Protesters denounce oil pipeline plans

Sitting on the steps of the legislature, away from the thick of the protest, Samantha Sansregret surveyed the crowd gathered Monday to protest the threat of tar sands, oil tankers and oil pipelines.

?I think we should be good ancestors and think about future generations,? said the soft-spoken Metis woman who lives in Victoria, her drum in hand. ?Spills are inevitable.?

Sansregret was one of an estimated 3,000 people who travelled to the B.C. legislature to participate in the Defend Our Coast protest, led by a coalition of First Nations groups, unions and environmental organizations.

Some watched quietly, while others cheered and chanted, and waved placards while wearing elaborate costumes.

With the help of three friends, Leona Marchand navigated the crowd as the body of an enormous blue puppet representing Mother Earth.

?I made the dress last night,? Marchand said, barely visible through the blue polyester costume. ?I?m here to represent the earth and how important she is to all of us.?

Among the last to speak, Green Party leader and Saanich-Gulf Islands MP Elizabeth May whipped the crowd into a frenzy.

?Today the Fraser Institute issued a report saying we need to drill for oil and gas,? she said. ?They?re addicted to fossil fuels. ? When you have a friend with an addiction, you need an intervention and we are the intervention!?

In what was billed as a massive act of civil disobedience, more than 200 people helped to unfold a giant, black fabric banner and staked it into the legislature lawn. Stretching 235 metres, it equalled the length of a super tanker.

Marcus Waddington, a retired teacher, was third in line to lead the march.

?We?re prepared to go to jail,? he said, echoing the sentiments of many protesters. It was thought that staking the banner into the ground could incite police to start arresting protesters, however members from the Victoria Police Department simply watched the event from a distance.

The police will only get involved if people hurt others or vandalize property, said one officer.

?We?re not here to cause a riot,? added another.

While the conclusion to Monday?s protest may have been anti-climatic for many who prepared for arrest, the protest continues across the province Wednesday (Oct. 24).

MLA Ida Chong?s constituency office will be the site of one such protest, intended to drive home opposition to the Enbridge and Kinder Morgan pipeline proposals.

Celine Trojand, spokesperson for the Defend Our Coast coalition, said protesters will link arms in front of Chong?s office to show an ?unbroken wall of opposition? to Enbridge. ?She?s the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and this is important to them (First Nations people),? Trojand said.

Similar demonstrations will take place at MLA offices across the province.

Organizers want today?s protest to draw attention to Chong?s role and responsibilities regarding aboriginal affairs.

?It?s a swing riding that was won by a very narrow margin,?? Trojand said. ?The way she handles this issue will make a difference in the next election.?

Chong says she and her government share the group?s concern. ?They?re saying what we?re saying. It?s a matter of risk/benefit and right now there?s nothing but risk.?

In July, the B.C. government outlined its position on the pipeline proposals by listing five points that needed resolution before the projects could proceed, including that aboriginal and treaty rights be addressed.

?There are some 20 B.C. First Nations groups at the (federal joint review panel) hearings. Not one of them supports the project. That tells us something,? Chong said. ?If there is no support that develops from First Nations, I would have to go to the Premier and say ?we haven?t met that point and can?t proceed.??

? with files from Tim Collins

rholmen@vicnews.com

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Source: http://www.saanichnews.com/news/175322891.html

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Apple Reveals Updated iBooks App, Packs Continuous Scrolling, Improved Social Sharing, And Japanese And Korean Support

ibooks_heroWell, there you have it. As more than a few pundits had predicted in the days leading up to the event, Apple has just officially pulled back the curtains on an updated version of its iBooks iOS app. The update may not pack the same sort of sweeping changes that characterized the last big version of iBooks , but there are quite a few notable tweaks for the e-bibliophiles among you to dive into.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/M5R5TNeFJc4/

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Apple introduces 'Fusion Drive' as a build-to-order option for the new iMac

Image

So you want the performance of a new-fangled SSD with the extra storage of a good 'ole HDD? Apple has you covered with Fusion Drive for its new iMac. Unlike existing standalone hybrid drives the company is apparently "fusing" together a separate SSD and HDD with custom software in Mountain Lion. Better yet, the OS and all the pre-installed applications live on the SSD by default, while your documents and media reside on the HDD. This sounds similar to the software RAID functionality in OS X, but cranked to the next level. Stay tuned for details as we find out more.

For more from this event, follow along in our liveblog!

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Apple introduces 'Fusion Drive' as a build-to-order option for the new iMac originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Oct 2012 13:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/2lUJFzFXux8/

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Accelerated Depreciation Isn't the Cure to Small Business's Problems

As part of an election year effort to show that he?s friendly to small business, President Obama has been claiming recently that he:

?. . .has signed in to law 18 tax cuts that directly help small businesses [including] ?. extended accelerated bonus depreciation for two million businesses.?

Accelerated depreciation allows immediate expensing of investment costs. By increasing near term tax deductions, the White House explains, small business owners get to keep more of their income.

thumbs down flag

Small business advocate, Dorothy Coleman, Vice President for tax and domestic economic policy with the National Association of Manufacturers, agrees, saying depreciation tax breaks:

?Clearly lower the tax costs for investments made by smaller companies.?

But policies like accelerated depreciation are doing little to get small business owners into the President?s camp.

A Manta poll conducted in the beginning of August has 61 percent of small company owners supporting Mitt Romney and only 26 percent supporting the Barack Obama. Moreover, the same poll reveals that 54 percent of small business owners believe that the Republican party is the biggest supporter of small business as compared to only 19 percent who think it?s the Democrats.

While small business owners, no doubt, favor the Republicans for many reasons, one is surely the fact that the President?s policies help few small business owners.

Consider Accelerated Depreciation

The National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) surveys have persistently shown that small business owners believe that weak demand for their products and services is biggest problem they face.

With revenue weak since the start of the Great Recession, few small business owners making capital investments to expand. And if your business isn?t making capital investments, being able to write off their value immediately does little for you.

Moreover, Internal Revenue Service (IRS) data shows that sole proprietorships (which make up 72 percent of all small businesses) in very few industries have much depreciation. In 2009, the most recent year of data availability, the depreciation deduction averaged only 6.8 percent of net income for sole proprietorships with net income. In four out of five small businesses operate in industries in which the average depreciation deduction was less than 10 percent of net income.

If You Don?t Have Much Depreciation Expense

Accelerating it doesn?t do much for you.

By the President?s own admission, accelerated bonus depreciation only benefits only 2 million small businesses. With the IRS reporting 31.6 million business tax returns filed in 2008, that means only a little over 6 percent of small businesses benefited from this tax cut.

That?s just not enough small business owners to sway the polling data.

Thumbs Down Photo via Shutterstock


Source: http://smallbiztrends.com/2012/10/accelerated-depreciation-isnt-cure-small-businesss-problems.html

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Ahmadinejad faces waning influence in Iran

Iran's judiciary has blocked a request by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to visit Tehran's Evin prison, where a top presidential aide is being held, the latest sign that his influence is waning in his last year in office.

Ali Akbar Javanfekr, Ahmadinejad's press adviser and head of the state news agency IRNA, was sent to Evin in September to serve a six-month sentence for publishing an article deemed offensive to public decency.

He was also convicted of insulting Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on his personal website, though it is unclear how or when this happened.

Ahmadinejad's request to visit Evin, made public this month, was seen by Iranian media and commentators as linked to Javanfekr's detention, although there has been no official confirmation that this was the case.

Armageddon scenario: US, Israel ready for huge joint drill in Iran's shadow

'Major issues'
The judiciary rejected the request on Sunday, saying it was not in Iran's best interests as it faces an economic crisis. Ahmadinejad's opponents in parliament blame the crisis as much on mismanagement by his administration as on Western sanctions.

"We must pay attention to major issues," prosecutor general Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei said Sunday, according to the Mehr news agency. "Visiting a prison in these circumstances is a minor issue."

Source: Back-channel talks but no US-Iran deal on one-to-one nuclear meeting

"If we have in mind the best interests of the nation, a (prison) visit in these circumstances is not appropriate," he said.

Ahmadinejad's influence within the factionalized political structure has waned since a clash with Khamenei in 2011.

Video: Iran?s economy collapsing (on this page)
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The feud between Iran's elected and unelected leaders erupted in public after Khamenei, who holds ultimate power, reinstated Intelligence Minister Heydar Moslehi, whom Ahmadinejad had sacked.

EU agrees on wider Iran sanctions over nuclear program

On Monday, Khamenei's representative to the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was quoted as saying that he regretted his past support for the president.

"We did not have the prescience to know what was going on in Mr. Ahmadinejad's mind and what he wanted to do in the future," Ali Saeedi Shahroudi told the Etemaad newspaper. "The slogans he uses now are different from the slogans he used in the past."

Ahmadinejad is coming to the end of his second term and is not allowed to run in the June 2013 presidential election.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/49502031/ns/world_news-mideast_n_africa/

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The problem with presidential debates ? CNN Radio News - CNN ...

By Lisa Desjardins, CNN

(CNN) ? For 25 years, a private non-profit group of roughly a dozen people, operating without oversight, has been running America's presidential and vice-presidential debates.

To some, the Commission on Presidential Debates is a political hero, providing thoughtful stability and ensuring that U.S. presidential candidates do in fact debate each other. Multiple times. In a dignified setting.

But to its critics, the Commission is a small, secretive and closed-minded organization that colludes with the political parties, is out-of-touch with modern voters, and prevents third-party candidates from getting on the debate stage.

Among those critics is George Farah, founder and executive director of Open Debates:

[0:41] "In 1996 Ross Perot was running for president. Three-quarters of the American people wanted to see him and I thought it would be fascinating to see him debating again. And when he was shut out, I was astonished and I thought, who is doing this? What entity is making this happen?"?

Since that 1996 disappointment, Farah has become a lightening rod in the presidential debate world.

His organization, Open Debates, relentlessly pushes for changes, like adding more debates, reducing involvement from political parties, a lower bar for candidates to get into the debates, and a broader variety of formats including more candidate interaction and panels of experts asking questions.

This year, his criticism has been particularly sharp on a subject in the headlines, something called the "Memo of Understanding", a secret document negotiated by the political campaigns that lays out debate parameters.

This year's 21-page Memo of Understanding caused a 24-hour firestorm when it was leaked to Time's Mark Halperin prior to last week's town hall debate. It indicated the debate moderator would not be allowed to ask follow-up questions.

But the Commission on Presidential Debates insists that it's not a party to that document and while candidates may agree between themselves to certain rules, like not asking each other questions, the Commission is not governed by that deal.

A source close to planning for the debate last week confirmed to CNN that moderator Candy Crowley never saw the campaigns' Memo of Understanding and that the Commission never asked her to hold back on follow-up questions.

Commission leaders insist they have not signed off on any such memo between the candidates since at least 2000.

That year, the two campaigns involved presented a hefty, 56-page list of demands. Frank Fahrenkopf is co-chairman of the Commission on Presidential Debates:

[3:25] "The [Bush and Gore campaigns] said if you don?t sign this and you don?t get the moderators to sign this, we?ll go elsewhere. And we said, fine, go elsewhere. We?re not signing it."

Editor's Note: Criticisms of the Commission do not end there. Listen to the complete story above?for a look at other issues in the presidential debate system and how the Commission on Presidential Debates responds, and then join the conversation below.

Source: http://cnnradio.cnn.com/2012/10/22/the-problem-with-presidential-debates/

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Packers Beat Rams 30-20: Aaron Rodgers Throws 3 Touchdown Passes In Win

ST. LOUIS ? The Green Bay Packers were on their way to the team hotel the day before the game when the cheesehead factor popped up again.

Coach Mike McCarthy joked it felt like walking down a street close to Lambeau Field. During warmups on Sunday, fans began roaring "Go, Pack, Go!" And Green Bay's traveling wall of sound never let up during a 30-20 victory over St. Louis that was the Rams' first home loss of the year.

"This is one of the shorter trips for some of our fans, which is still a jaunt," said Aaron Rodgers, who passed for three touchdowns in another record-setting performance. "I think it's probably eight hours if you're busting the speed limit a little bit.

"The chants are incredible and the boos that we had on one of those calls from our fans was incredible. It was louder than the cheers for the Rams."

The Rams definitely noticed. They've had this type of atmosphere several times the last several years with the franchise near the bottom of the NFL.

"I kind of expected that they'd be well-represented here," defensive end Chris Long said. "We just never got a chance to quiet them down."

Rodgers threw for 342 yards in Green Bay's second consecutive turnover-free game, and the Packers' depleted defense clamped down on Sam Bradford and the Rams. Rodgers was sacked three times in the first half, but got the ball out a lot quicker the rest of the way.

Rodgers has 150 career TD passes and 42 interceptions, breaking Dan Marino's NFL record for fewest interceptions at that milestone. Marino had 69 interceptions when he threw his 150th TD pass.

"I think their plan was to dink and dunk and catch us off guard," Rams cornerback Cortland Finnegan said. "They made the plays when they needed to."

Randall Cobb caught two touchdown passes and Jordy Nelson had eight receptions for a season-best 122 yards and a TD for the Packers (4-3). Rookie Casey Hayward made his first start in place of injured Sam Shields and intercepted his fourth pass in three games.

Green Bay ended the Texans' unbeaten start at Houston last week, but had alternated losses and wins the first six weeks.

Rodgers was 30 for 37, setting a single-game franchise completion record of 81.1 percent with a minimum of 35 attempts. He has guided the Packers to touchdowns on 12 of 14 trips inside the 20 over the last four games.

After his fourth 300-yard game this season, Rodgers trotted off the field to a huge ovation. The Packers, a 15-1 team last season, are finally above .500 for the first time.

"Winning is fun," Nelson said. "That's why we play games. It's great to win back-to-back games, it sounds great to say that for the first time this year, but we've got to stack success."

Steven Jackson ran for his first touchdown of the year, and just the Rams' 10th overall, to trim the deficit to a touchdown midway through the fourth quarter. But Rodgers made a terrific throw to Cobb for a 39-yard pass that put the Packers up by two scores with 3:06 remaining.

The Rams (3-4) will surrender home-field advantage next week when they travel to London to play the Patriots. The team flies out Monday night.

Chris Givens had a 56-yard reception for St. Louis on a screen pass in the fourth quarter, his fourth straight game with a 50-yard plus reception. Fellow rookie Greg Zuerlein kicked a 50-yard field goal.

Rodgers' numbers were almost as flashy as last week, when he tied the franchise record with six touchdowns and no interceptions. He was very efficient while leading an offense heavily tilted to the pass game that went 9 for 15 on third down.

The Rams were undefeated in the Edward Jones Dome. They opened the home schedule with victories over the Redskins, Seahawks and Cardinals, limiting opponents to 14.7 points per game.

Green Bay played without four defensive starters. Shields (shin, ankle), linebacker Nick Perry (knee) and tackle B.J. Raji (ankle) were inactive. Linebacker D.J. Smith was recently placed on injured reserve.

Bradford was 21 for 34 for 255 yards and an interception, and was sacked three times behind a patchwork line with just two starters left from the opener. Bradford threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to Austin Pettis with 3 seconds to go.

After dominating in time of possession in the first half, holding the ball for more than 18 minutes, the Rams ran just seven plays in the third quarter and were held to minus-7 yards while the Packers had 129 yards and 11:39 in time of possession.

Nelson wrapped up his second straight 100-yard game early in the third quarter, often picking on rookie cornerback Janoris Jenkins. Cobb threw a nice fake on Jenkins in the end zone on a 5-yard catch that put the Packers up 17-6 midway through the third, capping a 12-play, 80-yard drive to open the half that lasted nearly seven minutes.

"We had one of our best drives of the season, for sure," Rodgers said. "It wasn't the prettiest drive, but we converted a lot of third downs.

"That was a very key drive for us and a good one to look back on as we watch the film tomorrow."

Rodgers completed his first nine passes for 115 yards, including a 52-yarder to Nelson that set up a 3-yarder for Nelson's fourth score in two games. The first incompletion came with just over six minutes left in the half when Rodgers slightly overthrew James Jones on a sideline pattern, with Jones able to get just his fingertips on the ball.

Nelson's long catch came on a free play, with Long whistled for an offsides penalty.

"It's an explosive gain and it really gets the energy heating up and going," Nelson said. "Whenever you get a free opportunity to take a shot you've got to make the most of it."

The Packers' Jamari Lattimore recovered an onside kick at the Rams 49 after St. Louis' Trumaine Johnson was flipped on his head when he was just about to haul in the ball, setting up a 47-yard field goal by Mason Crosby for a 10-3 lead late in the first.

Zuerlein ended a string of three misses, the last a 66-yarder that had the distance but was wide left at the end of last week's 17-14 loss at Miami, with a 50-yarder that gave the Rams the early lead. Zuerlein is 5 for 7 from 50-plus.

NOTES: Givens, a fourth-round pick who's been the Rams' best deep threat all year, averaged 24.3 yards on three receptions. ... Johnson left with a hip injury after the onside kick but returned for the third quarter. ... Packers backup DE Mike Neal and Rams backup DE Eugene Sims both left with knee injuries in the second quarter. Sims, who will undergo additional medical testing, was the only significant injury for the Rams. ... Packers DE Clay Matthews picked up his ninth sack in the third quarter when he chased down Bradford on a rollout.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/21/packers-rams-30-20-aaron-rodgers-touchdowns_n_1998030.html

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Turbo switch of calcium pump in biological cells discovered

ScienceDaily (Oct. 21, 2012) ? A Danish-British research team has discovered a turbo switch in the vital calcium pump in our body's cells. In studies at the X-ray source DORIS at Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotorn DESY in Hamburg and the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility ESRF in Grenoble the team discovered that the on-off switch of the pump has a previously unknown third position, which switches the pump into a turbo gear.

The group of Henning Tidow from Aarhus University and Lisbeth Poulsen from the University of Copenhagen published its studies in the British journal Nature. "The discovery not only improves our understanding of a fundamental mechanism in the biology of all higher organisms, but could one day allow for better treatment of certain diseases in which the calcium balance is disturbed," says Tidow. The researchers used the measuring station of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory EMBL at DORIS.

The element calcium plays a central role in many processes of life, such as cell division, the day-night cycle and the communication of cells. The decisive factor is a gradient in the calcium concentration, which is normally high outside the cell and low inside it. This gradient is maintained among others through a calcium pump, which occurs in all higher organisms (eukaryotes) -- from the nettle to the blue whale. For example, under stress the calcium concentration in the cell increases and triggers a corresponding reaction. Afterwards, the concentration must be lowered again.

"The calcium transport from the cell requires a lot of energy. It is therefore important that the pump is activated only when needed," explains Poulsen. The pump -- known as PMCA (plasma-membrane calcium-ATPase) -- thus has a switch, which is actuated by the protein calmodulin. When calcium binds to calmodulin, the latter changes its shape so that it can dock onto a binding site of the cell's calcium pump, thereby activating the pump. When the calcium concentration in the cell increases, more and more pumps are thus switched on.

The researchers led by Tidow viewed the entire switching complex with X-rays to reveal its molecular structure. They chose the switching complex from cells of the plant thale cress (Arabidopsis thaliana), studying it first in crystal form and then in solution, which is closer to the natural environment of the molecule. "Based on this analysis, we were able to create a detailed three-dimensional model of the region of the calcium pump that interacts with calmodulin," says Tidow. "To our great surprise, we found that the calcium pump has two binding sites for calmodulin and not just one as previously thought."

The switching complex thus consists of a dumbbell-like structure with two calmodulin binding sites. To determine whether the second site has a biological significance, the researchers tested pumps in which they had disabled one switch. Indeed, these pumps could not run at full power. "Our results show that the calcium pump is controlled in three steps," explains Poulsen. "It is switched off when no calmodulin is bound to the switching complex. The pump is running at medium speed as soon as one binding site is occupied, and at full speed when calmodulin is bound to both sites."

The pump is thus activated step by step, depending on how much calcium is present in the cell. When the calcium concentration increases, the pump first operates in an energy-efficient way at moderate speed. If the calcium threatens to reach an amount that is dangerous for the cell, the pump changes into the turbo gear, which enables it to very quickly reduce the concentration.

Bioinformatics analyses revealed that this double switch occurs not only in all plant species, but in general in all cells with a nucleus (eukaryotes). "This study underscores the strength of integrating structural biology in interdisciplinary research," underlines Poul Nissen of Aarhus University. As the next step, the researchers aim to decipher the structure of the entire calcium pump.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

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


Journal Reference:

  1. Henning Tidow, Lisbeth R. Poulsen, Antonina Andreeva, Michael Knudsen, Kim L. Hein, Carsten Wiuf, Michael G. Palmgren, Poul Nissen. A bimodular mechanism of calcium control in eukaryotes. Nature, 2012; DOI: 10.1038/nature11539

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.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/yU9W0Fk8uHw/121021133918.htm

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A Bias For Real-Estate Investing | Timarr

Mindblowing Mentality

The evidence for stockmarket investor bias is overwhelming. We are so not rational when it comes to our stocks that the thought that there are still researchers out there trying to develop theories based on the idea that we actually think through what we do is somewhat mindblowing.?However, you?d expect that if we?re strangely biased when it comes to financial transactions involving the stockmarket that we might also be a bit slanty-brained when it comes to other asset classes as well.? And as real-estate is probably the biggest single investment any of us will ever make it?s probably a prime candidate for a bit of behavioral analysis.

Sub-Prime Stretched

The interaction between real-estate and other asset classes was well exemplified by the most recent bust, as poorly managed sub-prime mortgages fed through into the wider markets and economy resulting in an economic convulsion we?re still feeling the effects of.? In fact since 1970 there have been around 25 booms and subsequent busts in developed economies, as discussed by Luca Agnello and Ludger Schuknecht in Booms and Busts in Housing Markets, who find that these movements are related to short-term interest rates, the general availability of credit and mortgage market deregulation.? Basically if you make it easier to borrow people will, and all too often they?ll borrow more than they?re able to repay when times get a bit tougher.

This behaviour immediately signals that there are some underlying biases here ? the lack of foresight in taking on debt at a stretch which you can?t repay when things get harder is a typical failure to discount the future properly, a tendency we?ve seen in reverse in retirement investing where people also fail to prepare for the future.? Given this you?d expect that the literature would be full of evidence about the behavioral ineptitude of property investors but, in fact, it?s rather limited in this regard.

Losses in Helsinki

A couple of years back we looked at the history of property rights and the likely behavioral implications in Property Rights and Wrongs, and the more recent research suggests that the indications there were correct.? The same behavioral flaws that impair our judgement on the question of stocks are equally relevant to real-estate pricing.

Mikko Eini? and Markku Kaustia in Price Setting and the Reluctance to Realize Losses in Apartment Markets?have shown a range of peculiar things occurring in Finnish real-estate, over and about that nation?s peoples? addiction to long summer holidays in cabins far out in their beautiful countryside. ?Amongst other things they suggest that the results are consistent with the unconscious application of our old friends loss aversion and mental accounting.

Loss aversion is perhaps the key behavioral bias of all ? pretty much the original finding of the founding fathers of behavioral finance, Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman, was that people simply hate taking a loss.? They?ll sell their winners to lock-in a gain, even if they?re selling something which will probably keep on going up (and by-and-large they do), and they?ll hold onto their losers in the hope of making back their gains (and by-and-large they don?t).? Losses cause regret and hurt twice as much as gains, and avoiding them is a powerful instinct (see Loss Aversion Affects Tiger Woods, Too).

Round Numbers and Mental Accounts

Eini? and Kaustia make a number of interesting, and rather odd, observations: there are an inordinately large number of sales at zero capital gains, for instance, with the data suggesting that people are waiting long times to obtain their desired prices, suggesting that they?re very unwilling to realize a loss.? There are also a large number of sales at gains of 25%, 33.3% and 50%, an indication perhaps of people locking in their gains or maybe the well known tendency of people to find round numbers highly salient (see: Irrational Numbers: Price Clustering and Stop Losses).

?Special Offer: Invest like Buffett, Slater and Greenblatt. Click here for details ?

Mental accounting is another powerful behavioral bias, an idea proposed and popularized by Richard Thaler.? The concept is simple ? we tend to form separate mental accounts for our money which we then manage separately.? We might, for instance, be better off taking a loss on our condo and investing it into the booming Mongolian stockmarket than hanging on and waiting to break-even and miss the emerging market opportunity of a lifetime.? However, mental accounting mitigates against this, forcing us to hang on to our collapsing condo and meaning we lose out twice ? once because we lose more on our property than we need to and a second time because we?ve lost our Far Eastern gains (see: Mental Accounting: Not All Money is Equal).

Disposed to Profit

Again the researchers suggest mental accounting may well be playing a part in their participant?s thought processes:

?We find that a large number of apartments are sold exactly at the purchase price. These zero-return observations form an important part of the general loss realization aversion pattern. The results are consistent with the idea that sellers are trying to break even in their mental accounting, framing the purchase as a gain or loss in relation to the original purchase price.?

In particular the research shows a jump in the willingness to sell when a property moves into positive territory, which we?d expect given previous research in this area.? Interestingly, though, this is an effect net of transaction fees ? which suggests that people may be biased, but they?re not stupid.

All Mavened Up

Given that the evidence for these common behavioral biases seems to be quite strong in real-estate transactions we might also expect other familiar friends to appear when we start looking at the boom-bust behaviour of property markets.? A likely suspect would be herding, the tendency of people to follow each other rather than thinking for themselves.? In Mimetic Herding Behavior and the Decision to Strategically Default Michael Seiler, Mark Lane and David Harrison certainly seem to find evidence that the decision to post back the keys is linked to herding:

?We find that homeowners are easily persuaded to follow the herd and adopt a strategic default proclivity consistent with that of their peers. Herding behavior is stronger when a maven, or thought leader, is involved and weaker when the person finds strategic default to be morally objectionable.?

Mimetically Speaking

The invocation of Mimetics ? the predisposition to learn by repeating observed behaviour ? offers a explanation of why we abandon our own beliefs in order to follow someone else?s; it?s a biologically evolved response to situations of uncertainty.? The ideas that a real-estate expert can influence default decisions and that the defence against it is dependent on feelings of moral obligations are both fascinating and worthy of more analysis.? However, the overall finding that herding is a factor in real-estate behaviour, both for professionals and the rest of us, is both suggestive and indicative.

Of course, anyone who spends time looking at and thinking about behavioral bias can find it pretty much anywhere they look.? That?s both a strength and a weakness, because anything that explains everything probably explains nothing.? But if you do want a an explanation of why real-estate booms and busts get out of hand then starting with cheap money and adding a dose of behavioral economics will probably get you a long way.

Source: http://www.stockopedia.co.uk/content/a-bias-for-real-estate-investing-68813/

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St. John crime report | NOLA.com

St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff Mike Tregre has released the following information. The following incidents were reported on Oct. 19.

ARRESTS

Thomas Dewey III, 36, 433 Orange Loop, LaPlace, was arrested on Oct. 18 and booked with parole violation.

Joshua Garrett, 19, 128 Hollywood Park, Montz, was arrested on Oct. 18 and booked with criminal damage to property-$500-$50000.

INCIDENTS

124 Joe Parquet Circle, LaPlace, items were reported stolen on Oct. 18.

408 Camphor Drive, LaPlace, a peeping tom was reported on Oct. 18.

Railroad Avenue, Reserve, items were reported stolen on Oct. 18.

179 Belle Terre Blvd., LaPlace, criminal damage to property was reported on Oct. 18.

123 Warwick St., LaPlace, a home was reported broken into on Oct. 18.

The following incidents were reported on Oct. 18.

ARRESTS

Bruce Rayfield Jr., 36, 525 NW Second St., Reserve, was arrested on Oct. 17 and booked with DWI - second offense, possession of a schedule II controlled dangerous substance, reckless operation, open container law and windshield obscured.

Lisa McGee, 41, 247 Belle Terre Blvd., LaPlace, was arrested on Oct. 17 and booked with altering a prescription for a controlled dangerous substance.

Kentrell Patterson, 21, 1501 Cambridge Drive, LaPlace, was arrested on Oct. 17 and booked with possession of a schedule I controlled dangerous substance.

INCIDENTS

Marathon refinery, St. James Parish line, someone reported that Russians were taking pictures of the plant on Oct. 17.

1190 E. Airline Hwy., LaPlace, items were reported stolen on Oct. 17.

1729 W. Airline Hwy., LaPlace, items were reported stolen on Oct. 17.

417 E. 26th St., Reserve, items were reported stolen on Oct. 17.

181 Regala Park Road, Reserve, an overhead projector was reported stolen on Oct. 17.

1600 Marseille Dr., LaPlace, a vehicle was reported broken into on Oct. 17.

2384 Country Club Drive, LaPlace, a vehicle was reported broken into on Oct. 17.

3 Gleneagles Drive, LaPlace, a vehicle was reported broken into on Oct. 17.

15 Turnberry Drive, LaPlace, items were reported stolen from a vehicle on Oct. 17.

399 Highland Drive, LaPlace, items were reported stolen from a vehicle on Oct. 17.

2504 Highland Drive, LaPlace, a home was reported broken into on Oct. 17.

Source: http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2012/10/st_john_crime_report_148.html

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