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Howl-o-ween 222

Posted by michael from the mostly-treats dept.
qaz submits a story about a remote-controlled graveyard. Supposedly this site is another computer-controlled setup, but it's not responding at the moment. Still looking for a pumpkin carving pattern (the Ellen Feiss pattern is nice too)? Or perhaps you'd prefer yet another punkin-chunking machine, a new model which has several news stories about it: here and here. And if spooky stories are more your style, everything2 is running a scary story contest (see last year's for ideas).
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Howl-o-ween More

Howl-o-ween

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  • reminds me of Ripley's (Score:4, Informative)

    by loomis ( 141922 ) on Thursday October 31, 2002 @11:20AM (#4571924)
    The Ripley's museums have those silly graveyards inside, and Ripley's also has those Haunted Adventure places. Somewhat similar.

    Loomis

  • FoxTrot Halloween (Score:5, Funny)

    by rbeattie ( 43187 ) <russ@russellbeattie.com> on Thursday October 31, 2002 @11:21AM (#4571927) Homepage
    Has everyone seen today's FoxTrot [ucomics.com]?

    "I feel like I should send Microsoft some of this."

    Heh.

    -Russ
    • A girl down the hall in my dorm put this on her door. I write back (on her marker board) that it was cute, but please don't remind me of things I have to deal with in my major ;-)

    • Re:FoxTrot Halloween (Score:5, Funny)

      by microTodd ( 240390 ) on Thursday October 31, 2002 @11:59AM (#4572092) Homepage Journal
      I actually dressed up as a BSOD one year for a halloween party. Blue face-paint and blue posterboard taped to my chest with white lettering.

      Only a few people got the joke, and most of the girls at the party thought I was a wierdo geek and ignored me.

      *sigh*

  • Halloween reading for geeks (Score:5, Funny)

    by Penguuu ( 263703 ) on Thursday October 31, 2002 @11:22AM (#4571933)
    Here [hunter.com] is scary halloween-reading for geeks :)

  • The original idea of All Hallow's Eve... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by suman28 ( 558822 ) <{moc.liamtoh} {ta} {82namus}> on Thursday October 31, 2002 @11:23AM (#4571937)
    The original story is that people were trying to keep the spirits away from your house. I don't understand why people dress up to go to others houses. This is nothing more than the candy manufacturers way of getting extra dough into their pockets.
  • Forget about ellen feiss. Id rather have everyones favorite poisonous potato [wigu.com] with this pattern [wigu.com]

  • Halloween Scavenger Hunt (Score:4, Interesting)

    by wizarddc ( 105860 ) on Thursday October 31, 2002 @11:24AM (#4571945) Homepage Journal
    No one posted this? Weird

    http://hiptop.bedope.com/ [bedope.com]

    It's a halloween scavenger hunt. The objective is to use your Hiptop mobile device, and take pictures of as many things on the list as you can. There are 5 teams (which are closed, sorry johnny-com-lately's), each vying for the fabulous prizes being awarded to the one team that score the most points (each item on the list has a point value. McDonalds is 1, White Castle 2. George W. Bush is 8, Al Gore is .5).

  • What's everyone doing? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Bobulusman ( 467474 ) on Thursday October 31, 2002 @11:26AM (#4571958)
    Is anyone bothering to dress up?

    I'm in college, so I wasn't planning to, but I found out everyone else is getting into the spirit, so I need a costume quick.

    I combed the shops this morning and this was all that was left to buy: stage blood and various color face paint. Any ideas? If I can't think of something cool I can make quickly, I just going to mix up a grey-green paint and go as a zombie.

    uuuuhhhhhhhhhhhh brrraaaaaaiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnn

    Anyway, I just want to know what cool costumes everyone else did.

  • Wow (Score:2, Funny)

    by strateego ( 598207 )
    Bristoe, a 42year-old electrician and mechanic from Ellettsville, estimates his cannon's range at about five miles.

    We only live 5 miles from the border between Canada and the USA. The drug dealer in my city should get one of those. Then they can drive along shooting their product over the border.
    • just aim for the big water tank that holds the lights that shine on the falls at night, nobody looks in ther anymore ;)

  • Pumpkin Chunking!! (Score:2, Insightful)

    by jaywhy ( 567133 )
    The do this yearly a little south of where I live. If your in the Delaware valley, you have to check it out. Theres nothing like watching a pumpkin travel a mile!

    http://www.delawareonline.com/newsjournal/local/ 20 01/11/02itsahighflyingf.html
    http://www.worldcham pionshippunkinchunkin.com/

  • coolest pumpkin carvings (Score:5, Interesting)

    by cr@ckwhore ( 165454 ) on Thursday October 31, 2002 @11:36AM (#4572003) Homepage
    Check out this guy's carvings... http://www.grumpkins.com [grumpkins.com]

    He carves giant pumpkins, and they don't look like the standard run-o-the-mill jack-o-lanterns, thats for sure!

  • I like halloween, but I like the weekend before that, Fall Back, even better!

    I am all about an extra hour of sleep:)

  • Tux pumpkin (Score:4, Funny)

    by Drath ( 50447 ) on Thursday October 31, 2002 @11:44AM (#4572036)
    Hmm. The tux pumpkin is a helpful tutorial, basically it says to make a pumpkin with tux on it all you need is:

    1.A Pumpkin
    2.Artistic Ability
    3.Expensive Software
    4.Something called a light board (sounds arty)

    Wow! Simple!

    you know, if i could draw tux i wouldn't need a kit...

    • Re:Tux pumpkin (Score:5, Funny)

      by mblase ( 200735 ) on Thursday October 31, 2002 @11:57AM (#4572087)
      Ironically, this is typical of Linux advocate's thinking.

      "All you need to run this free software is standard PC hardware! And these CDs, of course. Well, you'll probably want to partition your hard drive beforehand, too. Be sure you know the specs of your components so you can configure the OS correctly. And do you know how to configure your own broadband Internet connection? No, you can't use AOL on this, but here's a great web-based tool that's also free and you only need to compile it once or twice...."
    • > 3.Expensive Software

      Isn't this sort of hypocritical? Why would I want to pay money for software to make a Jack O'Lantern of a free operating system's mascot?
    • You misread that part. Those instructions were to make your own pattern based on a picture. They simply used Tux as their example to show how to do it. The Tux pattern is available in the article here [akamai.net].

      Hmm. The tux pumpkin is a helpful tutorial, basically it says to make a pumpkin with tux on it all you need is:

      1.A Pumpkin
      2.Artistic Ability
      3.Expensive Software
      4.Something called a light board (sounds arty)

      Wow! Simple!

    • Re:Tux pumpkin (Score:2, Interesting)

      by dwillen ( 575578 )
      I carved tux into my pumpkin on Sunday. I didn't use any fancy software. I printed out a random black and white tux gif and carved away, perhaps a little artistic ability was involved.

      Take a look for yourself! [visi.com]

  • Human counterweight trebuchet.. (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Come see the fun at the World Championship Punkin Chunkin in delaware this weekend.. ( http://www.worldchampionshippunkinchunkin.com/ )

    Air cannons are no fun..(you can't see the pumpkin from the air cannons!) medieval technology is much more interesting to watch.

    old machine: http://www.onager.net/page103.htm

    Going bigger this year.. Look for the Mankiller Mark II.. ask for James..

  • Geek scary movies (Score:3, Informative)

    by briggsb ( 217215 ) on Thursday October 31, 2002 @11:52AM (#4572070)
    Here's a list of the scariest geek movies [bbspot.com].

  • Call that a pun'kin chucker? (Score:5, Informative)

    by mblase ( 200735 ) on Thursday October 31, 2002 @11:52AM (#4572071)
    That's nothing compared to the world-record-holding Aludium Q-36 Pumpkin Modulator [pumpkincapital.com] (A "Marvin the Martian [slive.ca]" reference for those who don't watch enough Warner Bros. cartoons).
    • Incidentally, the pun'kin chucker article in the Slashdot headling quotes its creator as believing it could shoot a pumpkin five miles. I sincerely doubt it; the record-holder shoots a 5- to 10-lb. pumpkin only(!) three-quarters of a mile, and it's the size of a semi trailer. Wind resistance is pretty strong on an unaerodynamic ten-pound gourd once you get it moving.
    • Actually, no I don't. ;-)

      -Chucker
  • another story [cnn.com] about the pumpkin cannon.

    5 mile range?!

    quote "This is way too much fun to stop."

    'nuf said! lol ;-)
  • Heh, this isn't on-topic really other than it's about Halloween and /.'s favorite company, MS.

    Check out today's Foxtrot [ucomics.com], Im sure most of the ppl visiting this site will get a chuckle from it.
  • When I lived in the US, Americans seemed to call Halloween a holiday. Why? I though this very odd as I'm normally given a day off work on a holiday, yet I never observed any statutory requirements for this.

    Instead it seemed very clever marketing by companies wanted an extra cash boost in October had brainwashed everybody... perhaps through manipulation of parents by advertising at their children.

    • Because it's fun (Score:4, Insightful)

      by stefanlasiewski ( 63134 ) <slashdot AT stefanco DOT com> on Thursday October 31, 2002 @12:42PM (#4572256) Homepage Journal
      Gee whiz, don't be so negative.

      You don't need a day off to have a holiday. Some holidays are just for fun. Are all of the holidays in your country _serious_ holidays? Don't you just want to go out and play sometimes?

      Not everyone in America celebrates halloween so extremely. It's mostly celebrated by people 35 and under (with many exceptions), and is a big holiday for many college kids, geeks, artists, and people who veer from the mainstream.

      I'll give you a perspective from someone in the San Francisco, California area. Halloween is a holiday because:

      - It's fun
      - It's creative. I get to exercise my creative juices by decorate my house in spiderwebs, skeltons and blacklights. Next year I'm planning Robotic flying ghosts in my front yard.
      - It's an excuse to dress up
      - The children love it
      - It's an excuse to party. Halloween is by far the biggest holiday in the San Francisco area. In the city, you'll have parties that stretch for 10 blocks, with tens-of-thousands of people dancing and having a good time.
      - Day of the dead is tomorrow (Big holiday in Mexico and here in California).

      Now, there are historical roots to the trick-or-treating, and the dress up, and pumpkins, and the day of the dead, but I won't go into that now. (Wait, looks like you're from the UK. You should know the roots already!)
      • Holiday [m-w.com]: a day on which one is exempt from work; specifically : a day marked by a general suspension of work in commemoration of an event.

        It's not a holiday. Stop calling it that! Significant day perhaps, but not holiday! If you think it's a holiday, then you've conned.

        Another thing: why does society have to give you a reason to have fun and party and perhaps even dress up? What's wrong with doing it on some other day in the rest of the year when you're not being a sheep or have to deal with lots of other really really annoying (and often obnoxiously loud and intrusive) people? I party quite a lot, but with the people of my choice and without having other people in my face. We party on our terms, not corporations. The whole thing is just dumb for dumb unimaginative people who don't know how to have fun by themselves.

        As for the historical side: it can't even be compared.
        • The whole thing is just dumb for dumb unimaginative people who don't know how to have fun by themselves.

          Thanks for being so 'fun'. With those dictionary references, I'm sure you're a riot at parties.

          Another thing: why does society have to give you a reason to have fun and party and perhaps even dress up? What's wrong with doing it on some other day in the rest of the year when you're not being a sheep

          So tell me, in the last year, how many times did you wake up one morning and say "Today, I'm going to dress up in a costume and go to work|school|to the park|whatever!". Let me guess... zero. And I wouldn't do it either. Why? Because if I was the only person wearing a costume, I'd feel like an idiot.

          Look, Halloween gives me an excuse to dress up as a scarecrow and take my nephew out to get candy from the neighbors. We like it. It's fun. It's full of imagination and creative energy. I can't wait until I have my own kids and can take them out.

          I love making my house look haunted. I like the toys, I like the special effects.

          There is nothing wrong with communities dressing up and celebrating the same thing on the same day. Doing this does not make us 'sheep' any more then celebrating New Years on the same day. It's a fucking holiday.

          Don't like it? Fine, don't do it. Nobody's forcing you. Now go back to your 'fun'...

          You want sheep, try Valentines day. But leave my holiday the fuck alone.
        • From hyperdictionary [hyperdictionary.com]

          2. Occurring rarely; adapted for a special occasion.

          1. A consecrated day; religious anniversary; a day set apart in honor of some person, or in commemoration of some event.

          Ther is more than just your definition.
    • When I lived in the US, Americans seemed to call Halloween a holiday. Why?

      It's actually November 1 that is the holy day (Allhallowmas, or All Saints' Day), but we Americans like to move our holidays around just for fun. In this case, we have a holieve instead of a holiday.

  • http://www.artbell.com/images/fun-pumpkin01.jpg
  • I do not know why there has not been more of a net presence for the Yankee Siege [yankeesiege.com], a 55' trebuchet built by a farmer to get more people to visit his farm stand. The Christian Science Monitor [csmonitor.com] reports is as the 3rd biggest trebuchet in the world... They are slinging 200 lb pumpkins 900' into the woods! Unfortunately, there are not a lot of pictures of this contraption on the net.

    My Dad went to see it and was very impressed. I have seen the photos--I want one.

    For those in New England, this thing is in Greenfield, NH

  • Pumpkin Cannon is a scary story (Score:5, Funny)

    by Jaguar777 ( 189036 ) on Thursday October 31, 2002 @01:29PM (#4572553) Journal
    ''I intend on shooting in competition, and I'm going to change my barrel size to regulation so I can compete with the other big guns,'' he said.

    The fact that there is a "regulation" barrel size for a pumpkin shooting competition scares me.
  • They got Conan O' Brien [wardspointcemetery.com] to be part of the graveyard!

  • Ellen Feiss Pumpkin? (Score:3, Funny)

    by phong3d ( 61297 ) <phong3d@gmLISPail.com minus language> on Thursday October 31, 2002 @02:13PM (#4572933) Homepage
    "So the ghost was all like BOOBOOBOOBOOBOOBOOBOOBOO, and it was like, I dunno, scary or something?"

  • Blizzard's site (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Alex Thorpe ( 575736 )
    I know that opinion on Blizzard is divided around here, but anyone who plays Warcraft III should check out the MP3 they have on their home page. It's the WC3 units having a Halloween party, and most of the voices are the standard ones from the game, the ones you hear when you click repeatedly on the units. "Where's my drink? There's my drink. Get in my belly!" It's great!

  • The "Ellen Feiss" pattern is spooky (Score:5, Insightful)

    by burgburgburg ( 574866 ) <splisken06NO@SPAMemail.com> on Thursday October 31, 2002 @02:15PM (#4572957)
    In the "Discomforting amount of attention paid on a teenage girl, leave her alone and start meeting some adult women already" sort of a way.
  • For those whose pumpkin tastes runs less towards throwing and more towards... well... intimacy, there's Punkin Lovin [nationallampoon.com].
  • Homestar Runner's Pumpkin Carving Contest!

    http://www.homestarrunner.com/halloween2002.html [homestarrunner.com]
  • Badass Pumpkins here [grumpkins.com]

    This guy has way way way too much time on his hands ;-)

    Wait, so do I.

    -S
  • Where I live [halloweeninchico.com] they cancelled Halloween.
  • I use these patterns and carving tools year after year. This company has some great tips and cool books of patterns available. There are a few patterns free on their site each year.

    The company is Pumpkin Masters [pumpkinmasters.com].

    Unfortunately, I don't have any of my pictures on the web at this point, but I have used their tools and patterns for the past 5 years now with no failure.

  • From the pumpkin gun story:

    A story about the cannon published last week in The Herald-Times of Bloomington was picked up by The Associated Press, leading to calls from reporters as far away as Great Britain.

    I actually saw a TV news spot on this thing here in Japan...(probably from the AP spot)

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