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Rising airfares for summer are grounding some travelers
Climbing airfares ground some fliers
The average price of a trip is up, but those looking hard for deals may find that they're in luck
Every year, Houston attorney Steve Loden and his partner fly to Indianapolis for a family reunion.
But skyrocketing airfares this year will force them to make the 1,000-mile-journey by car.
"It will be a fun road trip," said Loden, who recently found each round-trip ticket now costs $520, up from $340 for last year's trek to Indiana.
Gasoline prices are also high, but Loden figures he and his partner will save money because they won't have to rent a car in Indianapolis or board their German shepherd, Arbie. Instead, the dog will join them on their car trip.
People are changing their summer vacation plans as rising jet fuel prices are expected to lift airfares by more than 15 percent.
The average domestic round-trip ticket will be $561, up from $485 last summer, according to Microsoft's Bing Travel.
But that's not across the board.
You can fly from Houston to the Big Apple without taking as big a bite from your bank account as last year, because fares to New York dropped 17 percent to $358.
To get to Las Vegas, though, you'll need to ante up $440, up 21 percent from last year, Bing reported.
"The airlines are treating summer as though it were Thanksgiving or Christmas holiday," said Rick Seaney, CEO of FareCompare.com.
Airlines hiked airfares seven times since the beginning of the year because of the higher fuel prices, Seaney said.
And some flights now include hefty fuel surcharges.
Warren Chang, vice president of Fly.com, a subsidiary of TravelZoo, recently searched for a flight from Newark to London and found a $300 fare. But the fuel surcharge was $350.
Such surcharges and airfares are driving consumers to scour travel sites in search of deals, but many aren't clicking the buy button, he said.
"We are seeing a pickup in search traffic overall," Chang said. "We see that people are searching for airfare, but there's slightly less bookings."
Consumers keep looking because they want vacations they may have postponed last year or in 2009, Chang said.
"Some people put it off because of the state of the national economy," said John Lindlof, owner of the Quality Travel & Cruises American Express in Spring. "After they skipped one vacation, now they're ready to take the vacation that they deserve. That's why there was such a rebound last year."
He originally anticipated a pickup in his business compared to last year, which was better than 2009. But once airfares started to climb, he revised his expectations and now predicts his sales will be flat.
The declining demand caused by higher airfares has pushed airlines to reduce their flights, which means consumers who do fly will often will crowd into full planes.
"I think it will be the fullest we've seen maybe in history," Seaney said.
Hitting the highway
The higher airfares are driving more people to make the choice Loden did, to drive instead of buying plane tickets, said George Hobica, Airfarewatchdog president.
"The only people who fly at any cost are expectant grandmothers," Hobica said.
Despite the higher fares, deals can be found.
For example, violence in northern Mexico is discouraging travelers from visiting other parts of the nation, and that means airlines are offering deals to the Yucatan resorts of Cancun and Cozumel, Lindlof said.
The recent natural disaster in Japan means fewer Japanese tourists are visiting Hawaii, so the state has better deals to draw travelers from the U.S. mainland, Lindlof said.
"There's always deals out there," Seaney said. "As you get deeper into summer, Florida gets cheaper. The reason for that is hurricane jitters."
Downgrading elsewhere
Consumers who are willing to pay higher airfares may adjust other parts of their travel plans.
"Instead of maybe staying at a five-star hotel, they stay at a four-star property. They're still taking vacations, but they may be scaling back," Lindlof said.
Hotel prices, though, are also up 7 percent, averaging $242 a night versus $227 last year, Bing found.


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Browns owner Jimmy Haslam has insisted throughout that he knew nothing about the fraud being committed at his chain of truck stops.
But the list of his employees who admit to it continues to grow.
According to Michael Sangiacomo of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, three more employees of Pilot Flying J pleaded guilty to federal charges Tuesday of cheating trucking compannies out of fuel discounts.
One of the Tuesday pleas, from regional sales manager Kevin Clark, includes an agreement to cooperate with the investigation. Two other employees pleaded guilty last month to conspiracy charges, and promised to cooperate as well.
A spokesman for Haslam continued to portray it as an isolated problem.
"We are disappointed in the actions of these employees towards our customers," spokesman Tom Ingram said. "We assure our customers that our five-step plan to correct any wrongdoing and to make certain these actions do not happen again is ongoing, and that our customers' confidence in the vast majority of our 23,000 team members nationwide remains well-placed."
The investigation continues, and with more employees (of sufficiently high positions) offering information to prosecutors, it seems inevitable that that majority will continue to shrink.

subset: commoncrawl


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Feedjit needed a new button or icon design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 15 designs submitted by 8 freelance designers.
Feedjit needs 8 icons as described in brief.
UPDATE:We've changed the brief. IMPORTANT: We no longer want the icons in a colored circle or square. We want the icons stand alone (ie, no borders, circles, squares) and they can be any color. Please be sure to use some colors, we don't want black and white icons.
1. Search engine icon - use a magnifying glass
2. Keyword search icon - use a magnifying glass with some text such as abc or ABC
3. Website - the text WWW
4. Page on a website - a webpage
5. World map - a world map/globe/earth
6. City skyline
7. Gold medal
8. Gold trophy
Samples of icons that we like:
We are open to suggestions of other ways to represent the needed events. If you think another image will depict the event better, please suggest it - we love creativity!
- 32x32 size
- Need PNG format with alpha tranparency
- Fun looking icons
- 8 icons
- 32x32 size
- Need PNG format with alpha tranparency
- Will pay winner via Paypal
no black and white icons


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Comments/Context: There is something altogether astonishing about an important early 1970s project by a major Japanese photographer making its US debut in 2013. Beyond these sense that collectively we have been asleep at the historical wheel to some extent, it certainly reminds us that the history of photography is more serendipitous and incomplete that we might assume, especially for artists working outside our normal purview.
Takuma Nakahira is a clearly photographer that we should be more familiar with here in the US. He was a founding member of the late 1960s Provoke magazine, whose rough, grainy, blurred style marked a radical shift in both aesthetics and conceptual underpinnings from what had come before, and whose influence remains durably important some four decades later. This show recreates a project Nakahira did for the Seventh Paris Biennale in 1971, where he took pictures on the streets of Paris during the day, developed them at night, and displayed them all in an ever changing wall and floor exhibit that ran for several days. Stylistically, think of it as the dark, brash, moodiness of Provoke as applied to classic Parisian subject matter: Metro stations, street corner cafes, parked cars, vernacular signage, and pedestrian life. His images are full of shadows and eerie, feral glows, marked by haunting advertising fragments, the glare of fluorescent lights, and the dirty elegance of smashed taillights in watery gutters.
In addition to the many single images on view, the show also contains a handful of multi-image sequences that stop time down to fractions of a second. A man walks behind the trunk of a parked car, a woman looks at her wallet on a bright street corner, a dog sniffs the subway grates, and pedestrians gingerly step through the dark fingers of spilled water on the sidewalk. In each mini vignette, there is a cinematic sense of something happening, but a breakdown in the ability of the pictures to convey the entire narrative; the ordinariness of the everyday action is left to speak for itself. The parallels to Paul Graham's recent fragment of time street scenes are unmistakable, so much so that I wonder about whether Graham was aware of Nakahira or not.
The other fascinating thing about this particular project is how it prefigures many of the conceptual threads that would infiltrate photography in the coming years. Nakahira's effort is a mix of three distinctly separate parts: street photography with an eye for direct observation and reuse of media images, process-centrism in terms of his hand crafted approach to making and displaying the images, and an almost performance-like quality to the whole endeavor, as though the physical photographs were just part of the larger visual interaction he was having with the city around him. With the benefit of hindsight, the project looks remarkably innovative, its power and originality for the most part undiluted by the passing of time.
When an important talent like Nakahira is rediscovered (or reintroduced to a previously oblivious audience), I can't help but think of it as a jamming of a new puzzle piece into a previously completed scene, an action that forces all the other pieces to readjust and reconsider their own relationships and interconnections. Whether causality and influence can be traced through such a network is ultimately unknowable, but it certainly sets my mind on flights of fancy, weaving an artist like Nakahira back into brocades that hadn't previously included him.
Collector's POV: All of the prints in this show are priced at $3500. Aside from a few photobooks, Nakahira's photographs have been largely absent from the secondary markets, so gallery retail is likely the best/only option for those collectors interested in following up.
Rating: ** (two stars) VERY GOOD (rating system described here)
Transit Hub:
Through July 26th
Yossi Milo Gallery
Yossi Milo Gallery
245 Tenth Avenue
New York, NY 10001


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Men's sweater with removable hood
Scuderia Ferrari Store Exclusive
This men's sweater with removable hood does not conceal its sports soul. Versatile and transformative.
The new men's Scuderia Ferrari sweater is created in a special cotton mix technical fabric to ensure that it offers optimum breathability. It stands out for its practical removable hood, high neck and front zip fastening, customized with a motif inspired by the brake lights of the Formula 1 Ferrari single-seater. The front of the sweater is enhanced with welt pockets while the lower hem and cuffs are ribbed.
- Full central zipper
- Rib knit cuffs and hem
- Removable hood
- Composition: 90% Cotton, 10% Polyester
We offer both Standard and Express shipping: choose the service that best meets your needs at checkout.
We provide an easy return service: just ship your items back to us with a shipping service of your choice within 30 days of delivery.


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One-on-One Counseling
Whether you are a corporate executive, an artist, a homemaker, a student, retired, or starting out; from adolescent to senior, from sedentary to elite athlete, Heidi will meet you one-to-one to help create an action plan that will help you move toward your wellness goals.
One-on-one individual consultations can be arranged by contacting The Women's Sports Medicine Center at the Hospital For Special Surgery at 212-606-1345.
Contributor To National Media
Heidi frequently appears on national media outlets an an expert on the latest-breaking nutrition-related stories, evergreen nutrition, and general lifestyle segments.
Speaker / Presenter
Heidi is available to speak on a wide variety of nutrition topics. Whether speaking to a group of ten or 1000, her energetic and personal style engages the audience and provides actionable real life information. She customizes a presentation to meet the needs of her audience.
Heidi can help deliver the message you want out there and is happy to fit into your format. However creative you want to get, whether it is a desk side editor's chat, a satellite TV, web or radio tour, speaking to the science behind the product or the attributes of your product, to the public, to media, within industry.
Sports Teams Nutrition Consulting
Leveraging her expertise and practical experience, Heidi offers a variety of options when working with sports teams and personalizes her services and approach based on the need of the organization. She works closely with the medical and strength and conditioning staffs to provide a comprehensive approach to the well being and performance of the athletes. Services include:
- Team Education – Heidi conducts presentations and workshops for athletes and/or coaches, and develops materials and interactive displays on topics such as nutrient timing, recovery, hydration, training diets, pre- and post-game meals, protein, carbohydrate and/or fat needs, vitamin and minerals, stocking your kitchen or dorm room, supplements, snacking and eating on the road.
- One-on-One Counseling – The individual needs of players are met through one-on-one counseling and range in topics from nutrition to maximize sports performance to weight management.
- Health Committee Member and Advisor – Working with sports medicine team, Heidi serves on health committees that oversee policy and athlete case management.
- Cooking Classes – For athletes who find themselves living on their own for the first time, Heidi assists with teaching the basics of grocery shopping and cooking.
- Resting Metabolic Rate Assessment – Heidi is able to measure resting metabolic rate to better estimate caloric needs during training, off-season or rehabilitation.
- Coaches Clinics – Heidi will answer questions and help highlight, illustrate, and clarify the top sports nutrition topics that are top of mind for coaches, athletic trainers, strength and conditioning coaches and/or medical staff.
- Training Table Coordination – Heidi works with the cooking staff to develop a training table and menu that meets that needs of athletes and tastes great.
Industry Consultant
Heidi consults with industry on trends, ingredients, positioning and promotion.
A partial list of clients include:
- GoGo squeeZe
- Sabra
- Au Bon Pain (Advisory Board member)
- Pepsi Co (snack division)
- Quaker Oatmeal
- Gatorade
- Tropicana
- Milk PEP
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- KIND Bars
Columnist / Editor
In addition to having been a contributing editor to Men's Health and Self magazines, Heidi has authored two columns: "Ask the Weight Loss Coach" for Men's Health and "Food Guru" in Self Magazine.
Areas of Expertise
- Sports Nutrition: team and individuals
- Eating for Enhanced Performance
- Metabolic Fitness
- Weight Management
- Health Promotion & Wellness
- Longevity & Diet
- Fitness & Exercise
- Female Athlete Triad
- Nutrition Therapy for lowering cholesterol, hypertension and regulating blood sugar
- Child Nutrition


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Mike Blabac has been shooting photos since the late 80s, has been DC's photographer since the late 90s, and now has a photo book due out soon that's dedicated to a life's work in skateboarding. Read on to see where he got his start, how he came up, and get a sneak peak and some of the iconic photos to be included in his book.
How did your book come about?
Two years ago Ken Block hit me up about it. At that point I'd been at DC for eight years and I'd been involved in so much stuff, whether it was Danny jumping the Great Wall or the Mega Ramp stuff, plus there is a lot of photos of people who are really important in the history of skateboarding—people like Anthony, Stevie, Smith and Colin. It's an honor for me to be part of skateboarding and to do this book. (Interview cont'd below.)
But this book is not going to be just DC riders.
No, that's something that Ken didn't want. It's naturally going to be a DC thing because that's what I've done for two thirds of my career, but he wanted the photos I shot of Kalis and Danny when I was a kid, plus all the Girl, S.F, and Mad Circle photos.
How did you get into skateboard photography?
I started skating in the mid 80s and I was interested in photography and always intrigued by cameras as a kid. I'd shoot a whole roll of film trying to get one perfect photo. It didn't really click with me until I started looking at skate mags—that was '86/87. I had this uncle who knew about photography, so I'd dog-eared some pages and asked him, "How they did this and how they did that? Why was this so bright?" He explained to me what fill flash was and what a fisheye did. So then I was really intrigued, because not only do these guys get to see the best skateboarding, but they also get a chance to make all these awesome images. That's the most important thing to me. If I get too old to hop a fence and end up doing commercial work… but that stuff doesn't mean anything to me—when you're looking through a Wired mag and you see a Sony ad, you don't give a shit about it, but as a skater, when your flicking through a skateboarding magazine you do. Being able to shoot guys like Danny and for people to be stoked, then that means more to me than anything. I think that's why we all do it.
When did you get your first break?
I moved to San Francisco at the beginning of '94. I knew that there was a lot of skating going on at the time, but it wasn't until I went to EMB and was like holly shit, there's Mike Carroll, Jovantae [Turner], and Scott Johnston, all these guys. I didn't even shoot photos, all I did was skate. I didn't carry a camera 'cause I couldn't skate. I ran out of money and started working at the GAP folding T-shirts at five o'clock in the morning—that was a little hard on me after partying all night. So Aaron Meza and Scott Johnston introduce me to Mike Carroll and Karl Watson, so fortunately I wasn't one of the guys that [James] Kelch would clown. So gradually I became friends with those guys ,and Scott clued me in and was like, "Why don't you shoot photos of skating?" I'd shot this Pure Wheels ad of him and got paid two-hundred bucks, which was way more than I was making at the GAP, so that's when it all started. I knew some of the Deluxe dudes and would skate the DMV curbs with them, but it was Scott who helped me get a job helping out Justin Girard at Mad Circle—I worked for there for three years. They've always kept it real up there. Sometimes areas are hotter than others, and I was really lucky to be there and be friends with those guys. I got to see rad skating and got to skate every day. I didn't have a car for four years, all day on the buses.
Then you moved down to Los Angeles.
My wife Tricia and I were having a baby and her family was down in L.A. But once again I got lucky because after I moved down, just through sheer coincidence, Mike Carroll, Chico, and Scott moved down too. There weren't a lot of people shooting in L.A at the time and I was out with those guys every day, which led to starting to work for Girl, which was amazing. That's a big reason why I'm here today talking to you.
Would you say that L.A is now the forefront of skateboarding?
Yeah absolutely, it really is. I wish that I was up there more, but I'm down here, trying to put S.D on the map.
San Diego has had a great resurgence in the last couple of years?
Yeah, hopefully we can help it more. In L.A that's where everyone is at, there's a lot of companies up there too.
Plus it never got shut down.
Yeah, if you see a sequence at Lockwood, you get the same feeling you did when you saw it eleven years ago—it's a rad L.A school. The kids that go there every day are real skaters and that's sick.
What year did you start working for DC?
In '99, that just naturally happened. At that time a lot of guys I shot rode for DC. It was a rad opportunity for me. When I first hung out with Ken Block I was impressed. Mike Ballard had left and Bird called me to see if I wanted to work for them. I wanted more than anything to stay in skateboarding, and they gave me the opportunity to grow with them and do some crazy shit over the years.
What's the difference between working for a magazine and working for a shoe company?
It's tough, when you work for a mag you can go out and shoot with whoever you want to shoot with, but with a company, love it or hate it, you have to deal with those ten dudes or how many guys are on the team. It's good because you do get really close to the team dudes.
So your role is broader than just a photographer—you're like the dad.
I do get called that from time to time. I'm a little older now and I have a family, and I only want what's best for all the guys on the team. I've been around long enough to see people take a hard left, and I want to see the guys grow as a friend not a guy who works at DC. So they have to do their job to help DC, but they also have to do their jobs to help themselves and that in turn helps me. It helps me to get the best shit, and when they aren't doing that, I have a problem with it.
Do you have to have the little sit-down talk now and then?
Yeah I have, even though it's not in my job description. I'm trying to help them as a friend. Sometimes I'll look to other people in the industry to help out. I've had the opportunity to do other things at DC, but I think I do best in the streets doing my thing—trying to do cool stuff and being with the team.
The DC skate team is still the core of it.
It started as a skate company and it doesn't matter to me if they start a bowling team, skateboarding is still the number one thing at DC. I don't care what anyone has to say. That means a lot to me. I still want to shoot ads and I still get a buzz when people like them—that means more to me than anything.
What does it take to be a good skateboard photographer?
Number one is that you have to be a really good photographer. I've learned a lot over the years and I'm still learning. Number two is that you have to have the patience of a saint, whether it's dealing with the team or dealing with the people who are trying to stop you from skateboarding—those are two of the main traits you're gonna need.
Whose work did you look up to while growing up?
Luke Ogden, Spike [Jones] and Grant [Briiain]. At that time in the 80s, they were doing cool shit—like Grant's Miller pole cam shot was incredible. Those images made me want to do it. When I was a kid in Michigan I had no idea that things would work out like they did. I was shooting Bill Danforth at a demo and it was awesome.
Whose work do you like these days?
Ollie [Barton] is one of the main ones, his work is fucking amazing—he's by far one of the best dudes out there. Obviously Atiba [Jefferson], [Jon] Humphries, Mike O'Meally—I have respect for anyone who dedicates their life to going out and shooting skateboarding photos.


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Sedapal, the Lima Potable Water and Sewer System Service in Peru, has awarded a contract to Televent, an information technology company based in Madrid, to update the system controlling the La Atarjea water treatment plant to the new OASys DNA 7.5 version.
In 2008, the service produced more than 1 billion cubic meters of drinkable water to supply the cities of Lima and Callao.
The new supervisory control and data acquisition system will enable the plant to have real time control of operations. The software, which verifies user identity, will help prevent unauthorized access to critical plant information.


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Return to Transcripts main page
Signs of Economic Recovery, But Where Are the Jobs? Examining the Housing Market
Aired September 4, 2010 - 13:00 ET
ALI VELSHI, CNN HOST, YOUR MONEY: There are fresh signs of an economic recovery, but where are the jobs. Welcome to YORU MONEY, I'm Ali Velshi. Christine Romans is off this week. This past week we got the job numbers for August. There is no green in August numbers. In fact the jobs are down; we lost 54,000 jobs in August. But the private sector, private businesses, companies actually added 67,000 jobs that is the Holy Grail. We want companies growing. We don't need government growing. Companies growing mean that the emphasis on economic growth has fallen where it is supposed to. Stephen Moore is an editorial writer with the "Wall Street Journal, he is a respected sparring partner and a good friend of this show. Last time you and I talked about jobs Stephen, I described it as a glass one quarter full. I stick with that assessment given today's news. You? STEPHEN MOORE, EDITORIAL WRITER, "WALL STREET JOURNAL:" Yes, Ali, I generally agree with what you just said. The really good news in this report s we got some private sector job growth which you are right that is the mother's milk of the economy. And so I was encouraged by that and by the way this report was a lot better than a lot of economists were forecasting. Most of the job losses as you said were the layoff of census workers. Those were part-time workers, but you know the thing we have to focus on Ali, we need to generate about 125,000 jobs a month just to keep the unemployment rate where it is because we have natural growth in the labor force. So we have got to do a lot better. VELSHI: And Stephen that is just to keep the unemployment rate where it is. We don't want the unemployment rate where it is at 9.6 percent. It ticked up to 9.6 percent a less important number than the jobs gained or lost. But the fact is, if we want to bring that down to where we were before this recession under 5 percent, we have to add more than 125,000 jobs a month. MOORE: No question about it, in fact I did some of the numbers Ali in preparation for this show. We have to create about 250,000 jobs a month for the next two years, just to get the unemployment rate down to 8 percent, which is still not great shakes. VELSHI: Let me introduce Rutgers University Professor Bill Rodgers, he is a former chief economist with the U.S. Department of Labor. Bill, let me just break this down. Just so that we are not constantly talking about numbers, because in America jobs are much more than numbers, they are your livelihood. This is a demographic breakdown of the jobs situation in America. So remember, we just said the unemployment rate in America is 9.6 percent. That is the general population. Adult men are actually suffering a greater unemployment rate than the general population, 9.8 percent just a little bit higher. Look at women 8 percent, substantially lower than the general population. Teen-agers this is not a fantastic time to be a teenager looking for a job, 26.3 percent unemployment. White people in general 8.7 percent lower than the national average. African-Americans almost double the national average 16.3 percent. Hispanics 12 percent and Asians 7.2 percent lower than the national average. Bill, we have talked about it before, but many of our viewers may not understand the nuances of that. What does that demographic break down tell you about the economy that we are in? WILLIAM RODGERS, FORMER CHIEF ECONOMIST, U.S. DEPT. OF LABOR: Well, the economy doesn't treat everybody the same. Unemployment rates vary by race and gender. They vary by your educational attainment, they vary by your age and this recession has been very, very -- similar to past recessions that those who are at the lower part of the income scale or that job ladder, because of lower levels of education, less skill, age, they have born the brunt of this recession but one thing that has also been brought out in the data, even when there weren't major changes in these unemployment rates, it is similar, but during this recession but before this recession started, men and women have similar unemployment rates and men because their exposure in construction and manufacturing took a greater hit. VELSHI: And women's exposure to education and health care in those areas that have been showing growth in our economy. RODGERS: One area that is really important about this recovery is that what Stephen said I agree with him, you have to 125,000 new jobs per month. Because if we are still in this average of 90,000 per month that we have been since January these are the various groups we just highlighted, they are going to be the slowest ones to sort of get back into moving from those side streets of America to the Main Streets of America. VELSHI: OK, very good point. Tig Gilliam I want to ask you a question, Tig is the CEO of Adecco another great friend of our show. You have your finger on the pulse of employment and in particular of temporary employment. There has been a remarkable growth in temporary employment, freelance employment, contract employment, even part time employment. You have said to us before that is a natural part of the process, of -- coming out of a recession. Is it still natural or are we spending too long in this world of more temporary and permanent and no benefits jobs being added as opposed to permanent benefits added jobs. TIG GILLIAM, CEO, ADECCO: This is part of the recovery process. So as the recession ends and we see economic growth again, it begins from an employment perspective with temporary employees and that began last summer and we have now added 390,000 temporary jobs in the market. Those began in the industrial skills, in fact in some of those lower wage skills you were talking about and then it moves into the professional skills and that is exactly what we are seeing in the recovery so far. Temporary employment is up some 20 percent year on year and that is moving into IT skills and finance and accounting skills. Legal skills we saw about 4,000 job growths in many of those categories in this report, in IT and management services, in finance and accounting. VELSHI: And you are saying in the report is that reflected in your business you are seeing the same things. GILLIAM: Absolutely. We see the same thing in our business and in fact we're talking about last month's report where we saw this decline in temporary employment, didn't make any sense. So I think now we have confirmed with the August data that that was just a blip in the data, that the temporary employment is still leading the jobs recovery. Now I agree with you 67,000 private sector jobs is not enough to get us out of this quickly, but if I look at the temporary side and the average workweek we are still moving in the right direction. VELSHI: Hey Stephen let me ask you this again, you know sometimes on this show we have some great opportunities for discussions, ideological discussions, even heated discussions but in a great way. Today isn't the time for that, because today is the time to help our viewers understand all the nuances of the single most important economic report of any given month at a time that could be a turning point. So I want to break down the last few months' job losses and job creation between government and the private sector. Let's go over to the wall and I can show you what this looks like, because I want you to explain to our viewers what the distinction is. If you go back to January there were very few jobs created in the first place so the distinction didn't matter all that much. In February, we saw government jobs being lost, private sector jobs being gained. March, you always want that proportion; you want more private sector jobs and fewer government jobs. You see the same thing, March, February, and April and then May, you see this massive jump in government jobs and a drop in private sector jobs. June, loss in the public sector, gain in the private sector, same pattern here. Give our viewers a sense of why this is important. MOORE: First of all, it is not a complicated equation here Ali, as you know the big bump up in the numbers I think in June for the government employment that was those census workers, the people knocking on doors and asking people to fill out their census forms. We all knew and in fact we said this back in June when I was on this show that those jobs would disappear later in the summer and that is why you see the big decline in the government jobs that will probably last another month or two. The other thing that is going on with government employment is the federal government is still hiring a lot of people because of the stimulus, but at the state and local level where they have balanced budget requirements and they to pay their bills they have had to layoff workers. VELSHI: That is exactly right. OK, Stephen stay right there. Thanks to the two of you, Bill Rodgers always a pleasure to see you Tig Gilliam thanks very much. Stephen I want you to stick around for a minute. Millions of Americas remain out of work. And I want to have ivory tower discussion about jobs. This is about real stuff that matters. You want to know what Washington plans to do about it; we are going to do that for you. President Obama's labor secretary is with us coming up next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) VELSHI: All right we want to talk to you not only about what is happening out there in the workforce but what Washington has planned for it. Hilda Solis is the United States Secretary of Labor, Secretary Solis thank you for being with us. HILDA SOLIS, SECRETARY OF LABOR: How are you? VELSHI: Very good, good to see you again. Listen, you got a job, you have a great job, I have abused though lately that if there were a reality show called the "Worst job in America" you might want to be a contestant on it, to be the labor secretary with such persistently high unemployment and jobs being lost. Tell me what troubles you about these jobs pictures that we keep on seeing? SOLIS: Well what we are seeing is actually we have been able to add private sector jobs. If you remember when the president took over the administration we were losing well over 740,000 jobs. In the last eight months we've seen on an average about 90,000 private sector jobs added. This report that just came out changes a bit, we go up a bit. But I would say that it is steady, I think the path that we are on is very good. You see increases in manufacturing and in construction for the first time in a while, about 19,000 more jobs added this time but also in health care that continues to grow. So I see in different parts of the private sector economy that there is some increase occurring but certainly not as fast and as strong as we would like to see it. That is why we need to have tax reform so we can help small businesses, so more lending can be made available through community banks to small business owners. VELSHI: Let me ask you this, I want to go back in time. Now a lot of people go back in time to determine who is to blame for this economy and this mess, I want to take a different route I want to take you back in time to when you were a member of Congress and one who is particularly close to labor and to working people. How what do you say to them because 40 percent of the labor force has been out of work for six months or longer. What you are saying about tax cuts and about goosing small business and allowing them to get the loans that they need to get is important. There is sort of an urgency growing out there that is leading to a dissatisfaction about the end of this economy. So I'm almost looking to speak to Congresswoman Solis for a moment and say what do you tell working people out there who say through no fault of their own they continue to be out of work? SOLIS: Well you know I recall when I was a House member long before the recession was really tagged as a recession in the area that I represented in East Los Angeles, Southern California, we had unemployment rates as high as 9 percent. So for people in those communities they have been suffering long before the recession was actually called. I would hope that previous administration would have moved quicker so we wouldn't have had to come out of that ditch and we are finally coming out of that ditch. It is slower because this is a very hard recession. But I think that the tools that we have been able to implement and the fact that we were able to get recovery dollars to provide a safety net for unemployed people, especially dislocated workers, that is what I'm in charge of unemployment insurance, but also equally looking at investments in green technology and training programs. We have given well over $750 million in green renewable energy training and also health care and IT and broadband. VELSHI: I want to ask you this. Unemployment insurance which you are responsible for and it is many people's life line is under constant attack in this country. There is a growing group of people who say extension of the unemployment benefits to the long term unemployed actually keep them at home and not getting a job. I happen to not believe that, I don't think the data proves that. Bu the fact is you are overseeing a program that is under attack in Congress. SOLIS: Well, let me tell you, for everyone dollar that the federal government gives through the UI program 1.60 is generated out in the community. And I can tell you that businesses are getting some benefit because people are purchasing goods and services, it keeps the electricity on, keeps power on and gas in the tank so someone can continue to keep looking for that job. What I hear is that people need that as a lifeline and they have earned it and we should be able to stand up tall and provide that support until we get out of the woods. We are not out of the woods yet. VELSHI: Secretary, one very last quick question for you. You talk about people retraining for jobs. The government doesn't do much of that and a lot of people think the government shouldn't do much of that. How do we deal with people retraining? Do they have to watch shows, like ours and find out what industries are hot and retrain in them themselves? SOLIS: Well you know what, they can go online to dol.gov and look up information right away as to where the job growth is occurring. Find out if they need to try to get new training to get into these jobs and where they are located. So I would direct people to dol.gov, call this and this and I want to wish everyone a Happy Labor Day. VELSHI: All right. Secretary Solis what a pleasure to talk to you thanks very much for joining us. Stephen Moore is an editorial writer with the "Wall Street Journal." He is with us and Karen Tumulty is a national political reporter with the "Washington Post" and Lex Harris is the managing editor of CNNMONEY.com. Steven, I meant it when I said it. I do not envy Hilda Solis her position because how much can the government actually do to fix this problem that we are in right now? You yourself said that the private sector needs to be creating jobs, what role does the government have in helping the private sector create jobs? MOORE: Well look I worked for the Reagan administration and we had a pretty terrible recession back in 1980, 1981 and 1982. Actually we took a different approach; we cut tax rates for businesses. VELSHI: Your tax rates were much higher back then. MOORE: They were. But the point is the only point I'm making is that we had a really strong recovery. In fact at this stage of the business cycle we had 8 percent growth which is five times higher than what we have now. So all I'm saying is maybe we ought to try that approach since the stimulus approach of spending hasn't worked very well. VELSHI: Well any approaches welcome to be talked about on this show. Karen Tumulty, your view of this that is going on right now, we have had mixed messages in this economy for the last several weeks, a growing chorus of people talking about a double dip recession, we actually have evidence in the last week that it is not that clear that is a double dip, it is certainly not a strong and robust recovery. KAREN TUMULTY, NATL. POLITICAL REPORTER, "WASHINGTON HOUSE:" Well as a political reporter, I'm putting this against my frame of reference which is Labor Day begins the final stretch to the midterm elections. Where the Democrats had hoped this would in fact turn out to be a recovery summer people aren't feeling it. So the narrative of this election appears to be set. At this point it is looking like it is going to be a very bad environment for Democrats and their argument going forward is going to be OK, you know you didn't think this has worked all that well, well to elect the Republicans would be a turn back words of the kind of policies that got us into . So this is the battleground, this is the frame of reference we will be seeing over the next couple of months. The president is going to kick this off on Monday at a Labor Day rally in Milwaukee. VELSHI: Lex, what is your view? You have been looking at this very carefully, what do you think? What do you think? LEX HARIS, MANAGING EDITOR, CNNMONEY.COM: I'm just so struck by how uncertain everybody is. When you seek to economists, no one really knows what they should be doing. When you talk to Stephen, he has a really clear sense of what has to happen here. VELSHI: That is why we love having him on. HARIS: Absolutely. But there are a lot of surveys last week. You hear economists cut taxes and keep them for the rich and don't keep them for the rich. No one is really sure behind it all is the concept of long-term debts and when do we tackle that problem? VELSHI: The question I get from a lot of people is who is right? I wish I knew. Stay with us all of you, next a few positive signs for the economy, but is that going to help? What Karen Tumulty says, is that going to help Democrats get elected November or does the house go to the republicans. Stay with us. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) VELSHI: All right. There are a few indicators out this week that are actually showing some positive signs for the economy. The absolute biggest one is that jobs number, now you are going to find this confusing, because we lost 54,000 jobs in August. How is that a positive sign? Well it is a positive sign for two reasons, that $54,000 -- 54,000 jobs is arrived at by a loss of 121,000 government jobs and a gain of 67,000 jobs in the private sector and that is where we want it to be. Also personal spending and personal income, they edged up in July. That is the most recent month that we have those numbers for and consumer confidence is up as well. Let's talk about this for a second, Karen Tumulty, you know the White House isn't doing this particular job; they are not selling this as well as they could. Partially because I think in some cases they would rather not be talking about the economy. What they are being held responsible for at the end of this summer is having called it the summer of recovery and that didn't happen, having talked last year about how the unemployment rate would be lower than it is today and that not happening. I think they would just have rather the economy just recovered and they don't have to talk about it before this midterm that is not the reality. TUMULTY: Yes, well they are not on the ballot in these mid terms. And certainly there are a lot of disappointed Democrats on Capital Hill. Because they had really hoped that this would be an August where they were talking about the economy. But instead, in part the White House's fault for some unforced errors and part our fault in the media. But we were talking about things like a mosque controversy in New York and a lot of things that again, did not I think get to the basic gut concerns at this moment of most American voters. VELSHI: Stephen, I want to just reflect on something for a second. You and I have worked together for a long time, back in the end of 2007 the beginning of 2008, President Bush and Henry Paulson and Ben Bernanke every few days would come out in the morning and make some sort of a pronouncement about the economy. It didn't make much sense markets didn't like it and it sort of just muddled the message. They kept on talking about how everything is OK. We saw President Obama come out on Monday, last Monday, and talk about the economy a little bit. I couldn't quite establish what point he was trying to make and then in the address to the nation about the end of combat in Iraq. He talked about the economy again it did not seem like a crystal clear message. Either they have got to have a message or they don't, what do they have to do as we head into the midterms and what are the Republicans doing in the absence of that message? MOORE: Well it is difficult for the president because as Karen will attest to, the two big issues with the American voters right now are number one, what we have been talking about jobs, and number two, the enormous dat and these big deficits and those two things are big problems for the president. But I'll say this on a positive note, Ali and this may surprise you, I actually think you are right that there are some positive signs in the economy this week and those concerns if you had asked me three weeks ago, are we going to have a double dip recession, I would have been very nervous about it. But now I think we are going to skate through this without another dip. So that is the positive news. I think we may slowly be climbing out of this. VELSHI: Mostly what has got you to shift your view on that? Is the consumer confidence or is it job numbers, what has made you think that it may not be as bad as it felt two or three weeks ago? MOORE: A couple of things have happened; the stock market has made a kind of nice recovery from the big lows. Number two we are seeing business spending again. I think that is a big deal. You can't have the jobs until they are purchasing new capitol equipment and technology that is happening. And of course the consumers finally starting to feel they can dip their toe in the water and go into the stores again. VELSHI: But Lex, businesses have some money piled up. We have seen some mergers and acquisitions which is a really interesting sign and consumers have got some money, we have a savings rate closing in on 6 percent from near zero before the recession. HARIS: That is a good thing. VELSHI: These are two good things, Lex, what is happening? Who is going to pull the trigger? HARIS: Well, it is not just some money it is a lot of money. We are talking about $2 trillion on the business side. Consumer balance sheets are back on track but they are scared and it is the thing we were talking about before which is if you know there is a lot of uncertainty about what is to come and what the government is going to do, what is the Fed going to do? VELSHI: And it is mostly what is my job going to be there in a year? HARIS: Absolutely. And home prices as well. So it doesn't put people in a good situation to spend money right now. VELSHI: Let me show you a poll that CNN Opinion Research Corp. has just conducted, back in July the approval rating for President Obama on the economy was 42 percent, it is now 40 percent, he has taken a bit of a dip in that poll. The disapproval was 57 percent in July, it is now 59 percent, Karen has this to do with the administration and the Obama administration and how they are dealing with the economy or has this got to do with how the economy feels? TUMULTY: I think it is more with how the economy feels. Because the administration every day will trot out some expert that will explain to you how their policies have helped keep the recession from being as deep as it might have otherwise been. VELSHI: Which is a hard thing to measure? TUMULTY: It is. It is pushing strength. The number I have been watching most closely that I think is really telling, is that in a number of polls if you ask people whether they or someone in their family has lost a job within the last year, the number is getting pretty close to 4 in 10 Americans saying yes and that is such a traumatic thing for a family to go through. It just colors all of your perceptions of everything else. VELSHI: High interest rates didn't stop people from spending but loosing a job or seeing someone lose a job has done it. Thank you to all of you, what a great discussion and adding some clarity to something that has once again become a very confusing issue. Karen Tumulty from, "The Washington Post," Lex Haris and Stephen Moore from the "Wall Street Journal." Always a pleasure to talk to all of you. The financial collapse began with the housing prices. Are home prices starting to stabilize? What does it mean to the value of your house or the one you want to buy coming up next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) VELSHI: A punch square in the nose to all you negative Nellie's. National home prices actually rose 3.6 percent over the past year that is according to the F & P Case Shiller Price Index. But, let me put that gain into context for you. It is not across the board. There are other factors at play. Susan Wachter is a professor of Real Estate and Finance at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Susan whether you look at case Shiller or you look at something else, other measures, the fact is that the price of an existing single family home on a nationwide basis is up year over year but we have seen some signs that there is trouble in the housing market. What is it from your prospective? SUSAN WACHTER, PROF. OF REAL ESTATE & FINANCES, THE WHARTON SCHOOL: The most recent data does show that prices are some what up. But the increase is decelerating and I think it is fair to say we are in a band of uncertainty. Prices may have risen but not a lot and prices are in a lull at this point. They may not actually fall, but we see signs of slowing of the price rice. We are not likely to see a price rise in the next few months. VELSHI: All right. So some people need to look at it on a national level for investments and how you look at the market. But many people, most of our viewers I think when you are thinking about housing you are thinking about the house you live in, that you might be trying to sell or the one you might be trying to buy. So lets take a look across the country, according to the study that I just cited, there are some hot housing markets out there, San Francisco continues to be hot, Sand Diego, Minneapolis, these are three cities with double digit gains in home prices. And then you look at the cold housing markets, and no big surprises there, Las Vegas continues to be down, that is an area that was over built, Charlotte a major banking center continues to get hit, Seattle is down 1.8 percent. What stands out to you Susan when you look at the housing market across the country and then you look at the differences in specific markets? Why are there such disparities? WACHTER: The two key factors are jobs, job growth and you hit upon that for example in Charlotte. Also the key factor is inventory. What is the over hang of houses in the market? For example, Florida is suffering from that. California actually doesn't have much of an over hang that is why it is recovering faster. VELSHI: How big a deal, I've got foreclosures on one side that are keeping the price of homes down because of that over hang and I have got fantastically low interest rates, which one is going to win out? WACHTER: On the long run the interest rates will win out. But in the short run it very well may be that over hang in the foreclosures that is the major concern. VELSHI: Does this look like a time to buy a house to you all things being equal? WACHTER: If you are in the market for the long run you are not timing the month to month. And housing prices are down and interest rates are at all time lows. But if you are looking to invest in and get a quick return unless you know your market and you are an investor this is a time where many people are on the side lines and that makes sense. VELSHI: I know your specialty is real estate and finance which means those interest rates, these 4.25 percent interest rates for a 30 year loan, on a conforming loan that isn't -- it is below $417,000 that is kind of amazing. I mean is this something we're going to see for a long time? WACHTER: A long time, absolutely not. But we are going to see it, I believe -- no one can forecast interest rates let's put that aside. But as long as the economy is in a lull then interest rates will be low. We don't see that job growth coming to take us out of this lull so fast maybe a year from now. So there is some time to take advantage of these all time historic low mortgage rates. VELSHI: All right. And then you pointed out something that I was going to say on a show that we are focused on this August jobs report, the reality is these two things cannot be looked at independently if jobs continue to be lost it is going to affect the housing market. Professor Susan Wachter what a pleasure to see you again. Come visit us often. Susan Wachter is a professor of real estate and finance at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Listen the safety net for teaching jobs is under attack. The fight over eliminating tenure in public schools and why some people say it is going to lead to better teachers. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) VELSHI: The question is how does an economy prosper, the answer is through strong public education. The economic down turn in education reform efforts like race to the top are testing some perks of the teaching profession particularly the jobs safety net called tenure. It is usually earned after three or four years of service in a public school district, but in one of the most competitive job markets in decade's tenure could get swept up in a wave of reform. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) I'm surprised that I got the job. VELSHI (voice over): It is smiles at new teacher orientation in Valley Stream, New York. For these new teachers school starts on Tuesday so does the clock on a three year probationary period they hope ends in tenure the union backed safety net that protects teachers from unfair dismissal. LUISA BATISTA-ESCANDON, TEACHER, VALLEY STREAM CENTRAL: It is kind of overwhelming, think about it, managing a classroom, making lesson plans every week, meeting deadlines, all of this is brand new to a first-year teacher and then on top of it trying to pass each year to get to tenure it is a lot. VELSHI: Just about every state has a tenure law on the books for public school teachers. In states that don't it is typically granted through local union contracts, its job security in a tight labor market, but critics say it prevents districts from removing bad teachers from the classroom. PATRICK MCGUININ, ASSOC. PROFESSOR, DREW UNIVERSITY: These due process protections were not intended to guarantee life time employment for teachers. But over time it became prohibitly expensive and time consuming for districts to fire a teacher and today really most districts don't even attempt to do so on grounds of performance even if it is quite clear that a teacher is ineffective. VELSHI: Teachers can be dismissed after receiving multiple poor evaluations in just 11 states. In other states like New York, those teachers can be fired but usually they are put on an improvement plan. The Obama administration race to the top is pressing states to rethink the evaluation process. Unions say they are on board. RANDI WEINGARTEN, PRES. AMERICAN FED. OF TEACHERS: At the end of the day, what teachers want more than anything else is to make a difference in the lives of kids and we need the tools and conditions to do so. Part of that is a teacher development and evaluation system that will help us improve teaching. VELSHI: For right now, these new teachers are more nervous about meeting their students then meeting administrator's expectations at the end of the year. Superintendent Marc Berrnstein isn't concerned, he said that a tight job market he hired top notch candidates. MARC BERNSTEIN, SUPERINTENDENT, VALLEY STREAM CENTRAL: It is definitely buyer's market. I'm really proud of what I see; I'm excited about what they are going to bring to the classroom. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) VELSHI: Just about every state has some form of tenure protection. Some states refer to it as a continuing contract or a term contract. Now for the 2009-2010 school year that is the one that has passed us, teachers in thirty two states the ones in yellow here were eligible for tenure after three years. Eight states they are in green, wait a full four years or longer, but ten states you will see them in red dolled out the job protection after just two years or less in the classroom. Critics think that is not enough time to make wise tenure decisions. The federal government's "Race to the Top" program has sparked reform in the past six months. In Florida, a measure to do away with tenure all together passed the state legislature, it was vetoed by the Governor Charlie Crisp. In Colorado student performance will now determine who is tenured in this tight labor market and in Washington, D.C. public schools Chancellor Michelle Reid has adopted an evaluation system in which a tenure or not a teacher can be fired after a single poor rating. All right. Coming up next, one of the most common interview mistakes could cost you the job, I'm going to tell you how you avoid making it. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) VELSHI: OK an important message for job hunters, do not use a real job interview to explore possible careers that sounds August. Our next guest says it happens all the time and it can cost you the job you so desperately need. Ellen Gordon Reeves is the author of the book with the best title in the world it is called "Can I wear my Nose Ring to the Interview" it is obvious by the way, the answer to that is no unless you are interviewing with a nose ring installer. Ellen, let's talk again, good to see you. Thank you for being with us. ELLEN GORDON REEVES, AUTHOR, "CAN I WEAR MY NOSE RING TO THE INTERVIEW:" Good to see you. VELSHI: This is a remarkable detailed and specific conversation we are going to have. You say there are three kinds of interviews. REEVES: Right there are, exploratory interviews that are people ignoring, there are informational interviews and concrete job interviews. VELSHI: OK, so that we think of that last one as the interview, but the fact is, you really have to think about these in three different baskets. Let's talk about the exploratory interview, this is the one we are cautioning people about, treat this separately. REEVES: Right because what is happening is people are going into interviews and they are being asked why do you want to be in sales. And they are saying, "I can do sales, I've done that for years but I could also do marketing." Well you think you are being flexible but you are really digging your own grave, you can't do you're soul searching in expiration in front of a potential employer. VELSHI: Somebody comes in and says this is the job for me and I've trained for it and I know. What is an exploratory interview? Who do you have that with? REEVES: So while you are in that phase, if you are not sure what direction you should go in, which is normal with transition from your layoff, you should be talking to people, friends, colleagues, out placement people, career centers, anyone but make it -- VELSHI: People who are not hiring you. REEVES: People who are not going to hire you. Sometimes you only get one shot at a person with a lead. So you have to make the distinction and understand what are you saving this person for? Can he or she hire you or should you be figuring out what you want to do with this person. VELSHI: Exploratory is the first step that is not enough to get you to the job interview. You are suggesting there is a second process, an informational interview. REEVES: That is right. And people confuse the two and sometimes the three. So in the second, informational interview once you have done the exploration and you understand what you might want you want to do and what you can do, then you figure out which industry and what company and you talk to people in that industry to find out as much as you can about those specific options. VELSHI: OK, for instance who? So the first one I get, friends, career advisers, places like that. Who is the informational interview, am I going to trade shows, how am I finding these people? REEVES: Exactly, so career fairs, trade shows, industry events, still use your friends and family but now you are saying I've identified an industry a company or even a specific opening and I want talk to someone who can help me get that position. VELSHI: Facebook, or linked in. REEVES: Linked in, social media, now I've identified, I want to work for CNN, and do you work there? VELSHI: This is it. So we have the exploratory interview and the informational interview, if you are thinking of changing careers until you hit those two you are saying don't go for a job interview. REEVES: Don't get your soul searching on me, OK, perception is reality. Who am I going to hire? The person who comes in and says oh I'm thinking about this, I don't know I could do this, I could do that or someone who convinces me that I want to work only for you, I want to work for this company, I figured it out, my cover letter, my resume, my interview feel exactly to that position. VELSHI: So you make it to that point and then have you the job interview. And there are some of our viewers who are in that position. They know what they want to do, maybe they are not switching careers, now give me some advice for the job interview. REEVES: Now here's the thing. Right. You cast doubt, you are out. In this economy there is no room for this. So now you'll have done all your homework, have the informational interview and you're going to convince me through your knowledge that I can do the job, I want the job, and I know what it takes to get it done and I can do this for you. VELSHI: This is straightforward, this is one of these conversations that seemed obvious at the beginning but I think there are lots of people who are casting about, it's good to cast about -- REEVES: Do the exploration, do it at the right time, the right place with the right people. Don't do it in a real job interview. VELSHI: Such excellent advice, such an excellent book, with such an excellent title, Ellen Gordon Reeves, is the author of "Can I Wear my Nose Ring to the Interview." Coming up next, why you may make some of the same mistakes as your favorite football or baseball star when it comes to money. But first in this weeks "Turn Around," Poppy Harlow takes a look inside a mobile cupcake business fueled by social media. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) (UNIDENTIFED FEMALE): All right, who's next? Who's next? Hey there. POPPY HARLOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Curbside cupcakes hasn't been around long, but Washington, D.C.'s, pink cupcake truck has developed quite a following, and social media savvy is driving the success of this small business. SAMUEL WHITFIELD, OWNER, COURTSIDE CUPCAKES: So now I'm tweeting and facebooking where my next stop is going to be and I'm telling them how long it's going to take me to get there. They should be ready for us when we get there. HARLOW: Fingers crossed. WHITFIELD: Fingers always crossed. I still get nervous every time I go to a new stop. KIM LUDWIG, CUSTOMER: We were passing by and we saw these guys, but we've been tracking them on facebook. NIKKI DOWLING, CUSTOMER: This is actually the third time I think it is that I've been out here and now I'm just addicted. Now I'm like wanting them every day. LUDWIG: Standing in line to get another one for somebody else. HARLOW: An online cupcake calendar along with constant tweets and facebook updates keeps the cupcake mobile in touch with customers. KRISTI CUNNINGHAM, OWNER, CURBSIDE CUPCAKES: We are about 15 minutes away we give the first stop notice saying, hey, we're almost there, we'll be there in about 15 minutes and we just say the general area. And then when we land, we tweet out again. HARLOW: And customer feedback is a must. CUNNINGHAM: For example, today we have a flavor on the menu that was the idea of a customer. Someone said why don't you make raspberry with lemon. We said, why not? Thanks for the idea. So today we have raspberry lemonade on the menu. HARLOW: And with 13,000 facebook fans and nearly 6,000 twitter followers, fans are usually just around the corner. CUNNINGHAM: The nature of the way we move makes the information immediate and relevant to people. So it's one thing to say, there's a cupcake truck around somewhere and it's another thing to say there's a cupcake truck outside my building exactly right now. So we're heading of to the square which is -- oh, hello! (UNIDENTIFIED MALE): Hi. CUNNINGHAM: You guys almost -- (UNIDENTIFED FEMALE): Oh, wow. CUNNINGHAM: You just caught us. HARLOW: Poppy Harlow, CNN, New York. (END VIDEO CLIP) (COMMERCIAL BREAK) VELSHI: Football season starts next weekend, but for all professional athletes it's not just about learning the playbook, it's about learning how to invest your money. The money they will make over their usually fairly short careers. For many of them it starts with the basics. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ED BUTOWSKY, FINANCIAL ADVISER: Keep your spending under control, you won't go broke. VELSHI (voice over): What if your entire professional career was five years or less? Over by age 30, and every dollar you earned had to last you for the rest of your life? WINFRED TUBBS, FORMER NFL PLAYER: Don't live like you're making $3 million, $4 million a year, live like you're making $150,000 a year. VELSHI: Million dollar salaries are a reality for today's professional athletes. But that doesn't guarantee a secure financial future, as financial adviser Ed Butowsky knows to well. BUTOWSKY: So what I did is I put together here just kind of a little summary of how and why athletes basically find themselves in financial distress. VELSHI: Butowsky runs financial boot camps teaching the basics of money management to current and former athletes who may be good at xs and os but not so good at dollar signs. TONY BRACKENS, FORMER NFL PLAYER: Most the athletes are visual learners. You show it to me, Ok, coach, I can do that. So if you break it down into layman's terms where we could really understand it, hey, this is this, this is this, if you do it like this, then you'll have this at the end, OK. VELSHI: Ed compares a well-balanced portfolio to a well balanced meal. BUTOWSKY: We all have an entree with our meal. You should have 50 to 65 percent of your money in public securities. VELSHI: Ed's ideal meal, 10 to 20 percent of what he calls veggie investments like hedge funds, precious metals and collectibles. Fruit, which equals real estate, 7 to 12 percent, and who doesn't like dessert? BUTOWSKY: It's OK to have some of the dessert. It's OK to have private equity. VELSHI: Former baseball all stars Cliff Floyd and Rondell White played a combined 32 years in the majors. They got paid to keep their eyes on the ball. They left keeping an eye on their money to the professionals. CLIFF FLOYD, FORMER MLB ALL STAR: You're getting ready for the season, you have kids, and you have so many distractions away from your finances. RONDELL WHITE, FORMER MLB ALL STAR: You're thinking about I need to get two hits tomorrow, or I struck out three times yesterday, so you're really concentrating on the game. VELSHI: Sound fundamentals are important in sports and investing what ever the size of your paycheck. BUTOWSKY: Regardless if you are a professional athlete, or if you are a homemaker, if you are a factory worker, if you are a CEO of a company, everyone makes basically the same mistakes with their money. (END VIDEO CLIP) VELSHI: All right. We've talked a lot on this show, we've talked about investment mistakes, we've talked about buying a house, we've talked about the unemployment situation, even what you do to get a job, how you interview for a job, how you research it, all of this is available on CNNMONEY.com and to great detail. There are calculators to help you understand whether now is the time to buy a house for you. Go to CNNMONEY.com. Do some noodling around there. There's an investor 101 on there, it is going to be very, very helpful to help you navigate through this very tricky economy that we are going through. That wraps up it for this show, but please do connect with us on twitter, I'm @Ali Velshi, Christine is @Christine Romans. Go to my facebook page as well, facebook.com/alivelshicnn leave your comments there. I read every last one of them. And make sure you join us every week for YOUR MONEY, Saturdays at 1:00 p.m. Eastern, Sunday's at 3:00 and I said log on 24/7 to CNNMONEY.com. Have a great weekend.


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Between January 1926 and December 2006, 41% of the S&P 500's total return was due not to the price appreciation of the stocks in the index but to the dividends its companies paid out. That's right -- a cool 41%. On an annualized basis, that amounts to 4.4 percentage points. To put it in dollars-and-cents terms, consider this: An investment of $10,000 over that stretch of time would have grown to $1,013,000 without dividends. With dividends kicked in and reinvested, however, that same sum would have been worth a whopping $24,113,000 by the end of the period.
Talk about the miracle of compound interest!
I learned most of the above from Motley Fool Income Investor, the investing service dedicated to cherry-picking the market's most promising dividend payers.
Another thing I've learned is that that paying a dividend doesn't tell you a thing about a company on its own. Indeed, a fat payout figure can even be a bad sign, if it's the result of a stock price that's hit the skids, or if an examination of the company's cash flows indicates that its payout is unsustainable.
If you're interested in checking out more of the dos and don'ts of dividend investing, here's a must-read article on the topic. Among other things, the write-up zeroes in on a metric known as the payout ratio and recommends gauging that number relative to a prospective investment's asset class. While there's no magic number to look for (or avoid, for that matter), the article does provide a cheat sheet for dividend payers:
- Real estate investment trusts with a funds-from-operations payout ratio below 85%
- Higher-growth common stocks that pay out less than 50% of free cash flow (FCF)
- Banks that pay out less than 60% of FCF
- Regulated utilities that pay out less than 80% of FCF
The commentary also encourages investors with inquiring minds to scrutinize the source of a company's cash, the caliber of its corporate management, and the historical reliability of the firm's payouts.
The power of dividends
What's that? You're a "story stock" kind of guy? Actually, I'd argue that even investors who generally favor racy fare such as Amgen
On the other hand, a fistful of comparatively buttoned-down low-yielders such as Microsoft
Want a little assistance in your quest for dividend dynamos? You're in luck. Income Investor has established quite the track record, identifying more than 70 top-notch dividend payers that have what it takes to beat the market over the long haul. The service's picks have outclassed the S&P's total return since the newsletter first opened for business, while beating up on the 500's yield as well.
With that in mind, I encourage you to take Income Investor for a risk-free spin by clicking right here. You'll have 30 days to explore the service -- including the Income Investor recommendations list and back-issue archives -- and you're under no obligation to subscribe if you find it's not your cup of tea.
The plain facts show that dividend-paying stocks have outperformed in the past and that they have a good chance of doing so in the future. The secret, then, is this: Reinvest those dividends, and put the power of compounding to work in your portfolio.
This article was originally published on Jan. 18, 2006. It has been updated.
Shannon Zimmerman is the lead analyst for the Fool's Champion Funds newsletter service. He doesn't own any of the companies mentioned. Microsoft is an Inside Value pick. The Fool has a strict disclosure policy.


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There's always plenty of talk about the "Road to WrestleMania," but once we've arrived at the point where the show is only six days away, it's really getting close. Tonight that road leads us back to the site of last year's extravaganza, Atlanta. The final Raw before WrestleMania XXVIII is live on USA.
Match 1 – Randy Orton and Sheamus vs. Daniel Bryan (w/ A.J.) and Kane
Booker T joins Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler on commentary. This is, of course, a preview of two different WrestleMania XXVIII matches. The faces are in trouble before the commercial break, but a very over Orton is able to turn that around, nailing Bryan with his rope-aided DDT. Kane makes the save, but Orton pursues him on the outside. Bryan hits him with a baseball slide, and suddenly no one is in the ring. The bad guys rectify that by taking turns beating on Orton, though he's able to use a dropkick to fend off a choke slam from Kane. Sheamus is tagged in, but A.J. steps in to save her man. A Brogue Kick misses, Kane lends a hand from the apron, and Bryan is able to pin Sheamus to head to Miami with some momentum.
Clips are shown of the confrontation between Cena and The Rock during last year's WrestleMania, one which proved costly for Cena. They will face off again tonight, though it's unclear if they will actually get into it or just sling catchphrases at each other. Sticks and stones, you know?
Cole gets in the ring to let the world know he's been named the official commentator for Team Johnny on Sunday night. Wow, what an honor! John Laurinaitis also brings out the official flag-bearer, Vickie Guerrero. Not to be outdone, Booker T names himself "The Man" for Team Teddy and introduces the man who's going to send Laurinaitis back to his little cubicle, Teddy Long. Oh, and Hornswoggle is bearing the standard for that team, a little lower, obviously. #shortjoke
Match 2 – David Otunga vs. Santino Marella
The flags actually play a part in this one. Otunga tries to chase down Hornswoggle but misses with a flag shot, allowing Marella to use the Cobra to get the win. After the match, Santino and Teddy clown Johnny Ace for a bit, but The Miz arrives to forcefully put an end to that. He's also officially named a part of Team Johnny, otherwise known as the least surprising pre-WrestleMania development ever.
A video package hypes up the "End of an Era" match between The Undertaker and Triple H. For once, the WWE isn't overselling this, because given how little both men have wrestled over the past year, it truly looks like we may not see them much after Sunday. I don't know about official retirement, though – this is wrestling we're talking about.
Match 3 – Eve (w/ Beth Phoenix) vs. Kelly Kelly
Is Kelly a good enough wrestler to carry Maria Menounos through their WrestleMania tag team match? Ah, that was kind of a rhetorical question. She does win this match, at least.
Now we take a look back at the one and supposedly only teaming of Rock and Cena last November at Survivor Series. It, uh, didn't go completely without a hitch.
Match 4 – Christian vs. CM Punk
We can't get to the action without some words from Chris Jericho live via satellite. He promises to expose the champ as a professional and personal fraud, though he admits that the champ's mom is at least a good person. Jericho did discover that Punk was born before his parents' wedding day, making him the legal definition of the term "bastard." Christian chooses that moment to jump Punk from behind, a decision that turns out to be a tactical error when the champ bashes his head mercilessly off the announce table. Punk drops Christian face first off the steel steps, then locks him in the Anaconda Vice on the floor. The refs want him to break the hold, and it eventually takes three of them to pull him away. Punk feigns settling down before running back over and reapplying the hold. He's angry, see.
Have mercy! The Funkasaurus has escaped from WWE Superstars!
Match 5 – Brodus Clay vs. Curt Hawkins
Clay squashes Hawkins, then menacingly points to the WrestleMania XXVIII sign. Except as Bill Simmons would say, I made that last part up.
So the WWE Hall of Fame ceremony is airing on TV, but not until the night after WrestleMania. Curious. By the way, it seems so strange seeing Edge as one of the inductees. He deserves it, of course, it's just that his career was cut too short.
Match 6 – Big Show vs. Primo (w/ Epico and Rosa Mendes)
Oh yes, it's another squash. Show gets the win, and Cody Rhodes gets one final chance to ridicule his opponent in Miami. Rhodes says we will all use the term "Big Show" as a verb, as in "I hope I don't pull a Big Show on my final," which is actually kind of funny.
Another promo airs for Lord Tensai. Something to look forward to for after next Sunday, I suppose. In the back, the Bella twins are at odds, and Zack Ryder is putting his foot in his mouth again. Eve still has him wrapped around her finger too. Elsewhere, Punk is still angry, telling Josh Mathews that he can ask Christian how he thinks CM feels. Punk disputes some of Jericho's claims and repeats his assertion that he is the best wrestler in the world.
Match 7 – Mark Henry vs. The Great Khali
Henry makes this one short and sweet with a World's Strongest Slam. Long gets thrown to the wolves as Laurinaitis pushes him into the ring to face Henry while the rest of Team Johnny tries to fend off the arriving troops from Team Teddy. Kofi Kingston jumps off someone's back to fly into the ring, but Henry plants him with a World's Strongest Slam too. Booker T has seen enough, leaving the table to smash Henry with an axe kick, suit and all.
The Rock comes down the ramp for his final words before the scene officially shifts to Miami. Dwayne says he's been asked since 2004 when he was going to perform at WrestleMania again. He knew he would come back, but wasn't sure when until last year in this very building. Rock gives credit to Cena for transcending the industry in his absence but says he has never faced anyone like the Great One. Cena interrupts any further comments by making his own way down to the ring. He calls The Rock the best trash talker in WWE history, but plenty of people have talked trash about Cena over the past 10 years. He also acknowledges the dueling "Let's go Cena" and "Cena sucks" chants, saying that makes him unique. Cena knows it will bother the haters when he wins at WrestleMania. On top of that, Cena says he has to win, because life outside wrestling will go on for Cena even as The Rock returns to Hollywood. Rocky retorts that the people know that he helped build Cena's office, and that he needs to win just as badly so he can say he's beaten all of the WWE greats. He also just doesn't like Cena on a personal level. The two superstars have one last difference of opinion about who is going to win their match at WrestleMania as Raw fades out. Six days until the big one! See you then...
Nick Tylwalk is a grown man who will be rooting for Cena on Sunday. And despite what The Rock has insinuated in the past, he's had dates, even got himself married. So there. Make fun of him using Twitter, Google+ or email.


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Barack Obama should rethink America's goals in space and shoot for something a little more inspirational than a lump of rock, argues our space columnist.
When Barack Obama strode on to stage to accept his second term of office, he did just enough to inspire hope that the country's space programme could regain some of its former glory. Amidst a speech about the country's progress and future, he presented a vision of a country "that lives up to its legacy as the global leader in technology and discovery and innovation".
Could that mean that Nasa is once again going to launch a programme of exploration as inspiring and bold as the Apollo missions? Perhaps that would be reading too much into it. However, there are already rumours circulating that Nasa is about to unveil a new manned mission to the Moon, although not everyone buys into the exact details.
Whatever the truth, I hope that Nasa is aiming big, because its current ambitions are – by its own scientists admissions – somewhat lacking. Although we now have the capability to return humans to the Moon, and travel beyond with manned missions to Mars, the world's leading space-faring nation has another destination in its sights: an asteroid. A small lump of rock.
It's as if Columbus took one look at the Atlantic Ocean and settled instead for a couple of weeks in Gibraltar. Nevertheless, this is Nasa's goal – set by the President in 2010 – a human mission to an asteroid. This is not a goal in the Kennedy mould but a 'redefined' mission. The original objective was indeed to go back to the Moon and then head for Mars. Nasa even started to build the spacecraft, Orion. But with inadequate funds, and a lack of political support, the goal became increasingly unreachable. So the spacecraft remained but the destination changed. But it's not too late to reverse that decision when even people in Nasa suspect that the project, in its current form, is not as well thought out as it could be.
"I don't know if Nasa has a clear plan," David Morrison, senior scientist at Nasa's Astrobiology Institute, tells me. "The President said that our goal was a human mission to an asteroid by 2025 and that is becoming less and less likely, not because we lack the rockets, not because the astronauts don't want to go but we simply don't have enough suitable targets."
Optimistic deadline
This is a fundamental problem. We know there are plenty of asteroids out there. We just don't know exactly where. "We live in a kind of cosmic shooting gallery," says Morrison, "we know these guys are out there and eventually they'll hit us."
"Astronomers do their work statistically, so once you discover a few of these Near Earth Asteroids, which we have done, you can get a pretty good idea of the overall distribution and the numbers," Morrison explains. "But if you want to targets for human missions, you can't just do it statistically, you have to find each individual object one at a time and calculate its orbit. So we understand the general issue of how many are out there but we haven't catalogued the individuals."
Fortunately, a group of concerned citizens should be able to help Nasa out. The B612 Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation set up to launch an unmanned mission to search for asteroids. Its primary purpose is to identify any asteroids that might, one day, pose a risk to the Earth so we can do something about them. The secret is to be able to map our cosmic neighbourhood with sufficient accuracy that we can predict where asteroids will be well into the future. The idea is that any asteroids that might get in our way can be gently nudged off course. The B612 Foundation could, ultimately, save the Earth.
If all goes to plan, the Foundation's Sentinel mission is due to be launched in 2018 and it will take at least five and half years to map the position of asteroids. So even with the most optimistic projections, we won't know exactly where the asteroids are until 2024. That 2025 deadline for launching a mission to an asteroid doesn't seem particularly realistic.
Let's assume it does all go ahead. It's 2025, the Orion capsule is ready to fly, the astronauts are trained and the destination determined. We gather round our screens to watch the dramatic launch of the first American astronauts to leave Earth orbit in more than half a century. The massive rocket disappears into the sky and heads off into deep space, an asteroid in its sights. Days or weeks pass until they arrive. Some of us follow every moment; most lose interest. Then it arrives.
So what will the astronauts do when they get there?
"They aren't going to land on the surface, there're going to be no footprints – the gravity is very low", says Morrison. "They're going to touch it? What does that mean? They take their glove off and touch it with their hands? No, that would not be a good idea. Touch it with their glove? Touch it with a pole?" he asks rhetorically. "Scientifically it would be very interesting to find out more about these objects but what the human interaction is, is a little unclear to me." And me. No-one seems to have tackled the big question: why go to an asteroid?
The reasons for any space exploration are often nebulous. You could argue that the Moon might have mineral potential or be an excellent place to site an observatory. That Mars conceals scientific secrets that can only be unravelled by astronauts or is the first step to human colonies on other worlds.
Fundamentally though any manned mission beyond the Earth is about human endeavour and our spirit of exploration. It's what humans do – from the dawn of time, we've always wanted to know what's over the hill. If we're to justify the vast expense of these missions they have to tap into that aspect of human nature – like the pioneering flights of Apollo, they need to inspire.
There are good reasons to map asteroids, to track them, even mine them. But this can be done by robotic missions, and the mining by private companies. Surely the agency that put man on the Moon can aim higher. With the US Presidential election out of the way, now would be a good time for President Obama to shelve the asteroid mission, before it's too late, and set Nasa a target that is truly inspirational.
Do you agree with Richard? If you would like to comment on this article or anything else you have seen on Future, head over to our Facebook page or message us on Twitter.


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St. Charles' Amy Kappele aspires to blend brains and brawn in her everyday life.
She's a reading specialist at Davis Primary School in St. Charles by day, and an avid runner by early morning and/or night.
At the fourth annual Advocate Dreyer Fox Valley Marathon on Sept. 22, Kappele will consider herself the best of both worlds. She's competing in the half-marathon to benefit Bernie's Book Bank, which collects and redistributes books to at-risk children in the Chicago region.
"I'm trying to put the two together to support kids right in our backyard and Chicagoland because we have kids that need it," Kappele said. "They need these books."
Kappele, a former basketball and soccer athlete at St. Charles High, pledged to run one half-marathon a month in 2013 as a fundraiser for the Lake Forest-based book bank. She set a goal of $3,000, or 12,000 books – it costs 25 cents to collect, process and redistribute a book – and has raised $781 so far.
Kappele runs through Team Bernie, a walking, running, biking and swimming club named for Bernard Floriani, the late father of Brian Floriani, the book bank's executive director since the organization's December 2009 inception.
District 303 has held all-district book drives to benefit the bank, as well, collecting more than 23,000 books in 2011-12 and more than 33,000 books in 2012-13. The bank serves more than 75,000 children from birth to sixth grade and is on track to reach its goal of distributing more than 1 million high-quality books this year.
"If you wouldn't give it to your child, then we wouldn't give it to someone else's child," Kappele said.
Kappele has yet to finalize her half-marathon destinations for October, November and December, but has plans in place, especially for her 2013 swan song.
"I'm hoping it might be somewhere warm, but I'm not sure yet," Kappele said. "But I'm going to finish, because I've done this many already."
Cooler by the pool: The Norris Center pool underwent improvements to dehumidification equipment in the winter of 2011, and the work continues paying dividends for St. Charles swimmers.
In past years, St. Charles East coach Joe Cabel said coping with Monday and Tuesday's 90-plus degree temperatures would have been an against-the-current endeavor.
Not anymore. Instead of things feeling "about 115 [degrees]" in the natatorium, per Cabel, temperatures are much more tolerable.
"They say it's not air conditioning, but it stays 85 degrees 365 days a year," Cabel said. "The humidity is always the same. So whatever they do …"
Touch 'em all: Kenny Socorro morphed into a player-coach during the stretch run of the Midwest League season, making two relief appearances for the Cougars as the club enacted its ability to activate its fourth coach when in need.
Drafted by the parent Cubs as a shortstop in the 44th round in 2011, Socorro first played for Cougars manager Mark Johnson at Short-A Boise. Their relationship was solid enough where Johnson brought Socorro to his staff when right hamstring and right ankle injuries derailed Socorro's playing career in 2012.
Socorro, 24, plans to go to scouting school this offseason in a bid to stay in the game.
"He's bilingual [English and Spanish], and he can do things on the field and he can do things off the field," Johnson said. "He's got some opportunities."
• Kevin Druley is a sportswriter for the Kane County Chronicle. He can be reached at 630-845-5347 or firstname.lastname@example.com. Follow him on Twitter at @kevindruley.


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Author Notes: One of the vendors at the Farmer's Market just started getting dandelion greens a couple of weeks ago, and I will say I was happy to see them! When I walked over to get them yesterday she asked me "are you ready for these?" and so - fair warning - they are an intense green. Strong and bitter, but I think balanced with some sweet and salt and richness they are absolutely delicious. - aargersi —aargersi
Food52 Review: Alone, a pile of dandelion greens can be brutally bitter, but aargersi has devised the perfect strategy for taming them into submission: bacon (obviously), maple and leek-sweetened vinaigrette, and a luscious poached egg. The rich yolk that clings to the leaves softens any lingering rough edges and wins over the skeptics. We think this is the perfect brunch salad, but we plan to sneak it in at lunch and dinner too. And now we're going to have a hard time eating dandelion greens any other way.
- A&M —The Editors
Serves: 4
big bunch of dandelion greens, about 4 heaping cups when cleaned
large leek (or 2 small ones)
strips bacon (some of the bacon inevitably gets swiped during the cooking process)
cup red wine vinegar
tablespoons maple syrup
cup olive oil
A pot of salted water with a splash of white vinegar for poaching.
- Clean the dandelions: remove the thick part of the stems and gently tear the leaves into bite size pieces. Wash them and dry them very thoroughly. Put them in a big bowl that you can toss the salad in.
- Prepare the leeks: I used the chop first, rinse second method, and then took them for a spin in the salad spinner to dry. It worked great! Use white and light green parts only and chop faily small - I quartered the leek and cut 1/4 inch strips. Put a large pot of salted water on and get it started for poaching the eggs, add a splash of white vinegar to the pot as well. Crack each egg into an individual dish.
- Now cook the bacon in a skillet until crisp. Remove it to drain and turn the heat to medium. I didn't remove any fat from the pan but bacon differs - if you have a deep layer of fat in the pan maybe remove a little. Add the leeks and cook them until they are quite soft. Turn off the heat and add the vinegar, stirring to get the good bits up off the pan. Pour the leeks and all of the liquid into a small bowl, grind some pepper in and add the oilve oil and maple syrup. Whisk the dressing and taste - mine had plenty of salt from the bacon but add more if you need it. Also test acidity, you may want another splash of vinegar. Crumble the bacon onto the greens. Toss the warm dressing with the dandelion greens and bacon.
- Poach the eggs: slide each one into the boiling water and let them poach for 3-4 minutes. While they are poaching go ahead and toss the greens a few more times (the warm dressing will wilt them ever so slightly) and then portion them onto 4 plates. Make sure that each plate gets equal amount of bacon or fights will break out.
- Top each salad with a poached egg, grind a bit more pepper over the top, and serve. Enjoy the springtime!!!
- Your Best Spring Vegetable Recipe Contest Finalist!
- This recipe is a Community Pick!
More Great Recipes:
Salad|Bacon|Leek|Maple Syrup|Vinegar|Vegetable|Spring|Appetizer


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General FAQ
What is Player Studio™?
Player Studio is a program that offers players the opportunity to tap into their own creativity by designing in-game items that can be sold in the marketplace of their favorite participating online game.Top
How does the Player Studio™ program work?
DGC's Player Studio program invites players to download sample geometry files for actual in-game objects and through the use of standard third party art tools, learn how to develop, design and personalize items of their own – from re-coloring and re-texturing, to reshaping an item's geometry. Once complete, players are encouraged to name and create a description for their item, describe how the item will fit into the prospective game's ongoing narrative storyline, and submit it to DGC for review and possible inclusion in the DGC Marketplace. If a player-created item is selected for inclusion in the DGC Marketplace, DGC will share 40% of the net amount it receives from the sale of the item with the player that created the item.Top
Who can participate in the Player Studio™ program?
The Player Studio program is available free of charge to all eligible players 18 and older who have a Daybreak Account in good standing. Players under 18 may participate with the help of a parent or legal guardian. The first phase of the program will be available to U.S.-based players, and we plan to quickly expand the program over time to include other countries.Top
Which games are included in this program?
We are currently accepting submissions for EverQuest®, EverQuest® II, and PlanetSide® 2.Top
How can I get started making items?
For more information on how to get started in DGC's Player Studio program, visit https://player-studio.daybreakgames.com.
Additionally, following is a list of useful third party art tools for helping to create in-game items:
3D Modeling:
Maya - http://www.autodesk.com/Maya/
3ds Max - http://usa.autodesk.com/3ds-max/
Blender - http://www.blender.org/
Wings3D - http://www.wings3d.com/
Modo - http://www.luxology.com/modo/
Photoshop - http://www.photoshop.com/
GIMP - http://www.gimp.org/
Paint.NET - http://www.getpaint.net/
Tutorials and Online Digital Communities: