NFL announces trio of dates of next year's London games

With not one, not two, but three (!) NFL games to be played next season in London, the NFL has announced the dates those international contests will be played. They are as follows: Week 4 on Sept. 28: Raiders vs. the Dolphins Week 8 on Oct. 26: Falcons vs. Lions Week 10 on Nov. 9: Cowboys vs. the Jaguars All games will be played at Wembley Stadium. "Our fans in...

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Black Friday 2013 at Wal-Mart

"Black Friday is our Super Bowl, and we plan to win." So said Wal-Mart's chief marketing officer Duncan MacNaughton. And exactly how does Wal-Mart plan to crush the competition this Black Friday?: By rewriting the old rules on everything from its door-buster deals to its price-matching policies.  With Wal-Mart changing the rules of Black Friday, shoppers need to use new strategies to score the best deals, too. Here Alison Southwick...

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Thanksgiving Recipe

Stuffing or dressing can be found on nearly every Thanksgiving table, but it’s one of the toughest holiday menu items to pull off well. It’s too dry. It’s too wet. It’s under seasoned. It’s over seasoned. You get the idea: there’s always something just a little off. Not to worry, we have you covered with four fantastic stuffing and dressing recipes. And we’re not stopping there - we’re going to give you a never-fail recipe for turkey gravy! 4 cups...

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Rarer than Panda

In the dust of the Gobi desert in China’s far west, ultra-modernity sweeps past an eddy of industrial history in one of railway transportation’s most remarkable close encounters. Hundreds of kilometres of track are being laid to connect the country’s bullet-train network with Xinjiang, a region bordering on Central Asia. Near Sandaoling, a grim and remote mining town on the edge of Xinjiang, the new line runs close to the world’s largest concentration...

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NYC's Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

The big balloons soared along with the crowd’s spirits Thursday as the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade made its way through the streets of New York City. There had been some concerns about whether the wind could keep 16 giant balloons grounded after a wet and blustery storm hit the East Coast a day earlier. But the cherished tradition prevailed when the New York City Police Department decided Thursday that winds were calm enough. Balloons have...

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Bitcoin under pressure

All currencies involve some measure of consensual hallucination, but Bitcoin, a virtual monetary system, involves more than most. It is a peer-to-peer currency with no central bank, based on digital tokens with no intrinsic value. Rather than relying on confidence in a central authority, it depends instead on a distributed system of trust, based on a transaction ledger which is cryptographically verified and jointly maintained by the currency’s...

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Coment Ison likely didn't survive sun encounter

Comet Ison likely didn't survive its graze past the sun early this afternoon, astronomers say. "It's not looking good for Ison in my opinion," said Phil Plait, an astronomer who writes for Slate's Bad Astronomy blog, during a Google Hangout organized by NASA Thursday. "That's kind of my assessment too," agreed Karl Battams, an astrophysicist at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C., who runs the NASA-funded Sungrazing...

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Sharkeisha: sucker-punching teen turns viral sensation

If you've been on the web at all in the past 24 hours, chances are you've seen the name "Sharkeisha" pop up. She's gone viral on Facebook, has hit the top of Google's search results, and on Wednesday evening her name was at the top of Twitter's trending topics list, leaving many to ask: Who isSharkeisha and why is she so popular? Unfortunately, her story is not a happy one. Sharkeisha is the name of a young...

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Is Urban Outfitters Worth the Premium?

Things are actually starting to look up for some US fashion retailers, which can be interpreted as a good sign for the economy. Clothes, while generally seen as essential items, can also be viewed as a discretionary category depending on their price. Urban Outfitters, which offers a diversified range of consumer goods, recently came out with a very solid earnings beat. However, the stock is trading at a significant premium to the industry and...

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Mega Millions' changes pay off in $230 M jackpot

Mega Millions is back in the big-jackpot game, thanks to some recent changes. The annuity jackpot for Friday’s drawing is up to $230 million -- the biggest amount in 20 months -- while the cash is up to $125 million. Tuesday’s drawing also produced the game’s first-ever $5 million winner, on the heels of a $3 million winner on Friday – larger amounts than any secondary prize in Powerball. No one matched all the numbers drawn Tuesday night...

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'Frozen' review

Disney Animation attempts to emulate their classic animated musicals with “Frozen,” an adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Snow Queen,” but comes up a little, well, cold. “The Snow Queen” is prime real estate for a Disney adaptation, and this musical features a few unexpected plot twists, but it is dimmed by lackluster humor and a rushed structure not as cohesive as previous Disney films.  However, “Frozen” does modernize the...

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Meet the woman named for the holiday

On Thursday, the family of a Minnesota woman will be wishing a happy birthday to Happy Thanksgiving. That's Dr. Happy Thanksgiving Reynolds of Minneapolis, to be precise, who will be celebrating her 43rd birthday on Thanksgiving, the holiday that inspired her colorful name.  “It's exactly like every other time of the year for me, surprisingly,’’ Reynolds told TODAY.com. “It winds up being something of an afterthought, so shockingly it's...

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Jennifer Love Hewitt has baby girl

Jennifer Love Hewitt is a mom and a wife. "Jennifer Love Hewitt and her husband Brian Hallisay are thrilled to announce the birth of their daughter," the rep said. Her "husband." See what they did there? Nothing quite rolls off the tongue like "Jennifer Love Hewitt-Hallisay." The rep added that "Autumn James Hallisay was born on November 26." No word yet on the moniker's inspiration or additional birth details. Another source told...

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Steam Autumn Sale 2013 Kicks off

Just in time to make Black Friday shopping seem superfluous, the Steam Autumn Sale has begun, bringing with it the same sort of steep discounts on digital games we've come to expect from Steam. It turns out the leaked sale dates shared earlier this month were accurate: The Autumn Sale will run from today, November 27, through Tuesday, December 3. It appears to be a typical sale without any of the extracurricular activities seen in some...

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TVA to pay out $127 M in employee bonuses

Just in time for all of those Black Friday sales, the Tennessee Valley Authority will pay out $127 million today in performance bonuses to most of its 12,612 employees. For most full-time TVA workers, the annual incentive equals about 5 percent of their pay, or more than $3,600 for the average TVA worker earning the utility's median base pay of about $73,000 a year.The incentive pay is down nearly 20 percent from the record high paid a year...

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Hairy comedian performs 'Wrecking Balls'

If you thought Miley Cyrus’s music video for “Wrecking Ball” was sexy, wait until you see the Chatroulette version. Comedian Steve Kardynal surprised people on the chat site in full Miley gear — including sledgehammer and wrecking ball — and gave one of the most heartfelt karaoke performances of all time. Users on the site, which randomly connects people for video chats, seemed to take it in stride. Some even sang along through their laughter. There’s something...

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Hanukkah 2013 meets Thansgiving

It won't happen again for almost 80,000 years: Thursday is Thanksgiving and the first full day of Hanukkah. Some are calling it "Thanksgivukkah." Eyewitness News found people busy on Wednesday preparing to celebrate both. Sunset Foods grocery store in Highland Park is fully staffed for its busiest day of the year. "We're hopping. It's all hands on deck today," said T.J. Tazioli, Sunset Foods. A day that's even more hectic because it's not just...

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No Pecan Pie

It is a meager holiday in the pecan groves of the South, and the pain is stretching to kitchens across the country. A rare collision of ill-timed rain, marauding animals and a growing love affair between the Chinese middle class and the pecan has resulted in the worst pecan supply in recent memory. As a result, grocery store prices are up by about 30 percent, which is causing Thanksgiving bakers to think twice about their menus. “It’s like...

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