Monkeys put off sex by bystanders

ScienceDaily (Oct. 30, 2012) ? Monkeys shy away from bystanders during copulation, irrespective of the bystanders' gender or rank. The new study, by Anne Overduin -- de Vries and her team from the Biomedical Primate Research Centre in the Netherlands, also suggests that sneaky sex is opportunistic rather than a tactical deception i.e. intentional hiding of sexual behavior.

Their work is published online in Springer's journal, Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology.

Sexual competition is highly prevalent in multi-male, multi-female primate groups and may lead to copulations in the absence of interfering bystanders. What is unclear is whether this avoidance of bystanders, so-called sneaky copulation, is the result of tactical deception or more simply chance encounters when competitors are absent.

The authors observed the sexual dynamics of a group of 27 long-tailed macaques living at the Biomedical Primate Research Centre in the Netherlands. They looked at which individuals put others off sex and whether this inhibition was linked to the bystander's interfering behavior, sex, or rank. They also observed whether the monkeys adjusted how often they solicited copulation depending on the presence of potentially harassing bystanders. Lastly, the authors were interested in whether those involved in sneak copulations separated themselves from the rest of the group intentionally in a tactical way.

They found that both males and females can harass copulating partners; both inhibit the sexual behavior of their group members. Moreover, both sexes adjusted their own sexual behavior by soliciting copulations less often in the presence of potentially disrupting bystanders. These bystander effects express male-male competition and female-female competition, both of which are important factors in the sexual dynamics of long- tailed macaques.

In terms of the motivation behind sneaky copulations, the authors found no evidence of tactical deception. Rather, it appears that long-tailed macaque males and females copulate sneakily because they exploit the peripheral position of non-alpha males i.e. mate with males positioned on the outside of the group.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Springer Science+Business Media, via AlphaGalileo.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. A. M. Overduin-de Vries, C. U. Olesen, H. Vries, B. M. Spruijt, E. H. M. Sterck. Sneak copulations in long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis): no evidence for tactical deception. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 2012; DOI: 10.1007/s00265-012-1430-4

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/kNyIOIrPzRQ/121030142803.htm

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Chicago's vegan scene, from omegacado to umeboshi ? The ...

Photo: Courtesy of The Chicago Diner

We?ve all heard the hubbub over Chicago-style hot dogs, deep-dish pizza, and Italian beef sandwiches. But to those of us who prefer food sans animal products, Chicago may at first appear to be lacking. However, I have discovered that Chicago boasts some outstanding vegan chefs. Here is a sampling of the most memorable vegan dishes the city has to offer.

Bonne Sante Health Foods? Omegacado Shake
1512 East 53rd Street, Hyde Park
small $5.29 / large $7.49

Cleverly named for its high content of good (monounsaturated) fatty acids, the Omegacado is my favorite vegan shake around. Blended avocado, almond milk, agave, cinnamon, and cayenne make this a creamy, sweet, vitamin-rich shake with a kick. Drink for its fiber, potassium, vitamins, antioxidants, and protein. Try adding a scoop of Green Vibrance powder for extra protein and probiotics (75 cents extra)?the guys at the juice bar are always willing to customize! Located here in Hyde Park by Harper Court, Bonne Sante Health Foods boasts a well-stocked juice bar, as well as pre-made vegan soups, sandwiches, and salads.

Mana Food Bar?s Pickled
1742 West Division Street, Wicker Park
small $4.00 / large $7.00

Always innovative and crunchy, the seasonal homemade pickles at Mana Food Bar are essential to the vegan diner. Okra, kimchi, daikon, shallots, and asparagus are just some of the pickled vegetables I?ve tried at Mana. Chef Jill Barron prepares new seasonal batches as needed?usually once a week.
?I also pickle fruits. My favorite is the pickled rhubarb we serve in the spring. Be aware: The last of the pickled plums will be going in the next two weeks, and then I?ll replace them with pickled turnips!? said Barron.
Eating pickled vegetables boosts the body?s alkalinity, and also nourishes the digestive and immune systems by providing friendly bacteria?and they?re delicious!

The Chicago Diner?s Special Recipe ?Wingz?
3411 North Halsted Street, Lakeview
$6.99

Meat lovers and vegans alike order this favorite of The Chicago Diner. Indulge yourself and binge on the hearty Special Recipe ?Wingz.? Made of seitan?a common, high-protein meat substitute derived from wheat gluten?the crispy but chewy wingz are seasoned, batter-fried, sliced, and coated with The Chicago Diner?s rich and tangy barbecue sauce. (You can also opt for buffalo-style, but trust me?go for the barbecue!)
?The wingz are prepared by hand using our house recipe for seitan, so it is not all processed like your typical meat substitute from the grocery store?meaning that our seitan will have more nutrition and less or no chemicals,? said Del Nakamura, director of sales and marketing at The Chicago Diner.
The Chicago Diner aims to ?pleasantly surprise the more meat-and-potatoes kind of crowd with food that really comforts?and involves no slaughter, cages, or antibiotics,? Nakamura added.

Mirai Sushi?s Plum Paste with Mint Leaf Roll
2020 West Division Street, Wicker Park
$5.00

You don?t need to go to a vegan restaurant to eat vegan; try the Plum Paste with Mint Leaf Roll??umeshiso maki? in Japanese?at Mirai Sushi in Wicker Park. The roll is filled with Japanese umeboshi plum paste (made from salty, sour Japanese pickled plums, traditionally served with rice) and shiso leaf (a minty leaf also referred to as Japanese basil, ooba, or beefsteak leaf). Vegans, experiment with this roll and venture beyond cucumber and avocado (non-vegans, skip the California roll).According to Eden Organic Foods, a company that sells a brand of umeboshi plums at Whole Foods, umeboshi is an alkalizer, digestive aid, and appetite stimulant.
For pescatarians, the salty roll is an excellent palate cleanser between bites of hamachi and maguro, and shiso leaf is an excellent accent to any roll with its fresh, tangy flavor. Other vegan options on the menu at Mirai include a kaiware (daikon radish sprout) roll and a shiitake mushroom roll, plus Mirai?s miso soup is killer.

Source: http://chicagomaroon.com/2012/10/30/chicagos-vegan-scene-from-omegacado-to-umeboshi/

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Insurers nervous over prospect of Romney victory

WASHINGTON (AP) ? You'd think health insurance CEOs would be chilling the bubbly with Republican Mitt Romney's improved election prospects, but instead they're in a quandary.

Although the industry hates parts of President Barack Obama's health care law, major outfits such as UnitedHealth Group and BlueCross Blue Shield also stand to rake in billions of dollars from new customers who'll get health insurance under the law. The companies already have invested tens of millions to carry it out.

Were Romney elected, insurers would be in for months of uncertainty as his administration gets used to Washington and tries to make good on his promise repeal Obama's law. Simultaneously, federal and state bureaucrats and the health care industry would face a rush of legal deadlines for putting into place the major pieces of what Republicans deride as "Obamacare."

Would they follow the law on the books or the one in the works? What would federal courts tell them to do?

The answers probably would hinge on an always unwieldy Congress.

Things could get grim for the industry if Republicans succeed in repealing the Affordable Care Act's subsidies and mandates, but leave standing its requirement that insurers cover people with health problems. If that's the outcome, the industry fears people literally could get health insurance on the way to the emergency room, and that would drive up premiums.

"There are a lot of dollars and a lot of staff time that's been put into place to make this thing operational," G. William Hoagland, until recently a Cigna vice president, said of the health care law.

Insurers "are not going to be out there saying, 'Repeal, repeal, repeal,'" said Hoagland, who oversaw public policy at the health insurance company. "They will probably try to find the particular provisions that cause them heartburn, but not throw the baby out with the bath water."

The Romney campaign isn't laying out specifics on how the candidate would carry out his repeal promise, other than to say the push would begin on his first day in office. Romney has hinted that he wants to help people with medical conditions, doesn't say what parts of the health care law he'd keep.

Likewise, America's Health Insurance Plans, the major industry trade group, isn't talking about what its members are telling the Romney campaign, though informal discussions are under way through intermediaries. Insurers like Romney's plan to privatize Medicare, and some point out that it looks a lot like Obama's approach to covering the uninsured.

Robert Laszewski, an industry consultant and blogger, says the tension is becoming unbearable.

"I spend a lot of time in executive offices and board rooms, and they are good Republicans who would like to see Romney win," said Laszewski. "But they are scared to death about what he's going to do."

There is no consensus among Republicans in Congress on how to replace Obama's law, much less anything like a bipartisan middle ground on health care, a necessity if the House retains its GOP majority and the Senate remains in Democratic hands.

In contrast, Obama's law is starting to look more and more like a tangible business opportunity. In a little over a year, some 30 million uninsured people will start getting coverage through a mix of subsidized private insurance for middle-class households and expanded Medicaid for low-income people. Many of the new Medicaid recipients would get signed up in commercial managed care companies.

A recent PricewaterhouseCoopers study estimated the new markets would be worth $50 billion to $60 billion in premiums in 2014, and as much as $230 billion annually within seven years.

Under the law, insurance companies would have to accept all applicants, including the sick. But the companies also would have a steady stream of younger, healthier customers required to buy their products, with the aid of new government subsidies. That finally could bring stability to the individual and small-business insurance markets.

At a time when employer coverage has been eroding, government programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, and now Obama's law are becoming the growth engines for the industry's bottom line. The trend seems too big to derail, says Morningstar analyst Matthew Coffina, who tracks the health insurance industry.

"I think it's limited what they'll be able to accomplish in terms of repeal," said Coffina. "We have to remember that Romney implemented very similar legislation" as governor of Massachusetts.

If Romney wins he's more likely to reduce the scope and scale of the law, Coffina added. Possibilities include delaying all or parts of the new coverage, particularly a Medicaid expansion that GOP governors don't like.

The industry has three items in particular it wants stripped out: cuts to Medicare Advantage private insurance plans; a requirement that insurers spend 80 percent of premiums on medical care or rebate the difference to their customers; and new taxes on insurance companies. But CEOs don't share the visceral objection that many Republicans have to a bigger government role in health care.

Industry executives "are Republicans in the sense that they're worried about the bottom line and they want to retain private sector involvement," said Hoagland, the former Cigna vice president. "But some of their bottom line is now driven by Medicare and Medicaid. So it's not like they're red or blue. It's more like purple."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/insurers-nervous-over-prospect-romney-victory-115914066--finance.html

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Ukraine's ruling party leads in vote called biased

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) ? The Ukrainian president's party will retain its strong grip on power, according to returns Monday from a parliamentary election that was criticized by Western observers as unfair and biased against the opposition.

The West was paying close attention to Sunday's vote in the strategic ex-Soviet state of 46 million people, which lies between Russia and the European Union and serves as a key transit nation for Russian energy supplies to many EU countries.

Observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe called the vote a setback to Ukraine's democratic and European aspirations. That assessment could lead to a further freeze in Kiev's ties with the West and push it closer to Russia.

Monitors said the election was marred by the absence of jailed former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and another opposition leader, the ruling party's use of government funding for the campaign and the skewed media coverage that favored the ruling party. While the voting process got positive ratings at most polling stations observed, the vote tallying lacked transparency, the group said.

"Considering the abuse of power and the excessive role of money in this election, democratic progress appears to have reversed in Ukraine," said Walburga Habsburg Douglas, the special coordinator who led the OSCE election observation mission. "We do not think that this election was fair because it was not level."

"Ukrainians deserved better from these elections," said Andreas Gross, the Head of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe delegation. "Unfortunately, the great democratic potential of Ukrainian society was not realized in yesterday's vote."

President Viktor Yanukovych's Russia-friendly Party of Regions was leading in the count with 34 percent of the vote. Tymoshenko's pro-Western party was second with 23 percent, trailed by the Communists, Yanukovych's traditional allies, with 15 percent. Another liberal party, Udar (Punch), led by world boxing champion Vitali Klitschko had 13 percent and the far-right Svoboda (Freedom) party had 9 percent.

Yanukovych's party benefited strongly from an electoral change last year that replaced the strictly proportional electoral system with a mixed one, in which half of parliament's seats are elected based on party lists and the other half in individual races.

Despite a combined strong showing of opposition parties, Yanukovych's party was poised to retain its parliamentary majority as its candidates were expected to take the lead in individual races, benefitting from greater access to government funds and the opposition's fielding of multiple candidates.

Tymoshenko's party alleged widespread violations such as vote-buying and multiple voting. Tymoshenko, who was sentenced last year to seven years in prison for abuse of office in a trial condemned by the West as politically motivated, launched a hunger strike to protest the vote violations.

The Party of Regions defended Sunday's election, saying it reflected the people's will.

"We received a great credit of trust from the voters who said that we are moving down the right path," said Yanukovych adviser Hanna Herman.

The opposition tapped into the anger over Tymoshenko's jailing, the country's rampant corruption and a stagnant economy to make a strong showing in the proportional section of the vote. It remains to be seen whether Tymoshenko's group, Klitschko's party and the radical Svoboda can form a strong alliance.

"The Party of Regions won by the number of points, but the opposition scored a moral victory," said Kiev-based political expert Volodymyr Fesenko. "The monopoly on power will be harder to maintain."

Experts say while Yanukovych's supporters seem poised to retain their parliament majority, they will fall short of winning the two-thirds of seats needed to change the constitution.

Political analyst Vadym Karasyov said the new parliament will be "turbulent" and the opposition will seek to block some of the undemocratic initiatives the president may launch.

"Yanukovych can get a simple majority, but it doesn't mean anything, because without a constitutional majority in parliament he cannot radically change anything," Karasyov said.

The showing of the far-right Svoboda party, which had been expected to barely pass the 5 percent vote threshold, emerged as a big surprise.

Svoboda, which campaigns for the preservation of the Ukrainian language and culture and strongly attacks Yanukovych, is also known for xenophobic and anti-Semitic rhetoric. Analysts said the party's popularity was due more to many Ukrainians' anger with the ruling party than vehemently nationalist views.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ukraines-ruling-party-leads-vote-called-biased-181521275--finance.html

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Feds likely to manage Maine's health insurance exchange ...

AUGUSTA, Maine ? The Affordable Care Act set a Nov. 16 deadline for states to declare whether they intend to establish their own health insurance exchange. It?s a key provision of the act, one that is intended to provide affordable insurance to uninsured individuals and small-business employees starting Jan. 1, 2014.

While Maine has not formally announced its intention, it is so far behind in preparing its own exchange that the federal model will likely be adopted by default.

When asked for confirmation that Gov. Paul LePage won?t be pursuing a state-run exchange, his press secretary, Adrienne Bennett, told Mainebiz she had nothing to report on the subject and that the state ?is currently assessing options.?

But Mitchell Stein, policy director for the Augusta-based Consumers for Affordable Health Care, says even if LePage declares in the next month that Maine intends to create a state-run exchange, that?s only one step in the process.

The federal government has a 27-page checklist of steps that must be followed in order for a state to be certified as being on track to meet the ACA?s October 2013 enrollment period and the Jan. 1, 2014, opening of the exchange. And on that front, Stein says, Maine will have a tough job convincing the federal government it will be ready to open its own exchange a little more than a year from now ? given that LePage, in an April 18 letter, informed the federal Department of Health and Human Services he was turning back a $5.8 million grant that was to help pay for many of the federal government?s set-up requirements.

?There?s a tremendous amount of work to be done,? Stein says, citing as one example the required integration of the exchange?s eligibility systems with existing Medicaid eligibility systems to ensure a low-income enrollee who?s eligible for Medicaid gets referred to that program instead.

Other requirements include:

? Making sure the exchange has a seamless enrollment system that?s able to handle in-person, phone or online applications with equity.

? Having the ability to interface with the Internal Revenue Service to ensure that applicants meet the ACA?s income guidelines for enrolling in a health insurance exchange.

? Providing ?apples-to-apples? comparisons between different insurance policies available through the exchange so that consumers can make informed choices.

Stein acknowledges meeting all the requirements of setting up a state-run health insurance exchange involves costs that in a tough economy might be regarded as unaffordable. ?Much of it would have been paid by federal grants? included in the ACA?s enabling legislation, he says.

Getting ready, or not

According to the 2010 U.S. Census, 125,600 Mainers are uninsured, or roughly 10 percent of the population.

Exchanges are expected to provide competitive marketplaces in which the uninsured can directly compare and purchase private health insurance options that meet their needs. The idea is that, pooled together, their numbers will be large enough to gain coverage that individually would be too expensive to buy. For certain low- and moderate-income uninsured people, the federal government will provide subsidies to make such coverage more affordable, or in some cases, they could be referred to Medicaid for coverage.

In a Sept. 27 status report, the Kaiser Family Foundation identifies Maine as one of eight states already serving notice to the federal government that they won?t be pursuing a state-based health insurance exchange ? the others being Alaska, Florida, Louisiana, South Carolina, Texas, South Dakota and New Hampshire. Kaiser says that number could grow, since 16 states are still studying their options and eight others have not shown any significant activity moving in the direction of creating a state-run exchange.

As CAHC?s policy director, Stein says he attended hearings in the last legislative session on two competing bills to create a state-run exchange. In their initial versions, he says, both LD 1498, favored by Democrats, and the Republicans? LD 1497, agreed on having Maine establish and operate its own exchange. In the end, a watered-down version of LD 1497 was adopted, stating that only licensed insurance brokers can enroll people in health plans through an exchange.

Even if Maine opts out and the state ends up with a federally run exchange on Jan. 1, 2014, Stein says the state will have yearly opportunities to apply for approval of a state-run exchange down the road. Likewise, he says, the next Legislature could very well resurrect elements of the two failed bills calling for a state-run exchange.

Stein says the obvious downside of having the federal government run Maine?s exchange is that it removes local control and flexibility over how the program is set up and run. A potential plus, he says, is that it would likely fall somewhere in the middle of what he characterizes as the ?passive? pro-insurance industry focus of the initial version of the GOP?s LD 1497 and the ?active? pro-consumer emphasis of the Democrats? LD 1498.

?There are a lot of moving pieces here and some of the moving pieces haven?t been determined yet,? he says.

Source: http://bangordailynews.com/2012/10/29/business/feds-likely-to-manage-maines-health-insurance-exchange/

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'Crazy for You' doesn't let technical difficulties steal the spotlight ...

Take a look at some of today?s most successful Broadway shows. What do you notice?

Photo by Gloria So, staff photographer.

If you look closely, you?ll find something interesting on the Great White Way. The musicals of the 21st century are quirky. Their storylines are unorthodox. Stages are filled with wicked witches, Mormon missionaries and New York City newsies. Gone are the days of what some may consider the traditional, old-fashioned musicals.

That is, unless you take in a performance of ?Crazy for You,? running in McCrary Theatre until Nov. 3.

With music and lyrics by George and Ira Gershwin and a book by Ken Ludwig, ?Crazy for You? is a classic piece of theater. The play follows Bobby Child (senior Michael Callahan), a young banker whose real life ambition is to become a dancer. But in order to convince his mother that he is capable of accomplishing things in his adult life, he agrees to travel to Deadrock, Nev., where he will foreclose on a rundown theater. Naturally, Bobby is knocked off course by Deadrock beauty Polly Baker (senior Virginia Claire Mason), who wishes she could save the beloved theater before the bank takes it away. Bobby agrees to help Polly put on a hit show, leading them both on an interesting road to opening night.

There are certain built-in expectations for productions put on by Elon University?s Department of Performing Arts. In recent years, the department?s full-length plays have been masterpieces, full of color and bombast and unparalleled talent.

And while all of those same qualities are present in ?Crazy for You,? they are admittedly a bit muted throughout the production.

Opening night of the musical fell just short of what the department is capable of, largely due to a number of technical difficulties. Throughout most of Act One, Callahan performed his major musical numbers without the help of a working mic. Later in the show, when Callahan is required to wear a fake beard as part of a disguise, the beard repeatedly fell off. The cast didn?t miss a beat, but the effect was certainly lost, and awkwardly at that. Most of the evening?s mishaps, while an inevitable part of live theater, marred an otherwise awe-inspiring performance.

Check out additional photos from ?Crazy for You? at Elon.

The show will return Nov. 1-3 at 7:30 p.m. each night in McCrary Theatre.

But if you do make ?Crazy for You? a part of your weekend activities, you won?t remember the technical difficulties. You won?t remember the wigs that fell off heads, or the dance moves that were missed.

You?ll remember the impeccable dancing, which includes several tap numbers that border on dizzying in their complexity. You?ll remember the colors and the characters. You?ll remember Mason?s beautifully pure performance of ?Someone to Watch Over Me.? You?ll remember the dynamite supporting cast, including senior Ben Redding in a truly hysterical turn as the owner of Deadrock?s saloon. You?ll remember the joy with which this production leaves you, for it?s impossible not to crack a smile amid all the physical comedy and genuinely funny one-liners.

?Crazy for You? is not a perfect show by any means, and it doesn?t shine as bright as some of the Department of Performing Arts? previous productions. But there is something special about it that?s hard to forget.

And even if the production?s technical difficulties do crop up again and again during the show?s run, it?s nothing a little tap dancing can?t fix.

Crazy for You, Department of Performing Arts, stage review

About Rebecca Iannucci

Rebecca Iannucci is the Arts & Entertainment Editor for The Pendulum. She is a print and online journalism major from Nutley, N.J. She has previously worked with the organization as a Copy Editor and reporter. View all posts by Rebecca Iannucci ?

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Source: http://elonpendulum.com/2012/10/crazy-for-you-doesnt-let-technical-difficulties-steal-the-spotlight/

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China snubs SE Asia push for South China Sea deal

PATTAYA, Thailand (Reuters) - China is stonewalling attempts to start talks on a multilateral "code of conduct" governing the strategically located South China Sea and an agreement could still be years away, Southeast Asian officials said on Monday.

Beijing's assertion of sovereignty over the vast stretch of the water has set it directly against Vietnam and the Philippines, while Brunei, Taiwan and Malaysia also lay claim to other parts of the region, making it Asia's biggest potential military troublespot.

Speaking on the sidelines of a regional meeting in the Thai resort of Pattaya, Vietnamese Deputy Foreign Minister Pham Quang Vinh said there was no end in sight to the maritime dispute involving one of the world's main shipping routes and an area potentially rich in oil and gas.

"ASEAN thinks it is time to start talks to achieve a code of conduct as soon possible," said Pham, referring to the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations bloc, but added the grouping is meeting stoic resistance from China.

China has resisted proposals for a multilateral code of conduct for the South China Sea, preferring to try to negotiate disputes with each of the far less powerful individual claimants.

Sihasak Phuangketkeow, a Thai foreign ministry official, told reporters at the ASEAN-China meeting in Pattaya it might take another two years to agree a formal code of conduct.

Carl Thayer of Australia's University of New South Wales said China was unlikely to make any decision on the code of conduct until its once-a-decade leadership change is fully complete next year.

"I suspect because of changes in personnel likely to occur nobody in China is willing to commit themselves to something of this magnitude. There can be no compromise at the moment, coming from China. Leaders would be seen to be weak," said Thayer.

China has stepped up activity in the region, including establishing a military garrison on one of the disputed islands, and accused Washington of seeking to stir up trouble far from home.

The stakes have risen in the area as the U.S. military shifts its attention and resources back to Asia, emboldening its long-time ally the Philippines and former foe Vietnam to take a tougher stance against Beijing.

Unprecedented arguments over the sea prevented an ASEAN summit in July from issuing a joint communiqu?, the first time this had happened in the bloc's 45-year history.

(Editing by Jeremy Laurence)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/china-snubs-se-asia-push-south-china-sea-130911486.html

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PSG Angle: D-I-Y Investing ? the Opportunity and the Pitfalls | PSG ...

PSG Angle: D-I-Y Investing ? the Opportunity and the Pitfalls

One of the drawbacks of being an asset manager is that there seems to be an inherent assumption by those outside of the industry that we should be able to determine which stocks are going to go up (or outperform) over the next week, month and year.?

Whilst this assumption may be misguided, our inability to predict short-term stock price movements not only disappoints but is often ridiculed when people who follow stocks for a hobby seem to be getting all their calls right.? Newspapers love publishing the article where the monkey throwing darts or the grade three kid doubles their money in a year on a stock pick while the investment professional ?s choice bombs.? We dread the conversation around the braai when your friend reminds you, generally quite loudly, how much money he is making on the stock you sold out of your portfolio two years ago.

One of the key theories of behavioral finance, which is the study of the impact of emotion on investment decisions, is that people generally have a tendency to overestimate their ability and are confident that they can consistently time their entry into and exit from the market.? Value-based investment management houses like ourselves fully acknowledge our inability to sustainably time the market or predict the path of near-term share prices.? We think that focusing all of our attention on determining what we think a stock is really worth, and ignoring what the herd thinks is going to happen in the near future, is a proven recipe for good long-term returns.? This means that we often sell good companies because we think the share is overpriced, not because it is a bad company.? We may underperform in the short-run but we expect to outperform in the long-run and take significantly less risk along the way.

Investing on the basis of share price momentum is a strategy that some investment managers have employed very effectively and winning stocks can outperform for a lot longer than one would think.? This is partly because an increasing stock price not only has the effect of reinforcing the confidence of those that own the stock that their thesis is appropriate, but it also attracts new investors who are drawn to a rising share price.? This is the self-feeding cycle that can result in bubbles in financial assets:? a dangerous combination of over-confidence and rising prices attracting new investors.

We unreservedly believe in the ability of equities to grow one?s wealth over time; it is our view that few investments can compound your savings over the long-run like a well-selected stock.? As long as you avoid overpaying, investing in good businesses with strong management teams can be a surprisingly simple and rewarding endeavour.? ?Hence, there is no reason that anybody doing the appropriate amount of fundamental research cannot make a good success of running their own portfolio.?

While disciplined D-I-Y investors can do surprisingly well and stock-picking can be a very satisfying hobby, there are a number of common mistakes that we all make.? These include:

• Under-estimating risk.? Newer stock market participants tend to be more focused on returns than risk. ?As a result, not enough attention is given to the likelihood of being wrong and the inherent riskiness of a stock.? One poor investment decision can wipe out the gains on a number of good calls.? The reality is that the investment portfolio (and the investor?s stomach) needs to be able to stand up to unpredictable and extreme events.? 2008 is very fresh in most of our minds.
• Failure to pick a strategy and stick to it.? It doesn?t matter whether your DNA is buy-and-hold or trader, choose your strategy and apply it in a disciplined fashion.? If you are looking for long-term gains you need to do your homework, be prepared to be contrarian and have a lot of patience.? If you are more speculative in nature, a tight stop loss is highly recommended.
• Misunderstanding valuation. ?If there is a good story around a stock or a sector the market generally knows about it.? After all, stock prices incorporate expectations for the future.? If a stock price incorporates very good news it will generate poor returns unless it can positively surprise.
• Sometimes a good company and a good stock are different things. ?Good shareholder returns tend to require good profit growth, a reasonable valuation and healthy dividends. A great brand or a great historic track record does not necessarily translate to strong investment returns in the future.
• Lack of diversification.? The future is unpredictable and aggressive exposure to a small number of companies often means that an external and unpredictable event can materially impact the portfolio.? In addition, the JSE is a very concentrated stock market with a limited number of macro drivers.? Over-exposure to single drivers such as the SA consumer or global commodity markets can introduce significant risk if economic conditions deteriorate in that space.
• Under-estimating how much value a poor management team can destroy.? Stocks are usually cheap for a reason.? A management team that allocates capital poorly or cannot be trusted to act in the interests of shareholders can quickly destroy value on a permanent basis.
• Bragging about your winners. Nothing humbles like the stock market.? Today?s rooster is tomorrow?s feather-duster.

We are not arguing against D-I-Y investing.? Whilst we always recommend?making use of the services of qualified and experienced financial advisors and investment professionals to protect and grow your savings,??we laud anyone who makes the effort to involve themselves in their investments.??What we do advise, however, is an awareness of some of the pitfalls which often ensnare the novice.? Not focussing enough on these can lead to some very expensive lessons.

About Shaun Le Roux

Shaun is a CA(SA) and a CFA charterholder. He has been managing the PSG Equity Fund since 2002. Permissions: You are welcome to reproduce this article, in whole or in part if you include the following statement "The PSG Angle is an electronic newsletter of PSG Asset Management (Pty) Ltd. To subscribe or read more, please go to www.psgam.co.za". ________________________________________

© 2011 PSG Asset Management (Pty) Ltd PSG Asset Management (Pty) Ltd is an authorised Financial Services Provider (License Number 29524). The information contained in the PSG Angle is of a general nature and is not intended to address the circumstances of any particular person. We do not purport to act in any way as an advisor and you should not act upon this information without appropriate professional advice. PSG Asset Management (Pty) Ltd will not be liable for any loss or damage suffered by any party as a result of their acting on or failing to act on this information. Whilst striving for the greatest accuracy, we make no representation or warranty with respect to the correctness, accuracy or completeness of the information and opinions. Views and opinions expressed herein may change with market conditions and should not be used in isolation. The views of the contributors may not necessarily reflect the house view of PSG Asset Management (Pty) Ltd.

Source: http://www.psgam.co.za/2012/10/psg-angle-d-i-y-investing-%E2%80%93-the-opportunity-and-the-pitfalls/

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Libyans disillusioned with government amid chaos

TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) ? The protesters converged on the conference center housing Libya's newly elected congress, trying to force their way in past startled guards. Mostly young and half of them women in headscarves, they demanded an end to the siege of the town of Bani Walid, where the government was in the midst of an attack to uproot holdouts from Moammar Gadhafi's former regime.

Police rushed to the scene. But in Libya, the police are actually militias, in this case from the Tripoli neighborhood of Souq al-Jumaa that last year lost several men in a battle with Bani Walid residents. Instead trying to control the crowd, the "police" dressed in t-shirts and pants of a military uniform exchanged threats with protesters and then mounted a rival demonstration of their own. Soon they were firing their assault rifles in the air to intimidate the protesters.

As tensions soared, a dozen pickup trucks mounted with anti-aircraft guns and carrying soldiers in newly pressed camouflage uniforms pulled up to parliament, swiveled their guns forward and fired in the air as an apparent crowd-control method. The deafening noise of a dozen heavy-caliber machine guns sent demonstrators running and filled the upscale neighborhood with the sounds of battle. Blocks away, shocked bystanders wondered if one year after the civil war ended, Libya had gone back to war.

After a year of turmoil since Gadhafi's ouster and last month's killing of the American ambassador, Libyans are disappointed, disillusioned and increasingly angry at their government. They complain that their leaders have not acted forcefully to address the most pressing problems ? particularly the free rein of the country's many militias.

"It's not going very well partly because we have a minister of defense and minister of interior who were very incompetent and weak ? they gave into the militias," said Guma Gamaty, a politician and outspoken critic of the militias. "The whole process of rebuilding the army and the police has not progressed much at all in the last 10 months. We lost a lot of vital time."

Last year's fight that ended in Gadhafi's ouster and death after 42 years in power was largely carried out by regional militias that amassed weapons. But long after the civil war ended, the militias continue to serve under their own leaders and wield significant power even though they have nominally come under the control of the state's military and police forces.

The lack of control of the government over the militias it relies on was brought home in the starkest terms on Sept. 11, the day of attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, the eastern city where last year's uprising against Gadhafi began. The Islamist group Ansar al-Shariah, one of the biggest militias in Benghazi, is suspected in the assault that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.

Before the attack, Ansar al-Shariah had been working with the municipal government to manage security in Benghazi, and it had been charged among other things with guarding the hospital.

The killings in Benghazi fueled popular anger against the militias. Just a week after the assault, tens of thousands of Benghazis attacked the headquarters of Ansar al-Shariah and another militia in Benghazi and drove them out.

The government took advantage of the public anger. In the days after the attack, authorities carried out high-profile weapon hand-ins in Tripoli and Benghazi and issued ultimatums for all militias to submit entirely to government control.

"We know people are angry with the militias," said Taher Khalifa, a former computer engineer who is now the head of investigations for the 8th Special Protection Force, a police unit based in the Tripoli district of Souq al-Jumaa that was once a militia. "They don't want to see weapons everywhere and they want the police to be symbols of the state and wear uniforms," acknowledged Khalifa, though few of his men wore anything resembling a police uniform.

Gamaty, the politician, was himself kidnapped the night of Oct. 6 by a militia from the western mountain city of Zintan and held for several hours before he was dumped in a field and warned to mute his criticism. He said the government must build up a well-equipped security force that could then be used to subdue the militias if they refused to be disbanded or integrated, much like the army's quick-reaction force that dispersed the demonstration outside parliament last week.

There are government committees that are supposed to integrate the militias with the regular uniformed police and army. But in actuality, Gamaty said, there has been little progress on that front.

"It's not easy to inherit a country with no state institutions, with no constitution, no army, no functioning security apparatus," said Gamaty. "It's almost like a vacuum."

Still he and other critics say Libya's new government hasn't yet shown the resolve or decisiveness to really tackle the problem. The congress elected in July has yet to even produce a government, much to people's disappointment and dashing high expectations after Gadhafi was toppled.

"No one in Libya is happy," complained Jihadeddin al-Salam, a young man sipping espresso with friends outside a cafe in downtown Tripoli. "Everyone has to be in a militia ? if you aren't in a militia you can't protect your home."

One year on, the oil-rich country with a population of only about six million is still struggling to overcome the legacy of one of the most erratic leaders of modern times as well as the brutal, eight-month civil war that left the country awash in weapons, militias and very few viable institutions of the state.

Despite widely hailed elections in summer, the new General National Congress has been widely condemned as dysfunctional, engaging in shifting alliances and unable to form a new government.

Many Libyans complain that little has changed in the past year and amid the instability, everyone is holding on to their guns.

"We can't really discuss differences of opinions when we have weapons because in the end everyone here has a gun, and when they get mad, they might go for their weapons," said Saleh Sanoussi, a political analyst at Benghazi University. "Freedom with weapons results in chaos," he added.

"It is a Catch-22," he said of the militias dilemma. "Without them, there is a danger to security. With them, it is impossible to build an army."

For the most part, though, the weapons have disappeared from the streets of the capital Tripoli at least and it is now rare to see militias on street corners flaunting their arsenals, like they did before. Instead they are confined to their bases, from where they patrol and keep the peace.

Khalifa, a heavy set man with close-cropped hair dressed in a neat green camouflage uniform, fiddled with his white iPhone in his office as he explained his police investigation unit's new duties.

He said his unit is essentially the same battalion of close friends and relatives that began the fight in Tripoli against Gadhafi, with a few new additions, and he maintained that they are safeguarding the revolution.

"There is a power stronger than the government and that is the power of the revolutionaries and it is keeping matters on the right track," he said. "The forces of Zintan, Misrata and Souq al-Jumaa are stronger than the government," he said referring to the cities and districts with the most powerful militias.

He acknowledged that while nominally his group is under the control of the central government, when the Misrata militias said they needed help in their fight against Bani Walid, Khalifa dispatched units long before the government ordered an attack on the city.

"In cases of national security, we don't need permission."

For some Libyans, despite all the obvious problems, there is still a glimmer of optimism.

"We inherited many bad things, but the worst that affects our lives is the corruption, "said Mustafa al-Refai, a 56-year-old running a consultancy company in Tripoli.

Yet lacking some of the impatience of younger Libyans, al-Refai said he believes things are slowly moving in the right direction.

"I am glad I lived to see the change," he said with a broad smile.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/libyans-disillusioned-government-amid-chaos-183602130.html

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House Flipping vs. Buy and Hold Real Estate Investing

One of the biggest questions that new real estate investors ask is: which kind of real estate investing should I do?

As has been written on this blog, there are over 100 ways to get involved in the real estate investing business?and probably even more if you really keep digging!

But out of those hundred, house flipping and long-term real estate investing are the most common.

But which one is better?

Probably because of the proliferation of television shows on houses flipping like ?Flip this House? and others, house flipping has become incredibly popular in the past few years.

This may be due to the reality shows, but it also has as much to do with the fact that are still plenty of really good real estate deals to be had in this current market ? even in spite of the recent signs of a turnaround.

On the flip side (no pun intended, by the way) there?s one of the oldest and steadiest forms of real estate investing known to all of us, namely: buy and hold real estate investing.

Still popular, still solid and always a good investment, long-term buy-and-hold real estate investing is been around for years and has has created untold millions, if not billions in dollars in wealth to its participants

Although I am a ?house flipping guy? at the core . . . I actually do both.

House Flipping vs. Buy and Hold Real Estate Investing: Which One Is Better??

To get to an answer, it helps to explain each kind of real estate investing and put each one in its proper perspective.

House Flipping Overview

House flipping as you may already know, is the practice of buying a piece of real estate at a discounted price, improving it in some way and then selling it for a financial gain.

To gain maximum profit, this is preferably done within the shortest period of time possible.

A house flipper tries to buy, rehab and sell the property; all within the shortest time so that he or she can lock in profits and not get eaten up by their carrying costs. These ?soft costs? as they are known, include monthly bills that accumulate over time. These include monthly financing charges, property taxes, condo fees (if applicable), utilities and any other maintenance bills required to keep the house in good financial standing.

House flippers do their best to not hold onto a house for a long period of time. Instead, they flip them quickly. The less time a house flipping professional owns the home, usually the better their profits.

Long-Term Real Estate Investing Overview

Long term real estate investing on the other hand, involves buying a house, possibly making some improvements and rehab, but then keeping the house for a longer period of time. To pay for the monthly costs of financing, taxes, utilities and other maintenance, the house is rented to a tenant.

If the monthly costs are less than the rent collected?voila ? monthly profit and cash flow ensues.
In some cases, the real estate investor might buy the property with the purpose of selling it at some point in time, but usually not for a while.

The Pros and Cons

So at its core, the two types of real estate investing have their largest differences in the fact that one produces quick profits in less than six months (ideally) while the other creates monthly positive cash flow into eternity (best case).

So now that we?ve defined them, let?s get back to our debate and uncover some the biggest pros and cons for both.

House Flipping Pros:

Money and Time: The best part of flipping houses is the ability to realize a financial gain in a short period of time and not have you or your investor?s capital tied up for extensive periods.

Quick Cash: When you can buy, fix and flip a house in under six months and turn a nice profit in the process, this is really quick cash. And when you can turn a profit of $30-40,000 in less than six months of work, that?s when you realize that house flipping is a pretty cool way to invest in real estate!?Does that happen all the time? No?but the more you do it, the better and more consistently you can get returns like these.

High ROI: The house flipper can make higher return on investment (ROI) if he/she can manage to flip the house in as short of a time as possible. This is in contrast to buy-and-hold real estate investing where the investor has to wait for longer periods of time before the property appreciates to make a profit when selling.

Less Risky: Real estate markets, although they do fluctuate over time, in the short term they do not fluctuate nearly as quickly as the stock market. With some careful research, you can roughly predict the direction of a geographic real estate market within the relatively short period of time that you hold it prior to sale. For us, this is ideally no longer than six months from purchase to sale. Because you are holding the real estate for such a short period of time, drastic local market fluctuations are less likely to affect your profitability.

Distressed Properties: This could be a pro or a con, but since most house flippers do focus their attention on distressed properties, oftentimes the money needed to make the initial purchase is lower and needs less financing than a traditional bank loan property. However, because you?re buying either physically or financially distressed properties, you can get eaten up quickly if you don?t know what you?re doing. Such things as unanticipated fixes, unclean title, bank related issues, septic problems, zoning issues?the list goes on and on. Any of these unanticipated costs can shrink your profits significantly if you don?t at least anticipate them from the start.

No Tenants: Perhaps best of all, house flippers don?t have to deal with landlord and tenant headaches. This, as a landlord in my state, as with many other states, can get very sticky. Typically in the geographic areas where real estate is the cheapest, there?s a greater potential for damages, eviction and chasing tenants for rent collection. As has been well-documented in this blog, if not managed well, tenant management issues have the potential to eat up lots of your time, your money, and create a tremendous amount of stress.

House Flipping Cons:

To Get Good, It Takes Time: You don?t get really good at house flipping by just watching a few reality shows and then claiming that you?re an expert. It takes time, study and first hand, real world experience to get really good at it. The good news is that you can?t get good added with the right kind of education and coaching. Many house flippers seek out mentors as well. But like anything, to get super proficient at it you do need to put in your ?10,000 hours?, which comes from experience and education.

Unanticipated Challenges: Even when you do get really good at it, you?ll still encounter situations you never have seen before. It still happens to me almost every week on the house flips we have in progress. It?s amazing, just when I thought I do it all, so new situation pops up that although it may be related to something that I?ve dealt with in the past, is completely new and how it manifests itself. As a house flipper, you have to anticipate these curveballs ? even expect them. It?s all a part of the business.

High Costs: Flipping houses does come with transactional costs on both sides of the equation. When you buy and when you sell, there are costs. Also, if you flip houses with no money of your own, you have significant finance and interest costs associated with private money lenders and or even hard money lenders. If you are lucky enough to get traditional financing, then your costs can be high here as well. These transactional and holding costs can adversely affect profits. But if managed well, you can still make a healthy profit.

Taxes: When flipping houses, you also have different kinds of tax implications that differ from those in longer term investments. The short term capital gains tax is higher in the United States than long term investment capital gains tax. So to accurately predict your margins, you?ll need to factor these costs into your projections as well.

Buy and Hold Real Estate Investing Pros

Wealth Creation: There?s no question that great wealth has been amassed though buy and hold real estate investing. Although anyone getting into the real estate investing market over the past five years may not think so, it?s well-documented that real estate values increase over the long term. All things being equal, the longer you hold the piece of real estate, the greater your potential for appreciation. Some of the wealthiest individuals in the world amassed their great fortunes through buy-and-hold real estate investing.

Steady Income: Owning multiple properties all producing solid and steady rental income is a very appealing way to build a reliable stream of income. Although you can get this very same kind of steady income with house flipping, you?ll need a steady stream of house flip deals. Usually, one right after the other. For the part time investor, this may be a disadvantage or an advantage. A sporadic infusion of cash is a very nice thing to have once you have properly bought, fixed up and sold your house flips. However, to have a reliable, steady and dependable source of monthly cash flow is one of the more attractive features of buy-and-hold real estate investing.

Pride of Ownership: When I first started buying rental houses, I would just drive by them on occasion and smile. Pride of ownership was a big thing for me. Also, it felt pretty good to be helping people in need of a good home to find a nice, clean and attractive place to live. If you have good tenants who pay on time and a house that requires little, if any maintenance and you?re also realizing a tidy monthly profit with healthy cash reserves, then buy and hold real estate investing is pretty sweet indeed.

No Need to Immediately Sell: A big advantage to buy and hold real estate is that if the real estate investor does not need to sell immediately, that he doesn?t have to. Unless it?s a dire emergency, the buy-and-hold real estate investor can wait out market downturns until market conditions improve. If you?re earning a tidy monthly profit and don?t need of emergency funding, but want to sell the buy-and-hold real estate investor only concerns themselves about resale when the time comes.

Buy and Hold Real Estate Investing Cons

Market Fluctuations: Of course, if hard financial times hit the buy and hold real estate investor and they need a quick infusion of cash, they can only sell their property at prevailing market values. They can?t hope for the market to recover at that point in time, they are stuck with selling at a price that the market bears. As we?ve seen over the last few years, market values have fluctuated considerably, and buy-and-hold real estate investors who dated quick cash had to sell at prevailing market rates, sometimes selling for less than what they bought the property for.

Legal Tenant Issues: Buy and hold real estate investing comes with its own inherent management and legal issues with regard to tenants. Depending on where you buy, there are a number of management related issues you need to deal with on a regular basis. This blog here is filled with so many examples, as they are almost too numerous to mention, so I encourage you to read them.

Newbies Beware: I find that many new real estate investors, who think that renting houses is the way to go, get in over their head very quickly. No doubt long-term real estate investing is a good hedge against the stock market, but I see many new real estate investors who are completely ill-prepared to deal with the responsibilities that come with owning rental property and struggle with being a landlord.

Finding Good Tenants: Finding quality tenants, servicing those tenants, dealing with state sponsored housing departments, managing upkeep, assigning payment responsibilities all can be incredibly stressful and time consuming if they are not managed well. Good tenants are very hard to find and finding them requires time, energy, and loads of patience.

To Outsource, You Need Scale: One of the main issues with buy and hold real estate investing is that in order to be in a position to outsource these everyday tenant issues to a full time or part time property management service, it often times requires great economies of scale to cover such expenses. In my experience, having a management company to manage my rental properties only makes sense because I have a number of them. So in most cases for the first time real estate investor, that property management responsibility falls squarely on their shoulders.

Longer Time to Appreciation: Most long-term real estate investors rely upon market appreciation and not capital appreciation to help them turn a profit on the sell side. Can you do both, rehab and market appreciation with long-term real estate investing? Absolutely. But most real estate investors who buy properties in this way, don?t rely on capital appreciation (i.e., rehab work) to dramatically increase the value of the property. This means that the value of a rental property is largely dependent upon the market itself instead of the landlord themselves. Each situation is different, but this is usually the case.

Which One Is Right For You?

It depends on a number of factors. But the biggest factor of all is: you.

Some of the many factors include: your personality, your tolerance for risk, your financial goals and your personal financial situation.

For me, I?ve done both. But for my personality, my personal situation and for my financial situation, house flipping dominates my real estate investing career. But do I necessarily think it?s the superior way to invest in real estate?

Not necessarily.

What do you think?

If you?ve read this far, please tell me what you think by leaving a comment below! It?s easy, just enter your name, your e-mail (not captured by anyone and we don?t spam you, BTW), and your website (only if you have one, you really don?t have to fill that part in) and leave a comment below if you think house flipping or buy and hold real estate investing is better!

Photo: Jamie Buscemi

Welcome to Our Blog!
Welcome to the BiggerPockets Blog. Our blog brings together experts in various fields of real estate with the goal of keeping our readers informed and up to speed. Whether you're a real estate professional (lender, Realtor, banker, etc), investor (landlord, flipper, wholesaler, etc.), or simply a consumer, renter or homeowner interested in the world of real estate, this blog is the place for you to get involved!

You can subscribe to our RSS feed, get blog updates by email, join our free mailing list, or best of all, join our social network along with 100,000 others interested in real estate education, dealmaking, networking, and marketing.

Author: Mike LaCava

Mike's Website: http://www.houseflippingschool.com

Mike has written 8 articles for us.

Mike LaCava is a full time real estate investor, real estate investment coach and the President of Hold Em Realty located in Wareham, MA. Mike specializes in flipping houses with no money and runs the website House Flipping School to teach new real estate investors how to flip houses. He has also authored the book ?How to Flip a House In 5 Simple Steps?.

Source: http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2012/10/27/house-flipping-vs-buy-and-hold-real-estate-investing/

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Des Moines Register endorses Mitt Romney (Washington Post)

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New study brings a doubted exoplanet 'back from the dead'

Saturday, October 27, 2012

A second look at data from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope is reanimating the claim that the nearby star Fomalhaut hosts a massive exoplanet. The study suggests that the planet, named Fomalhaut b, is a rare and possibly unique object that is completely shrouded by dust.

"Although our results seriously challenge the original discovery paper, they do so in a way that actually makes the object's interpretation much cleaner and leaves intact the core conclusion, that Fomalhaut b is indeed a massive planet," said Thayne Currie, an astronomer formerly at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., and now at the University of Toronto.

The discovery study reported that Fomalhaut b's brightness varied by about a factor of two and cited this as evidence that the planet was accreting gas. Follow-up studies then interpreted this variability as evidence that the object actually was a transient dust cloud instead.

In the new study, Currie and his team reanalyzed Hubble observations of the star from 2004 and 2006. They easily recovered the planet in observations taken at visible wavelengths near 600 and 800 nanometers, and made a new detection in violet light near 400 nanometers. In contrast to the earlier research, the team found that the planet remained at constant brightness.

The team attempted to detect Fomalhaut b in the infrared using the Subaru Telescope in Hawaii, but was unable to do so. The non-detections with Subaru and Spitzer imply that Fomalhaut b must have less than twice the mass of Jupiter.

Another contentious issue has been the object's orbit. If Fomalhaut b is responsible for the ring's offset and sharp interior edge, then it must follow an orbit aligned with the ring and must now be moving at its slowest speed. The speed implied by the original study appeared to be too fast. Additionally, some researchers argued that Fomalhaut b follows a tilted orbit that passes through the ring plane.

Using the Hubble data, Currie's team established that Fomalhaut b is moving with a speed and direction consistent with the original idea that the planet's gravity is modifying the ring.

"What we've seen from our analysis is that the object's minimum distance from the disk has hardly changed at all in two years, which is a good sign that it's in a nice ring-sculpting orbit," explained Timothy Rodigas, a graduate student in the University of Arizona and a member of the team.

Currie's team also addressed studies that interpret Fomalhaut b as a compact dust cloud not gravitationally bound to a planet. Near Fomalhaut's ring, orbital dynamics would spread out or completely dissipate such a cloud in as little as 60,000 years. The dust grains experience additional forces, which operate on much faster timescales, as they interact with the star's light.

"Given what we know about the behavior of dust and the environment where the planet is located, we think that we're seeing a planetary object that is completely embedded in dust rather than a free-floating dust cloud," said team member John Debes, an astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Md.

A paper describing the findings has been accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Because astronomers detect Fomalhaut b by the light of surrounding dust and not by light or heat emitted by its atmosphere, it no longer ranks as a "directly imaged exoplanet." But because it's the right mass and in the right place to sculpt the ring, Currie's team thinks it should be considered a "planet identified from direct imaging."

Fomalhaut was targeted with Hubble most recently in May by another team. Those observations are currently under scientific analysis and are expected to be published soon.

###

NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center: http://www.nasa.gov/goddard

Thanks to NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

This press release has been viewed 41 time(s).

Source: http://www.labspaces.net/124870/New_study_brings_a_doubted_exoplanet__back_from_the_dead_

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So Cute! Anne Hathaway Takes a Walk with Her Husband

Newlyweds Anne Hathaway and Adam Shulman are enjoying married life! Check out more pics of Hollywood's tightest twosomes

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/star-snapshots-celebrity-couples-photos-2012/1-b-469173?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Astar-snapshots-celebrity-couples-photos-2012-469173

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UBS to cut up to 10,000 jobs bankwide: source

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{cptn}","template_name":"ss_thmb_play_ttle","i18n":{"end_of_gallery_header":"End of Gallery","end_of_gallery_next":"View Again"},"metadata":{"pagination":"{firstVisible} - {lastVisible} of {numItems}","ult":{"spaceid":"84896083","sec":""}}},{"id": "hcm-carousel-276634255", "dataManager": C.dmgr, "mediator": C.mdtr, "group_name":"hcm-carousel-276634255", "track_item_selected":1,"tracking":{ "spaceid" : "84896083", "events" : { "click" : { "any" : { "yui-carousel-prev" : { "node" : "a", "data" : {"sec":"HCMOL on article right rail","slk":"prev","itc":"1" }, "bubbles" : true, "test": function(params){ var carousel = params.obj.getCarousel(); var pages = carousel._pages; // if same page, don't beacon if(("_ult_current_page" in carousel) && carousel._ult_current_page==pages.cur) return false; // keep track of current position within this closure carousel._ult_current_page = pages.cur; return true; } }, "yui-carousel-next" : { "node" : "a", "data" : {"sec":"HCMOL on article right rail","slk":"next","itc":"1" }, "bubbles" : true, "test": function(params){ var carousel = params.obj.getCarousel(); var pages = carousel._pages; // no more pages, don't beacon again // if same page, don't beacon if(("_ult_current_page" in carousel) && carousel._ult_current_page==pages.cur) return false; // keep track of current position within this closure carousel._ult_current_page = pages.cur; return true; } } } } } } })); }); Y.later(10, this, function() {(function() { try{ if (Math.floor(Math.random()*10) == 1) { var loc = window.location, decoded = decodeURI(loc.pathname), encoded = encodeURI(decoded), uri = loc.protocol + "//" + loc.host + encoded + ((loc.search.length > 0) ? loc.search + '&' : '?') + "_cacheable=1", xmlhttp; if (window.XMLHttpRequest) xmlhttp = new XMLHttpRequest(); else xmlhttp = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP"); xmlhttp.open("GET",uri,true); xmlhttp.send(); } }catch(e){} })(); }); Y.later(10, this, function() {Y.namespace("Media").ywaSettings = '"projectId": "10001256862979", "documentName": "", "documentGroup": "", "ywaColo" : "vscale3", "spaceId" : "84896083" ,"customFields" : { "12" : "classic", "13" : "story" }'; Y.Media.YWA.init(Y.namespace("Media").ywaSettings); }); Y.later(10, this, function() {if(document.onclick===YAHOO.Media.PreventDefaultHandler.newClick){document.onclick=YAHOO.Media.PreventDefaultHandler.oldClick;} }); }); });

Google Nexus 10 leaks: Android 4.2, Exynos 5250 (1.7GHz), 2,560 x 1,600 resolution

Unless we're looking at one of the most elaborately photographed fakes in the world, this is the Nexus 10. With the Nexus 7 apparently going over quite well at just $199, it was only ever a matter of time before the Nexus family expanded to house a 10-incher. With Google's own Vic Gundotra posting images from a unit that he's using at some exotic locale, it seems that another unit has slipped beneath the camera at BriefMobile. The site has managed to apprehend one of the 10.1-inch slates, and in turn has discovered quite the bounty of information.

Internally, there's (reportedly) a dual-core 1.7GHz Samsung Exynos 5250, a Mali-T604 GPU, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage (though no microSD expansion slot), a 5 megapixel rear-facing camera, NFC / WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0 and a Super AMOLED panel with a drool-worthy 2,560 x 1,600 screen resolution -- yeah, that's well into "Retina" territory at 298.9 pixels per inch. You may recognize that Exynos 5250 from Google's recently released $249 Chromebook, but here, it's being used to push Android 4.2. Those hungry for more can visit the source link, but don't go in hoping to extract an asking price.

Continue reading Google Nexus 10 leaks: Android 4.2, Exynos 5250 (1.7GHz), 2,560 x 1,600 resolution

Filed under: Tablets, ASUS, Google

Google Nexus 10 leaks: Android 4.2, Exynos 5250 (1.7GHz), 2,560 x 1,600 resolution originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 26 Oct 2012 13:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/iWZSO7gn07c/

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