Pumpkin Season

Its pumpkin season all over the world again, and in the news, the great orange veg is back in the spotlight. Yes, good old Jack will be lit up and ready to greet trick or treaters by the end of the month, and the web is flooded by pumpkin stories – both interesting and silly.

Here’s some of them:

The 1,223 lb Great Pumpkin

Washington state farmer Joel Holland wins for the second year running for his larger-than-life pumpkin. The pumpkin contest in Half Moon Bay, CA was part of the area’s annual arts festival and also awarded prizes for biggest in California and most beautiful.

Pumpkin Searches Spike Up

According to Yahoo, searches for the words “pumpkin carving”, “pumpkin crafts“, pictures, stencils and the like have risen by more than 120% and still moving upwards. So yes, Halloween is definitely in the air.

Jailbird Jack o Lanterns?

School kids in the Lancaster, Ohio, area getting pumpkins grown at the Southeastern Correctional Institution. Inmates have harvested about 400 pumpkins grown at the prison farm. The other day, Warden Mark Saunders and some other prison employees dropped off pumpkins at the Tallmadge Elementary School.

Pumpkin Crimes

Two men are facing charges, including felony assault, after police arrested them this weekend for allegedly dropping pumpkins from highway overpasses onto cars along a 40-mile stretch of Route 2. The incidents left two people injured.

Instead of junk in the trunk, authorities spotted three stolen pumpkins in a car driven by a man suspected of drunken driving, a South Lake Tahoe police officer said.

Another sign of the season occurred about a week before the failed pumpkin heist when youths were caught smashing pumpkins in a commercial area. Under the eye of police, the youths picked up the orange squash scraps.
[tags]pumpkins,halloween,carving pumpkins,pumpkin crafts[/tags]

Neiman Marcus Offers An Outer Space Trip

With Christmas edging closer and closer, the dreaded task of finding that perfect present for the person in your life who “has it all” could now be solved (if you have an astronomic budget, that is).

Luxury retailers Neiman Marcus are now offering some pretty “ultra presents” in their 2006 holiday catalogue – one being a personal space tour where your loved ones can enjoy the feeling of zero-gravity and take in amazing views of earth from the Virgin Galactic Space Ship.

For a cool $1.6 M, this space trip will accomodate 6 people and includes a slew of perks like medical assessments, training, and to cap off the unforgettable experience, an after-flight party at Richard Branson’s privale isle.
If a trip to outer space is out of your league, there are still some stylish options like $25 crystal bells, $350 cashmere sweaters and a $100,000 water park for your garden (the kids will make you a god for that one). And for Fido? How about a $7,000 hancrafted luxury Italian pet home complete with leather armchair?
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