Volcano adventures

7:00 ET, Fri 17 Aug 2007

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - Tourists tired of traipsing around cities and in need of something more dramatic to spark their imagination could opt for a volcano adventure.

From Alaska to Zaire, Forbestraveler.com has compiled a list of the top volcano adventures for travelers seeking an unusual holiday:

1. Kilauea - Hawaii

The 4,091 foot volcano has been erupting continuously since 1983. Located in Volcano National Park on the island of Hawaii, native guides conduct by-appointment only tours.

2.Mount Liamuiga Volcano - St Kitts

Located on the Caribbean island of St Kitts, a six-hour round trip to the crater of the 3,792 foot volcano takes visitors through bamboo rain forests and tropical glades.

3. Mount Kilimanjaro - Tanzania

It is the largest mountain in Africa and although the volcano is not active, there is hot magma just 1300 feet below the crater summit, which soars to 19,340 feet. Visitors usually take a five-day hike and must be aware of altitude sickness.

4. Mount Vesuvius - Italy

The eruption of the volcano in 79 AD destroyed the towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Each year thousands of tourists visit Pompeii and the National Archaeological Museum in Naples where they can see well-preserved frescoes.

5. Augustine, Douglas, Illiamna and Redoubt volcanoes - Alaska

Located on the east coast of Katamai National Park and Lake Clark National Park, the chain of volcanoes, which range in height from 3,053 to 10,197 feet, are just four the state's 80 potentially active volcanoes. Homer Air Service, a flight-seeing company, conducts a Ring of Fire Tour of the four peaks which takes in a crater lake and a glacier.

6. Nyiragongo Volcano - Zaire

The giant volcano reaches 11,384 feet. A gas eruption in 2002 killed 42 people and left 120,000 homeless. Today visitors can be taken on an expedition culminating in a three-day trip to the crater rim.

7. Yellowstone - United States

Although it is not the classic shape of its conical cousins, Yellowstone is the largest super-caldera on earth, with half of the geysers on earth and other unique geological formations.

8. Shiga volcanic complex - Japan

No mountain in this range that rises to 6,696 feet has erupted for the past 10,000 years but it is still an active geothermal attraction and the largest ski resort in the country.

9. Ambrym Volcano - Vanuatu

It is a favorite with volcanologists and botanists because of a near permanent lake of boiling lava and a lush rainforest. Travelers can venture with a guide to the hottest hotspots in a region -- wherever an eruption is happening.

10. Mount Taranaki -- New Zealand

The dormant volcano was used as a stand-in for Mount Fuji in the film "The Last Samurai." Adventure sports are a favorite on the Waingongoro River which winds it way down the near perfect cone.

© Reuters 2007. All rights reserved.

Avoid These Costly Investment Blunders

Thursday August 16, 7:00 am ET
By Sue Stevens, CFA, CFP, CPA

Buying a fund or a stock is relatively easy. It's the selling part that can get complicated.

With the stock market roaring up and down (and mostly down, lately) hundreds of points in a day, you may find yourself thinking about cashing in on some of your gains. Or perhaps you're thinking about locking in a loss on a holding because you want to be able to reduce the effect of capital gains elsewhere in your portfolio.

But before you pull the trigger and sell, you'd better know where you stand with both realized and unrealized gains and losses. Realized gains and losses reflect the selling you've already done for the year to date. Unrealized gains and losses reflect how a security you still hold has changed since you bought it. For example, if a stock has appreciated but you haven't sold, you have an unrealized gain in it. If you know where you stand with realized gains and losses, you can use that information to determine if you want to sell some of your current securities with either a gain or a loss.

For example, if you find you have substantial realized gains so far this year, you may only want to focus on selling securities that you're holding at a loss. If you have loss carryforwards on your tax return (see Schedule D), you may want to net those out by selling some securities that have appreciated strongly, thereby reducing the capital gains tax you'll owe on those appreciated securities.

What Is Cost Basis?
The "cost basis" is the original purchase price of an asset plus any reinvested dividends and capital gains.

If you ignore reinvested dividends and capital gains, you'll end up paying tax on those shares twice. And you don't want to pay more tax than you have to.

Want a simple solution to this dilemma? Don't have your brokerage or mutual fund company reinvest the capital gains and dividends. You can direct them to put those payments directly into your money market account. Then later you can decide just where you want that additional money to go. It's certainly simpler than hunting down all reinvested capital gains and dividend payments.

Some brokerages keep track of the cost basis for you. Look at your statement to see if it reflects "cost." Even if it doesn't, you may want to give your brokerage a call to see if they can send you that information, or you may be able to retrieve it online. Some companies have that information but don't make it available unless you specifically ask.

Calculating Cost Basis
The IRS allows you to use one of four methods when calculating your mutual fund's basis. You'll need to think about this decision before you actually sell anything. Your choice will affect how you treat sales in the future.

* Average cost (single category): Most people (and brokerages) use this method. You add up all of your purchases of the security, including reinvested dividends and capital gains, and divide by the total number of shares you own. To determine whether your gains/losses are short-term or long-term, you assume the oldest shares are sold first. Once you use this method to calculate the cost basis of shares you've sold, you must continue to use this method for the rest of the shares you sell in the future.
* Average cost (double category): This is similar to the above method, but first you sort your shares into two categories: those in which your gains and losses are short-term and those in which you have a long-term gain or loss. Then you add up the purchases in each category and divide by the number of shares in each category.
* Specific-share identification: This method is a little trickier, but it can also save you money. You specifically tell the brokerage which shares you want to sell and use the cost basis of those specific shares. For example, you may have bought shares of XYZ company five years ago when prices were higher--let's say $15 per share. Then later you bought more shares when the price was lower--say $5 per share. If you specifically tell your brokerage firm to sell the shares that you purchased at $15 and you sell them at $16, you only have to pay tax on the $1 per share of capital gain. If you specified the shares with a $5 cost basis, you'd owe tax on $11 per share.
* FIFO (first-in, first-out): If you don't specify a method for calculating your basis, the IRS will assume you're using FIFO. This method assumes that when you sell some of your shares, they are the first shares you bought. If those shares have a lower cost basis, you'll end up owing more in capital gains tax (and vice versa).

When calculating cost basis on stocks, the average cost basis may not be used.

Figuring Out How Much You Owe
To find out how much income tax you'll owe, you subtract your basis from the fair market value of the security when you sell it. If you held the security longer than one year, you'll have either a long-term capital gain (if you sold it for more than your basis) or a long-term capital loss (if you sold it for less than your basis). If you held the security for less than one year, instead of long-term gains or losses, you'll have short-term gains or losses.

You can net out capital gains and losses against each other.You can then use as much as $3,000 of capital losses in any one year to offset ordinary income on your tax return. Unused losses can be carried forward indefinitely to future years.

If someone has gifted you securities, you retain their cost basis. That means the donor needs to tell you what that basis is. Then going forward you need to keep track of additional purchases and reinvested dividends and reinvested capital gains. When you eventually sell the investment and calculate your basis, you start with the donor's basis and add to it any additional purchases and reinvested amounts. For more on this topic, see IRS Publication 551 at www.irs.gov.

Why Basis Is Important
The higher your basis, the less you pay in taxes. It's that simple, but record-keeping for this purpose is anything but simple. Ideally, the day you buy a stock or fund, you should start a notebook or spreadsheet entry that documents your purchase. Then you would add to your records as you purchased more or reinvested dividends and capital gains.

If you're like many people, you've thrown out old statements and have no idea about reinvested amounts. There are a couple of ways to recreate these records:

* Take a look at each tax return you've filed since you had the investment. Reinvested dividends and capital gains will be on Schedules B and D. However, many brokerage firms just lump together all your dividends and capital gains for tax purposes. If that's the case, you'll just see something like "Schwab" listed, not each individual security. And for basis purposes, you need to break it out by individual security.
* Contact each brokerage firm and request year-end statements for as long as you've had the investment. They should show both purchase amounts and reinvested amounts.

Going forward, basis may become even more important. In 2010, the step-up in basis at death will be modified. ("Step-up in basis" means that the person who inherits an asset doesn't also inherit the deceased individual's cost basis; instead, the new owner's basis in that asset "steps up" to its current market value.) In 2010, a general basis increase will be allowed up to $1.3 million. Spouses will be allowed an additional $3 million of stepped-up basis.

Let's look at an example: Joe dies in 2010 and leaves securities valued at $2 million to his only son, Peter. Let's say Joe's basis is $500,000. Peter will be able to step up the basis on $1.3 million of his inheritance. But the other $700,000 will retain his father's basis. (This is just like the gifting rules for basis that I touched on above.) Then Peter will need to track his additional purchases and reinvested dividends and capital gains until he sells the securities.

Accurate record-keeping is essential. Estates may take much longer to settle if basis needs to be recreated. Holding securities until death to take advantage of the step-up in basis may no longer be a viable strategy. So be forewarned: If you don't have accurate basis records, bite the bullet and find a way to build these records. If you don't, the price could be heavy: paying tax more than once on reinvested dividends and capital gains or creating problems for your heirs by delaying the settlement of your estate.

IRS Publications
If you want more information on investments and taxes, the following IRS publications may help. (You'll need Adobe Acrobat to view or print out the PDF files.)

Publication 544: Sales and Other Disposition of Assets
Publication 550: Investment Income and Expenses
Publication 551: Basis of Assets
Publication 564: Mutual Fund Distributions

A version of this article appeared March 9, 2006.

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Wall Street Rebounds; Investors Eye Fed

Friday August 17, 6:06 am ET
By Joe Bel Bruno, AP Business Writer Investors Eye Fed for Momentum After Dow Reverses From 343 Point Loss NEW YORK (AP) -- In what's becoming a familiar story on Wall Street, stocks have had a dramatic late-session turnaround as buyers streamed back into the market. The question of course is whether Thursday's surge, which pulled the Dow Jones industrials up from a more than 300 point loss to close only narrowly lower, will be the one that sticks.

The market, which has had several such comebacks this month, has been giving back all its gains of late and then some amid unrelenting volatility. And many analysts believe the answer lies with the Federal Reserve.

Bargain hunting rather than a belief that the bad times are over was partly behind this latest last-hour advance -- stocks have fallen so far amid worries about the availability of credit that investors were willing to place some bets. The market pretty much ignored the Fed's latest injection of cash into the banking system, a move designed to alleviate the fears about credit that have sent stocks plunging for weeks.

What investors really want is an interest rate cut, and one that comes before the Fed's Sept. 18 meeting.

"I think there is more confidence of a lasting rally in equities if the Fed cuts rates, and that makes it easier on days like this to do bargain hunting," said John Lonski, chief economist for credit-rating agency Moody's Investors Service. "And, the more investors sense that the U.S. economy can shoulder losses arising from subprime mortgages, the closer we are to stabilization in equities."

So far, though, the Fed shows no signs of acquiescing. It has relied on adding money into the banking system to try to soothe the markets. Central banks around the world have been supplying billions of funds to banks in the past week to make cash available for lending and keep interest rates from rising amid signs that credit was drying up.

The New York Fed -- which carries out the central bank's market operation -- announced Thursday an overnight repurchase agreement worth $12 billion. This was on top of a 14-day "repo" worth $5 billion announced before the market opened. The Fed uses a repo to buy securities from dealers, who then deposit the money into commercial banks.

It's not what the market wanted. The Dow was down as much as 343 points Thursday.

But the Fed has its reasons for not giving in -- for instance, moving too soon could send a message that policymakers are being too reactive. Also, lower rates risk sending inflation higher, and keeping inflation in check has been the Fed's primary concern.

"Speculation about what their move will be is what is going to control equities for the time being," Lonski said.

The turnaround Thursday was driven by buying of blue chip stocks, specifically among beleaguered banks and brokerages. Before the buyers returned, the major indexes had reached the levels of a correction, defined as a 10 percent drop from the market's highs.

The Dow, which closed just above 14,000 on July 19, was down about 1,150 points, or 8.2 percent, by Thursday's close.

Some analysts were hopeful that the market will be able to build on Thursday's momentum.

"The fundamental buyers are coming back into the market, and typically trading in the last half hour of the day is where the smart institutional money is going," said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank. "There's a feeling that maybe we've pushed it too far, and this gives us a running start for positive markets worldwide on Friday."

Still, the market is quite fragile. Thursday's buying also came from traders or hedge funds trying to cover losses from what's known as short trading. In short trading, an investor sells borrowed stock on a bet that the market will fall; when the market rises, the investor must buy stock to pay back the debt.

Moreover, analysts contend each trading day seems to bring about new worries about credit -- needed to fuel corporate profits and takeovers -- is drying up. The latest catalyst for selling was bad news from Countrywide Financial Corp., the nation's largest mortgage lender, which had to draw on a billion-dollar credit line to fund its operations.

New York Stock Exchange: http://www.nyse.com

Nasdaq Stock Market: http://www.nasdaq.com

The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)

Watch the Trailer

All he wanted was to disappear; instead, Jason Bourne is now hunted by the people who made him what he is--legendary assassin. Having lost his memory and the one person he loved, he is undeterred by the barrage of bullets and a new generation of highly-trained killers. Bourne has only one objective: to go back to the beginning and find out who he was. Now, in the new chapter of this espionage series, Bourne will hunt down his past in order to find a future. He must travel from Moscow, Paris and London to Tangier and New York City as he continues his quest to find the real Jason Bourne--all the while trying to outmaneuver the scores of cops, federal officers and Interpol agents with him in their crosshairs.

Production Status:	Released
Logline:	Legendary assassin Jason Bourne uncovers mysteries of his past, which puts him in the cross-hairs of a superkiller.
Genres:	Action/Adventure, Thriller, Adaptation and Sequel
Running Time:	1 hr. 51 min.
Release Date:	August 3rd, 2007 (wide)
MPAA Rating:	PG-13 for violence and intense sequences of action.
Distributors:	Universal Pictures
Production Co.:	Kennedy/Marshall Company, Ludlum Entertainment, MP Beta Productions
Studios:	Universal Pictures
U.S. Box Office:	$131,552,425
Filming Locations:	New York, New York, USA Madrid, Spain Paris, France London, England Riga, Latvia Tangier, Morocco New York City, New York, USA Toronto, Canada London, England, United Kingdom Berlin, Germany Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Produced in:	United States

Beckham starts first game, scores first goal for Galaxy in SuperLiga victory over D.C. United

By BETH HARRIS, AP Sports Writer
August 16, 2007

AP - Aug 16, 2:15 am EDT More Photos

CARSON, Calif. (AP) -- It was a night of firsts for David Beckham.

The English superstar started his first game for the Galaxy, scored his first goal on a free kick in the 27th minute and Los Angeles beat D.C. United 2-0 in the SuperLiga semifinals.

"The free kick was the first I've taken for eight weeks, so it was quite pleasing," he said. "I felt I was going to score as soon as I had the ball in my hands."

Beckham also notched his first assist on the Galaxy's second goal. He sent a long pass to a streaking Landon Donovan, who scored on a breakaway in the 47th minute for a 2-0 lead.

"David makes a big difference in there, and it's not just the goal," Donovan said. "It was a big lift for everyone. We were all excited. It was nice."

The Galaxy advanced to the Aug. 29 tournament final in Carson against Mexican club team Pachuca, which tied Houston 2-2, but won 4-3 on penalty kicks.

The winning team earns $1 million, which the Galaxy could put toward paying Beckham's $6.5 million yearly salary.

Beckham also earned his first yellow card after fouling United's Jaime Moreno in the 18th minute. Beckham got fouled once in the first half, when he also took two corner kicks.

Fans cheered and women screamed as Beckham prepared to take a 26-yard free kick. After he connected inside the left post, he was mobbed by teammates. Goalkeeper Joe Cannon even scampered across more than half the field to join the celebration.

"The guy hadn't even taken a free kick in practice," Cannon said. "Think about what happens when he can start playing every day and start doing those things."

Beckham waved to the crowd a couple times while blue, gold and white confetti fluttered through the air, reminiscent of the scene when he was introduced amid much fanfare July 13.

He was stopped on a 28-yard free kick in the 58th minute, when United goalkeeper Troy Perkins leaped to the left and caught the ball.

"He hit it well, but I wasn't in a good spot, either, and he caught me," Perkins said. "When you get a player who can hit a ball to either side, you've got to keep to one side and make him beat you."

In all, Beckham played 63 minutes. He clapped his hands above his head while turning in a circle to acknowledge the cheers before putting the captain's armband on Donovan and heading to the bench.

AP - Aug 16, 2:14 am EDT More Photos

"I didn't expect to last an hour. It felt great," he said.

Beckham had played just 37 minutes in two previous games because of a nagging left ankle injury that didn't allow him to practice with the Galaxy for the first time until Tuesday.

The victory avenged the Galaxy's 1-0 loss to United last week in Major League Soccer action, when Beckham made his league debut on the road.

"It was a good strike," United coach Tom Soehn said. "He's been scoring goals all over the world like that."

Beckham took over as captain for Wednesday's match, a title previously held by Donovan. Beckham actively urged on his teammates, talking to them and waving his arms during play.

Donovan suggested to Beckham on Tuesday that he become captain.

"It made him a real part of the team," Donovan said.

As the halftime whistle blew, Beckham bent over and adjusted his socks, then stood up, a broad smile on his face as he waved and walked off the field.

The game, which wasn't part of the Galaxy season ticket package, attracted an announced crowd of 17,223 in the 27,000-capacity stadium.

Galaxy midfielder Cobi Jones, who is returning from a hip injury, entered in the 71st minute. The team was without defender Ante Jazic, midfielder Kelly Gray and forward Alan Gordon, who were all suspended after receiving yellow cards in each of their two previous SuperLiga games.

Save Money With These Alternatives to Popular European Cities

By Katherine Tom, Senior Editor, Yahoo! Travel
August 14, 2007

Experienced travelers know that setbacks can often be opportunities in disguise. Too rainy to hit the botanical gardens? You might discover a new favorite indoor café. Missed the train to your next stop? Extend your stay and check out that exhibit you didn't have time for. And currently, the unfavorable euro-dollar exchange rate provides a truly exciting opportunity: a chance to explore some remote corners of the map that might have escaped your attention before. These up-and-coming destinations offer many of the attractions of an Old-World European vacation at refreshingly reasonable prices. Often referred to as the Paris of South America, Buenos Aires offers European elegance at down-to-earth prices. If You Love: History Instead of: Athens | Try: Istanbul Athens may be the more obvious destination of choice for history buffs, but Istanbul — just across the Aegean — has an equally storied past, and buildings to rival the Acropolis (the breathtaking Hagia Sophia was a finalist in the recent New Seven Wonders of the World contest). For a bit more background, try Elizabeth Kostova's bestselling novel, The Historian, which provides beautiful descriptions of the ancient city. Sample Savings: You can find a moderate hotel in Athens for about $180/night. Similar accommodations would cost about $120/night in Istanbul. If You Love: Art Instead of: Paris | Try: Culver City For viewing art's heavy hitters, there's no match for the justifiably famous museums of Paris. But, if you want to check out some hot up-and-comers, head towards the burgeoning art scene in Culver City, California. The former "Heart of Screenland" has experienced a recent rebirth, complete with a 4-5 block strip of contemporary art galleries that the New York Times compared to a "nascent Chelsea." For those interested in starting their own collection, it's possible to find original works for $1,000 or less. Sample Savings: Admission to the Louvre is roughly $12, Musée d'Orsay is $10, and Centre Pompidou is $13.50. The galleries in Culver City are open to the public for free. Photo by: lucky kt If You Love: Food Photo by: jackol Instead of: Barcelona | Try: Bangkok Although Barcelona's avant-garde food scene makes foodies swoon, halfway around the world, traditional Thai food provides a similar sense of novelty and delight to diners. For those not used to the unique flavors of true Thai cuisine, a meal featuring bitter eggplant, sour larb salad, or pungent durian can hold as many surprises as the culinary foams and flavored essences served at El Bulli. Sample Savings: Dinner for two in Barcelona costs about $100. In Bangkok, expect to pay closer to $15. If You Love: Shopping Instead of: Milan | Try: Buenos Aires The combination of the devalued peso and a slew of traditional artisans and fashion-forward boutiques makes Buenos Aires a true shoppers' paradise. Pick up leather goods, silverware, and antiques for a song. San Telmo is the spot for antiques shopping, while the trendy Palermo Soho district gives its NYC and London counterparts a run for their money. Sample Savings: A leather jacket in Milan costs at least $250, but you can find one in Buenos Aires for around $100. Photo by: Dan.. If You Love: Architecture Photo by: Txapulín Instead of: Berlin | Try: Prague Since the fall of the Wall, Berlin has established itself as perhaps the premiere city for modern architecture in Europe. However, this renewed prosperity has also made Germany one of the most expensive destinations in Europe. Penny pinchers should head instead for Prague, where modern masterpieces such as Frank Gehry's famous Dancing House mingle with excellent Baroque, Rococo, and Art Nouveau buildings spanning the past 600 years of architecture. Sample Savings: A pint of beer costs around $5 in Berlin, compared to $1 for a pint in Prague.

Before there was Elvis, there was nothing

by Mira Oberman Tue Aug 14, 12:14 PM ET
MEMPHIS, United States (AFP) - A poor Southern white boy who brought black music into the mainstream, Elvis Presley made rock 'n' roll the international language of pop.

He was not the first to blend country with blues, but Elvis was the one to smash through the social conservatism and segregation of the 1950's and get white kids to shake their hips.

He changed the way people thought about music and made an indelible mark on American culture.

"Ask anyone. If it hadn't been for Elvis, I don't know where popular music would be," Elton John once said.

"He was the one that started it all off, and he was definitely the start of it for me."

While he may have been eclipsed by the Beatles and the Rolling Stones as the rebel turned into a square with his rhinestone-studded jumpsuits, Elvis continues to shape popular music three decades after his death.

"People are influenced by him whether they know it or not," James Henke, chief curator at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, said in an interview.

"He defined what it meant to be a rock star."

Before the pot belly and the sweat-stained silk scarves, before the pills, he was "Elvis the Pelvis."

He was sexy. He was dangerous. But he was still, as Ed Sullivan said, "a real decent, fine boy."

The combination of virulent sexuality, boy-next-door good manners, incredible stage presence and an ambitious manager propelled Elvis into television specials, films, blockbuster concerts and merchandising.

"You can thank or blame Elvis for the fact that a musical artist has to be this full performer and a carefully tended musical and social persona," said Jeff Melnick, a professor at Babson College and the editor of the Journal of Popular Music Studies.

"Michael Jackson, Prince, Madonna... these folks all took in the notion that you create a brand where they buy the music and the movie and the t-shirts," he told AFP.

Elvis remains the best-selling solo artist of all time with over a billion records sold worldwide and continues to generate around 50 million dollars a year.

He was prolific, and his music was diverse. While his rich voice is unmistakable, there is no prototypical Elvis sound. His 23-year career spanned rockabilly, gospel, ballads, country, folk and even jazz.

Satellite radio station Sirius has an entire channel devoted to playing the 150 albums and singles that have been certified gold, platinum or multi-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.

But while he may have influenced generations of musicians, his iconic status does not carry the same kind of contemporary popularity as the Beatles or the Doors, whose songs get more airplay on traditional radio.

Elvis might have been the originator of cool, but he became far too mainstream in his later years to compete with the counter-culture revolutionaries of the late 1960's and 1970's who continue to enthrall generations of rebellious teenagers.

"Part of it is that there was the whole fat Las Vegas period and the bad movies," said Henke of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

"But I don't think you can underestimate how powerful his music has been."

While Elvis scored a huge hit a few years back with a remix of "A Little Less Conversation" that was used in Nike's multimillion dollar World Cup advertising campaign, his estate has been reluctant to allow his music to be reworked.

"This is classic music, we don't want to get too trigger happy with it," said Jack Soden, chief executive officer of Elvis Presley Enterprises.

An aggressive global marketing campaign is underway to mark the 30th anniversary of his death on Thursday and expectations are high for sales of newly reissued CD box sets, "deluxe edition" DVD releases of Elvis films.

"A lot has been written and said about why he was so great, but I think the best way to appreciate his greatness is just to go back and play some of the old records," Huey Lewis once said.

"Time has a way of being very unkind to old records, but Elvis' keep getting better and better."

Is That New Car Smell Toxic?

New research suggests that car interiors may be a significant source of indoor air pollution.

By Jon Alain Guzik, Yahoo! Autos Editor-at-Large

2007 Volvo S40

You watch what you eat, making sure that the food you serve your family is healthy and, if you’re really diligent, organic. You make sure that the furniture and appliances inside of your home are safe and well maintained. There isn’t a flake of lead-based paint anywhere in your home. But what about the new car in your driveway? Just how safe and non-toxic is the interior of your automobile? Does that “new car smell” contain toxic chemicals that could be bad for you?

According to a recent study by the Ecology Center in Ann Arbor, Mich., the answer is yes. The group analyzed the elemental composition of over 200 late-model cars, trucks and SUVs for off-gassing chemicals from interior auto parts. The chemicals of concern for the Ecology Center were bromine from flame-retardants, chlorine from PVC and plasticizers, lead and other heavy metals. The use of these chemicals has been known to cause birth defects, liver toxicity, cancer and certain allergies. According to the Ecology Center, “since the average American spends more than one-and-a-half hours in a car every day, toxic chemical exposure inside vehicles is a major source of potential indoor air pollution.”

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A total of 15 components from each vehicle were selected for sampling, including the steering wheel, shift knob, armrest, center console, dashboard, headliner, carpet, seat front, seat back, seat base, hard door trim, soft door trim, body sealer, wiring, window seal and wheel weights. The vehicles were then rated on a scale from zero to five, and each model was given a low, medium or high concern rating as well. The results of the study are quite surprising and give an interesting look into the chemical makeup of a vehicle's interior.

But what about the vehicle you already own? The Ecology Center’s Jeff Gearhart offers some advice. “A few steps to take are keeping the temperature of the vehicle down, keeping the vehicle well ventilated and making sure to keep the interior clean from dust,” he explains. “We inhale the dust, which increases our exposure levels to the chemicals.”

However, the results from the Ecology Center’s study tell only part of the story. A majority of the major car manufactures have started to produce greener automotive interiors to go along with the trend of more environmentally friendly vehicles.

For example, Ford’s 2008 Mustang features cleaner, less toxic soy-based seat foam cushions, and the 2008 Escape and Escape Hybrid both feature seating surfaces made from 100% recycled fabric. Volvo, which is owned by the Ford Motor Company and shares in the environmental research and technology, has been developing cleaner, less abrasive interiors since the company’s inception. Their S40 and V50 models scored well in the Ecology Center’s testing as well.

“We don't have toxic smells. We have standards that have eliminated toxic chemicals, be they the switch from chromium to vegetable tanning to no nickel metals in the interior. We offer sweet Scandinavian air in our cars,” says Volvo’s Daniel Johnston. “We looked for ways to reduce pollution. We’ve reduced solvents and waste from about 32 pounds per car to about 2.5 pounds, and all of our cars use water-borne paints. About 95 percent of the metals we use in our cars come from recycled metals. We have a database for each vehicle component, right down to nuts and bolts, that gives us a life cycle accounting, which helps us determine if we use one type of material over another.”

2007 Acura RDX

Though the effect of the chemicals in your car may be hard to quantify, it is still something for the consumer to think about. “Our overall goal is to help the consumer take prudent reasonable steps and to educate them,” adds Gearhart. “Any one source is not going to affect someone’s health. We want them to look at their overall environment and make decisions from there.”

Zoo shows Rare Persian leopard triplets - Yahoo! News

Zoo shows Rare Persian leopard tripletsTue Aug 14, 10:28 PM ETBUDAPEST, Hungary - Persian leopard triplets born in June were presented Tuesday at the Budapest Zoo. The cubs — a male and two females — were born at the zoo on  June 19 and are doing well, said zoo spokesman Zoltan Hanga.ADVERTISEMENTThe Persian leopard is the largest of the leopard subspecies and is native to Western Asian countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan and Armenia.The leopard is endangered, however, with less than 2,000 thought to be living in the wild. An additional 74 leopards live in zoos.The cubs born in Hungary — sisters Bella and Bara and brother Bahar — are part of a breeding program of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria.Their parents — father Nadir and mother Cezi — arrived at the Budapest Zoo in mid-2003. Their first offspring, Asszir was born June 6, 2005, and is now at the Jerusalem Zoo.The three cubs will stay in Budapest for about a year, when they will be transferred to other zoos around the world.

Zoo shows Rare Persian leopard triplets - Yahoo! News

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China seeks to dampen US dollar rumors - Yahoo! News

China seeks to dampen US dollar rumorsSun Aug 12, 3:10 AM ETBEIJING - China sought Sunday to dampen speculation it will conduct a massive sell-off of U.S. dollar holdings, with a central bank official saying the dollar remains a mainstay of its foreign exchange reserves.ADVERTISEMENTIn an interview carried by the government's Xinhua News Agency, an unnamed official with the People's Bank of China said U.S. dollars and government bonds are "an important part of China's foreign reserve investments."China's $1.3 trillion in foreign exchange reserves are the largest in the world and are believed to be comprised largely of dollar assets, potentially giving Beijing enormous sway over the dollar's value and currency markets worldwide.A report in the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph this past week that quoted Chinese government economists as saying China would dump its dollar holdings in the event of a trade war with Washington added to jitters in stock markets already unnerved by volatility in U.S. share markets.Xinhua said the central banker's remarks were intended to counter unspecified reports in Western media that China "is threatening to carry out a sell-off of U.S. dollars."The Xinhua report was prominently posted on the central government's main Web site, in a further sign Beijing hoped the statement would underscore its commitment to hold U.S. dollar assets and calm investors."China is a responsible investor in international financial markets, and our country's foreign exchange reserves are managed with the operational goals of safety, liquidity and profit," Xinhua quoted the central bank official as saying.The People's Bank does not disclose the composition of the foreign exchange reserves, which have swelled in recent years as China's exports surged and investors poured money into the country to profit from an economy now in its fourth straight year of double-digit growth.But the reserves have become a political issue both within China and between Beijing and Washington. As the dollar has fallen in value, the People's Bank has come under pressure to diversify its holdings to maintain the value of the reserves and improve returns.Washington has pointed to China's growing reserves as proof that the Chinese currency is undervalued, making Chinese exports cheap, putting American manufacturers at a disadvantage and compounding a hefty U.S. trade deficit. Several U.S. senators have renewed calls in recent weeks to punish Beijing if it does not let the currency, the yuan, rise in value.

China seeks to dampen US dollar rumors - Yahoo! News

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Virgin America: Like a Multimillion-Dollar IPod. That Flies.

By Dylan Tweney EmailAugust 09, 2007 | 6:40:16 PMCategories: First Looks Inaugural Virgin America flight from JFK landing at San Francisco airportVirgin America launched its U.S. air service yesterday, and immediately staked a claim as the most geek-friendly airline yet invented. It's also one of the most comfortable and pleasant to fly in -- and it's reasonably priced.I flew in the inaugural flight from Los Angeles to San Francisco. Almost every aspect of the trip was pleasant, and the planes have clearly been designed by people with a keen sense of design and an appreciation of technology's ability to make people feel comfortable and happy.For notebook-toting travelers, the most welcome feature is 110-volt power, with two outlets in every set of three coach seats. There are also USB connectors for charging USB-powered devices like iPods and Razrs -- although the ports don't yet deliver enough current to charge an iPhone. Unfortunately these outlets are below the seats so you have to plug in by feel, since you can't actually see them very clearly unless you get down on the floor.Seats are the most comfortable coach class seats I've ever been in, with cushy padding and leather coverings, and there's plenty of legroom. The cabin is illuminated with indirect "mood lighting" whose color shifts through 12 different hues, depending on the time of day, although it remained purple during my afternoon flight yesterday.Interior of Virgin America cabin with purple mood lightingEach seat also has an RJ-45 (Ethernet) connector, but you won't get internet access when you plug in today. Connectivity will have to wait until next year, when Virgin will begin offering internet access via Ethernet and via in-cabin Wi-Fi. The company still hasn't decided which technology it will use to offer ground-to-air internet connections, according to Charles Ogilvie, the designer of the inflight system. Once that's squared away, internet access will be available for an additional fee. Passengers may also have the option of choosing among varying connection speeds, with different fee levels, Ogilvie says.The cabin is already outfitted with Wi-Fi, but it's a secured network that passengers don't have access to. The network currently is used by the in-flight entertainment system to connect the 9-inch display screens on every seat back to a set of 4 central servers. There's also a control panel (running on a Motion Computing Tablet PC) that the flight attendants use to see what each passenger has ordered.Those seat-back display screens are probably the most noticeable difference for most travelers. Each touch-sensitive screen is paired with a two-sided wired remote in the armrest. On one side of the remote are standard volume, channel, forward and back controls; on the other side is a QWERTY keyboard. There are shoulder buttons for playing games, and on the other side, a slot for swiping your credit card (which you'll have to do plenty of, in order to pay for food, drink, and other amenities).Virgin America inflight display screen and QWERTY controllerThe inflight entertainment system's best feature is its selection of pay-per-view movies (more than 30 to choose from, at $8 apiece), live satellite TV, and more than 3,000 music tracks. You can build a playlist of your favorite music and the system will remember it from flight to flight, so the next time you check in, your playlist will be waiting for you. Nice! (Of course, taking an iPod with you is another way to make sure you've always got your playlist.) The system also keeps track of what you're watching so if you pause a movie to go listen to some music or check the scores on ESPN, you can resume the movie after you're done.You can use the screen to order food and drinks, or to text-chat with other passengers. And there's a selection of games you can play, including Doom (the very first version -- with positively archaic graphics), Mad Bomber, a Bejeweled clone, and many others. The games are pretty primitive, frankly, and they're all single-player, although I'm told that multiplayer versions will be coming later. Now that would be cool: Even with its rudimentary graphics, Doom 1 could be pretty fun for fragging other passengers.What seat-back display would be complete without a map showing where your plane is right at this second? Virgin America's system has this feature, of course--and it's based on Google Maps.Google Maps on Virgin America seatbackI managed to crash the inflight system by pushing some odd combination of buttons, but it rebooted gracefully (revealing that it's running Red Hat Linux in the process) and was back online within five minutes.Virgin gave me a complimentary seat on this flight so I wasn't able to check out its reservation system, but the company is touting the user-friendliness of its web site and the simplicity of its reservation system. The fare structure is straightforward, based on one-way prices with no stayover requirements. A flight between San Francisco and Los Angeles (LAX) for the upcoming weekend currently costs $99 to $144 each way (coach class), while flights between San Francisco and New York's JFK airport for the same weekend cost $269 to $399 each way.Virgin currently only flies two flights daily between SFO and JFK and five a day between SFO and LAX. Between now and the end of October, the airline will add several more connections: Los Angeles-New York, San Francisco-Washington D.C., San Francisco-Las Vegas, and Los Angeles-Washington D.C.Virgin America inflight console, booting up Red Hat LinuxIt's running Red Hat Linux! Tux the Penguin pops up during a reboot after I crashed my inflight display. My crash didn't affect anyone else's console. In other respects, the fact that the system is running Linux is pretty much invisible to users. (There's no command-line access, sorry.)Control panel used by flight attendantsThis is the control panel used by flight attendants. It shows a square for every seat on the plane. When a customer orders something on their display, the order shows up on this screen.back of Virgin America controllerThe flip side of that wired controller. (On the other side is the QWERTY keyboard.)Virgin America plane on the groundVirgin America airplane, called "California Dreamin'", on the ground at LAX.Virgin America flight from JFK landing at SFOThe inaugural Virgin America flight from New York's JFK airport landed in formation with our flight, from LAX, coming in side by side at SFO. The other plane made a nice sight out the window.

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Woods seizes control at Southern Hills - Yahoo! News

Woods seizes control at Southern HillsBy DOUG FERGUSON, AP Golf Writer 1 hour, 32 minutes agoTULSA, Okla. - Tiger Woods saved his best golf for the last major. Woods followed his record-tying 63 at Southern Hills with a round that wasn't anything special Saturday, but no less effective at the PGA Championship. He made 15 pars in his 1-under 69, giving him a three-shot lead over Stephen Ames going into the final round.ADVERTISEMENTIt felt much larger considering the history of the world's No. 1 player.Woods is 12-0 when going into the final round of major with at least a share of the lead, and he has never lost any tournament when leading by more than one shot after 54 holes."I accomplished my goal today," Woods said. "My goal was to shoot under par and increase my lead. And I was able to do that."A blue towel was draped over his shoulder as Woods, his shirt soaked with sweat from spending four hours in 100-plus degrees, sat in an air-conditioned room.A white flag might be in order for everyone else."The statistics will tell you, yes, it is over," Ernie Els said after a 69 left him six shots behind. "But as a competitor, I can't sit there and tell you it's over. I can't ever do that."But if he were watching from his house?"If I was not a golfer — a fan on the couch — I'd be putting my house on him, yeah," Els said.Woods made it look as though this were a Sunday afternoon and he was protecting his lead, not taking on many flags or working too hard for par. He picked up his lone birdies at Nos. 4 and 12, and had two par saves of about 10 feet on the front nine that allowed him to keep his distance from Scott Verplank and the rest of the field.Woods finished at 7-under 203 and will play in the final round of a major for the third time this year. He was trailing at the Masters and U.S. Open and never caught up, but the odds are much higher in his favor of capturing his first major of the year.Ames made a 12-foot birdie on the final hole for a 69 that put him in the final group of a major for the first time. Just his luck he gets Woods, spotting the 12-time major champion a three-shot lead.Ames bristled when his loss to Woods in the Accenture Match Play Championship last year was brought up again. He jokingly said that anything could happen "especially where he's hitting the ball," and Woods went on to a record 9-and-8 victory two days later.This time, Ames figures he has nothing to lose."For me, it's a great opportunity of being in the situation," he said. "Tiger's going for his 13th. I'm looking for my first."Only five players remained under par at Southern Hills.Woody Austin lost his chance to be in the final group when he took bogey on the final hole for a 69, leaving him at 207. Johnson Senden had a 69 and was another shot back, followed by Els.Verplank held his own until a double bogey from the rough and trees on the signature 12th hole, and a three-putt from the back of the 18th green for bogey sent him to a 74.For the briefest moment, the former U.S. Amateur champion from Oklahoma State pulled within one shot. Verplank dribbled an 8-foot birdie putt down the hill and into the cup at No. 4 to reach 5 under, only to watch Woods hole a 6-foot putt to match his birdie and restore the margin to two shots.Walking to the fifth tee, Verplank smirked and said, "That guy makes everything."It sure looked that way.Woods atoned for a poor chip on the third with a 10-foot par save, and saved par from 10 feet again on the eighth after hitting into a bunker. His streak of 24 straight holes without a bogey ended when he hit 6-iron into the bunker on the 14th and missed from 18 feet.He led by as many as five shots on the back nine until that bogey on 14. Even so, it was his largest lead going into the final round of a major since the 2005 Masters, which he won in a playoff over Chris DiMarco."If you're trying to win a tournament like this, he's the wrong guy to let get out ahead of you," Verplank said.One after another, players finished their rounds, looked at the top of the leaderboard and figured it would require their best round to have any chance of winning. They have seen this before.And so has Woods, even if he won't concede the tournament is over.This is only the fifth time in his career that Woods came to the final major of the year without winning one, although he arrived at Southern Hills fresh off an eight-shot victory at a World Golf Championship. But the work is not done."I've always said in order to have a great year you have to win a major championship," he said. "You can win every tournament, but the majors are where it's at. And this year, I've had some opportunities to deal with this. I haven't done it. I'm in good shape going into tomorrow and hopefully, I can get it done."The only low scores were in the morning, when the greens were still smooth. Boo Weekley had a chance to shoot 63 until he hit his approach on the 18th about 45 feet away and took three putts for a bogey and a 65.Playing with Weekley was Sergio Garcia, but not for long. Weekley marked down a 4 for Garcia on the 17th hole when the Spaniard made 5, and Garcia signed it anyway and was disqualified.Trevor Immelman had a 66, but all that got him was to 1 over par, eight shots behind a guy who has never lost a lead in the majors.Woods looked as though he might come back to the field, but he steadied himself quickly. He saved par twice on the first three holes, then wiggled his way out of trouble on the par-5 fifth when he bounced his third shot out of the rough, under a tree and tumbling up to the green about 35 feet left of the pin.He left several birdie putts short, but rarely had to grind for par.That left him where he wants to be — in the lead at a major, daring anyone to catch him. The 11 guys who have been paired with him in the final round of a major (Garcia did it twice) still haven't figured it out.Someone asked Woods what effect his presence atop the leaderboard had on the rest of the field, what would cause a three-time major champion like Els to say he would bet the house on Woods if he weren't trying to beat him."Maybe because I've won 12 majors," he replied.

Woods seizes control at Southern Hills - Yahoo! News

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NASA to look closer at gouge on shuttle - Yahoo! News

By RASHA MADKOUR, Associated Press Writer 56 minutes agoHOUSTON - NASA wants to get a closer look at a troubling gouge on the heat shield that protects space shuttle Endeavour's belly to determine whether astronauts need to repair the 3-inch wound.ADVERTISEMENTThe space agency planned to spend several hours Sunday on a detailed inspection of the 3 1/2-by-2-inch gash. It was caused by a piece of foam that came off the shuttle's external fuel tank during liftoff last week, striking tiles that insulate the ship from the intense heat of re-entry to Earth, NASA said.The space agency won't know how serious the ding is or whether astronauts need to repair the damage during a spacewalk until it's examined.Adding a spacewalk to the mission is less likely now that managers know the gash was not caused by heavier and potentially more damaging ice like they initially suspected. They learned this after examining video from cameras retrieved from Endeavour's booster rockets, which were towed back from the Atlantic.To gather more data, particularly the depth of the gouge, teacher-turned-astronaut Barbara Morgan and crewmate Tracy Caldwell will use the space shuttle's robotic arm and laser-tipped boom to sweep over the area. The process was expected to take about three hours.Back on Earth, engineers and other experts were to continue reviewing radar launch imagery and photographs that were taken by the space station crew before the shuttle docked.The astronauts were woken up overnight by an alarm on a fuel cell that generates power for the shuttle. NASA said the alarm sounded because the fuel cell was able to cool down more than usual now that the shuttle is using a new system to draw power from the space station. Settings on the fuel cell's monitoring system were being changed to prevent the alarm from sounding again, officials said.After rising on Sunday to "Up!" by Shania Twain, Morgan and the crew began preparing for the meticulous inspection later in the day.A grapefruit-sized piece of foam appears to have come off a bracket on the fuel tank, then bounced off a strut farther down and shot into Endeavour, said John Shannon, chairman of the mission management team. The brackets hold the long fuel feed line to the tank, and the struts connect the tank to the shuttle for launch. Ice tends to form near these brackets and cause the foam to pop off at liftoff.Foam has come loose from the brackets on previous flights, Shannon said, and NASA is looking at how to redesign the apparatus to mitigate this problem."It's a little bit of a concern to us because this seems to be something that has happened frequently," Shannon said.Directly beneath the damage is part of the aluminum framework of the starboard wing, which would provide additional protection during re-entry, Shannon said. He called that a lucky break.Almost every mission in the 26 years of shuttle flight has ended with gouges of at least an inch in the thermal tiles that cover the belly. In one flight, nearly 300 dings that big were recorded.The ship's belly is exposed to temperatures as high as 2,300 degrees Fahrenheit while passing through the Earth's atmosphere. Shuttle wings encounter even more heat, which is why the briefcase-sized foam that hit Columbia's left wing at liftoff was fatally damaging when left not repaired.Since that disaster, NASA has equipped crews with tile repair kits. Depending on the extent of the damage, astronauts can slap on protective paint, screw on a shielding panel, or squirt in filler goo.If Endeavour had to make an emergency landing right now, NASA still would take the chance based on all the risks, Shannon said.Astronauts completed the mission's first spacewalk on Saturday, installing a new addition to the orbiting outpost. At least two more spacewalks are planned.NASA hopes to keep Endeavour at the space station for at least seven days and quite possibly a record 10 days as a result of the new system for drawing power from the station. Mission managers are expected to approve the extra docked days on Sunday.___On the Net:NASA: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov___AP Aerospace Writer Marcia Dunn contributed to this report from Cape Canaveral, Fla.

NASA to look closer at gouge on shuttle - Yahoo! News

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Meteor shower to peak tonight | Seattle Times Newspaper

Meteor shower to peak tonightBy Julie Sevrens LyonsSan Jose Mercury NewsSAN JOSE, Calif. — Looking for some dirt-cheap entertainment tonight? Look up in the sky.The annual Perseids meteor shower is caused by flying dirt, tiny meteors that will hit Earth's atmosphere at high speed and then leave streaks as they burn up.Some folks call them meteor showers. Others call them shooting stars. But astronomy experts agree that this weekend's show should be extra special because there will be little or no moonlight to wash out the display.The Perseids always peak in mid-August but are visible for several days. This year, the optimal viewing hours will be late tonight and early Monday, when there's a new moon or no moon.The Perseids should also be visible Monday night, although the shooting stars won't be as abundant.The minimeteors, most no larger than a human fingernail, are fragments of dirt left behind by an old comet, Swift-Tuttle, as it came close to the sun during numerous orbits.No telescope is needed, just the naked eye, to see the sparkling procession known in some parts of Europe as the Tears of St. Lawrence.Comets were formed at the beginning of the solar system, during the formation of the sun and Earth and other planets."This dirt has been frozen inside this chunk of cosmic ice for 5 billion years," said Andrew Fraknoi, chair of the astronomy program at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills, Calif. And when it hits our atmosphere at speeds of 31 miles per second and burns up, "you're seeing one of the original particles of the solar system burning."Astronomers estimate up to 60 meteors an hour could flit across the sky at the shower's peak.This year's sky show comes with bonus: Mars will be visible as a bright red dot in the northeastern sky. "We have front-row seats this year," said Kelly Beatty, executive editor of Sky & Telescope magazine.Material from The Associated Press and South Florida Sun-Sentinel is included in this report.

Nation & World | Meteor shower to peak tonight | Seattle Times Newspaper

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