As one of the world's oldest holidays, Halloween is still celebrated today in several countries around the globe, but it is in North America and Canada that it maintains its highest level of popularity. Every year, 65% of Americans decorate their homes and offices for Halloween. Halloween is the holiday when the most candy is sold and is second only to Christians in terms of total sales.

Austria

    In Austria, some people will leave bread, water and a lighted lamp on the table before retiring on Halloween night. The reason for this is that it was once believed such items would welcome the dead souls back to earth on a night which for the Austrians was considered to be brimming(溢)with strong cosmic energies.

Belgium

    The Belgians believe that it is unlucky for a black cat to cross one's path and also unlucky if it should enter a home or travel on a ship. The custom in Belgium on Halloween night is to light candles in memory of dead relatives.

Canada

    Modern Halloween celebrations in Canada began with the arrival of Scottish and Irish immigrants in the 1800s. Jack- O- Lantern is carved and the festivities include parties, trick-or-treating and the decorating of homes with pumpkins and corn stalks.

France

    Unlike most nation of the world, Halloween is not celebrated by the French in order to honor the dead and departed ancestors. It is regarded as an “American” holiday in France and was unknown in the country until around 1996.

    Internet Security Awareness

    MS-ISAC

    “Kids Safe Online”

    2017 Virginia Poster Contest(比赛)

    Official Rules

    Contestants

    The contest is open to all Virginia public, private Kindergarteners -12 in the United States, District of Columbia and the U.S. Territories (领土).

    Judging Criteria

    Posters will be judged on the following criteria:

    Clear message conveyed by the text and artwork

    Creativity, originality and artistic quality

    Visual clarity - easily read

    Bright and colorful

    Must not use published materials.

    Winners

    Virginia will select the top 5 winning posters from each grade group (K-5, 6-8, 9-12) and send them to the National Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC) Internet Security Awareness Poster Contest. The Virginia winners will receive a certificate of appreciation. MS- ISAC will select four winners in each grade and award a prize. These winners will have the honor of having their artwork made into a poster calendar which will be handed out throughout the country and may also be used in campaigns to raise awareness among children of all ages about the Internet.

    Posters will not be returned!

    Deadline

    All posters must be received by midnight, Jan. 6, 2017.

    Poster should be mailed to:

    Kids Safe Online Poster Contest Virginia Information Technology Agency Commonwealth Security & Risk Management

    11751 Meadowville Lane Chester, VA 23836

    Electronic posters can be sent to: CommonwealthSecurity@virginia.gov

    Contest Timeline

    Now through Jan. 6, 2017

    Students create their posters and the school can choose up to 15 posters to send to VITA by midnight January 6, 2017.

    No Later than Jan. 27, 2017

    Virginia posters will be judged and the top 15 posters will be sent to MS-ISAC for national judging.

    Jan. 30 to March 3, 2017,

    MS-ISAC will perform national judging. Winners will be declared no later than March 24, 2017

    John is a mechanic, but he lost his job a few months ago. He has good heart, but always feared applying for a new job.

    One day, he gathered up all his strength and decided to attend a job interview. His appointment was at 10 am and it was already 8:30. While waiting for a bus to the office where he was supposed to be interviewed, he saw an elderly man wildly kicking the tyre(轮胎) of his car. Obviously there was something wrong with the car. John immediately went up to lend him a hand. When John finished working on the car, the old man asked him how much he should pay for the service. John said there was no need to pay him; he just helped someone in need, and he had to rush for an interview. Then the old man said, "Well, I could take you to the office for your interview. It's the least I could do. Please. I insist." John agreed.

    Upon arrival, John found a long line of applications waiting to be interviewed. John still had some grease(油脂) on him after the car repair, but he did not have much time to wash it off or have a change of shirt. One by one, the applicants left the interviewer's office with disappointed look on their faces. Finally his name was called. The interviewer was sitting on a large chair facing the office window. Rocking the chair back and forth, he asked, "Do you really need to be interviewed?" John's heart sank. "With the way I look now, how could I possibly pass this interview?" he thought to himself.

    Then the interviewer turned the chair and to John's surprise, it was the old man he helped earlier in the morning. It turned out he was the General Manager of the company.

    "Sorry I had to keep you waiting, but I was pretty sure I made the right decision to have you as part of our workforce before you even stepped into the office. I just know you'd be a trustworthy worker. Congratulations!" John sat down and they shared a cup of well-deserved coffee as he landed himself a new job.

    Experts like to say the best form of exercise is whatever kind you'll actually do. But that may not always be the case; new research finds that people who combine exercise with their social lives may be at an advantage over solitary（独自） exercisers. Tennis, badminton and soccer are all better for longevity(长寿) than cycling, swimming, jogging or gym exercise, according to the research.

    The study was based on data from about 8,500 adults who were part of the Copenhagen City Heart Study. They completed a health and lifestyle questionnaire, which included questions about type and frequency of physical activity, and were monitored by the researchers for around 25 years, a period during which about 4,500 of the subjects died.

    Tennis came out on top in the research. Compared with people sitting all day, those who reported playing tennis as their main form of exercise could expect to add 9.7 years to their life time, followed by badminton (6.2 years), soccer (4.7 years), cycling (3.7 years), swimming (3.4 years), jogging (3.2 years) and health-club activities (1.5 years).

    Tennis likely took the top spot because "it's very interactive," says study co-author Dr. James O'Keefe, a physician at Saint Luke's Mid America Heart Institute. "At every point you're talking. It's just a very natural way to emotionally bond with people, besides getting your exercise." But he adds that the study may not have been able to fully account for the fact that wealthier, better-educated people—who tend to be healthier to begin with—may be more likely to play tennis.

    Activities like running and weight lifting still extend your life and offer plenty of other health benefits. But for the best possible benefits, O'Keefe says gym-goers may want to consider combining those workouts with activities that foster social connection.

    O'Keefe, whose exercise typically includes running and weight lifting, says he's even changed his own behavior because of the study: he and his family have taken up badminton.

    "You can't play badminton without feeling like a kid again," he says. "It's just pure fun."

An Invisible Smile

    Mr Dawson was an old man who always complained a lot, and everyone in town knew it. Kids ever went into his yard to pick a delicious apple. Old Dawson, they said, would come after them with his gun.

    One Friday, 12-year-old Janet was going to stay all night with her friend Amy. They had to walk by Dawson's house on the way to Amy's house, but as they got close, Janet saw him sitting on his front porch and suggested they cross over to the other side of the street. Like most of the children，Janet was scared of the old man.

    Amy said not to worry, Mr Dawson wouldn't hurt anyone. Still, Janet was growing more nervous with each step closer to the old man's house. When they got close enough, Dawson looked up with his usual frown, but when he saw it was Amy, a broad smile changed his entire face as he said, “Hello, Miss Amy. I see you've got a little friend with you today. ”

    Amy smiled back and told him Janet was staying overnight and they were going to listen to music and play games. Mr Dawson said that sounded fun and offered them each a fresh picked apple off his tree. They gladly accepted. Mr Dawson had the best apples in the whole town.

    When they left, Janet asked Amy, “Everyone says he's the meanest man in town. How come he was so nice to us?”

    Amy explained that when she first started walking past his house he wasn't very friendly and she was afraid of him, but she pretended he was wearing an invisible smile and so she always smiled back at him. It took a while, but one day he half-smiled back at her.

    After some more time, he started smiling real smiles and then started talking to her. Just a “hello” at first, then more. She said he always offered her an apple and was always very kind.

    “An invisible smile? ”questioned Janet.

    “Yes,”answered Amy, “my grandma told me that if I pretended I wasn't afraid and pretended he was smiling an invisible smile at me and I smiled back at him, sooner or later he would really smile. Grandma says smiles are contagious.”

If we remember what Amy's grandma said — everyone wears an invisible smile, we too will find that we're always on the go trying to accomplish so much, aren't we? It's so easy to get caught up in everyday life that we forget how simple it can be to bring cheer to ourselves and others. Giving a smile away takes so little effort and time. Let's make sure that we're not the ones that others have to pretend to be wearing an invisible smile.

    There are many programs for high school students today that help lonely teenagers deal with loneliness. However, loneliness is not only a problem for teens but also an important and rarely acknowledged one in the elderly.

    In Britain, Tracey Crouch was appointed to be the first Minister of Loneliness in order to address the problems caused by loneliness. This is the first time such a position has been created.

    In Britain, there are around 9 million people who say they are lonely frequently. In Germany, a study conducted by Ruhr University Bochum found that 20 percent of people over the age of 85 felt lonely, and 14 percent of those between age 45 and 65 felt socially lonely. In the United States, more than 25 percent of the population live alone, more than 50 percent are unmarried.

    Loneliness is generally associated with heart disease  overweight, and anxiety. Additionally, the stress from loneliness can cause your cells to change on a molecular (分子) level that reduces its abilities to defend your body against diseases. In fact, doctors believe having feelings of loneliness is equivalent to smoking 15 cigarettes per day in regard to its effect on health!

    In Britain, the new Minister of Loneliness will help introduce government policies on the problem and fund a charity—an organization for helping people in need, to devote their efforts towards aiding loneliness. There are charities that link lonely seniors to high school students in order to give them a line of communication whenever they feel lonely!

    The possibilities for the new Minister of Loneliness are endless. For example, she can provide education services to household businesses so that they can identify lonely customers if they see one. Loneliness fits into the category of being a social problem that must be monitored by the entire community in order to help those in need. Therefore, government involvement in medical services and care for seniors and others is vital for happy seniors.