tripled across the u.s. find out how to avoid getting bitten. you're in the "cnn newsroom" where the news unfolds live saturday august 21st. i'm fredericka whitfield. a symbolic end to operation iraqui freedom, the last combat brigade to leave iraq held a ceremony in kuwait last night marking their pullout. they had a tradition known as casing of the colors and they will be heading back to the u.s. over the next several days. 52,000 u.s. troops remain in iraq, however. 2,000 of them will leave between now and september 1st. and that's when operation iraqui freedom officially ends and operation new dawn begins. cnn is covering this historic tradition. she joins us live from baghdad. what role will the remain 50,000 or so troops have? >> reporter: well, these troops are going to be in an advise and assist raleigh, but that does not mean they won't be in danger. it's not as if the war is coming to an end and peace will break out and the u.s. military can move around the street without flak jackets and weapons. this is a transitional environment. the tradition we see will be one where the u.s. military's main goal, its main focus, is going to be training of the iraqi security forces. they are going to be partnered at the senior levels. they will be pouring over intelligence together. the u.s. will help iraquis plan their missions and provide them with air assets and support where the iraquis don't necessarily have it. the u.s. military does believe with this residual force of 50,000 troops and given the current iraqi security forces capabilities, they can maintain the current levels of violence before the u.s. military is acceptable, fredricka. >> what about iraquis in what do they think about this? >> well, iraquis still remain very fearful and very anxious. their barometer for what is okay differs significantly from the u.s. military's. when we're talking about current levels of violence, we're still talking about 3 to 400 iraquis being killed a month. iraquis realize that the situation here could potentially possibly get worse. that is what their main concern is. they are also concerned about the fact there is a political vacuum here. we had elections in march. they were largely inconclusive. a new government has yet to be seated. iraquis are very aware this is a country where politics and violence remain heavily intertwined. that's not to say iraquis want americans to stick around forever. however, they are still -- over the last few weeks increasingly anxious and distraught. you have to believe us, the streets of baghdad are not safe. there are people, gangs running around with silencers, assassinations taking place, still an unpredictable environment, fredricka. >> thank you very much. from baghdad, appreciate that. in time those u.s. troops heading back to the u.s., it means there's a hero's welcoming that's about to happen. then at least for one couple a wedding and a new baby. that's a lot of good news all at once. coming up we'll talk to a woman who is about to experience all of that and more. all right. let's talk about some health matters. over half a billion dollar eggs have now been recalled because of a salmonella outbreak. contaminated eggs have made hundreds of people ill and officials expect more cases. how can you avoid getting sick. earlier i asked dr. carlos del rio from the university school of medicine. >> number one, if you have any eggs recalled, discard them or return them. any time you buy eggs, it's better to keep them in the refrigerator. when you are eating eggs, it's better to cook them as opposed to eating them raw. and it's very important that if you make an omelet or make eggs, then afterwards you put them rapidly in the refrigerator and leftover. >> bottom line, cook them very thoughly. for more information on the egg recall, including the package numbers, go to cnn.com/health. all right. couple of strange twists and turns today in a curious story that first surfaced overnight. it centers on the wikileaks website founder julian assange. he's recently known for posting thousands of reports from the afghan war. last night assange was arrested in absentia by sweden on two separate allegations of rape and m molestation. then just hours ago a huge about face. sweden's chief prosecutor says assange is no longer wanted. what's all this about? atika shubert has been following this and she joins us by phone from italy. >> reporter: no one knows what it's about. swedish prosecutor's officer made a complete about face saying they have no reason to suspect julian assange of rape and he's no longer arrested in absentia. there is absolutely no explanation for why he was apparently charged in the first place and why now those charges have been resoaked. the prosecutor is refusing to speak further on the issue until monday morning. so really there are a lot of questions and no answers. in the meantime earlier in the day, julian assange had responded to the allegations in a twitter posting saying he denied the allegations, that they were baseless and he was very concerned about the timing of these allegations. earlier he had put out the twitter posting saying these allegations were part of a dirty trick. certainly wikileaks had been fearful they would be the target of a smear campaign. it seems wikileaks is now afraid recent allegations and charges may be a part of that smear campaign they have been warned about. >> so atika, no explanation for the about face as of yet. what about a better explanation or more details about the allegations. what was at the root of these allegations of rape and molestation in the first place? >> reporter: we really don't know because the prosecutor's office has refused to give any details about the charges or what the exact incident was. local media were reporting two women were involved. it was an incident that happened this week. but again, we haven't been able to independently confirm this and the prosecutor's office won't answer any questions. >> also confusing. atika shubert, thank you very much. more will surface as it pertains to that case or now a noncase perhaps. all right. well, how about this, can money buy you happiness? new research is in. the findings might surprise you coming up. plus tips to get the most enjoyment out of the money that you do have. okay. americans are managing to put away more money despite the weak economy. that's the great news of all this. the congress department says in june personal savings climbed to 6.4% after tax income we're talking about. that's the highest savings rate in the last year. the third straight month of growth. so more money means happier people, right? maybe not. a new study finds that wealthy people don't savor positive experiences as well as people with a little less money. joining us now, financial adviser karen lee. this is really kind of confusing. the wealthier folks have this money, may not be really happy. if you don't have a whole lot of money you are happier. yogurt it. what's the measurement. >> what studies have shown is true happiness is about your experiences in life and the quality of your relationships. but i'd like to go to a graphic we prepared that has to do with the savings rates currently. let's talk a little more about that the savings rate actually dipped to 1% back in 2004. but if you go back several decades, and that's what this slide shows in the '60s, '70s and '80s, americans safe more like 10, 12, 8%. as we talked about, we must save 10% of our income. >> save more if something terrible happens, six, eight months savings. >> what's good, what's going on now, a by-product, we've had a huge generational shift, by adults raised by parents who lived in the depression. they lived with scarcity and lack and they saved, saved, saved because they were worried swinging forward to current decades where there's abundance and good times where they haven't saved as much. they are getting scared again so the pendulum swinning back. we have a little more to go. we'd like to getsation rate up to 10%. >> how do you ondo that how do you approach the savings idea. how do you get people to save? if they are saving now, you want to save more. >> i think one of the hardest things to talk about is how do you -- when times are good, you don't worry about it. when times are bad you worry about it. some of the tips we're going to talk about i think will address some of the questions you've got. >> let's talk about one, saving can really affect a sense of security. that is where the happiness comes in. >> security is happiness, if you go back to basics of human needs, safety and security are down at the bottom of the pyramid. people who save money by nature, they know this. they save because they -- premakes them feel confident, walk tall. >> they have something to fall back on. the question is and i ask the question, how can we get people who aren't used to saving to taste how good it feels to get that monkey off your shoulder and have money to fall back on. >> how do you do that. folks say, i'm seeing this, i'm seeing that. i want to buy that because it makes me feel good. you say some more simple things might make you happy. >> one of the things i want to talk about is when we buy something, we have a moment, all humans have a moment when we feel so excited. >> euphoria. >> kind of intoxicated. it's fleeting. it doesn't last very long. remember if you have an iphone. you buy an iphone, you loved it. then it got old. the ipad came out and you had to have an ipad. really, the key is when you buy stuff, you're getting a fleeting moment of happiness and it will shift away. one of the things we've learned is if you focus on simple things in life. take walks in nature, even if you're doing well. take time to smell the roses. enjoy simple things. studies are showing people who have more money actually have a hard time enjoying simple things. think about it, you tasted that $200 bottle of wine. how good does the $10 one taste. >> forget it. you're taste buds are spoiled. >> you're driving a mercedes, do you want to go back to a honda? force yourself to enjoy simple things. >> if it's not a thing to get exhilaration on spending that, maybe you can spend on an experience. it's all relative to how much, you don't wan to break the bank. an experience might take you further than the thing. >> the poirnt int is, experienc make you happier. >> a trip? >> in a vacation you create memories and experiences that last a lifetime. you come home and you can dwell -- >> try not to shop on the trip. then you're double spending. isn't that the temptation when you go somewhere. >> shop on sale, one of the last things we'll talk about. >> then you want to, i guess, try to evaluate what you're purchasing. >> one of the tips is to make yourself wait for some of these purchases. >> walk away. >> this is psychologist. it's called delayed gratification. actually the anticipation of buying something is as good as the purchase itself. so yes, make yourself save up. make yourself wait. delay that time to the ultimate purchase. if you're booking a vacation, book that trip pretty far in advance. you get that much more time to get psyched. >> sometimes i'm guilty of that. walk away. i don't need this, don't want to buy it. if you forget about it, you're like, you know what, didn't need it. then there's the it's hanging, with you, i've been thinking about that, i've got to have it. >> we all suffer from impulsiveness when it comes to money. big challenges. >> i like the experience part. we have some questions coming up. people that want free advice, they will get it from you. savings, spending, if you have a question, there's a little more time, send it my way here. go to my blog, cnn.com/fredricka or facebook page. we'll get answers from karen lee right after this. in britain, the government is cutting costs and asking the public for suggestions. you won't believe ideas pouring in. can you believe, sell the queen's swans for meat. a closer look at some ideas folks have on saving the government money. a look now at our top stories. the death toll in pakistan's flooding catastrophe has topped 1500. at least 4 million people are homeless now and millions of survivors who now live in filthy conditions are threatened by diseases. u.n. officials are appealing for millions of dollars in aid. and in brazil, one person was killed and four police officers wound during a shoot-out. police say the gunman ran into a luxury hotel in rio de janeiro and took dozens of people hostage. they were released after negotiations but police believe the gunmen have drug-dealing connections. ten people so far have been arrested. a step forward for u.s. efforts to get the stalled mideast peace process moving again. israeli and palestinian leaders have agreed to resume direct talks next month in washington. the negotiation stalled nearly two years ago shortly before israel launched the offensive in gaza. we'll have more top stories in 20 minutes. >> all right. we were talking about whether, i guess, buying or money can buy you happiness. back with financial planner karen lee who says, it's the small things in life. if you are going to spend your money, perhaps you need to, you know, go for the little things. those were a couple more tips you had before the break. >> if there's mongolia you absolutely need, that's a different conversation. if we're talking about the kind of purchasing a lot of americans do, just to make themselves feel a little better, try small things. like i love fresh flowers, $10, $15 every couple of weeks. my husband's thing when he's had a hard day, get a milkshake on the way home. doesn't cost a lot. >> we've got e-mail questions coming your way. we have people who sent questions via facebook, even my blog. let's get started with this from todd, one year ago making six figures living in dallas. since then i have had to downsize my home, my lifestyle, my car but i've never been happier. >> i'm loving this. as bad as this recession is, it's very good people are reevaluating their needs. >> talking about simplifying your life. >> an article in the "new york times" last week, a couple actually downsized to a 400 -- >> i saw it. >> no television. they are doing great. a little drastic. >> i thought, is there a happy medium? that is what crossed my mind when i saw that article, too. blanche asked, how do you get to discuss money and personal finances with your adult children? the answer is, mom, don't worry. it isn't happening right now. we'll cross that bridge when the time comes. i have tried -- this is blanche -- i've tried to make them pay attention to the idea of planning ahead. that's hard. >> this is hard. i've got two main things to say on this. number one, the thing you need to impress on your children, adult children, financial planning is about planning for the future and for bad things that could happen. because once they happen -- >> young people don't see bad things happening. >> once it happens, it's too late. if she has a financial adviser, i'd ask for pro bono work, have a consultation with adult children. i'd send them in, say this is a gift i've gotten for you at no cost. >> how much do you use your life experience to your adult children to say, i was there -- it's a turnoff for that. >> i think it's ideal. if you've had hard times, share those with them. if you have scrimped and saved and are in a good place, again, if they are adult children i think that's a fabulous thing to do. >> this follow-up from bill. he says, i recently received a large sum of money. i put it into an ira, rollover accounts, what type of safe investments could i enter into now. >> i'm assuming he inherited this. to do an arollover you have to earn and deposit money on your own. i always talk about, how old are you? that time horizon. remember, you can't tap into the mope until you're 60. if we have 20 year time horizon, maybe not so conservative, combine stock and bond portfolio, go heavier on the bonds than the stocks for the time being. fixed annuity paying 3.25%. nothing great but safe. you can look at variable annuities out, guaranteed growth rates. remember, they are a bit expensive. you can look at tips, inflation protected, but you're not going to earn too much on them. >> thank you very much. a nice menu there. i'm full. karen lee, thanks so much. good to see you. >> always good to be here. >> thanks at home for sending great comments and questions. meantime, united kingdom, it, too, is having money problems. the conservative-led government asked the public for help. it asked ordinary citizens for suggestion on ways the government could actually save money. the answers simply come pouring in. some were clever and some a little ridiculous. you never know. the u.s. might learn something here. josh has been trolling through these ideas, good, bad, otherwise. >> a great list. they have 100,000 they have put up on line and asking people to rate. tens of billions of pounds, which is more in dollars every year. massive sums of money britain needs to hold onto. massive, massive debt. they opened up basically. the treasury said, go ahead and send any ideas you have. some would make you and karen happy. some are pretty practical. let's take a look at the first one here. you know what, government is using too many buildings right now. they could combine offices into fewer buildings. start using fewer of them and sell off the extra buildings. that's something right there. that's a start. here is the next one. police bmws. apparently police in general use these bmws. i will say usually when you have police with bmws, there's a reason. maybe they got a deal. but maybe cheaper ones. cheaper travel. they pulled out some interesting ones. some people in the government say, you know what, when we travel for work, we are required to use certain companies that are actually more expensive. we could save money if you let us book cheaper travel or do things on the cheap. another one, streetlights. someone saying how about you turn off every other streetlight, you still have light to drive. practical, right? >> i think so. >> fewer managers. >> fewer managers of anything and everything. >> i love the picture they chose, by the wachlt here is the idea. some employees who have written in saying we have so many managerial levels right now, there aren't that many people doing the groundwork. too many people telling us what to do all day. let's get to less likely ideas. here is your favorite. sell the queen's swans for meat. >> for meat. oh, my gosh. >> i know. a very disturbing suggestion. >> that's nasty, come on. >> so not going to happen. especially with the beautiful picture making the heart. prison treadmills, a little disturbing but will more than one person suggesting you take the treadmills in prison and hook them up to the power grid to provide electricity. i don't know. last one i'm going to tell you, my favorite one, cheap alcohol. i have to read the one that goes along. this is from a member of the british public. make booze cheaper, then everyone will be drunk all the time and no one will notice or care how the country is doing. >> i'm sure they like the public servant in uniform with a martini glass. >> they are having a field day with the pictures. we should ask the u.s. how to save money, serious to ridiculous to sublime. you know where to get me. send us your thoughts on the list and your thoughts how the u.s. should save money. you know what, not only does britain got debt, the u.s. has debt, too. >> i like that i can't wait to hear what people are suggesting for america. >> i'm a little scared but looking forward to it. >> me, too. josh, thank you very much. on the subject of penny pinching, how about eating for $1 a day. sounds impossible. a california man actually did it. he didn't lose weight either. it wasn't a diet plan. he'll explain how it happened. . and leave your phone in your purse, i don't want you texting. >> daddy... ok! ok, here you go. be careful. >> thanks dad. >> and call me--but not while you're driving. we knew this day was coming. that's why we bought a subaru. host: could switching to geico really save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance? 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[ car door closing ] [ male announcer ] time tot! check your air conditioning? come to meineke now and get a free ac system check. meineke. we have the coolest customers. all right. lots of people like to save a few bucks by clipping coupons, right? california blogger used coupons to accomplish a seemingly impossible challenge, eating well on just a dollar a day for 100 days, no less. jeffrey joins us from mountainview, california. good to see you. >> thank you. welcome -- pleasure to be here. >> i'm a real foodie. i love food. it's hard to imagine i could sustain myself on just $1 a day. why was this an experiment you wanted to take advantage of for 100 days no less? >> it was actually a bet with my sister to start off with. i had been getting food for local food banks and doing pretty well with it with coupons. my sister decided to have a bet with me whether i could live on $1 a day. >> the bottom line, 100 days of food. you actually spent $76.11. the value of all those purchases was $1400, over $1400. let's break down how you were able to do this. coupons almost full throttle here? >> it's a matter of finding the deals that match up with the coupons. it's called spakking. you try to find deals out there, sales, and then add coupons onto that. by being able to do that type of thing, you are able to come away with food for practically free. >> okay. so then you also set some rules in place for yourself in the first month. let's go through some of those rules that you abided by. $31 to spend for that month, which broke down to $1 a day. you wanted to use two computers in order to precipitate coupons. why did you do that? >> what happens with computers, you have the limit of the number of coupons you're allowed to print off each computers. the more computers you have, the more coupons you can actually print. when we made the rules, my sister decided that two computers, most people would have access to two computers, so that was what we decided was the way to go. >> only two inserts from the sunday paper each week. no limits on the coupons found inside the grocery stores, so you took advantage of those. no free food from trees, dumpster diving, friends, food banks, donations, none of that. you really couldn't accept any charity from anyone. back to the sunday newspapers, why two inserts? >> it's the same thing. if you have multiple inserts when the good deals come around, you can just keep rolling them over and over and over again. you can get quite a bit of food that way. for example, this past week i ended up getting about $700 worth of food at a local food bank that actually cost me nothing. >> wow. cool. then you had another set of rules you imposed on yourself for days 31 through 100. a little bit different. why did you come up with different rules, by the way, so you wouldn't get board? >> so i wouldn't get bored. and the initial rules were pretty strict. when i started, i started with absolutely nothing. it is not something i would recommend anybody else do. it was a good challenge and stuff, but i wanted to make it a little bit more liberal, look at some other things that people would possibly do to get food. that's why i made it a little more liberal. >> okay. so getting the food from trees, that's okay. but really, the exchange, you got food from your garden. you're a gardener, too. you put no limit on the number of coupons. >> right. >> you were only allowed to pay for one sunday paper now. >> exactly. >> like you said, the food out of your own garden. you were allowed to buy tea at the local coffee shops. you found ways to reward yourself and did allow foraging of food. meaning friends and stuff? you could beg? >> i didn't do a lot of it. i got most of the food i foraged from public lands. it was kind of fun. it ended up being my morning meal, a fruit smoothie of some type. >> great lessons learned, you found out you could survive on more or less than you ever expected. you said, you know what, we all tend to buy too many things that we don't want. >> yeah. what happens is that to make this work, you kind of have to change the way you think about shopping. and one of the big things is in order to get the things you want, you end up having to buy things you don't really need. most people don't do that if you start to think about it in the way, okay, i don't need this but somebody will, local food bank, local charities and stuff like that. all of a sudden you're able to give and also help yourself at the same time. >> oh, my gosh, you may have given as much as you actually purchased for that dollar for yourself and turned this into a great charitable effort. >> i probably gave more than i actually kept for myself. i probably gave about $1,000 worth of food and other products to local charities during this whole thing. >> wow, fantastic. all right. blogger jeffrey strain, thanks so much. we learned a lot here. you're making us rethink how we eat, how we diet, how we buy food and give, of course. that's the best part. jeffrey, appreciate it. thank you so much. >> thank you. okay. they were among the first to go into iraq and part of the last brigade to actually leave. combat brigade that is. we'll talk to someone who cannot wait for them to come home. you took my eggs ! it's an "egg management fee." what does that even mean ? egg management fee. even kids know it's wrong to take other people's stuff. that's why at ally bank we offer rates among the most competitive in the country that won't get eaten away by fees. it's just the right thing to do. that won't get eaten away by fees. junior, run the numbers! price on a flight to maui. >> on it, dad. >> nobody move!! >> hrmmm? ♪ priceline negotiator >> i'm calling a family meeting. >> there's no time... we're searching hundreds of sites for the cheapest flight. >> what you're doing is setting a bad example for the kids. on priceline, you can shop all these flights, and get the best price guaranteed. and if you add a hotel or car, you save even more. >> shut it down, people! >> a family that saves together, stays together. hard to believe after more than seven years, u.s. military celebrating a symbolic end to the war in iraq. the final combat blig aid left and troops are on their way home. families, of course, are planning huge homecomings among them. sarah jean in grand rapids, michigan. she's very pregnant. what, seven and a half months pregnant? >> yes. >> your fiance is well on his way home. how much have you known about the end of this combat duty and when he was to return? >> originally we were told the latest would be september 13th, then with obama pulling them out sooner, he's coming two weeks earlier than we had planned. >> so how did you get the news? did you learn like everybody else or did you have any special direct contact with your fiance? >> i had kind of heard through some other army wives, and then i actually found out the exact news from my ex-husband. >> okay. so your fiance is specialist andrew lander. how long has he been in iraq? >> he's been there since september 11th of last year. >> okay. hu been able to talk with him along the way, especially talking about your pregnancy and how you've been feeling and the excitement that you all are enjoying? >> we use skype for most of it. so we were able to see each other and he's able to see my baby belly and everything. it makes it a lot easier with him being gone. >> what is this homecoming like? what is planned in what can you tell us? >> right after i get done here, i'm driving back to washington from michigan, so i'll be there in time. and i'm not really sure what we're planning. i just know we're going to be spending a lot of time together. >> okay. you're driving to washington state or washington, d.c.? >> washington state, fort lewis in tacoma. >> does he know that you're going to be there? >> yes. i was able to talk to him for 15 minutes yesterday, and i told him that i was leaving earlier just in case he came home earlier. >> oh, my gosh. that's going to be quite the journey, quite the drive. you're seven and a half months pregnant. how have you been feeling? >> i had some problems a month and a half ago, they thought i had appendicitis. it hurt a lot but now i'm fine. >> what's that moment going to be like, when andrew landers and you lock eyes and he returns after this long journey. >> i know i'm going to be bawling. i'm already tearing thinking about it. >> how wonderful to get this early return home. what a great gift. has this been a tough time, particularly, his deployment for you? >> yeah, it's been pretty hard. i miscarried two days before he deployed, so that was really, really hard. then him leaving right after, that's usually when you're with your significant other. so that's pretty hard. then we were able to conceive again. so everything is going well so far. it's making it a lot easier now. >> well, fantastic. baby is due october 28th. do i have that right? >> uh-huh. yes. >> this is going to be really fantastic. were you expecting that perhaps baby might arrive before your fiance would return? >> a few months ago, like a month and a half ago when that started happening, they thought i was going into preterm labor. and that really worried me, like, if andrew is going to be here, if he's going to be home in time. i didn't really think i'd be able to do it all at once without him. i'm glad he'll be home now. >> fantastic. you've got two blessings ahead, days if not weeks away. congratulations on both front, the return of specialist andrew lander. all the best on your journey to washington and of course all the best for the birth of your baby. >> thank you. >> all right. thanks so much. sarah jean, thanks for your time, all the best to you. the u.s. and rest of the world are keeping a close eye on iran today. why? nuclear fuel is being transferred into what will be the country's first atomic energy plant. tehran says the power station will be used for civilian purposes only to produce electricity. but outside of iran, the west is concerned that it could be used to create a nuclear bomb. iran state media has reported it will take at least two months for the reactor to begin generatoring power. much more after this. then you're ready for new zegerid otc. zegerid otc is the first 24-hour treatment ever with two active ingredients: prescription-strength medicine plus a protective ingredient that shields the medicine from stomach acid so it's effectively absorbed. just one zegerid otc capsule a day can relieve your heartburn all day and all night. if you have frequent heartburn, try dual-ingredient zegerid otc. heartburn solved. into revolutionary performance. one word makes the difference between defining the mission and accomplishing the mission. one word makes the difference in defending our nation and the cause of freedom. how... is the word that makes all the difference. the oil disaster in the gulf left millions of fish in harm's way. now researchers are working on a robot that could lure them away from danger. to the edge of discovery. >> reporter: there are plenty of fish in the sea. but this one can help us understand how they communicate. what makes this fish so special? it's a robot. >> control the speed as he moves and then make it go in circles. >> reporter: it's powered by batteries and a motor. while it might lack intracat details of shiny scales, researchers focused on one special feature. the tail. >> one thing we do, get the same type of flow between the robot and animals. >> they didn't mind same size of shape. they determined it was safe based on the way it moves. to program the robot to accurately mimic swimming motion, real fish will follow. >> my specific goals as a scientist are to understand more how the fish swim together. >> in the future robot fish could lead them away from danger, like pollution or underwater turbines. gary tuchman, cnn. ♪ one tribe, y'all ♪ one tribe, y'all ♪ one tribe, y'all ♪ we are one people [ female announcer ] when you choose pepsi, you support the pepsi refresh project. which is giving away millions of dollars to refresh communities across america. ♪ one, one, one people [ female announcer ] so choose pepsi. ♪ one tribe, y'all [ female announcer ] every pepsi refreshes the world. ♪ one, one, one people swarming bees and weird options, all the buzz this week. glmpb blagojevich, documents, all up for bid. there's elvis. all this taking place in illinois. they were in a suburban chicago storage facility. the company auctioned them off for $30,000 since blagojevich didn't apparently pay his storage bill. all the money raised is going to charity. then there's this. how would you like to own the throne of j.d. salinger? i'm talking about a toilet reportedly owned and used by the reclusive author. it's now for sale on ebay. the starting bid is, get this, $1 million. sales copy for the porcelain potty say salinger may have gotten inspiration while doing business on that potty. salinger is best known for writing, "the catcher in the rye." the toilet was removed from his home when he died and it was renovated. he died last january. the potty is all the rage. >> i'm so glad you read that story and i didn't. >> i will draw from your inspiration on your thoughts. >> you know, i haven't heard of that as being an inspiring place. i always heard you should have a notepad and pen next to your night table, you might wake up in the middle of the night and have -- >> sometimes people spend a little time there and that's their only moment to have personal space and thought. maybe that was the moment for them. >> everybody had their thing. >> a million dollars. anyway, a million dollar forecast out there? >> not really. >> i wish. >> it's too hot and humid. >> so over it. >> you're either over the heat or over the humidity and the wet weather. >> my hair is really over the humidity. >> right. >> i can't wait until the fall and winter. >> please, a good hair day, just one. it's coming in about a month. >> right. we should start to see drier air pour in. this is what's happening across the u.s. the big focus in terms of thunderstorms in wet, active weather across the great lakes stretching down to probably the gulf coast. there's a chance these thunderstorms will be severe. the greatest threat will be wind damage. we couldn't rule out a little hail or isolated tornado. we're not expecting a lot of action in that way. just enough to produce lightning and mess up dinner plans for tonight. the stronger line moving to the knoxville area right now and we also have showers and thunderstorms pushing across parts of florida. here is where the heat advisory is today, focuses the mid-south of the mississippi river valley and also watching the tropics upgraded to a high-risk. this wave coming off the islands. that has potential to become a tropical storm, days and days and days away, fredricka. too early to tell if it will affect the u.s. >> okay. we'll be at the edge of our seats. we're reaching that peak hurricane season. >> at 3:00 we'll talk about tropics and what to expect. >> thank you. we'll talk about that. to the ocean, it's always been a source of mystery. but one of the biggest ones right now is this: what happened to all that oil in the gulf? the government says most of it is gone. experts don't agree. we'll look at that debate. 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[squeaking] don't take the trip. or even buy the camper... without blueprint from chase. create a plan to pay off large purchases... and save money on interest. does your credit card have blueprint? design your plan at 866 blueprint. it has been reopened for commercial crabbing. the move that the approval of the fda. the test shows the crabs are safe to eeat. not everyone agrees. we'll hear from one scientist, with a group that wants them to face tougher testing. all right. the government says most of the oil from the bp oil disaster has been collected, dispersed or accounted for in some way. many people are confused about exactly what happened to it, especially with new revelations this week about a 22-mile long plume floating somewhere below the surface. cnn's kate bolduan looks at that debate. >> reporter: how much oil is still out there? it seems that depends on who is talking. cord to the government, about three-quarters of the oil is effectively gone. >> what is left is 26% of the 4.9 million barrels. now, is that completely accurate? no, it's based on the estimates as defined in the oil budget as a purpose to establish a baseline to try and get a better estimate moving forward. >> but some scientists have reached far different conclusions. is the obama administration painting too rosey a picture? researchers from the university of georgia released a report estimating up to 79% of the oil, quote, has not been recovered and remain a