The Story of Halloween

Halloween is one of the oldest holidays with origins going back thousands of
years. The holiday we know as Halloween has had many influences from many
cultures over the centuries. From the Roman's Pomona Day, to the Celtic festival
of Samhain, to the Christian holidays of All Saints and All Souls Days.

Hundreds of years ago in what is now Great Britain and Northern France, lived the
Celtics. The Celtics worshipped nature and had many gods, with the sun god as
their favorite. It was "he" who commanded their work and their rest times, and who
made the earth beautiful and the crops grow. The Celtics celebrated their New
Year on November 1st. It was celebrated every year with a festival and marked the
end of the "season of the sun" and the beginning of "the season of darkness and
cold." On the eve before their new year (October 31), it was believed that all the
dead people were called together . The dead would take different forms, with the
bad spirits taking the form of animals. The most evil taking the form of cats. On
October 31st after the crops were all harvested and stored for the long winter the
cooking fires in the homes would be extinguished. The Druids, the Celtic priests,
would meet in the hilltop in the dark oak forest (oak trees were considered sacred).
The Druids would light new fires and offer sacrifices of crops and animals. As they
danced around the the fires, the season of the sun passed and the season of
darkness would begin.

When the morning arrived the Druids would give an ember from their fires to each
family who would then take them home to start new cooking fires. These fires
would keep the homes warm and free from evil spirits. The November 1st festival
was named after Samhain and honored both the sun god and Samhain. The festival
would last for 3 days. Many people would parade in costumes made from the skins
and heads of their animals. This festival would become the first Halloween. During
the first century the Romans invaded Britain. They brought with them many of
their festivals and customs. One of these was the festival know as Pomona Day,
named for their goddess of fruits and gardens. It was also celebrated around the 1st
of November. After hundreds of years of Roman rule the customs of the Celtic's
Samhain festival and the Roman Pomona Day mixed becoming 1 major fall
holiday.

The Halloween we celebrate today includes all of these influences, Pomona Day's
apples, nuts, and harvest, the Festival of Sanhain's black cats, magic, evil spirits
and death, and the ghosts, skeletons and skulls from All Saint's Day and All Soul's
Day.
 Wasington DC

Washington DC is the capital of the united states. The city and the district
are located on the banks of the Potomac river and bordered by the states of
Virginia and Maryland . The city was planned and developed in the late 18th
century to serve as the permanent national capital. It is a centre of American
history and culture, Washington is a popular destination for tourists, the site of
numerous national landmark and monuments, the world’s largest museum
complex, galleries, universities, cathedrals, performing arts centers and institutions,
and native music scenes

Wasington is home to numerous national landmarks and is one of the most

popular tourist destinatioin the united states. The National mall is a large,open park
area in the centre of the city featuring many monuments to America leaders. It also
serves to connect the white house and the United states capitol buildings. Located
prominently in the centre of the mall is in the wasington Monument. Other notable
points of interest near the mall include Jefferson memorial, Lincoln memorial,
franklin Delano rosevelt memorial, national world war II memorial, Korean war
veterans.

The Library of congress and the national archieves house thousands of

documents covering every period in American history. Some of the more notable
documents in the National Archives include the Declaration of independence,
consitutions and the bill of right.

Other points of interest in the district include arena stage, Chinatown,

basilica of the national shirine of the immaculate conception , the Ukrainian
catholic national shrine of the national Holy Family and more.
 Global Warming

What Causes Global Warming?

Scientists have spent decades figuring out what is causing global warming. They've
looked at the natural cycles and events that are known to influence climate. But the
amount and pattern of warming that's been measured can't be explained by these
factors alone. The only way to explain the pattern is to include the effect of
greenhouse gases (GHGs) emitted by humans.

To bring all this information together, the United Nations formed a group of
scientists called the International Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC. The IPCC
meets every few years to review the latest scientific findings and write a report
summarizing all that is known about global warming. Each report represents a
consensus, or agreement, among hundreds of leading scientists.

One of the first things scientists learned is that there are several greenhouse gases
responsible for warming, and humans emit them in a variety of ways. Most come
from the combustion of fossil fuels in cars, factories and electricity production.
The gas responsible for the most warming is carbon dioxide, also called CO2.
Other contributors include methane released from landfills and agriculture
(especially from the digestive systems of grazing animals), nitrous oxide from
fertilizers, gases used for refrigeration and industrial processes, and the loss of
forests that would otherwise store CO2.

Different greenhouse gases have very different heat-trapping abilities. Some of

them can even trap more heat than CO2. A molecule of methane produces more
than 20 times the warming of a molecule of CO2. Nitrous oxide is 300 times more
powerful than CO2. Other gases, such as chlorofluorocarbons (which have been
banned in much of the world because they also degrade the ozone layer), have
heat-trapping potential thousands of times greater than CO2. But because their
concentrations are much lower than CO2, none of these gases adds as much
warmth to the atmosphere as CO2 does.

In order to understand the effects of all the gases together, scientists tend to talk
about all greenhouse gases in terms of the equivalent amount of CO2. Since 1990,
yearly emissions have gone up by about 6 billion metric tons of "carbon dioxide
equivalent" worldwide, more than a 20% increase.
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