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If you're a big fan, you already knew what was coming in the season finale. But it didn't make it any easier -- or less heartbreaking -- to watch. The majority of the Season 3 "Downton" finale, or the "Christmas special" as its called in the U.K., took place in Scotland, where the whole family (minus Branson) visits the Highlands home of the Dowager's niece, Susan, and her husband, Shrimpy. Most of the trip included bagpipes, hunting, more bagpipes and Scottish reel dancing. But more on that later (and more on O'Brien meeting her Scottish lady's maid doppelganger)

Ten protesters gathered Tuesday morning in front of The Baltimore Sun's office on North Calvert Street, rallying against a possible sale of the newspaper to Koch Industries. Headed by brothers David H. Koch and Charles G. Koch, the private company has emerged as a potential buyer in Tribune Co.'s possible sale of its newspapers, according to a New York Times report last month. The Kochs are known for their support of conservative and libertarian advocacy. Similar protests have occurred outside other newspapers owned by Tribune, including the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune.

For an online update of how Nichole Battle has been eating since her makeover, and to read past installments of Make Over My Meal, visit baltimoresun.com/makeovermymeal

Regarding the Internet sales tax ("Online sales tax bill should be improved, and passed," May 16), I suppose that if I go to Delaware and purchase something and since I am from Maryland, shouldn't that retailer charge and forward the sales tax? What difference does it make whether I purchase it there and have my wife carry it and bring it to Maryland or have UPS carry it? It's still mine. I purchased it, and I suppose it should be taxed. I also suppose it should be my moral responsibility to tell the retailer, "I'm from Maryland so charge me tax. Here, check my I.D., and forward the tax to Maryland.

Retail Web sites have seen large increases in traffic because holiday shoppers stayed home in large areas of the East Coast because of the weather. The weekend before Christmas is one of the busiest of the year, but snow that stretched from the Carolinas to New England closed malls and kept shoppers off treacherous roads. Web retailers saw heavy traffic during the weekend. On Friday and Saturday, online sales rose 24 percent from the same days last year, Web research company Coremetrics said.

WINTERFEST Listen to our weekly Real Life essay at baltimoresun.com/reallife.

For Bill Ordine's daily reports from the NFL scouting combine, go to baltimoresun.com/ nflcombine

WINTER HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS Read today's special section on winter high school sports, and go online to find schedules, photo galleries, archived photos and more. www.baltimoresun.com/highschool HEALTH & SCIENCE Visit our online Health & Science gallery and see a video of Sun science writer David Kohn discussing his story from today's section about species extinction. www.baltimoresun.com/healthscience

Maryland corrections officials are taking advantage of new technology designed to block the use of contraband cellphones by inmates - a problem at the heart of recent indictments at the Baltimore City Detention Center. In a program being used at another prison facility in Baltimore, phones smuggled inside have been severed from the network and rendered inoperable, officials said. The new system, which the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services hopes to expand, could supplement efforts to find the phones using metal detectors or trained dogs to sniff them out. The department says it is catching more illicit phones than ever - more than 1,300 were found in the last fiscal year - but the federal indictments show the limits of those efforts.

In disputing an article, follow these simple steps:  1. Call your opponent a name.  2. Refrain from addressing the original point. 3. Introduce an irrelevant subject.  4. Deny evidence.  5. (Optional) Do not trouble overmuch with spelling and grammar.    I am indebted to Oldcrowandwater, from whose comment on my post "The most famous umbrella since Neville Chamberlain went to Munich"  I was able to divine the essential steps: What a tool.

Morgan Lane Arnold, an emotionally frail 14-year-old freshman, navigated the hallways of her Howard County high school each day filled with anxiety, unable because of a learning disorder to decipher the social cues, jokes and emotions of her peers. Her preferred environment, often accented by a Japanese anime soundtrack streaming through snug earplugs, featured a mix of fairies, mermaids and vampires, according to her mother. They were the protagonists of a digital realm where she said she was "practicing making friends" through role-playing games and social media.

The U.S. Senate recently passed a bill that would allow states to require Internet retailers to collect sales taxes on behalf of local governments. This bill has flaws, but they could be fixed in the House. It should be passed. I don't like the idea of the state and local governments collecting more taxes - they know no limits to their capacity to tax and squander our hard-earned dollars - but the current situation is unfair and bad economic policy. (Also, Marylanders stand to gain from this legislation in another way, because of a state law that will reduce future increases in gasoline taxes if taxing Internet sales is allowed.)

As 2012 drew to a close, a posting on 14-year-old Morgan Lane Arnold's Facebook page warned of the apocalypse. "The world shalt end this year!!!" reads a post on the page, which multiple friends confirmed belonged to Arnold. Her father, Dennis Lane, weighed in a few minutes later: "We'll find out next week if you're right... " Her next post: "Yay. " The world didn't end, but their lives would change dramatically a few months later. Lane was found dead in his Ellicott City home early Friday, and Arnold and her 19-year-old boyfriend, Jason Anthony Bulmer, have been accused by police in his killing.

Details of financial transactions by members of Congress and thousands of high-level federal workers were supposed to be posted online last month for anyone in the world to see — a key step, supporters of the move said, toward greater transparency in government. What happened instead was President Barack Obama signed a law that once again made the financial information of public employees — useful for identifying insider trading or conflicts of interest — difficult to find.

Nate Weiner used to do most of his grocery shopping at the Wegmans in Hunt Valley and the Giant near his Hampden home. Now he orders most of his groceries online from Relay Foods and picks it up at designated spot on Sundays. "I get most of my produce from them," said Weiner, 26, a mechanical engineer and part-time student. "The local stuff is picked that morning. They're some of the best vegetables I've ever had. " While the aspect of fresh and local food is an attraction, the real selling point for him is convenience.

The state has launched a program to streamline the eye exam process for people over 40 who are renewing their driver's licenses. Ophthalmologists and optometrists who sign up for the free program can submit a patient's vision screening results online to the Motor Vehicle Administration. Eligible drivers can then renew their driver's licenses through the agency's website or self-service kiosk. Drivers who use an MVA office can use the vision certification to eliminate the vision screening step in the renewal process.