MOSCOW (AP) ? Investigators are examining flight recorders and other evidence to try to determine the cause of the airliner crash in Moscow that killed four people.
The Tu-204 belonging to Russian airline Red Wings was carrying eight people, all of them crew members, when it careered off the runway Saturday while landing at Moscow's Vnukovo Airport. It went partly into an adjacent highway, broke into pieces and caught fire.
The four survivors were reported in critical or serious condition in Moscow hospitals.
Vladimir Markin, a spokesman for Russia's main investigative agency, was quoted by Russian news agencies Sunday as saying the data recorders were being examined, along with fuel samples. In addition, he said flight documents for the plane have been taken from the airline for examination.
Florida's Patric Young, center, and Air Force's Kyle Green, left and Kamryn Williams wait for a rebound during the second half Saturday, Dec. 29, 2012, in Sunrise, Fla. Florida won 78-61.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: Saturday, December 29, 2012 at 8:33 p.m.
Last Modified: Saturday, December 29, 2012 at 8:33 p.m.
SUNRISE ? Reviewing recent games and watching shot after shot clank off the rim, Kenny Boynton decided to wait until he was open before trying to shake his slump.
With that, the ball started falling. Boynton made three 3-pointers in the second half, when No. 14 Florida pulled away to beat Air Force 78-61 on Saturday in the second game of the Orange Bowl Basketball Classic.
Boynton had made only 4 of 32 from 3-point range over the previous five games, and coach Billy Donovan advised a change in his approach.
?I spent a lot of time watching film with coach Donovan on the shots I?ve been taking,? Boynton said. ?I just tried to take open ones. That?s what I tried in the second half.?
The senior made three 3s in a span of 8 minutes to break the game open. It was likely Boynton?s final college game in his native South Florida, and 20 relatives and friends cheered him on.
?I felt good, coming out and playing an all-around good game,? he said.
The Gators (9-2) used their superior size and smothering defense to grind down the Falcons, who shot 48 percent in the first half and 33 percent in the second half.
?A very good Florida team, and we knew that coming in,? Air Force coach Dave Pilipovich said. ?We got a little worn down in the second half, and that was because of our physical stature compared to theirs.?
The Gators scored 38 points in the paint and had a 36-25 advantage in rebounds against Air Force (8-3), which fell to 2-77 against ranked teams.
Florida State beat Tulsa 82-63 in the first game of the one-day event.
Boynton, who ranks third in career 3-pointers made at Florida with 282, went 3 for 7 from long range and scored 14 points.
?It was good to see the ball go in,? Donovan said. ?This is not the first time he has gone through something like this. I?ve always told him when he?s having a tough time shooting, the biggest thing he can do is take good available shots. When he makes a couple, then he can start taking a little more difficult shots, because he?s in that rhythm.?
Florida?s Erik Murphy scored 21 points, had seven rebounds and added four assists while missing only two shots in 29 minutes. He was chosen the game?s MVP.
?Today was really a complete game for him,? Donovan said. ?He scored in a lot of different ways.?
The Falcons matched the second-best start in school history in their first 10 games but hadn?t faced a team of Florida?s caliber. Air Force?s Michael Lyons was held to 11 points, nine below his average, and he shot only 3 for 14.
Three-point shooting kept the Falcons in the game. They went 9 for 20 from beyond the arc against a team ranked third in the nation in scoring defense.
?We knew coming in they were a good shooting team,? Murphy said. ?They shoot 3s from all five spots. They were hitting 3s in the first half, and at halftime, coach said we have to guard the 3-point line better. I think we did a better job of that in the second half.?
In the second half, the Gators scored 45 points and shot 70 percent.
?We were making better reads and better decisions,? Donovan said.
The Falcons forced Florida to be creative on offense early. The Gators? Scottie Wibekin, inbounding under his basket, bounced a pass off a defender?s back, stepped onto the court and caught the ball for a wide-open layup.
Boynton sparked a 12-3 spurt when he made two 3-pointers and fed Casey Prather for a layup, putting Florida ahead 47-37. Boynton hit another 3 for a 59-47 lead.
The Falcons hit three early 3-pointers to go up 10-5, but that turned out to be their biggest lead. Florida surged ahead, gave up eight consecutive points to fall behind 27-25, then went ahead to stay on a basket by Mike Rosario shortly before halftime.
NEW YORK ? The weather made passing at the Pinstripe Bowl perilous, so Syracuse sent Prince-Tyson Gulley and Jerome Smith dashing through West Virginia and the snow.
Gulley ran for a career-best 208 yards and had three touchdowns, Smith added 157 yards, and the Orange bid a blustery farewell to the Big East with a 38-14 victory Saturday.
Syracuse (8-5) will enter the Atlantic Coast Conference on a roll after finishing this season with six wins in its last seven games, capped by its second postseason victory at Yankee Stadium in the last three years.
In a bowl played in a baseball stadium, with weather more suited for a playoff game in Green Bay, the team that plays in a dome ended up being better equipped to handle the elements.
"The football Gods brought snow," said Smith, who carried a season-high 30 times. "The football Gods from Syracuse brought us some snow and it changed even West Virginia's game. They had to run a little bit more than they were used to. We ran the ball a little bit more than we're used to and did what we were supposed to do."
Syracuse finished with a season-high 369 yards on the ground and beat its former Big East rival from West Virginia, now playing in the Big 12, for a third straight time.
"They just did a better job than us at the line of scrimmage," Mountaineers coach Dana Holgorsen said. "To be in a game like this when you've got to rely on your run defense to help you win and you're not able to do it, it's frustrating."
Geno Smith connected with Stedman Bailey for two touchdown passes for West Virginia (7-6), but the Mountaineers' quarterback also was sacked in the end zone in the first half and called for intentional grounding in the end zone in the third quarter to give Syracuse a second safety.
Smith, who was an early Heisman Trophy front-runner as the Mountaineers got off to a 5-0 start this season, was 16 for 26 for 197 yards in the final game of his record-breaking career. The NFL awaits.
Same goes for Ryan Nassib, though Syracuse didn't ask much of its talented senior quarterback. He threw two touchdown passes and an interception. His most impressive feat on this day was surviving being driven into the cold turf by Terence Garvin on a sack in the first half. Nassib missed only one play.
"It's my last game, man, nothing's going to take me out," he said.
Especially against a West Virginia team the Orange felt didn't give them much credit after two straight victories over the Mountaineers.
"It was about us going out there and getting respect," tackle Justin Pugh said. "They didn't give us any respect. We kind of said three strikes you're out. Beat them three straight times, so they really can't say anything now."
Snow fell just about all game, giving most of the field a white dusting. Fans were bundled and players not in the game tried to do the same. It took a while for those potent offenses ? both ranked in the top 25 nationally in yards per game ? to heat up, which seemed appropriate considering the conditions.
"Cold. Cold," said Jerome Smith, a junior from Delaware. "I never got a chance to play in the snow, but it was good."
His running mate from Akron, Ohio, had just a bit more experience playing in wintry weather.
"In pee-wees I played in some (snow) like this but not in high school," said Gulley, who carried 25 times. "It was fun."
A goal-line stand by West Virginia in the second quarter kept Syracuse out of the end zone, but set up the Orange for a scoring run.
Left at the 1, the Mountaineers tried to pass out of their end zone, but Geno Smith was smothered by blitzing linebackers Cameron Lynch and Siriki Diabate to make it 5-0 ? a baseball score, of course.
The Orange followed that up with a 33-yard touchdown run by Gulley to make it 12-0 with 6:07 left in the second.
The Mountaineers responded with their first sustained drive. Bailey took a quick pass, darted and broke tackles, and scooted 32 yards to the end zone to make it 12-7.
The Orange extended the lead to 12 to start the second half when they caught a break ? and a touchdown pass. Nassib's throw was tipped around the goal line, but floated safely into the waiting arms of intended receiver Beckett Wales for a 10-yard score.
West Virginia appeared to answer with a touchdown of its own. Andrew Buie broke free for a 28-yard TD run on fourth-and-2. Not so fast. A holding call on the Mountaineers wiped out the play and sent Holgorsen on to the field screaming at the officials.
It didn't help. Instead of a touchdown, a punt.
Holgorsen had nothing to say about the call and was more disappointed with how his team responded.
"We did a poor job of continuing to play. A poor job of overcoming some things," he said.
Moments later another close call, this time on a fumble by Geno Smith which was reviewed to determine if it was an incomplete pass, went Syracuse's way, and again the Orange capitalized.
On the next play, Gulley broke through the line, bounced to the outside and went 67 yards for a touchdown to make it 26-7 with 6:52 left in the third.
West Virginia wouldn't let Syracuse pull away. Smith found Bailey deep down the sideline, beating one-on-one coverage for a 29-yard score 1:11 later.
Back came the Orange, nine plays, 70 yards, with Gulley taking a swing pass from Nassib 10 yards to make it 33-14.
From there the 60th meeting between these teams, but first in a bowl, was a romp in the snow for Syracuse.
___
Follow Ralph D. Russo at www.Twitter.com/ralphdrussoap
Canada's Ryan Strome celebrates his goal against Team USA during the first period of their preliminary round game during the 2013 IIHF U20 World Junior Hockey Championship in Ufa, December 30, 2012. REUTERS/Mark Blinch
Canada's goalie Malcolm Subban (30) guards the net with teammates Xavier Ouellet (16) and Mark McNeill (24) as Team USA's Sean Kuraly (7) and Riley Barber (16) go for the puck during the second period of their preliminary round game at the 2013 IIHF U20 World Junior Hockey Championship in Ufa, December 30, 2012. REUTERS/Mark Blinch (RUSSIA - Tags: SPORT ICE HOCKEY)
Canada's Ryan Murphy collides with Team USA's Blake Pietila (R) during the first period of their preliminary round game during the 2013 IIHF U20 World Junior Hockey Championship in Ufa, December 30, 2012. REUTERS/Mark Blinch
Canada's players celebrate defeating Team USA during their preliminary round game at the 2013 IIHF U20 World Junior Hockey Championship in Ufa, December 30, 2012. REUTERS/Mark Blinch
Canada's goalie Malcolm Subban celebrates with teammate Phillip Danault (R) after they defeated Team USA in their preliminary round game during the 2013 IIHF U20 World Junior Hockey Championship in Ufa, December 30, 2012. REUTERS/Mark Blinch
Canada's Ryan Nugent-Hopkins celebrates his goal with Xavier Ouellet (16) against Team USA during the first period of their preliminary round game during the 2013 IIHF U20 World Junior Hockey Championship in Ufa, December 30, 2012. REUTERS/Mark Blinch
Canada's goalie Malcolm Subban makes a against Team USA during the third period of their preliminary round game at the 2013 IIHF U20 World Junior Hockey Championship in Ufa, December 30, 2012. REUTERS/Mark Blinch
Canada's goalie Malcolm Subban lays on the ice after making a save as Team USA's Nathan MacKinnon (L) skates by during the first period of their preliminary round game during the 2013 IIHF U20 World Junior Hockey Championship in Ufa, December 30, 2012. REUTERS/Mark Blinch
Canada's players celebrate defeating Team USA during their preliminary round game at the 2013 IIHF U20 World Junior Hockey Championship in Ufa, December 30, 2012. REUTERS/Mark Blinch
Canada's goalie Malcolm Subban falls on the ice in play against Team USA during the third period of their preliminary round game at the 2013 IIHF U20 World Junior Hockey Championship in Ufa, December 30, 2012. REUTERS/Mark Blinch
Canada's Ryan Strome (L) celebrates his goal against Team USA's goalie John Gibson during the first period of their preliminary round game at the 2013 IIHF U20 World Junior Hockey Championship in Ufa, December 30, 2012. REUTERS/Mark Blinch
Canada's goalie Malcolm Subban stretches before his team plays Team USA in their preliminary round game during the 2013 IIHF U20 World Junior Hockey Championship in Ufa, December 30, 2012. REUTERS/Mark Blinch
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UFA, Russia ? Goaltending? Check.
A short bench? No big deal.
Discipline? Not really an issue.
The factors that might have been problems for Canada in its game against the United States at the 2013 World Junior Championship didn?t materialize.
Instead, goalie Malcolm Subban, who had allowed six goals in Canada?s first two games of the tournament, was nearly perfect in a 2-1 victory.
Canada played the game without a pair of suspended forwards. JC Lipon served his one-game suspension, while Boone Jenner?s three-gamer is done as well. Both will be in the lineup when Canada and Russia meet on New Year?s Eve in the final preliminary-round game for both teams. The winner will earn a bye the semifinals on Thursday.
But there was not much off the pace of the Canadian forwards, who didn?t perform like they were one man short.
Captain Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Ryan Strome scored for Canada.
With Strome in the penalty box, Jacob Trouba scored for the U.S. in the third period on a power play.
Nugent-Hopkins, who leads the tournament with eight points, scored on a wrist shot in the first period after Mark Scheifele won a faceoff in the U.S. end. Canada gained control and Jonathan Huberdeau made a pass off the side boards to Nugent-Hopkins, whose wrist shot cleanly beat American goalie John Gibson to the stick side.
Strome made it 2-0 at 14:44 when he flipped a pass from Niagara IceDogs linemate Brett Ritchie behind Gibson. U.S. defenceman Seth Jones, a potential No. 1 pick in the 2013 NHL entry draft, had no idea Strome was in front of the net when Ritchie made the pass.
Subban?s biggest save came on a breakaway by U.S. forward John Gaudreau in the first period with Canada up 1-0. Gaudreau deked to his backhand and tried to slip the puck between Subban?s legs, but the netminder simultaneously slid across the crease and closed the five hole.
But Subban was sharp throughout the game. He settled into a groove with a pair of tough stops on Vince Trocheck in the first few minutes, demonstrating to fans at the rink and across Canada that he was capable of taking his game to a higher level.
In the second period, Subban stopped a close-range chance by J.T. Miller and then saved an Alex Galchenyuk shot from the slot.
And there was Subban lunging across the crease to deny Ryan Hartman not long after Trouba scored to preserve the one-goal lead.
Canada had to kill off its share of penalties ? Mark McNeill and Phillip Danault were excellent ? but nothing came close to being a suspension. The pair was instrumental in killing off a four-minute minor to Griffin Reinhart in the second period.
Nugent-Hopkins was sent off for boarding with just under two minutes to play, but the U.S. could not score. Subban stopped Galchenyuk, among other saves.
Subban and Gibson were named the MVPs of the game for their respective teams.
NEW YORK (AP) ? The NHL is set to get back to the bargaining table with the locked-out players' association after a new contract offer from the league broke the ice between the sides.
Those talks are scheduled to take place Sunday in New York, nearly one month after negotiations broke down and pushed the sides further apart.
Without fanfare, the NHL said Friday that it made a new proposal to the union on Thursday in an effort to end the lockout and save the delayed hockey season.
The players' association was still reviewing the document, which was several hundred pages in length, on Friday night and planned to speak to the NHL by telephone on Saturday, and then get together with the league on Sunday.
The sides haven't met since a second round of talks with a federal mediator ended on Dec. 13. They haven't had formal negotiations alone since the first week of the month.
Time is running out to come to an agreement and then play a season of at least 48 games ? a number the NHL set as a minimum. The league would like to reach a deal by Jan. 11, start training camp the following day, and open the season by Jan. 19.
"We delivered to the union a new, comprehensive proposal for a successor CBA," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said in a statement Friday. "We are not prepared to discuss the details of our proposal at this time. We are hopeful that once the union's staff and negotiating committee have had an opportunity to thoroughly review and consider our new proposal, they will share it with the players. We want to be back on the ice as soon as possible."
The players' association's executive board and negotiating committee went over the proposal during an internal conference call on Friday, the 104th day of the lockout.
A person familiar with key points of the offer told The Associated Press that the league proposed raising the limit of individual free-agent contracts to six years from five ? seven years if a team re-signs its own player; raising the salary variance from one year to another to 10 percent, up from 5 percent; and one compliance buyout for the 2013-14 season that wouldn't count toward a team's salary cap but would be included in the overall players' share of income.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity because details of the new offer were not being discussed publicly.
The NHL maintained the deferred payment amount of $300 million it offered in its previous proposal, an increase from an earlier offer of $211 million. The initial $300 million offer was pulled off the table after negotiations broke off earlier this month.
The latest proposal is for 10 years, running through the 2021-22 season, with both sides having the right to opt out after eight years.
The lockout has reached a critical stage, threatening to shut down a season for the second time in eight years. All games through Jan. 14, plus the Winter Classic and the All-Star game already have been called off. The next round of cuts could claim the entire schedule.
The NHL is the only North American professional sports league to cancel a season because of a labor dispute, losing the 2004-05 campaign to a lockout. A 48-game season was played in 1995 after a lockout stretched into January.
It is still possible this dispute could eventually be settled in the courts if the sides can't reach a deal on their own.
The NHL filed a class-action suit this month in U.S. District Court in New York in an effort to show its lockout is legal. In a separate move, the league filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board, contending bad-faith bargaining by the union.
Those moves were made because the players' association took steps toward potentially filing a "disclaimer of interest," which would dissolve the union and make it a trade association. That would allow players to file antitrust lawsuits against the NHL.
Union members voted overwhelmingly to give their board the power to file the disclaimer by Jan. 2. If that deadline passes, another authorization vote could be held to approve a later filing.
Negotiations between the NHL and the union have been at a standstill since talks ended Dec. 6. One week later, the sides convened again with federal mediators in New Jersey, but still couldn't make progress.
The sides have been unable to reach agreement on the length of the new deal, the length of individual player contracts, and the variance in salary from year to year. The NHL is looking for an even split of revenues with players.
The NHL pulled all previous offers off the table after the union didn't agree to terms on its last proposal without negotiation.
SKOPJE (Reuters) - Several thousand people rallied in front of the headquarters of Macedonia's rightist ruling party on Saturday demanding the immediate resignation of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski and early elections.
The rally was the culmination of days of smaller countrywide protests provoked by an incident last week when the opposition was ejected from the parliament after a disagreement and a brawl over the size of next year's budget.
"We have already decided, we will go to the end, until we finally win and bring democracy back to this country" Branko Crvenkovski, the head of the opposition Social Democrats, told the cheering crowd.
Last week the government proposed a 148-billion-denari ($3.2 billion) budget for 2013 last month, forecasting a deficit of 3.5 percent of gross domestic product. It put growth next year at 2 percent of GDP.
But the left-wing opposition condemned the budget proposal as profligate at a time of austerity and demanded a cut equivalent to about $260 million. The government refused and the opposition then submitted about a thousand amendments to the draft before tensions flared on Monday.
The government pushed the budget vote with just over half of deputies present, prompting the opposition to initiate a campaign of civil disobedience.
At the rally, Crvenkovski said his party's backers will maintain protests until the government steps down, paving the way for early elections organized by an independent body.
Parliamentary elections in Macedonia are tentatively slated for 2015.
Macedonia, a former Yugoslav republic, wants to join the European Union and NATO but it still faces opposition from neighboring Greece which says that its name is a territorial appropriation of the name of a northern Greek province.
The country is also facing tensions between its Macedonian Slav majority and ethnic Albanian minority.
(Writing by Aleksandar Vasovic; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
HOUSTON (AP) ? Former President George H.W. Bush remains in intensive care in a Houston hospital recovering from a fever that arose after a long battle with bronchitis.
Family spokesman Jim McGrath said Saturday he would release a statement if there was anything to report, but wasn't sure there would be.
McGrath said Friday that the 88-year-old Bush's condition continued to improve since moving into intensive care at Methodist Hospital on Sunday. Later Friday, McGrath said that updates on the president would come on an "as-warranted" basis.
Bush was hospitalized Nov. 23 for treatment of a bronchitis-related cough.
Bush, the 41st president, is the country's oldest living former president by a few months.
Android: If you have a new Samsung Galaxy Note II (like I do) you probably enjoy Smart Rotation, a feature that rotates your display based on where the front-facing camera detects your face instead of using the accelerometer. Now any Android user can have this option with GMD Smart Rotate.
The app can also keep your screen from turning off while you're looking at the display, force rotations on applications you normally cannot, and in the pro version you can specify which apps should and should not rotate.
It is that last feature that is causing me to consider paying the modest $1.99 for the pro unlock key even though the other features already exist in my Galaxy Note II. Non-Galaxy owners should definitely consider the app.
GMD Smart Rotate | Google Play Store via Addictive Tips
In a rare and now controversial investigation, scientists have been asked by Connecticut's medical examiner?to study Sandy Hook shooter Adam Lanza's DNA?? but the DNA community doesn't think that's such a good idea. Though details on the research are scant, University of Connecticut geneticists will apparently be looking for?biological clues that might explain Lanza's extreme violent behavior.?The New York Times's Gina Kolata reports that this undertaking is thought to be the first time scientists have studied the genome of a mass killer. ...
OK, I?ve done it. And quite frankly, I always feel guilty about regifting.
It?s not that I don?t appreciate the present. But sometimes you get something that you really don?t like or can?t use, and there?s no way to take it back to the store. You don?t want to offend the person who gave it to you and you don?t want to throw it away. So you pass it along to someone else who might appreciate it more.
Is this a resourceful way of dealing with an unwanted gift? Or is this rude and distasteful behavior?
The Wall Street Journal recently reported that regifting, ?once a social taboo, is gradually gaining in acceptance.? The Journal points to a nationwide consumer spending survey done by American Express last year. More than half the respondents (58 percent) said it was OK to regift sometimes and 79 percent believed regifting during the holidays is acceptable. Of the 2,000 people questioned, nearly a quarter admitted to regifting at least one present the previous holiday season.
But there?s more. A new paper, ?The Gift We Keep on Giving,? published by Psychological Science,?concludes that regifting is not as offensive to the original givers as regifters assume.
Researchers from Stanford, Harvard and the London Business School conducted five studies that examined both hypothetical scenarios and actual regifting among friends.
They found that gift recipients believed regifting was as bad as throwing the present in the garbage. Gift givers, on the other hand, were significantly more offended by trashing their presents. They?d be much happier if that gift were given to someone else.
What causes this split perception? ?
It appears to be linked to different views about entitlement. The authors concluded: ?Givers believed that the act of gift giving passed title to the gift on to receivers, so that receivers were free to decide what to do with the gift; in contrast, receivers believed that givers retained some say in how their gifts were used.?
I?ve been meaning to write this article for a while now because I think it?s the sort of subject little discussed in mainstream journalism. Essentially, most investment journalism focuses on buying or selling this stock or other with a forthright opinion expressed either way. I understand why this formula works (not least because readers want this), but there is usually very little discourse over how or where the stock should fit in your portfolio. In addition, there is never any discussion of the investment approach of the author, how it might affect a decision over a stock or even the positioning of that stock within a portfolio.
In terms of portfolio construction, I have discussed the matter in an article linked here.?In this piece I want to focus on how different investors might view stocks differently.
Same Stock, Different View
It's important for investors to understand that there is no absolute truth to investing. The key thing is to find a strategy or tactic that works for you and then implement it in a way that works for you. Then try to make sure that it works across market cycles and conditions. For the record, with me, this has always meant a diversified stock picking, growth at reasonable price (GARP) based approach. I tend to buy quality stocks that I think are 15-20% undervalued and in a position in the economy that I think has upside potential.
I?m not saying it is a perfect strategy, but I am saying it works for me. I?m also pointing out that sometimes I might look at a stock from this perspective and reject it because it doesn?t fit the model (Cue howls of derision and contempt in the comments section when a writer dares to mention that he doesn?t fancy a stock for his portfolio). The point is, it might not work for me but other investors who follow, say, a value or special situations based approach, might love the stock.
You have to do what works for you.
Some Examples
I want to give some brief examples of what I mean here.
I?ve written about Cisco Systems(NASDAQ: CSCO) and Intel(NASDAQ: INTC) quite a bit and I think neither stock fits the bill for a GARP based investor. I last covered Cisco here and Intel here. They share similar characteristics. Both are seeing growth slowing but present good long term value. Intel offers a very high dividend, and Cisco is turning itself into a value play by returning cash to shareholders. What both are not is companies that have much upside surprise (in my opinion) over the next six to twelve months. The semiconductor industry continues to downgrade expectations and the telcos remain reluctant to spend. Growth orientated investors like me don?t tend to buy such things, but that doesn?t mean that value players won?t make money from them!
Another example is Autodesk(NASDAQ: ADSK), which I covered in an article linked here. This is a company facing very difficult market conditions and a lot of near term risk combined with the execution risk inherent in its shift towards software as a service based sales.? Again this is not the sort of stock that a GARP based investor would buy, but why should that matter to a special situations investor? ?The latter tend to buy a lot of these sorts of stocks and hit a few huge home runs with them while missing with a lot of stocks elsewhere. Just because it doesn?t suit my portfolio profile, it doesn?t mean that it might not fit yours.
The last two examples are of stocks that I like but appreciate won?t fit other styles of investing are Allergan(NYSE: AGN) and Wabtec(NYSE: WAB). I hold both and wrote about them here and here. Now, I can understand why value investors won?t fancy Allergan on nearly 27x current earnings or Wabtec on 17x earnings.? However, both have relatively secure mid and long term growth prospects. Allergan has the opportunity to get Botox indications expanded, and its eye care division is well placed for stable growth amidst favorable demographic changes.
As for Wabtec , it has near term catalysts from positive train control (PTC) revenues and shale gas rail, while longer term there are geographical opportunities for expansion, and rail is seen as an energy efficient and cost effective way to transport goods.
Both stocks convert earnings into cash flow well, and despite the high rating, a GARP investor will be attracted to them while a value investor will simply balk at the evaluation.
The Bottom Line
In conclusion, there is no right or wrong way to invest. The only wrong way is to not stay true to your principles, and the only right way is to try to keep those principles flexible. In the end, the aim is to generate favorable risk adjusted returns over the long term.
Sometimes writers don?t articulate why they favor certain stocks over others. They are afforded that regrettable luxury* because many of them don?t own anything they write about, so getting it wrong or right doesn?t really matter. For private investors, this luxury doesn?t exist, so the next time you read a stock write-up try to consider how the stock fits into your style of investing or your portfolio.
*For the record I do try to self impose a discipline of monthly write-ups and I do invest in stocks I write about
Dec. 27, 2012 ? Garen Wintemute, a leading authority on gun violence prevention and an emergency medicine physician at UC Davis, believes broader criteria for background checks and denials on gun purchases can help prevent future firearm violence, including mass shooting catastrophes such as those that occurred at Sandy Hook, Aurora, Virginia Tech and Columbine.
"To reduce the number of deaths and injuries from firearms in the United States, we need to develop policies that require background checks for all firearm purchases, including private-party sales -- the most important source of firearms for criminal buyers and others who are prohibited from purchasing guns," said Wintemute, director of the UC Davis Violence Prevention Research Program and inaugural Susan P. Baker-Stephen P. Teret Chair in Violence Prevention at UC Davis.
"We need to prevent individuals with a previous conviction for a misdemeanor violent crime, such as assault and battery, from purchasing or possessing a firearm. We also need to develop better data and criteria that allow us to distinguish between those with a treatable mental disorder who do not have a history of violence from those with a history of violence or substance abuse," he said.
Wintemute's views posted on the Online First section of the New England Journal of Medicine website as a Perspective article, entitled "Tragedy's Legacy," on December 26, 2012. It also will appear in the journal's January 31, 2013 print edition.
According to Wintemute, the United States represents only 5 percent of the world's population, but it owns more than 40 percent of all firearms that are in civilians' hands. In addition, he believes that policies governing gun purchases and use have allowed the widest possible array of firearms to be available to the widest group of people, for use under the widest array of conditions. Wintemute specifically cites the "Stand Your Ground" laws, enacted at the state level, as dangerous experiments that have been used to legitimize shootings that once were considered to be murder.
Wintemute emphasizes taking a broad approach.
"It may be impossible to predict the next mass shooting incident, and we cannot expect interventions designed for specific circumstances to eliminate the risk of firearm violence. But we can change our firearms laws, based on existing evidence, to reduce harm and better ensure public safety," he said.
"Some 40 percent of all firearm transactions, for example, involve private-party sellers, who are not required to keep records and cannot obtain a background check," Wintemute said. "We need policies that prevent these quick, anonymous and undocumented sales. We also need policies that deny gun purchases to those who we know are at high risk for violence."
Wintemute's research has shown that among persons who purchase firearms legally, those with a previous conviction for a misdemeanor violent crime are roughly nine times as likely as those with no criminal history to be arrested for a violent crime later. For those with two or more such prior convictions, he found the risk increases by a factor of 10 to 15. In addition, studies have shown that firearm owners who abuse alcohol are more likely than other owners to engage in violence-related firearm behavior.
"We know that comprehensive background checks and expanded denial criteria are feasible and effective, because they are in place in many states and have been evaluated," Wintemute said. "In California, the denial policy reduced the risk of violence and firearm-related crime by 23 percent among those whose purchases were denied. But we need to broaden these and other effective state-level regulations to eliminate the flow of firearms from states where laws are lax to states where laws are stricter."
Wintemute also notes that proposals for comprehensive background checks and denials for misdemeanor violence and for alcohol abuse enjoy broad public support, including among firearm owners. Survey data come from Wintemute's own research as well as a series of public polls conducted for the Mayors Against Illegal Guns.
"While the individual circumstances of the mass shooting massacres in the U.S. are different, we can only change the outcome if we confront the challenge of unchecked and easy access to firearms," Wintemute said. "Strengthening our background check and denial policies for firearm purchases will not eliminate firearm violence, but they can reduce it."
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Story Source:
The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of California - Davis Health System.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
Garen J. Wintemute. Tragedy's Legacy. New England Journal of Medicine, 2012; : 121226140059003 DOI: 10.1056/NEJMp1215491
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.
(Reuters) - Starbucks Corp will use its ubiquitous coffee cups to tell U.S. lawmakers to come up with a deal to avoid going over the "fiscal cliff" and triggering automatic tax hikes and spending cuts.
Chief Executive Howard Schultz is urging workers in Starbucks' roughly 120 Washington-area shops to write "come together" on customers' cups on Thursday and Friday, as U.S. President Barack Obama and lawmakers return to work and attempt to revive fiscal cliff negotiations that collapsed before the Christmas holiday.
Starbucks' cup campaign aims to send a message to sharply divided politicians and serve as a rallying cry for the public in the days leading up to lawmakers' January 1 deadline to deliver a plan to avert harsh across-the-board government spending reductions and tax increases that could send the United States back into recession.
"We're paying attention, we're greatly disappointed in what's going on and we deserve better," Schultz told Reuters in a telephone interview.
The CEO said he has joined a growing list of high-powered business leaders, politicians and financial experts in endorsing the Campaign to Fix the Debt, (www.fixthedebt.org) a well-funded nonpartisan group that is leaning on lawmakers to put the United States' financial house in order.
Starbucks plans to amplify its "come together" message via new and old media, including Twitter and Facebook posts, coverage on AOL's local news websites and advertisements in The Washington Post and The New York Times.
"If (talks) do not progress, we will make this much bigger," Schultz said of the messaging campaign.
Schultz is no stranger to using the world's biggest coffee chain as a platform to advocate for more political cooperation in Washington.
During the debt ceiling debate in August 2011, he made a splash by calling for a boycott of political contributions to U.S. lawmakers until they struck a fair and bipartisan deal on the country's debt, revenue and spending.
"We are facing such dysfunction, irresponsibility and lack of leadership" less than two years after the debt ceiling crisis, Schultz said.
Washington narrowly avoided a U.S. government default, but not before down-to-the-wire wrangling prompted the country's first-ever debt rating downgrade.
"There is something so wrong that we can be here again and not have the ability to put party aside for the betterment of the country," said Schultz. "We have the same language and rhetoric. Unfortunately we aren't learning much."
(Reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; Editing by Martin Howell and Jeffrey Benkoe)
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#1 ? jachtarfranko?
Group:Normal Members
Posts:1
Joined:23-December 12
Posted Today, 09:23 AM
- sorry for my bad english.. - i use renoise with VST plugin: Prominy V-metal http://www.prominy.com/V_METAL.htm (electronic guitar) - i need send midi CC number to switch guitar chords and i dont know how.. - i read renoise user guide and i found "MIDI-Control Device", but still i dont know how write specific number with this feature.. - for example i need switch power chord to sus4 and i must send 48 CC number, and i dont know how write this.
thanks a lot!
0
#2 ? KMaki?
Group:Normal Members
Posts:454
Joined:04-February 11
Gender:Male
Location:Tampere, Finland
Interests:Survival (e.g. breathing). Small scale renoise-tool-coding. The Melvins. Absurdity of it all. Zen / Not-zen. Wifey&Kids.
Posted Today, 04:43 PM
Seeing you got no replys so far, I'll try to help. I'm not sure about these however, but maybe it'll work. />
<SPECULATION>
The way I'd go about trying this would be to 1) insert an instrument midi control into a track 2) select your instrument in the "Linked instrument" selection box in Instr.MIDI Control top part. 3) assign one of the "Untitled" controls into midi cc 48: .. 3a ) in the first selection box that says "Off", select 48 .. 3b ) if for some reason the second selection box says something else than "CC", select CC.
If my calculations are correct, you now have a slider to send midi CC 48. Now I THINK it operates so that to send the CC you write value 127 into the pattern for this current slider. And you would do that by navigating to the spot you want to write the cc send and right-click the slider value 127.
</SPECULATION>
This post has been edited by KMaki: Today, 04:45 PM
Renoise (2.6->) 2.8 / Mac mini 2010 - 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo - 4 Gb 1067 MHz DDR3 / OS X 10.8 / M-Audio Fast Track USB
File - In this August, 12, 2012 file photo provided by the University of California, Davis, a Bunggal family member plays with Kabang the dog in the Philippines. A veterinarian at the University of California, Davis, has some good news about a dog from the Philippines who became an international hero after sacrificing its snout to save two young girls. Veterinarian Gina Davis says the dog named Kabang appears to have beaten the cancer it was suffering from. (AP Photo/UC Davis, Anton Lim, File)
File - In this August, 12, 2012 file photo provided by the University of California, Davis, a Bunggal family member plays with Kabang the dog in the Philippines. A veterinarian at the University of California, Davis, has some good news about a dog from the Philippines who became an international hero after sacrificing its snout to save two young girls. Veterinarian Gina Davis says the dog named Kabang appears to have beaten the cancer it was suffering from. (AP Photo/UC Davis, Anton Lim, File)
DAVIS, Calif. (AP) ? A veterinarian at the University of California, Davis, has some good news about a dog from the Philippines who became an international hero after sacrificing her snout to save two young girls.
After completing six weekly intravenous chemotherapy infusions, Kabang appears to have beaten the cancer she was suffering from, Gina Davis, the primary care veterinarian at the William R. Pritchard Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital in Davis, told the San Francisco Chronicle (http://bit.ly/Ti87pl).
The dog, however, is still facing treatment for heartworms in her arteries before she can have the gaping wound on her face closed. Full treatment of that condition was put on hold during cancer therapy.
Kabang ? a female mongrel ? had the first of three arsenic-based heartworm shots on Dec. 4 and is expected to receive the other two in the second week of January, Davis said.
"It will be one to two months for her to recover from that before she goes in and has the surgery," Davis said.
Kabang had her snout and upper jaw sheared off when she jumped in front of a speeding motorcycle, saving her owner's daughter and niece from serious injury or death, according to newspaper reports in the Philippines.
The dog ended up in Davis earlier this year after a nurse from Buffalo, N.Y., spearheaded a fundraising campaign to bring her to the U.S. Veterinarians in the Philippines were apparently unable to treat her injuries.
Surgeons are planning to perform two or three procedures. The first will involve dental work, extractions and covering exposed roots.
They will then try to close the dog's wound and restore nasal functions. The dog's bony structures are currently exposed to air, increasing the chance of infection, Davis said.
Kabang may return to the Philippines in May or June. The bill for her treatment is expected to top $10,000.
Davis said despite Kabang's many conditions, the dog appears to be in good spirits.
"She has come through everything very well," Davis said. "Her appetite is still good. She's still bright and happy."
May everyone have a wonderful day filled love, light and laughter surrounded by loved ones (and if you don't celebrate Christmas, I still hope that today brings you that).?
I figured in the spirit of today, that in my reflections that today would talk about the relationships in my life and how they changed over 2012. The most special relationship is being saved for a different day.
Today is about my friends and family.
When I think about my friends and family, there is only one word that comes to mind and that is blessed.
This year has been about growth in the relationships in my life.
It has also been a point of strain for me, and one of the biggest struggles this year. ?When Joel and I started dating it brought a lot of opinions, a lot of strain, a lot of stress, a lot of judgment and a lot of just people mess.
It made me question a lot, but it also showed me a lot about the people in my life.?Friendships ended, new friends entered my life and other relationships went through the ringer.?My family shined through for me, and this year has been such an amazing growth in that category for me.
I decided this spring that I would pack up my life for the summer and move home to get away from the city and have fun with my friends. I quickly realized that home was where I was meant to be and made a strong decision to end one chapter of my life and return home.
My parents opened their home to me again and I moved back. This has been nothing short of amazing for me. To be an active member of my family again, to spend time with relatives I'm close with regularly, to know what's going on, and to be a part of a unit again is so heartwarming.
I am so truly blessed and endlessly grateful for the opportunity to move home again. A huge amount of that gratitude belongs to my amazing parents. Not only are they the most incredible and supportive parents, they're also my friends whom I genuinely enjoy spending my time with.
I have learned how to be a friend ?in a different way this year. I moved away from one best friend, who has become a distanced friendship for the first time ever. It's a challenge but also something we push through - when we are together time hasn't passed. The other friendship was a source of the strain and stress this summer, but also the friendship that was a part of a life transforming trip to Europe and the reason I met the man of my dreams. We're working on rebuilding what was lost... and if that's not growth I don't know what is.
When it comes to relationships in life, I can only think that it's what life is about. What is life if it is not shared? I think about this year and have a warm heart and am endlessly grateful for the amazing multitude of people that are in my life, family, old friends and new.
I am excited to continue to rebuild my roots back home, with all of the amazing relationships I have here in the year to come.?
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| Read "Patrons at Hotel Maya in Long Beach party like it's the 'end of the world'"
If you're reading this, then the world didn't end Friday.
But that didn't keep people from getting anxious -- some even joyously excited -- about the thought of it being their last night.
"I freaked out about the end of the world for a long time," said Los Angeles resident Jason Spence. "When midnight came, I was like OK, cool.
"There aren't explosions in the street. No meteors coming down. God's not up in the clouds telling us all to behave. So I feel pretty good."
Spence felt so good about the day that he drove all over sunny Los Angeles County to take photos, ending with shots of the sunset from the slope of Mount Hollywood just outside of the Griffith Observatory, which hosted a "NOT the End of the World" event Friday.
Festivities included winter solstice lectures and late night shows in the Samuel Oschin Planetarium. The observatory even stayed open until 12:01 a.m. to prove that life will still go on.
In other areas of Los Angeles, everything from house parties to raves and even a "giant marshmallow roast" in downtown were planned to ring in the end of the 13th baktun cycle of the ancient Mayan Long Count Calendar.
"Scientists can predict things like whether or not there's an actual threat of an asteroid crashing into our planet," said Laura Danly, the Griffith Observatory curator and astronomer.
"We observe over half a million asteroids and know their orbits in great precision. They're not going to hurt us any time soon. Science can make predictions about what poses us danger and what does not, and there is no danger for tonight or anytime soon by an asteroid, solar storms or planetary collisions."
The celebration of the failed prediction, however, did not put an end to the doomsayers who are now touting future apocalyptic events -- one as near as Sunday, according to an archaeologist with Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History.
"It's interesting why people are so fascinated by the end-of-the-world dates," Danly said. "It must be part of human nature to look for some sort of big transition like that, but there is no scientific backing for things like that."
Ramona Martinez of Riverside said she and her friends stayed up late Thursday texting each other about the end of the world. When midnight hit and no Earth-shattering event happened, Martinez said they just shrugged off all the hype.
"We were just very 'whatever' about it," Martinez said.
Still, while many were scoffing at what they deemed a non-event, Karim Satta of Los Feliz believed there was plenty to celebrate. Satta is referring to the end of the 26,000-year cycle that marks when the Earth's axis completes a full cycle of precession, which he believes will bring refreshing energy to the universe.
"People keep saying nothing happened, but something even more exciting happened today," Satta said. "We're still here and we're entering an age of enlightenment. It's the new Golden Age."
(c)2012 the Daily News (Los Angeles)
Visit the Daily News (Los Angeles) at www.dailynews.com
Hafeez unfazed by Dhoni?s captaincy experience ahead of Indo-Pak series ? Cricket News Update
Pakistan skipper Mohammad Hafeez on Sunday admitted that his Indian counterpart Mahendra Singh Dhoni is far more experienced when it comes to tactics and planning. However, he is not wary of the Ranchi wicketkeeper batsman and said
that going into the just to begin series against India, his aim as captain would be to motivate his players and not to crumple under pressure.
?Dhoni is far more experienced captain than me and Misbah-ul-Haq,? said Hafeez, the T20 skipper of Pakistan, while speaking to media reporters after a long practice session on Sunday.
?But having said that every captain has to face challenges. My aim will be to see that my side plays without any pressure and express themselves as much they can,? added the experienced all-rounder.
The much-anticipated bilateral series between the archrivals India and Pakistan gets underway at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore on Tuesday, December 25, 2012, with the two sides clashing in the first of the two T20 Internationals.
Besides the two T20I fixtures, the Asian cricketing giants are also scheduled to play three One Day Internationals, in what will be the first bilateral series between the two countries in more than five years. The three ODIs will be hosted by Chennai (December
30), Kolkata (January 3) and Mumbai (January 6).
Hafeez, a veteran of 107 One Day Internationals and 40 T20Is, said that his team was in India to play good cricket, adding that winning and losing does not matter a lot to them.
"We have come here to play good cricket and enjoy our game," insisted the experienced all-rounder.
This was Pakistan?s turn to host a bilateral series between the two sub-continental cricketing nations, but India refused to tour the troubled country citing security concerns, and did not agree to play even on a neutral venue.
The 32-year-old Sargodha all-rounder, who was given the reins of the national T20 side, rued the fact that international teams are not willing to tour Pakistan. However, he hoped that international cricket will return ?to Pakistan soon. He further said that
he was proud of his team?s impressive show away from home over the last three year.
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