Baseball Picks - Los Angeles Angels vs Texas Rangers

Santana vs. Holland

The Angels are set to go with Ervin Santana on Saturday and that is not necessarily good news. You never really know what you are going to get with Santana. He is 9-12 on the season with a 4.93 ERA. He was good last time out against the White Sox but the way Chicago is going right now I don?t know how much credit he gets for that start. He is 13-10 in his career with a 5.81 ERA against the Rangers.

Derek Holland has been similar in some respects to Santana this season. He is supposed to be a number two or number three starter but far too often he hasn?t pitched like one. He is 11-6 on the season with a 4.50 ERA. He threw just three innings last time out against Texas. He is 6-5 in his career against the Angels with a 5.27 ERA.

Angels vs. Rangers Trends

The Angels and Rangers had split their last ten meetings before this series began. Texas had taken six of the last ten at home against the Angels. Four of the last five games went over the total at the offshore sportsbook. The Angels have been a decent road team this season and to make the playoffs they will have to continue to win on the road as after this series they end the regular season in Seattle. The Rangers have been outstanding at home this season so it is tough to take the Angels even though they badly need to win this game.

Baseball Picks

I don?t trust either Santana or Holland. Both of them will have some good innings and then boom, they will get hit with a three or four run inning. I am going to take this game over the total and expect to see each team score at least five runs.

Source: http://www.betdsi.com/articles/baseball/mlb/baseball-picks-los-angeles-angels-vs-texas-rangers-15896

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Iran unblocks Google email again after officials complain

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iranian authorities have reopened access to Google Inc's email service a week after blocking it, a government official and Iranians said on Monday.

Iran maintains one of the world's largest Internet filters, blocking access to tens of thousands of websites on the grounds that they are criminal or immoral, but the block on Gmail had even prompted complaints in parliament.

"The council on Internet filtering communicated its order to the Telecommunications Ministry regarding the lifting of the ban on the Gmail service," Mohammad Reza Aghamiri, a member of the committee, told the Mehr news agency.

Iranians contacted online said they had been able to access Gmail again since Sunday night.

An official had announced on September 23 that Gmail would be blocked throughout Iran "until further notice", without giving further details.

Iranian news agencies said the ban was connected to an anti-Islam film posted on Google's video hosting site YouTube that caused outrage throughout the Muslim world.

Iran has long blocked YouTube, but users appeared to have been getting around the block. Many Iranians circumvent Internet restrictions with "virtual private network" (VPN) software that makes their computer appear to be located in another country.

Despite the official announcement warning Iranians that Gmail would be blocked, Aghamiri had said last week that it had been an unintended consequence of an attempt to reinforce the block on YouTube.

"We wanted to ban YouTube and then Gmail was cut off as well, and this was unintended," he told Mehr.

"We absolutely do not want YouTube to be accessible. Therefore the telecommunications ministry is trying to find a way to solve this problem so that it can block YouTube in the HTTPS protocol while leaving Gmail accessible."

Intentional or not, the blocking of Gmail had prompted official complaints. One legislator, Hossein Garousi, threatened to summon Telecommunications Minister Reza Taqipour to parliament for questioning if it was not unblocked.

Many of the Internet restrictions date back to the use of sites such as Facebook and YouTube to rally and publicize mass anti-government protests after the disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2009.

Sites expressing anti-government views are routinely blocked.

In a report last month, the U.S.-based pro-democracy campaign group Freedom House said Iranian authorities were using "more nuanced tactics in a continued campaign against internet freedom" including "upgrading content filtering technology" and imposing harsh sentences for illegal online activities.

(Reporting by Yeganeh Torbati; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/iran-unblocks-google-email-again-officials-complain-113812931--sector.html

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Orioles?pull into tie with Yanks

By DAVID GINSBURG

AP Sports Writer

Associated Press Sports

updated 10:55 p.m. ET Sept. 29, 2012

BALTIMORE (AP) - The Baltimore Orioles are tied atop the AL East with the New York Yankees with four games left, a scenario that might cause a team unaccustomed to being in a pennant race to stumble under pressure.

Not these guys.

After Baltimore beat the Boston Red Sox 4-3 Saturday night to earn a share of first place, Orioles first baseman Mark Reynolds described the mood of the team as "a quiet confidence."

"Calmness," Reynolds said. "We're playing with house money. We're not supposed to be here. We're just a bunch of kids having fun. We go out every night believing we're going to win the game, no matter what the situation and no matter who we're facing. It's just fun to be a part of."

Chris Davis hit his 30th home run and rookie Manny Machado lined a go-ahead shot in the seventh inning for the Orioles. After finishing in the division cellar in each of the previous four seasons, Baltimore (91-67) is tied with a team very much accustomed to finishing in first place.

The Yankees lost to Toronto before this game started, so the Orioles knew they would earn a share of the lead with a win. Baltimore went ahead 3-0 in the fourth, then let Boston pull even before Machado homered, a liner into the second row of the left-field seats off Felix Doubront (11-10).

Machado has been a major leaguer for all of 47 games after being summoned from Double-A Bowie on Aug. 9.

"I'm just trying to play the game," he said. "Obviously, it's bigger than any other games I've played before. I'm just going to try and go out there and give everything I can to help this team win."

It was another tight victory for the Orioles, their trademark in this unimaginable season. Baltimore is 28-9 in one-run games and 72-0 when leading after seven innings.

"It's an honor to sit there and watch it and marvel at what these guys can do, especially when certain things start snowballing," manager Buck Showalter said. "And you create your karma. These guys have done a good job of doing that, and they're expecting good things to happen."

Tommy Hunter (7-8) pitched two innings, Brian Matusz and Darren O'Day shared the eighth and Jim Johnson got three outs for his 49th save.

A sellout crowd of 46,311, a majority of them clad in Oriole orange, brought Camden Yards back to a time when the home team was a force in the AL East and the ballpark was packed on a nightly basis.

The fans got to cheer a Baltimore great before the first pitch, too. A statue of Hall of Fame third baseman Brooks Robinson was unveiled during a ceremony in the flag court beyond the center-field wall.

The Orioles' goal is to capture the division, but if they win two more games they are at least assured of their first trip to the playoffs since 1997 - their last winning season before this year. Baltimore now is 41-27 in the division and New York is 37-31, so if Baltimore wins one more game, it will have home-field advantage if there's a playoff to decide the AL East title.

"The pressure's on both of us," Reynolds said. "Four games left, dead heat. I guess there's a possibility of two playoff games. It's what we play for, and it's fun."

In addition to hitting two homers and limiting Boston to five hits, Baltimore also played well defensively. Machado, the third baseman, ranged far to his right in the fourth inning to start a double play, and Reynolds tumbled over the tarp roll and got wedged behind it after catching a foul pop. Endy Chavez, who entered as a defensive replacement in the ninth, made a sparking diving catch of a sinking liner to right field.

"They just keeping doing what they have to do," Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine said of the Orioles. "Buck knows what he's doing. He puts in a defensive replacement and he makes a diving catch. They've done a great job with that young third baseman. He beat us tonight. He played excellent defense all year."

Jarrod Saltalamacchia homered for the Red Sox, who fell into last place with their 15th loss in 21 games. Boston has not finished in the cellar since 1992.

Doubront allowed four runs, three earned, and seven hits in seven innings. He struck out 10, walked one and hit a batter.

Red Sox leadoff hitter Jacoby Ellsbury went 1 for 4 after being sidelined since Sept. 20 with an unspecified injury. Ellsbury has only four homers and 26 RBIs after finishing second in AL MVP voting last season.

"I didn't see him play that way this year," Valentine said before the game. "He did not quite hit his stride this year."

Orioles rookie Steve Johnson took a three-hitter and a 3-2 lead into the sixth inning but was lifted after giving up a single and a walk. Hunter got Dustin Pedroia to hit a force at second, but a run came home when Cody Ross hit a sacrifice fly to right field that Davis dropped after Adam Jones drifted over from center and called for the ball. Hunter avoided further damage by getting Mauro Gomez to bounce into a double play.

Baltimore went up 1-0 in the second when Machado singled in a run after Doubront hit Davis with a pitch and Reynolds reached on a slow roller to third.

In the fourth, after Jones reached on a throwing error by shortstop Mike Aviles, Davis drove a 1-0 pitch far over the right-field wall for a 3-0 lead.

Saltalamacchia hit his 25th homer in the fifth after Gomez drew a leadoff walk.

NOTES: The Robinson statue stands alongside the team's five other Hall of Fame members, all of whom were in attendance: Earl Weaver, Frank Robinson, Jim Palmer, Eddie Murray and Cal Ripken Jr. ... Joe Saunders will pitch for the Orioles in the series finale Sunday. Zach Stewart will pitch for Boston. ... Baltimore claimed OF Steve Pearce off waivers from the Yankees. He will join the team in Tampa Bay on Monday. ... Boston has lost 17 of 24 to Baltimore since September 2011.

? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/49227334/ns/sports-baseball/

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Video and Photo: JBL Reaches Top of Africa's Mount Kilimanjaro, Plants WWE Flag

- Former WWE Champion JBL reached the top of Africa's Mount Kilimanjaro yesterday, placing a WWE flag up 19,334 feet. JBL noted that he has never suffered like he did in the last 13 hours of the climb. Here's a Tout and photo:

Backstage News on Vince Wanting JBL to Return + Busty New Kaitlyn Pics!

Source: http://www.ringsidenews.com/article/4221/video-and-photo-jbl-reaches-top-of-africa-039-s-mount-kilimanjaro-plants-ww/

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NFL refs approve deal, ready for Sunday games

IRVING, Texas (AP) ? NFL referees are ready to go unnoticed again, just as they prefer.

The refs approved a new eight-year contract with the league by a 112-5 vote Saturday, officially ending a lockout that led to three weeks of increasingly chaotic games run by replacement officials who drew the attention of everyone from the average fan to President Barack Obama.

After a few hours of final preparations with league officials, the next stop for the referees will be the airport. Most will be heading straight to their Sunday game sites.

"It was pretty much 'Come on in and vote,'" said Scott Green, president of the referees' association. "We're going to talk football now. We're going to stop talking about CBAs and lockouts and now we're going to talk about rules and video and getting ourselves ready to work football games."

They may get ovations similar to the one bestowed on the crew that worked Thursday's Cleveland-Baltimore game with the tentative deal in place. Before long, they expect to go back to being mostly anonymous and sometimes hated. They're OK with both.

"The last Super Bowl that I worked, when we got in the locker room, I said, 'You know, the best thing about this game, nobody will remember who refereed this game,'" Green said. "That's how we like to work."

The referees met for about an hour and a half Friday night to go over the contract, then gathered for another 30 minutes Saturday morning before approving the contract.

"We are obviously pleased to hear it," NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said in an email to The Associated Press on Saturday.

Because they were aware of the financial parameters, most of the discussion by the referees involved non-economic issues such as year-round work and developmental squads, said Tim Millis, the association's executive director.

The deal came quickly this week after an increasing chorus of complaints became impossible to ignore when a disputed touchdown call on the final play gave the Seattle Seahawks a victory over the Green Bay Packers on national television Monday night. Many thought the ruling of a Seattle touchdown instead of a Green Bay interception was botched, and the labor dispute drew public comments from Obama and his Republican challenger Mitt Romney.

By late Wednesday, the sides had a contract calling for refs' salaries to increase from an average of $149,000 a year in 2011 to $173,000 in 2013, rising to $205,000 by 2019. The current defined benefit pension plan will remain in place for current officials through the 2016 season or until the official earns 20 years' service.

The defined benefit plan will then be frozen. Retirement benefits will be provided for new hires, and for all officials beginning in 2017, through a defined contribution.

Beginning with the 2013 season, the NFL will have the option to hire a number of officials to work year-round. The NFL also can retain additional officials for training and development and assign those officials to work games. The number of additional officials will be determined by the league.

The officials that worked Thursday's Ravens-Browns game were cheered from the moment they walked onto the field. The difference between the regular crew and replacements was clear. The officials kept the game in control, curtailing the chippy play and choppy pace that had marred the first three weeks of the regular season.

"I think the thing we're most proud of is the lesson that we all learned," Green said. "If you're going to be in a professional league, you've got top-notch coaches, you need professional officials as well."

___

Online: http://bigstory.ap.org/NFL-Pro32 and http://twitter.com/AP_NFL

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nfl-refs-approve-deal-ready-sunday-games-152115516--nfl.html

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Could we use open-source tools to improve politics? ? Tech News ...

Open-source principles have helped create a host of useful software, including the Linux operating system and the crowd-powered resource that is Wikipedia ? but could the same approach be used to open up the process of producing government legislation? Clay Shirky argues that it could.

The philosophy behind open-source software has been used to create an operating system and a pretty powerful crowdsourced encyclopedia, among other things, so could adopting that same approach change the way that politics and government work for the better? That?s the idea media theorist Clay Shirky has proposed in a TED talk in Edinburgh. The idea is an appealing one ? to use the same process behind Linux and Wikipedia to make government more collaborative and open ? but would it work? Developing software and web services is very different thing from creating legislation, and the history of the open-source movement is fraught with infighting among quasi-religious factions. But it may be the best hope we have.

After giving a kind of whirlwind tour of the open-source movement in his talk, including the rise of Linux, Shirky devoted much of his discussion to Github ? a kind of crowdsourced platform for maintaining code that Linux creator Linus Torvalds also created, which allows anyone to edit, to ?fork? or create their own version, and to track the changes that others make. It?s not a big stretch to get from that idea to the idea of crowdsourcing legislation, which is what Shirky seems to have in mind, and there have already been some attempts at doing this via Github: for example, a German software developer has uploaded all of Germany?s laws to the platform so that citizens can recommend and track changes.

It?s an intriguing idea: that a simple software platform aimed at collaboration could change the way legislation is developed and implemented, much like the process that powers Wikipedia has created a crowdsourced encyclopedia that evolves and changes over time. But is it realistic? There were plenty of skeptics who said Wikipedia would never succeed, and yet it has an excellent track record when it comes to reliability, despite some hiccups in the process, such as the recent incident involving author Philip Roth. That said, however, there are also plenty of critics who believe that the ?cabal? of editors who control the crowd-powered encyclopedia have too much authority.

Of course, some would argue that we?re already in that kind of situation with most governments anyway, and therefore Github couldn?t make things any worse. And Shirky is not the only one to make this argument: developer Abe Voelker has proposed a ?Github for laws? that would take exactly the same approach to crafting and crowdsourcing legislation. There have also been some initial experiments with similar ideas ? including Iceland?s new constitution and similar types of project in Finland and Ireland ? which shows that others are also open to the concept.

One of the problems with applying a technical solution like Github to a massive cultural and political process like government, however, is that creating laws ? even small ones ? is very different from changing a piece of code so that Linux can duplicate Windows-style typefaces, or changing the Wikipedia entry on George Bush. And if even those kinds of prosaic examples can lead to the equivalent of a Linux or Wikipedia holy war, which in many cases they have, what hope do we have that politicians can actually use a similar process to change the way that government works? As Shirky suggests in his talk, there?s also a pretty entrenched bureaucracy that has become part of most governments and likely has no interest in relinquishing that control to the crowd.

In his book ?Here Comes Everybody,? Shirky described the potentially massive impact of crowdsourcing and crowd-powered social change, and his admiration of Github seems to be part of an attempt to find tools that will help us deal with the tidal wave of human-driven collaboration. This is something we clearly need, so it?s worthwhile to start looking at solutions ? and while Github may not be the answer, at this point just about anything is probably worth a shot.

Post and thumbnail images courtesy of Flickr user Fabio Venni

Source: http://gigaom.com/2012/09/29/could-we-use-open-source-tools-to-improve-politics/

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Cancer Community Center's Fight Back Festival Surpasses Fundraising Goal

Great news from the?Cancer Community Center?in South Portland. With the help of sponsors and more than 750 bicyclists, runners, and walkers the Center raised more than $80,000 at its Fight Back Festival at Pineland Farms last weekend. The goal was $75,000. Congratulations! Read more.

Source: http://south.wcsh6.com/news/blogs/156571-cancer-community-centers-fight-back-festival-surpasses-fundraising-goal

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