Why Do Older Folks Like Halloween?

Halloween has become a major holiday for adults. With all the adult costumes and parties and haunted house adventures, retailers have turned what used to be a fun celebration for children into a scary marketer's dream.

As a child, I remember celebrating Halloween as a night of trick-or-treating adventure. The hours of collecting candy were longer, and when I got older (later grade school years), I was allowed to take the goody bag around the nearby neighborhoods by myself. As I began to age, Halloween meant a party, a possible costume, and that was pretty much it.

Now, Halloween generates controversy in many respects. Parents worry about content of the candy people pass to their children; some older school-aged people still trick-or-treat; adults spend large sums of money for authentic-looking costumes and decorations; people generate large sums of money with fields or houses featuring gory monsters and apparitions, and businesses throw lavish parties with Halloween themes. Nothing is wrong with all of this. But, one thing is apparent. Halloween isn't just for the kids anymore. The celebration  has grown up.

Opinion pages editor R.L. Stine wrote about a tour he took a couple of years ago around New York City's Halloween haunted houses. Stine said, "As I made my way through the dark, twisting, fake-cobwebbed halls of one of these haunted houses, I was more surprised than frightened by the quantities of gore and blood.

"Screaming ghouls and zombies lurked in every room, with missing body parts, gashed flesh, hatchets embedded in open skulls, blood-soaked entrails hanging from gaping stomach wounds. Bloody handprints smeared the walls and sticky blood puddles stained the floors.

"When I finally staggered outside, shrill shrieks and maniacal laughter ringing in my ears, I gazed at a sign at the entrance I had missed: 'No One Admitted Under 18.'" (R.L. Stine, "Scariest Sight on Halloween? Grownups," The New York Times, October 30 2010)

Most adults have enjoyed the frightening flavor of the season and the opportunity to mask themselves as much as children. As these grownups started decorating and celebrating more and more, Halloween has become much more anticipated by  the older crowd.

Expenses and Halloween 

A National Retail Federation survey conducted by BIGresearch, found an average American will spend $66.28 on costumes, candy and decorations for Halloween this year. Total spending for the holiday will reach  $5.8 billion based on the extrapolation of the U.S. of adults 18+.   

The survey also found the following:

"This year’s data brings great news for retailers selling costumes: this year, the highest percentage of people in the survey’s history will dress up with four out of 10 people (40.1%) planning to don a costume, up from 33.4% in 2009. (An astounding 11.5 percent will dress up their pets as well.) Additionally, 33.3 percent of people will throw/attend a party, nearly three-quarters (72.2%) will hand out candy, 46.3 percent will carve a pumpkin, 20.8 percent will visit a haunted house and 31.7 percent will take their children trick-or-treating. Second only to the winter holidays in terms of plans to decorate, half (50.1%) of consumers celebrating will decorate their home or yard.

"... young adults will be most likely to participate in Halloween activities with 69.4 percent of 18-24 year olds saying they will dress in costume, the highest of any other age group. Young adults are also more likely than any other age group to throw or attend a party (55.4%) and visit a haunted house (38.6%)."  (Kathy Grannis, "After Spooky 2009. Halloween Spending Bounces Back to '08 Levels, According to NRF," National Retail Federation,September 23 2010)

Why Do Adults Celebrate Halloween?

Besides being a good excuse for a silly party, many wonder why adults are becoming increasingly interested in the holiday. Good research is difficult to find; however, some of answers may lie in the following.

1. Halloween history is rooted in a profound need to defy the powers of darkness by making light of them, mocking them. Psychologically healthy, Halloween is an example of a holiday essential to a survival of primitive religion. It's a manner of exorcising evil through a funny carnival. (Theo Hobson, "Halloween Is For Grown-ups Too," www.guardian.co.uk, October 31 2007)

2. Halloween reflects some of society's cultural immaturity: by treating evil in an offhanded, fantastic way, so that everyone does not have to admit true, serious evil exists. C. J. Jung said, “Today as never before it is important that human beings should not overlook the danger of the evil lurking within them. It is unfortunately only too real, which is why psychology must insist on the reality of evil and must reject any definition that regards it as insignificant or actually non-existent. Psychology is an empirical science and deals with realities.” In this statement Jung is not making a theological statement having to do with the metaphysical reality of evil. He is simply pointing at the psychological reality of evil, whose outward effects are evident all around us. Paul Levy, "Triggered By Evil," www.awakeninthedream.com)

3. Dr Sarah-Jayne Gratton, PhD in Psychology and an Advanced Diploma in Psychotherapy and Hypnotherapy, says the ritual of putting on a mask to become someone else has been truly embraced in western society, not just as a means of entertainment, but as a means of escape. ("The Modern Psychology of Halloween," www.whydowecelebratehalloween.com, August 5 2010)

Gratton says, "Modern life has never been so easy – or so stressful.  The dichotomy presented by advances in technology is all around us; supposedly developed to make our lives easier, psychological research suggests that they can create a mental prison of inescapable responsibility.  With this in mind, the notion of a faceless boogeyman stalking us has never been more readily embraced by audiences, especially as it may well be linked to these increasingly common feelings of insecurity and disillusionment."

4. Following this release of this fear and as a result of all that adrenalin being pumped through the body, people often experience a similarly positive physiological response, where feelings of giddiness, euphoria and later relaxation weave their addictive charm and keep them coming back for more.

Ki Ann Goosens, a neuroscientist at the McGovern Brain Institute at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts, says adenalin speeds up the metabolism and makes people feel more alive. People who see something like Freddy Krueger sneaking up on a victim in a movie become alert and aroused, but in control of the experience, which is a plus. “Many people enjoy the sense of control over their fear, turning it on and off, that an imaginary situation such as a movie produces,” said Goosens. ("Halloween Special: Why We Love to Scare Ourselves; the Anatomy of Fright," Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry, October 29 2010)


5. Many analytical psychologists explain that everyone has unconscious, repressed personality traits referred to as the "shadow."  Some of these psychologists believe that people can express their shadows through their costume choices. According to analytical psychology,  John Suler, Ph.D.,  who conducted a study of the psychology of online avatars, called "The Psychology of Avatars and Graphical Space," costumes can reveal hidden personality traits. Suler reports, "Wearing a costume at a real-life party does indeed filter out many of the physical features of your identity. You are somewhat 'anonymous.' But the costume also symbolically highlights aspects of who you are. It amplifies one of your interests, some facet of your personality or lifestyle, or something you wish for." (Briana Rognlin, "Halloween Psychology: Put Your Costume on the Couch," blisstree.com, October 25 2010)

6. Halloween helps provide humans the balance they collectively require, from the hormones in the body all the way up through multifaceted cultural dynamics. In modern times, Halloween cleans the body, the mind, and the spirits while preparing people for the coming of traditions of goodness - like Thanksgiving, Christmas and the New Year. All are reflections of the cycles of balance, small to large, in space, in time, in size, and in life. (David Pincus, "Complexity, Coherence, and Halloween," Psychology Today, October 29 2009)

To Burn a Beer? Witch's Wit

   
A person can identify with both sides of an issue. In fact, without a complete knowledge of an opponent's basic proponents, a person cannot mount a successful strategy for success because concessions would be left undisputed. Careful consideration of opposing ideas is paramount to understanding the power of any argument. But then, a proposition can be so well defended by both sides, that further argumentation becomes useless.

Let's look at a definition central to the topic of the day. Is a witch defined as "an innocent woman who was accused of professing sorcery or the black arts"? Or, is a witch defined as "a woman in tune with nature who has a knowledge of herbs and medicines and who gave council as a Shamanic healer"?


A word carries various connotations and often even changes definitions as it spends time in the etymological process. The history of the word provides people a view of the past that may or may not influence the future definitions. Here is the entry for witch in the Online Etymology Dictionary (Douglas Harper, 2010). By the way O.E. = Old English, OED = Oxford English Dictionary, and PIE = Proto-Indo-European.  


O.E. wicce "female magician, sorceress," in later use esp. "a woman supposed to have dealings with the devil or evil spirits and to be able by their cooperation to perform supernatural acts," fem. of O.E. wicca "sorcerer, wizard, man who practices witchcraft or magic," from verb wiccian "to practice witchcraft" (cf. Low Ger. wikken, wicken "to use witchcraft," wikker, wicker "soothsayer"). OED says of uncertain origin. Klein suggests connection with O.E. wigle "divination," and wig, wih "idol." Watkins says the nouns represent a P.Gmc. *wikkjaz "necromancer" (one who wakes the dead), from PIE *weg-yo-, from *weg- "to be strong, be lively." That wicce once had a more specific sense than the later general one of "female magician, sorceress" perhaps is suggested by the presence of other words in O.E. describing more specific kinds of magical craft. In the Laws of Ælfred (c.890), witchcraft was specifically singled out as a woman's craft, whose practitioners were not to be suffered to live among the W. Saxons. 



Which witch definition is intended in various stories and allusions in America? Overwhelmingly, folk tales, the celebration of Halloween, and common images denote the sorceress/devil partnership. I doubt if many people even know about Wiccan beliefs of paganism. Neither do most think about factual and evil intentions when confronted by witch costumes, films featuring an ugly witch, or drawings of witches by grade school children. Or, do they? 

In what has become one of those zany "where did you get the time to think that up" issues, witches are being reexamined. Why? Would you believe a beer label dispute?

Witch's Wit

Witch's Wit (a limited-edition pale ale — “wit” means “white” in Dutch) is one of Port Brewing Company's Lost Abby beers, which the distributor calls "inspired beers for saints and sinners alike." Each beer sports a label that aims to tell a story about the struggle between good and evil. This, being the Halloween season, is a good idea, right? Well....

Vicki Noble, a famed healer, astrologer and spiritual leader in the pagan community, saw only evil in Witch's Wit after a worker in a liquor store called the bottle to her attention. As a professor at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology in Palo Alto, Noble knew that wiccans and pagans generally are "a discriminated-against segment of the population." Noble said this was because people keep repeating these terrible misconceptions of them. She was incensed at the image of a witch being burned at the stake, so she sent an e-mail to her followers, asking in the subject line: "Can we stop this brewer from their hate imagery?"

Noble used the following comparison. "Can you imagine them showing a black person being lynched or a Jewish person going to the oven?" she asked. "Such images are simply not tolerated in our society anymore (thank the Goddess) and this one should not be, either." (Diane Macedo, "Beer Distributor's Witch Label Brews Contempt Among Wiccans," FoxNews, October 29 2010) So the Wiccans and witches demanded a change.

Of course, everyone -- blogs, Facebook and Twitter -- launched a major assault at Witch's Wit.  An e-mail campaign was also started and, soon, a barrage began to hit the company's in-boxes.Tomme Arthur, Port Brewing's director of brewery operations, attempted to explain that all Lost Abbey beers, including Witch's Wit, deal with religious irony and feature both original artwork on the front and a written story on the back.

According to Noble, this explanation would not suffice for the Pagan people. Noble had these three key points to make in her defense:

1. The image on the label was horrific and there was no reason for that label to be used for the promotion of beer.

2. The label was just another opportunity for men to show a dominating, misogynistic perspective bringing down women and what women have accomplished in the last 200 years in terms of women's rights.

3. Atrocities against witches still occur in other parts of the world. People are unaware of this fact, and the image was discriminatory toward that "persecuted minority."

Tomme Arthur replied, "What I was looking at was this notion that there was a lot of people in the 16th century who would have been sent to a horrific death for potentially committing no crime, and that's what she represents, this woman, this girl…. My notion of this woman is that she's innocent, but we don't know what she did." He said his beer was brewed to honor the woman in the image, and the back label was written to play off of the guilt in the crowd with the message.(Diane Macedo, "Beer Distributor's Witch Label Brews Contempt Among Wiccans," FoxNews, October 29 2010)

Here is the message on the back label:

Whether you're a wonder healer, a caller of spirits or a lover of black magic, they will find you. And on that day, they will boil your blood, singe your skin and make a point to burn your soul to the ground. From that lonely stake, you'll be left to contemplate your life of spell casting, obscure texts and a world operated between the shadows of night and day.

Convicted of a dark art, the crowd will gather to watch as they raze your earthen existence. An intolerable pain is the cross you'll bear that day as you are removed from this righteous world. No one will summon the courage to save you in fear of their life. It sucks. But such is the life of a witch. 

In honor of your fleeting existence, we brewed Witch's Wit. A light and refreshing wheat beer, it's exactly the sort of thing you might expect to find being passed around the center of town on witch burning day. Say hello to the Prince of Darkness for us."

Kris Bradley ("Outrage Over Witch's Wit Beer Label Better Focused on Real Persecution," www.examin.com, October 26 2010) reported Sage Osterfeld, a spokesman for Port Brewing, said, “We have been accused of inspiring violence against women, and we have been compared to the violence in Darfur. It has run the gamut from people saying politely, ‘This is offensive to pagans,’ to people saying we are responsible for all that is wrong in the world.”

Kris reminds the world that 80 women in Malawi sit in prison over witchcraft charges. A recent report by Unicef found tens of thousands of children in Africa, some as young as four, were being accused of being witches. (David Smith, "Dozens Jailed for Witchcraft in Malawi," www.guardian.co.uk, October 14 2010) Have all those witches who are now "boycotting" an American beer had access or the taste for boycotting all the products that come out of Africa?

Kris continued, "While I really do see and share the disgust over the image, it's just an image. Out there in the world, there are real people being accused of witchcraft - beaten, jailed, raped, banished and killed. Where is our outrage for that?" ("Outrage Over Witch's Wit Beer Label Better Focused on Real Persecution," www.examin.com, October 26 2010)

 Conclusions


Maybe most importantly, how does Witch's Wit taste? The ratebeer site http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/lost-abbey-witchs-wit/90856/3/1/ has tons of reviews. So far, people like the beer. It is rated at 85 overall with a 94 for style. One consumer notes the following:

"Pours a hazy golden yellow, inch or so of crisp white head that clears to leave a decent layer. Aromas of coriander, cloves, some orange peels, and some tart yeast. Flavor is dry and sharp, citrus notes and a light bitterness up front, smooth dry sweet grain and honey. Some grainy yeast rounds out the back end. Active carbonation, sharp, dry, and clean on the palate. Overall, a very tasty rendition of a style that’s often not the most exciting. Very well done."

And while the New York Times and many websites are reporting that Port Brewing Company has agreed to change the name of the beer and the label, the company has stated on their site that no decisions have been made, but that they will discuss the label and issues surrounding it at their next meeting in November (after Halloween).

Ms. Noble? Well, she looks forward to a time when she can, with clear conscience, sample a Witch’s Wit. “I think that would be fun,” she says. “Maybe we can make a ceremony out of it.” (Mark Oppenheimer, "Witches Say Beer's O.K., but Lose the Fire and Stake," The New York Times, October 22 2010)

Here is video, extremely well done, on the topic today

How Does the CD Sound?

I'm almost 60 years-old. My interest in music began very early in life with 45 records from the Hit Parade, progressed through classic albums of the British Invasion and American rockers, and continues through today with Cd's and MP3's of many styles. Music, to me, meant studying the advance release list, picking up the best recordings on their first day of release, and running to my stereo to discover new worlds. And, of course, sharing the information and the recording with my other music-minded friends.

Collecting music and listening to it could be called a hobby or an interest. Yet, to me, it was much more: music was my passion. I read about it, pursued it, and considered additions as "sound treasures." The better the sound of the recording in a listening environment, the more I was satisfied. With good high fidelity equipment, I became an addict of quality sound reproduction. That was the heyday of the stereophonic recording boom, during the 1960s and later. I had become an audiophile.

Not too many years ago, I noticed an absence of such quality in many of the CD's I had bought. I had read about studios using compression and high volume due to the overwhelming use of portable listening devices. Still, I thought audiophiles would always have a chance to grab a well-done recording or two at a local store. Boy, was I wrong.

Change accompanies time, and change in the record business results from general consumer demand. As consumer electronics companies began to offer endless devices for music on the go, recording studios retooled their productions to accommodate the new electronics. Now, music had wheels: it could be taken anywhere with minimum effort. Now, the recording game has become dominated by music that requires utility instead of high fidelity.

Jacob Ganz of NPR Music sums up the changes in music during the 1990's:

"So, here goes. In the middle of the 1990s, programmers came up with a method of shrinking the size of digital audio files without losing too much of their audio quality. They called it MPEG-1 audio layer 3. At the very end of that decade, a college student named Shawn Fanning started a Web-based program called Napster that enabled users to share MP3 files. Feverish bootlegging followed. The recording industry battled back with lawsuits. Apple dominated the market for MP3 players with its iPod, released in late 2001. Online retailers began offering legal downloading alternatives. Apple dominated this market with iTunes. MP3 blogs, aggregators and BitTorrent programs offered new ways to "own" music without actually paying for it. Record sales collapsed. (Deep breath.) But here's the thing: It's possible that music lovers today have more access, and listen to more music, than ever before."  ("The Decade In Music: The Way We Listen Now," NPR Music, December 2, 2009)

Reasons For the Change

When digital technology and compact disc recordings came along in the mid-1980s (and innovations in the industry were historically driven by classical music audiophiles), they were touted as space-saving conveniences, much as MP3s are touted today. And, the selling point was the sound quality: free of surface noise and crackle, crystal clear, not subject to deterioration. "But as CD's gained popularity, a backlash came from traditional audiophiles, who castigated the sampling of sound involved in the new technology," said Mark Katz, assistant professor of music at the University of North Carolina. (Anthony Tommasini, "Hard to Be an Audiophile in an iPod World," The New York Times, November 25 2007)

“But recorded sound as a re-creation of reality has almost been dropped,” Katz added, pointing out that ads today for MP3s and iPods seldom make claims for the beauty of the sound. Ads depict stylish people with iPods as clipped-on, portable accessories to clothing. The reproduced sound, if not rich and deep, is clear and lively.

Many defenders of the old analog technology used in stereo recordings said that the missing slices of music on CD's (Sampling bits are used for CD's production.) undermined the sound quality. They said it was clear and flawless sound that lacked warmth and richness.

In addition to the convenience and portability of music now, other factors have contributed to the shift that alienates the audiophile.

1. There is a staggering amount of diverse music to listen to.

Music journalist Maura Johnston says, "When I was commuting, I used to bring this huge wallet of CDs with me, so I had 24 CDs, which was a big deal. But, I mean, now you can just bring thousands of songs with you on the train. You don't have to make those choices where you're thinking about, 'OK, well, I don't have the space to bring this, so what should I bring instead?' I think that, now, it's shifted from a question of space to a question of time." ("The Decade In Music: The Way We Listen Now," NPR Music, December 2, 2009)

2. Although people may know more about music and listen to more music, they don't want to own it.

Music now is often put into files which are easy to manipulate (add to or delete). Of course, files can even get lost but are relatively easy to replace. Some people who like music just stream it. "Maybe they just listen to it on the bands' MySpace pages — you know, whatever it is, hear it in passing," says Josh Madell, who, owns a record store in Manhattan called Other Music. For Madell that's a flaw of new listening.  "I think that people's connection to artists are maybe not as deep," Madell says, ("The Decade In Music: The Way We Listen Now," NPR Music, December 2, 2009)

3. The use of  computers has allowing online sharing to be very prevalent.

We used to hear wonderful sound coming out of large speakers. Our friends would come over to listen to a brand-new album we just purchased. Now, we download songs from MP3 blogs, post a link on Sendspace and send a note to friends, or stream the song from our Tumb.

4. Most people are satisfied with the sound quality of MP3's or similar formats.

Most music lovers don't care to listen critically to music in high fidelity. The 256Kbps and 320Kbps MP3's are pretty indistinguishable from CD quality anyway, and most folks listen to MP3's that are recorded at lower standards such as 192Kbps or even 128 Kbps. The lower bitrates require less room and allow people to put more music on their listening devices. 

“An important shift in the rhetoric of recordings has occurred,” said Mark Katz, an assistant professor of music at the University of North Carolina. Historically “the stock rhetoric concerned fidelity.” Looking back through his research files, Mr. Katz found fascinating advertisements from as early as the 1890s touting the Berlin Grammophon. “It does not imitate,” a typical ad states. “It reproduces sound with lifelike purity and tone.” That mystique lasted a good hundred years, Mr. Katz said. (Anthony Tommasini, "Hard to Be an Audiophile in an iPod World," The New York Times, November 25 2007)

What kid today would want to buy a turntable, an amplifier, two speakers, and go to the record store? "And the times, they are a'changing."

"Maybe I wanted to hear it so badly that my ears betrayed my mind in order to secure my heart."  --Margaret Cho

Same-sex Couples at Proms?!

Let me establish just a few facts before the focus of this post.

1. 9% of high school students identify as "gay, lesbian, bisexual or questioning." (Seattle Public Schools, "1995 Seattle Teen Health Risk Survey," reprinted in Third Annual Report of the Safe Schools Anti-Violence Documentation Project, 1996)


2. The typical high school student hears anti-gay slurs 25.5 times a day. (Carter, Kellye, "Gay Slurs Abound," in The Des Moines Register, March 7, 1997)

3. 53% of students report hearing homophobic comments made by school staff. (Making Schools Safe for Gay and Lesbian Youth: Report of the Massachusetts Governor's Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth, 1993)

Over twenty years ago, the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island upheld the right of a gay student to bring a same-sex date to a high school dance in the case of  (student Aaron) Fricke v. (Principal Richard) Lynch.  In this decision, the Court ruled that existing free speech doctrine protected gay and lesbian students' rights to attend their proms with same-sex dates of their choice.

The case was one of the first successful victories in the courtroom for a Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, Transgender (LGBT) issue involving young people. The federal court in Rhode Island told Aaron's school that it had to let him attend the prom with Paul. In fact, the court even told the school that it had to provide enough security that Aaron and his date would be safe.

After Aaron went with Paul to the prom, Aaron remembered what he was thinking as he stared at all the reporters who were there:

"I thought of all the people who would have enjoyed going to their proms with the date of their choice, but were denied that right; of all the people in the past who wanted to live respectably with the person they loved but could not; of all the men and women who had been hurt or killed because they were gay; and of the rich history of lesbians and homosexual men that had so long been ignored. Gradually we were triumphing over ignorance. One day we would be free." 
 
The Court had decided that "even a legitimate interest in school discipline does not outweigh a student's right to peacefully express his views in an appropriate time, place, and manner." The Court ruled that threats of violence against Fricke and his date gave homophobic students an unconstitutional "heckler' veto that would allow "them to decide through prohibited and violent methods what speech will be heard." (Fricke v. Lynch, May 28, 1980)

This ruling, along with many others, would seem to spell out certain student rights of sexual orientation. Incidents in Alabama, Tennessee, Virginia, and Georgia in recent years have made schools back down rather than face litigation when they have been challenged on policies that discriminate against homosexual students. The courts have taken care of the cases the schools haven't.

 Constance McMillen

But, in 2010, Mississippi must still not have received the memo. 

Constance  wanted to take her lesbian partner and wear a tuxedo to the prom.

The Itawamba County Agricultural High School prom, originally scheduled for April 2, was eventually canceled by school board officials who previously said they reached their decision based on "the education, safety and well-being of [its] students." A Feb. 5 memo to students laid out the criteria for bringing a date to the prom, and one requirement was that the person must be of the opposite sex.(Carlin DeGuerin Miller, "Constance McMillen Wanted to Taker Her Girlfriend to the Prom, So the School Board Canceled It,"
 CBS News, March 11 2010)

McMillen challenged the memo. Then, the ACLU sent a letter on Constance's behalf, and one week later, the school canceled the prom. McMillen and her lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union challenged that decision in court.

The ACLU lawyers cited the 2008 ruling Collins v. Scottsboro Board of Education in which an Alabama circuit court forced a high school to reinstate a prom it had canceled rather than allow a lesbian student to attend in a tux with a female date. This time, in response to the ACLU's request to force the school to reinstate the prom, Judge Glen H. Davidson, a Reagan appointee, ruled in March that the school had violated McMillen's First Amendment right to freedom of expression. (Margaret Wheeler Johnson, "Constance McMillen's Suit Over the Prom Is Winning Over the South," www.slate.com, July 7 2010).

That was good news according to her attorney, Christine Sun, senior counsel with the ACLU's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender project. Not only did the ruling win Constance's case, it also set a precedent and helped broadcast an important statement, which was made stronger by virtue of where it came from, she said. Though McMillen has suffered plenty throughout her ordeal, much of her life is proof that the South is changing culturally as well as legally. 

So, what did the school do? McMillen was sent to a "fake prom" while the rest of her class partied at a secret location at an event organized by parents. McMillen told The Advocate that a parent-organized prom happened behind her back — she and her date were sent to an event at a country club in Fulton, Mississippi, that attracted only five other students. Her school principal and teachers served as chaperones, but clearly there wasn't much to keep an eye on. (Neal Broverman, "McMillen: I Was Sent to Fake Prom," www.advocate.com, April 5 2010)

According to a statement from the ACLU, McMillenMcMillen believes the alternative prom she was sent to was a sham because only a handful of people attended. "A lot of people were talking about how it was a joke just set up for me," she previously said. Still, at the time, support from around the nation poured in for the teen.

"We're in a conservative area of the country, where people tend to think we can do what we like," said Sun, who lives in New York but has traveled multiple times to Mississippi on McMillen's behalf. "This case sends a strong message that that's not going to fly anymore."

In 2004, the national gay rights group GLSEN -- the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network -- had issued a report that said of all 50 states, Mississippi had the most hostile environment for gay youths.(GLSEN 2003 National School Climate Survey, www.glsen.org, April 1 2005)

"We hope this judgment sends a message to schools that they cannot get away with discriminating against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students," said Bear Atwood, interim legal director at the ACLU of Mississippi. Is this just another communications breakdown?

McMillen eventually transferred out of the district, graduating from Murrah High School in Jackson with a 3.86 GPA. She said she transferred out of the district to escape harassment from other students who blamed her for the prom controversy.

More Celebrity

The Itawamba County school board in Mississippi had already agreed to pay Constance McMillen $35,000 in damages and adopt a policy prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation, according to a statement released this July by the American Civil Liberties Union. ("Mississippi School Pays Damages to Lesbian Teen Over Prom Dispute," CNN Wire Staff, July 20 2010) 

Constance McMillen became quite a celebrity. "I'm not going to go to prom and pretend like I'm not gay," she said matter-of-factly to Ellen Degeneres. The "Ellen" show awarded her a $30,000 scholarship, she appeared at the GLAAD Awards, and even rode as a grand marshal in the NYC Pride parade. Most teens might trade a prom for the following: a well-financed education, the recognition of millions of people across the country and self-respect. (Thomas Rogers, "The Year in Sanity: Constance McMillen," www.salon.com, October 12 2010)

Denise McMillen, her mother, who is 37 and lives in southern Mississippi, has openly dated women since her 20s and raised Constance's 15-year-old younger sister with her partner, Elsa. Her mother is not a gay activist, unless that is what living openly makes you.

Denise says her own churchgoing mother accepted her sexual orientation almost immediately and that she has rarely found herself the subject of anti-gay hostility. Constance's father and his very religious parents have said that while they may not approve of homosexuality generally, they accept Constance as she is. Constance doesn't recall her classmates at Itawamba High voicing any objection to her sexual orientation until the school cancelled the prom. Both Constance and Denise say they have never feared for their safety. (Margaret Wheeler Johnson, "Constance McMillen's Suit Over the Prom Is Winning Over the South," www.slate.com, July 7 2010)

Though she doesn't belong to a church, McMillen describes herself as an "open-minded Christian" and a strong believer in monogamy, which she expresses in a distinctly evangelical way. "Actually, I have a promise ring from my girlfriend, and I'm pretty sure that within the next year she's going to propose. Of course, we wouldn't get married until she's 18." (Margaret Wheeler Johnson, "Constance McMillen's Suit Over the Prom Is Winning Over the South," www.slate.com, July 7 2010)

  
Update

A federal judge just ordered  the Itawamba Mississippi school district to pay about $81,000 in legal fees and expenses in the lawsuit. The decision Tuesday by a federal judge may be the final chapter in the well-publicized legal battle between Constance McMillen and the Mississippi school district. Although the lawsuit was settled in July when the school district agreed to pay McMillen $35,000 in damages and adopt a policy prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation, the July settlement was not part of the $81,000 payment ordered by the judge Tuesday.(CNN staff, "School District Ordered to Pay Legal Fees for Lesbian Student," CNN, October 27 2010)

Now, McMillen is treated as a heroine in the LGBT community. She is in demand everywhere. Constance has met President Barack Obama at the White House during a reception of the nation’s LGBT leaders, and she has a Facebook page called "Let Constance Take Her Girlfriend to Prom!" that has attracted more than 400,000 fans to date

Constance has big plans for her future, and it won’t involve living in rural Mississippi. “After community college, I will spend four years at Southern Mississippi University,” she said. Then she wants to come to Southern California to get a doctorate degree in psychology.(Ken Williams, "Constance McMillen: Small-town Girl Fighting for Her Rights Becomes Symbol for Young LGBT Activists," www.sdgln.com/news, July 10 2010)

“And I want a second job after college,” she said. “I want to keep being an activist. I want to find something that I can do to help others not go the ordeal that I have gone through.”

Making Money After Life - Forbes Quiz Top-Earning Dead Celebs

What are you going to be worth when you're dead? A great number of people have spent a great deal of human and financial resources calculating the composition of, prior to the decomposition of, and the worth, or worthlessness of, the human body.

When we total the monetary value of the elements in our bodies and the value of the average person's skin, we arrive at a net worth of $4.50! (www.coolquiz.com/trivia)

The U.S. Bureau of Chemistry and Soils invested many a hard-earned tax dollar in calculating the chemical and mineral composition of the human body, which breaks down as follows:

65% Oxygen

18% Carbon

10% Hydrogen

3% Nitrogen

1.5% Calcium

1% Phosphorous

0.35% Potassium

0.25% Sulfur

0.15% Sodium

0.15% Chlorine

0.05% Magnesium

0.0004% Iro

0.00004% Iodine

Additionally, it was discovered that our bodies contain trace quantities of fluorine, silicon, manganese, zinc, copper, aluminum, and arsenic. Together, all of the above amounts to less than one dollar!

Our most valuable asset is our skin, which the Japanese invested their time and money in measuring. Cut and dried, the average person is the proud owner of fourteen to eighteen square feet of skin, with the variables in this figure being height, weight, and breast size. Basing the skin's value on the selling price of cowhide, which is approximately $.25 per square foot, the value of an average person's skin is about $3.50.

This doesn't sound like a lot of money. However, some people are worth more dead than living. And many of these folks keep right on earning and earning. This is not a theme about the sad reality of a person's body. Instead, it is a report on top earning dead celebrities.

Forbes reported Michael Jackson's sudden death marked not only began a pouring out of grief around the world, but also caused fans to open their wallets to make him this year's top-earning dead celebrity with $275 million.(Lacey Rose and Dorothy Pomerantz, "Top-Earning Dead Celebrities," Forbes, October 25 2010)

Not only did Jackson make more money than all the other dead celebrities last year, but he also out-earned every person not named Oprah Winfrey on the Forbes Celebrity 100, which tallies the incomes of living entertainers. Jackson also brought in more than the year's highest-grossing music acts, U2 and AC/DC, put together. (Daniel Kreps, "Michael Jackson Named Top-Earning Dead Celebrity," Rolling Stone, October 26 2010)

"The cash flow on an annual basis is tremendous," estate lawyer Donald David told Forbes. "Sure, it's going to decline eventually, but it's going to be a huge amount in the foreseeable future. [Jackson's] kids are going to have grandkids before that money's gone."

Jackson was ranked third on last year's list with $90 million.But, during his lifetime, Jackson never even made it onto Forbes' Celebrity 100 list.

Of course, by now, everyone knows that Jackson died in his Los Angeles home on June 25 last year, shortly before a planned series of comeback concerts in London. The singer left behind three children and a debt of $500 million.

This year list makers needed to earn at least $5 million between Oct. 1, 2009, and Oct. 1, 2010. For the most part, earnings come from things like music royalties, book sales or the licensing of one’s image and likeness. To compile the list, Forbes spoke to agents, lawyers and other sources to estimate a star’s gross earnings (before taxes, management fees and other costs). (Lacey Rose and Dorothy Pomerantz, "Top-Earning Dead Celebrities," Forbes, October 25 2010)

Many dead celebrities make the bulk of their posthumous fortunes on licensing deals. Unlike their living counterparts, who can suddenly fall into a heap of trouble (such as Lindsay Lohan), dead celebrities have images--be they glamorous, rebellious or tough--that are unlikely to change.

Elvis Presley came in second, earning $60 million from admissions to his former home, Graceland, which is now a museum and tourist attraction in Memphis, Tennessee, a Cirque de Soleil show and more than 200 licensing and merchandise deals.

That leaves 11 positions open on the list. See if you can name any (all) of them without looking first. I will warn you in advance, the answers are not all easy. Report how many rich dead people you got correct. Don't worry about the exact order. This task is challenging enough. Answers are provided at the bottom of the page.

Answers:

J.R.R. Tolkien - $50 million

Charles Schulz - $33 million

John Lennon - $17 million

Stieg Larsson - $18 million

Dr. Seuss (Theodor Geisel) - 11 million
Albert Einstein - $10 million

George Steinbrenner - $8 million

Richard Rodgers - $7 million

Jimi Hendrix and Steve McQueen - tied $6 million 

Aaron Spelling - $5 million

The New Bully Survey

 

Half of U.S. high schoolers say they have bullied or teased someone at least once in the past year, and nearly half say they have been bullied in that time, one of the largest studies ever on bullying finds. The study,  released today, surveyed 43,321 teens ages 15 to 18, from 78 public and 22 private schools. It finds 50% said they had "bullied, teased or taunted someone at least once," and 47% had been "bullied, teased or taunted in a way that seriously upset me at least once."

 

Sharon Jayson reports these are among the findings from the Ethics of American Youth Survey by the Josephson Institute of Ethics, a non-profit based in Los Angeles that has surveyed teens on conduct and behavior every two years since 1992. This, however, is the group's first report on bullying. (Sharon Jayson, "Bullying Survey: Most Teens Have Hit Someone Out of Anger," USA Today, October 26 2010)

 

 

For those who study bullying, the data are "absolutely surprising and appalling," says Darcia Narvaez, associate professor of psychology at the University of Notre Dame, whose work focuses on young people's moral and character development.

Narvaez  points at child-rearing practices to find the cause. Her research has found that children today often don't get enough "positive touch" in the form of skin-to-skin contact, which she says promotes well-being, a moral sense and more empathy. She says parents are holding their kids less than in the past and instead rely more on strollers and carriers.

Narvaez offers some examples of this "positive touch": (Susan Guibert, "Psychologist Darcia Narvaez Studies Parenting Practices," University of Notre Dame: College of Arts and Letters, September 17 2010)

* Free play with multi-age playmates
* Natural childbirth

* Multiple adult caregivers

* Breastfeeding
* Prompt response to baby’s fusses and cries

Sally Kuykendall, assistant professor of health services at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia, has studied bullying for almost a decade. She says kids are getting the message that "if you have a problem, you deal with it through violence. When children are exposed to violence, they're going to think that's the way to handle problems." She believes programs such as scared straight, boot camps, and DARE do not work while programs such as Big Brothers/ Big Sisters (mentoring), visiting nurses (parenting education), Life Skills Training (substance abuse prevention), and early childhood education are more effective. ("Sally Kuykendall (Black), Ph.D", Saint Joseph's University, 2010) 

Additional Reasons For Bullying Behavior:

• Lack of communication skills;
• Desire for power;
• Attempts at increasing self concept;
• Desire for self-aggrandizement;
• Scapegoating;
• Vindictiveness;
• Over-valuing of compliance, control and hierarchy;
• Distrust of other people.

Recent research indicates that bullying has two main causes:

• The bully has difficulty with social skills, is unable to make friends easily, and thus does not know better ways to relate to others;
• Bullying is used to enhance self-concept which is defined as the way you feel about yourself. Well-balanced people enhance the way they feel about themselves through their achievements, activities and occupations. Bullies, however, have a distorted sense of how to increase their self-concept, and so engage in anti-social activities. Bullying makes them feel good about themselves and, mistakenly, they believe that engaging in it will make other people see them as powerful.

Surveys also show:

• That about 80% of people express contempt for bullying;
• But that people who have been identified as bullies believe that their bullying behavior causes them to be perceived as admirable.

(James Cook University, studies 1995-2010, January 20 2010)

Four Loko - Alcohol and Caffeine

Remember the  nine college students in Washington State who were hospitalized after ingesting date-rape drugs, cops thought? It turns out they were actually sickened by the high-alcohol caffeinated drink Four Loko, according to school officials.

About fifty Central Washington University students and friends had gathered at a party in Roslyn, Washington, where students were guzzling the beverage, nicknamed “blackout in a can.” Reportedly, many of the partygoers were underage. All nine ill students, including six women and three men, were freshmen aged 17 to 19 years and were inexperienced drinkers.. The blood alcohol levels of those taken ill ranged from .123 percent to .335 percent, while in Washington, 0.08 is the legal limit for intoxication and 0.3 can be considered lethal. (Keka Sehgal "Four Loko Blamed for Sickening Nine CWU Students," The Money Times, October 26 2010)

The legal beverage Four Loko, comes in a 23.5 ounce can, sells for about $2.50, and packs a 12 percent alcohol content making it comparable to drinking five to six beers. That's not all -- the caffeine in the drink can also suspend the effects of alcohol consumption.

Four Loko is one of those few flashy, canned drinks that take mixing out of the equation, making it that much easier for students to get dangerously intoxicated, faster. It has quickly become a rage on college campuses across the U.S. In a June 2008 study published in the Journal of American College Health, Kathleen E. Miller found that 26% of surveyed public university undergraduates reported consuming energy drinks mixed with alcohol in the past month, while about half said they'd done so more than once.

But is it that dangerous? Ramapo College in New Jersey certainly thinks so.

Peter Mercer, president of the college, called Four Loko a "cynical product" whose only purpose is to get the drinker intoxicated quickly. Others agree: Glen L. Sherman, co-chair of the Alcohol and Other Drug Knowledge Community for NASPA: Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education, said the drinks are dangerous because of their apparent targeting of underage student consumers and their high alcohol content — drinking one can of Four Loko is the approximate equivalent of drinking four beers, according to an informational page NASPA recently posted on its website. (Allie Grasgreen, "Alcohol and Caffeine Drinks: The Next Student Health Problem? USA Today,  October 25 2010)

 
The aforementioned Kathleen E. Miller, a research scientist at the Research Institute on Addictions at the State University of New York at Buffalo, has studied college students' use of energy drinks, both with and without alcohol.

"A college ban will make people take a second look and maybe they'll be more aware of what they're drinking," Miller said. "It's inherently potentially dangerous to mix caffeine and alcohol because you're sending your body mixed signals." The caffeine stimulates the system while the alcohol depresses it, making students feel less drunk than they actually are..." (Allie Grasgreen, "Alcohol and Caffeine Drinks: The Next Student Health Problem? USA Today,  October 25 2010)
 
Jaisen Freeman, a former Ohio State University hockey player started Phusion Projects, the Chicago-based maker of Four Loko. He developed it with two other OSU grads, Chris Hunter and Jeff Wright. Freeman said Phusion Projects submitted a report this summer to the FDA on why Four Loko is safe. The findings, which were based on a study conducted by scientific and food safety experts, are being reviewed by the federal agency. (Len Boselovic, "Four Loko-- 'Blackout' In a Can," Chicago Sun Times, October 23 2010)

Four Loko debuted in the US market in 2005, first in Ohio, followed by Florida/California/Illinois by mid-year, then spreading to other states. Its name is derived from its four other ingredients, caffeine, taurine (an amino acid), guarana (seeds of South American shrub, and alcohol. Now available in nine flavors -- the three original flavors (fruit punch, orange blend and grape), -- plus watermelon, blue raspberry, kiwi strawberry, lemonade, cranberry lemonade and lemon lime.

In a study in Addictive Behavior, a scientific journal, Bruce Goldberger, director of toxicology at University of Florida College of Medicine, and Dennis Thombs, a former University of Florida College of Public Health professor, wrote that college-age drinkers who'd had an energy beverage mixed with alcohol stayed in the bars later and tended to think they were capable of driving more often than those who'd only had alcohol. (Len Boselovic, "Four Loko-- 'Blackout' In a Can," Chicago Sun Times, October 23 2010) Here are their findings:

* College-age adults who had consumed energy drinks mixed with alcohol left bars later and were more likely to leave intoxicated than those who drank just alcohol.

* They also were more inclined to think they were capable of driving than those who consumed just alcohol.

Columbia University's student health service website, goaskalice.com, said caffeine's stimulating effect can make people less aware of the effects of alcohol. That can cause them to take risks that that they otherwise might not take. 

In addition, both caffeine and alcohol are diuretics, so mixing them could cause dehydration. A dehydrated body is slow to process alcohol, and that interferes with "coordination, balance and ability to regulate body temperature." (Aina Hunter, "Four Loko: Is New Party Brew 'Liquid Cocaine?'" CBS News June 17, 2010) 

Attorneys general in Connecticut, New York, California, and other states are investigating the potential health risks of the drink, along with the marketing practices used to sell it, according to the Wall Street Journal. (Andrea Kayda, "Researchers Claim You Have to be 'Loko' to Drink Four," The Ticker, 2010)

Four Loko is not the first energy drink that has stirred controversy. In 2008, MillerCoors LLC removed the caffeine from Sparks, their brand's energy-alcohol hybrid, after several states' attorneys general made a complaint to the FDA about caffeinated malt liquor. In the same year, Anheuser-Busch also announced it would discontinue these products.  However, smaller companies such as United Brands, which makes JOOSE, still manufacture them. (Brian Resnick, "Students Are Going Loco Four Loko," The Review: Delaware's Independent Student Newspaper," September 14 2010)

"It gets you really drunk really fast and it gives you a lot of energy so you're not going to be laying down and sleeping," said 18-year-old CWU freshman Hyatt Van Cotthem of Everett, Wash., who said he's tried the beverage but doesn't drink it because the taste is "nasty." He didn't attend the CWU (Washington State) party. (Shannon Dininny, "Wash. Case Raises Alcoholic Energy Drink Concerns," Yahoo News, October 26 2010)


Cotthem said that regulating such drinks would be a good idea because he's seen so many students do dumb things when drinking it. But he and a friend also questioned that the drink alone could have wreaked so much havoc. "There's no way that Four Loko caused all these people to just pass out," he said.

Perhaps the verdict is still out; however, the possible bad consequences that could develop from this product certainly outweigh any possible benefit. The combination of caffeine and alcohol is appealing to young drinkers because it's rapidly intoxicating and extremely vogue. It's consistent with that instant, cool gratification that young people crave today.

Presidents and the Last 40 Years

 
"Running a campaign to win a presidential primary can range in cost from $50 million US Dollars (USD) to over $100 million USD. By itself, this cost is already enormous. However, there’s even more that must be spent to run for president. Once the primaries are over and the nominees begin their campaigns to win the general election, an additional $75 million USD is typically spent."  (N. Madison, "How Much Does It Cost to Run for President? www.wisegeek.com, September 2010)

In some elections, candidates have decided to raise all their own money to run for president. When a candidate decides to forgo federal fund matching and raise all of his own money, he is not required to limit spending or spread funds out geographically. In fact, President George W. Bush opted to raise his own money in the 2000 election and secured about $100 million USD. This amount was actually twice the sum candidates were restricted to if they opted for federal fund matching in the 2000 election. 

What Do We Get From the Office of the Presidency?

The last 40 years of the presidency has featured some pretty infamous and unaccomplished leaders. During this time, eight different politicians have taken over the reins of the government mule, and the United States has fallen deeper into debt and, seemingly, deeper into despair.

I wonder sometimes what the American history books will publish as the major achievements while in office of each of the last eight men  Here is a list of the presidents during those years. I know this is entirely unfair and completely juvenile; however, let's play "free word" association with each name (first word that comes to mind). Trust me. I know each president has done wonderful things while in office; however, what is your FIRST word associated with each man.

	37. Richard Milhous Nixon (1969-1974) 38. Gerald Rudolph Ford (1974-1977) 39. James Earl Carter, Jr. (1977-1981) 40. Ronald Wilson Reagan (1981-1989) 41. George Herbert Walker Bush (1989-1993) 42. William Jefferson Clinton (1993-2001) 43. George Walker Bush (2001-2009) 44. Barrack Hussain Obama (2009- present)   Does your word association have any descriptive language? I know mine did. Nixon- liar; Ford- clumsy; Carter- peanuts; Reagan- conservative; George H. Bush- Iraq; Bill Clinton- blow job; George W. Bush- foolish; and Barack Obama- black. Hardly a complimentary word game for politicians and presidents. My list probably could have read: Nixon- China; Ford- Brezhnev; Carter- compassionate; Reagan- communicator; George H.- Gorbachev; Clinton- low inflation; George W.- Department of Homeland Security; and Obama- improved health care. But my first impressions were very different. I'm sure a detailed description of the power and sway of the media could account for some of my pessimism, but my distaste is more than that. Trust in the federal government rises and falls depending on levels of crime, the health of the economy, and other trends in public affairs. People in the United States harbor an overall unhappiness about the state of the nation, presidential politics, financially pressed independents, and dim views of elected officials.  A recent Pew Research Center survey reports, "Only 22 percent of those surveyed said they can trust the federal government "almost always or most of the time,"19 percent said they are "basically content" with the government, a number unchanged from recent years, while 56 percent said they are frustrated." (Huma Kahn, "Distrust In Government Skyrockets, Survey Finds," ABC News, April 19 2010) The survey also finds about 43 percent said that government had a negative effect on their daily lives, a startling jump from 13 years ago when only 31 percent expressed similar sentiments in the poll. The number of people who felt the federal government threatened their personal freedom also rose to 30 percent, up from 18 percent in a 2003 ABC News/Washington Post poll. Only 25 percent of those surveyed expressed a favorable opinion of Congress, the lowest favorable rating in this survey in a quarter century. Less than half, or 40 percent, said the administration is doing a good job. Only 17 percent said the same about Congress. "Large majorities across partisan lines see elected officials as not careful with the government's money, influenced by special interest money, overly concerned about their own careers, unwilling to compromise and out of touch with regular Americans," Pew researchers wrote. (Huma Kahn, "Distrust In Government Skyrockets, Survey Finds," ABC News, April 19 2010)  Why Do So Many Americans Hate Politic? Thomas Patterson writes in detail about the following reasons in his History News Network series Where Have All the Voters Gone? (George Mason University, November 25 2002) Link - http://hnn.us/articles/1127.html 1. They suffer a cumulative effect of negative politics, campaign after campaign 2. Politics are characterized by promises-endless promises. Unlike their predecessors in the age of party-centered politics, today's candidates are unable to campaign on broad statements of principle within the context of a reliable base of party loyalists. 3. People feel most politicians will say almost anything to get themselves elected. 4. Modern-day politics also exalts personality, increasing the likelihood that personal blunders and failings will loom large in campaigns.  5. The length of the modern campaign is also a turnoff for many   6. Politician supports cause. Business supports politician. Business supports politician's cause. It's a fact of life.

Goodnight, Sleep Tight, Don't Let the Bed Bugs Bite

Bed bugs -- they're back! According to a Rutgers University study (February, 2010) bedbugs are "a fast-growing urban pest of significant public health importance in the U.S. and many other countries." (Sid Johnston,  "Office Memo: Bed Bugs Are Back," Forbes, September 5 2010) Richard Pollack, Ph.D, an entomologist at the Harvard School of Public Health agrees. "It's a national problem," says Pollack .They've even moved out of private dwellings and into movie theaters, retail stores, libraries, firehouses and, inevitably, the workplace.Worldwide, bed bugs never went away, but they have become more common in the developed world over the past 10 years.

In a study the National Pest Management Association and the University of Kentucky have released the 2010 Comprehensive Global Bed But Study. The study suggests: "We are on the threshold of a bed bug pandemic,  not just in the United States, but around the world," according to Missy Henriksen, vice president of public affairs for NPMA. The survey is based on responses from nearly 1,000 U.S. and international pest management companies. Seventy-six percent of the respondents consider bed bugs to be more difficult to treat than cockroaches, ants or termites. (Lu-Ann Farrar, "New UK Study Finds Bed Bugs Are Back,"  Lexington Herald-Leader, August 2010)

Sid Johnson reported, "Earlier this year, Orkin, the Atlanta-based pest control company, conducted a national survey with the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) and found that 10% of bed bug reports were from commercial properties. At a bed bug conference last year, the Environmental Protection Agency said the incidence of infestation in the U.S. has tripled since 2005." ("Office Memo: Ted Bugs Are Back," Forbes, September 5 2010)  

From a Times Square movie theater to a Denver public library to a Nashville dentist's office, cimex lectularius has been invading places without welcomed invitation. Some think hotels or campuses are the only contact points with bed bugs, but retail stores, offices, schools, nursing homes and cruise ships have all faced bed bug outbreaks. They are not just an urban issue; they can just as easily invade suburban and rural spaces.



Why Are Bed Bugs Back?

Michael Potter, Ph.D., an entomologist at the University of Kentucky's College of Agriculture, believes the explanation for the new storm of bed bugs lies in a perfect storm of these element:


* Increased international travel and immigration

* Greater movement of people in general

* Changes in pest control practices

* Total lack of awareness

* Lack of vigilance

“No one is 100 percent sure why bed bugs are back,” Gangloff-Kaufmanna, a specialist at the Cornell University’s Integrated Pest Management program who has studied bed bugs for the past 10 years says. "But one theory is that exterminators are using baits for cockroaches and ants instead of sprays that may have had side effects of keeping down the bed bug population." She also noted that other pesticides that have been taken off the market may have been limiting the bed bug population. (Beth Kormanik, "Bed Bugs Are Back," www.hotelinteractive.com, September 20 2010)    

“Bed bugs are taboo,” says Gangloff-Kaufmann, . “No one wants to talk about them and no one wants to admit they have them.”

Bedbugs, a common household pest for centuries, all but vanished in the 1940s and '50s with the widespread use of DDT. But DDT was banned in 1972 as too toxic to wildlife, especially birds. Since then, the bugs have developed resistance to chemicals that replaced DDT.

Dealing With Bed Bugs

 John Laumer at Treehugger, covering the various options for dealing with the pests.

* Moving

* Baking them out with heat (113°F (45°C), at which point the bugs die)

* Constant washing

* Multiple (often ineffective) pesticide applications
  .
Laumer says DDT may become "necessary," but strongly refutes the suggestion he's seen in some quarters that "the banning of DDT use ... was somehow responsible for the recent return of the bed bug menace." In fact, he points out, "DDT was banned almost 25 years before bedbugs became resurgent." (Heather Horn, "Bedbugs Take America, America Attempts to Fight Back," The Atlantic Wire, August 18 2010)

Today, pest control methods are more focused, designed to kill a particular species (like cockroaches). Bed bugs, since they are not specifically being targeted, are slipping through the cracks.  

 
Also, exterminators have fewer weapons in their arsenal than they did just a few years ago because of a 1996 Clinton-era law that requires older pesticides to be re-evaluated based on more stringent health standards. The re-evaluations led to the restrictions on propoxur and other pesticides.

For reasons still unknown, bed bugs really seem to love the state of Ohio. The problem became so dire in Cincinnati that some people with infested apartments have resorted to sleeping on the streets. Cincinnati created a Bed bug Remediation Commission in 2007 and is trying to mobilize strategies to control infestations of bed bugs.

In August, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a consumer alert about off-label bed bug treatments, warning in particular of the dangers of using outdoor pesticides in homes. The Ohio Department of Agriculture mounted a more unusual response to the crisis: it petitioned the EPA for an exemption to allow in-home use of propoxur, a pesticide and neurotoxin banned in the 1990s out of concern for its effects on children. (Nina Burleigh, "Ohio Turns to Feds for Help in Battle Against Bedbugs," Time, August 18 2010)

Ohio asked the EPA to approve the indoor use of the pesticide propoxur, which the agency considers a probable carcinogen and banned for in-home use in 2007. About 25 other states supported Ohio’s request for an emergency exemption, but the EPA rejected Ohio's propoxur plea in June. "We believe the window

between a safe dose and a dangerous dose for a toddler is very small," says EPA pesticide chief Steven Bradbury. He said the problem is that children crawl on the floor and put their fingers in their mouths.

Meanwhile, many authorities around the country have blamed house fires on people misusing all sorts of highly flammable garden and lawn chemicals to fight bedbugs. Meridith Jessup reports, "Experts also warn that some hardware products — bug bombs, cedar oil and other natural oils — claim to be lethal but merely cause the bugs to scatter out of sight and hide in cracks in walls and floors." ("Anguish': US Grapples With Bedbugs as EPA Limits Options," www.theblaze.com, August 30 2010)

“Propoxur is not a silver bullet, and given time, bedbugs would likely become resistant to it, too,” said Lyn Garling, an entomologist at Penn State University. However, critics in the pest-control industry say the federal government is overreacting and that professional applicators can work with families to prevent children from being exposed to harmful levels of the chemical, which is more commonly used outside against roaches and crickets..

To treat bed bugs in bedding, people should place the bedding in a dryer for about thirty minutes. Treating the mattress, carpet and other areas is more complicated. People can choose from a number of treatments, including chemical sprays, steaming and flash freezing. Unfortunately, bed bug chemicals only work when they hit a bug directly. There is no lingering or residual effect.

Management at work sites can ask their employees to be vigilant about checking for bed bugs on site, while they travel and in their homes, and also to clear any excess clutter in their workspace. They can post the signs and symptoms of bed bugs in gathering areas such as the company kitchen and on the corporate Intranet.
Brian Baker, social media guru at Aon Corporation says, "When there is an outbreak, transparency and explicit directives are essential. And when bed bugs are discovered and verified, so is a quick and thorough extermination. Call it a 'a pesky version of pandemic planning.'"

Hotels are even employing bed bug-sniffing dogs to diagnose a bed bug problem. They seem to be most useful in larger areas like hotels because they can pinpoint a problem. If the dog hits on one spot, it’s likely the only spot that needs to be treated. If the dog hits on a few spots in the room, it’s probably necessary to treat the whole room. 


Hoteliers searching for other ways to deal with the issue have contacted Protect-A-Bed, which makes bed bug-proof mattress encasements. Protect-A-Bed’s most popular hospitality product is its Allerzip, a six-sided encasement that totally encapsulates the mattress. DiVito said it prevents bugs from getting into the mattress, escaping from the mattress or biting through it. At the same time, it has a porous membrane that still allows the mattress to breathe. Protect-A-Bed also offers storage and disposal bags for transporting infested encasements to the laundry. (www.protectabed.com, 2010) 

 Where Do Bed Bugs Come From?

Bed bugs are transported in people's clothes and belongings--backpacks, purses, coats and shoes, for example--but not on nails or hair (like lice). Other people then pick them up on their commute to work, from  packages, at furniture outlet locations,or from other workmates or associates.

 

In the home without a bed or a couch--two of the more predictable spots where bed bugs congregate--they could be just about anywhere -- chairs, carpeting, cubicle walls, bookshelves. They tend to prefer fabrics and wood, but they can be drawn to warmth and end up almost anywhere.

Symptoms of Bites

MedicineNet.com reveals that bed bugs bite and suck blood from humans. They are most active at night and bite any exposed areas of skin while an individual is sleeping. The face, neck, hands, and arms are common sites for bed bug bites. The bite itself is painless and is not noticed. Small, flat, or raised bumps on the skin are the most common sign; redness, swelling, and itching commonly occur. If scratched, the bite areas can become infected. A peculiarity of bed bug bites is the tendency to find several bites lined up in a row.  

Bites from bed bugs can be treated with topical emollients or corticosteroids, or victims can also take an oral antihistamine.Bed bugs have not been conclusively proven to carry infectious microbes. However, researchers have implicated bed bugs as possible vectors of American trypanosomiasis (Chagas disease). Chagas is one of the major health problems in South America

Of course, bed bugs they do carry a high emotional base note. 

Bed Bug Tidbits

The pest-control company Terminix last week released a list of the 10 most bedbug-infested U.S. cities:

1. New York
2. Philadelphia
3. Detroit
4. Cincinnati, Ohio
5. Chicago
6. Denver
7. Columbus, Ohio
8. Dayton, Ohio
9. Washington
10. Los Angeles

 Facts:

1. One bed bug can lay 7,000 eggs and multiply quickly.

2. Bed bugs usually drink blood once in about 10 days, though the children feed more often, but at the same time, an adult can live without blood for a year and children for a few months. 

3. A distinct odor in the room will also help a person know that there are numerous bed bugs in the room. 

4. Bed bugs inject an anesthetic and an anticoagulant when they bite, preventing people from feeling the bite.

Popular methods trapping bed bugs: http://www.bedbuginfo.com/bed-bug-traps-compared.php

Bed Bugs! Attack! *EMMY WINNING DOCUMENTARY* 

Bed Bugs. National Geographic Channel