NBC's 'Grimm' Premiere: What the Viewers Are Saying

"I'm totally hooked," opines one of the fairy-tale-themed procedural, while another claims it is "by the numbers."

Scott Green/NBC

Viewers got their first look at NBC's new fairy-tale-themed procedural Grimm on Friday night.

The show centers on a Portland homicide detective named Nick (David Giuntoli), who is leading a normal life with his fiancee, Juliette (Bitsie Tulloch), and his partner, Hank (Russell Hornsby). Then one day, he starts seeing bizarre things -- like a businesswoman glance at him and flash momentarily into a zombie, a perp flash into some kind of serpent and a guy out getting his mail flash into a werewolf.

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It turns out that the monsters from the Grimm fairy tales really do exist, and Nick, who turns out to be a descendant of the Grimm family line, inherits the ability to find and fight off the creatures.

So what did viewers think of the pilot episode, which got off to a good start in the ratings despite airing opposite Game 7 of the World Series? Many of them hit Twitter to share their opinions, where they also compared it to another new fairy-tale-themed drama, ABC's Once Upon a Time.

Box office update: 'Puss in Boots' the cat's meow on Friday with $9.6 million

Image Credit: Dreamworks Animation LLC

Dreamworks Animation’s Shrek-spinoff Puss in Boots got off to a decent start at the box office on Friday, scratching up the competition and topping the chart with an estimated $9.6 million.

That opening number puts Puss well behind other Dreamworks pictures like Kung Fu Panda 2, which started with $13.1 million on its way to a $47.7 million weekend, and How To Train Your Dragon, which earned $12.1 million on Friday and scored $43.7 million in its opening frame. If Puss in Boots can score a similar 3.5 weekend multiplier (which may be difficult with a giant snowstorm hitting the Northeast), it could pull in $34 million this weekend, and while that is an impressive-sounding number, we must remember that Puss in Boots came with a hefty $130 million pricetag.

In second, last weekend’s chart topper, Paranormal Activity 3, dropped by a scary 75 percent to $6.5 million on Friday, but given how inflated its opening day was last week, that drop should level out to about 60 percent over the rest of the weekend — pretty standard for a horror sequel. Paranormal Activity 3 may have earned about $20 million by Sunday’s end, which would lift its total to $82 million.

Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried’s psychological thriller In Time started off in third place with $4.3 million, which is well below the $6.8 million that Timberlake’s last film, Friends With Benefits, earned on opening day. The $40 million film is looking at a lackluster $13 million frame.

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Speaking of lackluster, Johnny Depp’s latest, The Rum Diary, earned only $1.9 million yesterday. Depp’s $50 million vehicle may begin with just $5.5 million. Someone get that guy a drink! Close behind in fifth, Footloose grossed another $1.8 million, and it could be headed to a $6 million weekend, which would bring its cume to just under $40 million.

The weekend’s other new opener, Anonymous, grossed $315,000 out of 265 theaters. The Shakespeare speculation piece is looking at a $1 million weekend. Maybe Sony shouldn’t have gone with a platform release strategy for this one….

FOX Rebooting ‘In Living Color’ With Two Half-Hour Specials

In Living Color, Keenen Ivory Wayans’ answer to Saturday Night Live, is getting the reboot treatment from FOX. The network intends to re-launch the series, should the two planned half-hour specials  prove to be a success.
 
The series - which made household name out of several comedians like Jim Carrey, David Alan Grier and Academy Award-winning actor Jamie Foxx - also launched the careers of Wayans’ siblings: Damon, Shawn, Kim and eventual G.I. Joe star, Marlon

Grimm: Pilot Review

 The Outhouse reviews the first episode of Grimm!  How is it and how does it compare to Once Upon a Time?

Grimm was the second fantasy television series to debut this week that focused heavily on fairy tale elements set in the modern day. While Once Upon a Time took many of its characters straight out of the fairy tales and placed them into a modern setting, NBC's Grimm took a slightly different approach, using the fairy tales more as a starting point/inspiration to build the show's mythology upon rather than actually using the characters themselves.

Grimm stars David Giuntoli as Nick Burnhardt, a detective from Portland, Oregon who sees an attractive executive briefly transform into a grotesque zombie-like creature. Nick and his partner, Hank Griffin, played by Russell Hornsby, begin to investigate the violent death of a local college girl. After a futile search, Nick goes home to propose to his girlfriend, Juliette (Bitsie Tulloch) but is surprised to see his Aunt Marie (Kate Burton) at his home. Marie is dying of an unspecified illness (probably cancer) and tells Nick that he is a Grimm, a person who can see supernatural creatures for who they really are. Being a Grimm is a hereditary trait and the abilities are passed along to another family member shortly before a Grimm dies. Before Marie goes into much detail, a trollish creature named Holda, who injures Marie before being gunned down by Nick, attacks the two.

Marie is taken to the hospital, where she gives Nick an antique green key and tells Nick to look in her antique Airstream trailer, parked outside of Nick's home, for more answers. The trailer is filled with weaponry, knick-knacks and a large book with pictures of the many creatures that apparently inhabit our world. However, Nick's search for answers is cut off by Juliette, whom Nick is reluctant to tell anything.

The next day, Hank informs his partner that they've traced a bootprint found at the scene of homicide to a specific type of boot. That type of boot happens to be worn by a postman who's oddly attracted to the color red. After said postman captures a young girl, Nick and Hank are called in to investigate the girl's disappearance, believing that it might be linked to the homicide they're currently investigating. Hank and Nick discover the girl's backpack in the park and follows a set of bootprints to the house of Eddie Monroe (Silas Weir Mitchell), who Nick discovers is a wolfman-like creature.

The police futilely search Eddie house on Nick's suspicions but find nothing. Nick is not convinced and stakes out Eddie's home. However, Eddie notices Nick watching him pee and confronts the cop, explaining that he is a reformed "Blubodden" (or a big, bad wolf) who doesn't kill for pleasure and reveals that there are many supernatural creatures like him in the city, most of whom are aware of the Grimms and have been raised to be fearful of them. Nick recruits Eddie to help him in his search for the killer, as Eddie is able to detect other wolfmen with his heightened senses. Eddie traces the killer to a secluded cabin, but refuses to go inside out of fear that he might lose control and attack Nick or the girl being held inside.

Nick turns to Hank for help, who reluctantly assists in interrogating the postman. The postman, who has inexplicably hidden his boots and gagged the young girl and imprisoned her in a hidden room, appears to be a mild-mannered needlepointing postman with nothing to hide. However, Hank realizes that he's the killer after hearing him hum "Sweet Things" by the Eurythmics, which the first murder victim was listening to before she was killed. A short scuffle ensues, leading Hank to shoot the postman and Nick to find the little girl.

The episode ends with Nick visiting his aunt in the hospital to monologue about how being a Grimm could change his life. A doctor walks into to inject Marie with a sinister looking fluid before being stopped by Nick, who recognizes her as the woman he saw at the beginning of the episode. The woman stabs Nick with the syringe and escapes the hospital, making a getaway in a car driven by Nick's boss, the captain of the police force, who orders the woman to make another attempt on Marie's life.

The pilot episode of Grimm is a decent opener to a series that lays out everything for the viewers in a straightforward fashion. The episode felt very much like a procedural cop show such as Criminal Minds mixed with a slight dash of Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Supernatural. I enjoyed most of the scenes with Hank and Eddie and felt that they provided most of the acting strength in the show. Grimm also presented an interesting mythology that looks to be much more complex than Once Upon a Time's. However, there's plenty of room for improvement. David Giuntoli was a rather lifeless lead and it was a little unusual to see both bad guys taken out so easily with a few bullets. The show also didn't properly explain why the Grimms exist and what's so evil about the monsters they hunt down. While the procedural aspects were a little dull at times, the show's premise was interesting enough and left enough of an impression on me to watch at least a few more episodes to see where the story goes.

Overall, I enjoyed Grimm and will tune in next week. While it didn't quite hold my interest as much as Once Upon a Time, I feel that this show has more of a chance to grow into something stronger since Once Upon a Time has a very specific direction towards an endpoint already mentioned in the first episode. With a little work, Grimm could become the next Chuck, an NBC show with a solid fanbase that defies expectations and lasts much longer than anyone expects.

Daylight Savings 2011

On Sunday November 6 2011 we are told to turn our clocks back one hour at 2 AM.

Most people kept forgetting if  the clocks were supposed to go backwards or forwards that important day, so we invented the tidy sayings “spring ahead” and  ”fall back”. As well most of us can’t even remember which day we are supposed change the clocks, as the date seems to keep changing. If most of us can’t even remember the date, and which direction to turn the clocks without a slogan, maybe we should just forget the whole thing and have a holiday that day instead.

Since I cycle year round and really like riding in daylight, I never could really figure out daylight savings. First it really doesn’t seem to save any daylight. If its dark now at 6 PM it will be dark next weekend already at 5 PM when we “fall back”. Yes its true that it will be light at 7 AM instead of 8 AM but where do we save? I ride in the same amount of darkness either way?


I guess on the flip side is the summer. In the summer, daylight saving time makes the sun set an hour later, reducing electricity uses for lighting and appliances in the evening, as we can stay outside later, and bedtime comes closer to sunset. But the sun sets later in the summer anyways.  Since its a Government instigated protocol to change our clocks that may possibly explain the confusion.

The other thing I cant figure out is why is it at 2 AM. I mean who gets up at 2 AM to change the clocks? If you have as many digital clocks as I do it’s a real hassle altogether and could take until at least 2:30 so the sleep we gain we actually lost changing the clocks at 2 AM.



Apparently other Countries and even Arizona feel the same way as me. Arizona chose to be exempt from DST. The entire state does not observe DST with the exception of the large Navajo Indian Reservation. I am really happy to hear that because from October to end of November next year I cross from San Diego to Miami by bike.  I should be in Arizona about this time and wont have to change my watch!

So who is in and who is out? Equatorial and tropical Countries do not observe daylight savings time either. Likely as the sun rises and sets the same time each day all year the closer to the equator you are. But China does not observe daylight savings time and last time I checked they were about the same general latitude of North America. China quit getting up at 2AM to change the clocks in 1991.  Some areas of Canada are not using Daylight Saving Time as well, Fort St. John, Charlie Lake, Taylor and Dawson Creek in British Columbia, Creston in the East Kootenays, and most of Saskatchewan . It was not until this year that Newfoundland and Labrador got on board with the rest of us 2 AM clock changers in Canada, as previously Newfoundland and Labrador began and ended Daylight Saving Time at the more decent time of one minute after midnight (12:01 a.m.) local time.

Australia can’t really decide, the northern part of the country does not follow DST, the southern part does. Unfortunately when I cross Australia by bike I will follow the southern route from Perth to Sydney as I continue my global circumnavigation, and likely will have to change my watch along the way.

Either way I will still cycle all winter hoping one day we can figure out a way to change the clocks to really give us more light !

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Blue(DSTobserved) Orange(no longer) Red (never observed)

World Series MVP David Freese and Devils' Cam Janssen are St. Louis friends

Christian Petersen/Getty ImagesDevils winger Cam Janssen (25) is friends with World Series MVP David Freese.

DALLAS -- Devils right winger Cam Janssen has a close connection to the World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals.

The St. Louis native is good friends with World Series MVP David Freese.

"I know David real well. He's a hometown boy, a good kid," said Janssen, a St. Louis native. "He deserves all this. He's going to take that team to another level in the future. He's very gifted. Couldn't happen to a better guy."

Janssen and Freese have done charity work together in St. Louis.

"He takes care of me and anytime he needed hockey tickets when I played in St. Louis I took care of him," Janssen said. "I just know him from the growing up. St. Louis is a small town. We did charity work and exchanged numbers.

"Lafayette high school is right near Eureka. Big rivalry. You just heard about him, just like he heard about me growing up doing my thing. That's got to be the coolest thing to happen for a kid like that. No matter happens from here on in, St. Louis will always remember for bringing a World Series win."

And the Cardinals?

"It was unbelievable. They never gave up," Janssen said. "But I'll tell you what. The city was kind of dogging on them at the end of the summer. They kept sticking with it and inched their way in."

* * *
Coach Pete DeBoer confirmed that Rod Pelley, Mark Fraser and Eric Boulton would be scratches.
Keith Kinkaid will dress as backup for Johan Hedberg as Martin Brodeur continues to recover from a right shoulder injury.

* * *
DeBoer would like to see the Devils end the road trip with a victory.

"For sure. We played one excellent game and one game which wasn't terrible, but we got away from some of the things that make us successful," he said. "This can be a real good road if we get a win today. Anyone would take two out of three on a swing through the west."

Zach Parise said: "We almost saw two different teams in L.A. and Phoenix."

Rangers Fail to Rewrite Their History

For years, the decorations at the Texas Rangers’ spring training complex in Surprise, Ariz., were all wrong. Like every organization, the Rangers hoped to establish a winning tradition. But they could not display photos of playoff celebrations, because they never won a postseason series until last fall.

As a result, said Jon Daniels, the Rangers’ general manager since 2005, the team was best known for individual achievements. Texas players had won several Most Valuable Player awards, thrown a few no-hitters, collected batting titles and Gold Gloves. But as inspiration for young players, the images were hollow.

“We always had the pictures of the best players and the best moments in franchise history, and the reality is, as we get better moments, they change,” Daniels said Thursday, before Game 6 of the World Series at Busch Stadium. “Right now, all the pictures are of the last couple years. As a team, that’s what it’s all about.”

The Rangers must summon all of their mettle to recover from one of the most devastating single-game collapses in World Series history. They blew the lead with two outs and two strikes in the ninth inning on Thursday — and then did it again in the 10th. David Freese’s homer off Mark Lowe won it in the 11th inning for the St. Louis Cardinals, 10-9, setting up a seventh game here on Friday.

Two clubs have waited longer for a crown: the Chicago Cubs have not won since 1908, the Cleveland Indians since 1948. Three others — the Houston Astros, the San Diego Padres and the Milwaukee Brewers — have never won a title and began in their current cities before the Rangers arrived in Texas in 1972.

But the Rangers date to 1961, when they began an uneventful 11-year run as the second edition of the Washington Senators. They moved to a minor league ballpark in Arlington, Tex., slapped extra bleachers beyond the outfield, and struggled to gain a following in football country. Ted Williams, in his final season as a manager, was not much of a draw.

“I was in the supermarket one day, sometime that April or May, and a lady said, ‘You don’t sound like you’re from Texas,’ ” said the former pitcher Mike Paul, who took 9 of that team’s 100 losses. “I said, ‘No, ma’am, I’m with the Texas Rangers.’ She said, ‘Well, how long have you been in law enforcement?’ That’s how much they knew about baseball back then.”

Statistically, Paul was the team’s best player, contributing 2.9 more wins than a typical replacement would have, according to Baseball-Reference.com. But the team drew fewer than 9,000 fans a game, allowed the most runs in the league and scored the second fewest.

“They scheduled day games on the weekend, because they had them in D.C., and it was just cooking,” Paul said. “On Saturdays and Sundays, it seemed like the only two guys who cared were the starting pitchers. The first team to score won. Guys would go up there hacking at the first pitch, trying to get out of the heat.”

The Rangers won 94 games in 1977, and a few Hall of Fame pitchers — Bert Blyleven, Ferguson Jenkins, Gaylord Perry — drifted in and out of Arlington in the mid-to-late 1970s.

But the heat became a convenient excuse for the character that came to dominate the franchise for much of the next three decades. The Rangers collected sluggers, including several later implicated in a steroids scandal, and dared you to outhit them.

“You just had to try to stay in the game with them offensively,” said Manager Ron Washington, who faced the Rangers often as an American League infielder in the 1980s. “You ended up playing 10-9, 12-11 type ballgames, and now we’re a different club. We can play according to the way it’s presented to us.”

The Rangers are now run by a former pitcher, Nolan Ryan, the chief executive and president and the only player in Cooperstown with a Rangers cap on his plaque. A former Texas catcher, Jim Sundberg, is the team’s senior executive vice president, and the highly respected Mike Maddux is the major league pitching coach.

The Rangers have finished in the top five in the league in earned run average in each of the last two seasons. When they lost their ace, Cliff Lee, to free agency last winter, they covered for him with standout performances from the young starters Matt Harrison, Derek Holland and Alexi Ogando, who are all under the club’s contractual control for at least three more years.

“It’s been a lot of fun to be a part of a team that’s really enjoyed an organizational transformation over the last couple of years,” said first baseman Michael Young, the franchise record-holder for games played, hits and runs. “We pitch extremely well. Now, you become part of this staff now, you’re expected to go out and have success. The bar has been raised. It’s a lot of fun to be part of a team like that.”

The Rangers might never displace the Cowboys as the most popular team in Dallas/Fort Worth, but the fans have caught on. Attendance has risen three years in a row. Decades from now, when the Rangers of this era get together, there will be no need to wonder why.

In the late 1980s, Paul said, Tom Grieve tried to stage a reunion of the original Rangers. Grieve played for that team and was serving as general manager. Paul was skeptical.

“Why do you want to bring us back?” he told his old teammate. “We were so bad we made the world’s greatest hitter, Ted Williams, quit.”

Grieve assured Paul there was no reason to worry. “Nobody remembers,” he said.

These days, the Rangers are giving their fans a team they can never forget, finally joining the major league elite.

“I don’t want to say our team was lost in obscurity, but it’s kind of true,” Young said. “Other teams are consistently competing for championships, especially teams that have built up winning traditions for years. It’s exciting for us to be a part of the team that’s going to kick that off for baseball in Texas.”

Cardinals-Rangers make 6 the World Series magic number again

Is there a numerologist in the house? Six is the number so good at stirring up World Series magic, and the game that has midwifed so many memories. Move over Carlton Fisk, Joe Carter, Don Denkinger; time to throw another classic on the pile.

By the time the Texas Rangers had blown their fifth lead late Thursday, you knew this night would belong in the Game 6 pantheon. By the time the St. Louis Cardinals had twice saved their season after being down to their last strike, and then won in the 11th with a centerfield shot by hometown kid David Freese, you knew it met all the requirements.

And it is a high bar, Game 6. If a World Series gets that far, pay attention. Good chance something memorable is about to happen, and not always the most pleasant.

Bill Buckner's error? Game 6.

Carter's World Series-winning homer as he did the hop, step and jump around the bases in Toronto? Fisk's 12th inning shot off the Fenway Park foul pole, as he waved it fair with all his might? Denkinger's blown call at first base that opened the door for the Kansas City Royals against St. Louis? All game 6's.

Kirby Puckett's 11th inning walk-off homer to keep Minnesota alive against Atlanta was Game 6. So were Reggie Jackson's three home runs. And Josh Beckett finishing off the Yankees 2-0 in Yankee Stadium at the age of 23.

The last World Series to go seven games before now was 2002. The San Francisco Giants blew a 5-0 lead in the eighth inning in Game 6.

"We've always come back from tough losses," Giants manager Dusty Baker said that night. "We've been doing it over and over and over."

Gee, he sounded just like Texas' Ron Washington Thursday night.

San Francisco lost Game 7, by the way.

Yes, numero seis is numero uno when it comes to World Series drama. And that even seeps to the lower rounds. Steve Bartman? Game 6.

One of the best parts about most of these game 6's is they created a Game 7. And the losers of such epics invariably have to get over their hangover in a hurry.

The Cardinals were the team left telling jokes Thursday night.

"It's the greatest," Lance Berkman said of his feeling after his down-to-the-last-strike single tied it for the Cardinals in the 10th inning. "Plus, you've built a little bank account of being able to come through, so that if I don't come through tomorrow, I can be like, 'Well, I came through in Game 6, what do you want from me?'"

After all this emotional back and forth, what's Game 7 feel like? Joe Torre managed in one of the most unforgettable seven-game World Series ever; the 2001 Yankees-Arizona battle when New York twice won on walk-off hits, and the Diamondbacks answered with a ninth-inning rally off Mariano Rivera.

About Game 7:

"I think you're so numb by that point," Torre said. "But there's been so much tension in the other six games that it's sort of a relief knowing that at the end of the day, we're going to find out.

"I know when you're leading three games to two, you want (Game 6) to be the last game. And if it isn't, it's a big letdown."

Speaking of the Rangers.

"When you're an underdog, every game's the last game."

Speaking of the Cardinals.

During a break between innings in the nervous Game 7 in Arizona, Torre went into the clubhouse — and there was George Steinbrenner, as he often was during tight games.

"He'd say, 'What do you think?' I'd usually say, 'We'll be all right.' But that night I wasn't sure," Torre remembered. "I said, 'I don't know that I can tell you.'

"Because we couldn't hit."

The Diamondbacks beat Rivera 3-2 in the ninth.

St. Louis and Texas had a chance for such a last act Friday because of all the dramatics that came the night before. You wondered what they'd have left.

As Berkman noted, "It's not fun going up there with the season on the line."

Fun watching it, though. Game 6 fills the World Series gallery with masterpieces. There's another new one on the wall.

A history of World Series Game 7

AP Photo/Mark DuncanJack Morris threw all 10 innings in Minnesota's 1-0 win against Atlanta in Game 7 of the 1991 Series.

There have been 35 Game 7s played in the World Series. They provide many of the most indelible moments in the sport’s long history: Bill Mazeroski’s home run, Jack Morris’ shutout, Luis Gonzalez’s blooper, Joaquin Andujar going nuts.

Now we have 36, the first one since the Angels beat the Giants in 2002. As Matt Harrison prepares to face Chris Carpenter, here is an abbreviated history of Game 7s, which usually feature three primary ingredients:

1. They are close. Thirteen of the 35 games were decided by one run and another seven by two runs.

2. Good pitching. There have been nine shutouts altogether, and in the past five Game 7s, no team has scored more than four runs and the team average over those five is just 2.2 runs per game.

3. The home team does well -- at least recently. It has won the past eight Game 7s. The last road team to win was the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates.

Best pitching performances
1. Jack Morris, Twins, 1991: Ten scoreless innings. Game score: 84.

2. Sandy Koufax, Dodgers, 1965: Pitching on two days’ rest, pitched a three-hit shutout with 10 strikeouts. Game score: 88.

3. Ralph Terry, Yankees, 1962: A four-hit shutout to win 1-0. Game score: 83.

4. Johnny Podres, Dodgers, 1955. Scattered eight hits, but blanked the mighty Yankees to finally deliver a title to the Bums. Game score: 73.

5. Bret Saberhagen, Royals, 1985. The youngest pitcher to start a Game 7 (21 years, 1999 days), he only struck out two, but threw just 92 pitches in limiting the Cardinals to five hits and no walks in an 11-0 victory. Game score: 79.

Best hitting performances
1. Yogi Berra, Yankees, 1956. Only five times has a player driven in four runs in a Game 7 -- Berra and teammate Bill Skowron each did it twice, and Detroit's Paul Richards did it in 1945. Only once has a player hit two home runs, and that was Berra in 1956. He hit two-run homers in the first and third innings to stake the Yankees to a 4-0 lead, added two walks and another run scored.

2. Willie Stargell, Pirates, 1979: Went 4-for-5 with two doubles and a two-run homer in the sixth that gave the Pirates a 2-1 lead in an eventual 4-1 victory.

3. Max Carey, Pirates, 1925: Went 4-for-5 with three doubles, three runs and two RBIs in Pittsburgh's 9-7 win.

4. Ken Boyer, Cardinals, 1964: Singled and scored in the fourth, doubled and scored in the fifth, homered in the seventh.

5. Bucky Harris, Senators, 1924: Went 3-for-5 with a home run and two-run single in the eighth that tied the game.

Managerial blunders
1. Bucky Harris, Senators, 1925: Left Walter Johnson in to surrender 15 hits and nine runs -- including five over the final two innings in a 9-7 loss.

2. John McNamara, Red Sox, 1986: The game after Calvin Schiraldi helped blow Boston's 10th-inning lead, McNamara brought Schiraldi back in with the game tied in the seventh inning. He immediately gave up a home run to Ray Knight, two more hits and a wild pitch and left after recording just one out (and that was on a sacrifice bunt).

3. Dick Williams, Red Sox, 1967: He brought back ace Jim Lonborg on two days' rest and left him to give up 10 hits and seven runs in six innings.

4. Charlie Grimm, Cubs, 1945: Hank Borowy had started Game 5 and pitched four innings in relief to win Game 6, but Grimm went to the well once too often. Borowy couldn't retire a batter as the Tigers scored five runs in the top of the first.

5. Whitey Herzog, Cardinals, 1985: The Royals were already on their way to an 11-0 blowout, but Herzog never should have brought in mercurial right-hander Joaquin Andujar in relief. Andujar exploded twice at home-plate umpire Don Denkinger, leading to him and Herzog getting ejected in an embarrassing meltdown.

Managerial strokes of genius
1. Walter Alston, Dodgers, 1965: Sandy Koufax or Don Drysdale? Alston chose Koufax on two days' rest over the more rested Drysdale and Koufax pitched a three-hit shutout.

2. Tom Kelly, Twins, 1991: He left Morris in for a 10th inning. It worked out.

3. Alston, Dodgers, 1955: Leading 2-0 in the sixth, he inserted Sandy Amoros into left field and moved Jim Gilliam to second base. In that inning, Amoros made a terrific running catch of Berra's fly ball with two runners on and turned it into a double play.

4. Bucky Harris, Senators, 1924: Fearful of hot-hitting Billy Terry, who platooned at first base for the Giants, Harris started right-hander Curly Ogden (putting Terry in the starting lineup), but removed Ogden after two batters for left-hander George Mogridge. Terry went 0-for-2 against Mogridge before John McGraw finally removed him for a pinch-hitter, meaning he was out of the game as the Senators later went to right-handers in a 12-inning game.

5. Rogers Hornsby, Cardinals, 1926: Pete Alexander wasn't expecting to pitch in Game 7 after throwing a complete-game win in Game 6, but Hornsby brought him in with the Cardinals leading 3-2 and the bases loaded in the seventh. He struck out Tony Lazzeri and went the rest of the way for the save.

The roll call: Ten greatest Game 7s

10. 1962: New York Yankees 1, at San Francisco Giants 0. The Giants had runners at second and third with two outs (Roger Maris had made a terrific play in right on Willie Mays’ double to hold Felipe Alou at third). Willie McCovey smoked a line drive ... but at second baseman Bobby Richardson. Ralph Terry had the shutout and Charlie Brown later screamed, "Why couldn’t McCovey have hit the ball just three feet higher?"

9. 1975: Cincinnati Reds 4, at Boston Red Sox 3. Not remembered like the Game 6 classic, but a terrific game in its own right. The Red Sox took a 3-0 lead in the third inning when Don Gullett walked in two runs with the bases loaded. Boston would keep getting runners on, but couldn’t increase its lead; the Sox stranded nine runners and went 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position. Tony Perez hit a two-run homer over the Green Monster off Bill Lee’s slow curveball in the sixth, Pete Rose’s two-out single off Roger Moret in the seventh tied it and then Ken Griffey Sr. walked leading off the ninth against rookie Jim Burton and scored on Joe Morgan’s two-out blooper to center.

8. 1997: At Florida Marlins 3, Cleveland Indians 2 (11 innings). Jose Mesa was trying to close out Cleveland’s first World Series title since 1997, but the Marlins tied it on Craig Counsell’s sacrifice fly in the ninth. In the 11th, following Tony Fernandez’s error, Edgar Renteria singled in the winning run with two outs.

7. 1955: Brooklyn Dodgers 2, at New York Yankees 0. The Dodgers finally beat the Yankees and won their only World Series title in Brooklyn as Johnny Podres scattered eight hits. Gil Hodges drove in both runs for Brooklyn, but the game’s key play came in the sixth when left fielder Sandy Amoros -- who had just entered for defense -- made a running catch of Yogi Berra’ fly ball with two runners on and doubled Gil McDougald off first base.

6. 1912: At Boston Red Sox 3, New York Giants 2 (10 innings). The Giants scored once in the top of the 10th but Hall of Famer Christy Mathewson couldn’t hold off the Red Sox. Center fielder Fred Snodgrass dropped a fly ball to begin the inning, Tris Speaker’s RBI single tied it and then Larry Gardner’s sac fly scored Steve Yerkes with the winning run.

5. 1946: At St. Louis Cardinals 4, Boston Red Sox 3. St. Louis led 3-1 in the eighth but Dom DiMaggio's two-run double tied it. With two outs in the bottom of the inning, Harry Walker doubled to score Enos Slaughter ahead of the relay throw from shortstop Johnny Pesky (who might have hesitated slightly), the play becoming known as "Slaughter's Mad Dash."

4. 1924: At Washington Senators 4, Pittsburgh Pirates 3 (12 innings). Long the laughingstock of the American League, the Senators had finally reached the World Series in the twilight of the great Walter Johnson's career. But he had lost Games 1 and 5. The Giants led 3-1 in the eighth when Bucky Harris tied it with a two-out, two-run single. Johnson then entered in the ninth and pitched four scoreless innings. The Senators finally pushed across the winning run when Earl McNeely's grounder took a bad hop over the glove of third baseman Fred Lindstrom.

3. 2001: At Arizona Diamondbacks 3, New York Yankees 2. Curt Schilling versus Roger Clemens. Randy Johnson on in relief. And then two runs in the bottom off the ninth off the supposedly untouchable Mariano Rivera.

2. 1991: At Minnesota Twins 1, Atlanta Braves 0 (10 innings). This game featured much more than Jack Morris’ brilliant 10-inning shutout. John Smoltz dueled Morris into the eighth. The Braves loaded the bases in the eighth (with Lonnie Smith famously not scoring on a double after getting deked by Chuck Knoblauch). The Twins got the first two runners on in the ninth and failed to score. Finally, Dan Gladden doubled in the 10th, hustling into second when the ball bounded high off the Metrodome turf, and would score on Gene Larkin’s hit. A tension-filled classic to cap off maybe the most exciting World Series ever played.

1. 1960: At Pittsburgh Pirates 10, New York Yankees 9. In my book, the most exciting baseball game ever played. The Yankees led 7-4 in the bottom of the eighth, but the Pirates scored five runs. The Yankees tied in the top of the ninth. Bill Mazeroski won it with the only walk-off home run in Game 7 history.
It might be difficult for tonight's game to crack that top-10 list, but the way this World Series gone, I wouldn't bet against it. 

Chaz Bono eliminated from “Dancing With the Stars”

View Photo Gallery —  A look at the performances from “Dancing With the Stars.”

Chaz Bono became the sixth celebrity eliminated from ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars” last night after he and partner Lacey Schwimmer received low marks for their tango performance. The couple received 19 points out of 30, coming in last behind Hope Solo and Maks Chmerkovskiy who scored 20 points.
Bono and Schwimmer did not seem surprised about the elimination, observed Emily Yahr of the TV Column:

Not looking too shocked, Chaz and Lacey talk with Tom and Brooke. “I came on this show because I wanted to show America a different kind of man,” Chaz says. “I know that if there was somebody like me on TV when I was growing up, my whole life would have been different.”
 
Although Bono said he was not bitter towards the show, he expressed his anger about harsh remarks by the judges.

Chaz gets angry backstage and managed to get bleeped, while being furious that the judges compared him to a cuddly penguin after already comparing to him to an ewok. “Bruno [bleep] makes comments every week ... like I’m some fat troll dancing with this beautiful woman every week, and I’m sick of it,” Chaz fumes.
 
Bono wasn’t the only one upset by the critiques. The Associate Press reported that Schwimmer cried backstage during Monday’s episode.

“Every week he gets referred to as an animal,” she said. “They always comment on his personality, and last I checked, this was a dancing show.”
 
Cher was likewise unhappy about the comments, according to her tweets, compiled by Sarah Anne Hughes of Celebritology:


“Is it ‘DWTS’ or looking perfect ‘WTS?’ It’s easy for him to take cheap shots at Chaz! Let him come to ‘my’ stage,’” Cher tweeted. “I could teach his little arm waving [butt] some manners! Critique Chaz’s dance style, movements, etc. But don’t make fun of my child on national TV.” 
 
Maks Chmerkovskiy also stirred up some controversey after exchanging some harsh words with judge Len Goodman.

Finally, some “Dancing With the Stars” controversy. It’s been a relatively quiet season, but the blogosphere lit up Tuesdayafter Maks and Len exchanged harsh words Monday night. Len said Maks and Hope’s dance was the worst of the season; Maks said Len should get out of the dance industry. Oh, and Maks added that “this is my show,” which surely went over great with his fellow pro dancers, said Yahr.
 
Chmerkovskiy and partner Hope Solo hung on for the week. Solo and five others remain in the competition: actors David Arquette and J.R. Martinez, reality TV personality Rob Kardashian, and TV hosts Ricki Lake and Nancy Grace.

Read more about “Dancing With the Stars”:
TV Column: Chaz Bono eliminated from ‘Dancing With the Stars’
Celebritology: Cher unhappy with Chaz Bono ‘DWTS’ critique
Time and luck run out for Chaz Bono, a plucky contender on ‘Dancing with the Stars’
Last night: ‘Dancing With the Stars’: Everyone loves Broadway Week
Last week: ‘Dancing With the Stars’: Time for ’80s night
Last week results: ‘Dancing With the Stars’: So long, Carson Kressley
Full coverage: ‘Dancing with the Stars’

Amy Winehouse Shocking Inquest Results Revealed!

So sad. She was trying so hard to get better, but all it took was one bender to lead her to her end.  Last month, Amy Winehouse's family asked for a cause of death inquest from the coroner overseeing Amy's death, hoping to finally get some closure. The results of that inquest are finally being released and they paint a sad picture of how Amy left us.

It's been previously reported that Amy was working very hard to get clean in the weeks previous to her death. In the initial examination, no illegal drugs were found in her system and there were no signs of foul play. The true cause of death came from the excessive amount of vodka Amy consumed that fateful day. According to the report, 416mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood, five times the legal driving limit of 80mg. Police had previously reported finding three bottles of vodka, two large and one small, on the scene.
The alcohol actually poisoned Amy, who had been sober for up to three weeks prior, and the massive amounts of alcohol to her system left her body shocked. She most likely stopped breathing, which is what sent her into a coma.

Oh Amy. You were taken from us way too soon. We wish this had turned out so much differently. We wish someone had been there to stop you that night. We really do miss you. At least, now, your parents and loved ones know the truth. Maybe now it's time to let the healing begin.

Denver weather: a narrow escape

Back in balmy Baltimore after a weekend trip to Denver, it's odd to see that city covered in snow. When  I left Monday, the weather was perfect: sunny and in the 70s. (Though just an hour away, in the mountains, it was in the 30s, and skiers were already hitting the hills at Arapahoe Basin.)

If you haven't had a chance to visit Denver, put it on your list. Its fine indie bookstore, Tattered Cover, is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. I usually stop in to pick up a book by a local author or one about Colorado.

I didn't make it to the store on this trip, but I did notice a quirky literary promotion while driving in the Capitol Hill area: a vehicle plastered with photos and info about "Cheap Cabernet: A Friendship" by Cathie Beck. Even the license plate -- CHEP CAB -- fit the motif. And on Beck's website, she advertises Balistreri Vineyard’s 2008 Signature Cheap Cabernet Vino (with a $2 discount). Now that's modern book-selling!

Lego man washes ashore in Florida

When a giant Lego figurine washed up on the shore of Siesta Key Beach, some thought it was a viral marketing stunt from Legoland. Instead, a Dutch artist might be behind the eight-foot-tall, 100-pound fiberglass man that has baffled and bemused Floridians. The Lego Man’s shirt bears the cryptic message “NO REAL THAN YOU ARE.” It was discovered by a man taking a Tuesday-morning walk on the beach.

(screen grab from YouTube/HowBoutJoey)

Ego Leonard might be the name of the artist behind the Lego man, or it might be the figurine’s name: When contacted via e-mail, Leonard replied in character to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune: “I am glad I crossed over. Although it was a hell of a [swim],” the e-mail said. “Nice weather here and friendly people. I think I am gonna stay here for a while.” He’s staying in character on his Twitter and Facebook pages, too.


Leonard’s Web site also says “NO REAL THAN YOU ARE,” and a gallery of paintings at the St. Art Gallery online depict Lego figurines. Other Lego figurines have washed up on beaches in Holland and England in 2007 and 2008.

One thing is certain: The Lego man has nothing to do with Lego or the Orlando Legoland park. The company has denied that it is a viral marketing stunt. A spokeswoman for Legoland told the Herald-Tribune that the Lego man is a counterfeit and is not endorsed by Legoland or its parent company, Merlin Entertainments Group.

The Lego man is in “protective custody” with the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office. It could be finders keepers for Jeff Hindman, who will become the owner of the giant Lego man if no one claims him within 90 days. Will the figurine go to Legoland? Probably not: “I’ll put it on eBay,” says Hindman.

If you’re looking for a quirky Halloween costume, “Mysterious giant Lego guy” has potential to be a hit at parties. All you need is a green T-shirt, white paint for the lettering and some red pants.

Student loan forgiveness and more: 5 ways Obama wants to ease student debt

Student loan forgiveness is on the minds of many. The class of 2011 has received the unwelcome distinction of becoming the most indebted graduating class ever and student loan debt overall is expected to hit $1 trillion. Here are five ways the White House and the Department of Education plan to ease the burden:

Enlarge

Gan Golan of Los Angeles, dressed as the "Master of Degrees," holds a ball and chain representing his college loan debt during Occupy DC activities in Washington. As President Obama prepared to announce new measures Wednesday to help ease the burden of student loan debt, new figures painted a demoralizing picture of college costs for students and parents: Average in-state tuition and fees at four-year public colleges rose an additional $631 this fall, or 8.3 percent, compared with a year ago. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP)

1. Pay as you earn

The biggest news of the president’s plan is that some borrowers will be able to cap their monthly loan repayments at 10 percent of their discretionary income as early as next year. (Current law allows a 15 percent cap and will lower that to 10 percent in 2014.)

An estimated 1.6 million borrowers will be eligible to lower their payments next year under this plan. Students who had a loan in both 2012 and sometime between 2008 and 2011 will qualify, an Education Department spokesman says.

An example offered by the Obama administration is a nurse earning $45,000 a year with $60,000 in federal student loans. Under the current income-based repayment (IBR) plan, he or she would pay $358 a month, but under the new plan announced by Obama, payments would be reduced further, to $239.

Borrowers should be aware that the length of their payment period may increase if they opt for the lower monthly payment.

“IBR has already helped nearly half a million borrowers lower their payments and avoid default, but many more borrowers are struggling to keep up .... With these changes on the way, it’s more important than ever to make sure that the millions of borrowers who could benefit from IBR know it’s out there,” said Lauren Asher, president of The Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS), which helped develop the original IBR policy proposal.

For more information about eligibility for the IBR plan, see www.studentaid.ed.gov and www.IBRinfo.org.

MLB correctly errs on side of caution

By Matt Snyder

ST. LOUIS -- Major League Baseball had a tough decision Wednesday. On one hand, the weather reports for the scheduled game -- Game 6 of the World Series to those who have been living under a rock for the past week -- looked bleak. Does the league take the chance that the game is marred by weather, like Game 1 of the ALDS between the Tigers and Yankees this season or, even worse, Game 5 of the 2008 World Series between the Phillies and Rays? On the other hand, what if the forecast is wrong and the league is embarrassed again, just like in Game 2 of the ALCS, when it was a sunny day when the first pitch was scheduled, but the game was postponed earlier that afternoon?

That was the issue facing Major League Baseball. Ultimately, it factored everything in and believed the prudent decision was postponement.

"You get to Game 6 of the World Series, and you want to guard -- as long as you have a forecast that we're expecting clear weather tomorrow, and if necessary the next day, I think that was more of a decision-maker than anything else, just the fact that we're anticipating rain during the game," MLB vice president Joe Torre said Wednesday afternoon.

"(The game was postponed) just basically for convenience," Torre said. "Because of the forecast there was no reason to wait any longer, and the earlier we can do it, the more people can change plans and do what they need to do, and including the players and managers, too."

Torre mentioned also that this next game being a possible clinching game of the World Series weighed heavily on the decision, again, teamed with the fact that the forecast for the next two days seems clear (Weather.com's hourly forecast for Thursday night, at this point, has a zero percent chance of rain throughout the game).

Torre also noted that the decision was entirely made by Major League Baseball officials, and that there was no input from either the Rangers or Cardinals.

"(Tuesday) I talked to both Wash (Rangers manager Ron Washington) and (Cardinals manager) Tony (La Russa) that if the forecast didn't get measurably better that we were probably going to call it early, and they were both understanding of it," Torre said. "They didn't offer any kind of strategy fight on it."

La Russa and Washington echoed that sentiment.

"No, I was given output," La Russa said. "I just picked up the phone, they said, 'The game's postponed.' No input."

"I want to play," Washington said. "I wasn't asked, but I want to play. But I understand the situation."

Rangers second baseman Ian Kinsler had a similar mindset to his manager.

"It's frustrating as a team," he said. "Same as the regular season, we wanna play every game when it's scheduled. But that's the way it goes."

"It's frustrating that you wanna get these games in because you have so much anxiety," Cardinals second baseman Nick Punto added. "There's an excitement to get ready for Game 6, and then they tell you to go home to be with your family and get ready to go tomorrow."

Despite the frustration at the weather, every player I heard from at least seemed understanding with the situation.

I think everyone would agree it's better to have the game played from start to finish with no delays to protect the integrity of the game. Most involved parties said as much, including Torre, La Russa, Washington and Kinsler.

So complain if you must, but realize there would be complaining if the game was interrupted for several rain delays, too. Major League Baseball was put in a no-win situation by bad weather, and decided to err on the side of caution. In a game as big as Game 6 of the World Series, we can't really ask for much more.

Occupy Oakland protesters assess damage after clash

 

An Occupy Oakland protester injured in the clash with police Tuesday night showed off a massive bruise Wednesday that she said she received in a direct hit from a rubber bullet.

Tasha Casini, 22, had been among the protesters camping at Oakland's central plaza since Oct. 13.

Police said they did not use rubber bullets in the clash with protesters but many of the demonstrators said they had the bruises to prove otherwise.

"It was an anti-repression march," Casini said of the demonstration, noting that she saw no violence from protesters.

Casini was wounded when she returned with others to try to retake the plaza after the "second or third order to disperse."

A woman in the crowd was hit by a projectile fired by police, she said. As Casini rushed to help the unconscious demonstrator, she was struck in the back of the thigh.

A flash grenade landed right next to the downed woman's face, and those trying to assist her were forced to flee.

Casini acknowledged that an officer a few blocks away had been hit with a paintball but said she was appalled at the force of the police response given the overall peaceful nature of the action.

Others seemed to agree. Leandra Johnson, 36, of El Sobrante stood in the intersection at the plaza, holding a sign reading: "We Have the Right to Peaceful Assembly" as motorists honked in support.

It was the mother of five's first outing in support of the movement.

"Last night is the reason I'm here today, and it'll be the reason I'm here tomorrow," she said. "We have dictators falling around the world, and we support peaceful protest in those places, and this happens here."

She called Oakland's tactics "very disappointing."

Richard Rossman, 83, said he and his wife joined other "old farts" in peaceful protest every Monday in Berkeley, where they live, to call for taxation of "the richest Americans."

He said he thought the Occupy Oakland camp could have been disassembled more effectively.

He noted that Oakland's gathering had taken on a disturbing flavor, marred by drinking, drugs, trash and violence and a large number of homeless people and others who incited conflict.

San Francisco's action, which he visited early on, was more "joyful," with a zero-tolerance policy for drinking and littering, he noted.

"I think it [Occupy Oakland] needed to be removed, but it could have been done in a different way," he said, with more outreach from city leaders and public health officials.

Oakland city officials, however, insist they tried to work cooperatively with the camp and got nowhere. They were planning a news conference for later in the day to discuss police actions.

He’s not a Gacy victim after all

Siblings who feared that their brother was one of serial killer John Wayne Gacy’s eight unidentified victims were amazed and overjoyed to learn that he’s been living in Florida for decades.

Tim Lovell and Theresa Hasselberg hadn’t seen their brother, Harold Wayne Lovell, since he left their family’s Chicago home in May 1977 in search of construction work. The Chicago Tribune reported that he was headed for Aurora. 

At the time, Gacy was trolling for young men and boys in the area. He was a contractor, and he lured many of the 33 young men and boys he killed by offering them work. A family member read books about Gacy and theorized that Wayne and Gacy crossed paths while Gacy did construction work at a fast-food restaurant in Aurora, the Tribune reported.

Cook County Sheriff’s detectives reviewing unidentified remains cases discovered that eight of the 33 people Gacy was convicted of murdering were never identified, and they obtained exhumation orders over the past few months to test the remains for DNA, hoping relatives of young men who went missing in the area in the 1970s might submit to genetic testing.

Lovell’s siblings, who now live in Alabama, were planning to do just that when they discovered a recent online police booking photo of their brother taken in Florida. They reached their brother, who goes by his middle name, by phone and bought him a bus ticket, and the family was reunited Tuesday for the first time in 34 years.

Wayne Lovell, now 53, described the reunion as “awesome.”

He said he left for Florida all those years ago because he wasn’t getting along with his mother and stepfather. Over the years, he’s worked various manual labor jobs and has had occasional brushes with the law.

“I’ve gone from having nothing to having all this,” Lovell said. “I’m still pinching myself.”

Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart has said that dozens of families of men who disappeared during the 1970s have come forward for DNA testing.

Investigators searching Gacy’s home after his 1978 arrest found most of his victims buried in a basement crawl space, although detectives said Gacy dumped four victims in a nearby river after he ran out of room at his house. Gacy confessed to the murders after his arrest and was executed in 1994.

Report: Andy Rooney Hospitalized in Serious Condition

• 

  FILE - Aug. 9, 2009: "60 Minutes" commentator Andy Rooney, center, leaves the Celebration of Life Memorial ceremony for Walter Cronkite at Avery Fisher Hall in New York. CBS announced Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2011 that Rooney will make his final appearance on "60 Minutes" on Sunday's broadcast.

NEW YORK –  Andy Rooney, who delivered his last essay on the CBS TV newsmagazine "60 Minutes" three weeks ago, was in the hospital Tuesday after developing serious complications following surgery.

CBS said the 92-year-old writer's condition was stable and, at the request of his family, offered no other information about his medical problems or where he was hospitalized.

The three-time Emmy-winner was a regular presence on television's most popular newsmagazine. Since 1978, "A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney" wrapped up the Sunday night program, often with a look at the absurdities of life and language.

Rooney could talk about what was in the news or what was in his closet. One of his Emmy Awards was for an essay about whether there was a real Mrs. Smith behind Mrs. Smith's Pies.

On Oct. 2, he delivered his 1,097th and final essay, saying it was a moment he dreaded.

"I wish I could do this forever. I can't, though," he said.

True to his often cantankerous nature, Rooney noted that he hated being recognized on the street. So if you see him in a restaurant, he said as he signed off, "please, just let me eat my dinner."

He's had a long career as a writer, and that's how he saw himself. He worked for the military newspaper Stars and Stripes and wrote four books about World War II. He wrote for entertainment personalities Arthur Godfrey and Garry Moore and had a longtime partnership with newsman Harry Reasoner.

With "60 Minutes" looking for something new at the end of its show, Rooney's first essay appeared on July 2, 1978: a complaint about people who kept track of how many people died in auto accidents over holiday weekends.

Unforgettable Northern Lights display recorded

(Space.com) 
A dazzling aurora light show amazed skywatchers across North America, from Canada to Arkansas, and other northern regions Monday night (Oct. 24), painting the sky with striking green and even rare red hues.
The aurora display, also known as the northern lights, was touched off by a wave charged particles unleashed by a massive sun storm on Saturday, which took two days to reach Earth, according to the Space Weather Prediction Center operated by the National Weather Service and NOAA.

"These were the most vibrant I've ever seen," Canadian skywatcher Colin Chatfield of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan told SPACE.com in an email. "I was also able to see red with the naked eye, which I've never seen before either. Simply put, they were amazing."

Canadian skywatcher Colin Chatfield caught this view of a stunning aurora display over his home in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan on Oct. 24, 2011

(Credit: Colin Chatfield)

 

Auroras are caused when charged solar particles hit Earth's atmosphere, causing a glow as the particles collide. The particles are funneled down over Earth's poles causing the northern lights, or aurora borealis, in the north. Aurora displays over the South Pole are known as the Southern Lights, or aurora australis.


Photographer Shawn Malone in Marquette, Mich., expected a good aurora light show, but was still surprised by the sheer brilliance of Monday night's northern light show.

"[I] had taken a few pics, went back to the car to change lenses, and when I looked up the sky was on fire," Malone said. "To the north there was this huge curtain that sent beams overhead to a corona in which I had to turn to the south to photograph. That's when I noticed the reds and pinks starting to happen. From there the lights were every which direction. It was hands down the best northern lights I've seen since the great storm of November 2004."

This spectacular photo of red, pink and green auroras on Oct. 24, 2011 was taken by photographer Shawn Malone of Marquette, Michigan, from the shore of Lake Superior

(Credit: Shawn Malone)

 

Space weather officials said the arrival of the solar particles Monday triggered a geomagnetic storm that amped up the aurora displays. The sun is currently in an active phase of its 11-year solar weather cycle.
"Couple that with the fact that large parts of the U.S. had very clear skies, and you've got some beautiful sightings of the aurora across the northern tier of the U.S.," Space Weather Prediction Center officials wrote in an update. Unfortunately for sky watchers, the geomagnetic storm appears to be in decline and no further significant space weather is expected at this time."

Skywatcher Samuel Hartman of State College, Pa., snapped this photo of the amazing Oct. 24, 2011 northern lights display. The aurora display was created from charged solar particles from an Oct. 22 sun storm that took two days to reach Earth.

(Credit: Samuel Hartman)

 

October's Spellbinding northern lights
Traditionally, only skywatchers in high-latitude locations can see aurora displays, but during strong solar weather events, they can be visible to observers at lower latitudes. A dark, clear sky away from city lights is vital to spot the displays.

Green auroras, caused by the ionization of atomic oxygen in the atmosphere, are the most common northern lights seen. Red aurora displays are rarer, and are caused by the ionization of molecular oxygen and nitrogen.
"I was surprised to find the auroras out so brightly," said Samuel Hartman, a skywatcher in State College, Pa., who sent photos to SPACE.com. "It was originally supposed to be cloudy all night, but the clouds cleared and the aurora was glowing bright. It made for an excellent show."

Astrophotographer Jeff Berkes took this photo of a dazzling aurora display from West Chester, Pa., on Oct. 24, 2011.

(Credit: Jeff Berkes)

 

Just outside Philadelphia, in West Chester, Pa., veteran astrophotographer Jeff Berkes also wasn't expecting an aurora display, especially right after the weekend peak of October's Orionid meteor shower.

"I ran outside and jumped in my car leaving the tripod inside. I used the top of my Xterra and a sweatshirt to create a make-shift tripod," Berkes told SPACE.com in an email. "The auroras only last a few minutes. But hey it was awesome! Haven't seen them here since September 2001."

 Monday night's auroras were seen as far south as Arkansas, where skywatcher and photographer Brian Emfinger caught the view from the city of Ozark.

"The auroras filled the sky in every direction - even to the south," Emfinger told the skywatching website Spaceweather.com, adding that it was the website's email alert that warned him of the stunning aurora show. "When I saw the alert, I ran outside and immediately saw red auroras. Within a few minutes the auroras went crazy! Unbelievable!"

Skywatcher Tom Pruzenski snapped this view of the Oct. 24, 2011 northern lights display while watching the rare red northern lights with his brother Chris on Oct. 24, 2011 from Hemlock, NY.

(Credit: Tom Pruzenski)

 

Unforgettable sight
In Hemlock, N.Y., first-time aurora photographer Tom Pruzenski expressed a similar sentiment.
"This outburst of red auroras happened around 9:30 p.m.," Pruzenski said. "My brother (and amateur astronomer) Chris Pruzenski noticed faint auroras two hours earlier, around 7:30 p.m. We waited and watched, and our patience paid off with this 5-10 minute display of red and green auroras."

Tom Dolaskie IV watched the northern lights dance over Lake Superior at Munising Bay in Michigan. The view, he said, was astounding and not one he will soon forget.

"Hands down the most amazing northern lights display that I have ever witnessed," Dolaskie said. "Frankly, a setting that a photograph simply cannot capture. My friends and I were lucky to have witnessed it."

NFLX: Netflix stock tanks as 800,000 subscribers flee

NEW YORK

Netflix (NFLX) shares plunged 35 percent Tuesday after the one-time Wall Street favorite revealed a massive departure of subscribers angered by price increases and other questionable changes at the rental service that was created to make entertainment a snap

Netflix revealed late Monday that it ended September with 23.8 million U.S. subscribers. That's down about 800,000 from June and worse than what the company had hinted at before. In September, the company predicted it will lose about 600,000 U.S. customers.

And it may get worse. Netflix said it expects more defections in coming months.

RELATED: Five alternatives to Netflix

The exodus began after the company raised its prices by as much as 60 percent in July and split up its streaming and DVD rental services. Its website was flooded by comments from angry customers. Many people also canceled service, especially on the DVD-by-mail side. The company is betting that its future is in streaming video, and CEO Reed Hastings has said he expects Netflix's DVD subscriptions to steadily decline, much like what has happened to AOL Inc.'s dial-up Internet service.

But Netflix bungled a spin off its DVD-by-mail service, giving it the name Qwikster and creating separate accounts for people who wanted both DVDs and movie streaming. By doing so, the company created what many perceived as a more complicated rental process at a company that began its meteoric rise with a new, easier way of searching for and finding entertainment effortlessly.

Netflix shares fell $41.61 to $77.23 in late afternoon trading Tuesday. The stock is down from more than $300 just 3 ½ months ago. The last time the stock was trading so low was in April 2010, but that was during its steep ascent.

The results prompted a downgrade to "Neutral" from "Buy" from Citi Investment Research analyst Mark Mahaney on Tuesday, who also slashed his target price on the stock to $95 from $220. The analyst called the price increase and the abandoned plan to separate Netflix's DVD business two "major execution errors."
Netflix Inc. did report better-than-expected financial results for the third quarter, but that was drowned out by the din of subscriber cancellations, expense controls and a one-time tax benefit, said Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter.

Pachter cut his target price to $82.50 from $110 on Netflix's stock and kept his rating at "Neutral."
Los Gatos, Calif.-based Netflix said it does not comment on stock movement or analyst reports.

'Real Housewives of New Jersey' Reunion: Teresa Has No Regrets

VIDEO: 'Real Housewives' Melissa Gorga Works 'On Display': Exactly what the Audiences Say

The 2nd installment began having a heavy focus on Caroline Manzo’s story lines including her coping with her empty nest, offering unrequested advice, and lastly her real life fallout with sister and former cast member, Dina Manzo. Caroline stated that Teresa switched her sister against her which Dina hasn’t spoken to her a couple of several weeks. Teresa remedied her, stating that they’ve been in the outs since Dina left the show this past year. I am not sure whether Teresa ever really refused that they assisted drive a stake between your siblings, but You will help remind me.



The interest then switched to Teresa for many of the rest of the show and also the role she performed to keep her family from repairing this year. At some point, a viewer requested her if she regretted anything she stated about sister-in-law Melissa Gorga this year and she or he couldn’t think about a darn factor. So, she requested Melissa to title something. Clearly, the greatest factor Melissa desired to hear Teresa get back was that they married Joe Gorga for the money. Teresa didn’t offer her the satisfaction.



Fortunately, Melissa produced a listing on her behalf mobile phone – a really lengthy and detailed list. After she rattled and shook off other things her sister-in-law stated about her on-camera, Teresa finally stated she regretted stating that she put poison in her own brother’s mind. That didn’t appear as very sincere. It simply appeared as if Teresa wanted unthinkable.



STORY: 'Real Average women of recent Jersey' Reunion Part 1 Marks Season High

I do need to give Teresa credit for finally preventing to hear cousin Kathy Wakile about Audriana being left unwatched throughout the crazy at Melissa's child's christening and just how she introduced her from the room. It had been what it really was, in the end. And Teresa really held onto that season like a critique of her raising a child, that we thought only agreed to be blown from proportion.



To tell the truth, I haven’t been keen on Teresa’s for any lengthy while now. So when I began this year, I had been pleased to hear what Melissa needed to say. The fans very quickly attacked her from Episode 1, which boggled my thoughts. I felt these were acting from loyalty to someone we'd arrived at know over previous seasons instead of really waiting to determine what Melissa was about. Sure, Melissa makes some apparent digs at Teresa throughout the show. However when it found repairing her husband and Teresa’s relationship, I felt she was willing to step aside and allow it to happen. I believe she made a good thing throughout the reunion that maybe the poisoning originated from Joe Giudice, who on several occasion had attempted to sabotage the siblings’ reconciliation.



What have you take from the reunion and therefore are you searching toward Season 4? Inform us within the comments section below.

Once Upon a Time: Save It or Sink It?

Yes, probably the most ambitious new shows from the fall season finally opened tonight and tried to cast a spell on audiences. From a couple of the masterminds behind Lost (Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz), Once puts a twist around the classic favorite anecdotes you was raised with.

Now you want to know what you think: Had you been charmed by Not so long ago?

MORE: Start Looking Video: NCIS: LA Beauty Locks Lips—Sorta—With Hawaii Five-0's Alex O'Loughlin

House's Jennifer Morrison stars as orphan Emma Swan, who's visited by Henry (Jared Gilmore), the charming boy she threw in the towel for adoption 10 years ago, on her behalf 28th birthday. He informs her she's really the daughter of Snow Whitened (Ginnifer Goodwin) and Prince Charming (Josh Dallas) and it is the only real hope of saving an urban area (Storybrooke) filled with fairy-tale character who can't remember who they really are.

It's really no secret that people love Once and it is perfect mixture of whimsy and mythology, a genuine story book arrived at existence: we find the show among our five favorite new shows from the fall. Also, the goodlooking sheriff (performed by Jaime Dornan) is an additional benefit.

But enough from us: what have you think about Not so long ago? Election within our latest Save It or Sink It poll after which mind on to your comments ought to to go over together with your fellow TV enthusiasts.

The finish.

Robert Carlyle finds golden opportunity in Once Upon a Time

Robert Carlyle bared his soul in Trainspotting, bared his soul and more within the Full Monty, as well as performed Adolf Hitler once, within the 2003 miniseries Hitler: An Upswing of Evil. He's made an appearance in films as disparate as Angela's Ashes, 4 weeks Later and also the Mission Impossible thriller, The Planet Isn't Enough.

Playing cryptic, mysterious figures may come as naturally to him like a chameleon mixing right into a area of tall grass. Carlyle is definitely an instinctive actor, so when he first saw the script for Not so long ago, the brand new, shot-in-Vancouver fairy-tale series that debuts Sunday, he was struck by its mysticism and also the moral ambivalence of his dual character, Rumpelstiltskin and Mr. Gold.

Not so long ago changes backwards and forwards over time, from the mystical fairy-tale world by which Rumpelstiltskin is really a key character, towards the modern-day version, where Mr. Gold is simply one more enigmatic eccentric inside a capital of scotland - eccentrics.

Rumpelstiltskin is dependant on a folk tale that came from in Germany within the late 1700s and was initially released through the Siblings Grimm, in 1812, within the somewhat ironically named Children's and Household Tales. The storyplot informs of the impish creature who spins hay into gold, in return for the very first-born child of the youthful lady held in a dreadful bargain.

In Once Upon a Time's modern-day, up-to-date version, Rumpelstiltskin is Mr. Gold, a self-styled sage and moral gatekeeper within the mysterious capital of scotland - Storybrooke, a brooding place where it rains constantly and everybody appears touched having a tinge of sadness.

"I do not begin to see the figures I play to be always that complicated," Carlyle stated, inside a soft-spoken Glasgow lilt. "I guess it's a little just like a jigsaw puzzle. . . . My job would be to piece it altogether.

"Most stars would the same factor, I believe. Fundamental essentials more interesting parts to experience, when you are playing someone whom the plots type of bounce off. It's less than as exciting, in some way, when you are playing the individual who's pushing the plot through. To tell the truth, I believe individuals are always asking me to complete these parts, simply because they think I'm able to do this, and get it done well."

Carlyle states he was thinking about the dichotomy between Rumpelstiltskin and Mr. Gold.

Also, saying yes to look in Not so long ago meant he'd carry on living and work and Vancouver, that they is continuing to grow keen on since his time on Stargate World.

"Rumpelstiltskin and Mr. Gold are inherently linked, clearly," Carlyle stated. "In some manner, they're virtually the spawn of the identical person. What interests me concerning the change between your fairy-tale world and also the real life within the story is the fact that, in fact, in my opinion, there is not that a jump between your two.

"It is not as when the story book jumps into social realism, or something like that like this. I do not believe that works. Things in Storybrooke are slightly off-balance. Everything's off-kilter. Mr. Gold and Rumpelstiltskin, while physically different, are awfully similar within their heads.

"And with more episodes, I believe we'll start to observe that more."

Lions' Jerome Harrison said to have brain tumor

The tumor is discovered when the Detroit running back undergoes a physical after being traded to Philadelphia. The trade is voided, but Harrison is said to be undergoing treatment.

ESPN reported that Detroit Lions running back Jerome Harrison has a brain tumor.

The network cited two NFL sources it did not identify in its report Thursday. It said the tumor was revealed when Harrison had a physical after being dealt this week by Detroit to the Philadelphia Eagles in a trade that was voided by the discovery. ESPN reported that the discovery might have saved Harrison's life and that he was being treated.

Lions Coach Jim Schwartz wouldn't confirm or deny the report, citing a privacy issue. He said Harrison was back on the team's 53-man roster.

The Lions wanted to trade Harrison to Philadelphia for Ronnie Brown and a draft pick. Detroit needs help because Jahvid Best suffered his third concussion on Sunday.

The Lions are expected to rotate Maurice Morris and Keiland Williams along with return specialist Stefan Logan in the backfield against Atlanta on Sunday at home.

Rex Ryan says he didn't mean to snub Norv Turner

New York Jets Coach Rex Ryan said he knew he messed up Wednesday as soon as he said, "I would have had a couple of rings" if the San Diego Chargers had hired him as coach in 2007. The comments were taken as a slight at Chargers Coach Norv Turner, who was hired instead and hasn't won a Super Bowl in San Diego.

Turner immediately received an apologetic phone call from Ryan.

"It was me, it's all on me," Ryan said Thursday. "I'm guilty. Absolutely. I did call Norv. I won't get into that conversation, but it was unintentional."

Ryan, who made the comments during a conference call with Chargers reporters, insisted he didn't intentionally diss Turner, but rather was trying to compliment the job the Chargers have done in building a consistent winner.

Turner got in a little jab of his own Wednesday when asked about Ryan's comments.

"I didn't have a chance to ask him this," Turner said, "but I was wondering if he had those rings with the ones he's guaranteed the last couple of years."

Tomlinson will start against Chargers

Running back LaDainian Tomlinson will get his first start of the season Sunday when the Jets face his former team, the Chargers.

Tomlinson usually is a backup to Shonn Greene, but Ryan said he will give the 11-year veteran the start. It's the first time Tomlinson will face the Chargers since leaving San Diego after the 2009 season when it was clear he would have a reduced role. The Chargers are the only NFL team against which Tomlinson has not scored a touchdown.

Etc.

New Orleans Saints tight end Jimmy Graham, who leads the team in receiving, sat out practice Thursday because of a sore right ankle. Graham has 39 catches for 620 yards and three touchdowns, and last week became only the second tight end to have four straight games in the same season with 100 yards or more receiving, matching the feat accomplished by Tony Gonzalez in 2000. Graham practiced Wednesday, but he experienced ankle soreness afterward and was given Thursday to rest. … New Orleans Coach Sean Payton, who suffered a broken left leg when he got caught up in a tackle on the sideline Sunday in Tampa Bay, expects to coach from the coaches' booth when the Saints play host to Indianapolis on Sunday night. He had surgery on his broken tibia Monday and monitored practice Thursday from a golf cart. … Charlie Whitehurst has continued to take most of the reps at quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks this week with Tarvaris Jackson recovering from a strained pectoral muscle. … Cleveland Browns starting linebacker Scott Fujita was sent home for a second straight day with post-concussion symptoms. Fujita was injured Sunday against Oakland. Coach Pat Shurmur did not rule Fujita out of this weekend's game against Seattle, but it seems unlikely the 10-year veteran will be cleared to play. … Browns President Mike Holmgren said contract negotiations with running back Peyton Hillis are "quiet now," but the team remains open to signing him to a long-term extension. … Ralph Wilson Stadium, home of the Buffalo Bills, requires an extensive facelift expected to cost tens of millions in taxpayer dollars for a project that would be tied to the Bills renewing their lease with state and county governments within two years, the Associated Press reported. Bills Chief Executive Russ Brandon told the AP that the team has hired the architectural firm Populous, which specializes in sports facility projects, to conduct a thorough study of what improvements are necessary to both upgrade the stadium's existing structure and add fan-friendly, revenue-generating enhancements.

San Francisco and San Antonio Earthquakes 2011: Both Happen on Same Day

Two earthquakes in the United States have taken place on the same day Thursday.

The first one took place in Texas, the epicenter of the quake being near rural Karnes County, 47 miles southwest of San Antonio. The quake was a 4.8 magnitude, which was eye-opening because it was a record breaker.

The quake struck at 7:24 a.m. local time, and was the largest earthquake on record for the area, surpassing a magnitude-4.3 shock recorded in 1993, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

USGS geophysicist Don Blakeman said that southern Texas has been experiencing small earthquakes since the 1970s, and that 14 quakes between 2.6 and 3.4 magnitudes have been recorded since 1982.

But Thursday morning's quake was significantly larger.

"It is a bit unusual," he said.

Blakeman also said it is impossible to predict if there will be any aftershocks. The quake was both big enough to produce some small aftershocks and small enough that they wouldn't necessarily be expected.

The second one took place in California, the epicenter being two miles southeast of Berkeley near San Francisco. The quake was a 3.9 magnitude, causing a sharp jolt but no immediate signs of damages or injuries.

The quake struck at 2:31 p.m. local time and was at a depth of about 6.1 miles, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The quake was felt as a sharp jolt in the East Bay area, and across the bay in San Francisco. It came almost 22 years to the day after the Loma Prieta earthquake struck the Bay Area during the 1989 World Series.

The quake also came on the same day Californians took part in an annual earthquake preparedness drill at 10:20 a.m. Thursday. More than 8.5 million people signed up to participate in the 2011 Great California ShakeOut.

“Moammar Gadhafi has been killed”

Moammar Gadhafi’s last day on earth did not start well — and it only got worse.

By about 12:30 p.m. local time on Thursday, the ousted Libyan ruler would be dead, his blood-splotched remains later dragged across the unforgiving ground as his jubilant adversaries fired their rifles into the air, dispensing with any semblance of pomp or dignity.

“We have been waiting for this moment for a long time,” Libyan Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril announced later in the day, confirming the rumours already swirling throughout Libya and across the global village via Twitter, Facebook and Skype. “Moammar Gadhafi has been killed.”

As a result, the combat phase of the Libyan revolution has ended, and the hard part can begin — the construction of democracy and the rule of law in a clan-based land of scattered fiefdoms and regional jealousies, a country with little experience of government other than despotism and folly.

But, now, at least Gadhafi is gone.

What follows is the chronicle — as nearly as it can be determined so soon after the events — of the final few hours of the dictator’s life, a time of bombardment, confusion, and panic, as well as victory and joy.

Gadhafi may have ruled as a cunning madman, for 42 long and dismal years, but he died like a cornered beast, with nowhere to run.

His final day on earth began in District 2, a prosperous residential neighbourhood in Sirte, the city of his birth and the refuge he clung to after Tripoli fell to advancing rebels almost two months ago.

Since then, Gadhafi’s whereabouts had been a mystery. Different rumours put him in the southern Libyan town of Sabha, Niger’s city of Agadez, the desert outpost of Bani Walid, a bunker somewhere beneath Tripoli, or — as turned out to be true — in Sirte.

On the last day of his life, it is unlikely Gadhafi had much time or inclination for breakfast — which, in Libya, can be as simple as a few fresh dates and a glass of milk or as elaborate as chakchouka, a popular concoction of fried eggs, tomatoes, and chili peppers, usually eaten with pita bred.

But Gadhafi was under the gun.

For the past two weeks, anti-Gadhafi fighters — troops associated with the National Transitional Council — had been waging a determined offensive to take Sirte, the final bastion against the armed uprising that began in eastern Libya last February.

Initially a sort of comic-opera force — untrained, disorganized and practically unarmed — the NTC fighters steadily transformed themselves into a formidable military machine.

By early this week, they had succeeded in ousting pro-Gadhafi soldiers from their fortified compounds in the centre of Sirte, confining them to an area of a few hundred square metres in the northwestern reaches of town.
Early on Thursday, the attackers closed in for the kill. By all accounts, the battle was ferocious, lasting 90 minutes and claiming many lives — including that of Mutassim, Gadhafi’s playboy son.

With their backs to the sea, Gadhafi and his last desperate cronies decided there was no choice but to run.
In an armoured convoy, the remnants of the Libyan old guard fled Sirte, heading more or less in the direction of Misurata, located 140 kilometres to the west.

They did not get far.

NATO warplanes attacked the convoy just three or four kilometres west of Sirte and Moammar Gadhafi’s remaining sojourn on earth was reduced from hours to minutes. A NATO official said the convoy was hit either by a French plane or a U.S. Predator drone.

The 69-year-old despot fled on foot, it seems, and here the story gets jumbled.

By one account, Gadhafi — possibly already wounded in both legs — sought shelter by clambering into one of two adjoining concrete drain pipes that ran beneath the road.

The former ruler may have been alone or accompanied by bodyguards. One photo of the scene, taken later, shows an unidentified corpse sprawled by one of the drains.

A Libyan graffiti artist has scrawled the following words on the concrete surface above the drains: “This is the place of Gadhafi, the rat. God is great!”

A curly-haired man in civilian dress told reporters he witnessed the tyrant’s death. Gadhafi’s last words, he said, were “Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot!”

But someone did shoot, hitting Gadhafi in the abdomen, it was said, apparently with a single bullet from a 9-millimetre pistol.

The curly-haired man says he himself beat the wounded Gadhafi with a shoe, a gross insult among Arabs.
Another young man, in a New York Yankees cap, held aloft a gold-plated pistol that he said he had taken from Gadhafi himself.

Another of Gadhafi’s sons, Seif al-Islam, was reported to be aboard the convoy of vehicles fleeing Sirte, but his fate was uncertain late Thursday.

By some accounts, Gadhafi died a short time later, while being borne toward Misurata in a makeshift ambulance — really just a truck.

A crude cellphone video that surfaced on the Internet Thursday depicts a bloodied man resembling Gadhafi being roughly loaded into the back of a truck, where he seems to be struggling to speak.

Accounts differ about what happened next, but Gadhafi did not long survive.

Another video shows the body of a man, apparently dead and resembling Gadhafi, being dragged across the ground in a scene of chaos.

Another video shows the body of a man, apparently dead and resembling Gadhafi, being dragged across the ground in a scene of chaos.

In what appeared to contradict the events depicted in the video, the National Transitional Council offered a different account later Thursday, saying Gadhafi was killed when a gunfight broke out after his capture between his supporters and government fighters. He died from a bullet wound to the head, the prime minister said.

The NTC said no order had been given to kill him.

“He was bleeding from his stomach,” NTC official Abdel Majid Mlegta said. “It took a long time to transport him. He bled to death (in the ambulance).”

But another NTC official said the group’s fighters “beat him very harshly and then they killed him. This is a war.”

By 1 p.m. local time, about 6 a.m. in Toronto, Libyan TV was reporting Gadhafi’s death.

Half an hour later, NTC commander Abdel-Basit Haroun confirmed the report, and British Prime Minister David Cameron was soon marking the occasion by paying tribute to the “many, many Libyans who died at the hands of this brutal dictator and his regime.”

Now the dictator is dead — and, for Libya, the hard part begins.