Once a year, the Las Vegas Convention Center is taken over by the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) Show.

Tens of thousands of people in the aftermarket auto industry — the source of huge rims, custom paint jobs, kit cars, and more — attend the trade show for product demonstrations, educational seminars, and networking opportunities.

But the fun part is the cars. Looking to draw attention, companies displaying new products at booths often bring a special vehicle along. Some are custom-built, some are classic, and some are absurd.

These cars, motorcycles, and miscellaneous rides, all on display at SEMA 2012 last week, may not be as beautiful as the latest from Aston Martin and Ferrari. But they are more original, and many are much more outrageous.

The TVN Dominator 2, used on the Discovery Channel's 'Storm Chasers,' made an appearance.

The Campagna V13R is a three-wheeled roadster that can travel nearly 300 miles on a tank of gas.

AccuAir Suspension brought this old-school car to SEMA.

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“My money savvy comes from being raised in a family without money,” says Melissa D’Arabian, author of the best-selling cookbook “Ten Dollar Dinners,” which came out this August, and host of the Food Network show by the same name.

See D'Arabian's grocery tips >

“My mom was a single parent putting herself through college and eventually medical school. We didn’t have money, so we worked around it, and I think that [mindset] just stayed in my blood.”

Five years ago, D’Arabian decided to quit her job in finance to become a stay-at-home mom. She’d just hadtwins, in addition to two other toddlers (now 6 and 7).

During her first few years as a stay-at-home mom, her frugality came in handy. In fact, a YouTube video of her showing how to make homemade yogurt in her Texas garage (something she says saved her more than $150 a month) caught the attention of the Food Network. In 2009, she went on to compete in, and win, the fifth season of “Food Network Star.” 

“I’m not against spending money,” says D’Arabian, who admits to loving manicures and professional waxing. “I am against spending money mindlessly. [My message] is about not letting the fact that we’re imperfect give us permission to stop trying.”

D’Arabian’s new cookbook is chock-full of recipes and money-saving tips. “It’s meant to help [readers] lower their shopping bills overall and become thoughtful, responsible consumers,” she says. “It’s about celebrating food, respecting our resources and feeling good about the food we’re putting into our bodies.”

D’Arabian shares her ten most helpful thrifty tips, as well as two tasty recipes she loves.

1. When it comes to grocery carts, size matters.

They’ve done studies: The bigger the grocery cart, the more money we spend, says D’Arabian.

Always pick the smallest cart that will fit your needs.

Source: LearnVest 

2. Make your first stop fruits and veggies.

Head to the produce aisle first, and focus on what’s in season.

The idea of produce as a budget-buster is completely a myth if you know how to shop, she tells us.

Most importantly, disregard out-of-season options (like peaches in January).

In fact, D’Arabian tells us that the produce aisle is one of the few places where cheaper usually means better quality, because the riper the fruit, the more the store wants to unload it.

Also, food that is in season locally costs less. That’s why you pay so much for weird, genetically modified fruits and veggies shipped to your grocery store from another country.

So, load up your cart there first with what’s on sale and in season.

Source: LearnVest 

3. Reframe how you think about budget food.

D’Arabian doesn’t think about how much it costs to get a plate of food on the table, but rather about the price per nutrient.

For example, you may be able to get two packages of ramen noodles for a dollar, whereas a one-pound box of whole grain pasta with flaxseed, legumes and protein will cost $2.29.

While it’s true that ramen noodles might be the cheapest thing out there in terms of volume, as a strategy for nourishing your family, you’d still have to find protein, fiber and nutrients for the meal elsewhere.

Source: LearnVest 

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There's no way to eliminate weather threats. But it is possible to get better at predicting them.

For the last four decades, scientists have depended on the National Center for Atmospheric Research, or NCAR, and its sophisticated computer models to forecast everything from the intensity of a thunderstorm to the track of a hurricane.  

With the recent unveiling of Yellowstone— the world's fastest supercomputer devoted to climate research — housed at the NCAR-Wyoming Supercomputing Center (also called the NWSC) in Cheyenne, Wyoming, those weather projections just got a lot more accurate. 

What is a supercomputer? 

A supercomputer is a very powerful computer that can perform calculations at incredible speed. 

The world's fastest supercomputer can hit a speed of 20 petaflops, which means it can run 20,000 trillion calculations per second. (That's equal to 7 billion people solving 3 million math equations every second). 

Depending on its purpose, a supercomputer can be used to solve practical business problems, like figuring out how to package potato chips, to answering larger science questions, like simulating what happens when a nuclear bomb explodes or understand how climate is changing.  

The main purpose of the Yellowstone supercomputer is to run numerical simulations of physical systems, like the atmosphere and the ocean. 

Go inside Yellowstone >

For a simulation, you begin with a set of initial conditions — typically from land and weather observations made over the last half century that stream in from organizations like NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. All of that data, which is essentially a snapshot of the planet, is stored in the massive computer's data centers.

The model then moves that snapshot forward in time using mathematical equations describing how things like air and moisture move around in Earth's system, provided by the researchers. The computer breaks the problem up into little pieces and runs them across thousands of processors. In that process, the computer determines how those equations will change the initial conditions over time.

Some models will integrate for a century into the future or even longer. Others may integrate over two weeks — essentially a very detailed weather forecast. 

"In some ways, it's the mathematical equivalent of a telescope," Rich Loft, the researcher who directs technology development within NCAR's computer lab, told Business Insider. He played a key role in bringing Yellowstone to life.

"A telescope lets you see farther than you can see with your own eyes," Loft said. Similar to that, he said: "the computer allows you see the consequences of the mathematics well beyond what you can ever hope to do with pencil and paper."

Yellowstone's computing muscle

Yellowstone is a 1.5 petaflop supercomputer, which means it can run 1,500 trillion calculations per second. This puts Yellowstone among the top 25 speediest supercomputers in the world and makes it about 30 times more powerful than its predecessor supercomputer, Bluefire.  

Thirty times more computing means researchers can do a lot of things that were simply impractical before, like examining how ocean currents affect rain distribution or seeing areas of rotation that could create a tornado within a larger thunderstorm.  

"It's like getting roughly 10 times more megapixels in your camera. With better resolution, you get crisper images of what's going on in the Earth's systems," Loft said. 

For people who model the center, or eye, of hurricanes, that means being able to construct a much more realistic and less smeared out picture of the eye wall and its wind gusts — which is typically what causes the most damage to structures. 

"Think about a very low-resolution picture and then a much higher resolution picture of the same thing — you get a much better feel for what you're looking at, " says Loft. 

Hurricane prediction 

Superstorm Sandy and the devastation it brought to large swaths of Eastern Seaboard is a testament to the importance of hurricane modeling as a way to protect lives, prevent loss of property and improve warning times.  

"[Yellowstone] will provide an excellent testbed for improving hurricane prediction," said Loft. This includes the ability to predict the track and intensity of a hurricane with greater accuracy.

"You need higher resolution to get the intensity right, and you need a lot of statistical information to get a good picture of where [the hurricane] is going to strike," explains Loft. The more models the computer can run, the clearer the picture of the hurricane's future becomes.

A better understanding of climate change

Although Yellowstone is designed to study a range of Earth science topics, including space weather, air quality, water aquifers and energy production, about half of Yellowstone's work load focuses on climate modeling. 

"The thing about climate is that we have a very good consensus between observation and theory in computer models, which all show that there is going to be climate change."

Most climate models show that the temperature is going to rise depending on how much carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere. (Since temperature records began in 1880, nine of the 10 warmest years have occurred since the year 2000 and the first half of 2012 was the hottest in U.S. history).  This long-trend mapping is good, but it doesn't tell scientists how that temperature change affects the redistribution of energy within the system, explains Loft. 

And that's important because it impacts things like rainfall (and the lack of rainfall that causes drought) around the world. Some places under climate change are likely to lose rainfall, which will affect crops and water supply. Some people are going to get more rain, milder temperatures and a longer growing season. 

A more powerful computer can answer these questions. Yellowstone not only allows researchers to predict whether it's going to be warmer in a century, they can also look 10 or 20 years into the future and make a probabilistic prediction as to what the weather will look like in a given region. 

"When you talk to government officials, city planners, state water boards, or insurance companies, they want to know specific information on a regional level. You can't answer those questions with a coarse-grain model," said Loft.  "Yellowstone is going to give us answers to some very important unfinished business in atmospheric science." 

Creating a supercomputer that can perform at such a high level requires a lot of work. See how it came together.

The building housing the NCAR-Wyoming Supercomputing Center in Cheyenne, Wyoming, officially opened on October 15, 2012.

Housed in a set of 100 interconnected cabinets, the Yellowstone features 74,592 processors working in parallel.

"Parallel" means that each processor carries out calculations simultaneously when the supercomputer is running at top speed.

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Last month, Paris's Louvre museum opened its new Islamic Art Wing amidst uproar over the series of controversial Mohammed cartoons that were published in the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo to the tune of $125 million.

And just last year, New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art re-opened its Islamic art galleries, which had been closed for renovations for eight years. The Met's revamped galleries, called the Art of the Arab Lands, Turkey, Iran, Central Asia, and Later South Asia, cost about $40 million.

Click here to jump to photos of the museums' Islamic art wings >>

The fact that two of the world's greatest cultural institutions have invested heavily in their Islamic art collections within the last year is worth taking note. So why are these major museums devoting so much space and money to Islamic art?

For starters, it's worth looking at the investors behind the museums' Islamic art collections. The Louvre's 10-year $125 million project was largely funded by Prince Alwaleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia and his wife Princess Amira al-Taweel, who gave the museum $20 million toward the galleries, according to The New York Times.

“After 9/11 all Arabs and Muslims have the duty and the responsibility to tell the west about real Muslims, about real Islam, and how peaceful our religion is,” Prince Waleed bin Talal said in a statement.

Other Louvre donors were the the French government, corporations like oil company Total, and the governments of countries like Saudi Arabia, Oman, Morocco, Kuwait and the Republic of Azerbaijan.

The Met's $40 million renovation was funded largely by private donors, including Patti Cadby Birch, an Islamic art collector who passed away in 2007. Other major donors were the Vehbi Koc Foundation of Turkey; New York business family Bijan and Sharmin Mossavar-Rahmani; and the Iranian-American community.

A look at the donors shows that the motivation behind these projects goes beyond finances. These new wings seem to promote tolerance and understanding of Islamic culture and history through art.

Sophie Makariou, head curator of the Louvre's department of Islamic art, hopes the new wing will teach lessons about tolerance and diversity through art, according to an AP story. "I like the idea of showing the other side of the coin," Makariou said. "We are talking about a diverse world that goes from the Atlantic, Spain and Morocco to India. It brings complexity."

Similarly, Sheila Canby, the curator of the Met's Islamic art department, said that the goal of the Met's collection is to showcase the art while educating people about Islamic history and culture.

“Thirty years ago there was just a small group of specialists interested in this material and a few people who collected rugs and objects,” Canby said in a New York Times article.“Now there’s much more attention and anticipation, though I think it’s driven by news events that are focused mostly on war. The history and culture represented by the objects in these galleries is still not known nearly as much as it should be, and the goal here is to change that.”

The openings of these two Islamic art wings are promising signs in the midst of a very tense time between the West and the Muslim world.

At the opening of the Louvre's new wing, France's new President Francois Hollande called the wing a "political gesture in the service of respect for peace," according to the BBC.

These two museums are not the only Western institutions to embrace Islamic art—the Los Angeles County Museum of Art has an impressive Islamic art collection, as does the Detroit Institute of Art and the Smithsonian's Freer and Sackler Galleries—but they are the most well known and impressive cultural institutions to devote entire wings to the artform.  Will other museums follow their cue?

In Paris, the Louvre's futuristic new wing was designed by architects Mario Bellini and Rudy Ricciotti. It's a bold and modern design that's the most controversial addition to the Louvre since I.M Pei's pyramid, which was built in 1989.

Source: Louvre Museum

The Louvre's $125 million project took about 10 years to build and was financed by the the French government, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia, the governments of Saudi Arabia, Oman, Morocco, Kuwait and the Republic of Azerbaijan, and corporations.

Source: Louvre Museum

The glass and metal roof allows natural light to filter into the galleries below. The roof is comprised of glass panels flanked on each side by metallic gold mesh sheets. The exterior mesh layer filters daylight and the interior mesh layer serves as the ceiling for the galleries.

Source: Louvre Museum

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Travel + Leisure has named Singita Grumeti Reserves in Tanzania's Serengeti National Park the "best hotel in the world" for the past two years.

So when the Tanzania Tourist Board invited me to visit, I had to see what all the fuss was about.

I can't say for sure that it's the world's best hotel property, but it was one of the most stunning and unique hotels I have ever stayed in.

Click here to see what my stay was like >

Grumeti Reserve is actually a 340,000-acre concession on the western corridor of the Serengeti that's owned by billionaire hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones. Jones partnered with Singita, a luxury safari brand with resorts around Africa, in 2006 to build an oasis in the wild.

In that time, they truly have built an oasis. Singita Grumeti established an anti-poaching unit and effectively stopped poaching in the area, resulting in a resurgence of big game. It's also working to reintroduce the endangered black rhino, and has a built a major education initiative for some 20 local communities around the reserve.

Of course, Grumeti Reserve is also now home to one of the most exclusive hotels in the world. Singita actually has three main lodges spread across the property, as well as some smaller locales, including a mobile tent camp.

I stayed at Sabora Tented Camp, the most rustic of the three main lodges. My room may have been made of canvas, but it wasn't an ordinary tent. It was ultra-luxurious, with air conditioning, wi-fi, an outdoor shower, and a canopied bed.

Even so, at times I felt closer to nature than I'm normally comfortable with. By the second day, I stopped jumping every time a gecko ran up the wall. And I had a hard time falling asleep thanks to the hundreds of wildebeest lowing outside my tent.

The food was five-star, with a menu of locally grown produce and fresh meat and fish. But what really made the hotel so unique — and probably why it continues to get such high accolades from travel publications — is the individual treatment each guest receives.

Our guide, Simon, was with us from early morning until late at night, driving my tour group around the reserve and teaching us the intricate details of the Great Migration. We ate dinner at a private table in a different spot around the camp each night, and each meal felt like a celebration. From the managers to the waitstaff, everyone knew our names and went out of their way to make sure we were having the best time possible.

And it wasn't because we were on a press trip; I saw them do the same for other guests.

Singita Grumeti isn't cheap. Sabora Tented camp costs $1,150 per person per night in the high season and $850 in the low season; rates at Sasakwa, the flagship lodge, go up to $1,700 per person per night. It's the sort of place you go once in your life, if you're very lucky — for a honeymoon or retirement trip.

Disclosure: Our trip to Tanzania, including travel and lodging expenses, was sponsored by the Tanzania Tourist Board, Africa Adventure Company, Singita Grumeti Group, Coastal Aviation, Qatar Airways, Tanzania National Parks, Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority and Wildlife Division.

After a three-hour drive from Sasakwa airstrip through the plains of Grumeti Reserve, we finally spotted Sabora Tented Camp in the distance.

The place seemed to blend in with the scenery. From the kitchen to the guest rooms, the entire camp is actually made of thick canvas.

We hopped out of our off-road vehicle and were greeted by Sabora's staff, who welcomed us with a handwashing ceremony.

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Right now, the RealClearPolitics state poll aggregation indicates that President Obama is slated to score 290 electoral votes to Mitt Romney's 248. 

That's not the full story, though. Because of errors in polling, or a strong Get Out The Vote operation on either side, the polls could be off by a number of points in either direction.

To figure out what that could mean either way, here is a sensitivity analysis showing what the map looks like if the polls are off in the states by different margins.

First, see what the map looks like if Mitt Romney outperforms the polling by five points in every state. Clicking through, check out what happens as that performance slows to a four point beat and so on. Then, see the what happens if Obama incrementally outperforms the polls.

If Romney beats the polls by 5 points, he'll win with 337 electoral votes.

If he beats by four points, Romney loses Wisconsin but still gets 327 electoral votes.

If he beats the polls by 3 points, Romney loses Michigan and Pennsylvania but still wins with 291 electoral votes.

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Rasheed Wallace made his return to the NBA this weekend triumphantly coming off the bench in garbage time and hitting a three-pointer.

Sheed became the definition of the "crazy athlete" a decade ago — combining on-court petulance, outlandish statements, and off-court issues to turn himself into a household name.

Now the league is full of these types of guys.

We picked out our 16 favorites, and included one great anecdote about each of them.

Rasheed Wallace

Team: New York Knicks

Crazy anecdote: He once got 41 technicals in a season, and he said yesterday, "My speed isn't the same. My agility isn't the same, but I can still talk."

Delonte West

Team: Unemployed

Crazy anecdote: Arrested for having a shotgun in a guitar case slung over his back while driving a three-wheeled motorcycle.

Enes Kanter

Team: Utah Jazz

Crazy anecdote: Claimed he lost 51 pounds in two months during the offseason.

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This Saturday, I was given the opportunity to go to an Ohio State football game in Ohio Stadium, or The Horseshoe, when I visited a friend.

I've been to several football, baseball and basketball stadiums, but this was just about as good as it gets.

More than 105,000 fans were in attendance for the Buckeyes' 52-22 win over Illinois on Saturday.

It was a treat, so I figured I would share some of the sights from one of the coolest places to watch college football in the country.

We got to the stadium about 30 minutes before kickoff.

The stadium's rotunda was very iconic.

It was packed and Brutus was crowd-surfing.

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Now that the weather is turning cold, people in the northern hemisphere are dreaming about heading south to lie on a tropical beach somewhere warm.

But with so many incredible islands around the world, it can be difficult to decide which island to visit this winter season. That's where the readers of Condé Nast Traveler come in.

Condé Nast Traveler recently released their list of the Top Islands in the World as part of their 2012 Readers' Choice Awards. The magazine's readers voted for their favorite islands around the world, from the Caribbean to the Pacific and beyond. 

#8 Bozcaada and the Turkish Aegean Islands

Condé Nast Readers' Choice Rating: 80.8

Located in the Mediterranean off the coast of Turkey, Bozcaada is an island on the Aegean Sea that has pristine beaches, quiet fishing villages, and Greek and Roman ruins. Plus there are great hotels and restaurants.

Source: Conde Nast Traveler

#7 Bali

Condé Nast Readers' Choice Rating: 81.8

Bali is an incredibly diverse and dynamic island that has gorgeous scenery—from verdant rice terraces to surfer-friendly beaches—a rich culture and history, and phenomenal food. 

Source: Conde Nast Traveler

#6 Vancouver Island

Condé Nast Readers' Choice Rating: 82.0

Vancouver is known for being incredibly safe, clean and generally pleasant.

The Canadian island, which includes the city of Victoria, has great shops and restaurants, as well as gorgeous natural scenery.

Source: Conde Nast Traveler

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Voting for president, congressman, senator, governor, county councilman, alderman, sheriff and dogcatcher apparently isn’t enough to think about Tuesday.

Voters in dozens of states will also be faced with ballot initiative and amendment questions running the gamut from guns to gay marriage, from “Frankenfoods” to photo ID.

Sure, four states have initiatives teed up to counter Obamacare, but aren’t you a bit tired of hearing about the president’s health care law by now? 

There are ten other ballot measures worth watching, and these wont bore you to tears.

The Safer Sex In The Adult Film Industry Act

Perhaps the most unusual measure is The Safer Sex in the Adult Film Industry Act, on the ballot as Measure B in Los Angeles County, California. Voters will decide whether actors in pornographic movies made in Southern California should have to wear condoms and practice safe sex while the cameras roll. Measure B is a response to the outbreak of sexually transmitted diseases among California’s adult film “actors” and “actresses.”

Protecting Farmers And Ranchers

North Dakota produces a lot of cattle, and those folks aren’t messing around. Measure 3 would forever enshrine farmers and ranchers as a protected class by adding a whole new section to the state constitution. “The right of farmers and ranchers to engage in modern farming and ranching practices shall be forever guaranteed in this state,” it would read. “No law shall be enacted which abridges the right of farmers and ranchers to employ agricultural technology, modern livestock production and ranching practices.” Take that, PETA.

Voter ID

Minnesota voters will decide whether to require every voter to show a photo ID at the polls. Democrats have claimed similar requirements in other states were efforts to depress turnout among minority and low-income voters. Some even say voter ID laws  can prevent elderly voters from going to the polls if they no longer have driver’s licenses. But conservatives counter that the best way to make sure no one cheats on Election Day is to require IDs at check-in. If you have to show photo ID to get on an airplane or rent a car, they say, voting should be even more secure.

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Foreclosure activity was down 4.8 percent in the third quarter from the previous quarter, according to RealtyTrac.

And foreclosure activity was down nearly 13 percent from a year ago.

But among the largest metro areas, New York, Tampa, Chicago and Seattle saw big increases in foreclosure activity.

We drew on RealtyTrac's latest report to highlight the 20 metros with the highest foreclosure activity. We also highlighted the change in foreclosure activity from the previous quarter and on a year-ago basis.

Note: All data is for the 20 largest metros with a population over 200,000.

Ocala, Florida

1 in every 122 homes received a foreclosure filing in Q3 2012

Properties with foreclosure filings:
1,341

Change from Q2 2012:
+15.60 percent

Change from Q3 2011:
-6.81 percent

Source: RealtyTrac

Lakeland, Florida

1 in every 116 homes received a foreclosure filing in Q3 2012

Properties with foreclosure filings:
2,426

Change from Q2 2012:
-2.65 percent

Change from Q3 2011:
+48.65 percent

Source: RealtyTrac

Fresno, California

1 in every 114 homes received a foreclosure filing in Q3 2012

Properties with foreclosure filings:
2,759

Change from Q2 2012:
-13.67 percent

Change from Q3 2011:
-37.55 percent

Source: RealtyTrac

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Just eight men have run the Federal Reserve Board since Franklin Delano Roosevelt named Marriner Stoddard Eccles, the western Mormon banker who embraced the New Deal, to the newly reconfigured post of chairman. Three, including Eccles, have been long-reigning; two have served two terms and stepped down; and two have been short-timers.

Check out the potential Fed appointees >

It is beginning to look like no matter who wins next Tuesday’s election, the eighth Fed chairman, Ben Bernanke, whose second term expires on Jan. 31, 2014, will join the two terms-and-out crowd.

Republican candidate Mitt Romney has vowed to replace him with someone favoring a less expansive monetary policy.

Meanwhile, a Bernanke friend told Bloomberg News in an off-the-record comment that the Princeton scholar of depression-era monetary policy, whom historians will credit with taking the decisive actions in 2008 and 2009 that prevented the U.S. economy from plunging into a second Great Depression, is anxious to step aside after eight tumultuous years in the top job.

His term as a Fed governor doesn’t expire until 2020.

Though most voters haven’t given it a thought, the outcome of the election will have a major impact on monetary policy and therefore on the economy. Current policy is locked into near zero short-term interest rates until mid-2015 and the Fed has embarked on a series of bond purchases, so-called quantitative easing, to force long-term rates lower.

With Republicans in a divided government insisting on restrictive fiscal policies, monetary policy has shouldered the responsibility over the past two years for keeping the economy from plunging into a double-dip recession. A second Obama administration, should Bernanke step down, would appoint someone who promises to keep those policies in place – at least until the economy showed clear signs that it was on a glide path to sustained economic growth of at least 3 percent per year with unemployment declining rapidly.

Republican standard bearer Mitt Romney, on the other hand, has vowed to replace Bernanke with someone favoring tighter controls on the money supply. As early as September 2011, while fending off challenges from his right for the Republican nomination, the former Massachusetts governor blasted Bernanke’s second round of quantitative easing as “overinflat(ing) the amount of currency” without putting Americans back to work.

Nearly a year later, in an interview with Fox television, Romney said he wanted “monetary stability that leads to a strong dollar and confidence that America is not going to go down the road that other nations have gone down, to their peril.” In September, shortly before “moderate Mitt” emerged in the first debate with the president, Romney’s top policy adviser again attacked the Fed, this time for its third round of quantitative easing. “We should be creating wealth, not printing dollars,” Lanhee Chen said in a prepared statement.

One thing is certain. The independent Fed won’t change policies quickly or rashly, especially in an era of increased transparency in its actions. “This is a coherent institution,” said John Makin, an economist at the American Enterprise Institute. “You don’t get a divided Fed except under extreme conditions.”

So whom would Romney or Obama appoint to the powerful Fed top job? Speculation has focused on three possible candidates for each side, although it’s always possible for a wild card to emerge.

Check out the potential Fed appointees >

More From The Fiscal Times:

• More Americans Walk Away from Their Mortgages
  
• The Hidden Power of the Early Voter in Election 2012
  
• Why Jumping Off the Fiscal Cliff May Be Best Bet
  
• The Economist Endorses Obama in 2012 Election
  
• What Will Disney Do with Star Wars? 5 Theories
  
• Sandy Could Give Obama a Half-Point Election Boost
  

ROMNEY: Glenn Hubbard

The Columbia University business professor has been one of Romney’s top economic advisers and architect of his austerity budget for non-military domestic spending. If those policies succeed in promoting more rapid economic growth, it would allow Hubbard to begin raising rates at the Fed, which his candidate backs. While critical of Bernanke’s recent easing policies, Hubbard, who was briefly considered for the post in 2005 after serving as President George W. Bush’s top economic adviser, is no shrinking violet when it comes to Fed activism. He has proposed buying and refinancing the mortgages of underwater homeowners to rejuvenate the housing market. 

Source: The Fiscal Times

ROMNEY: John B. Taylor

If Romney wants to reassure inflation hawks and opponents of quantitative easing that he’s in their corner, Stanford University economist and frequent Wall Street Journal contributor Taylor could get the nod. He opposes using the Fed to fight unemployment – legally part of its duel mandate – and would instead target monetary policy strictly at keeping inflation in check. Fond of quoting Austrian economist Friedrich A. Hayek and his 1944 book, “The Road to Serfdom,” Taylor has called for economic reform strategies that “build on more predictable, rules-based fiscal, monetary and regulatory policies” to help restore economic prosperity.  

Source: The Fiscal Times

ROMNEY: Greg Mankiw

The Harvard economist and former chief economic adviser to President Bush is the most mainstream among Romney’s top economic advisers. He has publicly backed quantitative easing and called for targeting a higher inflation rate as one possible path to stronger economic growth. Though he’s refused interviews during the campaign season in an effort to keep his prospects for a top job alive, those intellectual wanderings off the GOP reservation probably make him a long-shot for the Fed post.

Source: The Fiscal Times

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Kate Moss is just 38 years old, but her career already spans four calendar decades. That's impressive in a business where models face involuntary retirement in their early 20s.

Skip straight to the images that define Kate Moss >

It's even more impressive once you consider how quickly the fashion business redefines beauty. Cindy Crawford and Linda Evangelista, for instance, were considered the faces of the 1980s and 1990s. Today, they'd struggle to get work --  their square-jawed American features just look old fashioned in a time when Eastern European and Asian women are the trend.

Kate Moss, however, carries on regardless. She's still in high demand as a face for brands. The list of companies she has endorsed -- David Yurman, Burberry, Dior, Chanel, Topshop, Calvin Klein and dozens of others -- is so long that brands actually risk de-differentiating themselves against their competitors when they use her.

One theory why Moss endures is to do with her widely spaced eyes and her flat, open face. She is a blank, beautiful slate: Her expression could indicate anything: arousal or boredom, fear or anticipation, contentment or sadness. You decide.

A new book of iconic photos of Moss is being published Nov. 6. It covers her life as model from 1988 -- when she was "discovered" by agency Storm Model Management at JFK airport in New York, age just 14 -- to today. Moss also appears on the cover of this month's Vanity Fair (and is nude on the inside).

Most of the images of Moss were taken for ads, and these are the images that formed the key turning points in her career.

1990: Kate Moss signed up as a model in 1988, but got her first big break in 1990 when she was used on the cover of The Face, an influential U.K. style magazine.

1993: Moss's appearance as the model for Calvin Klein Jeans created the 'waif' look. (We've slightly censored this image.)

1993: The waif look was controversial. It inspired a debate about 'heroin chic,' and whether Moss's size-zero body was a healthy role model for girls. It's hard to believe now, but at the time Moss was considered an 'alternative' model with a radically non-glamorous look, compared with big-haired all-American models like Cindy Crawford.

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After a very long campaign season, Election Day is finally upon us. As millions of Americans line up at the polls to vote for their favorite candidate, we thought it would be appropriate to round-up the most successful election-themed films of all time.

While most of the films on the list focus on presidential campaigns, others center around senatorial, congressional, or local campaigns.

The following 20 films have been ranking according to worldwide gross totals, unless otherwise noted.

Nixon (1995): $13.7 million*

This film tells the story of the life of President Nixon, played by Anthony Hopkins. It was nominated for four Oscars.  

*Ranked according to U.S. box office totals because worldwide totals not available.

Welcome to Mooseport (2004): $14.6 million

Starring Ray Romano and Gene Hackman, "Welcome to Mooseport" tells the story of a former president who decides to run for mayor in his hometown of Mooseport, Maine.

Election (1999): 14.9 million*

This movie, starring Reese Witherspoon and Matthew Broderick, tells the story of a high school student's complicated campaign for student body president.

*Ranked according to U.S. box office totals because worldwide totals not available.

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You've probably heard by now that the presidential election will come down to a handful of battleground states, which have absorbed the bulk of the money and time in the candidates' quest to cobble together the 270 electoral votes needed to win the election. 

But just because a state is a battleground doesn't mean the whole state swings. Within each of these states — Ohio, Florida, Virginia, Colorado, Iowa, Nevada, Wisconsin, and New Hampshire —  the race will likely be decided by a small number of counties, local campaign war zones that, in a very tight race, have the potential to determine which way the whole state — and possibly the whole election — swings. 

In each of the eight swing states, we've identified one county that went to George W. Bush in 2004, swung to Obama in 2008, and could now make or break the 2012 election for either candidate. We've broken down the list here, along with the voting patterns, economic conditions, and other key factors that could decide how the counties swing on Tuesday night. 

Wood County, Ohio

Voting Record: Wood County voters don't pick parties, they pick winners. Residents of this suburban Toledo County have voted for the eventual winner in every presidential election since at least 1980. In 2004, Bush won the county over John Kerry, 53% to 47%; in 2008, Obama beat John McCain 52% to 46%, mirroring the national margin. 

County Snapshot: When the candidates talk about saving the "middle class," they are talking about Wood County. Median income in the county is $53,298, slightly higher than the $52,000 national average, and just over half of adults have some type of college education. Wood County is 95 percent white, which puts Obama at a demographic disadvantage, but recent polls indicate he could make up the gap by turning out female voters. 

Local Economy: Improving. A gradual economic upswing and voter support for the 2009 auto bailout could give Obama a much-needed boost in this bellwether. The largest private-sector employer in the county is Chrysler, which plans to add 1,100 jobs at its Jeep plant in Perrysburg next year. Wood County's unemployment rate was 6.3 percent in September, down from 7.9 a year earlier.

X-Factor:Auto Bailout. The results of the election in Wood County will be a good indicator of how badly Romney has been hurt by his opposition to the auto bailout. In a last-ditch effort to get rid of this thorn in his side, the Romney campaign launched a series of misleading ads that falsely suggested that Chrysler was moving its Jeep production to China, a move that has been widely panned by pundits, reporters, and the company itself. We'll find out Tuesday if the people of Toledo felt the same way. 

Sources: Ohio Secretary of State, Wood County Board of Elections, BLS, ODOD

Henrico County, Virginia

Voting Record: A longtime bastion of Southern conservatism, Henrico County has morphed into the state's swing-y-est county over the last decade. Bush won the county by 8 points in 2004; in 2008, Obama beat McCain here 56% to 44%, becoming the first Democratic presidential candidate to win in Henrico since Lyndon B. Johnson. The county swung back to red in 2009, though, supporting Republican Bob McDonnell in Virginia's gubernatorial race. 

County Snapshot: Henrico's electoral shift is primarily due to demographic changes and population growth in this once-predominantly white, exurban Richmond county. African-Americans now make up 30% of the population, up from less than 25% in 2000; the county's Latino population has exploded 132% since 2000; and Asians now make up 6.3% of the county's population, up from 3.6% in 2000. CNN's Peter Hamby points out that the result is a county that looks like a cross-section of the entire state, with a mix of moderates, liberals, social conservatives, and suburban swing voters. 

As a result, voter turnout is crucial to winning Henrico County. The Obama team has the advantage of experience here, but Republicans have stepped up their game since 2008. And half of the county lies in the district of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, who is under a lot of pressure to deliver for the GOP. 

Local Economy: Good. The unemployment rate was 5.5 percent in September, down from 6.3% the year before and far below the national average. Despite the downturn, the area has experienced a boom in healthcare and education sectors. 

X-Factor:The Senate race. Former Virginia Democratic Gov. Tim Kaine and former Republican Gov. George Allen, are locked in one of the tightest contests in the country, and strong Henrico County turnout for either candidate could affect the outcome of the presidential race there. Both candidates have won Henrico in previous elections, but Kaine, the former mayor of Richmond, probably has the advantage.

Sources: Henrico County Registrar, U.S. Census, BLS

Brown County, Wisconsin

Voting Record: Brown County, home to Green Bay, is one of Wisconsin's most purple counties. Brown voters voted for Obama over McCain, 54% to 45% in 2008, after backing Bush in 2000 and 2004. But the county flipped back in Wisconsin's 2010 gubernatorial election, giving Republican Scott Walker 56% of the vote. And in June, an astounding 75% of Brown voters turned out for the gubernatorial recall election, giving Walker a 20-point win in the county.

County Snapshot: Brown County is ground-zero for Walker-Obama voters. The blue-collar county is 90% white, with a median household income of $52,553, just above the national average. About 25% of voters have college degrees. 

It is not yet clear where the Obama-Walker voter's loyalties will lie in 2012. National polls show that Obama has lost support among non-college-educated white voters, but also indicate that these voters aren't totally sold on Romney either. 

Local Economy: Could be worse. Like many parts of the industrial Midwest, Brown County struggled with the decline in manufacturing, but has seen gradual improvement over the past several years. The regional economy has also become increasingly diversified, with growing healthcare and insurance industries. The county's September unemployment rate was 5.6%, lower than the state and national averages.

X-Factor: The vice presidents. Neither Obama nor Romney is particularly good at relating to the "everyman" voter, so the campaigns have frequently dispatched their No. 2s to Green Bay. Vice President Joe Biden was Obama's secret weapon with Catholic, blue-collar voters, but he may have met his match in native son Paul Ryan, a Packers fan from Janesville. So in the final days of campaigning, the Obama campaign brought in its ringer, former president Clinton, to seal the deal.

Source: Brown County Clerk, U.S. Census, Wisconsin DWD, Green Bay Chamber of Commerce

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The center of the financial universe is undoubtedly New York City, but that doesn't mean every trader lives and works there.

A substantial chunk of the financial services industry considers the West Coast the best coast, despite the three hour time difference.

That time difference, however, affects a trader's work life and social life. 

We spoke to a trader who has experience trading in New York, Las Vegas and California to explain how life is different, and in many ways better, for a West Coast trader.  

Many of them don't have to commute to work.

That's because a lot West Coast traders tend to trade from home.

"We're already three hours behind our east coast brethren and we can't give away any more edge in terms of getting in front of our trading screens.  A commute would totally kill that." 

Of course, there are some traders on the West Coast that have to commute as well as those that work at financial services firms there, too. 

West Coast trader's style is more laid back.

"Because we trade from home, most of us trade in our workout clothes and dress very casually.  New York traders tend to have dress clothes." 

They're early birds.

"A number of us have our trading screens near our beds, so that we can check the status of the markets early in the morning anywhere from 4 to 5 a.m. Pacific Time." 

"Not only are we three hours behind New York, but we're eight hours behind London."

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Apple has been granted a design patent for the rounded edges to the rectangular screen of the iPad, Matt Macari at The Verge reports.

Apple owns patent D670,286, which is "The ornamental design for a portable display device."

That means it really does just cover the rounded edges of the iPad. "There's no other way to look at it," says Macari.

Apple also has a similar design patent for the iPhone, which it used in its lawsuit against Samsung.

To win a design patent, Apple needs to show that its an ornamental design, and not a practical design, says Christina Bonnington at Wired. In other words, rounded corners can't be essential to building or using a tablet.

Apple can't use this patent in a lawsuit against Samsung, Lea Shaver, Associate Professor at Indiana University’s McKinney School of Law tells Wired. The reason is that Samsung has made its designs different enough that they don't look like the iPad.

Also, Macari warns that if Apple were to try to use such a broad patent, the patent could be invalidated. Anyone being sued by Apple would try to prove there's no way Apple can control the design of rounded corners.

And rightly so. It's kind of insane to hold a patent on rounded corners.

Here's the overall look of the first iPad

And here's another angle to look at.

From the back.

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This morning, Mercedes-Benz released photos and details of the brand new, much anticipated SLS AMG Black Series. It does not disappoint.

Inspired by the SLS AMG GT3 race car, this Black Series is built for luxury driving at blazing speeds. The 622 horsepower delivered by the hand-built engine are not the best out there, but it's hard to find a car that combines that sort of power with these looks.

The SLS AMG Black Series, here in bright yellow, will make its public debut at the Los Angeles Auto Show later this month.

It was inspired by the SLS AMG GT3 race car.

The 6.3-liter V8 engine is hand-built and generates 622 hp. Only the SLS AMG Electric Drive has more (740 hp).

That's good for a 0 to 60 mph time of 3.5 seconds, and a top speed of 196 mph.

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With the fiscal cliff looming and Europe's ongoing sovereign debt crisis investors have rushed back to gold, widely seen as a safe haven.

In fact, there is a school of thought that suggests euro zone members use gold as collateral for sovereign debt issuance to keep bond yields.

In this environment, gold prices are up to $1,736 an ounce, well above its 52-week low.

And gold prices have also been supported by central bank gold purchases.

We put together a list of the countries with the biggest official gold holdings as reported by the World Gold Council.  We also included the percent of foreign reserves they possess in gold.

Note: CBGA refers to the Central Bank Gold Agreements. The first Agreement (CBGA 1) ran from September 27, 1999 to September 26, 2004.  The second Agreement (CBGA 2) ran from September 27, 2004 to September 26, 2009. The third Agreement (CBGA 3) will run for five years from September 2009.

#10 India

Official gold holdings:
557.7 tonnes

Percent of foreign reserves in gold:
10.6%

The Reserve Bank of India is known to buy IMF gold and considers gold to be a safe investment, but rarely comments on its plans to buy gold.

Source: World Gold Council

#9 Netherlands

Official gold holdings:
612.5 tonnes

Percent of foreign reserves in gold:
61.1%

Back in 1999, the Netherlands announced under the Central Bank Gold Agreement (CBGA1) that it would sell 300 tonnes of gold during the five years, but only managed to sell 235 tonnes.

Under CBGA2 (2004/2005 –'08/'09) it said it would sell a total of 165 tones (which included the 65 tonnes left over from CBGA1), and it announced no sales under CBGA3 (from 2008/2009 – '13/'14).

Source: World Gold Council

#8 Japan

Official gold holdings:
765.2 tonnes

Percent of foreign reserves in gold:
3.4%

Japan's gold reserves were at just 6 tonnes in 1950, and its central bank registered its first serious jump in gold holdings in 1959, with purchases increasing by 169 tonnes from the previous year.

In 2011, the Bank of Japan sold gold to pump ¥20 trillion into the economy to calm investors after the tsunami and nuclear disaster.

Source: World Gold Council

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The number of moving parts in the global economy and world financial markets is more apparent than ever.

In the United States, the fiscal cliff is coming into focus post-election.

And the sovereign debt crisis in the eurozone continues, although it has abated somewhat in recent months.

While the fiscal cliff and the euro crisis have been consistently at the forefront of investors' minds throughout this year, there are plenty of other big risks to markets and the economy as well that haven't garnered the same attention and awareness.

Some of those risks are even to the upside.

BofA strategists Kate Moore, Michael Hartnett, Benjamin Bowler, and Swathi Putcha sent out a research note examining seven of those lesser-known "tail risks."

The team writes, "Though we believe each of the seven is a low probability event – generally a tail risk is considered a 1-in-10 chance – any one could have an outsized impact on portfolios."

Europe makes an economic growth comeback

WINNERS: U.S. tech stocks, eurozone periphery debt, European banks, the euro

LOSERS: German stocks, the Swiss franc

RATIONALE: Not many expect growth to return to Europe next year. ECB chief Mario Draghi said it himself the latest ECB press conference. And BofA notes that only 9 percent of clients expect above-trend growth in Europe in 2013.

However, BofA says, "just as we saw in Asia in 1998 and the US in 2009, once global policy coordination leads to a dramatic decline in bank funding and interest rates a pickup in economic activity is normally not far behind. The one missing ingredient that Asia had during its debt crisis that Europe does not is a much weaker currency."

Source: BofA Merrill Lynch

Wall Street's collateral crunch intensifies due to regulation

WINNERS: Short-dated U.S. Treasuries

LOSERS: Banks, small cap stocks

RATIONALE: Major financial regulatory reform measures like Dodd Frank and Basel III require banks to hold much more capital than they did before in order to have a larger buffer against future shocks. However, those increased capital needs translate directly into demand for safe assets.

In that case, BofA says, "Analyst Philip Middleton notes that there could be $2.4tn of additional collateral requirements...The combined impact of bank demand and depositor demand for “risk-free” instruments pushes Treasury yields (particularly short-dated) to new historic lows."

Source: BofA Merrill Lynch

US employment really takes off

WINNERS: Banks, small cap stocks, value stocks, emerging markets

LOSERS: Gold, blue chip stocks, growth stocks, bonds

RATIONALE: BofA calls the U.S. labor market "the last area of significant weakness in the economy." And with the veil of uncertainty from the U.S. election rising and the fiscal cliff coming into focus, the uncertainty factor could soon recede, leading businesses to hire more and send unemployment lower.

If that happens, BofA says, it "puts upward pressure on wages and inflation" and will force the Fed to begin tightening monetary policy sooner than expected.

Source: BofA Merrill Lynch

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