CLARKSDALE, Mississippi (Reuters) - A 22-year-old man has been charged with killing a gay black mayoral candidate in the small but violent Mississippi town of Clarksdale after his body was found near the river, authorities said on Thursday.
Marco McMillian, 34, was one of the first viable, openly gay candidates in Mississippi, according to the Victory Fund, a national organization that supports homosexual candidates and officials.
Mississippi was a hotbed of racial tension during the civil rights era in the 1960s, but Will Rooker, a spokesman for the sheriff's office, said on Wednesday the killing was not being investigated as a hate crime.
Law enforcement officials found McMillian's body early on Wednesday. A day later, the Coahoma County Sheriff's Office arrested Clarksdale resident Lawrence Reed, who is also black, on a murder charge.
Authorities said nothing about his motive or what led to his arrest.
The death was not considered politically motivated, despite a heated mayoral race, said Coahoma County Coroner Scotty Meredith.
McMillian had been missing since early on Tuesday when his sport-utility vehicle was involved in a collision outside Clarksdale. The person driving McMillian's vehicle had collided head-on with a pickup truck.
McMillian wasn't with the driver and, because his whereabouts were unknown, law enforcement officials launched a search.
McMillian recently had moved from Memphis back to his hometown of Clarksdale to run for mayor as a Democrat. He had faced state Representative Chuck Espy, a Democrat, and former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill Luckett, an attorney.
McMillian's campaign focused on reducing crime and unemployment in Clarksdale, a city of roughly 18,000 people, said campaign spokesman Jarod Keith.
A once-booming agricultural community, the city steadily has bled residents and jobs over the years and now faces high levels of violence and unemployment.
Another Democratic candidate for mayor, Doris Haynes Miller, said she recently was robbed at gunpoint in the town.
(Reporting by Emily Le Coz; Writing by Colleen Jenkins; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Eric Walsh)
In a paperpublished online Feb. 26 in the journalNature Communications, a Yale University team and collaborators propose a way of predicting whether a given glass will be brittle or ductile ? a desirable property typically associated with metals like steel or aluminum ? and assert that any glass could have either quality.
Ductility refers to a material's plasticity, or its ability to change shape without breaking.
"Most of us think of glasses as brittle, but our finding shows that any glass can be made ductile or brittle," said Jan Schroers, a professor of mechanical engineering and materials science at Yale, who led the research with Golden Kumar, a professor at Texas Tech University. "We identified a special temperature that tells you whether you form a ductile or brittle glass."
The key to forming a ductile glass, they said, is cooling it fast. Exactly how fast depends on the nature of the specific glass.
Focusing on a new group of glasses known as bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) ? metal alloys, or blends, that can be extremely pliable yet also as strong as steel ? researchers studied the effect of a so-called critical fictive temperature (CFT) on the glasses' mechanical properties at room temperature.
When forming from liquid, there is a temperature at which glass becomes too viscous for reconfiguration and freezes. This temperature is called the glass transition temperature. Based on experiments with three representative bulk metallic glasses, the researchers said there is also, for each distinct alloy, a critical temperature that determines the brittleness or plasticity of the glass. This is the CFT.
Researchers said it's possible to categorize glasses in two groups ? those that will be brittle because in liquid form their CFT is above the glass transition temperature, and those that will be ductile, because in liquid form their CFT is below the glass transition temperature.
They previously thought a liquid's chemical composition alone would determine whether a glass would be brittle or ductile.
"That's not the case," Schroers said. "We can make any glass theoretically ductile or brittle. And it is the critical fictive temperature which determines how experimentally difficult it is to make a ductile glass. That is the major contribution of this work."
The finding applies theoretically to all glasses, not metallic glasses only, he said.
"A glass can have completely different properties depending on the rate at which you cool it," Schroers said. "If you cool it fast, it is very ductile, and if you cool it slow it?s very brittle. We anticipate that our finding will contribute to the design of ductile glasses, and in general contribute to a deeper understanding of glass formation."
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Yale University: http://www.yale.edu
Thanks to Yale University for this article.
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CAIRO (AP) ? Egypt's lead investigator said Thursday he is seeking to interview the only tourist who survived the crash of a hot air balloon in the southern city of Luxor, a British national who jumped from the balloon after it caught fire and before it plummeted to the ground, killing 19 others, including his wife.
The Briton, Michael Rennie, escaped with only minor injuries and no burns, a neurologist who is treating him at a Cairo hospital, Mahmoud el-Shennawy, told The Associated Press.
The only other survivor ? the balloon's Egyptian pilot, who also jumped out ? suffered heavy burns.
The sightseeing balloon on a sunrise flight Tuesday over the ancient monuments of Luxor was carrying 20 tourists from Britain, Hong Kong, Japan, Belgium, Hungary and France. It was in the process of landing when a fuel line for the burner heating the air in the balloon broke, sparking a fire, according to preliminary indications, investigators have said.
Rennie and the Egyptian pilot, Momin Murad, managed to escape the balloon's gondola when it was still relatively close to the ground. The balloon then rose back up some 300 meters (1,000 feet) into the air. The fire spread to the balloon itself, which burst, sending it plummeting into a sugar cane field.
Witnesses have said some of the tourists still trapped in the burning balloon as it rose jumped to their deaths trying to escape.
Amateur video taken from another balloon flying nearby shows it crashing it back to the earth like a fireball into a sugar cane field.
Rennie told his doctors that "he fell in a muddy area, and this helped him," el-Shennawy said. "There are no fractures. He only has minor bruises ... and scratches." His wife was killed in the crash, the doctor said.
Rennie has also refused to speak to representatives from his own embassy, el-Shennawy said ? apparently overwhelmed with grief over his wife's death. Rennie has declined to speak to reporters, and an Associated Press reporter was not allowed access to his room.
The head of the Civil Aviation Authority's technical investigation into the accident, Walid el-Moqadem, said he has has asked to speak to Rennie, who Egyptian media said did speak with a separate, criminal prosecutor investigating the crash to rule out foul play.
Rennie told criminal investigators that most of those in the balloon squatted when the fire broke out, following the pilot's instructions, according to the Egyptian newspaper Al-Watan.
Investigators have not yet spoken to the pilot because of his injuries.
El-Moqadem said countries of some of the crash victims have asked to join the probe.
He said so far Hong Kong, Britain, Japan and Hungary will not be sending investigators, and will be granted an advisory role in the investigation in line with regulations. He said for now countries of the victims will be appraised of progress through emails.
Investigators are still looking into the causes of the crash and refused to give details, el-Moqadem said earlier. Investigators speaking on condition of anonymity because the probe was still ongoing said initial results suggested a landing cable tore the fuel tube and that the pilot should have shut of a valve that would have prevented the fire from spreading.
El-Shennawy said Rennie is expected to be released Friday and will head straight to the airport.
"Some psychiatrists, and myself, talked with him. He seems to be accepting the situation," he said.
If knowing you're going to wake up on time for work helps you sleep better, then slap two rounds of AAA batteries in this pistol-shaped alarm clock and stash it under your pillow. When it's time to wake from your slumber it gently vibrates you back to reality, and a built-in projector lets you pull off amazing quickdraw time checks all night long. More »
Marini will also serve as Managing Director of Orange Business Arabia (the local company established in Saudi Arabia by Orange Business Services) and as a Director of the board of Orange Business Arabia.
He will lead the Orange commercial teams in Saudi Arabia, covering strategy to operations.
Marini brings more than 15 years of commercial leadership in the telecoms sector, including from senior positions in Saudi Arabia and Jordan for organisations including France Telecom, Lucent Technologies, Equant and Devoteam.
He most recently held the position of Vice President Business Services at ITC in Saudi Arabia.
Laurent Marini graduated from the Institut National des Telecommunications (France) and holds a Master of Science degree in Telecommunications & Information Systems Engineering, a Masters in Marketing and Business Management from University Sud Paris (France), and completed executive leadership courses from Cranfield School of Management (UK) and EM Lyon Business School (France).
Part of France Telecom-Orange, Orange Business Services launched Orange Business Arabia, its local company in Saudi Arabia in April 2012, to focus on the key areas of Smart Cities, telecom operator transformation, and large infrastructure projects, in addition to serving the multinational companies that operate in the Kingdom.
This was followed late last month with an announcement of a partnership agreement with Saudi Business Machines (SBM), a leading systems integrator. The agreement established a platform for the two companies to cooperate as preferred partners on bids for major ICT projects in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and to jointly identify and bid for major projects in the rapidly expanding ICT market there.
Commenting on the appointment, Mr Jean-Luc Lasnier, Vice President and General Manager, Middle East and Africa, Orange Business Services, said: "The first year of operation for Orange Business Arabia has been very encouraging and well received by customers. Laurent Marini will lead the next phase of our development as we continue to build our business ecosystem and drive growth in the market."
France Telecom-Orange has more than 2,000 people working on the business-to-business market in the Middle East and Africa. As part of the Group, Orange Business Services supports enterprise customers across the strategically important Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states from the Middle East and Africa regional headquarters in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
If your heart bleeds Android, but your eyes occasionally wander in the direction of Apple'sPassbook, good news. Samsung has announced "Wallet," a ticketing and coupon app of its own. Unveiled at the firm's Developer Day atMobile World Congress, Wallet comes ready with an open API to encourage adoption, with some big names already onboard including Hotels.com, Booking.com, Expedia, MLB and Lufthansa. Though this isn't the only Android solutionwe've heard about, in keeping with the norm, the app will be connected, and location aware. As such, the app will let you know when Wallet-friendly stores and so on are nearby, as well as continually send updates to items already stored in the app, should those booking details change. The app API is still in beta at this time, but word is that Samsung is accepting early sign-ups on its approval.
KAHULUI, Maui -- The first edition of Real Estate Maui Now hit news stands this week, featuring listings from across the island, and a unique approach to the market on Maui.
The free publication is available at more than 150 brochure kiosks across the island from the Shops at Wailea in South Maui to Whaler?s Village in Ka?anaplai.
?It is part of a multi-media approach to the real estate market that mixes the traditional media of print with the interactive support of a website, and the fingertip convenience of mobile texting for instant access to information,? said Chuck Bergson, president and CEO of Pacific Media Group, the company that owns and operates?Real Estate Maui Now.
In addition to property listings, the?Real Estate Maui Now?publication and supporting website at?www.RealEstate.MauiNow.comalso provide information on Maui neighborhoods, local market research, real time mortgage information, rate quotes, home evaluations, daily open house schedules, and feature local industry experts on stand-by to answer the public?s questions, plus provide tips and advice.
The magazine?s text component allows potential buyers to preview advertised properties through the comfort of their mobile phone, take virtual tours, and have information sent directly to them on demand.
?The result is Maui?s most comprehensive and interactive real estate resource connecting buyers and homeowners with top Realtors, Lenders, and industry professionals,? said Amy Webb, sales and marketing professional with?Real Estate Maui Now.
Pacific Media Group is home to 14 radio stations that cover Maui, the Big Island of Hawai?i, and the world via its online streaming feeds.
On Maui, PMG operates KPOA FM (93.5 East Maui, 92.9 West Maui), Da Jam 98.3 (KJMD 98.3 East Maui, 107.3 West Maui), 99.9 Kiss FM (KJKS 99.9 East Maui, 99.3 West Maui), Native 92.5 (KLHI FM), ESPN 550 (KMVI AM), AM 900 KNUI,mauinow.com, and Real Estate Maui Now.
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North Korea posted a strange video about an attack on New York City, accompanied by the tune 'We are the World.' Why you shouldn't worry.
By David Clark Scott,?Staff writer / February 5, 2013
North Korea posted this propaganda video of an attack on the US on its YouTube channel.
A propaganda video released by North Korea showing New York City being bombed is pure fantasy ? and just another weird window on the Hermit Kingdom's propaganda machine.
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First, North Korea doesn't have a space shuttle (or the capability to launch one), as the video portrays in a boy's dream.
Second, North Korean doesn't yet have the capability to reach the US with one of their Unha rockets, let alone New York City.
As The Christian Science Monitor reported recently: "Concerns about their missile tests are overblown, according to RAND analyst Markus Schiller in a lengthy 2012 report on North Korea?s missile programs.
?Every launch further depletes the limited North Korean arsenals, and North Korea gains no real experience from these events. Since the purpose of the launches seems to be political, the United States and other nations should downplay or even ignore them,? he writes.
But this is classic North Korean propaganda, a sort of geopolitical WWE. All bluff and bluster. This latest video, like many before it, ignores copyrights and rips off from others.
Exhibit A of both weird and stolen: The theme music to this attack is "We are the World" by Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson. Really.
Exhibit B: The scenes of the New York attack are literally pulled directly from the video game "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3." according to the blogger Kotaku. Apparently, Activision agrees. They complained and YouTube took down the North Korean video.
Remember, this video is a North Korean boy's dream sequence, and it may be an apt metaphor for North Korea's ambition to be taken seriously around the world. That isn't to say that the leadership's nuclear ambitions aren't real and don't present a threat, especially to its neighbors.
"North Korea is likely to carry out multiple nuclear tests at two places or more simultaneously" to maximize scientific gains from the event, said South Korea?s outgoing President Lee Myung-bak in an interview with the Choson Ilbo newspaper today, according to Agence France-Presse. And the UN voted last month to increase the sanctions on North Korea.
But don't confuse North Korea's silly propaganda with reality.
If you peruse the North Korea YouTube channel, you will find Disney characters and an homage to North Korea's fantasy world. You will find North Korean soldiers in a kazoo orchestra, a brand new (and completely empty) bowling alley, and 40 minutes of synchronized swimming, according to Business Insider.
You can't make this stuff up. Oh, wait, yes you can if you're in North Korea.
Best Supporting Actress winner Anne Hathaway addresses the audience at the 85th Annual Academy Awards.
Photo by Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images
I, too, loved that Sound of Music gag, which combined the thing Seth MacFarlane does best?granularly specific pop-culture references?and the kind of gentle barb that I appreciate in the midst of the Oscars? hilarious display of self-regard. (Plummer, of course, seems to hate The Sound of Music, and I am delighted that he was reminded of his best-ever movie, now 48 years old, just before his self-aggrandizing bit about how all five Supporting Actress nominees will be working with him soon if they?re lucky.) Troy, I won?t go as far as you do in calling this the best Oscar ceremony you can remember, but I will say that anyone who thinks Seth MacFarlane was an embarrassment as Oscar host has a really short memory for Oscar hosts. He can sell a joke, he can ad-lib, and he?s got the golden pipes of an old-timey radio announcer. Approximately half his jokes were lousy, and a handful were actively embarrassing. I would describe him as worse than Alec and Steve, Chris Rock, and Letterman, and basically as good as everyone else for the last 20 years. Except he was better than Franco and Hathaway.
As for La Hathaway?s win this year, Dana, I had high hopes for the awfulsomeness of her speech, and that initial breathy whisper?so stagey, yet so obviously true!?made me briefly excited to think it might wind up an epochal event. But then it devolved into an earnest litany of agents and co-stars, a speech delivered by someone whose fear of appearing ridiculous overcame her innate ridiculousness. It?s a real shame. Leave Hathaway alone, Internet! How will she blossom into the sublime flower of wondrous faux-ingenuousness she is otherwise destined to be if you keep nipping her in the bud? (Speaking of which, Troy, I have nothing to say about her two important points, but I will note that someone at my neighbors? Oscar party called her dress ?sort of a Julie Andrews number,? which strikes me as both precisely what Hathaway was going for and extremely mistaken about the charms of Julie Andrews.)
At that Oscar party, occupied entirely by non-media folks, we all ?tweeted? jokes and observations about the proceedings out loud with our mouths. Happy to relay that I got a lot of RTs, mostly delivered by the kind young man who sat next to my hard-of-hearing mother all night. The overwhelming response at the party was that the ceremony was OK: It had its ups and downs, with the ?We Saw Your Boobs? opening number (and its entire attendant Shatnerian metaness) a definite up and most of the jokes between 9:30 and 11:30 the downs. (A real low point was MacFarlane?s introduction of Dustin Hoffman and Charlize Theron, in which he just noted that they are different from each other.)
About that number: Was it in poor taste? Yes. Was it meant to be? Yes. Was it funny nonetheless? Yes, thanks in great part to the game actresses who delivered prerecorded death stares (or, in Jennifer Lawrence?s case, an awesome fist pump). It was telling, of course, that many of the actresses mentioned in the song did not prerecord their death stares but were presumably delivering them, unseen by the camera, anyway. But it struck me that Lawrence?s response?like her laughing fit later that night when eye-groped by Jack Nicholson?was instructive. She?s from the newest generation of stars?a generation in which actresses are accreting ever-more power, and in which the appropriate response to gross old Jack is to laugh at him. Is Hollywood post-sexist? Of course not, Hollywood is still sexist as hell, and that was reflected in the Oscars, as it has been in every Oscar ceremony ever. But Jennifer Lawrence doesn?t give a damn. She?s baller.
In other news, I was as usual completely wrong about Best Picture?and everything else, as evidenced in my dismal performance in the Slate Oscar pool. But I was not wrong in thinking that crabby snacks would make an amazing Oscar-night appetizer. (Homemades, less so. Too messy.) I didn?t see you predicting that, Nate Silver.
JCPenney experienced a seismic shift on corporate culture when CEO Ron Johnson took the helm of the company more than a year ago.
The new guard didn't like JCPenney's old way of doing things at headquarters.
Not one bit.
Dana Mattioli at The Wall Street Journal spoke with JCPenney COO Michael Kramer about the company's culture and the mass layoffs at the company's headquarters. He's one of the execs brought in by Johnson, who he'd previously worked with at Apple.
"I hated the JCPenney culture," Kramer told the WSJ. "It was pathetic."
Senior management thought that the headquarters in Plano had become "overstaffed and underproductive" and something had to be done about it.
Kramer shared an example: There were 4,800 employees at the HQ in January 2012, and in one month they had watched five million YouTube videos during work hours.?He said that 35 percent of bandwidth at HQ was used for "loafing off."
One big consequence was the culling of staff. Now, a little more than a year later, 1,600 of those workers have been sent packing.
Another was the total destruction of the company's old corporate culture, which led to dissent among the ranks of executives at the home office who didn't agree with the changes.
Work at JCPenney HQ? What do you think about this? Shoot me an email at kbhasin@businessinsider.com.
OMAHA, Neb.?? Billionaire Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway said Monday that it is buying the Tulsa World, bringing its newspaper unit to 28 small- or medium-sized dailies.
The privately held Tulsa newspaper has a daily circulation of 95,000. The sale was reported Monday by the Tulsa World and Berkshire's Omaha World-Herald, whose executives oversee the company's newspapers.
Terms of the deal, which is expected to close in March, weren't disclosed.
Terry Kroeger, who runs Berkshire's newspapers, said the Tulsa paper will be a great fit. "The Tulsa World is a special newspaper in an outstanding market and we are honored to have the opportunity to own it," Kroeger said in a statement.
Buffett did not immediately respond to a message Monday about the Tulsa World acquisition.
The chairman of the World Publishing Company, which owns the Tulsa World, said selling to Berkshire would provide a secure future for the Tulsa newspaper.
"Our family takes great pride in the Tulsa World and its many years of service to Tulsa and Oklahoma," Robert Lorton Jr. said. "The newspaper business has become a difficult business model within a changing society and in particular for local family owned newspapers."
Besides daily newspapers, Berkshire owns 40 other newspapers that publish less frequently and other monthly publications and regional magazines. The growing media chain owns newspapers in Nebraska, Iowa, Texas, Oklahoma, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama and Florida.
Berkshire bought 63 Media General newspapers last year for $142 million to launch its newspaper unit. At the end of 2012, Berkshire did close the Manassas News & Messenger, a Virginia newspaper, because it was struggling to compete in the Washington suburbs.
But Berkshire has continued buying newspapers since then with the addition of the Greensboro, N.C., News & Record last month, and now the Tulsa World.
Buffett has said newspapers that are the primary source of information about their communities will continue delivering decent returns. Buffett, who is Berkshire's chairman and chief executive, has said he won't try to influence the newspapers' editorial policies.
Newspapers are still a relatively small part of Berkshire Hathaway, which owns an assortment of more than 80 subsidiaries and holds major stakes in companies like Coca-Cola Co., Wells Fargo and IBM.
Berkshire's subsidiaries include Geico and General Reinsurance, BNSF railroad, MidAmerican Energy utility, Fruit of the Loom, Nebraska Furniture Mart, Dairy Queen and many others.
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Follow Josh Funk online at www.twitter.com/funkwrite
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This news article is one of hundreds published daily by Business News Americas about the commodities, markets, movements, companies, projects, economics and politics integral to the development of Latin America. Including news and insight from South America, Central America and the Caribbean, BNamericas includes Banking insight and forecasts for business opportunities in Brazil. The business development service focuses on major projects, active companies, such as Moody's Corporation; and business and sales contacts, providing networking opportunities with leading executives throughout Latin America.
I would like to create two user accounts in Windows 7 Pro x64, each with their own separate running services. One account with just about all services running and a second account with just the bare minimum for playing games.
I tried doing this but found out that the services settings stay the same on both accounts. If I turn a service off on account one, that same service is disabled in account two even if I completely log out of account one.
Is there any way around this or is duel booting the only solution?
PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) ? Oscar Pistorius walked out of court Friday ? free at least for now ? after a South African magistrate released him on bail, capping four days of often startling testimony that foreshadowed a dramatic trial in the Valentine's Day slaying of his girlfriend.
But as he was driven away, chased by photographers and cameramen, questions continued to hound the double-amputee Olympian about what actually happened the night he gunned down Reeva Steenkamp inside a locked bathroom in his home.
Pistorius is charged with premeditated murder, and even Chief Magistrate Desmond Nair expressed doubts about his story that he mistook the 29-year-old model for an intruder and fired out of fear.
"Why would (Pistorius) venture further into danger" by going into the bathroom at all, Nair asked.
Cries of "Yes!" went up from Pistorius' supporters when Nair announced his decision to a packed courtroom after a nearly two-hour explanation of the ruling.
Nair set bail at 1 million rand ($113,000), with $11,300 in cash up front and proof that the rest is available. The 26-year-old track star was also ordered to hand over his passports, turn in any guns he owns and keep away from his upscale home in a gated community in Pretoria, which is now a crime scene.
He cannot leave the district of Pretoria without his probation officer's permission and is not allowed to consume drugs or alcohol, the magistrate said. His next court appearance was set for June 4.
Earlier, Pistorius alternately wept and appeared solemn and composed, especially as Nair criticized police procedures in the case and as a judgment in the track star's favor appeared imminent. He showed no reaction as he was granted bail.
Pistorius left the courthouse in a silver Land Rover just over an hour after the bail conditions were set. The vehicle, tailed by motorcycles carrying television cameramen, later pulled into the home of Pistorius' uncle.
"We are relieved at the fact that Oscar got bail today, but at the same time we are in mourning for the death of Reeva, with her family," said Pistorius' uncle, Arnold Pistorius. "As a family, we know Oscar's version of what happened on that tragic night and we know that that is the truth and that will prevail in the coming court case."
Dozens of journalists and international and local television crews had converged on the red-brick courthouse to hear the decision ? a sign of the global fascination with a case involving a once-inspirational athlete and his beautiful girlfriend, a law school graduate and budding reality TV show contestant.
Nair said Pistorius' sworn statement, an unusual written account of what happened during the pre-dawn hours of Feb. 14, had helped his application for bail.
"I come to the conclusion that the accused has made a case to be released on bail," Nair said.
Pistorius said he shot Steenkamp accidentally, believing she was an intruder in his house. He described "a sense of terror rushing over" him and feeling vulnerable because he stood only on his stumps before opening fire.
Prosecutors say he intended to kill Steenkamp as she cowered in fear behind the locked bathroom door after a loud argument between the two.
Yet despite poking holes in Pistorius' version of events and bringing up incidents they say highlight his temper, the state's case started to unravel during testimony by the lead investigator, Detective Warrant Officer Hilton Botha.
Botha, who faces seven charges of attempted murder in an unrelated incident, was removed from the case Thursday. His replacement, the nation's top detective, Vinesh Moonoo, stopped by the hearing briefly Friday.
While Nair leveled harsh criticism at Botha for "errors" and "blunders," he said one man does not represent an investigation and that the state could not be expected to put all "the pieces of the puzzle" together in such a short time.
The prosecution accepted the judge's decision without protest. "We're still confident in our case," prosecution spokesman Medupe Simasiku said.
Pistorius faced the sternest bail requirements in South Africa because of the seriousness of the charge, which carries a life sentence if convicted. His defense attorneys had to prove that he would not flee the country, would not interfere with witnesses or the case, and his release would not cause public unrest.
Nair questioned whether Pistorius would be a flight risk when he stood to lose a fortune in cash, cars, property and other assets. Nair also said that while it had been shown that Pistorius had aggressive tendencies, he did not have a prior record of offenses for violent acts.
Anticipating the shape of the state's case at trial, he said he had serious questions about Pistorius' account: Why didn't he try to locate his girlfriend if he feared an intruder was in the house? Why didn't he try to determine who was in the bathroom before opening fire? And why did he venture into perceived "danger" in the bathroom when he could have taken other steps to ensure his safety?
"There are improbabilities which need to be explored," Nair said, adding that Pistorius could clarify these matters by testifying under oath at trial.
Sharon Steenkamp, Reeva's cousin, said the model's family would not be watching the bail decision and had not been following the hearing.
"It doesn't make any difference to the fact that we are without Reeva," she told The Associated Press.
Before the hearing, Pistorius' longtime coach, Ampie Louw, said he hoped to put the runner back into his training routine if he got bail.
"The sooner he can start working the better," said Louw, who persuaded the double-amputee to take up track as a teenager a decade ago. But he acknowledged Pistorius could be "heartbroken" and unwilling to immediately pull on the carbon-fiber running blades that earned him the nickname "Blade Runner."
___
AP Sports Writer Gerald Imray contributed to this report from Johannesburg.
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Jon Gambrell can be reached at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP .
Feb. 21, 2013 ? In the first human study of its kind, researchers activated heart failure patients' stem cells with gene therapy to improve their symptoms, heart function and quality of life, according to a study in the American Heart Association journal Circulation Research.
Researchers delivered a gene that encodes a factor called SDF-1 to activate stem cells like a "homing" signal.
The study is unique because researchers introduced the "homing" factor to draw stem cells to the site of injury and enhance the body's stem cell-based repair process. Generally, researchers extract and expand the number of cells, then deliver them back to the subject.
"We believe stem cells are always trying to repair tissue, but they don't do it well -- not because we lack stem cells but, rather, the signals that regulate our stem cells are impaired," said Marc S. Penn, M.D., Ph.D., Director of Research at Summa Cardiovascular Institute in Akron, Ohio, and lead author and professor of medicine at Northeast Ohio Medical University in Rootstown, Ohio.
SDF-1 is a naturally occurring protein, secreted by cells, that guides the movement of other cells. Previous research by Penn and colleagues has shown SDF-1 activates and recruits the body's stem cells, allowing them to heal damaged tissue. However, the effect may be short-lived. For example, SDF-1 that's naturally expressed after a heart attack lasts only a week.
In the study, researchers attempted to re-establish and extend the time that SDF-1 could stimulate patients' stem cells. Study participants' average age was 66 years.
Researchers injected one of three doses of the SDF-1 gene (5mg, 15mg or 30mg) into the hearts of 17 patients with symptomatic heart failure and monitored them for up to a year. Four months after treatment, they found:
Patients improved their average distance by 40 meters during a six-minute walking test.
Patients reported improved quality of life.
The heart's pumping ability improved, particularly for those receiving the two highest doses of SDF-1 compared to the lowest dose.
No apparent side effects occurred with treatment.
"We found 50 percent of patients receiving the two highest doses still had positive effects one year after treatment with their heart failure classification improving by at least one level," Penn said. "They still had evidence of damage, but they functioned better and were feeling better."
The findings indicate people's stem cells have the potential to induce healing without having to be taken out of the body, Penn said.
"Our study also shows gene therapy has the potential to help people heal their own hearts."
At the start of the study, participants didn't have significant reversible heart damage, but lacked blood flow in the areas bordering their damaged heart tissue.
The study's results -- consistent with other animal and laboratory studies of SDF-1 -- suggest that SDF-1 gene injections can increase blood flow around an area of damaged tissue, which has been deemed irreversible by other testing.
Researchers are now comparing results from heart failure patients receiving SDF-1 with patients who aren't. If the trial goes well, the therapy could be widely available to heart failure patients within four to five years, Penn said.
Co-authors are Farrell O.Mendelsohn, M.D.; Gary L. Schaer, M.D.; Warren Sherman, M.D.; MaryJane Farr, M.D.; Joseph Pastore, Ph.D.; Didier Rouy, M.D., Ph.D.; Ruth Clemens, M.P.H.; Rahul Aras, Ph.D., and Douglas W. Losordo, M.D.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by American Heart Association.
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Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Yesterday, we announced your picks for the 2012 Engadget Awards, and today it's our turn. The Editors' Choice selections below cover the same 15 categories you voted on earlier this month, but the results weren't limited to reader-selected finalists. (In other words, it's a favorite gadget free-for-all for this bunch of geeks.) Without further ado, we present our top products of 2012 -- click past the break for the full list.
After rain muddied up the schedule in Miami last weekend, the UConn softball team is hoping for sunnier skies in Boca Raton, Fla. this weekend at the Florida Atlantic University Strike-Out-Cancer Tournament.
While originally scheduled to play five games, the Huskies only played four due to inclement weather in last weekend?s tournament at Florida International University. They successfully defeated Morehead State, split a pair with Binghamton and lost one to Florida International, giving them a 2-2 record to start off the season.
At this weekend?s tournament the team will face five teams over the span of three days, barring any additional weather complications.
First up in the tournament are Towson (4-6) and Florida Atlantic (3-6), with the games currently scheduled to take place later today. On Saturday, they will face Northern Illinois (3-2) and Big East-rival Providence (0-0). The tournament will conclude on Sunday when the team takes on North Florida (8-3).
The last time UConn and Florida Atlantic met, the Huskies fell 3-0 in a tough loss at the FAU Tournament last season. However, the last time UConn and Providence met, Connecticut walked away with a 10-0 victory after a five-inning mercy rule win last April in Storrs.
All eyes will be on freshman Alyson Ambler, who had an impressive performance on the mound in Miami. Ambler played a pivotal role in both of the team?s wins last weekend, pitching 8.0 innings to give the team their first win as well as relieving Saveriano and earning the save in their second win.
The Huskies will also be hoping for a strong performance again from junior Maddy Schiappa at the plate. Schiappa went 9-for-14 (.643) at FIU last weekend, the best of anyone on the team.
Coach Karen Mullins indicated last week that the first three tournaments in February would serve as an opportunity for the team to find a level of cohesiveness that will give them success throughout the season. Mullins believed that finally having time playing on the grass would help get the team ?in sync,? and as they played more games their overall performance would improve.
The forecast for this weekend shows nothing but warm temperatures and clear skies in the Sunshine State; so weather-based postponements should be virtually non-existent. The Huskies are anticipating that these predications will be matched in reality as they look to continue into their second weekend of the season.
Kelly Clarkson isn't going to let one of the most powerful men in music knock her down. Legendary producer Clive Davis helped Clarkson transition from American Idol winner to Grammy-winning solo artist. Even so, he said a few unflattering things about Kelly in his new memoir, The Soundtrack of My Life. On Tuesday, Clarkson took to her WhoSay blog to set the record straight.
Feb. 21, 2013 ? An international team of scientists has discovered how an important natural antibiotic called dermcidin, produced by our skin when we sweat, is a highly efficient tool to fight tuberculosis germs and other dangerous bugs.
Their results could contribute to the development of new antibiotics that control multi-resistant bacteria.
Scientists have uncovered the atomic structure of the compound, enabling them to pinpoint for the first time what makes dermcidin such an efficient weapon in the battle against dangerous bugs.
Although about 1700 types of these natural antibiotics are known to exist, scientists did not until now have a detailed understanding of how they work.
The study, carried out by researchers from the University of Edinburgh and from Goettingen, Tuebingen and Strasbourg, is published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Sweat spreads highly efficient antibiotics on to our skin, which protect us from dangerous bugs. If our skin becomes injured by a small cut, a scratch, or the sting of a mosquito, antibiotic agents secreted in sweat glands, such as dermcidin, rapidly and efficiently kill invaders.
These natural substances, known as antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), are more effective in the long term than traditional antibiotics, because germs are not capable of quickly developing resistance against them.
The antimicrobials can attack the bugs' Achilles' heel -- their cell wall, which cannot be modified quickly to resist attack. Because of this, AMPs have great potential to form a new generation of antibiotics.
Scientists have known for some time that dermcidin is activated in salty, slightly acidic sweat. The molecule then forms tiny channels perforating the cell membrane of bugs, which are stabilised by charged particles of zinc present in sweat. As a consequence, water and charged particles flow uncontrollably across the membrane, eventually killing the harmful microbes.
Through a combination of techniques, scientists were able to determine the atomic structure of the molecular channel. They found that it is unusually long, permeable and adaptable, and so represents a new class of membrane protein.
The team also discovered that dermcidin can adapt to extremely variable types of membrane. Scientists say this could explain why active dermcidin is such an efficient broad-spectrum antibiotic, able to fend off bacteria and fungi at the same time.
The compound is active against many well-known pathogens such as tuberculosis, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, or Staphylococcus aureus. Multi-resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus, in particular, have become an increasing threat for hospital patients. They are insensitive towards conventional antibiotics and so are difficult to treat. Staphylococcus aureus infections can lead to life-threatening diseases such as sepsis and pneumonia. The international team of scientists hopes that their results can contribute to the development of a new class of antibiotics that is able to attack such dangerous germs.
Dr Ulrich Zachariae of the University of Edinburgh's School of Physics, who took part in the study, said: "Antibiotics are not only available on prescription. Our own bodies produce efficient substances to fend off bacteria, fungi and viruses. Now that we know in detail how these natural antibiotics work, we can use this to help develop infection-fighting drugs that are more effective than conventional antibiotics."
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Edinburgh.
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Journal Reference:
C. Song, C. Weichbrodt, E. S. Salnikov, M. Dynowski, B. O. Forsberg, B. Bechinger, C. Steinem, B. L. de Groot, U. Zachariae, K. Zeth. Crystal structure and functional mechanism of a human antimicrobial membrane channel. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2013; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1214739110
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Is there a deal or isn't there? Apparently there is.
The boards of Office Depot and Office Max confirmed Wednesday that they agreed to combine the two companies in a $1.2 billion, all-stock deal that could alter the balance of power in the office supply retail market.
The boards of both companies approved the deal after a confusing morning in which the deal was announced prematurely.
The deal, one of several large-scale acquisitions announced within the last week, had been buried within Office Depot's fourth quarter earnings release, which is not a typical way that companies trumpet a deal of this size. A source told Reuters that the statement had been a draft and that, at the time, the deal was not yet completed.
Under the terms of the deal, OfficeMax stockholders will receive 2.69 Office Depot common shares for each share of OfficeMax common stock. In a joint statement, the office suppliers said the new company would be valued at $18 billion. The new company would have an equal number of Office Depot and Office Max directors on its board.
The two companies are competitors to Staples, the world's largest supplier of office goods. The deal may be an attempt by both OfficeMax and Office Depot to become more competitive with Staples, even as they confront declining market share and consumers that move to buy online.
Luis Hueso, the CICnanoGUNE researcher, together with researchers from the University of Cambridge, among others, has developed a new technology in the magnetic cooling of chips based on the straining of materials. Compared with the current technologies, this advance enables the impact on the environment to be lessened. The work has been published recently in the prestigious journal Nature Materials.
Current cooling systems, be they refrigerators, freezers or air conditioning units, make use of the compression and expansion of a gas. When the gas is compressed, it changes into a liquid state and when it expands it evaporates once again. To evaporate, it needs heat, which it extracts from the medium it touches and that way cools it down. However, this system is harmful for the environment and, what is more, the compressors used are not particularly effective.
One of the main alternatives that is currently being explored is magnetic cooling. It consists of using a magnetic material instead of a gas, and magnetizing and demagnetizing cycles instead of compression-expansion cycles. Magnetic cooling is a technique based on the magnetocaloric effect, in other words, it is based on the properties displayed by certain materials to modify their temperature when a magnetic field is applied to them. However, the applying of a magnetic field leads to many problems in current miniaturized technological devices (electronic chips, computer memories, etc.), since the magnetic field can interact negatively owing to its effect on nearby units. In this respect, the quest for new ways of controlling the magnetization is crucial.
Magnetism without magnetic fields
The researchers Luis Hueso, Andreas Berger and Odrej Hovorka of nanoGUNE have discovered that by using the straining of materials, they can get around the problems of applying a magnetic field. "By straining the material and then relaxing it an effect similar to that of a magnetic field is created, thus inducing the magnetocaloric effect responsible for cooling," explains Luis Hueso, leader of the nanodevices group at nanoGUNE and researcher in this study.
"This new technology enables us to have a more local and more controlled cooling method, without interfering with the other units in the device, and in line with the trend in the miniaturization of technological devices," adds Hueso.
20-nanometre films consisting of lanthanum, calcium, manganese and oxygen (La0.7Ca0.3MnO3) have been developed. According to Hueso, "the aim of this field of research is to find materials that are efficient, economical and environmentally friendly."
"The idea came about at Cambridge University and among various groups in the United Kingdom, France, Ukraine and the Basque Country we have come up with the right material and an effective technique for cooling electronic chips, computer memories and all these types of applications in microelectronics. Technologically, there would not be any obstacle to using them in fridges, freezers, etc. but economically it is not worthwhile because of the size," stresses Hueso.
Today, most of the money spent on the huge dataservers goes on cooling. That is why this new technology could be effective in applications of this kind. Likewise, one of the great limitations that computer processors have today is that they cannot operate as fast as one would like because they can easily overheat. "If we could cool them down properly, they would be more effective and could work faster," adds Hueso.
Dr Hueso stresses that this is a very interesting subject with respect to future patents.
Luis Hueso
Luis Hueso (Madrid, 1974) is an Ikerbasque researcher and leads the nanodevices team at nanoGUNE. He has a PhD in Physics from the University of Santiago de Compostela. Between 2002 and 2005 he was a Marie Curie fellow at Cambridge University where he developed a project on spin transport in carbon nanotubes. In 2006 he moved to the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (Italy) and in 2007 was appointed Professor at the University of Leeds. Since 2008, Luis Hueso has been pursuing his scientific research activities in the nanodevices team at nanoGUNE. He has been exploring materials and functionalities to be able to develop new electronic devices that constitute a revolution with respect to the current silicon-based ones, which could soon be reaching the limits of their capacity. It was in fact this work that in 2012 earned him the prestigious Starting Grant awarded by the European Research Council to the tune of 1.3 million euros.
###
Publication reference
X.Moya, L.E. Hueso, F. Maccherozzi, A.I. Tovstolytkin, D.I. Podyalovskii, C. Ducati, L.C. Phillips, M. Ghidini, O. Hovorka, A. Berger, M.E. Vickers, E. Defay, S.S. Dhesi and N. D. Mathur. Giant and reversible extrinsic magnetocaloric effects in La0.7Ca0.3MnO3 films due to strain. Nature Materials. DOI: 10.1038/NMAT3463.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
New technology in the magnetic cooling of chips Public release date: 20-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Luis Hueso, the CICnanoGUNE researcher, together with researchers from the University of Cambridge, among others, has developed a new technology in the magnetic cooling of chips based on the straining of materials. Compared with the current technologies, this advance enables the impact on the environment to be lessened. The work has been published recently in the prestigious journal Nature Materials.
Current cooling systems, be they refrigerators, freezers or air conditioning units, make use of the compression and expansion of a gas. When the gas is compressed, it changes into a liquid state and when it expands it evaporates once again. To evaporate, it needs heat, which it extracts from the medium it touches and that way cools it down. However, this system is harmful for the environment and, what is more, the compressors used are not particularly effective.
One of the main alternatives that is currently being explored is magnetic cooling. It consists of using a magnetic material instead of a gas, and magnetizing and demagnetizing cycles instead of compression-expansion cycles. Magnetic cooling is a technique based on the magnetocaloric effect, in other words, it is based on the properties displayed by certain materials to modify their temperature when a magnetic field is applied to them. However, the applying of a magnetic field leads to many problems in current miniaturized technological devices (electronic chips, computer memories, etc.), since the magnetic field can interact negatively owing to its effect on nearby units. In this respect, the quest for new ways of controlling the magnetization is crucial.
Magnetism without magnetic fields
The researchers Luis Hueso, Andreas Berger and Odrej Hovorka of nanoGUNE have discovered that by using the straining of materials, they can get around the problems of applying a magnetic field. "By straining the material and then relaxing it an effect similar to that of a magnetic field is created, thus inducing the magnetocaloric effect responsible for cooling," explains Luis Hueso, leader of the nanodevices group at nanoGUNE and researcher in this study.
"This new technology enables us to have a more local and more controlled cooling method, without interfering with the other units in the device, and in line with the trend in the miniaturization of technological devices," adds Hueso.
20-nanometre films consisting of lanthanum, calcium, manganese and oxygen (La0.7Ca0.3MnO3) have been developed. According to Hueso, "the aim of this field of research is to find materials that are efficient, economical and environmentally friendly."
"The idea came about at Cambridge University and among various groups in the United Kingdom, France, Ukraine and the Basque Country we have come up with the right material and an effective technique for cooling electronic chips, computer memories and all these types of applications in microelectronics. Technologically, there would not be any obstacle to using them in fridges, freezers, etc. but economically it is not worthwhile because of the size," stresses Hueso.
Today, most of the money spent on the huge dataservers goes on cooling. That is why this new technology could be effective in applications of this kind. Likewise, one of the great limitations that computer processors have today is that they cannot operate as fast as one would like because they can easily overheat. "If we could cool them down properly, they would be more effective and could work faster," adds Hueso.
Dr Hueso stresses that this is a very interesting subject with respect to future patents.
Luis Hueso
Luis Hueso (Madrid, 1974) is an Ikerbasque researcher and leads the nanodevices team at nanoGUNE. He has a PhD in Physics from the University of Santiago de Compostela. Between 2002 and 2005 he was a Marie Curie fellow at Cambridge University where he developed a project on spin transport in carbon nanotubes. In 2006 he moved to the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (Italy) and in 2007 was appointed Professor at the University of Leeds. Since 2008, Luis Hueso has been pursuing his scientific research activities in the nanodevices team at nanoGUNE. He has been exploring materials and functionalities to be able to develop new electronic devices that constitute a revolution with respect to the current silicon-based ones, which could soon be reaching the limits of their capacity. It was in fact this work that in 2012 earned him the prestigious Starting Grant awarded by the European Research Council to the tune of 1.3 million euros.
###
Publication reference
X.Moya, L.E. Hueso, F. Maccherozzi, A.I. Tovstolytkin, D.I. Podyalovskii, C. Ducati, L.C. Phillips, M. Ghidini, O. Hovorka, A. Berger, M.E. Vickers, E. Defay, S.S. Dhesi and N. D. Mathur. Giant and reversible extrinsic magnetocaloric effects in La0.7Ca0.3MnO3 films due to strain. Nature Materials. DOI: 10.1038/NMAT3463.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
As the markets once again approach historic highs - the overly exuberant tone, extreme complacency and weakness in the economic data, bring to mind Bob Farrell's 10 investment rules.? These rules should be a staple for any long term successful investor.? These rules are often quoted yet rarely heeded - just as they are now.? Bob Farrell is a Wall Street veteran with over 50 years of experience in crafting his investing rules.? Farrell obtained his masters degree from Columbia Business School and started as a technical analyst at Merrill Lynch in 1957. Even though Farrell studied fundamental analysis under Gramm and Dodd, he turned to technical analysis after realizing there was more to stock prices than balance sheets and income statements. Farrell became a pioneer in sentiment studies and market psychology. His 10 rules on investing stem from personal experience with dull markets, bull markets, bear markets, crashes and bubbles. In short, Farrell has seen it all and lived to tell about it.
The 10 Rules Of Investing
1. Markets tend to return to the mean (average price) over time.
Like a rubber band that has been stretched too far ? it must be relaxed in order to be stretched again. This is exactly the same for stock prices which are anchored to their moving averages.? Trends that get overextended in one direction, or another, always return to their long-term average. Even during a strong uptrend or strong downtrend, prices often move back (revert) to a long-term moving average. The chart below shows the S&P 500 with a 52-week simple moving average.
The bottom chart shows the percentage deviation of the current price of the market from the 52-week moving average.? During bullish trending markets there are regular reversions to the mean which create buying opportunities.? However, what is often not stated is that in order to take advantage of such buying opportunities profits should have been taken out of portfolios as deviations from the mean reached historical extremes.? Conversely, in bearish trending markets, such reversions from extreme deviations should be used to sell stocks, raise cash and reduce portfolio risk rather than "panic sell" at market bottoms.
The dashed RED lines denote when the markets changed trends from positive to negative. This is the very essence of portfolio "risk" management.
2. Excesses in one direction will lead to an opposite excess in the other direction.
Markets that overshoot on the upside will also overshoot on the downside, kind of like a pendulum. The further it swings to one side, the further it rebounds to the other side. This is the extension of Rule #1 as it applies to longer term market cycles (cyclical markets).?
While the chart above showed prices behave on a short term basis - on a longer term basis markets also respond to Newton's 3rd law of motion:? "For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction."?? The first chart shows that cyclical markets reach extremes when more than 3-standard deviations above the 50-week moving average.? For the first time since the lows of the market in 2009 this has now occurred.? Notice that these excesses ARE NEVER worked off by just going sideways.
The second chart shows the price reversions of the S&P 500 on a long term basis and adjusted for inflation. Notice that when prices have historically reached extremes ? the reversion in price is just as extreme. It is clear that the current reversion in the stock market is still underway from the 2000 peak.
3. There are no new eras ? excesses are never permanent.
There will always be some "new thing" that elicits speculative interest.? These "new things" throughout history, like the "Siren's Song," has led many investor to their demise. In fact, over the last 500 years we have seen speculative bubbles involving everything from Tulip Bulbs to Railways, Real Estate to Technology, Emerging Markets (5 times) to Automobiles and Commodities.?? It is always starts the same and ends with the utterings of "This time it is different"??
[The chart below is from my March 2008 seminar discussing that the next recessionary bear market was about to occur.]
As legendary investor Jesse Livermore once stated:?
"A lesson I learned early is that there is nothing new in Wall Street. There can't be because speculation is as old as the hills. Whatever happens in the stock market today has happened before and will happen again."
4. Exponential rapidly rising or falling markets usually go further than you think, but they do not correct by going sideways
The reality is that excesses, such as we are seeing in the market now, can indeed go much further than logic would dictate. However, these excesses, as stated above, are never worked off simply by trading sideways. Corrections are always just as brutal as the advances were exhilarating. As the chart below shows when the markets broke out of their directional trends ? the corrections came soon thereafter.
5. The public buys the most at the top and the least at the bottom.
The average individual investor is most bullish at market tops and most bearish at market bottoms.? This is due to investor's emotional biases of "greed" when markets are rising and "fear" when markets are falling.? Logic would dictate that the best time to invest is after a massive selloff - unfortunately this is exactly the opposite of what investors do.
The chart below shows the flow of money into equity based mutual funds.
6. Fear and greed are stronger than long-term resolve.
As stated in Rule $5 it is emotions that cloud your decisions and affect your long-term plan.
"Gains make us exuberant; they enhance well-being and promote optimism," says Santa Clara University finance professor Meir Statman.? His studies of investor behavior show that "Losses bring sadness, disgust, fear, regret. Fear increases the sense of risk and some react by shunning stocks."
The composite index of bullish sentiment (an average of AAII and Investor's Intelligence surveys) shows that "greed" is beginning to reach levels where markets have generally reached intermediate term peaks.?
In the words of Warren Buffett:?
"Buy when people are fearful and sell when they are greedy."
Currently, those "people" are getting extremely greedy.
7. Markets are strongest when they are broad and weakest when they narrow to a handful of blue-chip names.
Breadth is important. A rally on narrow breadth indicates limited participation and the chances of failure are above average. The market cannot continue to rally with just a few large-caps (generals) leading the way. Small and mid-caps (troops) must also be on board to give the rally credibility. A rally that "lifts all boats" indicates far-reaching strength and increases the chances of further gains.?
The chart above shows the ARMS Index which is a volume-based indicator that determines market strength and breadth by analyzing the relationship between advancing and declining issues and their respective volume.? It is normally used as a short term trading measure of market strength.? However, for longer term periods the chart shows a weekly index smoothed with a 34-week average.? Spikes in the index has generally coincided with near-term market peaks.
8. Bear markets have three stages ? sharp down, reflexive rebound and a drawn-out fundamental downtrend
Bear markets often start with a sharp and swift decline. After this decline, there is an oversold bounce that retraces a portion of that decline. The longer term decline then continues, at a slower and more grinding pace, as the fundamentals deteriorate. Dow Theory suggests that bear markets consists of three down legs with reflexive rebounds in between.
The chart above shows the stages of the last two primary cyclical bear markets.? There were plenty of opportunities to sell into counter-trend rallies during the decline and reduce risk exposure.???
9. When all the experts and forecasts agree ? something else is going to happen.
This rule fits within Bob Farrell's contrarian nature.? As Sam Stovall, the investment strategist for Standard & Poor's once stated:
"If everybody's optimistic, who is left to buy? If everybody's pessimistic, who's left to sell?"
The point here is that as a contrarian investor, and along with several of the points already made within Farrell's rule set, excesses are built by everyone being on the same side of the trade.? Ultimately, when the shift in sentiment occurs ? the reversion is exacerbated by the stampede going in the opposite direction
Being a contrarian can be quite difficult at times as bullishness abounds.? However, it is also the secret to limiting losses and achieving long term investment success. As Howard Marks once stated:
"Resisting ? and thereby achieving success as a contrarian ? isn't easy. Things combine to make it difficult; including natural herd tendencies and the pain imposed by being out of step, since momentum invariably makes pro-cyclical actions look correct for a while. (That's why it's essential to remember that "being too far ahead of your time is indistinguishable from being wrong.")
Given the uncertain nature of the future, and thus the difficulty of being confident your position is the right one ? especially as price moves against you ? it's challenging to be a lonely contrarian."
10. Bull markets are more fun than bear markets
As stated above in Rule #5 ? investors are primarily driven by emotions. As the overall markets rise ? up to 90% of any individual stock?s price movement is dictated by the overall direction of the market hence the saying ?a rising tide lifts all boats.?
Psychologically, as the markets rise, investors begin to believe that they are ?smart? because their portfolio is going up. In reality, it is primarily more a function of ?luck? rather than ?intelligence? that is driving their portfolio.
Investors behave much the same way as individuals who addicted to gambling. When they are winning they believe that their success is based on their skill. However, when they began to lose, they keep gambling thinking the next ?hand? will be the one that gets them back on track.? Eventually - they leave the table broke.
It is true that bull markets are more fun than bear markets. Bull markets elicit euphoria and feelings of psychological superiority. Bear markets bring fear, panic and depression.
What is interesting is that no matter how many times we continually repeat these ?cycles? ? as emotional human beings we always ?hope? that somehow this ?time will be different.? Unfortunately, it never is and this time won?t be either. The only questions are: when will the next bear market begin and will you be prepared for it?
Conclusions
Like all rules on Wall Street, Bob Farrell's rules are not meant has hard and fast rules. There are always exceptions to every rule and while history never repeats exactly it does often "rhyme" very closely.
Nevertheless, these rules will benefit investors by helping them to look beyond the emotions and the headlines.? Being aware of sentiment can prevent selling near the bottom and buying near the top, which often goes against our instincts.
Regardless of how many times I discuss these issues, quote successful investors, or warn of the dangers ? the response from both individuals and investment professionals is always the same.
??I am a long term, fundamental value, investor.? So these rules don?t really apply to me.?
No you?re not. Yes, they do.
Individuals are long term investors only as long as the markets are rising.? Despite endless warnings, repeated suggestions and outright recommendations - getting investors to sell, take profits and manage your portfolio risks is nearly a lost cause as long as the markets are rising.? Unfortunately, by the time the fear, desperation or panic stages are reached it is far too late to act and I will only be able to say that I warned you.
Best Supporting Actress winner Anne Hathaway addresses the audience at the 85th Annual Academy Awards. 
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Public release date: 20-Feb-2013
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