Image description: Sparklers can burn at 2,000F - hot as a blow...

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Image description: Sparklers can burn at 2,000F - hot as a blow torch! Know the risks. Prevent the tragedies.

Always use fireworks and sparklers with extreme caution and follow these safety tips to prevent injury:

Never allow young children to play with or ignite fireworks.Avoid buying fireworks that are packaged in brown paper because this is often a sign that the fireworks were made for professional displays and that they could pose a danger to consumers.Always have an adult supervise fireworks activities. Parents don’t realize that young children suffer injuries from sparklers. Sparklers burn at temperatures of about 2,000 degrees - hot enough to melt some metals.Never place any part of your body directly over a fireworks device when lighting the fuse. Back up to a safe distance immediately after lighting fireworks.Never try to re-light or pick up fireworks that have not ignited fully.Never point or throw fireworks at another person.Keep a bucket of water or a garden hose handy in case of fire or other mishap.Light fireworks one at a time, then move back quickly.Never carry fireworks in a pocket or shoot them off in metal or glass containers.After fireworks complete their burning, douse the spent device with plenty of water from a bucket or hose before discarding it to prevent a trash fire.Make sure fireworks are legal in your area before buying or using them.

Image and tips from the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

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Image description: The Smithsonian’s National Museum of...

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Image description: The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History recently welcomed this T. rex skeleton to its collection. It is one of the most complete T. rex specimens ever found and will be on display in the museum’s new dinosaur hall which is scheduled to open in 2019.

Learn more about the new T. rex skeleton.

Photo from the Smithsonian.

We welcome your comments if you are 13 or older, and hope that our conversations here will be polite. You are responsible for the content of your comments.

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violent, obscene, profane, hateful, or racist commentscomments that threaten or harm the reputation of any person or organizationadvertisements or solicitations of any kindcomments that suggest or encourage illegal activitymultiple off-topic posts or repetitive posts that are copied and pastedpersonal information including, but not limited to, e-mail addresses, telephone numbers, mailing addresses, or identification numbers

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Image description: Prehistoric granaries along the Colorado...

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We welcome your comments if you are 13 or older, and hope that our conversations here will be polite. You are responsible for the content of your comments.

We do not discriminate against any views, but may delete any of the following:

violent, obscene, profane, hateful, or racist commentscomments that threaten or harm the reputation of any person or organizationadvertisements or solicitations of any kindcomments that suggest or encourage illegal activitymultiple off-topic posts or repetitive posts that are copied and pastedpersonal information including, but not limited to, e-mail addresses, telephone numbers, mailing addresses, or identification numbers

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Image description: When you throw something away, where does it...

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Image description: When you throw something away, where does it go?

Every year, Americans create 250 million tons of trash. 134 million tons end ip in landfills and incinerators, but it doesn’t have to. 

You can dramatically reduce the amount of trash that is thrown away by taking a few easy steps:

Reduce the amount of materials you use, which reduces the amount of waste you create.Reuse materials when possible.Recycle whenever possible.Rethink the materials you use and those you throw away.

By thinking about what we’re doing and how to reduce the waste we produce, we can help create a cleaner, healthier environment.

Make a difference today! If we all take small steps every day to reduce the amount of waste we produce, we can help protect our planet for generations to come.

For more information, visit www.epa.gov/recycle.

This infographic is based on data from EPA’s 2011 MSW Characterization Report. For more inenvformation, see http://1.USA.gov/USmsw.

Check out http://1.USA.gov/mswinfog for the full infographic.

Inforgraphic from the Environmental Protection Agency.

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violent, obscene, profane, hateful, or racist commentscomments that threaten or harm the reputation of any person or organizationadvertisements or solicitations of any kindcomments that suggest or encourage illegal activitymultiple off-topic posts or repetitive posts that are copied and pastedpersonal information including, but not limited to, e-mail addresses, telephone numbers, mailing addresses, or identification numbers

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Image description: The sloth bear cub, Hank, recently made his...

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Image description: The sloth bear cub, Hank, recently made his public debut at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo. He is the first sloth bear born at the Zoo in seven years.

Hank and his mother, Hana, have spent the past six months in a den near the Asia Trail exhibit. Now that he is adept at climbing, the Zoo’s animal care staff are confident he can conquer the yard’s complex climbing structures and varied terrain.

Photo from Smithsonian’s National Zoo. View more photos of Hank.

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Description of Options Markets

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Option markets are similar to futures markets, in that they give the holder the right to buy or sell the underlying commodity for a specific price on (European options) or before (US options) a specific date in the future (known as the expiration or exercise date), but options have some significant difference from futures, and are traded quite differently.

The main difference is that options contracts only give the right to buy or sell the underlying commodity, whereas futures contract have the obligation to buy or sell the underlying commodity. The buyer of the options contract can choose whether or not to exercise their right, and if they do, the seller of a matching options contract will be obligated to complete the transaction. The seller to complete the transaction is chosen by the options clearing system, which is the Options Clearing Corporation in the US, and Clearstream Banking (a division of the DTB exchange) in Europe.

Options markets include European style options like the following:

ODAX - Cash settled options based upon the DAX stock index of the DTB (Deutsche Boerse) in Europe OSMI - Cash settled options based upon the SMI stock index of the SWX (Swiss Exchange) in Europe ESX - Cash settled options based upon the FTSE100 stock index of Euronext (LIFFE) in Europe

and US style options like the following:

EUR - Futures settled options based upon the EUR futures of Globex (Chicago Mercantile Exchange) in the US OYM - Cash settled options based upon the YM Dow Jones stock index of ECBOT (Chicago Board of Trade) in the US OZG - Futures settled options based upon the ZG Gold 100 Troy Ounce futures of ECBOT (Chicago Board of Trade) in the US

Options markets trade options contracts, which specify the underlying security, the expiration date, and the strike (or exercise) price. Day traders can trade options contracts to make a profit on the difference between the buying price and the selling price (when the options are sold before expiration), or to make a profit from the underlying security when they are exercised.

As with futures contracts, options contracts are traded by day traders and longer term traders, and also by non traders with an interest in the underlying commodity. When traded for the underlying commodity, options contracts work the same way as futures contracts, but only give the right to buy or sell the underlying commodity rather than the obligation.

Both European and US style options are settled in either cash or a futures contract in the underlying security when they are exercised. In the money (in profit), cash settled options, are valued using the trading price of the underlying security at expiration, and the profit is realized into the trader's account. In the money, futures settled options, are converted into the appropriate futures contract, which the trader can then buy or sell to realize the profit.

US traders should note that the SEC (the US securities and exchange commission) has placed restrictions on cash settled options, so not all options markets are available to US traders.

The trading symbol for options markets consists of the underlying, the expiration date, whether the contract is a Call (right to buy) or a Put (right to sell) and the strike (or exercise) price. For example, the DAX Call option that expires in December 2007 with a strike price of 7000 would have the symbol ODAX-Call-200712-7000. The contract specifications for options markets include the minimum price change (known as the tick size), and the point value or multiplier, with which the value per minimum price change can be calculated. Continuing with the previous example, the tick size for the ODAX is 0.1, and the multiplier is 5 EUR, so the value per tick is calculated as 0.1 X 5 EUR = 0.50 EUR per tick. This means that for every 0.1 in price change, an option's profit or loss would change by 0.5 EUR.

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