Taco Bell gives away free Doritos Locos Tacos after World Series

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• Taco Bell scores win with Doritos taco -- over 200 million served
• Five Guys voted favorite burger chain, McDonald's near bottom

Taco Bell is giving out free Doritos Locos Tacos nationwide Tuesday afternoon in honor of the World Series, which the San Francisco Giants won in a four-game sweep of the Detroit Tigers.
The Mexican-style chain, a sponsor of Major League Baseball, promised to offer the promotion if any player stole a base during the series. On Thursday night, Giants outfielder Angel Pagan delivered, stealing second base during the eighth inning of Game 2.
On Tuesday, from 2 to 6 p.m., participating Taco Bells across the country will give out one free Doritos Locos Taco to guests. The snack, which quickly became the company’s most successful new product ever after launching in March, normally costs $1.29.
On the East Coast, which has been ravaged by super storm Sandy, Taco Bell said locations unable to open because of the weather will hand out free tacos at a later date.
“Our top priority is the well-being of our team members and customers during this massive storm,” the Irvine-based company said in a statement. “In the affected areas, we are now focused on feeding first responders and reopening our restaurants.  Our operators are handling this on a case-by-case basis.”
Fast food brands often turn to giveaways to build customer loyalty and goodwill. In the past, whenever the  Lakers won a home game while keeping their opponent under 100 points, fans received vouchers for free tacos from Jack in the Box.
This summer, Taco Bell helicoptered 10,000 Doritos Locos Tacos to a remote Alaska town – free of charge.

Dallas stuns loaded Lakers in opener, 99-91

     

• Dallas Mavericks' Eddy Curry (52) shoots against Los Angeles Lakers' Pau Gasol (16), of Spain, in the first half of an NBA basketball game in Los Angeles, …
• Los Angeles Lakers' Dwight Howard, center, is defended by Dallas Mavericks' Vince Carter, left, and Elton Brand in the first half of an NBA basketball …

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Dwight Howard missed a two-handed dunk on his first shot, and the night never got much better for the Los Angeles Lakers.

When Howard and Steve Nash took their places alongside Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol under the Hollywood spotlight, the Lakers opened a season of enormous expectations with an equally big dud of a performance.
Darren Collison scored 17 points, Brandan Wright added 14, and the Dallas Mavericks spoiled the Lakers debuts of Howard and Steve Nash with a 99-91 victory over Los Angeles on Tuesday night.
In his first regular-season game in a gold jersey, Howard had 19 points and 10 rebounds while missing 11 of his 14 free throws before fouling out with 2:02 to play.
That's hardly the debut he anticipated after arriving in a trade with Orlando last August, but not much has gone according to plan in the first month for the Lakers' starters, who barely played together in their winless preseason due to injuries.
''It's not an excuse, but it will all come with time,'' Howard said. ''We haven't had an opportunity to really play together as much as we want, but we're going to get it. ... We're going to chip away, and we're going to get better.''
The Lakers' superstar newcomers both had debuts to forget. Nash managed just seven points and four assists while trying to balance the Lakers' new motion offense with his own strengths on the pick-and-roll - all while getting roundly outplayed by Mavs newcomer Collison.
''It's growing pains, and it's a struggle,'' Nash said. ''We're out of sync, and we're going to probably have some more moments in games like that.''
O.J. Mayo had 12 points as the Mavericks pulled off a stunner in their opener, comfortably beating the Lakers without any help from injured Dirk Nowitzki. Dallas and Los Angeles both made big moves in the offseason, yet the Mavericks appeared to be much more together than their high-profile rivals.
''It's a great win,'' Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said. ''If you execute in this league and have talent, you have a chance to win, and we did that. The Lakers are going to be fine. They've got a lot of new guys and a new system, but we were opportunistic tonight and got the job done.''
Bryant scored 22 points while playing on an injured right foot for the Lakers, whose loaded lineup followed up its 0-8 preseason with a largely passionless second-half effort in front of a sellout crowd expecting to see a super team capable of contending for the franchise's 17th championship - a fact acknowledged by Bryant when he addressed the fans before the game.
''As you know, we have a lot of expectations this season,'' Bryant said. ''We're trying to live up to the expectations. We're trying to bring another championship back to where it belongs, back to Los Angeles.''
Instead, the Lakers showed how much work they will have to do to challenge Miami and the NBA's best.
Dallas steadily pulled away to a 16-point lead in the second half, never allowing any serious runs by their disjointed, disorganized opponents as the Lakers lost their opener for just the fourth time in the last 21 years.
''It's not the way we wanted it to go,'' said Gasol, who led the Lakers with 23 points and 13 rebounds. ''We know it's not going to happen for us right away, but we've just got to stick with it.''
Vince Carter, Shawn Marion and Rodrigue Beaubois scored 11 points apiece for the Mavericks, who snapped a six-game skid against the Lakers over the past two seasons.
Dallas also contained Howard by using his career-long free-throw ineptitude against him - hardly a novel strategy, but one that worked particularly well when combined with Howard's opening-night nerves.
''When he had me in a bad position, I wanted to foul him,'' said Elton Brand, who had eight points and 11 rebounds in his Dallas debut. ''Underneath the basket, he's a beast and he's hard to stop. I know he can dunk, and I know he can make those tough layups, so I'm playing the percentages. He obviously hasn't been a good free throw shooter, and tonight he was 3 for 14.''
The Lakers were 12 for 31 altogether from the free-throw line, a major factor in their inability to close the gap on Dallas in the second half.
''I've just got to stop thinking so much and get up there and make them,'' Howard said.
Jae Crowder scored eight points in his NBA debut for the Mavericks, who are likely to be without Nowitzki for at least six more weeks while the German superstar recovers from arthroscopic knee surgery. Dallas also played without new center Chris Kaman, yet had little trouble containing the Lakers down low.

NOTES: Dallas opened its season on the road for the first time since 2007. The Mavericks had opened the season against the Lakers three previous times, losing all three games. ... Howard was called for a flagrant foul in the third quarter for hammering Brand on an open shot in the lane. ... Katy Perry, Russell Brand, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Adam Levine, Jon Cryer and Los Angeles Galaxy stars David Beckham and Robbie Keane attended the game.

After Blaze, Breezy Point Bands Together

Philip Montgomery for The Wall Street Journal

A view of debris following a large fire which destroyed 100 homes in Breezy Point.

Residents of the tightknit beach enclave of Breezy Point, Queens, sometimes known as the "Irish Riviera" for its overwhelming ethnic makeup, picked through the ashes of more than 100 homes destroyed by fire Monday night and contemplated the future of the once-placid getaway ravished by Sandy.
Hundreds more homes suffered flood damage and dozens of houses were swept off their foundations, officials said.
At the same time, stories of neighbor helping neighbor abounded amid flooded streets, pancaked beach houses that lined a battered promenade and the entire cluster of dozens of homes known as "the wedge" leveled by the fire that was still smoldering Tuesday.
Firefighters whose own fire houses and families' homes were flooded arrived to the fire scene but were helpless for hours as waist-high choppy water blocked them from homes that were on fire and prevented them from linking to drowned hydrants.

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Philip Montgomery for The Wall Street Journal

A resident works to extinguish remnants of the blaze early Tuesday.

"We saw the glow and couldn't do a thing," said Roxbury's deputy fire chief, Lou Satriano. "It was a domino effect. Houses just caught and caught and caught fire."
The blaze destroyed the home of Rep. Robert Turner, the Republican congressman who won a special election to replace Rep. Anthony Weiner last year, according to his deputy chief of staff, Eugene Patrone.
"I, along with many other Breezy Point residents, lost our homes last night and I am grateful that my family and I are safe after this destructive storm," Mr. Turner said in a statement.
The area has long been populated largely by Irish-American families, and long lines of New York firefighters and police officers make their homes there, emerging from the sand in the summer to snack on cheeseburgers and hot wings at the walk-up window at the beachside Sugar Bowl bar. Tuesday morning, the bar had been flattened.
Even though they were ordered to evacuate, many families elected to ride out the storm, thinking it wouldn't be any worse than last year's Irene. Peter Morgan, ex-chief of the fire department, who also was at the scene helping the Roxbury firefighters, figured 60% of the community had stayed behind.

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Philip Montgomery for The Wall Street Journal

Two Point Breeze firefighters survey the scene after the huge fire that destroyed more than 100 homes in Breezy Point in Queens.

It was a miscalculation. Tuesday, ambulances and fire trucks, sirens wailing, streamed onto the wind-whipped peninsula and residents waded through waist-high water to escape with what belongings they could or for those who fled to check on homes that were certainly left with standing water. One man dug through the twisted metal and charred remains of what once was his home, searching for his wife's wedding ring and the family safe with a firefighter's hook he'd commandeered from his New York Fire Department job.
Outside the Sugar Bowl, neighbors greeted neighbors with hugs and assessed one another's damage.
"Our whole deck is gone," said Katie Henderson.
"Yeah," said Finbar Devine, 26, who lives near her home. "I saw it float by."
The fire that swept through Breezy Point homes presented significant challenges to firefighters.
Roxbury's deputy fire chief said his team of about 10 volunteer firefighters was in the second floor of their station house at 42 State Road about 7:30 p.m. when someone noticed a glow out the window from the fires.
But the firefighters were trapped. Their phones and radios were down and they had fled upstairs an hour earlier when water gushed into the two-story firehouse. They couldn't even get to their trucks, which were standing in four feet of water.

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Philip Montgomery for The Wall Street Journal

City firefighters work to extinguish the blaze.

Finally, around 11 p.m. the water subsided to about 2 feet, and the firefighters rushed downstairs to head to the fires at Breezy Point. The roads, too, were covered with standing water, so the mile-and-a-half trek was a slow one. They arrived to find no working fire hydrants, and firefighters from Point Breeze and the New York Fire Department on the scene but doing nothing because the water there was about 4 feet high, with waves and covered in white caps. Three homes at this time were fully engulfed in flames.
To complicate matters, the trucks on the scene were unable to get water to the fires because they couldn't pump the water that surrounded them into their hoses. The Roxbury department had the gear that could do this.
The firefighters started pumping the salty water around them into their hoses, and once the water receded a bit began to lug the hose through waist-high water three blocks to the fire scene.
By then six houses were glowing with fire, he said.
Only one firehose was trained on the fires from 11 p.m. to 2 a.m., Mr. Satriano said.

Nets’ Opener Against Knicks on Thursday Will Be Played

Andrea Mohin/The New York Times

Barclays Center in Brooklyn is served by 11 subway lines and the Long Island Rail Road, but storm damage and flooded tracks brought all trains in the city to a halt.

The most anticipated Brooklyn sports event in a half-century — the Nets’ debut at Barclays Center — will unfold as planned, despite lingering concerns in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.

Mud and debris at a subway entrance in Brooklyn’s Brighton Beach neighborhood. Flooding caused heavy damage to the city’s mass transit infrastructure.

The Nets, who are playing under the Brooklyn banner after 35 years in New Jersey, will tip off the new era against the Knicks at 7 p.m. on Thursday.

The game was left in doubt for most of the day Tuesday as the city worked to recover from Monday’s monstrous storm, which knocked out mass transit and left several areas without electricity. The N.B.A. initially deferred any judgment on Thursday’s game while it assessed the situation.

The decision to proceed finally came Tuesday evening and was announced with a one-sentence statement on the N.B.A.’s Twitter feed. League officials declined to elaborate, and it remained unclear how more than 17,000 fans would make their way to the game without subway and rail service, which remained offline because of flooding and storm damage.

Barclays Center was built on a major transit hub, in the hope that most customers would arrive by subway or the Long Island Rail Road. City officials have said it will take four to five days before the bulk of subway service returns.

In a news conference Tuesday afternoon, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said that he hoped the game would be played and that he planned to attend. But he noted, pointedly, “It’s going to be tough to get there.”

The lack of mass transit could present a nightmare for commuting fans, as well as those living in the surrounding neighborhood. Barclays Center sits on Brooklyn’s busiest intersection, at Flatbush and Atlantic Avenues. Parking in the area is extremely limited.

There were hints earlier Tuesday that the game would be played as scheduled. Both teams, as well as the officiating crew, were advised to plan as if it would be played. TNT, which is broadcasting the game, sent a crew to New York ahead of the hurricane.

“As far as I’ve been told, it’s still on,” Knicks Coach Mike Woodson said. “We’re preparing to play Thursday.”

A Barclays Center spokesman said the arena came through the storm without any serious damage. The only remaining concern, then, is getting fans to the building. The Nets have two more home games coming up, Saturday (against Toronto) and Monday (against Minnesota).

The N.B.A. has postponed 11 regular-season games since 2000, mostly because of severe weather and weather-related travel problems. But league officials have set a high bar for what warrants a postponement. As a general rule, they will allow a game to proceed as long as both teams and the referees can safely reach the arena, even if the game is played before only a few thousand fans.

 The N.B.A. consulted with the Nets and the mayor’s office before making the final call, and Bloomberg’s public statement in favor of the game helped influence the decision. The announcement came late in the day because league officials were awaiting final confirmation from city officials.

Rescheduling the Knicks-Nets game would have been challenging, given national television and arena commitments. On the plus side, the league would not have had to factor in travel schedules.

Any delay would have been a blow to the Nets — who are set to host the first major sporting event in Brooklyn since the Dodgers left in 1957 — and to their fans. Team officials have been awaiting this moment ever since ground was broken on the new arena. The franchise has undergone a complete makeover, on and off the court, since leaving New Jersey earlier this year, and is now projected as a top playoff team in the Eastern Conference.

The season opener against the Knicks also heralds the start of a new rivalry. Although the Nets and Knicks have been nominal rivals over the years, there was never as much fascination as there is now, with the Nets playing in the same city.

“That will be a very monumental game for Brooklyn,” said the Knicks’ Carmelo Anthony, who was born in Red Hook. He added, “For us to take place in that first game in history, it’ll be a fun moment for myself, being from Brooklyn, growing up there, knowing that the energy that Brooklyn has right now as a borough. I’m looking forward to that game Thursday.”

Barclays Center did cancel two events in the wake of the hurricane: a Journey concert on Tuesday and a Smashing Pumpkins show scheduled for Wednesday night, presumably because of logistical concerns.

The Nets are already coping with the storm’s aftermath. Their training center in East Rutherford, N.J., lost electricity and was cut off to traffic by flooding and debris, prompting the team to cancel practice Tuesday. The Nets will practice at Barclays Center on Wednesday, and possibly for several more days, depending on how long it takes to restore power at the training center.

Most of the Nets’ players live in New Jersey, which experienced massive flooding and power failures. Two Nets — Josh Childress and Mirza Teletovic — had their homes flooded in Weehawken, forcing them to make alternate living arrangements. Two others — Reggie Evans and C. J. Watson — were without electricity. Tyshawn Taylor’s apartment in Hoboken was surrounded by water.

Most of the team planned to spend Tuesday night in Brooklyn hotels, to simplify their commute to practice on Wednesday.

The Knicks’ training center in Westchester County was unaffected by the storm, and the team practiced there late Tuesday afternoon. Most of their players live close to the facility. Marcus Camby was the only one who could not make it, because of fallen trees in his neighborhood.

“Thank God everything is all right with everybody on the team and their families,” the Knicks’ Tyson Chandler said. “It’s been a little crazy. My heart goes out to everybody and their families, everybody in New York who’s dealing with this.”

Nate Taylor and Mosi Secret contributed reporting.

MTA buses running again after Hurricane Sandy slams NYC 

 

Buses began running at 5 p.m. Tuesday on a Sunday schedule. No fare will be charged through Wednesday, Gov. Cuomo said. Subway tunnels are still flooded.

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New Yorkers won't have to pay to ride the bus on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Bus service resumed late Tuesday, with the MTA operating on a Sunday schedule.

LIVE BLOG: UPDATES ON HURRICANE SANDY

Gov. Cuomo said he hoped regular bus service would resume Wednesday.

Riders can ride for free Tuesday and Wednesday as they are "struggling to get their lives in gear."

Cuomo and MTA Chairman said the authority would try and restore parts of the subway system and complement it with bus service - but said restoring service through now-flooded subway tunnels beneath the East River was a daunting task.

"The damage to the tracks, tunnels under water, is unlike anything the city has seen in decades, if ever," Cuomo said.

MTA bridges are opening at noon. The Hugh Carey Tunnel and the Port Authority's Holland Tunnel are flooded and closed.

Officials didn't say when the commuter railroads would be back on line. Metro-North was dealing with power outages - and a 40-foot boat beached across tracks in Ossining.

"Sandy wreaked havoc on our entire transportation system in every single borough in the city and every single county in the MTA region," Lhota said.

Water in one lower Manhattan station was up to the ceiling, Lhota said. 

Because the MTA moved subway trains and buses to protected areas no buses or train cars suffered damage, Lhota said.

Google doodles Happy Halloween

The Happy Halloween doodle features a haunted mansion numbered 13 with scary and bizarre creatures around it.

NEW DELHI: Happy Halloween! Google on Wednesday celebrates Halloween, an annual fun-filled celebration observed in several countries on the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Hallows, with an animated doodle.

The Happy Halloween doodle features a haunted mansion numbered 13 with scary and bizarre creatures around it. A crow is seen hopping from one end to another over the roof of the haunted house. And to make the doodle more frightening, creepy music is played in the background.

The Happy Halloween doodle is interactive. When a user clicks the first door of the mansion a blue one-eyed octopus opens the door which also stands for the letter G of the Google logo.

The second door is opened by a pair of eyes coloured in red and yellow thus forming the letter 'O' of the logo.

A click on the third door and a ghost in a veil pops up who stands for the fourth letter 'G' of the logo.

Another strange creature is seen at the window pane behind the iron rods. This creature can be interpreted as the letter 'L'.

The last door of the doodle displays a creature with a scary smile and forms the letter 'E'.

A skeleton is seen flying in the air and jumps into action when clicked on it. An alley cat also jumps out of the dustbin and runs through the doodle screaming.

Across the doodle a number of jack-o'-lanterns, a popular Halloween symbol, lie on the doorsteps of the house for more impact.

On Halloween, celebrations include costume parties, carving pumpkins into jack-o'-lanterns, trick-or-treating, and other haunted attractions.

Halloween has a long history and is believed to have pagan roots. Traditional activities such as offering prayers to Almighty, fasting and enjoying feasts are also practiced by some.

Star Wars 7 Plot Will Be "an Original Story," Says Lucasfilm Source

 

If Disney is buying LucasFilm, how will that affect Star Wars: Episode 7 and other Star Wars projects? Any word on what the movie will be about?
—Flannel, via Twitter
Well, we know that, whatever the plot of Episode 7, George Lucas won't have a heavy hand in the day-to-day creation of it. He's apparently written the treatments for the films, but he won't produce or direct—an excellent opportunity for another visionary to jettison Jar Jar Binks out of an airlock permanently.
As for the plot, Star Wars superfans have a theory on what they'll be seeing next. But I have a surprise for them: They're wrong. If you're a fan, you're definitely gonna want to read on.
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First of all, you should know that there is an official canon concerning the Star Wars universe. Those stories cover the years after rebel victory (i.e., after Return of the Jedi). It's written in a series of books called the Thrawn Trilogy, by author Timothy Zahn. Die-hard Star Wars fans know the trilogy well, and they say that a big-screen adaptation of the first book, Heir to the Empire, would make the most logical Episode 7.
"Of all the speculation out there about the content of this new trilogy, that's the single most concrete idea," says Eric Geller of the fan site TheForce.net. "It's almost inevitable that the story will take place in the same time frame as those books."
So what happens in "those books?"
Well, Luke Skywalker meets a real would-be assassin lady named Mara Jade, who was trained to avenge the Emperor by crushing Luke's pretty blond head. Instead, Jade falls for Luke and, a subsequent graphic novel, the two marry. Skywalker also has to deal with the fact that he's the only Jedi left, at least, for now, and he goes about trying to fix that.
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Princess Leia and Han Solo also play heavily into the Thrawn Trilogy, popping out a pair of twins (of course) among other things. As for the name Thrawn, well, that refers to a grand admiral with imperial sympathies who takes over as the leader of the vanquished enemy faction.
So is that the basis for Episode 7 or not? I've heard directly from LucasFilm and other sources close to the picture, and they say: Definitely not.
"It's an original story," a LucasFilm source tells me.
In other words, forget the Star Wars novels. Forget the graphic novels. Forget everything you think you know about what happens to Luke Skywalker. According to my sources, Episode 7 will literally be nothing you've ever seen or read before from the Star Wars universe.
I also hear from several sources that, no matter what you may hear to the contrary, no director has been officially attached to the project.
Meanwhile, there isn't much news regarding the other big Star Wars projects currently in development.
A spoofy cartoon TV series, Detours, was announced in August, spearheaded by Seth Green and the other creators of Robot Chicken. No release dates or networks were revealed, but Disney has said that it envisions some sort of Star Wars presence on its Disney XD channel. I wouldn't be surprised if Detours landed there.
Disney is paying how much for LucasFilm!?!?
Lastly, there's the live action series, which has been bubbling around since 2008 and which is supposed to take place between Episodes 3 and 4, when Luke Skywalker is growing up.
As I reported earlier, Lucasfilm was still talking in enthusiastic terms about Star Wars: Underworld less than a year ago. At that time, the show had a lot of scripts in the can but no financing. But if there's one thing that Disney has, it's money. Still, insiders tell me it's too soon to expect any announcements on either series.
Guess we'll just have to pray that Jar Jar has nothing to do with any of 'em.

Breaking down Tony Romo's interceptions

IRVING, Texas – In seven games, Tony Romo has 13 interceptions, easily putting him on pace for a career high.

In a full season, Romo has never thrown more than 19 picks. In his last two full seasons (2011, 2009) he had 10 and nine interceptions.

So far 2012 has been a different story.
In his last two home games he has been intercepted nine times by Chicago and the New York Giants.

Let’s break down the four Sunday against the Giants:

Interception No. 1: It’s first and 10 from the Dallas 45 after a 23-yard pickup by Miles Austin. The Cowboys have an eight-man protection, which means only Austin and Dez Bryant are out in a route. The protection is solid against the Giants’ four-man rush and Romo tries to laser a throw to Bryant, who is supposed to run a deep crossing route. After the game Bryant said he was off balance and could not sharpen his route. As a result, safety Stevie Brown is able to step into the interception. It was a forced throw of sorts, but Bryant has to take some blame for not running the route correctly.

Interception No. 2: It’s first and 10 from the Dallas 24 and Romo wants to take a shot against the New York secondary. The Cowboys use a six-man protection with Felix Jones and Lawrence Vickers serving as checkdown options. Jason Witten is in to block. Austin is on the numbers as he runs down the field with cornerback Corey Webster to the outside. Romo’s throw is high and to the outside. As Austin adjusts he is nudged by Webster and is off balance and unable to contest the pass, giving Webster the easy pick. Again, not the best of throws, but Romo is trusting Austin to make a play or at least knock it down and he can’t.

Gallery: Giants 29, Cowboys 24

 

Interception No. 3: It’s second and 7 from the Dallas 34. Romo is under early pressure from Chris Canty, who beats guard Nate Livings. Sensing the pressure, Romo tries to loop a pass to Jones, who is releasing from the backfield. Unfortunately Jason Pierre-Paul senses Jones going out on the route and stops rushing. As a result Tyron Smith is not engaged with Pierre-Paul and the defensive end makes one of the most outrageous plays you will see. He picks off the pass and returns it for a touchdown. That one you tip your cap to JPP for a great play.

Interception No. 4: It’s fourth and 1 from the New York 19. The Cowboys need 1 yard for a first down and go with the pass. The Giants rush four and the Cowboys protect with five guys. Osi Umenyiora beats Doug Free and Romo is forced to flee to his right while being chased by Umenyiora, Canty and Linval Joseph. Knowing it’s fourth down, he throws the ball toward Witten by the sideline, but Brown comes up with his second interception. Given the situation, the quarterback can’t just eat the ball on fourth down. Poor protection led to this pick. But why not run some shorter route to Witten? If they have him take three steps and turn around it’s a first down, but he is running down the seam.

Sandy first test for National Weather Service-Blacksburg's upgraded radar

Sandy first test for National Weather Service-Blacksburg's...

Hurricane Sandy is the first major storm meteorologists at the National Weather Service's Blacksburg hub is tracking using its upgraded Doppler radar. 

BLACKSBURG, VA -- Hurricane Sandy is the first major storm meteorologists at the National Weather Service's Blacksburg hub is tracking using its upgraded Doppler radar.
The upgrade was installed earlier this month, explained Steve Keighton, the chief science officer at the facility.
The upgrade allows forecasters to "see" storms both horizontally and vertically, Keighton said. "So now we can distinguish hail from rain drops or snowflakes," Keighton said. Keighton said the upgraded system will also allow forecasters to be more confident in warnings issued during severe weather.

Linda Hogan watched Hulk Hogan's sex tape with Heather Clem: 'I knew that he was cheating'

Professional wrestler Hulk Hogan's ex-wife Linda was a guest on the Oct. 29 edition of "Access Hollywood Live" to promote her new memoir "Wrestling the Hulk: My Life Against the Ropes." And of course hosts Billy Bush and Kit Hoover had to bring up the infamous Hulk sex tape.

"It really is quite an embarrassment for our family," Linda tells the hosts in the video clip below. "I'm not really shocked because I knew that he was having affairs and I knew that he was cheating."

Hulk insists he had no idea he was being filmed in bed with Heather Clem, the wife of his radio DJ friend Bubba the Love Sponge. Following the confidential settlement of a lawsuit Hulk brought against Mr. Love Sponge, Bubba read a statement on his syndicated radio show confirming that Hulk had no knowledge of the tape.

"It actually did make me upset," Linda says about seeing the tape. "I've seen him on TV so much, but this was different. To see your husband in a room with another woman ... It's a whole life of deception. I'm glad to be away from that now."

As an added bonus: Near the end of the clip, Bush refers to the sex tape as "the Hulk Hogan love tape thing," which somehow makes this whole mess even creepier.

NBC secures English Premier League soccer rights

LONDON — NBC's networks will televise the English Premier League under a $250 million, three-year deal that begins next season.

They will show every match from the world's most popular soccer league, taking coverage away from Fox and ESPN.

"The Barclays Premier League is the pre-eminent soccer league in the world, and is on the cusp of exponential popularity growth here in the U.S.," NBC Sports Group chairman Mark Lazarus said Sunday.

The company picked up Major League Soccer last year and had success with its soccer broadcasts during the London Olympics.

Criticized for using tape delay with the Olympics because of time differences, NBC will not do so with Premier League games, Lazarus said. English-language broadcasts will primarily be on cable channel NBC Sports Network, with Telemundo and mun2 used for Spanish coverage.

NBC's English-language networks will televise six live games a week. One or two of the company's other cable channels will also be used, Lazarus said, but which has not been determined yet as schedules are evaluated. Other games will be streamed live online.

The company has been seeking to expand the audience of NBC Sports Network, which was renamed from Versus after its owner, Comcast Corp., took over NBCUniversal.

"We think we're acquiring a set of assets that has unique affluent male appeal that's very attractive to advertisers and attractive to cable operators," Lazarus said.

And soccer is a potential area for growth with most sports broadcast rights currently under contract, though NBC recently signed a deal with the Formula One auto racing series.

NBC Sports Network's biggest property is the NHL, whose season runs concurrently with English soccer. The EPL will be a good complement to the network's hockey coverage, Lazarus said, adding live soccer games in the morning and afternoon to prime-time NHL broadcasts.

"It's a younger skewing sport than some others out there, like some that are in a championship series right now," Lazarus said, in apparent reference to Major League baseball and its older viewership.

The previous three-year EPL deal with Fox, that saw some matches sublicensed to ESPN, was worth about $80 million. NBC Sports Network is in about twice as many homes in the U.S. as Fox Soccer but about 20 percent fewer than ESPN.

The EPL has sold its TV rights in Britain to BSkyB and BT for 3.018 billion pounds ($4.86 billion) in a record three-year deal from the 2013-14 season.

The EPL said NBC will deliver the "biggest and broadest programming and promotion commitment ever in the United States" for the league.

"The NBC Sports Group has an excellent track record in sports broadcasting," EPL chief executive Richard Scudamore said.

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Fox is owned by News Corp.; ESPN is a unit of The Walt Disney Co.

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Google's Nexus 4: A closer look at Android's new flagship phone

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Being an Android fan is a bit like being a kid in a candy store today. Along with its new Android 4.2 Jelly Bean release and all the new features it delivers, Google has officially launched two brand new Nexus devices: the Nexus 4, a highly anticipated new flagship phone, and the Nexus 10, a high-end 10-inch tablet made by Samsung.

Let's take an up-close look at the Nexus 4, shall we? The phone combines the basic structure of LG's Optimus G with Google's own design sentiments and pure Android software. Get ready, gang: This phone promises to provide the ultimate Android experience -- and it very well may have the goods to deliver.

Nexus 4: LG's hardware with Google's design

You can clearly see LG's Optimus G foundation in the Nexus 4, but make no mistake about it: This is a Nexus phone through and through. The Nexus 4 rocks a 4.7-in. True HD IPS display with the familiar Nexus-style curved glass. At a glance, its form actually looks very much like that of the Galaxy Nexus that preceded it.

Thinking about size? The Nexus 4 is 2.7 x 5.3 in. and 0.36 in. thick. It weighs 4.9 oz. Despite its larger screen, then, that actually makes it almost the same size and weight as the Galaxy Nexus -- just a hair thicker and a skosh heavier, but probably not enough to be terribly noticeable.

The larger screen is far from the only thing that separates the new Nexus phone from its younger brother, though. In general, LG's build with this line of devices feels far more solid and substantial than the plasticky-style approach favored by Samsung. The Nexus 4 puts a Googley twist on LG's distinctive back-of-phone design, with a sleek and premium-looking patterned material reminiscent of the classic Nexus wallpaper look.

Outward aesthetics aside, the Nexus 4's screen has a resolution of 1280 x 768 with 320ppi, all protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 2. Based on the time I spent with the Optimus G, which uses the same display technology, I expect the image quality on this thing to be wildly impressive.

And that's just the start.

Nexus 4: Power, power, power

Under its hood, the new Nexus 4 packs a 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro quad-core processor along with a full 2GB of RAM. With that setup, the Optimus G zooms along as fast as any Android phone I've seen; combining it with pure Google software should deliver comparable -- and quite possibly even better -- levels of ridiculous speed.

The Nexus 4 has an 8-megapixel camera -- certainly a huge step up from the Galaxy Nexus's 5-megapixel lens, which was widely viewed as that device's Achilles' heel. If the Optimus G is any indication, I suspect the Nexus 4's camera will be good, though likely less good than the super-high-end cameras used on phones like HTC's One X and One S. The Nexus 4 also has a 1.3-megapixel shooter on its front for video chat and all those self-nudie pics you're always taking (you silly, silly pervert).

The Nexus 4 comes with either 8GB or 16GB of internal storage, and -- following the typical Nexus model -- unfortunately does not support SD cards. It does support wireless charging, though, and will have an incredibly slick-looking wireless charging orb (yes, orb) accessory.

The Nexus 4 has a 2100mAh battery that's listed for 15.3 hours of talk-time and 390 hours of standby.

Nexus 4: The nitty-gritty

All right, let's get down to brass tacks: Google is focusing primarily on direct unlocked sales of the Nexus 4, which isn't a huge surprise after the Verizon Galaxy Nexus debacle. You'll be able to grab GSM/HSPA+ versions of the phone starting November 13 from the Google Play Store. (There is no LTE version -- something Android head honcho Andy Rubin describes as a "tactical" decision.)

Translation? For those of us in the U.S., the phone will work on either T-Mobile or AT&T with HSPA+-level 4G speeds; you'll buy the device outright from Google and then use it either with your existing plan or a new plan. You can also opt to use it with a prepaid smartphone plan -- something I'd strongly suggest considering.

The 8GB version of the device will be available for $300 and the 16GB version for $350. The phone will launch initially in the U.S., U.K., Canada, Germany, France, Spain, and Australia; Google says Europe, Central and South America, Asia, CIS and the Middle East will follow later in the month.

(In the U.S., T-Mobile will also sell the 16GB version of the phone for $200 with a new two-year contract. Between you and me, though, most people will do far better by buying directly from Google and then picking a usage-appropriate plan without the contract.)

Some start to the week, eh? And we're barely even scratching the surface. I'll be spending a lot of time with the Nexus 4 as well as the Nexus 10 over the next several days and will be sharing my detailed hands-on impressions with you soon.
Keep an eye on Android Power for updates or join me over on Google+ if you want to chat about this stuff even more.

Sandy claims 'Bounty' off North Carolina

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Former owner Ted Turner says he's "deeply saddened" by the Bounty's loss
• A deckhand's body has been found and the captain is missing
• The Coast Guard says 14 rescued crew members are "in good health"
• The Bounty was en route to St. Petersburg, Florida, when it sank in heavy seas

Have you been affected by Hurricane Sandy? If so, share your images and footage with CNN iReport, but please stay safe.

(CNN) -- Three people washed off their crippled ship and engulfed by Atlantic waters roiled by Hurricane Sandy scrambled for help on Monday, the U.S. Coast Guard said, but only one of them made it to safety.

When the HMS Bounty's crew members realized their lives were in danger off the North Carolina coast in the dark morning hours, they made a short journey they hoped they'd never have to take -- to two waiting life rafts.

But only 13 of the 16 people aboard got off the ship safely, initially, and only one of the three washed overboard made it into a raft, Coast Guard Vice Adm. Robert Parker told CNN. That left rescuers scrambling to find them in the frenzied ocean, Parker said.

One of them -- the Bounty's longtime captain, Robin Walbridge -- remained missing as night approached Monday, said Lt. Mike Patterson, a Coast Guard spokesman. The body of the second, deckhand Claudine Christian, was found Monday evening, the Coast Guard announced.

The 180-foot, three-masted ship, a replica of the famous British vessel, foundered about 90 miles off North Carolina as Sandy's fury churned the Atlantic into 18-foot seas, its owner, Bob Hansen, told CNN affilliate KUSA.

Hansen said Walbridge was attempting to head east, away from the hurricane, when the ship began taking on water.

Sandy sinks 'Bounty'

 

"At that time it wasn't considered an emergency, even though they had several feet of water inside the boat," Hansen said. "She's a very large ship, and that little bit of water really does not do anything to her. But somehow we lost power in our generator and in our main engines, and as a result, we could not pump any water out of the boat."

As the waves continued to batter the ship, "it just got to the point where she couldn't stay afloat anymore."

People, pets evacuate ahead of hurricane

 

See timelapse of Sandy from space

CNN meteorologists say the water temperature varies greatly in that part of the ocean because of the gulf stream. So the water could be anywhere from 50 to 64 degrees Fahrenheit.

All of the crew members were wearing orange survival suits with strobe lights designed to keep them afloat, warm and easy to find.

"But in these conditions, it's very problematic," Parker said, adding that a timely deployment of search-and-rescue aircraft and ships gives the missing a chance.

A C-130 aircraft and a helicopter have been monitoring the area around the shipwreck. Two Coast Guard cutters were en route to the scene to help with search-and-rescue, with one expected to arrive later on Monday and the other expected on Tuesday, Parker said.

Coast Guard helicopters plucked 14 people out of two lifeboats around 6:30 a.m., Petty Officer Brandyn Hill said.

"The first guy we pulled up, he was really happy to see us. That's for sure," said Aviation Survival Technician 2 Randy Haba, a Coast Guard rescue swimmer. "We got him up there, and he was all excited and saying, 'That's a good job,' and everything was great. He was just a little cold, but he was good to go."

The life boats were designed to hold 25 people and had canopies for shelter against pelting rain and winds.

All of those rescued arrived at the Coast Guard air station in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, and were in good health, Parker said. Initial reports said 17 crew members were aboard, but the Coast Guard later corrected that number.

The Coast Guard said it has "diminished search-and-rescue capabilities" as Category 1 Hurricane Sandy batters the U.S. East Coast. More sea rescues prompted by Sandy were reported in Delaware Bay.

The ship was built for the 1962 film version of "Mutiny on the Bounty," starring Marlon Brando, and appeared in the 2006 blockbuster "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest." It was once owned by America's Cup winner and CNN founder Ted Turner, who acquired it in 1986 along with the rights to the MGM film library.

"Among the many troubling reports on the devastating impact of Hurricane Sandy, I am deeply saddened to hear that the HMS Bounty was overtaken by the storm," Turner said in a statement Monday night. "As a sailor and former owner of the Bounty, my heart goes out to the families of the missing crew members, and I am truly hopeful for their safe recovery."

The ship departed New London, Connecticut, for St. Petersburg, Florida, on October 25, according to the ship's Facebook page. Facebook postings bearing that date say things such as "I'm sure that Hurricane Sandy will be a major consideration when Bounty leaves for St. Petersburg later today," and "Bounty will be sailing East out to sea before heading South to avoid the brunt of Hurricane Sandy."

The ship was scheduled to arrive at the Pier in St. Petersburg as early as November 7 for a public display on November 10 and 11, the Pier's general manager, Carol Everson, said Monday. The St. Petersburg/Clearwater Area Convention and Vistors Bureau is promoting "The HMS Bounty Returns To The Pier" on its website.

Everson said it's hard to believe the Bounty, which has docked in St. Petersburg for long stretches since the 1970s, is buried under the ocean.

"It had such a history, not only because of 'Mutiny on the Bounty,' but it's been a great part of St. Petersburg for so many years. It's going to be missed," Everson said. "It had a majestic look with its tall masts. It had an aura about it."

While following the ship's Facebook timeline, you can read a mixture of trepidation and attempts at soothing fears.

On Saturday, this post appeared: "Bounty's current voyage is a calculated decision... NOT AT ALL... irresponsible or with a lack of foresight as some have suggested. The fact of the matter is... A SHIP IS SAFER AT SEA THAN IN PORT!"

No one responded to the contact e-mail or phone number listed on the ship's website and Facebook account.

Sandy is evoking memories of the "nor'easter" that struck off New England in 1991 and inspired the best-selling book and movie "The Perfect Storm."

Ray Leonard, who survived that storm on his sailboat before the Coast Guard rescued him, said being besieged by high winds and waves can be exhausting, but sometimes sailors just have to deal with that physical discomfort.

"You don't really have time to think about much outside, because there's always about six jobs that need doing," Leonard said Monday.

Leonard said he never felt terribly vulnerable in '91. However, he said, Hurricane Sandy's immensity poses more of a quandary for sailors.

"The one I was in was different, because you could do something. In Sandy, you can't do much," Leonard said.

CNN's Belle Reynoso, Thom Patterson, Meridith Edwards, Mike Ahlers, Sean Morris and George Howell contributed to this report.

WaPo-ABC track: All tied up at 49 percent

After days of small ticks up and down, the Washington Post-ABC News tracking poll starts its second week with a tied contest: 49 percent of likely voters support President Obama and exactly the same number back Republican Mitt Romney.
Little has been able to budge the presidential contest definitively one way or the other, nor has voters’ impressions of their own financial well-being changed over the course of the intense, expensive fall campaign.
Just as in early September, 33 percent of likely voters say they are worse off than they were four years ago, with just over 20 percent (now 22) saying things are better financially. Now, as then, nearly half say things are about the same. This split in opinion remains far more similar to impressions before George H.W. Bush lost his bid for a second term in 1992 than when Bill Clinton won his four years later.
By 2 to 1, more independents say they are not as well off as they were when Obama became president than say they are now in better shape financially (36 to 18 percent).

But one persistent obstacle for the challenger counterbalances: A slim but steady majority of voters say he would do more to favor the wealthy over the middle class were he to win the presidency. Two-thirds see Obama prioritizing the middle class, not the wealthy.
The current contest appears to be just as knotted up across eight hotly contested swing states in interviewing over the past 11 days. In aggregated data across the national tracking poll with likely voters in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin, it is a nearly identical 49 percent for Obama and 48 percent for Romney.
Both sides have focused their heaviest campaigning in these states, with more than half of television advertising taking place in Florida, Ohio and Virginia alone. In the Post-ABC tracking poll, more than a third of all likely voters in the eight “toss-up” states say they have heard from a representative of the Obama campaign, either in person, on the phone or via e-mail in the past week alone. Nearly as many report being contacted during the week by someone from the Romney side asking for their vote.
The Obama and Romney campaigns have spent particular energy in getting supporters to vote early, before Election Day. Fully 21 percent of likely voters across these states say they have cast their ballot. Another 28 percent say they plan to do so between now and Nov. 6.
At the national level, the race has been tightly competitive from the outset in Post-ABC polling of likely voters, with both Obama and Romney almost always hovering within a narrow band of 47 and 50 percent support.
The two presidential candidates are also nearly tied in the new tracking poll on the question of which one voters trust to handle the economy — 49 percent say Romney, 47 percent Obama. Romney had staked out a clear advantage on the campaign’s dominant issue toward the end of last week. Things have also tilted marginally back in Obama’s direction when it comes to better understanding the economic problems people are having.
On priorities, by a 10-point margin (48 to 38 percent), political independents say Romney would tilt policy toward the wealthy rather than the middle class. By contrast, nearly two-thirds of independents (64 percent) see Obama as favoring the middle class, not the wealthy, with his policies. Still, Romney gets the nod from independents nationally when it comes to vote choice: 53 percent support his candidacy, while 43 percent would vote to reelect the president.
The Post-ABC tracking poll is a series of consecutive one-night “waves” of interviews reported as a rolling, multi-night average. The new results are for interviews conducted Oct. 25-28, among a random sample of 1,259 likely voters. Results for this sample have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

Soldiers Guard the Tomb of Unknowns During Hurricane Sandy

 

A photo of soldiers guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from September that went viral on the Internet today, as Hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast. (Karin Markert/OldGuard/Facebook)

An inspirational picture making the rounds on the Internet today is reminding people of the service of the elite soldiers who guard Arlington Cemetery’s Tomb of the Unknowns in any kind of weather, even during Hurricane Sandy.   That the picture was actually taken in September is another matter, because even as Hurricane Sandy makes its way along the Eastern seaboard, soldiers are there, guarding the tomb in the fierce wind and rain.
Tomb Sentinels from the Army’s 3rd Infantry Regiment’s “The Old Guard” have guarded the Tomb for 24 hours a day, 365 days a year regardless of the weather, since 1948.
A photo of three Tomb Sentinels standing at attention before the Tomb of the Unknowns in a driving rain in what is supposed to be Hurricane Sandy took the Internet by storm today, but it turns out the photo was actually  taken on Sept. 18.   It is one in a series taken that day by photographer Karin Markert and posted on a photo sharing site. 
Quickly becoming an Internet sensation on social media sites, the photo garnered universal positive comments of pride for the duty and commitment to service of those serving in the U.S. military.
The picture might not be from today, but it does represent the faithful duty of the Tomb Sentinels from the Old Guard who have remained at their posts during Hurricane Sandy.
See more photos of soldiers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier HERE.
“The Old Guard has guarded the tomb minute of every day since April 6, 1948. Today will be no exception,” says an official posting on the unit’s Facebook site.
The site also includes pictures of the Sentinels protecting the Tomb today during Hurricane Sandy’s heavy rains and winds.

Spc. Brett Hyde, Tomb Sentinel, 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard), keeping guard over the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier during Hurricane Sandy, at Arlington National Cemetery, Va., Monday, Oct. 29, 2012. (Sgt. Jose A. Torres Jr.,/U.S. Army Photo/AP Photo)

A caption for one of the photos says Spc. Brett Hyde  lives by the Sentinel’s Creed which in part says “Through the years of diligence and praise and the discomfort of the elements, I will walk my tour in humble reverence to the best of my ability.”
Arlington Cemetery was closed to the general public today, but the Old Guard continued with its normal duty of honoring the fallen at funeral services.
The Sentinels  execute precise steps before the Tomb that is the final resting place for unknown soldiers from World War I, World War II and the Korean War. The Changing of the Guard at the Tomb is a popular stop for Washington tourists.
They remain at their posts rain, snow or shine and extreme weather is not a concern.  They remained at their posts during Hurricanes Isabel and Irene as well as the 2010  blizzard, nicknamed “Snowmaggedon“, that shut down the capital for days.
Typically when it rains, Tomb Sentinels have the option of standing their watch under a green tent located to the side of the Tomb where they usually remain during wreath-laying ceremonies at the tomb.
According to the Society of The Old Guard’s website, Tomb Sentinels “are completely dedicated to their duty of guarding the Tomb. Because of that dedication, the weather does not bother them. In fact, they consider it an honor to stand their watch (we call it “walking the mat”), regardless of the weather. It gets cold, it gets hot – but the Sentinels never budge. And they never allow any feeling of cold or heat to be seen by anyone.”
The Society is an alumni association for the more than 400 soldiers who have earned the Sentinel badge since 1958.
 The website for The Society says that despite their commitment, the welfare of the soldier is never put at risk: “The Tomb Guards have contingencies that are ready to be executed IF the weather conditions EVER place the Soldiers at risk of injury or death — such as lightning, high winds, etc. This ensures that Sentinels can maintain the Tomb Guard responsibilities while ensuring soldier safety. It is the responsibility of the Chain of Command from the Sergeant of the Guard to the Regimental Commander to ensure mission accomplishment and soldier welfare at all times.”