Keen

Disney is no longer minting money. At least one kind -- the company recently announced that it will no longer print and sell its beloved currency, Disney Dollars. The bills, which feature iconic Disney (DIS) characters and are signed by treasurer Scrooge McDuck, are worth real U.S. dollars. They're like gift certificates and can still be used at Disney theme parks, resorts, hotels, restaurants and stores. But for many Disney die-hards, they're also collectibles Typically Mickey Mouse was on the $1, Goofy was on the $5 and Minnie Mouse was on the $10. The bills also featured princesses like Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, villains like Cruella de Vil and Captain Hook; and characters like Dumbo, Simba, the 101 Dalmations and even Lilo from "Lilo and Stitch." Disney stopped selling the bills on May 14, but many are listed on eBay (EBAY). A special edition $50 bill from 2005 that marked Disneyland's 50th anniversary just sold for $495 on Wednesday, whic...

In this "green car" competition, the Smart Electric Drive has two big things going for it. The first big thing is that it's all electric. The second big thing is that, actually, it's really little. That makes it easy on energy. The Smart ED gets an amazing 107 MPGe, or Miles Per Gallon Equivalent. That's a measure of how efficiently a car uses power from any source other than gasoline. By comparison, a Tesla Model S, a much bigger, roomier car, gets 89 MPGe. The American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy recently put out its annual list of the "Greenest Cars" and the Smart ED was named number one. The list is based on fuel efficiency and emissions and, yes, the group does admit that, if you live in an area where your electricity comes from coal-powered plants, driving an electric car like this might not be the best thing you could do for the planet. By the way, you won't find the Tesla Mode S in this gallery. Due to its size, which the...

INDIAN India is a land of ancient civilization. India's social, economic, and cultural configurations are the products of a long process of regional expansion. Indian history begins with the birth of the Indus Valley Civilization and the coming of the Aryans. These two phases are usually described as the pre-Vedic and Vedic age. Hinduism arose in the Vedic period. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people , and the most populous democracy in the world. One More Child This story took place in India. It is about a very rich woman, who was very sad because she had no children of her own. One time she asked a friend, how she could get a child?. Her friend told her, to go to her poor neighbor's house, because there was a lady that had twelve children and don't have enough money to feed them all and maybe she will give one away. The rich woman went with a bag of gold to the poor w...

Andrew McDonald, a student of High Sierra Workshops, took this photo at the falls, amid a sea of photographers. For a few weeks in February if the conditions are just right, for about 10 minutes around sunset, one waterfall in Yosemite National Park looks more like its opposite — a firefall. Visitors who flocked to the California park last week, many with cameras in tow, have not been disappointed by the glowing transformation of Horsetail Fall, which flows from El Capitan. “In the over 20 years I have been photographing the firefall and leading workshops there in Yosemite, I have never seen a more spectacular one,” said Michael Mariant, a photographer from Morro Bay, Calif., who leads teaching trips to Yosemite. The phenomenon occurs if there has been enough snow and rain in the Sierra Mountains to fuel the waterfall, if the skies are clear and if the setting sun strikes the water at an angle that creates the illusion of lava. Mike Gauthier, the park’s chief of staf...

By JANE E. BRODY It did not take long for me to recognize the therapeutic potential of Max, the hypoallergenic 5-month-old Havanese puppy I adopted in March 2014. He neither barked nor growled and seemed to like everyone, especially the many children that come up and down our block. When I asked if a crying child passing by would like to pet a puppy, the tears nearly always stopped as fluffy little Max approached, ready to be caressed. So I signed us up for therapy dog training with the Good Dog Foundation, which met conveniently in my neighborhood. If we passed the six-week course, we would be certified to visit patients in hospitals and nursing homes, children in schools, and people in other venues that recognize the therapeutic potential of well-behaved animals. Training involves a joint effort of dog and owner, usually in groups of four to eight pairs. The dog can be any size, any breed, but must be housebroken; nonaggressive; not fearful of strangers, loud or s...

Smile for your MasterCard authentication selfie! MasterCard wants to ditch the old-fashioned password and use selfies to approve online purchases. The company announced it is launching new mobile technologies that will allow customers to authenticate their online purchases using selfies or fingerprints. The technology will be rolled out by big banks in the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and some European countries over the next few months. People from around the world will be regularly using this authentication technology within five years, said Ajay Bhalla, president of enterprise security solutions at MasterCard (MA). Bhalla said that using facial and fingerprint scans for purchases is safer than typed passwords since many customers foolishly use easy-to-guess codes. Customers who want to try selfie authentication will have to download a special MasterCard app that will allow them to take a photo each time they make an online purchase. Their face (or fingerprint)...

By Tracy López Published November 18, 2011 Fox News Latino The United States is defined by many things – but the tradition of mixing cultures has been part of its foundation from the moment European explorers set foot in the "New World" – a world which was not new to the indigenous people who had lived here for centuries.  There is no way to romanticize the process of this originally forced mixing of cultures, although school text books try their best. Whether it was the Spanish converting native peoples to Catholicism or British colonists forcing African slaves to take on Anglo names – the history is often tragic and unpleasant. As more and more immigrants from around the world came to call the United States home, this country became known as a "melting pot." While generations ago many immigrants did attempt to shed their language and traditions – or were forced to melt or blend in – thankfully, today that isn't quite the case. More modern a...