Jehovah’s Witnesses Refusal of Blood Transfusions

A fundamental doctrine of the Jehovah’s Witnesses teaches that the Bible prohibits consumption, storage and transfusion of blood, including in cases of emergency. This doctrine was introduced in 1945, and has been elaborated upon since then. Although accepted by a majority of Jehovah’s Witnesses, evidence indicates a minority does not wholly endorse this doctrine. Facets of the doctrine have drawn praise and criticism from both members of the medical community and Jehovah’s Witnesses alike.
In 1964, Jehovah’s Witnesses were prohibited from obtaining transfusions for pets, from using fertilizer containing blood, and were even encouraged to write to dog food manufacturers to verify that their products were blood-free. Later that year, Jehovah’s Witnesses doctors and nurses were instructed to withhold blood transfusions from fellow Jehovah’s Witnesses. As to administering transfusions to non-members, The Watchtower stated that such a decision is “left to the Christian doctor’s own conscience.”

Islamic Niqab

A niqab is a veil which covers the face, worn by some Muslim women as a part of sartorial hijab. It is popular in the Arab countries of the Persian Gulf but it can also be found in North Africa, Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent.

Mormon Baptism of the Dead

Baptism for the dead, vicarious baptism or proxy baptism is a religious practice of baptising a living person on behalf of an individual who is dead; the living person is acting as the deceased person’s proxy. It has been practiced since 1840 in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints where it is also called temple baptism because it is performed only in dedicated temples.

The practice of dowry exists across India

This is a cultural practice rather than a religious one. The practice of dowry exists across India. Despite laws against it, the practice continues. The girl child’s dowry and wedding expenses often sends her family into a huge debt trap. As consumerism and wealth increase in India, dowry demands are growing. In rural areas, families sell their land holdings, while the urban poor sell their houses.

Most Popular Halloween Treats

 This is the time to get candies from strangers. Halloween is candy fest and it’s one day that you can indulge guilt free in treats and get away with it. Halloween surpasses even valentines day when it comes to candy. So celebrating the best day ever make your Halloween more of a treat and read on about the best candies that make you wait all year for this fright fest. Enjoy your childhood once again!

Happy Halloween ! trick or treat!

Candy Corn

This is  by far the most popular halloween treat. From pre-school to high school this treat has stood the test of time.

Shamanism

Shamanism refers to a range of traditional beliefs and practices concerned with communication with the spirit world. There are many variations in shamanism throughout the world, though there are some beliefs that are shared by all forms of shamanism. Its practitioners claim the ability to diagnose and cure human suffering and, in some societies, the ability to cause suffering. This is believed to be accomplished by traversing the axis mundi and forming a special relationship with, or gaining control over, spirits.

Jewish Kaparot

Kaparot is a traditional Jewish religious ritual that takes place around the time of the High Holidays. Classically, it is performed by grasping a live chicken by the sholder blades and moving around one’s head three times, symbolically transferring one’s sins to the chicken. The chicken is then slaughtered and donated to the poor, preferably eaten at the pre-Yom Kippur feast. In modern times, Kapparos is performed in the traditional form mostly in Haredi communities. The ritual is preceded by the reading of Psalms 107:17-20 and Job 33:23-24.

Exorcism

Exorcism is the practice of evicting demons or other evil spiritual entities from a person or place which they are believed to have possessed (taken control of). The practice is quite ancient and still part of the belief system of many religions, though it is seen mostly in the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches.

Scientology E-Meter

An E-meter is an electronic device manufactured by the Church of Scientology at their Gold Base production facility. It is used as an aid by Dianetics and Scientology counselors and counselors-in-training in some forms of auditing, the application of the techniques of Dianetics and Scientology to another or to oneself for the express purpose of addressing spiritual issues.

Mormom Temple Garments

In some denominations of the Latter Day Saint movement, the temple garment (or the Garment of the Holy Priesthood, or informally, the garment or garments) is a set of sacred underclothing worn by adult adherents who have taken part in a ritual ceremony known as washing and anointing ordinance, usually in a temple as part of the Endowment ceremony. Adherents consider them to be sacred and may be offended by public discussion of the garments. Anti-Mormon activists have publicly displayed or defaced temple garments to show their opposition to the LDS Church.

Oyster is used for a number of different groups of mollusks

The name oyster is used for a number of different groups of mollusks which grow for the most part in marine or brackish water (water that is saltier than fresh water but not as salty as sea water). The oyster is the root of an idiomatic saying “The world is your oyster”, which means that to achieve something in this world, you have to grab the opportunity. All types of oysters (and, indeed, many other shelled molluscs) can secrete pearls, but those from edible oysters have no market value. Oysters are best served raw in their own juices with a slice of lemon. Oysters have, for many years, been considered an aphrodisiac.

Matsutake is the common name for a group of mushrooms in Japan

Matsutake is the common name for a group of mushrooms in Japan. They have been an important part of Japanese cuisine for the last 1,000 years. The tradition of mushroom giving persists today in Japan’s corporate world, and a gift of matsutake is considered special and is cherished by those who receive it. The annual harvest of Matsutake in Japan is now less than 1000 tons, and it is partly made up by imports from China, Korea, and Canada; this is due to the difficulty in harvesting the mushrooms. The Japanese Matsutake at the beginning of the season, which is the highest grade, can go up to $2000 per kilogram.

Lobsters from a large family of marine crustaceans

Lobsters from a large family of marine crustaceans that nets a $1.8 billion for the seafood industry every year. They have a close family relationship with fresh water crayfish. Lobsters live on rocky, sandy, or muddy bottoms from the shoreline to beyond the edge of the continental shelf. They generally live singly in crevices or in burrows under rocks. The most common preparation of lobster is to drop the living creature into a pot of boiling water which kills it very quickly. The flesh is then served with melted butter so as to not overpower the subtle flavour of the meat.

Foie Gras

Second to caviar, foie gras is one of the finest western foods available. It is the liver of ducks (foie gras de canard) or geese (fois gras d’Oie). It is produced by a method called gravage, which is force-feeding of the animal of grain via a tube down the throat. Ducks and Geese have an anatomy that makes this painless. The liver expands to many times the normal size and contains a great deal of fat. The texture of foie gras is very similar to that of butter with a very earthy flavour. Foie gras is generally eaten as a raw pate, but is can be lightly cooked to give it a greater depth of flavour. Unfortunately this delicacy is surrounded by controversy and the sale and consumption is banned in some American cities (such as Chicago). It is freely available in all parts of Europe and the rest of the world.

Fugu is the Japanese word for pufferfish

Fugu is the Japanese word for pufferfish and is also a Japanese dish prepared from the meat of pufferfish. Pufferfish are deadly and if the fish is prepared incorrectly it can lead to death (in fact there are numerous deaths reported in Japan each year from the consumption of this delicacy). One pinhead of the pufferfish poison is sufficient to kill a full grown adult male human. It has become one of the most celebrated Japanese dishes. In order to prepare the fish for human consumption, a Japanese chef must undergo rigourous training and certification. It is normally prepared in such a way that a tiny amount of poison is left in the fish as the poison gives it a slightly numbing and tingling effect.

Bird’s Nest

The nests in question here are produced by a variety of Swifts, specifically Cave Swifts who produce the nest by spitting a chemical compound that hardens in the air. The nests are considered a delicacy in China and are one of the most expensive animal products consumed by humans. It is generally served as a soup but can also be used as a sweet. When combined with water, the hard nests take on a gelatinous texture. My own experience of Bird’s nest was in a pudding called Bird’s Nest and Almond soup – the nest was dissolved in almond milk which was served as a sweet soup. The nest tasted musty and had the texture of snot.

True Kobe Beef

True Kobe Beef (神戸ビーフ) – raised from the black Tajima-ushi breed of Wagyu cattle – is produced only in Hyōgo Prefecture in Japan. It is bred according to secret, and strict traditions. It is fed on beer and grain and produces meat so tender and fatty that it rivals foie gras in texture. The beef can cost up to $300 per pound. This breed of cow is genetically predisposed to intense marbling, and produces a higher percentage of oleaginous, unsaturated fat than any other breed of cattle known in the world. Another special trick in the production of this meat is daily massages by the human owners. I must confess to being a little envious!

Truffles are from the underground

Truffles are from the underground ascomycetes family (tubers) and are reputed for their high prices. It has an odour similar to deep fried walnuts which is extremely pungent to some people, causing a reeling effect. Interestingly, some people are unable to detect the odour of truffles (which is possibly to their advantage!) The white truffle is the most expensive of the family. They are generally served sliced into extremely thin slivers on top of other food and are frequently suffused in oil for sale as truffle-oil.

Saffron is the most expensive spice

Saffron is the most expensive spice in the world, reaching prices beyond $2,000 per pound (depending on season). Saffron is the three stigmas and style of the crocus flower. Each stigma and style must be picked by hand and it takes thousands to make a single ounce of the spice. Brightly yellow in colour, the spice is used for colouring and subtle flavouring of food. It has a bitter taste and a hay-like fragrance.

Beluga Caviar is the most expensive food

Beluga Caviar is the most expensive food item in the world, costing up to $5,000 per kilogram. Caviar is fish roe (eggs) and this particular brand comes from the Beluga Sturgeon, found mostly in the Caspian sea. It can take up to 20 years for a Beluga Sturgeon to reach its maximum size and they can weigh up to 2 tonnes. The eggs are the largest of the fish eggs used for caviar. Beluga usually ranges from purple to black, the palest being the most expensive. Beluga caviar is generally served on its own on small pieces of toast as it needs no additions of flavour to improve it. If you have not experienced eating caviar, when you bite down each egg pops and releases a slightly salty-fishy flavour.

The Chandka Forest Elephant Stampede

In the spring of 1972, the Chandka Forest area in India – already suffering from drought – was hit by a searing heat wave as well. The local elephants, who normally were no problem, became so crazed by the high temperatures and lack of water that the villagers told authorities they were afraid to venture out and to farm their land. By summer the situation had worsened. On July 10, the elephant herds went berserk and stampeded through five villages, leaving general devastation and 24 deaths in their wake.

The Basra Mass Poisoning

In September 1971 a shipment of 90,000 metric tons of seed grain arrived in the Iraqi port of Basra. The American barley and Mexican wheat – which had been chemically treated with methyl-mercury to prevent rot – were sprayed a bright pink to indicate their lethal coating, and clear warnings were printed on the bags – but only in English and Spanish. Before they could be distributed to the farmers, the bags were stolen from the docks, and the grain was sold as food to the starving populace. The Iraqi government, embarrassed at its criminal negligence or for other reasons, hushed up the story, and it was not until two years later that an American newsman came up with evidence that 6,530 hospital cases of mercury poisoning were attributable to the unsavoury affair. Officials would admit to only 459 deaths, but total fatalities were probably more like 6,000, with another 100,000 suffering such permanent effects as blindness, deafness and brain damage.

The Texas City Chain Reaction Explosions

On April 15, 1947, the French freighter Grandcamp docked at Texas City, Texas, and took on some 1,400 tons of ammonium nitrate fertiliser. That night a fire broke out in the hold of the ship. By dawn, thick black smoke had port authorities worried because the Monsanto chemical plant was only 700 ft away. As men stood on the dock watching, tugboats prepared to tow the freighter out to sea. Suddenly a ball of fire enveloped the ship. For many it was the last thing they ever saw. A great wall of flame radiated outward from the wreckage, and within minutes the Monsanto plant exploded, killing and maiming hundreds of workers and any spectators who had survived the initial blast. Most of the business district was devastated, and fires raged along the waterfront, where huge tanks of butane gas stood imperilled. Shortly after midnight, a second freighter – also carrying nitrates – exploded, and the whole sequence began again. More than 500 people died, and another 1,000 were badly injured.

The Tunguska Event

On June 30, 1908, a huge explosion occurred near the Podkamennaya (Under Rock) Tunguska River in what is now Krasnoyarsk Krai of Russia. The airburst was most likely caused by a meteor or comet fragment about 20m (60ft) across. Although the meteor or comet is considered to have burst prior to hitting the surface, this event is still referred to as an impact event. The energy of the blast was estimated to be between 10 and 20 megatons of TNT, 1,000 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, or equivalent to Castle Bravo, the most powerful nuclear bomb ever detonated by the US.
The Tunguska explosion felled an estimated 80 million trees over 2,150 square kilometers (830 sq mi). The devastation is still visible today in satellite images of the area.

The Empire State Building Crash

On Saturday morning, July 28, 1945, a veteran Army pilot took off in a B-25 light bomber from Bedford, Massachusetts, headed for Newark, New Jersey, the co-pilot and a young sailor hitching a ride were also aboard. Fog made visibility poor. About an hour later, people on the streets of midtown Manhattan became aware of the rapidly increasing roar of a plane and watched with horror as a bomber suddenly appeared out of the clouds, dodged between skyscrapers, and then plunged into the side of the Empire State Building. Pieces of plane and building fell like hail. A gaping hole was gouged in the 78th floor, one of the plane’s two engines hurtled through seven walls and came out the opposite side of the building, and the other engine shot through an elevator shaft, severing the cables and sending the car plummeting to the basement. When the plane’s fuel tank exploded, six floors were engulfed in flame, and burning gasoline streamed down the sides of the building. Fortunately, few offices were open on a Saturday, and only 11 people – plus the three occupants of the plane – died.

The Gillingham Fire Demonstration

Every year the firemen of Gillingham, in Kent, England, would construct a makeshift ‘house’ out of wood and canvas for the popular fire-fighting demonstration at the annual Gillingham Park fête. Every year, too, a few local boys were selected from many aspirants to take part in the charade. On July 11, 1929, nine boys – aged 10 to 14 – and six firemen costumed as if for a wedding party, climbed to the third floor of the ‘house’. The plan was to light a smoke fire on the first floor, rescue the ‘wedding party’ with ropes and ladders, and then set the empty house ablaze to demonstrate the use of the fire hoses. By some error, the real fire was lit first. The spectators, assuming the bodies they saw burning were dummies, cheered and clapped, while the firemen outside directed streams of water on what they knew to be a real catastrophe. All 15 people inside the house died.

The Pittsburg Gasometer Explosion

A huge cylindrical gasometer – the largest in the world at that time – located in the heart of the industrial centre of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, developed a leak. On the morning of November 14, 1927, repairmen set out to look for it – with an open-flame blowlamp. At about 10 o’clock they apparently found the leak. The tank, containing 5 million cu. ft of natural gas, rose in the air like a balloon and exploded. Chunks of metal, some weighing more than 100 lbs, were scattered great distances, and the combined effects of air pressure and fire left a square mile of devastation. Twenty-eight people were killed and hundreds were injured.

The Great Boston Molasses Flood

On January 15, 1919, the workers and residents of Boston’s North End, mostly Irish and Italian, were out enjoying the noontime sun of an unseasonably warm day. Suddenly, with only a low rumble of warning, the huge cast-iron tank of the Purity Distilling Company burst open and a great wave of raw black molasses, two storeys high, poured down Commercial Street and oozed into the adjacent waterfront area. Neither pedestrians nor horse-drawn wagons could outrun it. Two million gallons of molasses, originally destined for rum, engulfed scores of people – 21 men, women and children died of drowning or suffocation, while another 150 were injured. Buildings crumbled, and an elevated train track collapsed. Those horses not completely swallowed up were so trapped in the goo they had to be shot by the police. Sightseers who came to see the chaos couldn’t help but walk in the molasses. On their way home they spread the sticky substance throughout the city. Boston smelled of molasses for a week, and the harbour ran brown until summer.

The Shiloh Baptist Church Panic

Two thousand people, mostly black, jammed into the Shiloh Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, on September 19, 1902, to hear an address by Booker T. Washington. The brick church was new. A steep flight of stairs, enclosed in brick, led from the entrance doors to the church proper. After Washington’s speech, there was an altercation over an unoccupied seat, and the word ‘fight’ was misunderstood as ‘fire’. The congregation rose as if on cue and stampeded for the stairs. Those who reached them first were pushed from behind and fell. Others fell on top of them until the entrance was completely blocked by a pile of screaming humanity 10 ft high. Efforts by Washington and the churchmen down in the front to induce calm were fruitless, and they stood by helplessly while their brothers and sisters, mostly the latter, were trampled or suffocated to death. There was neither fire – nor even a real fight – but 115 people died.

The St. Pierre Snake Invasion

Volcanic activity on the ‘bald mountain’ towering over St Pierre, Martinique, was usually so inconsequential that no one took seriously the fresh steaming vent-holes and earth tremors during April, 1902. By early May, however, ash began to rain down continuously, and the nauseating stench of sulphur filled the air. Their homes on the mountainside made uninhabitable, more than 100 fer-de-lance snakes slithered down and invaded the mulatto quarter of St Pierre. The 6-ft long serpents killed 50 people and innumerable animals before they were finally destroyed by the town’s giant street cats. But the annihilation had only begun. On May 5, a landslide of boiling mud spilled into the sea, followed by a tsunami that killed hundreds and, three days later, May 8, Mt Pelee finally exploded, sending a murderous avalanche of white-hot lava straight toward the town. Within three minutes St Pierre was completely obliterated. Of its 30,000 population, there were only two survivors.

Masquerading as a bicycle rack

For years, employees of the God’s House Tower Archaeology Museum in Southampton, England, propped their bikes against a 27 inch black rock in the basement. In 2000, two Egyptologists investigating the Museums holdings identified the bike rack as a 7th century BC Egyptian statue portraying King Taharqa a Kushite monarch from the region that is modern Sudan. Karen Wordley, the Southampton city council’s curator of archaeological collections, said it was a “mystery” how the sculpture ended up in the Museum basement.

At a flea market

A Philadelphia financial analyst was browsing at a flea market in Adamstown, Pennsylvania, when he was attracted by a wooden picture frame. He paid $4 for it. Back at his home he removed the old torn painting in the frame and found a folded document between the canvas and the wood backing. It turned out to be a 1776 copy of the Declaration of Independence – one of 24 known to remain. On June 13, 1991, it was sold at auction for $2.4m (US)

In a trunk in an attic

In 1961 Barbara Testa, a Hollywood librarian, inherited six steamer trunks that had belonged to her grandfather, James Fraser Gluck, a Buffalo, New York, lawyer who died in 1895. Over the next three decades she gradually sifted through the contents of the trunks, until one day in Autumn of 1990 she came upon 665 pages that turned out to be the original handwritten manuscript of the first half of Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn. The two halves of the great American novel were finally reunited at the Buffalo and Eerie County Public Library.

On a wall

A middle-aged couple in a suburb of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, asked an art prospector to appraise a painting in their home. While he was there, he examined another painting that the couple had thought was a reproduction of a work by Van Gogh. It turned out to be an 1886 original. On March 10, 1991, the painting Still Life with Flowers sold at auction for $1.4m (US).

Under a bed

Joanne Perez, the widow of vaudeville performer Pepito the Spanish Clown, cleaned out the area underneath her bed and discovered the only existing copy of the pilot for the TV series I Love Lucy. Pepito had coached Lucille Ball and had guest-starred in the pilot. Ball and her husband, Desi Arnaz, had given it to Pepito as a gift in 1951 and it had remained under the bed for thirty years.