants from these countries brought the jack o’lantern tradition with them when they came to the United States. They soon found that pumpkins, a fruit native to America, make perfect jack-o’-lanterns.

• Author
  History.com Staff
• Website Name
  History.com
• Year Published
  2009
• Title
  History of the Jack O’ Lantern
• URL
  http://www.history.com/topics/halloween/jack-olantern-history

 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Halloween&oldid=745513786 
This article is about the observance. For other uses, see Halloween (disambiguation).

“All Hallows’ Eve” redirects here. For other uses, see All Hallows’ Eve (disambiguation). 

HalloweenHalloween, or Hallowe’en (a contraction of All Hallows’ Evening),[5] also known as Allhalloween,[6] All Hallows’ Eve,[7] or All Saints’ Eve,[8] is a celebration observed in a number of countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Hallows’ Day. It begins the three-day observance of Allhallowtide,[9] the time in the liturgical year dedicated to remembering the dead, including saints (hallows), martyrs, and all the faithful departed.[10][11]
It is widely believed that many Halloween traditions originated from Celtic harvest festivals which may have pagan roots, particularly the Gaelic festival Samhain, and that this festival was Christianized as Halloween.[1][7][12][13][14][15] Some academics, however, support the view that Halloween began independently as a solely Christian holiday.[1][16][17][18][19]
Halloween activities include trick-or-treating (or the related guising), attending Halloween costume parties, decorating, carving pumpkins into jack-o’-lanterns, lighting bonfires, apple bobbing and divination games, playing pranks, visiting haunted attractions, telling scary stories and watching horror films. In many parts of the world, the Christian religious observances of All Hallows’ Eve, including attending church services and lighting candles on the graves of the dead, remain popular,[20][21][22] although elsewhere it is a more commercial and secular celebration.[23][24][25] Some Christians historically abstained from meat on All Hallows’ Eve,[26][27] a tradition reflected in the eating of certain foods on this vigil day, including apples, potato pancakes and soul cakes.[27][28][29]

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I thought it would be interesting to find out more about Trick or Treating tradition’s history too. Why not? Here is an article from Smithsonian.com (link below article)

 It’s almost that time of year when underaged kids get into costume and traipse around the neighborhood ringing doorbells and begging for treats. When you think about it, trick or treating is kind of a weird thing. Where did it come from anyway?

Today I Found Out discovered that the practice began with the Celtic tradition of celebrating the end of the year by dressing up as evil spirits. The Celts believed that, as we moved from one year to the next, the dead and the living would overlap, and demons would roam the earth again. So dressing up as demons was a defense mechanism. If you encountered a real demon roaming the Earth, they would think you were one of them.Fast forward to when the Catholic Church was stealing everybody’s holidays and trying to convert them. They turned the demon dress-up party into “All Hallows Eve,” “All Soul’s Day,” and “All Saints Day” and had people dress up as saints, angels and still a few demons. Today I Found Out writes:

As for the trick or treating, or “guising” (from “disguising”), traditions, beginning in the Middle-Ages, children and sometimes poor adults would dress up in the aforementioned costumes and go around door to door during Hallowmas begging for food or money in exchange for songs and prayers, often said on behalf of the dead.  This was called “souling” and the children were called “soulers”.You might think that this practice then simply migrated along with Europeans to the United States. But trick or treating didn’t re-emerge until the 1920s and 1930s. It paused for a bit during World War II because of sugar rations, and it’s now back in full force.The term “trick or treat” dates back to 1927. Today I Found Out explains:The earliest known reference to “trick or treat”, printed in the November 4, 1927 edition of the Blackie, Alberta Canada Herald, talks of this,Hallowe’en provided an opportunity for real strenuous fun. No real damage was done except to the temper of some who had to hunt for wagon wheels, gates, wagons, barrels, etc., much of which decorated the front street. The youthful tormentors were at back door and front demanding edible plunder by the word “trick or treat” to which the inmates gladly responded and sent the robbers away rejoicing.The British hate Halloween, apparently. In 2006, a survey found that over half of British homeowners turn off their lights and pretend not to be home on Halloween. Yet another reason by the United States is happy to be free from British rule. No funs.

Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/the-history-of-trick-or-treating-is-weirder-than-you-thought-79408373/#vWJK4Mu5ro0d2pUI.99

Give the gift of Smithsonian magazine for only $12! http://bit.ly/1cGUiGv

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All in all, Halloween is on its way, whether you carve the Jack-O-Lantern, Trick or Treat. You can choose to participate or not. I find it interesting to read the history and how these traditions have come about. However you decide is fine with me. I am 67 years old and I have never felt an evil feeling about Halloween and over the years my husband and I have enjoyed the small children coming to our door with their little costumes yelling Trick or Treat. May your holidays be bright and cheery.

(C) Copyright 2012-2016 Arline L Miller with all rights and privileges reserved. All third party material sourced to original location for credit.

Jun 1, 2015 Lisa Kadane  http://www.todaysparent.com

Photo: Lane Oatey/Blue Jean Images/Getty Images Illustration: iStockphoto

When Deborah Tetley is too busy to play with her four-year-old son, Jackson, he invites his friend Dylan over to play soccer or hockey. It works out well for Tetley because she still has only one child to supervise — Dylan is her son’s pretend friend.
Dylan is also a real-life friend of Jackson’s, but since he lives two hours away in Lethbridge, Alta., and they only see each other on summer camping trips, Jackson has to pretend play with him the rest of the year.
Tetley says she was taken aback the first time she saw her son high-fiving thin air. “I was a little startled. The constant question parents ask themselves is, ‘Is this normal?’” But Tetley can relate — when she was five she had an imaginary friend named Timmy who sat beside her at mealtimes.

Here are some more frequently asked questions about imaginary friends:

How common are imaginary friends?Having an imaginary companion is common in preschool and beyond. The pretend pal is often a personified object such as a teddy bear that can talk and play with a child; sometimes it’s an invisible friend like Dylan. According to a 2004 study by University of Washington and University of Oregon psychologists, by age seven, 65 percent of children have had an imaginary companion at some point. Research indicates eldest or only children, like Jackson, are more likely to invent imaginary friends.
Should parents be worried?“It’s not a cause for concern,” says Michael Dickinson, a Canadian Paediatric Society spokesperson and paediatrician in Miramichi, NB. “This can be a routine part of normal childhood development.”
Why do kids create imaginary friends?According to Kimberly Eckert, a registered psychologist in Calgary, children often create playmates just to engage in imaginative play (the way another child might play with action figures), but sometimes they do so when bored or lonely. An imaginary friend can also be used as a form of self-soothing during a big transition, such as adjusting to a new home or sibling. It’s a way for children to practice fledgling social skills in an environment where they’re in control.
Do children know it’s pretend?Creating and sustaining an imaginary friendship is a sophisticated cognitive skill, says Eckert. “Kids can separate what’s real life and what’s fantasy life. They know it’s pretend play,” she says.
When do imaginary friends go away? Imaginary companions usually disappear by the time kids head off to school, where pretend friends are less socially acceptable. If your child still has an imaginary friend by grade one or two, evaluate whether it’s preventing him from socializing normally, says Dickinson.
Tetley sees no harm in letting Jackson’s imaginary playdates continue until he grows out of the phase. “We have to let Jackson be who he is,” she says. “He’s just tapping into his imagination.”

A version of this article appeared in our July 2012 issue with the headline “Pretend friends,” pp. 52.

• 1
  :  the act or power of forming a mental image of something not present to the senses or never before wholly perceived in reality
  
• 2
  a :  creative ability
  b :  ability to confront and deal with a problem :  resourcefulness <use your imagination and get us out of here>
  c :  the thinking or active mind :  interest <stories that fired the imagination>
  
• 3
  a :  a creation of the mind; especially :  an idealized or poetic creation
  b :  fanciful or empty assumption

DAILY FEATURED BIBLE VERSE:

Ecclesiasticus 38:28

The smith also sitting by the anvil, and considering the iron work, the vapour of the fire wasteth his flesh, and he fighteth with the heat of the furnace: the noise of the hammer and the anvil is ever in his ears, and his eyes look still upon the pattern of the thing that he maketh; he setteth his mind to finish his work, and watcheth to polish it perfectly:

(c) copyright 2012-2016 Arline Lott Miller. The material here copyrighted, use only by permission. Third party material is referenced to original location for credit source.

Momentum, product of the mass of a particle and its velocity. Momentum is a vector quantity; i.e., it has both magnitude and direction. Isaac Newton’s second law of motion states that the time rate of change of momentum is equal to the force acting on the particle. See Newton’s laws of motion.
The momentum of any collection of particles is equal to the vector sum of the individual momenta. According to Newton’s third law, the particles exert equal and opposite forces on one another, so any change in the momentum of one particle is exactly balanced by an equal and opposite change of the momentum of another particle. Thus, in the absence of a net external force acting on a collection of particles, their total momentum never changes; this is the meaning of the law of conservation of momentum. See also conservation law; angular momentum.

From Newton’s second law it follows that, if a constant force acts on a particle for a given time, the product of force and the time interval (the impulse) is equal to the change in the momentum. Conversely, the momentum of a particle is a measure of the time required for a constant force to bring it to rest.

Now for the deeper thought…..How is our momentum when we are faced with challenges? Do we sink or stand taller in our faith, our work, our family and our friends? Warp speed is how we need to rise when things go wrong. We should welcome when it is us that others call when they are struggling to share our strength with them and most of all, with a smile and an open heart. God loves heroes, as He has set the example of The Greatest Hero of All!

THESE FOODS ARE SODIUM OVERLOADS

First, let’s see what excessive sodium results in our bodies:

Eighty-nine percent of adult Americans and more than 90% of children eat more than the recommended 2300 mg of sodium per day, according to results published in the January 8, 2016, issue of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
The study also showed that although people with hypertension may be trying to follow their physician’s advice to cut back on sodium, 86% of them still consume more than they should.
“During 2009–2012, despite some differences by age, sex, race/ethnicity, and hypertension status, the vast majority of Americans across all subpopulations exceeded recommendations for sodium intake,” write Sandra Jackson, PhD, from the Epidemic Intelligence Service, Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Atlanta, Georgia, and colleagues.
Research has long shown that decreasing sodium intake can help prevent hypertension and associated risk for cardiovascular disease. The 2015 to 2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend that people aged 14 years and older should eat less than 2300 mg of sodium per day, and that youth aged 2 to 13 years should eat even less than that.
In the study, CDC researchers used the nationally representative National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey to analyze data from 14,728 people for the years 2009 to 2012. Children’s sodium intake was assessed by proxy or assisted proxy.
Although results showed that the vast majority of Americans consume too much sodium, some groups consume more than others: Men consumed more sodium than women (98% vs 80%, respectively; P < .001), and adult whites consumed more than blacks (90% vs 85%; P = .02).
People aged 19 to 50 years had the highest sodium intake of all.
Among groups at high risk for cardiovascular disease, those older than 51 years, blacks, and adults with hypertension or prehypertension, three of four ate more than the recommended daily allowance of sodium.
Eighty-six percent of adults with hypertension ate more than the recommended amount of sodium per day compared with 91% of those with prehypertension (P < .001) and 90% of those without hypertension (P = .01).
The authors note that response and recall bias, as well as underreporting of foods and portion sizes, could have limited the study. In addition, estimates of sodium intake did not include salt added at the table or from dietary supplements such as antacids, which can make up 5% to 6% of sodium consumption.
The authors emphasize that heart disease still represents the top killer in the United States, and that these results indicate that American patterns of salt consumption have not changed much during the past decade.
They propose a “multifaceted” strategy to decrease Americans’ sodium consumption, including lifestyle adjustments and changes in food production. The latter may be particularly important because added sodium from commercial processing and preparation accounts for the main source of excess sodium in American diets, they point out. Echoing recommendations from the Institute of Medicine, they stress that restaurants and manufacturers should reduce added sodium in their foods.
Several public health initiatives are currently addressing the need to cut back on dietary sodium as a means of preventing cardiovascular disease. These projects include the CDC’s Sodium Reduction in Communities Program and the National Sodium Reduction Initiative, among others. In the latter, some corporations have promised to decrease the sodium content of certain foods.
The authors are employees of the Centers for Disease Control.
Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2016;64:1393-1397. Full text

Spicing It Up

What’s in a Name?When you’re scanning a food label, don’t just look for the word “salt.” Watch out for various forms of sodium or other names for the same thing: 

• sodium alginate

• sodium ascorbate

• sodium bicarbonate (baking soda)

• sodium benzoate

• sodium caseinate

• sodium chloride

• sodium citrate

• sodium hydroxide

• sodium saccharin

• sodium stearoyl lactylate

• sodium sulfite

• disodium phosphate

• monosodium glutamate (MSG)

• trisodium phosphate

• Na

SourcesReviewed by Kathleen M. Zelman, MPH, RD, LD on October 29, 2015This tool does not provide medical advice. See additional information© 2015 WebMD, LLC. All rights reserved.

I go back to my childhood and think of how much sodium we added in salted meat and even adding salt on watermelon, cantaloupe, and oranges.  There has always been an appeal for me to eat the chips, the Italian sauces, and the breads with salted tops so my change had to be mental as well as physical withdrawals. From the changes, my sodium levels are normal and I can proudly say “I am no longer a Salty Dog!” 

CHECK OUT THE ARTICLES AND LINKS and you may lose your SALTY DOG STATUS too.

(c) Copyright  2012-2016 on Arline Miller’s original material with all rights and privileges reserved. Third party material is referenced to original location for reference credit.

TODAY THE WORDS ARE OCTOBER SCENTS

My homemade pumpkin pies are full of great cinnamon aroma.

TODAY THE WORDS are OCTOBER SCENTS. I am seeing so many wonderful and amazing displays of fall recently and it brought me to examining what I feel about fall and especially the month of October. While thinking about October, my sense of smell became a priority of thought. As fall enters our lives; we start thinking toward the baking times, the family reunion events, the upcoming holidays and it made me realize October starts my nostrils to fill with the warm and comfort smells we associate with Fall. 

                    Toland Home Garden 109419 Farm Pumpkin House Flag Courtesy of Back Roads Living

Pumpkin flavored everything seems to be in all ads, coffee, shakes, lattes, cookies, pies, tarts and breads bring the strong allspice and cinnamon flavors. Answer me this…..As I listed these tasty and fragrant delights, did your smell sense rise especially when I mentioned cinnamon? Let’s go on a little memory trip and visit the gingerbread land.

When I was young and always ready for something Momma had baked; I looked forward to her tea cakes, her pound cakes (which we would always catch her out of the kitchen and jump up and down to cause it to fall; bless Momma’s heart it was years before she realized her cakes would have been beautiful if we hadn’t sabotaged her efforts to have it taste better), but I remember her gingerbread best of all. I could smell the fragrant aroma of the gingerbread loaf before I made it home from school. Walking up to our house, I could smell it’s wonderful smell and I was so excited. I am speaking from my heart but this was a unanimous contention for all of my siblings. It was a wonderful and joyous moment and now a great memory of those spices and more importantly, the love shown by our Mom.

We, as humans, are susceptible to smells as much as taste. We are usually expressive either pro or con about smells and aromas. Fall presents strong aromas and seemingly tied to family gatherings and holidays. This brings me to my focus for this message.

Now for the deeper thought……As our senses tell us what aroma is filling the air; we need to be as conscious of who and what is filling our lives. We need to “sniff” our home environment and smell out what children are hearing and watching. We need to appreciate the warm, comforting times we spend with our family and friends. We can seek out God more and take time to thank Him for all the sweet blessings and treats of life. We want to cherish the good taste of life while we smell the cinnamon aroma of living and loving life.

DAILY FEATURED BIBLE VERSE:
Proverbs 15:17 ESV 

Better is a dinner of herbs where love is than a fattened ox and hatred with it.

(c) copyright 2012-2016 Arline Lott Miller. The material here copyrighted, use only by permission.