patel travels: June 2013

Sunday, June 30, 2013

Exclusive: Bear market in gold pummels Einhorn's Greenlight fund

By Jennifer Ablan

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Investors in David Einhorn's Greenlight Capital Management's offshore gold fund were down 11.8 percent in June, bringing their year-to-date losses in the fund to 20 percent, two sources close to the matter said on Sunday.

Einhorn, one of the most widely followed hedge fund managers and known for warning about Lehman Brothers' precarious finances before it collapsed, has also seen his flagship $8 billion Greenlight Capital fund under recent pressure though it is still up for the year.

In June, Greenlight's flagship portfolio was down 1.1 percent but still up net 7.4 percent year to date, according to one of the sources.

Einhorn, largely known for going both long and short on stocks, formed the Greenlight gold fund to include the same investment strategy as the main fund but offers a share class backed by physical gold.

The gold fund, with a minimum investment of $1 million, had $929 million under management and 266 investors as of March, according to a recent regulatory filing.

The sources said the fund's dollar-denominated class represents a "majority" of the gold fund and is up 7.1 percent for the year. The remainder is in the gold-denominated class, which is down 11.8 percent in June alone and 20 percent so far this year. That's consistent with the sector's plunge this year.

The gold-denominated fund gives Greenlight investors exposure to gold through the fund's investments, then reprices them in gold as opposed to U.S. dollars.

Gold, which fell below $1,200 an ounce on Thursday for the first time in three years, posted its largest quarterly loss in at least 45 years amid fears the U.S. Federal Reserve may wind down its stimulus program.

After Friday's rally of 2.3 percent, gold is still 23 percent lower for the second quarter, its biggest decline since at least 1968, according to Reuters data.

Einhorn has said he prefers investing in gold bars, as opposed to the popular gold exchange-traded fund, SPDR Gold Shares , partly to have better control over his investment and keep a lid on trading expenses.

In 2009, Einhorn said at the annual Value Investing Congress that he was holding gold as a hedge for what he described as unsound U.S. policies.

"If monetary and fiscal policies go awry," investors should buy physical gold and gold stocks, he said at time. "Gold does well when monetary and fiscal policies are poor and does poorly when they are sensible."

This March, a month before the big April swoon in gold prices, the Greenlight Gold fund completed a financing deal with HSBC for an unspecified sum, according to a financing statement. The fund also has a financing agreement with Goldman Sachs.

Einhorn's dedicated gold fund will not be the only portfolio in the $2.2 trillion hedge fund industry that got burned in June from an investment in precious metals.

In April, a dedicated gold fund managed by John Paulson was down about 27 percent, bringing the year-to-date decline at 47 percent. Soon after, Paulson, who is the largest investor in the fund, limited the release of performance figures for his gold fund, worried it was getting too much attention in the media.

Earlier this year, the Paulson gold fund had about $700 million in assets. Paulson also invests in gold miners and in the gold ETF for his Advantage funds, which have about $5 billion in assets.

Einhorn's flagship fund also invests in gold. Earlier this year, the manager listed gold as one of the five largest positions in the fund. Reuters previously reported that Einhorn stores some of his gold in a secure facility in Queens, New York.

Dan Loeb's $12 billion Third Point firm also had a sizable position in physical gold in his portfolios but people familiar with the matter said he exited the positions in the spring. An investor with Loeb who did not want to be identified said the Third Point Partners fund fell 1.7 percent in June, but was still up 13.2 percent for the year.

(Additional reporting by Matthew Goldstein; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/exclusive-bear-market-gold-pummels-einhorns-greenlight-fund-192716724.html

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PPL Park Beverage Power Rankings (Oh, and a Big Union Game)

Photo and hand by Enrico

The new beer stand in Ashburn Alley at Citizens Bank Park might be the city?s gold standard for sporting event beverage selection. But PPL Park is a close second, mostly because the Venn diagram comparing soccer ?snobs? (like me) and beer ?snobs? (also like me) has a rather large overlap.

So if you don?t have plans this afternoon, head to Chester and try my rankings on for size (only if you have a designated driver, of course).

5. Bud Light from a vendor: If you need a quick beer and only have a minute before kickoff, the vendors do a nice job of parking in the middle of the concourse. Keep your ears open around the 65th minute, as well, when the same vendors roll through the sections at lightning speed to beat the 70th minute last call. UPSIDE: Fast and easy. DOWNSIDE: It?s still Bud Light.

4. Victory HopDevil: I know there is one small kiosk near midfield on the south concourse, and I believe another on the north side. They?re set up on the opposite side of the concession stands, closer to the field. UPSIDE: HopDevil is always outstanding. DOWNSIDE: Is it greedy to request Victory Summer Love during these hot-weather games?

3. ?Snake & Shield: There?s 2 of these permanent stands (one just inside the plaza on south side). Their selling point? Double-size beers. They?re selection is somewhat limited to beers available in 24-ounce bottles, but the Blue Moon or Stella Artois is better than the Bud heavy, and with no stoppages until halftime for a refill, you?ll appreciate the big cup. If you?re a season-ticket holder, add some money to your card and use it to buy beer. A $14 ?premium? beer becomes $12 and change. ?UPSIDE: They even have gluten-free beer, if that?s your thing. DOWNSIDE: On a hot day, you?re left with warm beer at the end of the cup (drink faster).

2. Boddington?s: There?s at least one of these stands on the south side, and I assume another on the north. The guy working the tap knows how to properly pour it, and even (politely) corrected a customer in front of me last month who INSISTED that he should tilt the cup while pouring. UPSIDE: No beer screams ?I?m at a soccer game!? like Boddington?s. DOWNSIDE: The line can get a little long at halftime.

1. Parking Lot Beer: It?s cheaper, it?s colder and it?s usually accompanied by grilled meat. I?m partial to Lot A myself, but if you?re drinking beer in a parking lot with a river view on a summer day, you?re doing something right. UPSIDE: Philly?s best tailgating scene. Hands down. DOWNSIDE: Eventually, you?ll actually have to go into the stadium.

TODAY?S GAME

Philadelphia Union (7-5-4, 25 points) vs. FC Dallas (8-3-5, 29 points), 5:30 p.m., NBC Sports Network

This will likely be the last game for Jack McInerney until August, after being called up to the U.S. National Team for the Gold Cup. The Union will miss his finishing touch, but if Sebastien Le Toux and Conor Casey keeps playing like they have been of late, the Union should be able to survive until his return. Expect McInerney to get a big send-off from the crowd today, and expect him to find the back of the net at least once.

Prediction Sure To Be Way Off:

McInerney gets at least one, and Casey gets another. Whether the Union can keep Dallas off the board will be the real question. But I think they do just enough to get stay hot heading into a tough mid-week game in Salt Lake City.

Union 2, FC Dallas 1.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/The700levelcom-PhillySportsMinutiae/~3/_q0YDabKnWs/

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Obama calls on feuding parties in Egypt to avoid violence

Four people who were on the ground the night of the Benghazi attacks last year are writing a book about their experience, and they're getting a $3 million advance from Twelve Books to do it. The authors are unnamed, according to New York Post's Keith J. Kelly, who describes them as "members of the elite security team from the annex of the US Embassy." That annex, we now know, was the CIA annex, which makes this book deal really fascinating. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-calls-feuding-parties-egypt-avoid-violence-105601216.html

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SF rapid transit talks break down; strike possible

BART station agent Mark Madrigal helps a customer at the Lake Merritt station in Oakland, Calif., Friday, June 28, 2013. Two of San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit's largest unions gave notice that they plan to go on strike if they don't reach a new contract deal over the weekend. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

Union leader Dwight McElroy, center, conducts interview alongside fellow union members in Oakland, Calif., Friday, June 28, 2013. Two of San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit's largest unions gave notice that they plan to go on strike if they don't reach a new contract deal over the weekend. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) ? A chief negotiator said Saturday that two of San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit's largest unions will "likely" go on strike.

Josie Mooney, a negotiator for the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Local 1021 SEIU, said there's "a 95 percent chance" that her union and the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU), Local 1555, will be on strike Monday after their contracts expire late Sunday.

"I'm afraid I don't see a way we will avoid a strike," she said after union leaders left Saturday's negotiations claiming they have met with BART's management for only 10 minutes in the past 36 hours.

The walkout adds further speculation that a strike could derail the more than 400,000 riders who use the nation's fifth-largest rail system.

Mooney said the unions have no plans to meet with BART on Sunday.

BART spokesman Rick Rice said Saturday says that the agency still has a meeting scheduled with the unions on Sunday. He said BART has submitted its second new proposal to the unions since Thursday.

"We called our mediator to deliver it to them and informed us they had left the building," Rice said. "Maybe they will show a willingness to come back to the table. We'll still be here."

With a Sunday night deadline approaching, negotiations between BART and the unions had intensified with a possible strike at stake.

As the parties went back to the bargaining table Saturday in Oakland for anticipated around-the-clock sessions, both sides described the talks as tense and said they were far apart on key sticking points including salary, pensions, health care and safety.

A work stoppage that could start as early as Monday would be chaotic for commuters and affect every mode of transportation, clogging highways and bridges throughout the Bay Area. More than 400,000 riders use BART each day.

The unions want a 5 percent annual raise over the next three years. BART said Saturday that train operators and station agents in the unions average about $71,000 in base salary and $11,000 in overtime annually. The workers also pay a flat $92 monthly fee for health insurance.

Meanwhile, BART has offered a 1 percent raise annually over the next four years and for employees to contribute to their pensions.

The unions' current contract expires at midnight Sunday. On Friday, the ATU asked California Gov. Jerry Brown to issue a 60-day "cooling off" period if no deal can be reached by Sunday's deadline, but the SEIU and BART officials have urged Brown not to issue such an order.

The governor's office has declined to comment.

"Negotiations are frustrating," Rice said. "But, we'll be here, no matter long it takes. We're committed to work this out."

BART's last strike lasted six days in 1997. On Friday, other area transit agencies urged commuters to consider carpooling, taking buses or ferries, working from home and, if they must drive to work, to leave earlier or even later than usual.

"The bottom line is that a BART strike will be an absolute nightmare for everyone," said Jim Wunderman, president and CEO of the Bay Area Council, a business advocacy organization. "Our transportation system simply does not have the capacity to absorb the more than 400,000 BART riders who will be left at the station. There will be serious pain."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-06-29-BART%20Strike/id-fb1c332838ab462d8711b6ebbb551fc5

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Friday, June 28, 2013

Lead bar falls from sky, crashes into Seattle family's home | MyFOX8 ...

SEATTLE, Wash. ? The crashing, pulverizing sound of heavy metal invading a home can ruin a quiet weekend spent with the family.

It led some Seattle residents to call the police. But it wasn?t a noise nuisance caused by hard rock music that they complained about.

The heavy metal was a bar of lead that plummeted from the sky Sunday, puncturing the roof of a Seattle home, police said.

The three-pound chunk left a hole the size of a small shoe box, according to the Seattle police department.

Luckily, no one was reported injured; the metal apparently did not bang any heads.

The lead part had a serial number and two holes that would accommodate bolts. Two days after it dropped in for an unannounced visit, the family decided to call 911.

An officer responding to the call figured it had to have dropped off of a plane flying by overhead. Police are checking with aviation authorities.

It was either that, the officer said, ?or a really big bird that had stolen a lead bar.?

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? & ? 2013 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.

Source: http://myfox8.com/2013/06/27/lead-bar-falls-from-sky-crashes-into-seattle-familys-home/

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Can Paul Ryan sell immigration reform to conservatives? (reuters)

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Thursday, June 27, 2013

WATCH: The Reaction as DOMA Went Down

WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 26: American University students Sharon Burk (L) and Mollie Wagoner (R) embrace after hearing that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is unconstitutional at the Supreme Court, June 26, 2013 in Washington, DC. The high court ruled to strike down DOMA and determined the California's proposition 8 ban on same-sex marriage was not properly before them, declining to overturn the lower court's striking down of the law. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

Mark Wilson

Source: http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/slate_v/2013/06/supreme_court_reactions_doma_ruled_unconsitituional_and_crowed_president.html

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ANA says Dreamliner jet had problem with AC power supply

TOKYO (Reuters) - One of All Nippon Airways' 787 Dreamliner jets, made by Boeing Co, had a cockpit message saying that the aircraft might not be able to supply power for its air-conditioning system, the Japanese airline said on Thursday.

The issue was not related to the lithium ion battery problems that had grounded the jets for three months from mid-January, Ryosei Nomura, an ANA spokesman, said.

All Dreamliner jets are under the microscope after Boeing installed a re-designed battery system and they resumed flying. Last week, two United Airlines Dreamliner jets were diverted due to separate oil-related problems.

More than 100 passengers who were supposed to fly on the ANA jet from Tokyo to Frankfurt on Thursday ended up taking a different plane that departed nearly eight hours later than originally scheduled, Nomura said.

ANA fixed the problem by exchanging components of a computer that controls electricity supply to the air-conditioning system, said Shinsuke Satake, another company spokesman.

(Reporting by Yoko Kubota; editing by Jane Baird)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ana-says-dreamliner-jet-had-problem-ac-power-105803047.html

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100 days after GOP election ?autopsy,? patient is still seriously dead (video) (Americablog)

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Texas governor may revive abortion proposal: political analysts

By Corrie MacLaggan

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - A marathon speech by a Texas Democrat temporarily frustrated a Republican drive for new state abortion restrictions, but political sources predicted on Wednesday that anti-abortion Governor Rick Perry would quickly revive the proposal.

Senator Wendy Davis, a single mother by the age of 19 who now is a rising star of the Democratic party, drew national attention when she spoke for more than 10 hours to block a measure that would ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.

Her filibuster of the Republican supermajority in the Texas legislature was hailed by women's groups and abortion rights advocates, and streamed live on some national media websites.

Republicans managed to stop her about two hours ahead of the midnight end to the special legislative session citing parliamentary procedures, but they were unable to complete voting on the abortion bill before the deadline.

"I pledge to Texas one thing: this fight is far from over," David Dewhurst, the anti-abortion Republican Lieutenant Governor who presides over the Senate, posted on Twitter Wednesday.

Texas Republican political strategist Matt Mackowiak predicted that Perry will call lawmakers back for another special session to pass the abortion bill.

"An abortion bill passed both houses. The votes are there. There's no question the votes are there," he said.

The abortion restrictions passed the House earlier in the week and a version of the proposal that did not include the ban after 20 weeks of pregnancy passed the Senate.

If the measure ultimately passes, Texas would be the 13th state to impose a ban on abortions after 20 weeks and by far the most populous. In addition, the legislation would set strict health standards for abortion clinics and restrict the use of drugs to end pregnancy.

Republican backers said the regulation of abortion clinics would protect women's health and that the ban on late-term abortions would protect fetuses, based on disputed research that suggests fetuses feel pain by 20 weeks of development.

Opponents said it would force nearly all Texas abortion clinics to close or be rebuilt.

"We know this isn't the end of the fight to protect women's access to health care in Texas." said Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Action Fund.

Davis whittled away chunks of time by reading testimony and messages from women and others decrying the legislation, reciting previously suggested changes to the bill and tapping into her own past as a single mother at 19.

She said the bill would have choked off her own access to a local Planned Parenthood clinic.

"I was a poor, uninsured woman, whose only care was provided through that facility. It was my medical home," said Davis, 50, several hours into her speech.

NATIONWIDE DEBATE

The U.S. Supreme Court legalized abortion nationwide in 1973, but conservative states have enacted laws in recent years that seek to place restrictions on the procedure, especially on abortions performed late in pregnancy.

Twelve states have passed 20-week bans, including two states where the bans take effect later this year, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights. Courts have blocked the bans in three of the 12 states - Arizona, Georgia and Idaho.

Earlier this month, the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill banning abortions 20 weeks after fertilization. The measure is extremely unlikely to become law because Democrats control the U.S. Senate and the White House.

The Texas proposal would allow exemptions for abortions to save a woman's life, and in cases of severe fetal abnormalities.

"In Texas, we value all life, and we've worked to cultivate a culture that supports the birth of every child," Perry said.

The abortion debate simmers elsewhere in the United States.

North Dakota's only abortion clinic filed a federal challenge on Tuesday to a new state law, the most restrictive in the country, that would ban procedures to end pregnancy once a fetal heartbeat can be detected, as early as six weeks.

A Philadelphia jury last month convicted abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell of murdering three babies during abortions at a clinic in a high-profile case that focused national attention on late term abortions.

(Reporting by Eric Johnson and Corrie MacLaggan; Editing by Greg McCune and Chris Reesea)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/republican-disrupt-texas-state-democrats-filibuster-over-abortion-043413723.html

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Sunday, June 23, 2013

New method 700 times faster than the norm for magnifying digital images

June 21, 2013 ? Ar?nzazu Jur?o-Mun?rriz, a graduate in computer engineering from the NUP/UPNA-Public University of Navarre, has in her PhD thesis presented new methods for improving two of the most widespread means used in digital image processing: magnification and thresholding. Her algorithm to magnify images stands out not only due to the quality obtained but also due to the time it takes to execute, which is 700 times less than other existing methods that obtain the same quality.

Image processing consists of a set of techniques that are applied to images to solve two problems: to improve the visual quality and to process the information contained in the image so that a computer can understand it on its own. >Nowadays, image thresholding is used to resolve many problems.

Some of them include remote sensing where it is necessary to locate specific objects like rivers, forests or crops in aerial images; the analysis of medical tests to locate different structures (organs, tumours, etc.), to measure the volumes of tissue and even to carry out computer-guided surgery; or the recognition of patterns, for example to identify a vehicle registration plate at the entrance to a car park or for personal identification by means of fingerprints. "Image thresholding separates out each of the objects that comprise the image," explains Ar?nzazu Jur?o. To do this, each of the pixels is analysed so that all the ones sharing the same features are considered to form part of the same object."

The thesis entitled "Numerical measures for image processing. Magnification and Thresholding" has produced six papers, which have been published in the most highly rated journals in the field. Super resolution The other problem that Ar?nzazu Jur?o has tackled in her thesis is image magnification. It involves increasing the spatial resolution of the image (to obtain a larger image with more pixels that represents the same scene) while preserving the details and sharpness.

"Magnification techniques are very useful when we send images from one device to another or when we upload them to the Internet, since in order to make the transmission faster we tend to send a reduced version of the image which, when it arrives at its destination needs to be enlarged to make it available in its original size. Magnification is also used in cases in which the resolution of the image is poor, which may be the case in CCTV surveillance cameras," she points out. In the course of her research she has presented two new magnification methods, one for greyscale images and the other for colour images. As she points out, the methods were developed to solve a problem of an infographics company.

Starting with a three-dimensional model the company used to generate various images to show to its clients; these images needed to be large so that all the details could be appreciated, but generating them took over 20 hours per image. "The solution we found meant that images could be generated in a smaller size and then enlarged in a very short space of time (less than one hour per image) while maintaining quality.

In other words, our algorithm to enlarge images stands out not only due the quality obtained but also due to the time it takes to execute, which is 700 times less than other existing methods that obtain the same quality." Fingerprints and the human brain In her PhD thesis this researcher has also presented two thresholding algorithms. The first is adapted to working with fingerprint images; the second is geared towards brain images obtained by means of MRI scans.

Specifically, the NUP/UPNA's research group she belongs to is collaborating on a project to create an identification centre by means of fingerprints that is capable of handling 40 million prints. "One of the steps in the identification consists of efficiently separating the fingerprint from the image background. In the thesis we proposed a way of measuring the homogeneity of each zone of the image, in other words, to see how similar all the pixels in a region are. On the basis of this measurement we have developed an algorithm that is capable of correctly carrying out the fingerprint thresholding."

The second algorithm has been developed in the framework of a research project in collaboration with doctors at the Complejo Hospitalario de Navarra.

The aim is to study the differences in the shapes or volumes of certain areas of the brain in patients who are suffering their first psychotic episodes. The researchers have come up with a method to be able to correctly separate out the area occupied by different brain structures in the image.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/computers_math/information_technology/~3/BvKhiafpFJI/130621095512.htm

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Saturday, June 22, 2013

U.S. Charges Snowden in Security-Leak Case (WSJ)

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DEVELOPERS, DEVELOPERS, DEVELOPERS! - Talk Mobile Hangout

It's Talk Mobile Apps week and today we're talking all about making great apps and selling great apps. That comes down to dealing with app stores, social networks, blogs, and more. So what does everyone want, and how do we get it? Join in the conversation now!