The San Franciso Giants won the first game of the World Series of baseball, 11-7, against the Texas Rangers.

(NYTimes) “The Texas Rangers’ Cliff Lee, one of the most dominant postseason pitchers in recent memory, faced Tim Lincecum, a two-time National League Cy Young Award winner, in the most-hyped playoff pitching matchup . . . But this pitchers’ duel fizzled as Lee was knocked out in the fifth inning after giving up seven runs . . .”

If the Giants win this series, it will be the first time they have ever won a World Series. (What other major league baseball team has that distinction?)

(abs-cbn NEWS) The damage caused to the agriculture sector by typhoon Juan have reached P8.49 billion as of Friday, the Department of Agriculture said. . . .  P8.49 billion worth of crops, livestock and poultry, fisheries and agriculture infrastructure, according to the department’s Situationer Report No. 175.

(ksn) A new theory to explain the mysterious dancing lights of Marfa, Texas, has been suggested by a cryptozoologist in California. Jonathan Whitcomb, of Long Beach, compares the Marfa Lights, sometimes called “ghost lights,” of southwest Texas to flying lights, in the southwest Pacific, called “ropen” in Papua New Guinea. According to natives of those tropical islands, the ropen is a large flying creature. Those few eyewitnesses who have seen it describe a giant pterosaur-like animal, with no feathers and a long tail. In Texas, some eyewitnesses have described a long-tailed “pterodactyl.”

Whitcomb says, “It may not be a coincidence that a few Texans have seen apparent living pterosaurs and many Texans have seen flying lights that seem to move intelligently; in some remote tropical islands, a few natives have seen similar large featherless flying creatures and many natives have seen similar lights.” The cryptozoology author believes that bioluminescent flying creatures in Texas may be hunting and eating the Big Brown Bat, in addition to other small animals of southwest Texas; in Papua New Guinea, the ropen may feed mostly on reef fish or clams. Whitcomb had explored Umboi Island in 2004, interviewing natives.

(msnbc) Creating a new generation of higher-skilled workers is both a means and an end for China’s ambitious development plan. With wages rising for low-skilled factory jobs, Chinese leaders say they need to expand the base of higher-paying jobs and create the highly trained work force needed to fill those jobs.

(Reuters) President Sebastian Pinera pledged on Monday to tighten up mine safety in Chile, even if it meant extra costs for owners, after the dramatic rescue of 33 trapped miners. Pinera, basking in the glow of the rescue while he tours European capitals, said Chile was tripling the budget of mining industry regulators and revising its regulations.

See also Mine Explosion in New Zealand