Sky survey captures key details of cosmic explosions

Public release date: 16-Oct-2013
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Contact: Brian Bell
bpbell@caltech.edu
626-395-5832
California Institute of Technology

Caltech astronomers report on unique results from the intermediate Palomar Transient Factory

Developed to help scientists learn more about the complex nature of celestial objects in the universe, astronomical surveys have been cataloguing the night sky since the beginning of the 20th century. The intermediate Palomar Transient Factory (iPTF)led by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech)started searching the skies for certain types of stars and related phenomena in February. Since its inception, iPTF has been extremely successful in the early discovery and rapid follow-up studies of transientsastronomical objects whose brightness changes over timescales ranging from hours to daysand two recent papers by iPTF astronomers describe first-time detections: one, the progenitor of a rare type of supernova in a nearby galaxy; the other, the afterglow of a gamma-ray burst in July.

The iPTF builds on the legacy of the Caltech-led Palomar Transient Factory (PTF), designed in 2008 to systematically chart the transient sky by using a robotic observing system mounted on the 48-inch Samuel Oschin Telescope on Palomar Mountain near San Diego, California. This state-of-the-art, robotic telescope scans the sky rapidly over a thousand square degrees each night to search for transients.

Supernovaemassive exploding stars at the end of their life spanmake up one important type of transient. Since PTF's commissioning four years ago, its scorecard stands at over 2,000 spectroscopically classified supernovae. The unique feature of iPTF is brand-new technology that is geared toward fully automated, rapid response and follow-up within hours of discovery of a new supernova.

The first paper, "Discovery, Progenitor and Early Evolution of a Stripped Envelope Supernova iPTF13bvn," appears in the September 20 issue of Astrophysical Journal Letters and describes the detection of a so-called Type Ib supernova. Type Ib supernovae are rare explosions where the progenitor star lacks an outer layer of hydrogen, the most abundant element in the universe, hence the "stripped envelope" moniker. It has proven difficult to pin down which kinds of stars give rise to Type Ib supernovae. One of the most promising ideas, says graduate student and lead author Yi Cao, is that they originate from Wolf-Rayet stars. These objects are 10 times more massive and thousands of times brighter than the sun and have lost their hydrogen envelope by means of very strong stellar winds. Until recently, no solid evidence existed to support this theory. Cao and colleagues believe that a young supernova that they discovered, iPTF13bvn, occurred at a location formerly occupied by a likely Wolf-Rayet star.

Supernova iPTF13bvn was spotted on June 16, less than a day after the onset of its explosion. With the aid of the adaptive optics system used by the 10-meter Keck telescopes in Hawaiiwhich reduces the blurring effects of Earth's atmospherethe team obtained a high-resolution image of this supernova to determine its precise position. Then they compared the Keck image to a series of pictures of the same galaxy (NGC 5806) taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2005, and found one starlike source spatially coincident to the supernova. Its intrinsic brightness, color, and sizeas well as its mass-loss history, inferred from supernova radio emissionswere characteristic of a Wolf-Rayet star.

"All evidence is consistent with the theoretical expectation that the progenitor of this Type Ib supernova is a Wolf-Rayet star," says Cao. "Our next step is to check for the disappearance of this progenitor star after the supernova fades away. We expect that it will have been destroyed in the supernova explosion."

Though Wolf-Rayet progenitors have long been predicted for Type Ib supernova, the new work represents the first time researchers have been able to fill the gap between theory and observation, according to study coauthor and Caltech alumna Mansi Kasliwal (PhD '11). "This is a big step in our understanding of the evolution of massive stars and their relation to supernovae," she says.

The second paper, "Discovery and Redshift of an Optical Afterglow in 71 degrees squared: iPTF13bxl and GRB 130702A," appears in the October 20 issue of Astrophysical Journal Letters. Lead author Leo Singer, a Caltech grad student, describes finding and characterizing the afterglow of a long gamma-ray burst (GRB) as being similar to digging a needle out of a haystack.

Long GRBs, which are the brightest known electromagnetic events in the universe, are also connected with the deaths of rapidly spinning, massive stars. Although such GRBs initially are detected by their high-energy radiationGRB 130702A, for example, was first located by NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescopean X-ray or visible-light afterglow must also be found to narrow down a GRB's position enough so that its location can be pinpointed to one particular galaxy and to determine if it is associated with a supernova.

After Fermi's initial detection of GRB 130702A, iPTF was able to narrow down the GRB's location by scanning an area of the sky over 360 times larger than the face of the moon and sifting through hundreds of images using sophisticated machine-learning software; it also revealed the visible-light counterpart of the burst, designated iPTF13bxl. This is the first time that a GRB's position has been determined precisely using optical telescopes alone.

After making the initial correlation between the GRB and the afterglow, Singer and colleagues corroborated their results and gained additional information using a host of other instruments, including optical, X-ray, and radio telescopes. In addition, ground-based telescopes around the world monitored the afterglow for days as it faded away, and recorded the emergence of a supernova five days later.

According to Singer, GRB130702A / iPTF13bxl turned out to be special in many ways.

"First, by measuring its redshift, we learned that it was pretty nearby as far as GRBs go," he says. "It was pretty wimpy compared to most GRBs, liberating only about a thousandth as much energy as the most energetic ones. But we did see it eventually turn into a supernova. Typically we only detect supernovae in connection with nearby, subluminous GRBs, so we can't be certain that cosmologically distant GRBs are caused by the same kinds of explosions."

"The first results from iPTF bode well for the discovery of many more supernovae in their infancy and many more afterglows from the Fermi satellite", says Shrinivas Kulkarni, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Professor of Astronomy and Planetary Science at Caltech and principal investigator for both the PTF and iPTF.

###

The iPTF project is a scientific collaboration between Caltech; Los Alamos National Laboratory; the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee; the Oskar Klein Centre in Sweden; the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel; the TANGO Program of the University System of Taiwan; and the Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe in Japan.

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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.

Public release date: 16-Oct-2013
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Contact: Brian Bell
bpbell@caltech.edu
626-395-5832
California Institute of Technology

Caltech astronomers report on unique results from the intermediate Palomar Transient Factory

Developed to help scientists learn more about the complex nature of celestial objects in the universe, astronomical surveys have been cataloguing the night sky since the beginning of the 20th century. The intermediate Palomar Transient Factory (iPTF)led by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech)started searching the skies for certain types of stars and related phenomena in February. Since its inception, iPTF has been extremely successful in the early discovery and rapid follow-up studies of transientsastronomical objects whose brightness changes over timescales ranging from hours to daysand two recent papers by iPTF astronomers describe first-time detections: one, the progenitor of a rare type of supernova in a nearby galaxy; the other, the afterglow of a gamma-ray burst in July.

The iPTF builds on the legacy of the Caltech-led Palomar Transient Factory (PTF), designed in 2008 to systematically chart the transient sky by using a robotic observing system mounted on the 48-inch Samuel Oschin Telescope on Palomar Mountain near San Diego, California. This state-of-the-art, robotic telescope scans the sky rapidly over a thousand square degrees each night to search for transients.

Supernovaemassive exploding stars at the end of their life spanmake up one important type of transient. Since PTF's commissioning four years ago, its scorecard stands at over 2,000 spectroscopically classified supernovae. The unique feature of iPTF is brand-new technology that is geared toward fully automated, rapid response and follow-up within hours of discovery of a new supernova.

The first paper, "Discovery, Progenitor and Early Evolution of a Stripped Envelope Supernova iPTF13bvn," appears in the September 20 issue of Astrophysical Journal Letters and describes the detection of a so-called Type Ib supernova. Type Ib supernovae are rare explosions where the progenitor star lacks an outer layer of hydrogen, the most abundant element in the universe, hence the "stripped envelope" moniker. It has proven difficult to pin down which kinds of stars give rise to Type Ib supernovae. One of the most promising ideas, says graduate student and lead author Yi Cao, is that they originate from Wolf-Rayet stars. These objects are 10 times more massive and thousands of times brighter than the sun and have lost their hydrogen envelope by means of very strong stellar winds. Until recently, no solid evidence existed to support this theory. Cao and colleagues believe that a young supernova that they discovered, iPTF13bvn, occurred at a location formerly occupied by a likely Wolf-Rayet star.

Supernova iPTF13bvn was spotted on June 16, less than a day after the onset of its explosion. With the aid of the adaptive optics system used by the 10-meter Keck telescopes in Hawaiiwhich reduces the blurring effects of Earth's atmospherethe team obtained a high-resolution image of this supernova to determine its precise position. Then they compared the Keck image to a series of pictures of the same galaxy (NGC 5806) taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2005, and found one starlike source spatially coincident to the supernova. Its intrinsic brightness, color, and sizeas well as its mass-loss history, inferred from supernova radio emissionswere characteristic of a Wolf-Rayet star.

"All evidence is consistent with the theoretical expectation that the progenitor of this Type Ib supernova is a Wolf-Rayet star," says Cao. "Our next step is to check for the disappearance of this progenitor star after the supernova fades away. We expect that it will have been destroyed in the supernova explosion."

Though Wolf-Rayet progenitors have long been predicted for Type Ib supernova, the new work represents the first time researchers have been able to fill the gap between theory and observation, according to study coauthor and Caltech alumna Mansi Kasliwal (PhD '11). "This is a big step in our understanding of the evolution of massive stars and their relation to supernovae," she says.

The second paper, "Discovery and Redshift of an Optical Afterglow in 71 degrees squared: iPTF13bxl and GRB 130702A," appears in the October 20 issue of Astrophysical Journal Letters. Lead author Leo Singer, a Caltech grad student, describes finding and characterizing the afterglow of a long gamma-ray burst (GRB) as being similar to digging a needle out of a haystack.

Long GRBs, which are the brightest known electromagnetic events in the universe, are also connected with the deaths of rapidly spinning, massive stars. Although such GRBs initially are detected by their high-energy radiationGRB 130702A, for example, was first located by NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescopean X-ray or visible-light afterglow must also be found to narrow down a GRB's position enough so that its location can be pinpointed to one particular galaxy and to determine if it is associated with a supernova.

After Fermi's initial detection of GRB 130702A, iPTF was able to narrow down the GRB's location by scanning an area of the sky over 360 times larger than the face of the moon and sifting through hundreds of images using sophisticated machine-learning software; it also revealed the visible-light counterpart of the burst, designated iPTF13bxl. This is the first time that a GRB's position has been determined precisely using optical telescopes alone.

After making the initial correlation between the GRB and the afterglow, Singer and colleagues corroborated their results and gained additional information using a host of other instruments, including optical, X-ray, and radio telescopes. In addition, ground-based telescopes around the world monitored the afterglow for days as it faded away, and recorded the emergence of a supernova five days later.

According to Singer, GRB130702A / iPTF13bxl turned out to be special in many ways.

"First, by measuring its redshift, we learned that it was pretty nearby as far as GRBs go," he says. "It was pretty wimpy compared to most GRBs, liberating only about a thousandth as much energy as the most energetic ones. But we did see it eventually turn into a supernova. Typically we only detect supernovae in connection with nearby, subluminous GRBs, so we can't be certain that cosmologically distant GRBs are caused by the same kinds of explosions."

"The first results from iPTF bode well for the discovery of many more supernovae in their infancy and many more afterglows from the Fermi satellite", says Shrinivas Kulkarni, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Professor of Astronomy and Planetary Science at Caltech and principal investigator for both the PTF and iPTF.

###

The iPTF project is a scientific collaboration between Caltech; Los Alamos National Laboratory; the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee; the Oskar Klein Centre in Sweden; the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel; the TANGO Program of the University System of Taiwan; and the Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe in Japan.

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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.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-10/ciot-ssc101613.php
Tags: Ian Somerhalder   NBA 2K14   Navy Yard shooting   grandparents day   Gareth Bale  

The World Food Prize 2013 recognizes the contribution of agrobiotechnology to world food security

Public release date: 16-Oct-2013
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Contact: Kris Van der Beken
kris.vanderbeken@vib.be
32-924-46611
VIB (the Flanders Institute for Biotechnology)

A leading example to the European lock up

Europe hesitates to support the use of genetically modified (GM) crops in agriculture. While 46 GM crops can be imported and used in food and feed, only one GM crop is commercially grown in five European countries on a small acreage. European farmers can hardly make use of the technology to improve their productivity and they lose competitivity. Europa already depends for 75% on protein import. This year the World Food Prize honors the pioneers of agrobiotechnology, a technology with a safe use status for 17 years that increased food security and agricultural productivity. GM crops are not the miracle solution but being part of a holistic approach, GM crops can help to overcome future agricultural hurdles and could increase European farmers' productivity.

This year, the pioneers of agrobiotechnology are awarded the World Food Prize. Dr. Van Montagu, Dr. Chilton and Dr. Fraley receive the prize because of the benefits that plant biotechnology is bringing to humanity and will do so in the future. The World Food Prize is financially supported by several foundations, governments, NGO's, private donations and companies, including those active in the field of agrobiotechnology. However the sponsors have no vote or say in the selection of the laureates. The World Food Prize is not the prize of the industry as can be easily illustrated with the lineup of the World Food Prize laureates of previous years. In 2005, the Indian scientist Dr. Gupta was honored because of his instrumental role in freshwater aquaculture that increased rural incomes and overcame nutritional deficiencies of millions of rural farmers. In 2009 the World Food Prize awarded Dr. Gebisa Ejeta of Ethiopia, whose drought and pathogen resistant sorghum hybrids enhanced the food supply of hundreds of millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa. Last year, the prize went to Dr. Hillel from Israel for his role in conceiving and implementing a new technique to irrigate crops in arid and dry land regions.

An integrated agricultural model to face the challenges

Today, agriculture occupies about 40 percent of the earth surface, uses 70 percent of the water resources and is responsible for 30 percent of the CO2 production. During the coming decades, production of food, feed and fibers will be challenged on several levels. First, as a result of population growth, the arable land per capita will decline further. Second, climate change and water scarcity will threaten crop productivity. Third, more and more chemical crop protection agents will be banned leaving farmers with fewer tools to secure their harvests. To overcome these huge challenges, we should move to an integrated agricultural model that combines the best features of conventional and organic farming with the adoption of the latest (bio)technologies.

Clear benefits for environment and society

The efforts of hundreds of scientists led by Marc Van Montagu together with the late Jeff Schell, Mary-Dell Chilton and Robert Fraley, have led to an important new tool for improving crops; faster and more precise than conventional breeding tools. 30 years after the proof of concept, more than 170 million hectares of GM crops are grown annually. Although more complex and specific traits are yet to come, the GM crops in the field today already have clear benefits for the environment and society. Herbicide tolerant GM crops have stimulated the adoption of no-tillage farming, while insect resistant GM crops protect harvests while reducing insecticide sprayings by more than 25%. Virus resistant GM papayas have saved the local papaya industry in Hawaii while India evolved from cotton importer to cotton exporter thanks to insect resistant GM cotton that almost doubled productivity while reducing insecticide use several fold. In developing countries, as Burkina Faso the use of GM crops that offer better harvests with less labor and/or financial inputs have a significant impact on households. Farmers get higher incomes leading to an improved financial comfort which enables them to send their children to school.

Risks associated with misinformation

In contrast to what anti-GM movements may communicate, GM cotton is not responsible for the suicides among Indian farmers, GM crops are not responsible for the 'oligopolisation' of the seed market, GM crops do not harm bees or other beneficial insects and are not dangerous for human health. However by misinforming the public anti-science movements spread fear that leads to political hesitancy. The results can be observed in Europe. The last step in the European deregulation process of GM crops is taken by undetermined political representatives of the member states; a situation that leads to undue delay and even more strict requirements. In Europe, the current regulatory process puts the developmental costs of GM crops out of reach of public institutes and mid-sized companies. Anti-globalist movements should realize that their actions push the development of GM crops in the hands of multinationals, a situation that they fight against. The hostility towards the technology is also preventing development of innovations that are essential for food security and prosperity of agriculture-based economies in less developed countries.

Marc Van Montagu hopes that this year's World Food Prize will bring public awareness on the value of plant genetic engineering. Innovations that contribute to food security in developing countries and that support sustainable intensification of global agriculture should be embraced, not banned.

###

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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.

Public release date: 16-Oct-2013
[


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| Share

]

Contact: Kris Van der Beken
kris.vanderbeken@vib.be
32-924-46611
VIB (the Flanders Institute for Biotechnology)

A leading example to the European lock up

Europe hesitates to support the use of genetically modified (GM) crops in agriculture. While 46 GM crops can be imported and used in food and feed, only one GM crop is commercially grown in five European countries on a small acreage. European farmers can hardly make use of the technology to improve their productivity and they lose competitivity. Europa already depends for 75% on protein import. This year the World Food Prize honors the pioneers of agrobiotechnology, a technology with a safe use status for 17 years that increased food security and agricultural productivity. GM crops are not the miracle solution but being part of a holistic approach, GM crops can help to overcome future agricultural hurdles and could increase European farmers' productivity.

This year, the pioneers of agrobiotechnology are awarded the World Food Prize. Dr. Van Montagu, Dr. Chilton and Dr. Fraley receive the prize because of the benefits that plant biotechnology is bringing to humanity and will do so in the future. The World Food Prize is financially supported by several foundations, governments, NGO's, private donations and companies, including those active in the field of agrobiotechnology. However the sponsors have no vote or say in the selection of the laureates. The World Food Prize is not the prize of the industry as can be easily illustrated with the lineup of the World Food Prize laureates of previous years. In 2005, the Indian scientist Dr. Gupta was honored because of his instrumental role in freshwater aquaculture that increased rural incomes and overcame nutritional deficiencies of millions of rural farmers. In 2009 the World Food Prize awarded Dr. Gebisa Ejeta of Ethiopia, whose drought and pathogen resistant sorghum hybrids enhanced the food supply of hundreds of millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa. Last year, the prize went to Dr. Hillel from Israel for his role in conceiving and implementing a new technique to irrigate crops in arid and dry land regions.

An integrated agricultural model to face the challenges

Today, agriculture occupies about 40 percent of the earth surface, uses 70 percent of the water resources and is responsible for 30 percent of the CO2 production. During the coming decades, production of food, feed and fibers will be challenged on several levels. First, as a result of population growth, the arable land per capita will decline further. Second, climate change and water scarcity will threaten crop productivity. Third, more and more chemical crop protection agents will be banned leaving farmers with fewer tools to secure their harvests. To overcome these huge challenges, we should move to an integrated agricultural model that combines the best features of conventional and organic farming with the adoption of the latest (bio)technologies.

Clear benefits for environment and society

The efforts of hundreds of scientists led by Marc Van Montagu together with the late Jeff Schell, Mary-Dell Chilton and Robert Fraley, have led to an important new tool for improving crops; faster and more precise than conventional breeding tools. 30 years after the proof of concept, more than 170 million hectares of GM crops are grown annually. Although more complex and specific traits are yet to come, the GM crops in the field today already have clear benefits for the environment and society. Herbicide tolerant GM crops have stimulated the adoption of no-tillage farming, while insect resistant GM crops protect harvests while reducing insecticide sprayings by more than 25%. Virus resistant GM papayas have saved the local papaya industry in Hawaii while India evolved from cotton importer to cotton exporter thanks to insect resistant GM cotton that almost doubled productivity while reducing insecticide use several fold. In developing countries, as Burkina Faso the use of GM crops that offer better harvests with less labor and/or financial inputs have a significant impact on households. Farmers get higher incomes leading to an improved financial comfort which enables them to send their children to school.

Risks associated with misinformation

In contrast to what anti-GM movements may communicate, GM cotton is not responsible for the suicides among Indian farmers, GM crops are not responsible for the 'oligopolisation' of the seed market, GM crops do not harm bees or other beneficial insects and are not dangerous for human health. However by misinforming the public anti-science movements spread fear that leads to political hesitancy. The results can be observed in Europe. The last step in the European deregulation process of GM crops is taken by undetermined political representatives of the member states; a situation that leads to undue delay and even more strict requirements. In Europe, the current regulatory process puts the developmental costs of GM crops out of reach of public institutes and mid-sized companies. Anti-globalist movements should realize that their actions push the development of GM crops in the hands of multinationals, a situation that they fight against. The hostility towards the technology is also preventing development of innovations that are essential for food security and prosperity of agriculture-based economies in less developed countries.

Marc Van Montagu hopes that this year's World Food Prize will bring public awareness on the value of plant genetic engineering. Innovations that contribute to food security in developing countries and that support sustainable intensification of global agriculture should be embraced, not banned.

###

---

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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.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-10/vfi-twf101613.php
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For hedge funds, debt crisis largely business as usual

By Svea Herbst-Bayliss and Katya Wachtel

BOSTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hanging tough seems to have been the right strategy for a good number of money managers now that Congress has approved a stop-gap deal to avoid a federal debt default and reopen the U.S. government.

Hedge fund manager David Tawil said that, after living through the collapse of Lehman Brothers, many on Wall Street are now well-versed in telling a real financial crisis from one that is more of the smoke and mirrors variety and much more easily fixed.

The manager of the $60 million Maglan Capital, which trades mainly stocks, did not do anything particularly different with his portfolio during the three weeks Republicans and Democrats battled over a plan to reopen the federal government, and come up with an agreement for lifting the nation's debt ceiling.

"Those of us who invest on the basis of assigning probabilities to various outcomes, essentially gave this one a zero," said Tawil of the prospect of Congress not raising the country's borrowing ability and letting the federal government default on its debt obligations.

Tawil and other hedge fund managers spoke to Reuters ahead of Congress voting on the fiscal deal.

Tawil's hang tough strategy made a lot of sense with his fund up 34 percent this year, compared with a 5.6 percent gain for the average hedge fund.

Other money managers also said the political theatrics of the past few weeks were more of a nuisance than a real threat.

Some of that is because managers have already been through a series of politically provoked fiscal crises beginning with the 2011 debate to raise the debt limit, the battle to raise taxes on the wealthy and the more recent fight over sequestration and automatic budget cuts. In all of these situations, Wall Street saw a potential crisis averted by a last-minute deal hammered out by the political parties.

Others, meanwhile, said there were simply few opportunities to make money off the drama so it simply made more sense not to make big changes to their investment strategies.

Sander Gerber, chief investment officer for Hudson Bay Capital Management, a $1.6 billion hedge fund firm, said there had been worry, but not panic, about a possible default. He said there was more concern about a debt default in 2011.

During the current fiscal crisis, Gerber said his firm, which invests in stocks, bonds, convertible debt and merger arbitrage strategies, did not dramatically change its positions apart from adding some extra hedges to protect in the event of a default.

"The majority of the fund world thought it was utterly inconceivable that the U.S. would default on their debt," Gerber said.

He said more damage was done to portfolios, in particular investments in bonds, by this summer's spike in Treasury yields prompted by fears the Federal Reserve would bring a quick end to its $85 billion in monthly bond purchases.

The Fed's bond purchases have helped stock prices all year by forcing investors into riskier assets. Even with a stopgap measure in place, talk about the Fed tapering those bond buys might be put on hold.

On Tuesday, Richard Fisher, the hawkish president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, told Reuters the fiscal standoff means even he would find it difficult to make a case for scaling back bond purchases at the Fed's policy meeting on October 29-30.

"My personal opinion is that it's not in play," Fisher said. "This is just too tender a moment."

And some on Wall Street are thinking tapering may get pushed even further out into next year.

Jason Ader, whose Ader Investment Management allocates money to a number of small hedge funds, said most of the money managers trying to gain a tactical advantage in the fiscal crisis were short-term traders. He said an indication that most managers were not particularly worried about a government default is that so-called crash protection on Standard & Poor's future contracts was still priced relatively low as of Wednesday.

Even as the hand wringing continued in Washington, Wall Street kept moving ahead, with the Standard & Poor's 500 gaining 3.6 percent in the last five days driven largely by the ups and downs in Washington with little regard to corporate earnings. On Wednesday alone, with a deal almost done, the S&P 500 rose 1.38 percent and the Dow Jones Industrials was up 205 points, or 1.36 percent.

Wall Street's fear factor, as measured by the CBOE Volatility Index, also remained in check, hovering around 15 on Wednesday, the middle of the typical 10 to 20 range when markets are calm.

But even as markets looked relatively placid, some fund managers took pains to describe to investors that they were not just doing nothing.

So while there was not a dramatic exit from stocks, some managers who did not want to be identified said they noticed some rotation into more defensive stocks. This helped names such as Johnson & Johnson rise nearly 4 percent and Procter & Gamble Co go up 2.68 percent in the last five days.

Jack Flaherty, an investment Director in the Fixed Income Investment team at GAM, which manages $123 billion, said managers who were trying to prepare for the worst were mainly buying put options on the S&P500, betting the index would decline at some point. If a deal does happen, investors would likely lose money on those put options, but probably not much.

"The actual outlay is not that much," Flaherty said. "A lot of the ‘shorts' in the market are of that nature, so it's not going to hurt anyone horribly when a deal is finally consummated."

One hedge fund strategy that might profit from market anxiety about a debt default, especially if a deal does fall apart at the last minute, are so-called volatility funds, which use complex trades to take advantage of pricing discrepancies caused by gyrations in global financial markets.

These funds earn big returns when volatility is high and bleed money when markets are calm.

But so far, volatility funds have not done well this year, not even in the weeks leading up to the debt ceiling deadline. To date, an index by brokerage Newedge that tracks 10 volatility funds is down about 2.5 percent for the year.

And on Wednesday, with a deal almost at hand, volatility funds may have been hit particularly hard with the CBOE Volatility Index, or VIX, falling 21 percent, the biggest daily drop since August 2011.

(Reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss and Katya Wachtel; Editing by Matthew Goldstein and Tim Dobbyn)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/hedge-funds-debt-crisis-largely-business-usual-024632971--sector.html
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Vin Diesel Releases More 'Guardians of the Galaxy' Groot Info (Video)

10:35 AM PDT 10/16/2013 by Graeme McMillan

Continuing his apparently fearless disregard for Marvel Studios' famed secrecy, Vin Diesel has released a new video via Facebook that again confirms his Guardians of the Galaxy role, as well as reveals just how vocal his wooden alter ego will be during the 2014 movie.

"Do I look like a tree?" Diesel asks during the video as he tests out his stilts for the (motion-captured) role. Later, he doubles down on the identification by saying that he plays "a seven-and-a-half foot tree" with "one line in the movie" -- a line that, judging by the comic book character's history, would almost definitely be "I am Groot!" (Yes, he likes to announce his own name. He's a giant living tree; he can do that if he wants.)

STORY: Did Vin Diesel Leak a Future Marvel Movie Crossover?

The size of the role -- the one line, not the seven-and-a-half foot tall thing -- doesn't bother the Fast and The Furious actor, however. "I'm still going to make it the best thing I possibly can," Diesel explains, "even if it means taking angry circus to another level." Somewhere, Marvel executives who had hoped to keep the details of Diesel's involvement in Guardians a secret for awhile longer are just shaking their heads in disbelief.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/thr/film/~3/n4NWphEEpCY/story01.htm
Category: Angela Ahrendts   redskins   kansas city chiefs   downton abbey   apple stock  

Kim Kardashian Adopts A New Family — And A New Man! Kanye West Has A New Dad To Compete With!

Step aside, Kanye West, Kim Kardashian has a new man on her arm and we hear he’s out of this world!

Literally!

The middle Kardashian sister teased the world on Monday as she posted a picture with a cutout of Roger the alien on Seth MacFarlane’s show, American Dad.

She captioned the photo:

“Guess what guys!!!! I’m going to be on American Dad! You have to tune in to see what my character is!”

Kim is supposedly set to play Roger's love interest on the show.

Hm, we wonder how ‘Ye feels about this…

LOLz!

It looks like Kimmy is getting back on her feet just fine! First a baby kollection clothing line and now a guest spot on a hit animated TV show!

Is there anything this super mom can't do?

[Image via Kim Kardashian]

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Philippine quake damages historic churches

A religious icon remains encased amid the rubble in Bohol province in central Philippines Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2013, a day after a 7.2-magnitude quake hit Bohol and Cebu provinces. The quake that struck the central Philippines and killed more than a hundred people also dealt a serious blow to the region's historical and religious legacy by heavily damaging a dozen or more churches, some of them hundreds of years old. (AP Photo/ Kiko Rosario)

A religious icon remains encased amid the rubble in Bohol province in central Philippines Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2013, a day after a 7.2-magnitude quake hit Bohol and Cebu provinces. The quake that struck the central Philippines and killed more than a hundred people also dealt a serious blow to the region's historical and religious legacy by heavily damaging a dozen or more churches, some of them hundreds of years old. (AP Photo/ Kiko Rosario)

Residents look at the Basilica De Sto. Nino, or Basilica of the Holy Child, following a 7.2-magnitude earthquake that hit Cebu city in central Philippines Tuesday Oct. 15, 2013. The tremor collapsed buildings, cracked roads and toppled the bell tower of the Philippines' oldest church Tuesday morning, causing multiple deaths across the central region and sending terrified residents into deadly stampedes. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)

In this photo released by the Malacanang Photo Bureau, Philippine President Benigno Aquino III, right, stands beside the damaged Basilica Del Santo Nino in quake-hit Cebu, central Philippines on Wednesday Oct. 16, 2013. The 7.2-magnitude earthquake that struck the central Philippines and killed more than a hundred people also dealt a serious blow to the region's historical and religious legacy by heavily damaging a dozen or more churches, some of them hundreds of years old. (AP Photo/ Ryan Lim, Malacanang Photo Bureau)

FILE- This is a January 2011 file photo of the facade of Basilica de Sto. Nino (Basilica of the Holy Child) with its towering bell tower in Cebu city in central Philippines. On Tuesday Oct. 15, 2013 a 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck Cebu city toppling the bell tower of the Philippines' oldest church and sending terrified residents into deadly stampedes. (AP Photo/Chester Baldicantos, File)

A crane shifts through the rubble of the damaged Our Lady of Assumption Parish church following a 7.2-magnitude earthquake, at Dauis in Bohol, central Philippines, Tuesday Oct. 15, 2013. The tremor collapsed buildings, cracked roads and toppled the bell tower of the Philippines' oldest church Tuesday morning, causing multiple deaths across the central region and sending terrified residents into deadly stampedes. (AP Photo)

LOON, Philippines (AP) — The earthquake that struck the central Philippines and killed at least 144 people also dealt a serious blow to the region's historical and religious legacy by heavily damaging a dozen or more churches, some of them hundreds of years old.

As rescuers reached some of the hardest-hit areas on Wednesday and the death toll from the quake a day earlier continued to rise, images of the wrecked religious buildings resonated across a nation where 80 percent of the population is Roman Catholic.

The bell tower toppled from Cebu city's 16th-century Basilica of the Holy Child — a remnant of the Spanish colonial era and the country's oldest church building — becoming a pile of rubble in the courtyard.

Other churches on the neighboring island of Bohol, epicenter of the quake and a popular tourist destination known for its beaches, were also damaged, some beyond repair.

"The heritage old churches are also very close to the hearts of the Boholanos," said Bohol Gov. Edgardo Chatto, using the term for residents of the island.

He said authorities would attempt to restore the historic churches, but some may never return to their former state.

"Every piece of the church should be left untouched so that restoration efforts can be easier," he said. "It may not be a total restoration, but closest to what it used to be before."

Emilia Dalagan was sweeping grass outside her home near the 300-year-old church called Our Lady of the Assumption Shrine in Dauis on the resort island of Panglao, near Bohol, when the ground shook.

"The funeral car was crushed by falling debris from the front of the church. The driver was able to get out," she said.

The back, front and the right wing of the church were destroyed. The structure is said to be made from corals cemented together with egg white.

Tuesday was a national holiday in the Philippines celebrating the Muslim feast of Eid ul Adha, which meant some of the most damaged structures, like schools and office buildings, were empty when the quake struck, which saved many lives.

"That is our only consolation," said Bohol provincial health officer Reymoses Cabagnot.

Gay Flores had just woken up in her two-story house in the town of Carmen when the 7.2-magnitude quake struck at 8:15 a.m., sending shock waves across the picturesque island —and knocking her off her feet.

"I crawled down to our kitchen because my mother and nephews were there," she said. "Then we crawled out of the house."

The roof of their house had caved in and the cement walls had collapsed, but she was alive, and so were her parents.

"We left everything behind," Flores said by phone from the Bohol town of Carmen. "Belongings don't matter as long as we can save our lives."

A day after the quake, Gov. Chatto said that all towns in need had been reached, although landslides and damaged bridges were slowing down road travel. Only two of the island's 20 bridges were passable.

"The towns that needed help have been reached. The most heavily hit in terms of casualties was the town of Loon, and there are still ongoing processes there, of recovery," he said.

President Benigno Aquino III and senior Cabinet members came to offer their support Wednesday and distribute relief aid and inspect the damage firsthand. Interior Secretary Mar Roxas said that the bridges would be repaired within weeks.

Amazingly, the town of Carmen, the quake epicenter, did not record any deaths. The hardest-hit areas were along Bohol's western coast.

Senior Inspector Jacinto Mandal, the police chief in Loon, was sitting in his office drawing up a plan for the upcoming village election when the quake hit.

"It was really strong. It was as if something was really moving underground," Mandal said. "We fell to the ground from the force of the shaking. If you attempt to stand, you would topple."

Running outside, he saw cracks open in the street and people screaming and crying. He told them to gather outside the municipal hall.

He found the mayor, who was shaken but alive, and they proceeded to the church, only to find it reduced to rubble. Two bodies were pulled out Wednesday.

After reaching the collapsed church, he and the priest escorted the people to a more open area.

"We still have no electricity," he said. "As of this time, the people use firewood to cook."

Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-10-16-Philippines-Earthquake/id-c079fc7932814e45b89744998f000759
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Trouble's brewing in Android land

The Android OS dominates the mobile landscape, outselling all rivals combined in most countries. The only serious challenger, Apple's iOS, earns much more money for Apple than Android earns for Google and all its hardware partners combined, but when it comes to market share, Android is king. So why does the Android ecosystem appear to be troubled?

HTC is in disarray, as its Android sales struggle in the face of the dominant Samsung, which is the only Android device maker to profit from Android. Google's Nexus devices have so-so sales, perhaps because they tend to be middle-of-the-road devices that don't inspire large populations the way Samsung and Apple do. Ditto for its Motorola Mobility unit. In fact, Google seems to have backed off on Android, focusing instead on Chrome OS and its array of data-mining services, which is where the company actually makes its money.

[ InfoWorld picks the best office apps for Android. | Keep up on key mobile developments and insights via Twitter and with the Mobilize newsletter. ]

Then there's Samsung, which sells by far the most Android devices and makes real money from them. Yet it apparently has stolen secret Apple information in defiance of the courts, cheats on industry benchmarks, and abuses the patent system to undermine Apple, a key customer if also a key competitor. It also stoops to announcing all-but-nonexistent products, such as the curved-glass Samsung Round last week, a pathetic attempt to pretend to be first. (HTC plans a similar product, so Samsung cobbled together a prototype that may never actually reach the market.) Such actions reek of desperation, not success.

What's going on in Android land is a series of sometimes unrelated events that intertwine in ways that aren't good for Android's future.

HTC's desperation to matter again
For example, HTC's troubles are not so much about Android but about not delivering compelling products regularly. HTC was the first company to offer a compelling Android device, the Droid Eris, in 2009, then all but disappeared in terms of innovation for the next three years. Its products were run-of-the-mill, inspiring little passion. And users have complained for years that HTC smartphones tend to break after a year of operation. Although this year's HTC One is a stylish smartphone that's a personal favorite of mine, it has done little to make HTC a leader in the Android market.

As a result, the company is in chaos, according to news reports. It's losing money, has laid off employees, and may need to get an infusion of cash from another company, ending its independence.

Samsung's misguided and perhaps unethical strategy
Samsung holds the leadership role in Android, thanks to strong efforts in 2011 and 2012 to make innovative, compelling products, such as the Galaxy Note series of smartphones, the Note series of tablets, and the very nice Galaxy S III. This year's Galaxy S 4 may have jumped the shark, despite its improved physical design, because of its mishmash of partially completed software, but Samsung still has plenty of momentum from those earlier products in buyers' minds.

Source: http://podcasts.infoworld.com/d/mobile-technology/troubles-brewing-in-android-land-228603?source=rss_infoworld_top_stories_
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