Ducks get back-to-back Atlantic League titles as Ray Navarrete comes up big in last game

<rob zombie halloween blu rayp> BRIDGEWATER, N.J. - Win or lose, Sunday night's Game 5 of the Atlantic League Championship Series was going to be the finale for the Long Island Ducks' Ray Navarrete.

Navarrete, making his first start of the series, had a big hand in making it a win. The designated hitter's three-run blast to leftfield in the fourth inning gave the Ducks the lead for good as they defeated the Somerset Patriots, 6-4, at TD Bank Ballpark to win their second consecutive league championship.

The Ducks won the series 3-2, after dropping Games 3 and 4 in Bridgewater to extra-inning walk-offs by the Patriots, including a more than 5-hour game Saturday.

Following rightfielder Adam Bailey's series-ending catch close to the wall and the celebration on the mound, Navarrete was carried on the shoulders of his teammates to the dugout.

"We weren't swinging the bat well and we needed a spark," Ducks manager Kevin Baez said about his decision to start Navarrete. "To go out like this is special. He deserves it."

Somerset scored in the first and held that advantage until the fourth.

The Ducks' Bill Hall (2-for-4, two doubles) hit a one-out double and advanced to third on a groundout. Ramon Castro singled up the middle to tie the score. Ryan Strieby followed with a walk and Navarrete went deep with David Harden's first offering.

"I walked up to the plate and said I was going to let it go if he threw a first-pitch fastball," said Navarrete, an eight-year member of the Ducks. "That home run felt like it took two hours to get over the wall."

Long Island added two more runs in the fifth inning.

John Brownell, the winning pitcher in Game 1, pitched into the ninth inning of this game and was named finals MVP.

He got off to a shaky start, walking leadoff man Jonny Tucker, who scored on Yunesky Sanchez's double in the corner. But Brownell got out of that and settled down, allowing solo homers to Sanchez and Jeff Baisley once the Ducks took the lead.

"Brownell's been our bulldog all year," Baez said. "[Somerset] kept coming. It was uplifting for us and Brownell settled down."

Brownell said: "I just kept confident. There was a lot of game left. I trust in our hitters and defense to pick me up, and they did."

Leo Rosales came on to close out the Patriots, who had the tying run at the plate.

"That's the last time I'm going to be on the field as a player," the 35-year-old Navarrete said. "You couldn't be more grateful how it ended, like a perfect ending in a movie."

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Source: Newsday

Essay: First frost 'like dental floss in a Halloween bag'

Editor's note: This is an essay by Tim Torkildson of Provo, who was raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota and has settled in Provo to be closer to his children and grandchildren.

Growing up in Minnesota, I know all about the First Frost.

It came like a funeral wreath to a birthday party; like floaties in Kool Aid; like dental floss in a halloween dvds for kids bag. The weather was always perfect prior to the First Frost. The Killing Frost, my grandparents called it glumly. The blue in the sky was brighter than a bottle of Windex, and the clouds rolled about as ponderous as performing cotton elephants. Crisp leaves square danced around the curb and gutters. I could wear my Twins windbreaker or not -- the temperature hardly registered on me at all. The sun had lost all viciousness and fell on me as a purring cat curling up on my arms. The evenings were once again full of new episodes of Red Skelton and Dick Van Dyke. I secretly had a crush on Cathy from the Patty Duke Show -- and a new fall season would reawaken my budding libido.

And then our avuncular TV weatherman, Bud Kraehling, would apologetically announce the First Frost. Indian summer was over. Everything would die back and turn black, and there would be no snow to cover the massacre for several more weeks. Just a bleak, withered landscape. "The harvest is past, the summer is over, and we are not saved." Perhaps I was overly sensitive to atmospheric conditions, but I always reverted to wetting the bed for a few days after the First Frost.

Somehow, I survived the First Frosts of childhood to grow up and bring forth a quiver full of children myself. I endeavored to shield them from the devastating effects of the First Frost. As soon as I heard the ingratiating voice of Mike Lynch forecast the First Frost, I would bound into the living room, where the kids were sprawled on the floor and couch, hobbling large parts of their brains with Nintendo games.

"Guess what, my little poppets!" I would gush at them.

They would just gaze at me, without speaking -- silently asking "What now, old man?"

"Jack Frost is coming to visit us tonight! Isn't that nifty? We'd better get ready for him, don't you think?"

They did not even try to humor me. At some silent, intuitive command they turned their backs to me in unison and went back to Nintendo Land.

All right. If I couldn't catch them with honey, I'd give 'em a little vinegar.

"Hey! You lazy bums, get off your duffs! We gotta put some bed sheets over the tomatoes so they don't freeze tonight. Move it, you couch potatoes!"

The box holding the ancient and yellowed linen sheets was in the garage -- somewhere. I made sure to put it someplace where I could lay my hands on it easily each year after pulling them off the plants, but each year it seemed like my idea of where I could lay my hands on them easily would change radically. By the time I would discover the box, thoughtfully tucked under the storm windows (oh-oh, weren't they up yet?) the kids would be gamboling through the family vegetable patch, bombarding each other with overripe tomatoes and smashing the zucchini with their insolent feet.

"Get over here!" I snarled, handing each one a sheet and pointing to the weedy tomato plant they should cover. Some of the plants were taller than the kids, and besides, these old sheets were exactly what a ghost would wear to haunt a garden, so I had to snatch the sheets from them and put them on the tomato plants myself. Inevitably, I would trip on an overlooked zucchini that had grown to the size of a watermelon and fall flat on my face. This resulted in general hilarity on the part of those lazy cretins I was trying to protect from the devastation of the First Frost. Now I felt like murdering them.

But I did not give up. The night of the First Frost I made it a habit to have plenty of caramels and apples on hand, so we could make caramel apples around the kitchen table after dinner. Unfortunately, at least one of the children would cram as many caramels in his or her mouth as possible and then begin to choke. The resulting Heimlich maneuver would shoot a gob of caramel right through a window pane. The apples were bound to be wormy anyways.

Today, when I heard the First Frost was coming, I made sure the hot chocolate stash is full, got a blanket out of the hall closet, and laid in a stock of The Patty Duke Show DVDs. Leave the tomatoes on the vine SEmD I'm going to enjoy myself.

* Tim Torkildson works as a consultant, providing content for websites such as scripturepoetry.com. His work also appears regularly in the St. Paul Pioneer Press newspaper.

Source: Heraldextra

Don Jon is an interesting yet humdrum look at a porn addiction

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Halloween: From Black Sabbath maze to real 'Purge,' new ways to scare

Posted: 09/27/2013 02:14:04 PM PDT

Updated: 09/27/2013 02:42:25 PM PDT

LOS ANGELES -- Ozzy Osbourne can't help himself.

While on a behind-the-scenes trek through a Universal Studios Hollywood attraction based on the recently released black halloween costumes Sabbath album "13," Osbourne spots a bloody mannequin corpse reclining on a phony altar. Without hesitating, the gruesomely theatrical Sabbath frontman leans down and acts like he's devouring the blood from the decapitated body with his tongue.

Faced with increasingly hardcore rivals and savvy visitors, organizers of such Halloween attractions this year have conjured up several new theatrical and technological innovations in hopes of licking the competition, as well as promoting entertainment fare like horror films and records. For Sabbath, it marks the first time their tunes have been turned into a maze.

"It adds another dimension to what we do, which is incredible because we've been doing it for 45 years," said Osbourne while standing inside the attraction. "It's been a remarkable year because we had our first No. 1 album in America -- believe it or not -- and now this. I've never seen anything like it. I keep thinking I'm going to wake up."

"Well, don't wake up in here," joked Sabbath bassist and lyricist Geezer Butler next to him.

For the first time since Halloween Horror Nights returned to the Universal Studios backlot in 2007, creative director John Murdy has incorporated video effects into a maze. In a room inspired by the song "Electric Funeral" within Sabbath's colorful 3D realm, monitors made to look like windows broadcast explosive 3D visuals in tandem with a wind machine.

"I just thought it would be cool to have a nuclear bomb go off and our guests be in the middle of that," said Murdy.

In recent years, Halloween Horror Nights traded warrens based on long-running slash-'em-up franchises like "A Nightmare on Elm Street" for attractions inspired by more contemporary properties, such as the "Hostel" movies, "Silent Hill"

video games and "The Walking Dead" television series.

The biggest challenges for Murdy and his team for this year's six Universal mazes included figuring out how to depict the freaked-out kid from "Insidious" constantly shivering in his bed while toy rocking horses galloped by themselves. Also troublesome was how hordes of guests could be vomited on all night long by an "Evil Dead" demon.

"They're all like little science projects," said Murdy. "No matter how successful we were the previous year, our philosophy is to always treat it like it's the first year we're back in business."

Beyond the rotating attractions at Halloween Horror Nights, a few celebrities have invested in their own haunted attractions. "Hostel" filmmaker Eli Roth opened his year-round maze Goretorium in Las Vegas last year, and Neil Patrick Harris serves as one of the producers of Delusion, an annual theatrical Halloween experience taking place this year in an old Los Angeles church.

Several spooks at this year's Halloween Horror Nights are hyping new releases from the entertainment industry. Besides Sabbath's "13," there's a "scare zone" populated by actors dressed as the nasty Chucky doll from the direct-to-DVD sequel "Curse of Chucky," and a new maze incorporating supernatural elements from the "Insidious" films.

"I think it strengthens the brand," said Jason Blum, producer of "The Purge," "Insidious" and "Paranormal Activity" horror flicks. "Because it's done so well, it also gives us a little more street cred. In the case of 'The Purge,' there's so much mythology that wasn't necessarily included in the first film, it makes it well suited to a live event."

In addition to the attractions based on both "Insidious" chapters and "The Purge" at Universal Studios, Blum and his Blumhouse production company are hosting their own Halloween event that expands on the kill-or-be-killed mythology of "The Purge" in a shuttered theater in downtown LA.

While the event will include a traditional maze in the theater's basement, "The Purge: Fear the Night" will also invite guests to freely roam around upstairs and interact with more than 40 actors portraying members of the Founding Fathers group depicted in the film. Some guests who give up their cellphone numbers may also be contacted with clues throughout the evening.

At Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, Calif., the 10 mazes that comprise the 41-year-old Knott's Scary Farm haunt are based on original storylines, not established franchises. Without such brand equity, the organizers are hoping some new tricks -- such as suspending "scare-actors" from the ceiling of a magical maze -- will attract victims.

For the second year, Knott's will also feature a special attraction called "Trapped," which requires advanced reservations and costs an extra $60 on top of a regular ticket.

Unlike the conga-line labyrinth structure of most haunts, "Trapped" strands no more than six visitors inside fear-inducing environments where they must overcome phobias or solve puzzles, such as eating bugs or escaping a giant rat cage, to progress through the attraction.

"It's an opportunity to do what we've never been able to do in our other mazes," said Lara Hanneman, director of technical entertainment for the theme park. "We're able to have many more interactions with our guests that go beyond just jumping out and scaring them."

Source: Mercurynews

By Alistair Scrutton

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Despite the rapid pace of technology that has overhauled many consumer goods, the front door lock and key is little changed since the 1800s. That is about to change - to virtual keys in data clouds, if the world's biggest lockmaker gets its way.

Assa Abloy, which makes one in ten locks worldwide, is the muscle behind brands such as Yale. But the lock technology it is now developing means consumers will be able to open doors with a tap of their mobile phones, visitors will be able to download a key online and business owners will be able to lock and unlock their premises remotely.

"I think most people will go digital. People will rely more on a secure identity than a physical key, provided over the net into your mobile phone," says Johan Molin, Assa Abloy's lean 54-year-old chief executive.

Electro-mechanical locks like key cards in hotels now account for almost half of Assa Abloy's sales compared with 13 percent a decade ago, and the company believes this is just the start of growing demand from consumers for more flexible, high-tech locking mechanisms.

At its Stockholm headquarters, some of Assa Abloy's staff are trialling different versions of virtual keys downloaded to mobile phones that open a lock simply with a swipe of the phone. The company is also working up versions where phones with bluetooth or wireless links could automatically open doors when within a certain distance. Other keys can be set to switch on at a certain date and expire on another date, meaning someone renting a flat, for example, need no longer hand over physical keys at the end of their stay.

The digital keys can be embedded in SIM cards, within software or inside the phone itself, thanks to Near Field Communication (NFC) technology, or short range wireless that within a few years may be standard in most mobile devices. U.S. research firm ABI Research has estimated that the number of NFC enabled devices will exceed 500 million in 2014.

The new key technology could also unlock higher recurring revenues. While traditional locks last on average four decades, electro-mechanical locks have lifespans of 10-15 years and software coupled with more fickle consumer electronics means these locks will need to be routinely replaced or updated.

It is a model Assa is confident that consumers used to frequently upgrading their phones and tablets will accept.

"People will have the same kind of relationship to their lock that they have to their computer. They will want to have the latest features, designs," Molin said.

Just this week Apple launched its new iPhone 5S, with a fingerprint scanner, replacing the need for passwords and PIN numbers with biometric security.

DRIVING CHANGE

But selling locks is a delicate business and the market traditionally conservative. Some consumers, especially in Europe, are reluctant to move from the security of physical keys to a more opaque system, particularly amid worries about cybersecurity. Additionally the cost involved - a digital Yale lock is about 30 percent more expensive than a traditional one - currently limits the technology to high-end households.

So Assa Abloy's strategy is to make the technology a good fit with businesses and institutions like hotels, hospitals and schools, which account for three quarters of its sales, in order to 'normalise' the new product, lower costs and ultimately drive broader consumer acceptance.

With this in mind the company has boosted research and development spending 129 percent since 2005 and in 2012 spent about $210 million, or 2.9 percent of sales, on R&D.

That 2.9 percent is around the industry average for R&D spending, analysts say, as Assa's U.S. rivals in particular, Ingersoll-Rand and Stanley Black & Decker chase the same new markets.

"The challenge for Assa Abloy is to move fast enough," said Carlo Pompili, CEO of Swedish startup firm Telcred which is working on new locking technology. "It's a huge market with many nuances. They cannot think of everything. That opens up space for other companies."

Alongside its own technological research Assa Abloy says it will continue to do deals that advance its products.

"We of course try and focus on our own innovation," says Daniel Berg, vice-president of Assa Abloy mobile keys. "But complementary acquisitions could happen if there is a start-up with a great idea."

The company has a long history of buying up competitors. More than ten years ago it bought U.S. firm HID, an early secure ID card producer, giving it a big advantage in a market providing secure computer access that subsequently boomed. It then bought up U.S.-based ActivID in 2010, adding a layer of more sophisticated digital identity recognition to that product line. With an eye on its current direction, Assa Abloy reached a deal in 2012 with Oberthur, a leading manufacturer of SIM cards, allowing it to embed its digital keys in Oberthur's cards. A consumer buying Oberthur's product need only then buy an App to get access to Assa Abloy's key code.

There are newer and smaller competitors pushing forward in this area, like U.S.-based Lockitron, which makes devices to lock and unlock deadbolts via remote control, or Spain's Salto, making lock software tailored to businesses. But in a still-developing market few can compete with Assa Abloy's reach.

"High-tech locks, using phones, etc, are the future, but the question is how fast it will grow?" said Oscar Stjerngren, an analyst at Danske Bank. "Assa Abloy are so dominant globally they can drive this transition in the high-tech lock market."

OLD & NEW

Global reach means catering to a rich mix of national nuances that in turn require a combination of products - so Assa Abloy is not turning its back on traditional security just yet.

North American consumers still spend twice as much on "emergency exit devices" such as fire escape doors than Europeans. Northern Europeans spend three to four times as much on high security household locks than North Americans.

"In America it's all about getting out. In Europe it is all about avoiding people getting in," Molin said.

The company's most recent buy was more traditional hardware - in September it acquired the firedoors business of Polish-based Mercor to give it access to growing markets in Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

It is also planning acquisitions of hardware manufacturers and traditional locksmiths in China, South America and India, though demand for digital locks is growing fast in the first two of those markets.

Demand for high-tech security is particularly strong in Brazil, where violent crime is common. Not only is fingerprinting identification for cash withdrawal machines becoming popular, but banks and consumers are requesting an extra layer of security that allows the machines to analyse blood vessels in the finger to recognise whether the person to whom it belongs is alive or dead.

(Additional reporting by Johanness Hellstrom; Editing by Sophie Walker)

Source: Yahoo

amanda Knox spent four years in an Italian prison for the murder of Meredith Kercher. She appealed and was released in 2011. Italy's Supreme Court has said the appeals court judges overlooked evidence against Amanda Knox.

By Tom Brown, Reuters / September 21, 2013

Amanda Knox, the American student accused of murdering her British roommate in Italy in 2007, said on Friday that "common sense" told her not to return to Italy for a retrial due to begin on Sept. 30.

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"It's not a possibility," Knox said in an interview on NBC television's "Today" show. It is the first time she has said she will not go back to Italy.

"I was imprisoned as an innocent person and I just can't relive that," she told "Today" show host Matt Lauer.

Knox, 26, spent four years in prison for the murder of Meredith Kercher, whose half-naked body was discovered with more than 40 wounds and a deep gash in the throat in the apartment the two shared while studying in Perugia in central Italy.

Following an appeal, Knox and her ex-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, were acquitted in 2011 and she returned to her Seattle, Washington-area home. The Italian Supreme Court ordered a retrial in March due to inconsistencies in the appeal court's decision to release Knox and Sollecito.

"There are so many factors that are not allowing me to go back - financial ones, ones where I'm going to school, ones where I want the court to proceed without distraction," Knox said.

"I was imprisoned as an innocent person. It's common sense not to go back," she added.

Knox does not have to attend the retrial and can be represented by her lawyers.

She said she expected to win acquittal again at the new trial and insisted that not traveling to Florence to face her accusers should not be seen as an admission of guilt.

"I look at it as an admission of innocence, to be quite honest," she said in the interview.

Knox maintained her innocence in a memoir released earlier this year and painted herself as a naive young woman railroaded by a foreign justice system.

Italy's Supreme Court has said the appeals court judges overlooked evidence against the accused. The high court wants a re-examination of the theory that Kercher was killed during a group sex game.

At the moment, only one person is in jail for Kercher's murder: Ivory-Coast born Rudy Guede, who is serving a 16-year sentence. ( Additional reporting by Catherine Hornby; Editing by John Wallace)

Source: Csmonitor

La Procuraduría General de la República internó en el Reclusorio Sur a José "Pepe" Díaz, un empresario vinculado a la farándula, por una presunta evasión fiscal de alrededor de 2 millones de pesos.

Autoridades ministeriales confirmaron que el ex novio de la actriz y cantante eiza González fue detenido la tarde del jueves en el DF, con base en una orden de aprehensión librada por un juez de distrito por el delito de defraudación fiscal.

Esta mañana fue trasladado por agentes de la Policía Federal Ministerial desde las instalaciones de la Subdelegación de la PGR en Azcapotzalco hasta el reclusorio.

Las autoridades aún no han especificado si la modalidad de defraudación fiscal que le imputan es o no grave, lo cual definirá si le conceden la libertad bajo caución.

En las próximas horas Díaz comparecerá ante un juez federal para rendir su declaración preparatoria.

Hace apenas unas semanas su nombre salió a la luz por ser el presunto tercero en discordia en el matrimonio de Ninel Conde.

Junto con su hermano, el empresario es dueño de los antros llamados Classico, además es socio de restaurantes en Polanco y Santa Fe.

Source: Larazonsanluis