Hallowen

Halloween (also spelled Hallowe'en) is an annual holiday celebrated on October 31. It has roots in the Celtic festival of Samhain and the Christian holy day of All Saints. It is largely a secular celebration but some have expressed strong feelings about perceived religious overtones.[1][2][3]
The day is often associated with the colors black and orange, and is strongly associated with symbols like the jack-o'-lantern. Halloween activities include trick-or-treating, wearing costumes and attending costume parties, ghost tours, bonfires, visiting haunted attractions, pranks, telling scary stories, and watching horror films.
History

Halloween has origins in the ancient festival known as Samhain (pronounced sow-in or sau-an),^[4][5] which is derived from Old Irish and means roughly "summer's end".^[5] This was a Gaelic festival celebrated mainly in Ireland andScotland. However, similar festivals were held by other Celts – for example the festival of Calan Gaeaf (pronounced kalan-geyf) which was held by the ancient Britons.

The festival of Samhain celebrates the end of the "lighter half" of the year and beginning of the "darker half", and is sometimes^[6] regarded as the "Celtic New Year".

The celebration has some elements of a festival of the dead. The ancient Celts believed that the border between this world and the Otherworld became thin on Samhain, allowing spirits (both harmless and harmful) to pass through. The family's ancestors were honoured and invited home whilst harmful spirits were warded off. It is believed that the need to ward off harmful spirits led to the wearing of costumes and masks. Their purpose was to disguise oneself as a harmful spirit and thus avoid harm. In Scotland the spirits were impersonated by young men dressed in white with masked, veiled or blackened faces.

Samhain was also a time to take stock of food supplies and slaughter livestock for winter stores. Bonfires played a large part in the festivities. All other fires were doused and each home lit their hearth from the bonfire. The bones of slaughtered livestock were cast into its flames.

Sometimes two bonfires would be built side-by-side, and people and their livestock would walk between them as a cleansing ritual.

Costume sales

BIGresearch conducted a survey for the National Retail Federation in the United States and found that 53.3% of consumers planned to buy a costume for Halloween 2005, spending $38.11 on average (up $10 from the year before). They were also expected to spend $4.96 billion in 2006, up significantly from just $3.3 billion the previous year.

Portrait Photos

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From Miss Universe 2009

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What's Digital Photography

Digital photography, as opposed to film photography, uses electronic devices to record and capture the image as binary data. As such, the images can be displayed, printed, stored, manipulated, transmitted and archived using various kinds of digital technology, including personal computers and the Internet. On the digital camera itself it is possible to view the recorded images immediately and to delete the ones not wanted.

Digital cameras now outsell film cameras and include features that are not found in film cameras such as the capacity to store many more images on a memory device than on a roll of film, the ability to record video with sound and functions to automatically and manually make edits to images and even delete images. Digital cameras in various forms are now found a a great number of devices ranging from PDAs and mobile phones to vehicles through and even in space on the Hubble Space Telescope.

A digital camera is an electronic device used to capture and storephotographs digitally, instead of using photographic film like conventionalcameras, or recording images in an analog format to magnetic tape like manyvideo cameras.

Modern compact digital cameras are typically multifunctional, with some devices capable of recording sound and/or video as well as photographs. In theWestern market, digital cameras now outsell their 35 mm film counterparts.

BANTAENG, SULAWESI SELATAN

Keindahan alam pantai di Kabupaten Bantaeng, Sulawesi Selatan, sangatlah indah. Secara geografis Kabupaten Bantaeng terletak pada titik 5^o21'23"-5^o35'26" lintang selatan dan 119^o51'42"-120^o5'26"bujur timur. Berjarak 125 Km kearah selatan dari Ibukota Propinsi Sulawesi Selatan. Luas wilayahnya mencapai 395,83 Km2, dengan jumlah penduduk 170.057 jiwa (2006) dengan rincian Laki-laki sebanyak 82.605 jiwa dan perempuan 87.452 jiwa. Terbagi atas 8 kecamatan serta 46 desa dan 21 kelurahan. Pada bagian utara daerah ini terdapat dataran tinggi yang meliputi pegunungan Lompobattang. Sedangkan di bagian selatan membujur dari barat ke timur terdapat dataran rendah yang meliputi pesisir pantai dan persawahan.

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Batik Cigugur Kuningan

Batik Paseban Cigugur Kuningan, saat ini semakin menampakkan diri. Selama beberapa tahun Pangeran Djatikusumah melakukan penelusuran untuk menghidupkan kembali warisan tersebut.

Batik Paseban memiliki karakter yang berbeda dengan batik yang telah ada di Jawa Barat, khususnya Garut dan Cirebon yang terkenal dengan motif Wadasan. Motif-motif yang telah direproduksi dari hasil penggalian, sepeti Mayang Segara, Geger Sunten, Oyod Minggang, Aduh Manis, Sekar Galu dan Rereng Kujang.

Batik Paseban Cigugur Kuningan, now increasingly appearing. For many years Prince Djatikusumah scanning to revive the heritage. Batik Paseban has a different character with the existing batik in West Java, like Cirebon and Garut in particular the famous Wadasan motives. Motives which have been reproduced from the excavation, a chest of Mayang Segara, Geger Sunten, Oyod Minggang, Aduh Manis, Sekar Galu dan Rereng Kujang.