Scientist Related to Killers Learns He Has a Psychopath's Brain

<div class="yog-col yog-5u"><div class="rapid-nf yom-mod yom-art-related yom-art-related-modal yom-art-related-carousel" id="mediaarticlerelatedcarousel"><div class="bd"><ul><li class="photo first last"><a class="media" href="http://gma.yahoo.com/photos/scientist-related-killers-learns-psychopaths-brain-photo-125135790--abc-news-health.html"><img alt="Scientist Related to Killers Learns He Has a Psychopath's Brain (ABC News)" class="" height="360" src="http://l3.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/e_KjKxrcxmlVCjmDv9P_2A--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Y2g9NTU4O2NyPTE7Y3c9OTkyO2R4PTA7ZHk9MDtmaT11bGNyb3A7aD0xMDc7cT04NTt3PTE5MA--/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/gma/us.abcnews.gma.com/HT_scientist_psychopath_2_jtm_131126.jpg_16x9_992.jpg" title="Scientist Related to Killers Learns He Has a Psychopath's Brain (ABC News)" width="640" /></a></li></ul></div></div></div><div class="first" id="yui_3_9_1_20_1385898022487_157"><a href="http://www.faculty.uci.edu/profile.cfm?faculty_id=2303" target="external">James Fallon</a> admits he has a lot in common with <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1385815897628_4">serial killer Ted Bundy</span> and Columbine assassin <a href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/keeping-kids-safe/200905/columbine-bullying-and-the-mind-eric-harris" target="external">Eric Harris.</a> He is aggressive, lacks empathy and is a risk-taker. </div><div id="yui_3_9_1_20_1385898022487_146">Fallon, a professor of psychiatry and human behavior at the <span class="yshortcuts cs4-visible" id="lw_1385815897628_1">University of California Irvine</span>, accidentally discovered what <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1385815897628_5">friends and family</span> have suspected for years -- he has all the genetic traits and <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1385815897628_7">brain scan</span> patterns of a <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1385815897628_2">psychopath</span>. </div>"When somebody gets mad at me, I never show it -- they can't read it on my face," Fallon, 66, told ABCNews.com. "I never get even immediately, but four years down the road, I get them with revenge." <br />"I don't have special emotional bonds with those who are close to me -- I treat everyone the same," he said. "I am involved in a lot of charities and good works, and my intentions are good for the world. But I don't have the sense of romance or love I am supposed to have for my wife. It's not there." <br /><div id="yui_3_9_1_20_1385898022487_163">But Fallon is not a mass murderer and in his new book, "<span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1385815897628_8">The Psychopath</span> Inside: A Neuroscientist's Personal Journey Into the Dark Side of the Brain," he tries to understand why. </div><br />For years Fallon has worked with criminologists and other legal experts to evaluate the brain for abnormalities. But while volunteering with his own family for a study of Alzheimer's disease, Fallon learned on his PET scan that he has all the features of a psychopath. <br />"The last scan in the pile was strikingly odd," he writes about the 2005 discovery. "In fact it looked exactly like the most abnormal of the scans I had just been writing about, suggesting that the poor individual it belonged to was a psychopath -- or at least shared an uncomfortable amount of traits with one. ... When I found out who the scan belonged to, I had to believe there was a mistake. ... But there had been no mistake. The scan was mine." <br />Fallon, who has three children and five grandchildren, analyzes why he is a law-abiding, though impulse-driven, citizen, and yet other psychopaths with the same genetic predisposition, go on to kill. <br /><div id="yui_3_9_1_20_1385898022487_160">Two of his distant relatives were notorious: One, <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1385815897628_6">Lizzie Borden</span>, was acquitted of murdering her father and stepmother with a hatchet in 1892. Another, Thomas Cornell, was the first in the American colonies hanged for killing his mother in 1672. </div>Fallon said he escaped the same fate because of the interplay between nature and nurture. He was raised in a loving family. Still, he had some other telltale signs, such as panic attacks, obsessive-compulsive tendencies and social anxieties. <br />"Looking at my genetics, I had lethal combination, but I just had the happiest childhood growing up," he said. Fallon's mother had four miscarriages before his birth and, as a result, he said he was, "treated well because they didn't think I would be born." <br />"There were dark periods I went through, but they didn't bring me to a psychiatrist, but they told my sisters and teachers to watch out for me," he said. "My mother instinctively knew there was a problem." <br />Conscience and a sense of morality and impulse control lie in the limbic system and in the orbital cortex in the brain, according to Fallon. <br />"They connect and inhibit each other not unlike the super-ego controlling the id," he said. "It's the interface between the intellectual mind and the emotions attending to them." <br />Fallon's brain scans show low activity in both regions of the brain. <br />"No behavior is really evil or bad -- it's all contextual," he said. "There is a time for sex and a time for killing, when someone attacks the family. But it's done in context. The orbital cortex adjudicates the idea of morality and interacts with the amygdala's drive to eat, drink and screw. There would be mayhem if it didn't exist." <br />As a neuroscientist, Fallon said he always believed humans were ruled solely by their genes and not their environment in the nature versus nurture debate. <br />"I never took it seriously," he said. "I was the poster boy for genes causing everything. But I had to eat crow and say I was wrong." <br /><div id="yui_3_9_1_20_1385898022487_165">His personal story was the subject of a TED talk that went viral on YouTube in 2007 and he even had a guest role on the television show, "<span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1385815897628_9">Criminal Minds</span>." Fallon was contacted by literary agents last year to write a book about his experience. </div>He blames abuse in the first three years of life, combined with biological features that turn off serotonin in the brain, leading to psychopathic violence. <br />"It's a loaded gun," he said, but not necessarily a "death sentence." <br />Fallon suggests that a child born with biological tendencies to be a psychopath can be pushed over the edge by early abuse and by bullies. <br /><div id="yui_3_9_1_20_1385898022487_155">Northeastern University criminologist <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1385815897628_3">Jack Levin</span> agrees environmental influences determine whether a psychopath will go on to be violent, but discredits Fallon's theory </div>The author of a book about mass murderers, "Extreme Killing," Levin said most serial killers are in their 30s and 40s. <br />"You can determine the biological roots of psychopathy, including the lack of empathy and remorse and manipulative disposition, but the problem is, that does not necessarily translate into violent behavior," he told ABCNews.com. "There are literally millions of psychopaths." <br />The American Psychological Association claims that as many as 3 percent of all Americans have antisocial personalities, according to Levin, "meaning they are crafty and shrewd and masters at presentation of self." <br />"They might sell you a bad used car, or might be womanizers or pathological liars or cheaters, but that doesn't mean they will kill anyone," he said. "Not unless you become an obstacle to their success -- and then you better watch out." <br />All serial killers seem to share a "feeling of profound powerlessness," said Levin. <br />One of the earliest signs can be animal cruelty. "If you see a 6-year-old who sadistically abuses a dog or cat that is the family pet in an up-close and personal way, in order to maximize the suffering of the animal, clearly that's a red flag and you have a problem on your hands." <br />Levin suggests that psychopathic killers have difficulty transitioning from adolescence into adulthood. <br />"If the triggers occurred in early childhood, they would start killing people when they were 9 or 12," he said. "There is some environmental factor beyond how they were raised." <br />"It's impossible to predict [who will be a killer] under the Fallon model," said Levin. "A lot of people have the symptoms, but don't get the disease. They have been brutalized under terrible circumstances, been sexually stimulated by their parents and yet grow up to be healthy, decent people." <br />Fallon said his bad biology didn't stop his professional success, even if has taken a personal toll. Throughout life, he said he has had a larger-than-life personality that attracts people, but puts those he loves at risk. <br />"I wouldn't want to marry me," he said. "I am a pain in the ass and competitive. I can be so manipulative and I am always on the make, but I am not going to kill anyone or rape anyone."

Scientist Related to Killers Learns He Has a Psychopath's Brain

James Fallon admits he has a lot in common with serial killer Ted Bundy and Columbine assassin Eric Harris. He is aggressive, lacks empat...

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Reports: Driver in car crash that killed Paul Walker drove in the Pirelli World Challenge

<em id="yui_3_9_1_1_1385898022100_1036"></em><br /><figure class="cover get-lbdata-from-dom go-to-slideshow-lightbox" data-orig-index="0" id="yui_3_9_1_1_1385898022100_325"><em id="yui_3_9_1_1_1385898022100_1036"><img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-14074 " data-preembed="image" height="378" src="http://l3.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/oq3ZWh536CcEMQ_cJtRv.g--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7cT04NTt3PTYzMA--/http://media.zenfs.com/en/blogs/sptusnascarmarbles/148268_471490259723_2465716_n.jpg" title="From left to right: Jeff Westphal, Paul Walker, Roger Rodas and Carl Rydquist. (Always Evolving Facebook)" width="630" /></em></figure><div class="legend"><em id="yui_3_9_1_1_1385898022100_1036">From left to right: Jeff Westphal, Paul Walker, Roger Rodas and Carl Rydquist. (Always Evolving Facebook)</em></div><br /><em>Fast and the Furious</em> actor Paul Walker was killed in a car crash on Saturday and, <a data-rapid_p="13" href="http://movies.yahoo.com/blogs/movie-news/paul-walker-fast-furious-star-reportedly-dead-40-025930737.html">according to reports</a>, the driver of the car was Roger Rodas, who has driven in the Pirelli World Challenge.<br />Rodas and Walker were Porsche enthusiasts and owned a race team together. The Porsche Carrera GT they were in crashed after they drove the car from a charity event. Authorities said that when they arrived, the car was engulfed in flames.<br />“Him and his buddy, his brother in arms at heart, just decided to joyride, take a spin," Antonio Holmes, a friend of Walker's who was at the event, told the <a data-rapid_p="14" href="http://www.signalscv.com/m/section/36/article/109902/" id="yui_3_9_1_1_1385881239639_662">Santa Clarita Valley Signal</a>. "Something we all do. We're all car enthusiasts. ... We’re all here driving, enjoying each other, and God must’ve needed help."<br />The PWC is sanctioned by the Sports Car Club of America, and Rodas drove in the GTS Series this season. He finished second in the Porsche Drivers Cup Series last year with two wins for Always Evolving, the team that he and Walker started. <a data-rapid_p="15" href="http://www.world-challenge.com/drivers/bio.php?name=Roger%20Rodas">Per his bio on the PWC site</a>, Rodas was a wealth adviser for Merrill Lynch.

Reports: Driver in car crash that killed Paul Walker drove in the Pirelli World Challenge

From left to right: Jeff Westphal, Paul Walker, Roger Rodas and Carl Rydquist. (Always Evolving Facebook) Fast and the Furious actor Paul W...

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Thanksgiving takes more Black Friday sales

<div class="cover-wrap" id="yui_3_9_1_1_1385897213112_1204"> <div class="" id="yui_3_9_1_1_1385897213112_1203"> <div class="img-wrap" id="yui_3_9_1_1_1385897213112_1202"> <figure class=" cover cover-video " data-id="ffa51753-5ebe-385e-bb4e-224ff77f189b" id="yui_3_9_1_1_1385897213112_1201"> <div class="img-wrap-16x9"> <img alt="" height="421px" src="http://l3.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/HkfnNLdHMN2xVXYFYX12uQ--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTQyMTtweG9mZj01MDtweW9mZj0wO3E9NzU7dz03NDk-/http://media.zenfs.com/en-US/video/video.associatedpressfree.com/be2464484a2b2a40b498684b5b40bd4e" width="749px" /> </div><div class="cta-overlay"><span class="icon-play icon-white-play">.</span><div class="cta-text large">Black Friday Deals Draw Shoppers</div></div></figure> </div></div></div><div class="yom-ad yom-ad-LREC" id="yom-ad-LREC" style="visibility: inherit;"><center></center></div>Thanksgiving Day is no longer all about turkey: It's eating away at Black Friday shopping.<br /><div class="body-slot-mod"><div class="yom-remote"><div class="" id="mediacontentrelatedstory_container"> <section class="yom-mod " data-ylk="mid:mediacontentrelatedstory;mpos:1;elm:hdln;elmt:ct;cat:Related Stories;rspns:nav;t1:a3;itc:0;sec:lst-ct;" id="mediacontentrelatedstory"> <div class="yom-related-story-module story"> <div class="hd"> <h2>Related Stories</h2></div><div class="bd"> <div class="latest-content-inline"> <ul><li class="list-item story" data-uuid="4f2533fd-503d-35bd-a8c8-a93621d1bc2c"> <a data-rapid_p="1" data-ylk="itc:0;tar:online.wsj.com;ct:1;sec:lst-ct;cpos:1;test:;g:4f2533fd-503d-35bd-a8c8-a93621d1bc2c;pkgt:2;prov:The Wall Street Journal;" href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304017204579230801763930942.html?ru=yahoo&mod=yahoo_hs"> Thanksgiving, Black Friday Sales Up 2.3%</a> <span class="source">The Wall Street Journal</span> </li><li class="list-item story" data-uuid="439e21df-f0a6-344d-83ad-3f0724d334f0"> <a data-rapid_p="2" data-ylk="itc:0;tar:news.yahoo.com;ct:1;sec:lst-ct;cpos:2;test:;g:439e21df-f0a6-344d-83ad-3f0724d334f0;pkgt:2;prov:Associated Press;" href="http://news.yahoo.com/americans-kick-off-first-holiday-shopping-weekend-051437101.html">Americans kick off first holiday shopping weekend</a> <span class="source">Associated Press</span> </li><li class="list-item story" data-uuid="8a6f7781-8d7a-33d3-9826-8b8b53fd2cf3"> <a data-rapid_p="3" data-ylk="itc:0;tar:news.yahoo.com;ct:1;sec:lst-ct;cpos:3;test:;g:8a6f7781-8d7a-33d3-9826-8b8b53fd2cf3;pkgt:2;prov:Associated Press;" href="http://news.yahoo.com/holiday-shopping-season-begins-thanksgiving-150613713--finance.html">Holiday shopping season begins on Thanksgiving</a> <span class="source">Associated Press</span> </li><li class="list-item story" data-uuid="5b5cabf9-91ef-3a43-8ae6-695c5ed6e66f"> <a data-rapid_p="4" data-ylk="itc:0;tar:news.yahoo.com;ct:1;sec:lst-ct;cpos:4;test:;g:5b5cabf9-91ef-3a43-8ae6-695c5ed6e66f;pkgt:2;prov:Associated Press;" href="http://news.yahoo.com/americans-kick-off-2-day-holiday-shopping-marathon-101944470--finance.html">Americans kick off 2-day holiday shopping marathon</a> <span class="source">Associated Press</span> </li><li class="list-item story" data-uuid="e8d2dc79-afda-3a59-bb96-61e80e791663"> <a data-rapid_p="5" data-ylk="itc:0;tar:news.yahoo.com;ct:1;sec:lst-ct;cpos:5;test:;g:e8d2dc79-afda-3a59-bb96-61e80e791663;pkgt:2;prov:U.S.News & World Report LP;" href="http://news.yahoo.com/whos-blame-years-early-black-friday-204719481.html">Who's to Blame for This Year's Early Black Friday?</a> <span class="source">U.S.News & World Report LP</span> </li></ul></div></div></div></section> </div></div></div>U.S. shoppers spent $9.74 billion on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. That's a drop of 13.2 percent compared with last year, according to data released on Saturday by research firm ShopperTrak.<br />The decline appears to show that more Americans shopped on the holiday itself: Combined spending on Thanksgiving and Black Friday, which had been considered the official start to the holiday buying season until this year, rose 2.3 percent to $12.3 billion.<br />The data reflects that Thanksgiving, which along with Christmas was one of two days a year that most stores were closed, is becoming an important day for major retailers.<br />Black Friday is a time when big retailers open early and offer deep discounts, but a few started opening and offering those discounts on Thanksgiving a couple years ago. And this year, at least a dozen did so, with a few opening earlier in the holiday than they did last year.<br />The National Retail Federation, a retail trade group, predicted that 33 million, or almost a quarter, of the 140 million people who planned to shop during the four-day holiday weekend that ends on Sunday, would do so on Thanksgiving. Analysts had questioned whether the holiday openings would steal sales away from Black Friday or result in people spending more overall.<br /><div class="body-related "><a class="body-related-link body-related-image landscape get-lbdata-from-dom onesize go-to-slideshow-lightbox rapid-noclick-resp" data-rapid_p="12" data-type="image" data-uuid="3341ce22-4543-32d5-8244-c62ee2c0a79d" href="http://news.yahoo.com/photos/president-barack-obama-daughters-sasha-center-malia-pays-photo-235207640--finance.html" title="President Barack Obama, with daughters Sasha, center, …"><div class="img-wrap"><div class="cta-overlay"><span class="clearfix title cta-text medium"></span><span class="cta-text xsmall">View gallery</span><span class="icon-slideshow icon-white-slideshow-xsmall">."</span></div><img alt="President Barack Obama, with daughters Sasha, center, …" class="body-related-thumb" height="204px" src="http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/Q2XiNz17erM4WU8TbxHAcg--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTIwNDtxPTc1O3c9MzAw/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/7505b90c54a99c28440f6a7067005bbd.jpg" title="" width="300px" /></div></a><div class="body-related-title photo-caption" style="width: 300px;">President Barack Obama, with daughters Sasha, center, and Malia, pays for his purchase the the local …</div></div>"Retailers were pretty successful in drawing the consumers into the stores on Thursday," said ShopperTrak founder Bill Martin, whose company counts how many shoppers go into about 40,000 stores in U.S. But "Thursday's sales came at the expense of Black Friday's numbers."<br />The decline in sales on Black Friday was the second one in a row. Last year, sales on that day dropped 1.8 percent to $11.2 billion, though it still was the biggest shopping day last year, according to ShopperTrak.<br />Despite the big drop this year, Shoppertrak's Martin said he thinks Black Friday will remain the biggest shopping day of the year for the 10th consecutive year. But if retailers continue to promote Thanksgiving as the start of the holiday buying season, he thinks the holiday will eventually surpass Black Friday in sales.<br />"We're just taking Black Friday sales and spreading them across a larger number of days," Martin said.<br />There will be a clearer picture of sales for the first holiday shopping weekend on Sunday when The National Retail Federation releases data.<br />Overall, the retail trade group expects sales to be up 3.9 percent to $602 billion for the season, which encompasses the last two months of the year. That's higher than last year's 3.5 percent growth, but below the 6 percent pace seen before the recession.<br />Some retailers said the holiday shopping season is off to a good start. Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, said it sold 2 million TVs and 1.4 million tablets on the Thanksgiving, while Macy's said 15,000 people showed up to the 8 p.m. opening of its flagship New York City store on the holiday.<br />Edwin Molina, 30, a New Yorker who works in construction, waited with his wife in line for an hour at a Best Buy that opened at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving. He said he likes the holiday openings. "It was better, less hectic," he said.<br />But not everyone liked the earlier start to the shopping season. Workers' rights groups and some shoppers led small protests to decry the way some store employees had to miss holiday meals at home.<br />And as his wife shopped in a mall near Atlanta on Black Friday, Curtis Akins, 51, sat on a bench, lamenting the holiday openings.<br />"It's taking away from the traditional Thanksgiving," Akins said.

Thanksgiving takes more Black Friday sales

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Yahoo Homes of the Week: Mega-mansions

<div class="yom-figure yom-fig-middle" id="yui_3_9_1_1_1385897204330_886" style="width: 740px;"><img alt="" class="editorial" data-mce-src="http://l.yimg.com/os/publish-images/homes/2013-11-26/42aa8ea1-b332-4c04-91d3-4b9079bd1422_0-Cover-Image.jpg" src="http://l1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/4YqCo.MvRZKX2oZxHv3lYw--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7cT04NTt3PTc0MA--/http://l.yimg.com/os/publish-images/homes/2013-11-26/42aa8ea1-b332-4c04-91d3-4b9079bd1422_0-Cover-Image.jpg" width="740" /></div>Welcome to Yahoo Homes of the Week, powered by <span class="yshortcuts cs4-visible" id="lw_1385510803890_4">Zillow</span>. This week, we're looking at how much it costs to live in a roughly 20,000-square-foot home in different parts of the country. From movie theaters to wine cellars and motor courts, these mansions have it all, but prices can vary greatly from one city to the next. <a data-mce-href="http://bit.ly/17vJJYn" data-rapid_p="9" href="http://bit.ly/17vJJYn" target="_blank">See Zillow Blog for even more mega-mansions currently on the market</a>.<br /> <br /><strong>Other recent Homes of the Week:</strong><br /> <br /> • <a data-mce-href="http://yhoo.it/1caHklC" data-rapid_p="10" href="http://yhoo.it/1caHklC" target="_blank">Futuristic homes fit for 'Hunger Games'</a> <br /> • <a data-mce-href="http://yhoo.it/18BfMDk" data-rapid_p="11" href="http://yhoo.it/18BfMDk" target="_blank">Architectural masterpieces</a><br /> • <a data-mce-href="http://yhoo.it/195OIeB%20" data-rapid_p="12" href="http://yhoo.it/195OIeB%20" target="_blank">Cost to live in median-sized U.S. homes</a><br /> • <a data-mce-href="http://yhoo.it/17xXzfp" data-rapid_p="13" href="http://yhoo.it/17xXzfp" target="_blank">Unique and unusual homes for sale</a><br /><hr /><div class="yom-figure yom-fig-middle" id="yui_3_9_1_1_1385897204330_885" style="width: 740px;"><img alt="" class="editorial" data-mce-src="http://l.yimg.com/os/publish-images/homes/2013-11-26/7336f438-1ac6-4d5a-8835-004a6826e743_1-Franklin-VA.jpg" src="http://l1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/chlQxwSiy3_kRFsI0n4rpQ--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7cT04NTt3PTc0MA--/http://l.yimg.com/os/publish-images/homes/2013-11-26/7336f438-1ac6-4d5a-8835-004a6826e743_1-Franklin-VA.jpg" width="740" /></div><a data-mce-href="http://yhoo.it/1b2G29w" data-rapid_p="14" href="http://yhoo.it/1b2G29w" target="_blank">Franklin, VA</a><br /> <a data-mce-href="http://yhoo.it/1b2FRLB" data-rapid_p="15" href="http://yhoo.it/1b2FRLB" target="_blank">31157 Walters Hwy, Franklin, VA</a><br /> For sale: $1.5 million<br /> <br /> This 11-bedroom, 13-bath gated home is located an hour west of Norfolk, VA. For $1.5 million, the buyer will receive 18,579 square feet of living space with a private elevator.<br /> <br /> <strong id="yui_3_9_1_8_1385897204330_345"><a data-mce-href="http://yhoo.it/1b2FRLB" data-rapid_p="16" href="http://yhoo.it/1b2FRLB" target="_blank">Click here to go to the listing</a> with more <span class="yshortcuts cs4-ndcor" id="lw_1385510803890_15">photos</span> and details. And <a data-mce-href="http://yhoo.it/1b2G29w" data-rapid_p="17" href="http://yhoo.it/1b2G29w" target="_blank">click here to see all Franklin listings</a></strong>.<hr /><br /> <br /><div class="yom-figure yom-fig-middle" id="yui_3_9_1_1_1385897204330_882" style="width: 740px;"><img alt="" class="editorial" data-mce-src="http://l.yimg.com/os/publish-images/homes/2013-11-26/d5ce7cf8-0cfb-42de-b5a8-c2647a652d3c_2-Slinger-WI.jpg" src="http://l1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/CQ1fRLDcd88Iy707Gt.eDA--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7cT04NTt3PTc0MA--/http://l.yimg.com/os/publish-images/homes/2013-11-26/d5ce7cf8-0cfb-42de-b5a8-c2647a652d3c_2-Slinger-WI.jpg" width="740" /></div><br /> <a data-mce-href="http://yhoo.it/1c5DxrF" data-rapid_p="18" href="http://yhoo.it/1c5DxrF" target="_blank">Slinger, WI</a><br /> <a data-mce-href="http://yhoo.it/1c5DAnt" data-rapid_p="19" href="http://yhoo.it/1c5DAnt" target="_blank">4509 Arthur Rd, Slinger, WI</a><br /> For sale: $3.65 million<br /> <br /> In the Midwest, you can buy a home the size of a professional hockey rink for less than $4 million. This property features a state-of-the-art movie theater, library, wine cellar and virtual driving range.<br /> <br /> <strong><a data-mce-href="http://yhoo.it/1c5DAnt" data-rapid_p="20" href="http://yhoo.it/1c5DAnt" target="_blank">Click here to go to the listing</a> with more photos and details. And <a data-mce-href="http://yhoo.it/1c5DxrF" data-rapid_p="21" href="http://yhoo.it/1c5DxrF" target="_blank">click here to see all Slinger listings</a></strong>.<hr /><br /> <br /><div class="yom-figure yom-fig-middle" id="yui_3_9_1_1_1385897204330_880" style="width: 740px;"><img alt="" class="editorial" data-mce-src="http://l.yimg.com/os/publish-images/homes/2013-11-26/021d2176-6b85-4020-a81f-0ca2ba92a511_3-Flower-Mound-TX.jpg" src="http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/OTALTfnwyRBZq2amEdwQ3Q--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7cT04NTt3PTc0MA--/http://l.yimg.com/os/publish-images/homes/2013-11-26/021d2176-6b85-4020-a81f-0ca2ba92a511_3-Flower-Mound-TX.jpg" width="740" /></div><br /> <a data-mce-href="http://yhoo.it/1c5DM64" data-rapid_p="22" href="http://yhoo.it/1c5DM64" target="_blank">Flower Mound, TX</a><br /> <a data-mce-href="http://yhoo.it/1c5DKLv" data-rapid_p="23" href="http://yhoo.it/1c5DKLv" target="_blank">1808 Point De Vue Dr, Flower Mound, TX</a><br /> For sale: $9.995 million<br /> <br /> With a long driveway illuminated by a glowing fountain, this estate screams luxury before you enter the front door. Priced just under $10 million, the 10.4-acre grounds include a 6-bedroom main residence, a  guesthouse with 3 additional bedrooms and a 2-bedroom carriage house.<br /> <br /> <strong><a data-mce-href="http://yhoo.it/1c5DKLv" data-rapid_p="24" href="http://yhoo.it/1c5DKLv" target="_blank">Click here to go to the listing</a> with more photos and details. And <a data-mce-href="http://yhoo.it/1c5DM64" data-rapid_p="25" href="http://yhoo.it/1c5DM64" target="_blank">click here to see all Flower Mound listings</a></strong>.<hr /><br /> <br /><div class="yom-figure yom-fig-middle" id="yui_3_9_1_1_1385897204330_879" style="width: 740px;"><img alt="" class="editorial" data-mce-src="http://l.yimg.com/os/publish-images/homes/2013-11-26/41bd5fa4-7b36-47ea-9639-5f3c4e8a04df_4-Jackson-WY.jpg" src="http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/p1foB7sU5lZ1rvoecOGskQ--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7cT04NTt3PTc0MA--/http://l.yimg.com/os/publish-images/homes/2013-11-26/41bd5fa4-7b36-47ea-9639-5f3c4e8a04df_4-Jackson-WY.jpg" width="740" /></div><br /> <a data-mce-href="http://yhoo.it/1b2DZlS" data-rapid_p="26" href="http://yhoo.it/1b2DZlS" target="_blank">Jackson, WY</a><br /> <a data-mce-href="http://yhoo.it/1b2E5da" data-rapid_p="27" href="http://yhoo.it/1b2E5da" target="_blank">8910 N Deland Dr, Jackson, WY<br /> </a>For sale: $13.9 million<br /> <br /> This Jackson, WY home had a recent $2 million price cut, bringing the ask down to $13.9 million. The home feels like a rustic log cabin but with several modern amenities including a media room, wine cellar and outdoor fireplace.<br /> <br /> <strong><a data-mce-href="http://yhoo.it/1b2E5da" data-rapid_p="28" href="http://yhoo.it/1b2E5da" target="_blank">Click here to go to the listing</a> with more photos and details. And <a data-mce-href="http://yhoo.it/1b2DZlS" data-rapid_p="29" href="http://yhoo.it/1b2DZlS" target="_blank">click here to see all Jackson listings</a></strong>.<hr /><br /> <br /><div class="yom-figure yom-fig-middle" id="yui_3_9_1_1_1385897204330_878" style="width: 740px;"><img alt="" class="editorial" data-mce-src="http://l.yimg.com/os/publish-images/homes/2013-11-26/f0abbe2c-9d07-49af-a0cb-cc06917881fd_5-Miami-FL.jpg" src="http://l3.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/xtyC85zAO6WjDanvmffcQA--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7cT04NTt3PTc0MA--/http://l.yimg.com/os/publish-images/homes/2013-11-26/f0abbe2c-9d07-49af-a0cb-cc06917881fd_5-Miami-FL.jpg" width="740" /></div><br /> <a data-mce-href="http://yhoo.it/1b2Ecpa" data-rapid_p="30" href="http://yhoo.it/1b2Ecpa" target="_blank">Miami, FL</a><br /> <a data-mce-href="http://yhoo.it/1b2EkFb" data-rapid_p="31" href="http://yhoo.it/1b2EkFb" target="_blank">4 Tahiti Beach Island Rd, Miami, FL</a><br /> For sale: $25 million<br /> <br /> With a resort-style infinity pool and white sandy beach, you can bring the vacation lifestyle home for $25 million in <span class="yshortcuts cs4-ndcor" id="lw_1385510803890_24">Miami</span>. The tri-level estate also features a private elevator, soaking tub and sleek movie theater.<br /> <br /> <strong><a data-mce-href="http://yhoo.it/1b2EkFb" data-rapid_p="32" href="http://yhoo.it/1b2EkFb" target="_blank">Click here to go to the listing</a> with more photos and details. And <a data-mce-href="http://yhoo.it/1b2Ecpa" data-rapid_p="33" href="http://yhoo.it/1b2Ecpa" target="_blank">click here to see all Miami listings</a></strong>.<hr /><br /> <br /><div class="yom-figure yom-fig-middle" id="yui_3_9_1_1_1385897204330_877" style="width: 740px;"><img alt="" class="editorial" data-mce-src="http://l.yimg.com/os/publish-images/homes/2013-11-26/80fcca1c-b0ed-41d6-8af7-ac966e185ad8_6-Laguna-Beach-CA.jpg" src="http://l3.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/axFBoMSdgN2XSPrddkXXmw--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7cT04NTt3PTc0MA--/http://l.yimg.com/os/publish-images/homes/2013-11-26/80fcca1c-b0ed-41d6-8af7-ac966e185ad8_6-Laguna-Beach-CA.jpg" width="740" /></div><br /> <a data-mce-href="http://yhoo.it/1b2Eso4" data-rapid_p="34" href="http://yhoo.it/1b2Eso4" target="_blank">Laguna Beach, CA</a><br /> <a data-mce-href="http://yhoo.it/1b2EGvn" data-rapid_p="35" href="http://yhoo.it/1b2EGvn" target="_blank">2585 Riviera Dr, Laguna Beach, CA</a><br /> For sale: $65 million<br /> <br /> A 24,000-square-foot, oceanfront estate in Laguna Beach, CA is on the pricey end of the spectrum. For $65 million, the mansion has 5 bedrooms, 8 bathrooms, a wine cellar and tasting room as well as a bar and poolside cabana.

Yahoo Homes of the Week: Mega-mansions

Welcome to Yahoo Homes of the Week, powered by Zillow . This week, we're looking at how much it costs to live in a roughly 20,000-squa...

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Thai protesters step up action, PM forced to leave building

About 30,000 protesters launched a "people's coup" on Thailand's government on Sunday, swarming multiple state agencies in violent clashes, taking control of a broadcaster and forcing the prime minister to flee a police compound.<br /> Police fired teargas on protesters who hurled stones and petrol bombs in demonstrations that paralyzed parts of Bangkok and followed a night of gun and knife battles in which two people were killed and at least 54 wounded.<br /> A group of protesters forced Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to evacuate to an undisclosed location from a building where she had planned to give media interviews, while hundreds seized control of state broadcaster Thai PBS, waving flags and tooting whistles.<br /> Declaring Sunday "V-Day" in a week-long bid to topple Yingluck and end her family's more than decade-long influence over Thai politics, protest leaders urged supporters to seize 10 government offices, six television stations, police headquarters and the prime minister's offices in what they are calling a "people's coup".<br /> Police said the protesters had gathered in at least eight locations. In at least three of them, police used teargas and water canons.<br /><div class="body-related "><a class="body-related-link body-related-image landscape get-lbdata-from-dom onesize go-to-slideshow-lightbox rapid-noclick-resp" data-rapid_p="12" data-type="image" data-uuid="2572a96f-99c3-3983-a4ad-df441880ba21" href="http://news.yahoo.com/photos/anti-government-protester-throws-back-teargas-canister-during-photo-105416747.html" title="An anti-government protester throws back a teargas …"><div class="img-wrap"><div class="cta-overlay"><span class="clearfix title cta-text medium"></span><span class="cta-text xsmall">View gallery</span><span class="icon-slideshow icon-white-slideshow-xsmall">."</span></div><img alt="An anti-government protester throws back a teargas …" class="body-related-thumb" height="200px" src="http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/o77TZa4FPRipVbqnWAdS3w--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTIwMDtxPTc1O3c9MzAw/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/Reuters/2013-12-01T105416Z_1_CBRE9B00UAJ00_RTROPTP_2_THAILAND-PROTEST.JPG" title="" width="300px" /></div></a><div class="body-related-title photo-caption" style="width: 300px;">An anti-government protester throws back a teargas canister during clashes with police near governme …</div></div>National police spokesman Piya Utayo said troops were being sent to a government complex occupied by protesters since Thursday and the Finance Ministry, occupied since Monday. "We have sent forces to these places to take back government property," he said on national television.<br /> It is the latest dramatic turn in a conflict pitting Bangkok's urban middle class and royalist elite against the mostly rural poor supporters of Yingluck and her billionaire brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, a former prime minister ousted in a 2006 military coup.<br /> Reuters journalists waiting to interview Yingluck inside the police Narcotics Suppression Bureau were told by Natthriya Thaweevong, an aide for the prime minister, that she had left after protesters made it inside the outer part of the compound, the Police Sports Club, where the bureau is located.<br /> In the early afternoon, protesters massed in front of a police barricade outside Wat Benjamabhopit, also known as the Marble Temple. Police fired teargas as some protesters tried to heave aside the heavy concrete barriers.<br /> The deep detonation of stun grenades, followed by the jeers of protesters, echoed across the historic quarter.<br /><div class="body-related "><a class="body-related-link body-related-image landscape get-lbdata-from-dom onesize go-to-slideshow-lightbox rapid-noclick-resp" data-rapid_p="13" data-type="image" data-uuid="d32a1ee9-bcef-3100-85c8-19b8118b218d" href="http://news.yahoo.com/photos/anti-government-protester-uses-plastic-bag-protect-herself-photo-105416234.html" title="An anti-government protester uses a plastic bag to …"><div class="img-wrap"><div class="cta-overlay"><span class="clearfix title cta-text medium"></span><span class="cta-text xsmall">View gallery</span><span class="icon-slideshow icon-white-slideshow-xsmall">."</span></div><img alt="An anti-government protester uses a plastic bag to …" class="body-related-thumb" height="200px" src="http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/g2Pt3hvDBms_9iJ8lXZTfg--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTIwMDtxPTc1O3c9MzAw/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/Reuters/2013-12-01T105416Z_1_CBRE9B00UAK00_RTROPTP_2_THAILAND-PROTESTS.JPG" title="" width="300px" /></div></a><div class="body-related-title photo-caption" style="width: 300px;">An anti-government protester uses a plastic bag to protect herself from tear gas as they attack Thai …</div></div>"I just want the people named Shinawatra to get on a plane and go somewhere - and please, don't come back to our country again," said Chatuporn Tirawongkusol, 33, whose family runs a Bangkok restaurant.<br /> PETROL BOMBS<br /> Outside the Metropolitan Police Bureau, about 3,000 protesters rallied, accusing riot-clad police of being manipulated by Thaksin, a former policeman who rose to become a telecommunications magnate before entering politics and winning back-to-back elections in 2001 and 2005.<br /> Chamai Maruchet Bridge, north of Government House, the prime minister's offices, was a scene of nearly non-sop skirmishes, as police repeatedly fired teargas into the stone-throwing crowd, Reuters witnesses said. Protesters gathered near barricades spray-painted with the words "Failed State".<br /> A Reuters photographer saw protesters hurl at least a dozen petrol bombs into police positions from a college campus across a canal from Government House.<br /><div class="body-related "><a class="body-related-link body-related-image landscape get-lbdata-from-dom onesize go-to-slideshow-lightbox rapid-noclick-resp" data-rapid_p="14" data-type="image" data-uuid="e7838b71-bb1c-3cfb-b499-9c412fd6b599" href="http://news.yahoo.com/photos/anti-government-protester-throws-molotov-cocktail-thai-riot-photo-105416339.html" title="An anti-government protester throws a molotov cocktail …"><div class="img-wrap"><div class="cta-overlay"><span class="clearfix title cta-text medium"></span><span class="cta-text xsmall">View gallery</span><span class="icon-slideshow icon-white-slideshow-xsmall">."</span></div><img alt="An anti-government protester throws a molotov cocktail …" class="body-related-thumb" height="198px" src="http://l3.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/P4jLW3gGcdp9DQGBD_fJgg--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTE5ODtxPTc1O3c9MzAw/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/Reuters/2013-12-01T105416Z_1_CBRE9B00UAL00_RTROPTP_2_THAILAND-PROTESTS.JPG" title="" width="300px" /></div></a><div class="body-related-title photo-caption" style="width: 300px;">An anti-government protester throws a molotov cocktail at Thai riot police as they attack Government …</div></div>In one of the most dramatic events, state broadcaster Thai PBS was taken over by protesters, according to PBS and police. More than 250 mostly black-shirted protesters gathered in the parking lot, as others streamed in.<br /> The executive producer at Thai PBS, Surachai Pannoi, told Reuters the management of the station would share its broadcast line with Blue Sky, a broadcaster controlled by the opposition Democrat Party, starting this afternoon.<br /> STREET BATTLES<br /> Yingluck, who won a 2011 election by a landslide to become Thailand's first female prime minister, has called for talks with the protesters, saying the economy was at risk after demonstrators occupied the Finance Ministry on Monday.<br /> Protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban, a deputy prime minister under the previous Democrat-led government that Yingluck's party routed 2011, has ignored her and told demonstrators that laws must be broken to achieve their goals.<br /><div class="body-related "><a class="body-related-link body-related-image landscape get-lbdata-from-dom onesize go-to-slideshow-lightbox rapid-noclick-resp" data-rapid_p="15" data-type="image" data-uuid="398f71cc-d8ca-37ef-b0c5-5fb6db663da7" href="http://news.yahoo.com/photos/anti-government-protesters-throw-rocks-thai-riot-police-photo-105416438.html" title="Anti-government protesters throw rocks at Thai riot …"><div class="img-wrap"><div class="cta-overlay"><span class="clearfix title cta-text medium"></span><span class="cta-text xsmall">View gallery</span><span class="icon-slideshow icon-white-slideshow-xsmall">."</span></div><img alt="Anti-government protesters throw rocks at Thai riot …" class="body-related-thumb" height="228px" src="http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/9OWuhyFbk6O3c2Htz48dQg--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTIyODtxPTc1O3c9MzAw/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/Reuters/2013-12-01T105416Z_1_CBRE9B00UAM00_RTROPTP_2_THAILAND-PROTESTS.JPG" title="" width="300px" /></div></a><div class="body-related-title photo-caption" style="width: 300px;">Anti-government protesters throw rocks at Thai riot police as they attack Government House in Bangko …</div></div>The Democrats, Thailand's oldest political party, have not won an election in more than two decades and have lost every national vote for the past 13 years to Thaksin or his allies.<br /> Suthep has called for a "people's council", which would select "good people" to lead, effectively suspending Thailand's democratic system. Yingluck has rejected that step as unconstitutional and has ruled out a snap election.<br /> Thailand faces its worst political crisis since April-May 2010, a period of unrest that ended with a military crackdown. In all, 91 people were killed then, mostly Thaksin's supporters trying to oust the then-Democrat government.<br /> Suthep faces murder charges for his alleged role in the ordering crackdown.<br /> Police tightened security after clashes on Saturday between supporters and opponents of Yingluck near a sports stadium where about 70,000 red-shirted government supporters had gathered. Five big shopping malls closed their doors in Bangkok, underscoring the economic impact of the protests.<br /><div class="body-related "><a class="body-related-link body-related-image landscape get-lbdata-from-dom onesize go-to-slideshow-lightbox rapid-noclick-resp" data-rapid_p="16" data-type="image" data-uuid="be550e1a-0ddd-32e9-87f2-45da886df0ac" href="http://news.yahoo.com/photos/anti-government-protesters-cover-throw-rocks-thai-riot-photo-105416767.html" title="Anti-government protesters take cover as they throw …"><div class="img-wrap"><div class="cta-overlay"><span class="clearfix title cta-text medium"></span><span class="cta-text xsmall">View gallery</span><span class="icon-slideshow icon-white-slideshow-xsmall">."</span></div><img alt="Anti-government protesters take cover as they throw …" class="body-related-thumb" height="210px" src="http://l1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/E5giv6xBM4FqaCoR3kWwsw--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTIxMDtxPTc1O3c9MzAw/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/Reuters/2013-12-01T105416Z_1_CBRE9B00UAN00_RTROPTP_2_THAILAND-PROTESTS.JPG" title="" width="300px" /></div></a><div class="body-related-title photo-caption" style="width: 300px;">Anti-government protesters take cover as they throw rocks at Thai riot police as they attack Governm …</div></div>One "red shirt" government supporter was shot and killed outside the stadium early on Sunday, after a 21-year-old student was fatally shot several hours earlier.<br /> A red-shirt leader, Jatuporn Promphan, said four red shirts had been killed but Reuters only confirmed one, 43-year-old Viroj Kemnak. Fifty-four people were wounded, according to the government's Erawan emergency center.<br /> Thousands of government supporters began to disperse, returning on buses to their homes in the north after their rally was called off in a bid to defuse tensions.<br /> Seventeen battalions of 150 soldiers each, along with 180 military police, all unarmed, were called in to boost security ahead of the demonstrators' Sunday deadline for ousting the government.<br /> Thaksin, who won over poor rural and urban voters with populist policies, was convicted of graft in 2008. He dismisses the charges as politically motivated and remains in close touch with the government from his self-imposed exile, sometimes holding meetings with Yingluck's cabinet by webcam.

Thai protesters step up action, PM forced to leave building

About 30,000 protesters launched a "people's coup" on Thailand's government on Sunday, swarming multiple state agencies i...

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How to Choose the Right Kitchen Floor

<div id="yui_3_9_1_9_1385897184858_346">You scoot chairs across them. Kids play on them. Family pets sprawl out on them. No doubt about it, <span class="yshortcuts cs4-ndcor" id="lw_1385831914028_20">kitchen floors</span> take a beating. That’s why it’s so important to do your research before selecting a new floor for this all-important room.</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_9_1385897184858_351"><span class="yshortcuts cs4-ndcor" id="lw_1385831914028_13">John Petrie</span>, president-elect of the <a data-mce-href="http://www.nkba.org/" data-rapid_p="8" href="http://www.nkba.org/" rel="nofollow">National Kitchen and Bath Association </a>and owner/designer of <a data-mce-href="http://www.mhcustom.com" data-rapid_p="9" href="http://www.mhcustom.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Mother Hubbard’s Custom Cabinetry</a> in Mechanicsburg, PA, encourages homeowners to think about how they want their new floor to look and function.</div>“It’s also really important to think about where the kitchen is in relationship to the rest of the house,” he says. “If it’s right off the garage or pool and it’s where kids are going to land with muddy boots and wet towels, you need to take that into consideration.”<br /><a data-mce-href="http://bit.ly/1b2ExrP" data-rapid_p="10" href="http://bit.ly/1b2ExrP"><span id="schemaorg"></span></a><br /><div class="yom-figure yom-fig-middle" id="yui_3_9_1_1_1385897184858_899" style="width: 740px;"><a data-mce-href="http://bit.ly/1b2ExrP" data-rapid_p="11" href="http://bit.ly/1b2ExrP" id="yui_3_9_1_1_1385897184858_898"><img alt="" class="editorial" data-mce-src="http://l.yimg.com/os/publish-images/homes/2013-11-26/90eaf726-0ade-4994-a27e-be230539204f_houlihan-lawrence.jpg" src="http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/DHXaGmUZTC3fDzoCNN5iEQ--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7cT04NTt3PTc0MA--/http://l.yimg.com/os/publish-images/homes/2013-11-26/90eaf726-0ade-4994-a27e-be230539204f_houlihan-lawrence.jpg" title="Tiles often come in multiple sizes." width="740" /><div class="legend">Tiles often come in multiple sizes.</div></a></div>All kitchen floors should be durable and easy to clean, but some households are tougher on their floors on a more frequent basis. A family with a 5-pound shih tzu dog, for instance, won’t be as hard on a floor as one with a 150-pound bullmastiff. Similarly, the floors in a household with many active children will likely take more of a beating than those in a kitchen belonging to a single senior.[<a data-mce-href="http://homes.yahoo.net/contractors/quote/flooring-installation/?kid=1O1IL&ywa=1" data-mce-style="color: #149d98;" data-rapid_p="12" href="http://homes.yahoo.net/contractors/quote/flooring-installation/?kid=1O1IL&ywa=1" style="color: #149d98;" target="_blank">Thinking about swapping your old kitchen floor with a new one? Click to find a contractor now.</a>]<br />Certified kitchen designers, says Petrie, will work with homeowners to refine flooring choices.<br />“I always start by asking a client, ‘What do you want?’ Then we work through dozens of questions to determine whether we can make that material work for them or if there’s a good alternative,” he says. “I don’t tell clients they can’t have a particular flooring, but it’s my job to help them find products that work both in terms of function and style.”<br />As you begin your floor covering research, here are some pros and cons to consider when it comes to some of the most popular products.<br /><h3>Ceramic tile</h3>Ceramic tile is a safe bet for nearly any style and budget. Options for color, size, shape and pattern are nearly limitless, so you can create the look that suits your tastes, whether you prefer country or contemporary.<br /><strong>Pros:</strong> Ceramic tile is an attractive, affordable, durable and easy-to-clean flooring choice.<br /><strong>Cons:</strong> It can be hard and unpleasant to stand on for long periods of time; cushioned mats can be used to offset that discomfort. Tile can crack as floors settle, and a glass dropped on it is almost sure to shatter. When wet, tile floors can be slippery. Also know that grout needs periodic sealing and special cleaning to keep stains at bay.<br /><div id="yui_3_9_1_9_1385897184858_353"><strong>Cost:</strong> $3 to $8 per <span class="yshortcuts cs4-ndcor" id="lw_1385831914028_18">square foot</span>, uninstalled.</div><h3>Porcelain tile</h3>Porcelain tile is a subtype of ceramic tile and comes in countless shapes, colors and styles.<br /><strong>Pros:</strong> Porcelain tile is created with color all the way through the tile, so damage is less likely to show. Manufacturers such as <a data-mce-href="http://www.emser.com" data-rapid_p="13" href="http://www.emser.com/" rel="nofollow">Emser</a>, <a data-mce-href="http://www.marazzitile.com" data-rapid_p="14" href="http://www.marazzitile.com/" rel="nofollow">Marazzi</a> and <a data-mce-href="http://www.anatoliatile.com" data-rapid_p="15" href="http://www.anatoliatile.com/" rel="nofollow">Anatolia</a> are increasingly using new high-definition printing techniques to create tiles that are replications of materials such as hardwood and natural stone. “The tile goes through 15 or 16 screenings, and the results are so realistic that you really have to get close up to see if it’s wood, marble or tile,” says Petrie.<br />[<a data-mce-href="http://homes.yahoo.net/contractors/quote/flooring-installation/?kid=1O1IL&ywa=1" data-mce-style="color: #149d98;" data-rapid_p="16" href="http://homes.yahoo.net/contractors/quote/flooring-installation/?kid=1O1IL&ywa=1" style="color: #149d98;" target="_blank">Time for a new kitchen floor? Click to find a contractor for the project now.</a>]<br /><strong>Cons:</strong> The tiles are even harder than ceramic, so standing on them for long periods of time can be uncomfortable. Grout requires periodic sealing and special cleaning to keep it looking fresh.<br /><a data-mce-href="http://bit.ly/1b2EV9O" data-rapid_p="17" href="http://bit.ly/1b2EV9O" id="yui_3_9_1_1_1385897184858_886"><span id="schemaorg"><div class="yom-figure yom-fig-middle" id="yui_3_9_1_1_1385897184858_885" style="width: 740px;"><img alt="" class="editorial" data-mce-src="http://l.yimg.com/os/publish-images/homes/2013-11-26/66cea895-664a-487b-a19b-3b5c774e9199_scottsdale-real-estate.jpg" src="http://l3.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/1gtELItcqkOg2uBUJEbjwQ--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7cT04NTt3PTc0MA--/http://l.yimg.com/os/publish-images/homes/2013-11-26/66cea895-664a-487b-a19b-3b5c774e9199_scottsdale-real-estate.jpg" title="Kitchen tiles can be treated to complement the cabinetry." width="740" /><div class="legend">Kitchen tiles can be treated to complement the cabinetry.</div></div></span></a><strong>Cost:</strong> For basic <span class="yshortcuts cs4-ndcor" id="lw_1385831914028_36">porcelain tiles</span>, expect to pay $2 to $4 per square foot, uninstalled. Specialty porcelain tiles generally cost $6 to $14 per square foot, with hand-painted tiles costing upward of $75 per piece.<h3>Hardwood</h3><div id="yui_3_9_1_9_1385897184858_356"><span class="yshortcuts cs4-ndcor" id="lw_1385831914028_9">Wood flooring</span> has made a major comeback in both new and remodeled homes. From Petrie’s perspective, wood’s popularity has always been strong — especially oak, maple, cherry and mahogany.</div><strong>Pros:</strong> Wood floors are comfortable underfoot and have a warm appearance that seamlessly blends the kitchen with adjacent living spaces. They’re considered a good investment, often increasing the value of a home.<br /><strong>Cons:</strong> Wood floors are susceptible to water damage and scratches. Floors can be finished with oil and wax, but this finish is less resilient in a kitchen setting and requires regular waxing. Wood flooring that is factory-pretreated is often a more durable choice for a kitchen. Wood floors in kitchens typically need to be resealed every five or six years.<br /><strong>Cost:</strong> $5 to $12 per square foot, uninstalled.<br /><h3>Laminate</h3><div id="yui_3_9_1_9_1385897184858_358"><span class="yshortcuts cs4-visible" id="lw_1385831914028_1">Laminate flooring</span> comes in a variety of styles imitating natural dark wood, light wood, bamboo or stone. Its affordability makes it attractive to many homeowners.</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_9_1385897184858_360"><strong>Pros:</strong> <span class="yshortcuts cs4-visible" id="lw_1385831914028_4">Laminate flooring</span> can be installed directly over existing flooring, significantly reducing labor. The product is less expensive than hardwood or tile. Laminate flooring is less prone to scratches and marring than natural <span class="yshortcuts cs4-ndcor" id="lw_1385831914028_15">wood flooring</span>.</div><strong>Cons:</strong> Water exposure can cause laminate flooring to buckle or warp. Laminate cannot be refinished and has a significantly shorter lifespan than natural wood flooring or tile.<br /><div id="yui_3_9_1_9_1385897184858_363"><strong>Cost:</strong> $1 to $6 per <span class="yshortcuts cs4-ndcor" id="lw_1385831914028_19">square foot</span>, uninstalled.</div><h3>Vinyl</h3><div id="yui_3_9_1_9_1385897184858_365"><span class="yshortcuts cs4-ndcor" id="lw_1385831914028_27">Vinyl flooring</span> comes in either tiles or sheets. Available in a wide range of colors, designs and styles, vinyl is easy to cut. Vinyl sheets often require professional installation, but the tiles are a fairly easy do-it-yourself project.</div><strong>Pros:</strong> Vinyl floors are durable, long-lasting and are often backed by warranties of 15 years or longer. Vinyl can be installed directly over the subfloor or over a previous vinyl or linoleum installation. These floors are easy to clean and offer the kind of cushioning desired by those who spend a lot of time standing.<br />[<a data-mce-href="http://homes.yahoo.net/contractors/quote/flooring-installation/?kid=1O1IL&ywa=1" data-mce-style="color: #149d98;" data-rapid_p="18" href="http://homes.yahoo.net/contractors/quote/flooring-installation/?kid=1O1IL&ywa=1" style="color: #149d98;" target="_blank">Click to find the right contractor for your new kitchen floors now.</a>]<br /><strong>Cons:</strong> Vinyl is manufactured using polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and this causes the flooring material to emit volatile organic compounds (VOC) into the air, especially when the flooring is new. Drop a knife on your vinyl floor? Slide a chair across it? Be careful: Vinyl can easily be scratched or gouged.<br /><strong>Cost:</strong> $1 to $5 per square foot, uninstalled.<br /><h3>Concrete</h3>Concrete can be a beautiful, low-maintenance and sustainable option for residential kitchens.<br /><a data-mce-href="http://bit.ly/1b2F2Ch" data-rapid_p="19" href="http://bit.ly/1b2F2Ch" id="yui_3_9_1_1_1385897184858_878"><span id="schemaorg"><div class="yom-figure yom-fig-middle" id="yui_3_9_1_1_1385897184858_877" style="width: 740px;"><img alt="" class="editorial" data-mce-src="http://l.yimg.com/os/publish-images/homes/2013-11-26/7063ff54-22cc-42c9-b8d7-da9eb939105b_balance-associates.jpg" src="http://l3.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/CnurXn_wtk0VdJ4wK4sasQ--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7cT04NTt3PTc0MA--/http://l.yimg.com/os/publish-images/homes/2013-11-26/7063ff54-22cc-42c9-b8d7-da9eb939105b_balance-associates.jpg" title="Concrete floors provide low-maintenance cleanup in this kitchen by Balance Associates." width="740" /><div class="legend">Concrete floors provide low-maintenance cleanup in this kitchen by Balance Associates.</div></div></span></a><strong>Pros:</strong> Concrete flooring is tough. While it’s possible to scratch or chip a concrete surface, you’d have to work pretty hard at it. A sealed and properly maintained <span class="yshortcuts cs4-ndcor" id="lw_1385831914028_37">concrete floor</span> can last indefinitely. Concrete can be mixed and set to achieve an endless variety of color and textural effects.<div id="yui_3_9_1_9_1385897184858_368"><strong>Cons:</strong> <span class="yshortcuts cs4-ndcor" id="lw_1385831914028_28">Concrete floors</span> are hard — if you drop a plate on one, it’s likely to break. They can also be uncomfortable to stand on for long periods of time. Concrete floors need to be sealed or waxed every three to nine months, depending upon the level of traffic.</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_9_1385897184858_479"><strong>Cost:</strong> Expect to pay $3 to $6 per square foot to polish a plain gray slab to an attractive sheen; more elaborate stains and scoring will cost anywhere from $5 to upward of $17 per square foot.</div>

How to Choose the Right Kitchen Floor

You scoot chairs across them. Kids play on them. Family pets sprawl out on them. No doubt about it, kitchen floors take a beating. That’s w...

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Five years on, GM and Chrysler roar past the bailout’s echoes

<div class="first"><span class="yom-figure yom-fig-right" style="width: 630px;"><a data-rapid_p="1" href="http://l2.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/KTQznln.RCFYGNPMkkQy6A--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7cT04NQ--/http://mit.zenfs.com/852/2013/11/fiveyearson.jpg"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-17963" height="354" src="http://l1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/c9QXyLpomkF5MXPFBjkirg--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7cT04NTt3PTYzMA--/http://media.zenfs.com/en-US/blogs/motoramic/fiveyearson.jpg" width="630" /></a></span>Five years ago this month, Detroit automakers fanned out across Capitol Hill and much of Washington, warning that without immediate federal help at least one of them would collapse, setting off a chain of dominos that could cost up to 1 million jobs. Many inside and out of Detroit opposed the idea; one potential Republican presidential candidate even wrote an op-ed with the headline "<a data-rapid_p="2" href="http://autos.yahoo.com/blogs/motoramic/mitt-romney-gets-wrong-detroit-automakers-bailouts-154006392.html">Let Detroit Go Bankrupt</a>." And Congress veered between castigating Detroit for its mistakes and worrying about how to pay for the billions of dollars the companies sought.</div>Five years later, there's no other word to describe the U.S. auto industry than "thriving." It employed almost exactly as many Americans to build cars, trucks and parts — roughly 822,000, by federal data — last month as it did in October 2008, before the Great Recession closed factories and sent sales plunging. All three Detroit automakers will earn more than $1 billion in profits this year, and thousands of UAW workers at each stand to get sizable profit-sharing bonuses.<br />Yet the debate over bailout and its effects linger, and for some has never stopped. Within a matter of months, the U.S. Treasury will sell off its last shares of General Motors, closing the books with a loss of roughly $10 billion. Chrysler's future rests on solving a puzzle built into its rescue as a compromise between the government, Fiat and the UAW. And for all that the bailout promised to change, Detroit's profits still lie with the models that made money before the great collapse.<span id="more-17962"></span><br />That the bailouts worked for GM and Chrysler has been thanks in no small part to a rebound in new-car sales which has lifted the entire industry. Research firm J.D. Power estimates Americans will spend $30 billion on new cars this month — or about $30,000 per vehicle — and $370 billion in total this year, the highest ever and well above what the industry was drawing in 2008.<br />Much of that rebound comes from two factors, both driven by Washington. In both bailouts of GM and Chrysler, the companies shed workers and factories, but also vowed to never let their capacity run as slack as it did during the crisis, which depressed prices even as demand fell. While all three automakers have boosted production since 2009, none has built a new plant in the United States — choosing instead to run factories on three shifts or expand old factories as need be. Despite having the same number of workers as they did in 2008, foreign and domestic automakers built more than 1 million vehicles in the United States last month, a new record — with North American factories running at 90 percent capacity, also a new high.<br /><span class="yom-figure yom-fig-right" style="width: 610px;"><a data-rapid_p="3" href="http://l3.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/sPLaJEWjNWQl8pCOaxrbRw--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7cT04NQ--/http://mit.zenfs.com/852/2013/11/insetfiveyearbailout66.jpg"><img alt="" class="editorial aligncenter size-large wp-image-17965" height="343" src="http://l1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/4aXfJdQn0Xa2QssdOCbbvQ--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7cT04NTt3PTYxMA--/http://media.zenfs.com/en-US/blogs/motoramic/insetfiveyearbailout66.jpg" width="610" /></a></span><br />And for all the attention focused on President Barack Obama and his advisors such as auto czar Steve Rattner, the man who may have done more to get the auto industry back is Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. By choosing to stimulate the economy through low interest rates and goosing corporate credit sales, Bernanke sparked an ongoing boom in vehicle lending. Due in part to cheap rates, many new cars can cost less on a monthly basis than used cars; and auto sales remain the rare place where buyers with low credit scores can get loans, albeit ones that now can stretch as long as eight years. According to market research firm Experian, total auto lending hit an all-time high this quarter of $782.9 billion, up 15 percent over a year ago.<br />While the industry as a whole enjoys fat sales and rising profits, the rewards have not been spread evenly between GM and Chrysler. After some management turmoil, GM will post near-record profits this year on the back of a booming North American unit. The European business remains troubled, but has improved from the pit of despair it once was. And GM remains the best-selling maker in China, where sales now outstrip the United States.<br />If GM's firing on all cylinders, Chrysler appears to need a tune-up. When he first pitched his idea for combining Fiat and Chrysler during the 2008 crisis, Fiat chief executive Sergio Marchionne offered a plan that would combine the best of the two automakers, leveraging their skills for higher-volume vehicles. Today, much of that plan has been shredded; most of the models Marchionne promised have either been canceled or delayed, as a worse-than-expected European economy and tougher-than-expected engineering and design challenges threw off many timelines. One key example: New midsize sedans to replace the aged Dodge Avenger and Chrysler 200 that Marchionne pledged in 2009 as 2013 models will now be unveiled at the Detroit auto show in January — likely labeled as 2015s and facing far tougher competition.<br />And yet, Chrysler has managed to grow it sales and make $1.1 billion in proft this year without resorting to massive discounts or dumping cars into rental fleets — the short-term gain for long-term pain moves that put it into bankruptcy in the first place. Despite the mixed-up models, the Ram truck brand and the Jeep Grand Cherokee have grown in strength through new models. It's not bad for a company that many of Obama's advisors, and many outside commentators, declared all but dead five years ago.<br />Marchionne hasn't been able to enjoy this much due to the bailout's last battle, the question of how much Fiat should pay for the 41.5 percent of Chrysler held by a trust fund that pays for retired UAW members health care. The trust wants at least $5 billion; Fiat wants to pay at least $1 billion less, and a plan to take Chrysler public and let Wall Street set the price had to be delayed on Monday until 2014. And while Fiat has suggested in filings that it could unwind the partnership if a deal can't be reached, most financial experts see more risk for a Chrysler-free Fiat than a Fiat-free Chrysler.<br />After the stock sale by Treasury, GM will be free from federal controls on executive pay, and those same executives hope, the "Government Motors" moniker. Yet that label has never been all that accurate; in the years since its bankruptcy, there's never been evidence of direct government sway over day-to-day decisions. GM has made all of its models more fuel-efficient, just as Obama pledged it would in April 2009, but it still lacks a hybrid that even approaches sales of the <a data-rapid_p="4" href="http://autos.yahoo.com/toyota/prius/" target="_blank">Toyota Prius</a> or <a data-rapid_p="5" href="http://autos.yahoo.com/ford/fusion/" target="_blank">Ford Fusion</a>, and profits in 2014 will rely mostly on its new full-size pickups and SUVs like the blingy Cadillac Escalade, just as it did in 2008. The $81 billion bailout of the U.S. auto industry changed GM and Chrysler in profound ways, but in a few important ones it restored business as usual.

Five years on, GM and Chrysler roar past the bailout’s echoes

Five years ago this month, Detroit automakers fanned out across Capitol Hill and much of Washington, warning that without ...

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In God we trust, maybe, but not each other

<div class="yom-ad yom-ad-LREC" id="yom-ad-LREC" style="visibility: inherit;"><center> </center><center><img alt="Shown is the cash box at Dennis and Darlene Hess's farm stand Monday, Nov. 4, 2013, in Litiz, Pa. You can take our word for it: Americans don’t trust each other anymore. An AP-GfK poll conducted last month found that Americans are suspicious of each other in everyday encounters. Less than a third expressed a lot of trust in clerks who swipe their credit cards, drivers on the road, or people they meet when traveling. However, there are still trusters around to set an example like Dennis Hess who runs an unattended farm stand on the honor system. Customers pick out their produce, tally their bills and drop the money into a slot, making change from an unlocked cashbox. "When people from New York or New Jersey come up," said Hess, "they are amazed that this kind of thing is done anymore." (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)" height="640" src="http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/wTbsCFBZVgK.ddEx3L4DtA--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTY0MDtweW9mZj0wO3E9NzU7dz05NjA-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/0f3de861533d9528440f6a706700b5ee.jpg" style="max-height: 580px; max-width: 655px;" width="960" /> </center></div>WASHINGTON (AP) — You can take our word for it. Americans don't trust each other anymore.<br /><div class="body-slot-mod"><div class="yom-remote"><div class="" id="mediacontentrelatedstory_container"> <section class="yom-mod " data-ylk="mid:mediacontentrelatedstory;mpos:1;elm:hdln;elmt:ct;cat:Related Stories;rspns:nav;t1:a3;itc:0;sec:lst-ct;" id="mediacontentrelatedstory"> </section> </div></div></div>We're not talking about the loss of faith in big institutions such as the government, the church or Wall Street, which fluctuates with events. For four decades, a gut-level ingredient of democracy — trust in the other fellow — has been quietly draining away.<br />These days, only one-third of Americans say most people can be trusted. Half felt that way in 1972, when the General Social Survey first asked the question.<br />Forty years later, a record high of nearly two-thirds say "you can't be too careful" in dealing with people.<br />An AP-GfK poll conducted last month found that Americans are suspicious of each other in everyday encounters. Less than one-third expressed a lot of trust in clerks who swipe their credit cards, drivers on the road, or people they meet when traveling.<br />"I'm leery of everybody," said Bart Murawski, 27, of Albany, N.Y. "Caution is always a factor."<br /><div class="body-related "><a class="body-related-link body-related-image landscape get-lbdata-from-dom onesize go-to-slideshow-lightbox rapid-noclick-resp" data-rapid_p="12" data-type="image" data-uuid="8bb34abf-7670-3017-8a35-5c146f24a6c9" href="http://news.yahoo.com/photos/bart-murawski-27-poses-coffee-shop-tuesday-nov-photo-135752280.html" title="Bart Murawski, 27 poses at a coffee shop Tuesday, Nov. …"><div class="img-wrap"><div class="cta-overlay"><span class="clearfix title cta-text medium"></span><span class="cta-text xsmall">View gallery</span><span class="icon-slideshow icon-white-slideshow-xsmall">."</span></div><img alt="Bart Murawski, 27 poses at a coffee shop Tuesday, Nov. …" class="body-related-thumb" height="196px" src="http://l3.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/HpJukMHPcGPgetOqh8hIJA--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTE5NjtxPTc1O3c9MzAw/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/633155bc53369528440f6a7067006176.jpg" title="" width="300px" /></div></a><div class="body-related-title photo-caption" style="width: 300px;">Bart Murawski, 27 poses at a coffee shop Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2013, in Troy, N.Y. You can take our word …</div></div>Does it matter that Americans are suspicious of one another? Yes, say worried political and social scientists.<br />What's known as "social trust" brings good things.<br />A society where it's easier to compromise or make a deal. Where people are willing to work with those who are different from them for the common good. Where trust appears to promote economic growth.<br />Distrust, on the other hand, seems to encourage corruption. At the least, it diverts energy to counting change, drawing up 100-page legal contracts and building gated communities.<br />Even the rancor and gridlock in politics might stem from the effects of an increasingly distrustful citizenry, said April K. Clark, a Purdue University political scientist and public opinion researcher.<br /><div class="body-related "><a class="body-related-link body-related-image portrait get-lbdata-from-dom onesize go-to-slideshow-lightbox rapid-noclick-resp" data-rapid_p="13" data-type="image" data-uuid="bbe0c602-fe95-3015-93f9-99a880503f51" href="http://news.yahoo.com/photos/graphic-shows-results-gss-ap-gfk-polls-trust-photo-162638377.html" title="Graphic shows results of GSS and AP-GfK polls on trust.; …"><div class="img-wrap"><div class="cta-overlay"><span class="clearfix title cta-text medium"></span><span class="cta-text xsmall">View gallery</span><span class="icon-slideshow icon-white-slideshow-xsmall">."</span></div><img alt="Graphic shows results of GSS and AP-GfK polls on trust.; …" class="body-related-thumb" height="597px" src="http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/eFsUpiBC6lh2FZaMtkai2Q--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTU5NztxPTc1O3c9MzAw/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/c97ac06353bd9828440f6a706700c90e.jpg" title="" width="300px" /></div></a><div class="body-related-title photo-caption" style="width: 300px;">Graphic shows results of GSS and AP-GfK polls on trust.; 2c x 6 inches; 96.3 mm x 152 mm;</div></div>"It's like the rules of the game," Clark said. "When trust is low, the way we react and behave with each other becomes less civil."<br />There's no easy fix.<br />In fact, some studies suggest it's too late for most Americans alive today to become more trusting. That research says the basis for a person's lifetime trust levels is set by his or her mid-twenties and unlikely to change, other than in some unifying crucible such as a world war.<br />People do get a little more trusting as they age. But beginning with the baby boomers, each generation has started off adulthood less trusting than those who came before them.<br />The best hope for creating a more trusting nation may be figuring out how to inspire today's youth, perhaps united by their high-tech gadgets, to trust the way previous generations did in simpler times.<br /><div class="body-related "><a class="body-related-link body-related-image landscape get-lbdata-from-dom onesize go-to-slideshow-lightbox rapid-noclick-resp" data-rapid_p="14" data-type="image" data-uuid="14f216ab-002c-3b39-8b7c-9242dedf27f7" href="http://news.yahoo.com/photos/dennis-hess-poses-photograph-farm-monday-nov-4-photo-135752821.html" title="Dennis Hess poses for a photograph at his farm Monday, …"><div class="img-wrap"><div class="cta-overlay"><span class="clearfix title cta-text medium"></span><span class="cta-text xsmall">View gallery</span><span class="icon-slideshow icon-white-slideshow-xsmall">."</span></div><img alt="Dennis Hess poses for a photograph at his farm Monday, …" class="body-related-thumb" height="200px" src="http://l2.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/xHKY4FJ7CHGKcNfh820B9g--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTIwMDtxPTc1O3c9MzAw/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/85c27bf5533d9528440f6a7067009a99.jpg" title="" width="300px" /></div></a><div class="body-related-title photo-caption" style="width: 300px;">Dennis Hess poses for a photograph at his farm Monday, Nov. 4, 2013, in Litiz, Pa. You can take our  …</div></div>There are still trusters around to set an example.<br />Pennsylvania farmer Dennis Hess is one. He runs an unattended farm stand on the honor system.<br />Customers select their produce, tally their bills and drop the money into a slot, making change from an unlocked cashbox. Both regulars and tourists en route to nearby Lititz, Pa., stop for asparagus in spring, corn in summer and, as the weather turns cold, long-neck pumpkins for Thanksgiving pies.<br />"When people from New York or New Jersey come up," said Hess, 60, "they are amazed that this kind of thing is done anymore."<br />Hess has updated the old ways with technology. He added a video camera a few years back, to help catch people who drive off without paying or raid the cashbox. But he says there isn't enough theft to undermine his trust in human nature.<br /><div class="body-related "><a class="body-related-link body-related-image landscape get-lbdata-from-dom onesize go-to-slideshow-lightbox rapid-noclick-resp" data-rapid_p="15" data-type="image" data-uuid="89a60f8f-9e56-3283-ba28-901b0d539a95" href="http://news.yahoo.com/photos/shown-sign-posted-dennis-darlene-hesss-farm-stand-photo-135752266.html" title="Shown is the is a sign posted at Dennis and Darlene …"><div class="img-wrap"><div class="cta-overlay"><span class="clearfix title cta-text medium"></span><span class="cta-text xsmall">View gallery</span><span class="icon-slideshow icon-white-slideshow-xsmall">."</span></div><img alt="Shown is the is a sign posted at Dennis and Darlene …" class="body-related-thumb" height="200px" src="http://l3.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/7U41TUEGgvEr9nJFbgi0dA--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTIwMDtxPTc1O3c9MzAw/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/6ff8cc1e53409528440f6a706700a570.jpg" title="" width="300px" /></div></a><div class="body-related-title photo-caption" style="width: 300px;">Shown is the is a sign posted at Dennis and Darlene Hess's farm stand Monday, Nov. 4, 2013, in Litiz …</div></div>"I'll say 99 and a half percent of the people are honest," said Hess, who's operated the produce stand for two decades.<br />There's no single explanation for Americans' loss of trust.<br />The best-known analysis comes from "Bowling Alone" author Robert Putnam's nearly two decades of studying the United States' declining "social capital," including trust.<br />Putnam says Americans have abandoned their bowling leagues and Elks lodges to stay home and watch TV. Less socializing and fewer community meetings make people less trustful than the "long civic generation" that came of age during the Depression and World War II.<br />University of Maryland Professor Eric Uslaner, who studies politics and trust, puts the blame elsewhere: economic inequality.<br /><div class="body-related "><a class="body-related-link body-related-image landscape get-lbdata-from-dom onesize go-to-slideshow-lightbox rapid-noclick-resp" data-rapid_p="16" data-type="image" data-uuid="e93b63a0-6075-3f7e-a4bb-0dee4d80558a" href="http://news.yahoo.com/photos/dennis-hess-displays-radish-farm-monday-nov-4-photo-135752793.html" title="Dennis Hess displays a radish at his farm Monday, Nov. …"><div class="img-wrap"><div class="cta-overlay"><span class="clearfix title cta-text medium"></span><span class="cta-text xsmall">View gallery</span><span class="icon-slideshow icon-white-slideshow-xsmall">."</span></div><img alt="Dennis Hess displays a radish at his farm Monday, Nov. …" class="body-related-thumb" height="200px" src="http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/mr5OpH7D54hSV2mZZ4q_WA--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTIwMDtxPTc1O3c9MzAw/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/d18ca9ad53409528440f6a70670075f9.jpg" title="" width="300px" /></div></a><div class="body-related-title photo-caption" style="width: 300px;">Dennis Hess displays a radish at his farm Monday, Nov. 4, 2013, in Litiz, Pa. You can take our word  …</div></div>Trust has declined as the gap between the nation's rich and poor gapes ever wider, Uslaner says, and more and more Americans feel shut out. They've lost their sense of a shared fate. Tellingly, trust rises with wealth.<br />"People who believe the world is a good place and it's going to get better and you can help make it better, they will be trusting," Uslaner said. "If you believe it's dark and driven by outside forces you can't control, you will be a mistruster."<br />African-Americans consistently have expressed far less faith in "most people" than the white majority does. Racism, discrimination and a high rate of poverty destroy trust.<br />Nearly 8 in 10 African-Americans, in the 2012 survey conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago with principal funding from the National Science Foundation, felt that "you can't be too careful." That figure has held remarkably steady across the 25 GSS surveys since 1972.<br />The decline in the nation's overall trust quotient was driven by changing attitudes among whites.<br /><div class="body-related "><br /></div>It's possible that people today are indeed less deserving of trust than Americans in the past, perhaps because of a decline in moral values.<br />"I think people are acting more on their greed," said Murawski, a computer specialist who says he has witnessed scams and rip-offs. "Everybody wants a comfortable lifestyle, but what are you going to do for it? Where do you draw the line?"<br />Ethical behavior such as lying and cheating are difficult to document over the decades. It's worth noting that the early, most trusting years of the GSS poll coincided with Watergate and the Vietnam War. Trust dropped off in the more stable 1980s.<br />Crime rates fell in the 1990s and 2000s, and still Americans grew less trusting. Many social scientists blame 24-hour news coverage of distant violence for skewing people's perceptions of crime.<br />Can anything bring trust back?<br /><div class="body-related "><a class="body-related-link body-related-image landscape get-lbdata-from-dom onesize go-to-slideshow-lightbox rapid-noclick-resp" data-rapid_p="18" data-type="image" data-uuid="3304004a-4f7a-3563-9767-1d3520580ae3" href="http://news.yahoo.com/photos/bart-murawski-27-poses-coffee-shop-tuesday-nov-photo-135752464.html" title="Bart Murawski, 27 poses at a coffee shop Tuesday, Nov. …"><div class="img-wrap"><div class="cta-overlay"><span class="clearfix title cta-text medium"></span><span class="cta-text xsmall"></span><span class="icon-slideshow icon-white-slideshow-xsmall"></span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Bart Murawski, 27 poses at a coffee shop Tuesday, Nov. …" class="body-related-thumb" height="200px" src="http://l2.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/2kRom1oq_lOYPV2SXWHWcw--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTIwMDtxPTc1O3c9MzAw/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/f23d3e8b53429528440f6a7067004817.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="" width="300px" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bart Murawski, 27 poses at a coffee shop Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2013, in Troy, N.Y. You can take our word …</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span class="icon-slideshow icon-white-slideshow-xsmall"></span></div></div></a><div class="body-related-title photo-caption" style="width: 300px;"><br /></div></div>Uslaner and Clark don't see much hope anytime soon.<br />Thomas Sander, executive director of the Saguaro Seminar launched by Putnam, believes the trust deficit is "eminently fixable" if Americans strive to rebuild community and civic life, perhaps by harnessing technology.<br />After all, the Internet can widen the circle of acquaintances who might help you find a job. Email makes it easier for clubs to plan face-to-face meetings. Googling someone turns up information that used to come via the community grapevine.<br />But hackers and viruses and hateful posts eat away at trust. And sitting home watching YouTube means less time out meeting others.<br />"A lot of it depends on whether we can find ways to get people using technology to connect and be more civically involved," Sander said.<br /><div class="body-related "><a class="body-related-link body-related-image landscape get-lbdata-from-dom onesize go-to-slideshow-lightbox rapid-noclick-resp" data-rapid_p="19" data-type="image" data-uuid="e79eecba-fa67-3704-93ef-3006b6f36f3e" href="http://news.yahoo.com/photos/bart-murawski-27-poses-outside-coffee-shop-tuesday-photo-135752267.html" title="Bart Murawski, 27 poses outside a coffee shop Tuesday, …"><div class="img-wrap"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Bart Murawski, 27 poses outside a coffee shop Tuesday, …" class="body-related-thumb" height="200px" src="http://l1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/OB7IMuRo.JovDTMM6IiLjQ--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTIwMDtxPTc1O3c9MzAw/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/a213e2b453439528440f6a706700dba6.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="" width="300px" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bart Murawski, 27 poses outside a coffee shop Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2013, in Troy, N.Y. You can take our </td></tr></tbody></table></div></a><div class="body-related-title photo-caption" style="width: 300px;">…</div></div>"The fate of Americans' trust," he said, "is in our own hands."

In God we trust, maybe, but not each other

  WASHINGTON (AP) — You can take our word for it. Americans don't trust each ...

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Western masterpieces offered up to Chinese buyers

<br /><div class="cover-wrap" id="yui_3_9_1_1_1385894918272_1217"><div class="" id="yui_3_9_1_1_1385894918272_1216"><div class="img-wrap" id="yui_3_9_1_1_1385894918272_1215"><br /><figure class=" cover get-lbdata-from-dom go-to-slideshow-lightbox " data-id="c0f6dfed-bdaf-3fd5-a3cb-28d2db80dab6" id="yui_3_9_1_1_1385894918272_1214"> <div class="img-wrap-16x9"><img alt="A man looks at Rembrandt's "Portrait of a Man With Arms Akimbo" at Sotheby's exhibition in Beijing on November 28, 2013" height="421px" src="http://l3.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/HO5pCh8RjTWEo62inC7X5A--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTQyMTtweG9mZj01MDtweW9mZj0wO3E9NzU7dz03NDk-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/afp.com/02571c67f1ac8beafff4cc06d57375589719f68b.jpg" width="749px" /> </div></figure></div></div></div><div class="yom-ad yom-ad-LREC" id="yom-ad-LREC" style="visibility: inherit;"><center id="yui_3_9_1_1_1385894918272_1283"></center></div>Beijing (AFP) - A $50 million Rembrandt portrait takes pride of place in a Beijing hotel room, with Picassos and Renoirs dotting the walls as major Western auction houses look to tempt China's super-rich with Europe's finest art.<br /><div class="body-slot-mod"><div class="yom-remote"><div class="" id="mediacontentrelatedstory_container"><br /><section class="yom-mod " data-ylk="mid:mediacontentrelatedstory;mpos:1;elm:hdln;elmt:ct;cat:Related Stories;rspns:nav;t1:a3;itc:0;sec:lst-ct;" id="mediacontentrelatedstory"> </section> </div></div></div>The exhibition, running until Sunday, ranks among the more distinguished displays of Western art seen in the Chinese capital, but is actually a private sale by international auctioneers Sotheby's.<br />It also includes works by Chagall, Toulouse-Lautrec and Delacroix, among others.<br />Except for the Rembrandt, Portrait of a Man with Arms Akimbo, painted in 1658, prices are not displayed or publicly disclosed -- but undoubtedly rank in the category of "if you have to ask you can't afford it".<br />Chinese collectors have sent prices for their own country's heritage spiralling on the back of its economic boom, and are now turning their attention to Western items too.<br />"What we have seen in the last five years, is that there is a lot of Asian appetite in terms of Western art and the purchase by mainland Chinese has gone up by 500 percent," Sotheby’s Asia Chairman Patti Wong told AFP.<br /><div class="body-related "><a class="body-related-link body-related-image landscape get-lbdata-from-dom onesize go-to-slideshow-lightbox rapid-noclick-resp" data-rapid_p="12" data-type="image" data-uuid="aae62688-4581-3c33-97d0-b1b71aa6d378" href="http://news.yahoo.com/photos/man-stands-beside-picassos-buste-femme-sothebys-exhibition-photo-180342368.html" title="A man stands beside Picasso's "></a><br /><div class="img-wrap"><div class="cta-overlay"><a class="body-related-link body-related-image landscape get-lbdata-from-dom onesize go-to-slideshow-lightbox rapid-noclick-resp" data-rapid_p="12" data-type="image" data-uuid="aae62688-4581-3c33-97d0-b1b71aa6d378" href="http://news.yahoo.com/photos/man-stands-beside-picassos-buste-femme-sothebys-exhibition-photo-180342368.html" title="A man stands beside Picasso's "><span class="clearfix title cta-text medium"></span><span class="cta-text xsmall">View gallery</span><span class="icon-slideshow icon-white-slideshow-xsmall">."</span></a></div><a class="body-related-link body-related-image landscape get-lbdata-from-dom onesize go-to-slideshow-lightbox rapid-noclick-resp" data-rapid_p="12" data-type="image" data-uuid="aae62688-4581-3c33-97d0-b1b71aa6d378" href="http://news.yahoo.com/photos/man-stands-beside-picassos-buste-femme-sothebys-exhibition-photo-180342368.html" title="A man stands beside Picasso's "><img alt="A man stands beside Picasso's "Buste de Femme" at Sotheby's …" class="body-related-thumb" height="200px" src="http://l3.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/EeIaVI_mPKCnEqqlG1mtXw--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTIwMDtxPTc1O3c9MzAw/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/afp.com/067f33f3db9e78c433aa321800eab35d9a479fee.jpg" title="" width="300px" /></a></div><a class="body-related-link body-related-image landscape get-lbdata-from-dom onesize go-to-slideshow-lightbox rapid-noclick-resp" data-rapid_p="12" data-type="image" data-uuid="aae62688-4581-3c33-97d0-b1b71aa6d378" href="http://news.yahoo.com/photos/man-stands-beside-picassos-buste-femme-sothebys-exhibition-photo-180342368.html" title="A man stands beside Picasso's "></a><br /><div class="body-related-title photo-caption" style="width: 300px;">A man stands beside Picasso's "Buste de Femme" at Sotheby's exhibition in Beijing on November 28, 20 …</div></div>"As more Chinese get to see many exhibitions and with greater ability to travel abroad, their interest will inevitably widen," she added. "Over time the taste becomes more international and more diversified."<br />Sotheby's forged an alliance with the state-owned art company GeHua Art to crack open entry to the China art market, while its great rival Christie's held its first independent auction in mainland China in September.<br />That sale came after Christie's owner, French billionaire Francois Pinault, gave two bronze animal heads looted from Beijing's Old Summer Palace in 1860 -- long a symbol of Western exploitation -- back to Chinese authorities earlier this year.<br />Whether it sells all the pieces or not, Sotheby's regards the mere fact of its exhibition as a success.<br />"It doesn't matter that we don't have immediate reaction but you see that there is interest and sooner or later we believe that these buyers will migrate into our sale rooms in London and New York," said Wong.<br /><div class="body-related "><a class="body-related-link body-related-image landscape get-lbdata-from-dom onesize go-to-slideshow-lightbox rapid-noclick-resp" data-rapid_p="13" data-type="image" data-uuid="cb2a9154-6978-3be9-ad0f-554fcd83f910" href="http://news.yahoo.com/photos/sothebys-staff-member-hangs-kees-van-dongens-la-photo-180342795.html" title="A Sotheby's staff member hangs Kees Van Dongen's "></a><br /><div class="img-wrap"><div class="cta-overlay"><a class="body-related-link body-related-image landscape get-lbdata-from-dom onesize go-to-slideshow-lightbox rapid-noclick-resp" data-rapid_p="13" data-type="image" data-uuid="cb2a9154-6978-3be9-ad0f-554fcd83f910" href="http://news.yahoo.com/photos/sothebys-staff-member-hangs-kees-van-dongens-la-photo-180342795.html" title="A Sotheby's staff member hangs Kees Van Dongen's "><span class="cta-text xsmall"></span><br /></a></div></div><a class="body-related-link body-related-image landscape get-lbdata-from-dom onesize go-to-slideshow-lightbox rapid-noclick-resp" data-rapid_p="13" data-type="image" data-uuid="cb2a9154-6978-3be9-ad0f-554fcd83f910" href="http://news.yahoo.com/photos/sothebys-staff-member-hangs-kees-van-dongens-la-photo-180342795.html" title="A Sotheby's staff member hangs Kees Van Dongen's "></a></div>Some viewers were at the exhibition purely for the art. "In order to see these works before, we had to go abroad," said one viewer, Hou Jie.<br />"We had to go to Paris and places like the Louvre. Now, this kind of exhibition will make Beijingers and mainland Chinese better understand Western art."<br />But Nancy Murphy, an expert on the Chinese art market, said auction houses were primarily motivated by the prospect of more business.<br />"I have seen Chinese in Beijing line up for hours to view exhibitions of major Western art in museum and gallery shows; there is a real appetite for more exposure to the real pieces, and Christie's and Sotheby's can tap into that," she said.<br />In November China’s richest man, Wang Jianlin, bought the 1950 Picasso painting "Claude and Paloma" for $28 million at a New York auction.<br /><div class="body-related "><div class="img-wrap"><div class="cta-overlay"><a class="body-related-link body-related-image landscape get-lbdata-from-dom onesize go-to-slideshow-lightbox rapid-noclick-resp" data-rapid_p="14" data-type="image" data-uuid="d5f6e27e-294c-3eae-8ce0-4f3354cf8211" href="http://news.yahoo.com/photos/staff-member-l-sothebys-shows-back-painting-woman-photo-180342422.html" title="A staff member (L) of Sotheby's shows the back of a …"><span class="cta-text xsmall"></span></a></div></div></div><br />At the same Christie’s event, Chinese customers also bought works by Henry Moore, Vincent van Gogh and Claude Monet.<br />Wang, whose personal wealth is estimated by Forbes magazine at $14 billion, has recently sought to make a splash in cultural circles -- although he came under criticism from Chinese internet users for spending his firm's money on foreign art.<br />He already has works by major Chinese modern art names, and the addition of a Picasso to his walls is part of a wider trend among Chinese art collectors to internationalise their collections.<br />But such relationships have not always been happy. The last great wave of Asian buying came as Japan reached the height of its economic power in the 1980s, culminating in 1990 when Japanese paper tycoon Ryoei Saito bought van Gogh's Portrait of Dr Gachet for $82.5 million and Renoir's Bal du Moulin de la Galette for $78.1 million.<br />He triggered outrage across the art world later when he said he would have the canvases put in his coffin and cremated with him when he died.<br />The Rembrandt at the hotel fetched $33 million the last time it was auctioned, when casino billionaire Steve Wynn bought it at Christie's in London in 2009, a record at the time for the artist. Wynn later sold it to the current, anonymous, vendor.<br />Gu Xunming, a former artist who now works for a Beijing art museum, was transfixed by the portrait.<br />"I think the people who want to buy the painting the most are artists," he said. "But no matter how much they want it, they can't afford it.<br />"The buyer will be rich, but not necessarily understand art. This is the trend in China."

Western masterpieces offered up to Chinese buyers

Beijing (AFP) - A $50 million Rembrandt portrait takes pride of place in a Beijing hotel ro...

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5 things to know before you buy your next washer and dryer

<div class="first" id="yui_3_9_1_4_1385894915095_125"><span class="yom-figure yom-fig-left" style="width: 310px;"><a class=" yltnofollow" href="http://shopping.yahoo.com/989402987-turbowash-series-wm8000hva-graphite-steel-29quot-washer-front-loading-51-cu-ft-energy-star/" target="_blank"><img alt="How to buy the perfect washer and dryer" class="editorial " src="http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/28F3D6vJZ1NzRXvRlKsfbw--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7cT04NTt3PTMxMA--/http://l.yimg.com/os/publish-images/shopping/2013-11-27/64e153b3-89e2-47bb-bda4-8c363d05ace9_washing-machines.jpg" width="310" /></a></span>You know you’re in suburbia when neighbors brag about how long their washer or dryer has lasted. Twelve years? That’s nothing. How about 18? Several manufacturers say that these machines should last about 10 years before an expensive component goes. When shopping for a new washer or dryer, you’ll notice that a lot more cycles and features have been added, capacities are larger, and the prices might leave you rolling in the aisle. Here are five things you should know about today’s washers and dryers.</div><strong>Longer wash times, but bigger capacities.</strong> Many front-loaders we tested were excellent at cleaning and high-efficiency top-loaders were very good, despite using a lot less water than conventional top-loaders. But that improved water efficiency means longer wash cycles. That’s why manufacturers have increased capacities, making it possible for you to do more laundry at once. The front-loading <a href="http://shopping.yahoo.com/989402987-turbowash-series-wm8000hva-graphite-steel-29quot-washer-front-loading-51-cu-ft-energy-star/" target="_blank">LG WM8000H[V]A</a>, starting at $1,345.50, has one of the largest capacities of the washers we've tested.<br /><br /><div class="hotdog" style="border-bottom: 5px solid #e4e4e4; border-top: 5px solid #e4e5e4; clear: none; display: inline; float: left; margin: 10px; padding: 3px 0px; width: 200px;"> <h4 style="color: #555555; font-family: verdana; font-size: 10px; font-weight: bold; margin: 3px 0px 8px 5px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;">MORE AT COnsumer Reports</h4><ul style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 10px; list-style-type: none; margin: 3px; padding: 0px;"><li style="list-style-position: inside; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 6px 3px; padding: 0px;"><em style="color: #db612d; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">»</em> <a href="http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2013/09/the-best-kitchen-gear-for-a-breakfast-of-champions/index.htm?EXTKEY=AYACS03" style="color: #1053fc; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Great kitchen gear for breakfast and more</a></li><li style="list-style-position: inside; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 6px 3px; padding: 0px;"><em style="color: #db612d; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">»</em> <a href="http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2013/09/higher-thread-count-doesn-t-guarantee-better-sheets/index.htm?EXTKEY=AYACS04" style="color: #1053fc; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Higher thread count doesn't guarantee better sheets</a> Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers or sponsors on Yahoo</li></ul></div>Bigger capacities can put laundry out of reach. One way for manufacturers to boost washer capacity is to make the tub deeper in high-efficiency top-loaders, and some washers are also taller now. But after a petite staff member revealed her <a href="http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2013/10/high-efficiency-top-loaders-with-tubs-too-deep-for-some/index.htm">deep dive method</a> of hoisting herself up and leaning into the washer to get her gym socks, and a few readers posted user reviews on our website noting tongs and reach tools as necessities, we got out our measuring tape and headed to the washer lab. Retrieving that sock from the bottom of the top-rated <a href="http://shopping.yahoo.com/1080763319-wt1101cw-white-27quot-washer-top-loading-43-cu-ft-energy-star/" target="_blank">LG WT1101CW</a>, starting at $629 and a CR Best Buy, wasn’t a problem for taller people on staff but it was for shorter ones.<br /><br /><strong>Washing waterproof items may do damage.</strong> This warning catches some people by surprise, and it should because even if you don’t hike or camp, you probably have a plastic liner for your shower curtain. High-efficiency top-loaders use a lot less water and spin faster than regular top-loaders. That fast spinning extracts more water so less dryer time is needed, but water can get trapped in waterproof items and when the spin cycle gets going, the load can become unbalanced and cause the machine to shake too much. And that can damage the machine and laundry area. Manufacturers’ instructions for <a href="http://shopping.yahoo.com/news/can-you-wash-waterproof-items-in-he-top-loading-washing-machines--004923254.html" target="_blank">washing waterproof items</a> vary, but Whirlpool and Maytag, a Whirlpool brand, say their high-efficiency top-loaders, such as the <a href="http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/appliances/laundry-and-cleaning/washing-machines/top-loading-washing-machine-ratings/models/overview/maytag-bravos-xl-mvwb750yw-99044328.htm" target="_blank">Maytag Bravos XL MVWB750Y[W]</a>, $850, can wash waterproof and water-resistant items.<br /><br /><strong>Moisture sensors are great, but pay attention to small loads.</strong> A dryer's moisture sensor detects how damp the laundry is and adjusts the drying time accordingly, preventing fabrics from being over-dried and possibly saving energy and money—an improvement over thermostats, which tend to make the dryer run longer. That’s one reason why you’ll often see thermostat models at the bottom of our dryer ratings. But dryers are designed to handle full loads, so when you toss in just a few items, the machine may shut off prematurely if the clothes do not touch the sensor frequently enough, leaving your laundry damp. You can prevent this by using a timed-dry cycle for small loads. For the top-rated electric dryer, take a look at the <a href="http://shopping.yahoo.com/1178686119-74-cu-ft-steam-electric-dryer-stainless-platinum-metallic-70-cu-ft-and-greater/" target="_blank">Samsung DV50F9A8EVP</a>, starting at $1076.40, and the $720 <a href="http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/appliances/laundry-and-cleaning/clothes-dryers/electric-dryer-ratings/models/overview/kenmore-81172-99046401.htm">Kenmore 8117[2]</a> was impressive enough to be named a CR Best Buy. Both have moisture sensors.<br /><br /><strong>High-efficiency dryer claims are just that.</strong> Drying laundry uses a lot more energy than washing it and when GE, Maytag, and Whirlpool started promoting high-efficiency dryers that could save energy, time, and money, we were interested. But don’t be dazzled by the claims. When we pressed the manufacturers, they said their comparisons were based on dryers that use thermostats instead of moisture sensors. But these sensors aren’t a new technology; your dryer might have them even if it’s not labeled high-efficiency. Specs are being developed for the first Energy Star dryers. In the meantime, we’re testing dryer energy use. When shopping, choose a dryer with a moisture sensor. To find out which models were the best in our tests, see our ratings of <a href="http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/washing-machines.htm">washing machines</a> and <a href="http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/clothes-dryers.htm">clothes dryers</a>.

5 things to know before you buy your next washer and dryer

You know you’re in suburbia when neighbors brag about how long their washer or dryer has lasted. Twelve years? That’s noth...

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House decorated with over 450,000 Christmas lights

<ul class="thumbstrip-overlay clearfix " id="yui_3_9_1_1_1385894903901_1483"><li class="go-to-slideshow-lightbox image" data-list-id="08297b50-59f6-11e3-9fdb-ceabaa1ad939" data-list-total="11" data-type="image" data-uuid="e1a58eb0-59f5-11e3-bbff-c276c94d4673"> <div class="img-wrap-16x9"> <img class="" data-src-2x="" height="360" src="http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/qv3TZc1mDv4hyQAuSlVIJw--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Y2g9MTY4ODtjcj0xO2N3PTMwMDA7ZHg9MDtkeT0wO2ZpPXVsY3JvcDtoPTExNztxPTc1O3c9MjA4/http://l.yimg.com/os/publish-images/news/2013-11-30/a819ae7c-0a3f-49f7-a961-db613406f45a_452618481_10.jpg" width="640" /> </div><div class="cta-overlay"> <span class="icon-white-slideshow-tiny icon-slideshow">.</span> </div></li><li class="go-to-slideshow-lightbox image" data-list-id="08297b50-59f6-11e3-9fdb-ceabaa1ad939" data-list-total="11" data-type="image" data-uuid="e1b14e80-59f5-11e3-baff-6f1558efce31"> <div class="img-wrap-16x9"> <img class="" data-src-2x="" height="360" src="http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/Jbaew.zy39xwOYdd6RPlSg--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Y2g9MTY4ODtjcj0xO2N3PTMwMDA7ZHg9MDtkeT0wO2ZpPXVsY3JvcDtoPTExNztxPTc1O3c9MjA4/http://l.yimg.com/os/publish-images/news/2013-11-30/4a20c7dc-4792-441e-ad66-3ab40c243373_452618473_10.jpg" width="640" /> </div><div class="cta-overlay"> <span class="icon-white-slideshow-tiny icon-slideshow">.</span> </div></li><li class="go-to-slideshow-lightbox image" data-list-id="08297b50-59f6-11e3-9fdb-ceabaa1ad939" data-list-total="11" data-type="image" data-uuid="e1b19ca0-59f5-11e3-be74-fb7d084b8929"> <div class="img-wrap-16x9"> <img class="" data-src-2x="" height="360" src="http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/t_hSQ9RdQDcnK_lpSBCHTA--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Y2g9MTY4ODtjcj0xO2N3PTMwMDA7ZHg9MDtkeT0wO2ZpPXVsY3JvcDtoPTExNztxPTc1O3c9MjA4/http://l.yimg.com/os/publish-images/news/2013-11-30/b09e18f4-a381-4db0-b2b5-88230bfa15c8_452618475_10.jpg" width="640" /> </div><div class="cta-overlay"> <span class="icon-white-slideshow-tiny icon-slideshow">.</span> </div></li><li class="go-to-slideshow-lightbox image" data-list-id="08297b50-59f6-11e3-9fdb-ceabaa1ad939" data-list-total="11" data-type="image" data-uuid="e1b28700-59f5-11e3-9ee9-8aeef0cd08a5" id="yui_3_9_1_1_1385894903901_1482"> <div class="img-wrap-16x9"> <img class="" data-src-2x="" height="360" src="http://l2.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/W7gjTvKqN32QAJFUdvreqQ--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Y2g9MTY4ODtjcj0xO2N3PTMwMDA7ZHg9MDtkeT0wO2ZpPXVsY3JvcDtoPTExNztxPTc1O3c9MjA4/http://l.yimg.com/os/publish-images/news/2013-11-30/4b25c634-9b3f-4eef-b210-69a73b60d7ed_452618477_10.jpg" width="640" /> </div><div class="cta-overlay" id="yui_3_9_1_1_1385894903901_1488"> <span class="icon-white-slideshow-tiny icon-slideshow">.</span> </div></li></ul>More than 450,000 Christmas Lights illuminates the House. Rolf Vogt started the Decoration of his House in 2000. Since then, thousands of People come to the House every year. 75 Percent of the lights are LED lights, to save energy and money, Vogt says.

House decorated with over 450,000 Christmas lights

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