CNN news 2011-11-03
AZUZ: Not happy news for you basketball fans. The NBA season was supposed to start tomorrow. Not going to happen. The league and team owners have locked out the players. And the NBA already canceled its first two weeks of the season.
Friday the league announced that it was scrapping all of its games for the month of November.
AZUZ (voice-over): The two sides -- we`re talking about the owners and players -- they`ve been negotiating. They`re working on how to split up the money that the league makes. And they`re trying to agree on rules for players` salaries. There are reports they`re close to an agreement on some things, but not on others.
Last week, NBA Commissioner David Stern said, quote, "There`s no deal on anything unless there`s a deal on everything."
AZUZ: NASA plans to spend some time studying the weather and how it changes, but not from down here on Earth. The agency wants to take a view from above.
AZUZ (voice-over): And that`s what this is for. It`s a new weather satellite that launched early Friday morning, cost $1.5 billion, and it`s designed to spend the next five years collecting information on short-term and long-term climate change. So it`s going to be looking at oceans, clouds, ice, and it will do all of that from around 500 miles above the planet`s surface.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Today`s first Shoutout goes out to Mr. Collins and Ms. Ward`s social studies classes at Mahtomedi Middle School in Mahtomedi, Minnesota.
What is the fear of houses called? Here we go. Is it domatophobia, claustrophobia, kenophobia or chirophobia? Three seconds to scare up an answer. Go.
Domatophobia is the fear of houses or being stuck in a house. That`s your answer, and that`s your Shoutout.
AZUZ: All right. So for regular houses, maybe not so much. But it is natural to experience domatophobia around this time of year with so many haunted houses popping up. A lot of folks don`t want to get stuck in one of those.
The dark domiciles are a Halloween tradition, but when Rob Marciano visited one recently, he found out that some haunted houses are a year- round industry, and he got some first-hand experience in their sophisticated scare tactics. Check this out.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN REPORTER: I always enjoy meeting new friends at Halloween, and this is some of the creatures at the Netherworld Haunted House -- hi, guys. Do you mind if I take a look inside? I`ll take that as a yes.
Here, friend. Here, friend.
I`m here with Ben Armstrong, one of the owners of Netherworld.
Ben, this place is massive. It`s got to be a year-round operation.
BEN ARMSTRONG, CO-OWNER, NETHERWORLD: Oh, yes. We work on this thing absolutely all year long. We conceptualize it, we work on all the creatures and then we begin construction as early as February. But what we`re going to do now, though, we`re going to make you into one of the creatures. We`re going to transform you into a monster that even your mother would be proud of.
MARCIANO: I feel pretty, I feel pretty.
MARCIANO: OK. I`m all zombied up. I`m teaming up with the Nightmare King. We`re going to go scare some kids.
So this is our spot, right here, Nightmare King?
NIGHTMARE KING: Yes, this is it, my friend.
MARCIANO: All right. What`s the -- what`s the call? What`s the game plan?
NIGHTMARE KING: If you want to (inaudible), you use the fog to your advantage. Just come up through the fog, give the illusion you`re a dead man rising from the grave.
MARCIANO: Yes, I love it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible).
MARCIANO: Just got my first scream.
Every night, they line up around the block at haunted houses like these across America, bringing an estimated $300 million a year.
ARMSTRONG: The haunted house industry has changed dramatically in the last 15 to 20 years. So you really need to deck it all out in 360. Everything`s got to be good. And the technology is increasing.
We have, like I said, a lot of animatronics, sophisticated characters that move. We use a lot of projections. We use a lot of illusions. So we`re constantly upping the ante to give the customer more than just a guy jumping out and scaring them, although that is the core of what we do.
MARCIANO: Well, that is sensory overload. Working on haunted houses is an adrenaline rush. But outside, I get back to my day job.
AZUZ: All right. It is October 31st, so we`re keeping with the Halloween theme here. We had asked you to send in iReports with your creative pumpkin carvings.
AZUZ (voice-over): Bailey from Illinois chewed it over, and came up with this awesome idea. I loved it, Bailey.
Manuel from California used his skills to honor his Future Farmers of America chapter.
And Madeline in North Carolina went the decorative route, and showed her love for CNN Student News.
AZUZ: Great work from all three of them. They did it out of the "gourdness" of their own hearts. Whoo! Thanks to everyone who sent us iReports. We hope you all have a very safe and happy Halloween. For CNN Student Ooohhs, I`m Carl Azuz.