Steam

Even the hottest initial public stock offerings can lose steam after their first day of trading. Sure, company insiders will make money selling at the opening price. And investors who used connections or big bucks to score shares at the IPO price will profit if they sell after a first-day "pop. " For everyone else, the wildly mixed record of other ballyhooed IPOs beyond their first trading session offers a lesson. It's one that should remind us that buying Facebook stock Friday provides a chance to lose money.

The 100th anniversary party at Fenway Park was going pretty well until the Red Sox started playing baseball. All the visiting former players, television specials, and coffee table books can't make up for how poorly the current team is playing at the old ballpark. The losing continued on Friday night as the Baltimore Orioles scored twice in the 13th inning to beat the Sox, 6-4. That's eight losses in the last nine home games for the last-place Sox, who have fallen seven games out of first.

NEW YORK -- An underground steam pipe explosion tore through a Manhattan street near Grand Central Terminal yesterday, causing a crater that swallowed a tow truck and killing one person as hundreds of others ran for cover amid a towering geyser of steam and flying rubble. A New York Police Department spokesman, Paul Browne, said the explosion was not terrorism. "There is no reason to believe whatsoever that this is anything other than a failure of our infrastructure," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said during a news conference at the scene of the blast.

Serves 8 4large eggs1pound small new potatoes orfingerling potatoes2tablespoons olive oilSalt and pepper, to taste1pound green beans, trimmed1bunch asparagus, ends snapped off1bunch slender carrots, halved1bulb fennel, very thinly sliced4small Armenian cucumbers orpickling cukes or 1 Englishcucumber, thinly sliced1small jicama, halved and very thinly slicedExtra olive oil (for sprinkling) 1. Bring a saucepan of water to a boil. Use a slotted spoon to ease the eggs into the water.

Q. I bought a steam cleaner, and was told it could be used on wood floors. I just had hardwood floors installed in my kitchen. I really am concerned about putting steam on finished hardwood. Should I be concerned? FLO, from Boston A. Yes, you should be concerned. Do not steam clean hardwood floors, or any wood floors. Steam has a funny habit of condensing into water, and it is that water that can ruin floors. There’s a taboo against using water on a wood floor, which is valid because Americans tend to go crazy over what they use, and are likely to douse the floor with the...

CAMBRIDGE - There's something touchingly innocent about the belief in technology as a force for peace, considering how often it has been anything but. "Futurity: A Musical by the Lisps," now receiving its world premiere at Oberon in a production presented by the American Repertory Theater and directed by Sarah Benson, is set during an especially bloody period in US history: the Civil War. A Union soldier and would-be inventor named Julian...

Without big economic news or headlines from Europe, stocks drifted higher but lost the momentum of last week, their best week of 2012. Apple's dividend and UPS's plan to buy TNT Express lifted those shares. The Dow rose just 6.51, ho-hum compared with last week's 310-point gain. The S&P 500 edged up to its highest close since May 20, 2008.

Stocks posted their best week since Christmas. The market heads into the most hectic week so far in this earnings season after a mixed start, with some worries over revenue and growth offset by sharp cost-cutting. Investors also kept an eye on Greece, where a bond swap deal between the cash-strapped country and its private bondholders appeared to be close.

CAMBRIDGE - For all that it's called "Futurity," Brooklyn band the Lisps' new rock musical, which will have its world premiere Friday at Oberon, is a look back to the Civil War. Presented by the American Repertory Theater, it's a love story of sorts: Julian Munro meets Ada Lovelace and they find they have a lot in common. Julian is a Union soldier, a member of the Ohio 34th Infantry who, even as he's smashing Confederate railroad ties in Virginia, dreams of becoming an inventor. Ada is an English mathematician who's written about Charles Babbage's mechanical general-purpose computer.

A white utility truck. A generator humming nearby. A cordon of orange cones. An open manhole, steam dancing like campfire smoke. It's a familiar tableau, repeated day and night on Boston streets. If you're like me, you've wondered: What is in those manholes, anyway? And what's with the steam? It turns out there's a labyrinth of steam pipes underneath the city — 17 miles worth, actually. A company called Veolia Energy uses the pipe network to pump steam from power plants to office buildings, hospitals, and other facilities — 70 percent of Boston's high-rises, in fact — which...

Serves 4 as an appetizer At The Black Birch in Kittery, Maine, Prince Edward Island mussels are cooked with house-made kimchi and sake, then enhanced with miso butter at the end. Here, aromatics are sauteed in butter, then the mussels are steamed open, and finally white miso and good store-bought kimchi are added before serving. The restaurant garnishes the dish with a few fried wonton chips, but crusty bread is a delicious alternative. 2pounds mussels 2tablespoons unsaltedbutter1tablespoon chopped fresh ginger3scallions, chopped3cloves garlic, thinly sliced1½cups dry sake1tablespoon...

A white utility truck. A generator humming nearby. A cordon of orange cones. An open manhole, steam dancing like campfire smoke. It's a familiar tableau, repeated day and night on Boston streets. If you're like me, you've wondered: What is in those manholes, anyway? And what's with the steam? It turns out there's a labyrinth of steam pipes underneath the city — 17 miles worth, actually. A company called Veolia Energy uses the pipe network to pump steam from power plants to office buildings, hospitals, and other facilities — 70 percent of Boston's high-rises, in fact — which convert it to heat...

WASHINGTON - Efforts to restrict the shark fin trade - which is illegal in four states and has prompted legislation in at least six others - have stirred a noisy public debate about how best to protect a top ocean predator whose numbers are shrinking. While the United States boasts some of the world's toughest restrictions on shark fishing, requiring sharks to be brought in with their fins attached, proponents of the measure argue more needs to be done. "This is everyone's problem," said Eric Luedtke, a member of the Maryland House of Delegates, which is considering...

CAMBRIDGE - There's something touchingly innocent about the belief in technology as a force for peace, considering how often it has been anything but. "Futurity: A Musical by the Lisps," now receiving its world premiere at Oberon in a production presented by the American Repertory Theater and directed by Sarah Benson, is set during an especially bloody period in US history: the Civil War. A Union soldier and would-be inventor named Julian...

More than 300 current and former employees of Back Bay Restaurant Group have joined a lawsuit that accuses the company of failing to pay minimum wages and overtime to servers, bartenders, and other staff. Back Bay Restaurant Group, founded by well-known restaurateur Charles Sarkis, ran popular restaurants such as Abe & Louie's, Atlantic Fish Co., and Joe's American Bar & Grill until it sold off most of them last year to a private equity firm. The lawsuit, filed in fall 2010, is now making its way through US District Court in New Jersey.

Without big economic news or headlines from Europe, stocks drifted higher but lost the momentum of last week, their best week of 2012. Apple's dividend and UPS's plan to buy TNT Express lifted those shares. The Dow rose just 6.51, ho-hum compared with last week's 310-point gain. The S&P 500 edged up to its highest close since May 20, 2008.

Whirlpool Corp. on Thursday praised a federal court decision in its favor in a case brought unsuccessfully by South Korean rival LG Electronics. The ruling a day earlier by U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve in Chicago granted Whirlpool's motion for a permanent injunction and attorneys' fees against LG, which had sought to ban the appliance maker from using the word "steam" to describe its steam dryers. Marc Bitzer, president of Whirlpool's North American business, said the company was pleased with the court's decision.

Stopping by the Branchville train station is like taking a step back in time to when steam engines ruled the rails. While steeped in history, the station is also at the center of plans officials hope will provide economic development opportunities for years to come. The station house, complete with red clapboard siding and black trim, was built in the 1850s and is still being used today. The building is now home to the Whistle Stop Bakery, a regular stop for both commuters and local residents.

MOSCOW - Thousands of people thronged a concourse along a main street in Moscow on Saturday to denounce President Vladimir V. Putin and to cry out together, one more time, for political freedom. They waved the flags of opposition parties in a kaleidoscopic swirl; wore white ribbons that read, "Russia demands change"; and chanted now-familiar refrains: "Russia without Putin!" and "Russia will be free!" And so Moscow's winter of dissent drew to a close. Or so it seemed. The protest movement that burst forth after disputed parliamentary elections in December and drew the...