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Practice your technique on line

Indian policeman stand gaurd outside of the Durgiana Temple in Amritsar. Indian police shot dead an Islamic militant suspected of links to a triple bombing that killed 23 people in Hinduism's holy city of Varanasi and sparked a nationwide alert.(AFP/Marinder Nanu)

It's Halloween and I thought it would be a festive ocassion to freepers, to post there Halloween experiences as a Kid.

It's not newsworthy, but I still thought a lot of Freepers would find this wonderful to see.

Everyone has a Halloween dream: A frightening fantasy of goblins and ghouls or a fond recollection of jack-o-lanterns, scarecrows, and crepe paper cats. No matter the dream, each one stems from a tale handed down... or a childhood memory, long past and fading. My dream is of a perfect place at a perfect time.

HALF MOON BAY, Calif. - A retired Washington firefighter won the annual Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off on Monday, presenting a gigantic pumpkin that weighed 1,229 pounds. Joel Holland said the pumpkin could make roughly 600 pumpkin pies but instead will be displayed in a parade in Half Moon Bay this coming weekend, then carved into a jack-o'-lantern for Halloween.

According to a Ukrainian custom, a woman rejects an unwanted suitor by handing him a pumpkin. So it was that pro-democracy supporters said "no" to corruption and autocratic rule by dumping pumpkins on a street in Kiev Sunday - and voting for the reform-minded Viktor Yushchenko for president. These pumpkin-rolling Ukrainians, along with 52 percent of their fellow citizens, succeeded in overturning a rigged election Nov. 21. In backing Mr. Yushchenko in a vote that this time was far fairer, they have proven to the world that they want to join the march of newly free nations. And it is...

Howell pumpkin hurler loses title This year's winner of 'ugliest trophy in the world' shoots gourd 4,224 feet across field Monday, November 8, 2004 By The Associated Press HOWELL - A Howell businessman's effort to defend his mechanical pumpkin-hurling championship literally fell short. Bruce Bradford and his nine-ton contraption, Second Amendment, held the World Championship Punkin Chunkin title for two years until Sunday. Old Glory claimed the crown by shooting a gourd that soared 4,224 feet before a crowd of about 40,000 in Sussex County, Del. Second Amendment finished second in the field of 100, sending an 8- to 10-pound...

Well, Halloween is approaching, and for some of us maybe the pumpkin hasn't been carved yet (or even ourchased...Oops!). But, either way, here are some handy tips on how to carve a pumpkin, with all those cool designs. Just click on the source link. There's a little training session to go with it too. I don't know what it is, but the song playing in the background (of course, Monster Mash) is one of those songs that always bring me back to my days of trick-or-treating. Give it a listen, they have it playing in the background.

After you submit your vote, you will see the up to the second results, and have the opportunity to download some Free Political Pumpkin Patterns!

Wednesdays WSJ Opinionjournal reports that Theresa Heinz's Pumpkin Spice Cookies are back in the news. Reader Ruth Papazian has a theory about John Kerry's change of color, which we noted yesterday: He's been eating too many of his wife's pumpkin spice cookies. Family Circle sponsored a contest asking readers to bake, then vote on, cookie recipes submitted by Laura Bush (oatmeal-chocolate chunk cookies) and by Teresa Heinz Kerry. and thatOr it may be that Kerry has chosen a Halloween costume that reminds us he by the way served in Vietnam. (Did you know?) That is to say, perhaps he's supposed...

'Orange' you glad you're not this guy?  Sept. 28, 2004... Looking suddenly very orange, John Kerry's new look just prior to the debate is more than a little too.... fake. As in spray tan fake. Not that the presidential candidate will ever admit such an attempt at insta-tanning -- his suddenly gone facial wrinkles earlier this year prompted cries of "BOTOX!", which Kerry denied too.   This is an email-able, copyright-ready cartoon you can use in emails, on blogs, in flyers, on posters... anything that's noncommercial.

John Hawkins at Right Wing News has just released the 2003 Warblogger Awards, and I am flattered that his panel of voters selected me for top spot in the category "The Best Original Content For A Blog". I don't think I should have won. Quite frankly, I think that Wretchard at Belmont Club is producing better material than I am. He is writing as consistently as I have (perhaps more so, given that I've been less consistent lately) and his material is more focused and more cogent. I'm a bit surprised that Wretchard didn't show up as one of the...

The finished product The pattern (print out on 8"x11" paper):

ELLETTSVILLE, Ind. -- When Jim Bristoe told his wife he wanted to build a cannon that would shoot a pumpkin a mile, she told him he wasn't all there. But he built one anyway, with a 30-foot-long barrel. It is powered by a 700-gallon air tank and is appropriately named "Ain't All There." It looks much like a mobile anti-aircraft gun. "You don't need to cover your ears, but you're going to know I shot it," the 42-year-old electrician and mechanic said during a demonstration on Wednesday. When Bristoe fires the cannon, a 10-pound pumpkin is hit with 11,300 pounds...

PENDING WORLD RECORD October 5, 2002 Pumpkin grown by Charlie Houghton of New Boston, New Hampshire In 1984 sixteen pumpkin growers from Massachusetts and Connecticut entered their pumpkins in the first Topsfield Fair Giant Pumpkin Contest. The winning pumpkin weighed in at 433 pounds. In 2001 there were over eighty entries from all over New England. The winner was an Atlantic Giant pumpkin weighed in at 1,260.4 pounds. This was an all time New England record bettering the old record by two hundred fifty pounds. As is customary, the winner was displayed in a climate controlled case for the ten...