The LLVLC Show #248: Richard Morris Shed 150 Pounds On Whole Foods Low-Carb Diet

Richard Morris is a leading voice for whole foods low-carb nutritionInspiration comes in all forms and a personal testimony of triumph over a challenging situation could be the impetus for helping someone else deal with their own issues. This is one of the reasons why I like to feature people who have lost weight and improved their health on a healthy low-carb lifestyle. Today's podcast interview guest knows what it is like to live a morbidly obese, unhealthy lifestyle and radically changing his lifestyle for the better.In Episode 248 of "The Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Show with Jimmy Moore," we hear from 150-pound whole foods low-carb weight loss success Richard Morris, author of an amazing book entitled A Life Unburdened: Getting Over Weight and Getting On With My Life (read my review by clicking here). The turnaround from a 400+ pound man into the health-conscious advocate for real food eating is absolutely awe-inspiring and Richard is quite the ambassador for this particular low-carb way of eating. It's one of the reasons I interviewed him at my blog a few years back because he has so much good to say about healthy low-carb living. You'll hear how much the Weston A. Price Foundation has impacted Richard's life--so much so he was asked to speak at their 2008 annual conference about his weight loss success.There are FOUR ways you can listen to Episode 248:1. Listen and comment about the show at iTunes:2. Listen and comment about the show at the official web site:3. Download the MP3 file of Episode 248 [24:09m]:4. Calling (818) 688-2763 to listen via PodlinezSubscribe to the RSS feed or you can click on the "Subscribe" button at iTunes. If you are having trouble, then watch this video tutorial from my producer Kevin Kennedy-Spaien. Were you inspired by the health turnaround in Richard "America's Most Dangerous Man" Morris? If so, tell us about your experience following it in the show notes section of Episode 248. Pick up a copy of A Life Unburdened: Getting Over Weight and Getting On With My Life and bookmark Richard's web site BreadAndMoney.com.Coming up on Thursday, you will hear my interview with Dr. Robert Su, author of the incredible new book Carbohydrates Can Kill, who will describe his own health and weight loss journey following a carbohydrate-restricted diet and explain how he came to the conclusion that consuming carbs is deadly. PLEASE HELP US SPREAD THE MESSAGE OF THIS SHOW! If you have not already done so, please go to the iTunes page for my podcast, click on "Write a Review" and share what my podcast means to you. And if you'd like to financially support this podcast, then please consider clicking on the "Donate" button on the side panel of the podcast web site. We appreciate your generosity and support! THANK YOU for listening to "The Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Show with Jimmy Moore."

Give-me-a-hug pillow~~

Why can’t eBay be more like Amazon?

This week saw both eBay and Amazon release their Q1 figures, with whats becoming a sad norm: eBay underperforming, Amazon bucking ecommerces downward trend. Mark T. posted the obvious question in our comments: why? Let me get what I want So to answer Mark, heres what I think: shopping on eBay is too damn difficult. eBay is the only site on the internet where you can be told off for changing your mind. If I’m buying from Amazon, I can put an item in my shopping basket and take it out again get halfway through checkout and decide I don’t want it go to pay, and decide I’m not going to pay, and then decide I prefer something else, and cancel in the click of a button so long as my item hasnt been dispatched yet. I can’t do *any* of that on eBay. eBay should join the 21st century, and get a shopping cart and a buyer-initiated cancellation before dispatch process, before all buyers quit in frustration and go somewhere else where its easier to shop. Every time I suggest eBay needs a shopping cart (and yes, I say it a lot ), a seller tells me that it wouldnt work because buyers would leave things in their carts, and those items would be stuck in limbo. Funnily, Amazon Marketplace has made this work just fine: the item isnt yours until youve paid for it and someone else can still buy it from under your nose. So in fact, youve got *more* incentive to buy now, *more* incentive to get on and check out – rather than doing the eBay thing of popping that BIN item on your watch list and forgetting about it. If we made it easier for people to shop, they would shop *more*. Of course, a shopping cart would require one other change to the eBay system: the much-needed addition of instant payment required for multiple items. Its utterly ridiculous that this hasnt be implemented, meaning that those of us who commonly sell multiples have to sit on unpaid eBay orders for sometimes weeks at a time. If eBay needs an incentive to make these essential changes, think about the extra PayPal-funded sales that multi-item IPR would bring in. But you will change your mind The easier shopping = more shopping rule also applies to order cancellation. Buyers – whether we like it or not – have a legal right to change their minds. The current system of UIDs undermines that right. Its too complicated, its too easy for either party to get wrong, it relies on clear and accurate communication when tempers may be getting frayed. And it should be gotten rid of. Lets replace it with: a buyer-initiated cancellation before dispatch process: until the seller has marked the item dispatched, the buyer can cancel their purchase. The PayPal payment will be refunded, the eBay fees (all of them, including featured) will be refunded, and the item will be automatically put back into stock – either added back into a live multi-item listing, or if on a single listing, made available for relisting to the seller. a seller-initiated cancellation before payment process: if the buyer hasnt paid after a stated amount of time (3, 5, 7 days&? could be seller-selectable) the seller can just cancel the sale and get their fees back. Without arguments, without negative feedbacks, without disputes. And for both of these, I would envisage saying that as no transaction has taken place, no feedback can be left by either party. eBay will doubtless worry that some sellers would abuse such a system to avoid fees. IMHO eBay are so obsessed with the idea of fee-avoidance that theyre ruining the site because of it. They can see which sellers are potentially abusing the system easily enough, and they can take action against them. And the rest of us can quit feeling like were in some Kafkaesque nursery school where childish bureaucracy rules, and get on with buying and selling. Youve got everything, now. In last weeks earnings call, John Donahoe said that eBay is outperforming ecommerce in general in every selling format it has, apart from auctions. Fixed price revenue is up 12%. Classifieds revenue is up a massive 23%. Auctions, on the other hand, are down 20%. So what is eBay doing? Encouraging sellers to list auctions. On .com, auctions insertion fees are 15c; BINs are 35c. On eBay UK, private sellers auctions starting at 99p or less have no insertion fees; BINs are 40p each if you dont have a shop. On eBay.fr, auctions are 15c and the headline price for BINs is 50c. eBay Germanys vastly complicated fee structure largely favours auctions. Sellers across all eBay sites are being pushed to list auctions. But (except perhaps in a very few specialist areas) the novelty of online auctions has worn off: buyers dont want to sit around for a week to see if theyve won – they just want to get on with their shopping: eBays own figures show that. What eBay does best is a phrase thats used often to back up arguments, and Im going to use it again here. Meg Whitman said that auctions were what eBay does best. John Donahoe seems to think that secondary market retailer clearance is what eBay does best. I disagree. What eBay does best and always has done is to provide a marketplace, for everyone, for everything. Amazon, Ebid, Bonanzle, dozens of start-up wannabees: nothing comes even close to eBays breadth of inventory, nothing comes close to the huge variety of sellers from the mother selling her kids unwanted toys to the biggest high-street names, nothing, in fact, comes close to eBay. eBay should stop being an auction site, and reposition itself as a shopping site. Sellers should be encouraged (financially) to list in the formats that work: the fixed price ones. eBay should teach buyers to think of eBay as the site where you can buy everything, right now (not a site where you can win that thing you want next week, if you havent bought it on Amazon in the meantime). Ive already waited too long Given the figures that JD announced last week, I dont think it would take much to turn eBay around. Not much except, perhaps, some rather radical thinking: to get out of the auction mindset into the shopping mindset. eBay seems to be moving in the right direction – easier returns and multi-variant listings being two such recent moves – but theyre doing it too slowly. Were due another announcement of site changes in September; rather than the fiddling for the sake of something to do while Rome burns we had this month, lets next time see some really radical change that will make eBay a great place to shop again.

Laughter among tears

I had promised not to write any more about my ex-husband's illness, out of respect for him. And The Boy.But I am breaking that promise now. Only because I have an evil sense of humor.I think my ex-husband will understand, from his new home, in Heaven.He passed away early Saturday morning, almost exactly three months from his diagnosis. Liver cancer. A bitch.He was a good man. I respected him. And I will miss his influence on my good son, The Boy, who is trying very hard to be a man right now. He is a man. And he will be a man. But anyone who has ever lost a parent will know, it is a life-changing experience. Poor kid. He's crushed.I also think that my ex-husband knows, now, how exactly I feel about him. And that comforts me.Last weekend, his friends put on a benefit dance for him.Many members of my family attended, and gave money, because they liked him, too. In fact, I don't think you could find one single soul on this earth who would have a bad word to say about the man. I think his only enemy in life was me. And I wasn't much of an enemy, considering that I liked him too.Yesterday, I phoned my Dad to tell him about the death."Oh, that's too bad," My Dad said.Then, of course, he asked about money. Was the house insured? Was there life insurance? How much did the casket cost? How much would the funeral cost? Was The Boy properly looked after, moneywise? Was there a will? Who was the executor of the estate? Who would inherit such and such.It was just nosiness, on his part. He does this same thing anytime anyone dies."I don't know how much the casket cost," I said.I had asked The Boy: "Did you pick out a nice casket?"And The Boy said "Yes. I think I picked out a casket I think Dad would like."Stupid me, for not asking how much it cost! To report back.Then Dad said:"Well, I'm glad he's not suffering anymore. I went to visit him last week. And he was low. Very low.""You went to VISIT him?" I said.Consider, for a moment. I have not been married to this man for 20 years. My Dad didn't hate him, but he didn't exactly love him, either. I, even, did not have the guts to visit this man on his deathbed. Although I did visit him. But not so close to the time, if you know what I mean. . ."Well," Dad said. "I didn't want to go to his benefit. But I wanted to give something. So I went to visit him. And I gave him twenty dollars."You gave a dying man twenty dollars?"I don't know what he did with it," he said.I don't know what he did with it.You don't know what he did with it?Well, Dad. Perhaps he broke out of the palliative care unit and put it in a VLT machine. Maybe, maybe, he made it to the liquor store and bought a case of beer. Perhaps he bribed the nurses, on his deathbed, to give him some special treatment.Now I want to say to The Boy: "For God's sake, Boy, check you poor old dead dad's pajama pockets, because there might be a twenty dollar bill in there."My husband, who is evil, believes this is the moment that my poor ex-husband was put over the edge, and became "unresponsive". Because the poor guy never got out of denial, he was actually still waiting for chemotherapy to start.But when people you haven't seen for twenty years show up at your deathbed and start throwing twenty dollar bills at you - - - well, what would you think?Jaysus.Now, I must find out how much that casket cost.This is important information.

Palin Steals GOP Show

By Catharine SkippGone were the ruby red lips and matching peekaboo pumps; the big wink served up with red meat. There was no updo. The look was sedate, save for a maverick-y black leather jacket. The famous accent was toned down; there was nary a “You betcha” to be heard. But Sarah Palin made her mark, nonetheless. With 11 somewhat somber fellow governors at her back at this week’s Republican Governors Association Conference in Miami, Sarah Palin was introduced by Texas Gov. Rick Perry with a hearty, “She is just getting started!”Palin sought to stay on message, as the governors pull together to remind the party faithful that the GOP power base has shifted to the state level, now that the White House is gone and their standing on Capitol Hill is diminished. She also sought to brush aside speculation about her own political future. "Let the pundits go on with their idle talk about the next election, what happens in 2012," Palin said. "Our concern should be about our state's next great reform, our next budget, our next opportunity to progress in the states that we serve." During the Q&A session afterward, it was clear she hadn’t persuaded the press to ignore 2012. “The campaign is over,” when asked why she was giving a press conference now. “I don’t want to talk about strategy within a campaign that is over. Just suffice it say that I, like every other governor, understands that it is very important that we are speaking to constituents, we are speaking to the people whom we are serving and you have to do that through the media so happy to do that today.”And at a session dubbed “Looking Towards the Future: The GOP in Transition,” Palin, the pitbull of 2008, offered nothing but praise for the incoming president. “If he governs with the skill and the grace and the greatness of which he is capable, we’re gonna be just fine. And as he prepares to fill the office of Washington and Lincoln, know that this is a shining moment in American history." But she showed she hadn’t lost the spunky sense of humor that helped make her such a sensation this fall. Talking to the governors in the plenary session, she gave them a thumbnail sketch of what she’d been up to since last they’d met. “It hasn’t been that long I think since we all gathered, but I don’t know about you, but I managed to fill up the time,” she quipped. “Let’s see, I had a baby, I did some traveling. I very briefly expanded my wardrobe. I made a few speeches, met a few VIPs, including those who really impact society like Tina Fey. Aside from that, it was pretty much same old, same old.”

Sun

Don't let your pets fall prey

Microchipping pets is a pretty simple process. A loaded syringe, a quick flick of the wrist...and voilá: A microchip bearing a series of digits has been “installed.” It’s standard practice for microchips to make it inside your pet. Shelters do it. Pet shops are required to do it. And in some areas, breeders have to do it, too. Add to that population the growing percentage of pet owners who feel compelled to indelibly identify their pets and an entire industry is born (small though it may be). To contribute further to the adoption of microchips as means of identification, my local Veterinary Medical Association (full disclosure: I’m on the board) sponsors a microchip week every year in advance of hurricane season. Today through Friday, the clients of participating hospitals will be able to receive $25 microchips (down from the typical price of $40-$50). Want to know why veterinarians talk up microchips so often? Consider that the vast majority of pets remanded to US shelter care have no form of identification (microchip, tag or otherwise). Among these, less than 1% are ultimately reunited with their families. That’s why, as a public policy measure, most veterinarians (myself included) believe all pets should be microchipped. Out of concern for privacy and as a financial concession, it should nonetheless remain an individual’s personal choice whether to microchip their pet or not. Still, it’s my belief that every pet is best microchipped, whether you think your pet’s physical tag and indoor lifestyle is enough or not. Too many times I’ve heard pet owners bemoan a pet’s loss and wish they’d taken this extra step. Yet the identification of pets through microchips is not so widespread as some of us would like. Less than 10% of pets are reportedly microchipped. And the biggest reason? Not so much the “big brother” issues or the expense of it, but the apathy that inevitably affects products designed to ward of future, non-pressing issues (such as pet loss). A smaller but significant percentage of microchip non-users are those among you who, having researched the issue, prefer to stay away from microchips. You’ve read about the cancers caused by chips (very rare, by all accounts) or maybe you have no faith in the entire system of microchipping. “I’ll live with the “brick and mortar” tag, thank you very much.” If you fall into this latter group you’re in good company. In fact, I’m one of those pet microchip advocates who has plenty of misgivings about the entire pet microchipping system. Like some of you, I worry about the following issues: Even if I get a microchip implanted in my pet, what are the chances that a shelter or veterinarian will actually use a scanner to check him for it? What if a private individual finds him and doesn’t think to look for a microchip? What if the person doing the scanning doesn’t do a thorough job of the search? What if she’s gotten too fat for the microchip to be read? And if the microchip migrates (to the elbow, for example)? What then? And those are just tip-of-the-iceberg troubles with microchips. Even larger issues surround the following questions: What if the scanner isn’t set to the right frequency to pick up a pet’s specific kind of microchip? If the shelter or vet doesn’t use a “universal” scanner or the pet’s microchip technology becomes obsolete the chip is useless. All scanners are capable of missing microchips. Some microchips and scanners are more likely to suffer from this problem than others. Read a past post on this for more information. What if the pet’s owner doesn’t bother to register the chip? It’s great for shelters and pet shops to have to comply with mandatory microchipping regulations but it’s a waste of taxpayer and consumer money if pet owners don’t understand the necessity of tying the pet’s otherwise useless digits to their own contact information. Why is there no sort of national registry for microchips? The jockeying of so many microchip companies for market share is ultimately detracting from the greater efficiency of a comprehensive and easily navigated system of registration. It’s for all these reasons that a comprehensive set of guidelines is in order for microchips to actually achieve what their manufacturers and marketers say they do. If the goal is “no pet left behind,” then microchip industry players, veterinarians, shelters and pet advocacy groups will have to devise a comprehensive list of how to tackle the very real problems keeping pets from finding their way back home after loss. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still in favor of microchips for every pet. But wider adoption is undoubtedly being hampered by the reluctance and ambivalence of those among us who are most likely to preach microchip awareness to the millions. Up next: My recommendations for a more workable system of microchip utilization. From veterinary hospitals to shelter workers and private pet owner compliance, I’ll include it all tomorrow. And stay tuned for more about what YOU can do to keep your pet's microchip in optimal working order.

Happy, Like, Belated Birthday

I've been sitting on this one awhile. I got a card for my friend Ethelred for her birthday back in February. Before I put it in the envelope, I scanned it because I wanted to blog about it and even promised in the birthday greeting that I would blog about it. But then I couldn't blog about it because I couldn't remember what I had named the scan, and I have a lot of scans and photos sitting around on my computer.Was it card.jpg? No.Birthday.jpg? Nope.Maybe blog.jpg. No, that's what I name the flag photos.I tried variations of Ethelred's name, including Ethelred and Eth. This morning I spent some time looking for it and finally found it again under the name pms017.jpg. Nice.Anyway, here it is.You can see why I had to get it. It's so incongruous I thought it had to have been made in China, but no, it's made of 100 percent Made-In-USA recycled WTF. I was in sixth grade when I bought the "Valley Girl Guide" from my Scholastic book order in 1982 and was a little young to be a part of the Valley Girl scene. Well, that, and the fact that I was living in Omaha, Nebraska, at the time. But I have to say I'm pretty sure this isn't Valley Girl.No, this is clearly something someone found in one of those giant clip-art catalogs newspapers and ad departments used to have before such things were computerized -- huge slippery books that you actually clipped the art out of to use it. We had one of those at the college paper Ethelred and I worked at and part of the reason I am sympathetically drawn to this card is that its leggy, angularly drawn model reminds me of late nights laughing until we couldn't see straight as Back Page boys made clip-art collages and narrated them with little speech balloons.Everything's funnier when it's in print. Or, you know, at 3 a.m.I love everything about this card. Its cheery colors. Its label text on the front (not even an exclamation point after "Valley Girl" -- it's just a statement). (On the inside, it says "Have a, like, totally awesome birthday!" in the same font.) Its attempt at flashback nostalgia and its total miss. THOSE SHOES! AND HAIR RIBBONS!I was not a Valley Girl, but she is not, either. She could be a model from a Butterick catalog, fall collection, from 1972. But what she really reminds me of is someone who would have been one of the letter-writers in Growing Up And Liking It, the little booklet about menstruation all the girls received in fourth grade at school. That site is terribly designed, but it has a TON of hilarious and infuriating information, as well as a complete copy of "Growing Up And Liking It," which my friend Natalie and I read out loud to each other as we sat in the branches of a tree in her yard after we got it, screaming with laughter and rolling our eyes.Anyway. Happy birthday, Ethelred, and many happy returns!

Report for 2006

The Bird Ecology Study Group was formed in September 2005 to encourage local birders to observe birds rather than to just look at them. This weblog, highlighting various aspects of bird behaviour, was started with the aim of making such information available to everyone and anyone.Postings initially came from a few supporters. Within a few months longstanding birders as well as newbies contributed their observations. Contributors included members of the Nature Society (Singapore) as well as non-members. Photographers were more than generous in allowing us to make use of their images, many being accidental students of bird behaviour. The blog has so far proved successful beyond our wildest dream. We started off with one to two postings a week and getting around 30 hits a day. By the end of 2005 we had about 4,000 hits or an average of 1,000 a month. By 2006 birders around the region and the world became more aware of the blog (top). The chart above shows the global share of visitors accessing the blog. Currently, we are experiencing up to 200 and above hits per day. Our postings have been increased to 5-7 a week. The total number of hits for 2006 is in excess of 35,000. The chart below shows the monthly hits or visits and the number of pages viewed for the year 2006. So far we have posted a total of 285 articles on bird behaviour – from nesting observations to interspecific relationship; and from feather maintenance to feeding strategies. Birders are now well aware that birds do get drunk, they use ants to remove parasites found on their feathers (anting), that many birds other than raptors cast pellets of indigestible matters from their food, and many more.How has BESGroup influenced birders in general, you may ask? For starters, e-loop discussions nowadays do not always provide list after list of bird species sighted. On and off you may find these lists peppered with snippets of bird behaviour. However, the best example of our success is the latest posting in the widlbird e-loop that gives an interesting account of the Oriental Honey-buzzard raiding a bees’ hive at Mount Faber (below). Although the loop discourages images, especially “pretty” images, Alan Owyong has thoughtfully directed viewers to a separate web album where viewers can see the exciting images. Thank you Alan for taking this first step in sharing this sighting with other birders. BESGroup is gratified to know that there are more birders willing to share. After all, isn’t this the time of the year for sharing?BESGroup wishes all out supporters (contributors, photographers, viewers, etc.) an interesting and successful birding in this new year. Thank you all.

Digital museum catalogs and diverse user communities

Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Vol. 9999, No. 9999. (2009), NA.This article presents an exploratory study of ldquoBlobgects,rdquo an experimental interface for an online museum catalog that enables social tagging and blogging activity around a set of cultural heritage objects held by a preeminent museum of anthropology and archaeology. This study attempts to understand not just whether social tagging and commenting about these objects is useful but rather whose tags and voices matter in presenting different ldquoexpertrdquo perspectives around digital museum objects. Based on an empirical comparison between two different user groups (Canadian Inuit high-school students and museum studies students in the United States), we found that merely adding the ability to tag and comment to the museum's catalog does not sufficiently allow users to learn about or engage with the objects represented by catalog entries. Rather, the specialist language of the catalog provides too little contextualization for users to enter into the sort of dialog that proponents of Web 2.0 technologies promise. Overall, we propose a more nuanced application of Web 2.0 technologies within museums - one which provides a contextual basis that gives users a starting point for engagement and permits users to make sense of objects in relation to their own needs, uses, and understandings.Ramesh Srinivasan, Robin Boast, Katherine Becvar, Jonathan Furner

Gondry Plans Time-Warp Fights for Green Hornet

Innovative director Michel Gondry plans to employ a new filmmaking technique to make the fight scenes in The Green Hornet visually distinctive. "I change the speed of the camera at different spots in the image at different times," Gondry told MTV's Splash Page, describing a fight-scene demo he prepared for Seth Rogen's upcoming comic book movie. "So, it seems like they're in the same world but at different times, and then they're back together." According to Splash Page: Although it's a little tricky to comprehend with the written word, Gondry basically plans to reinvent the fight scene by having Green Hornet moving slowly, Kato moving super-fast, the villains at normal speed — and then mixing it all up repeatedly. "So, one will go fast and the other will go slow, and then they'll meet," he explained. "It's [as if] they're in different dimensions, but when they touch each other they come into the same dimension." Gondry directed Be Kind Rewind and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. His adaptation of The Green Hornet, which will star Observe and Report's Rogen, is slated for release in 2010. See also: Seth Rogen Goes From Geeky Comic Hero to 'Super Antihero' Michel Gondry May Direct Seth Rogen's Green Hornet Review: Observe and Report Delights and Disturbs Be Kind Rewind Director Michel Gondry Forgoes Dreamy Plots for Straight-Up Comedy Comics-Based Movies Keep on Comin'

Authentication over a network

I’m in the process of writing a pair of applications that allows two hosts to interact. The idea is that one application (the “server”) would run on any desktop computer, propagated by Bonjour/Zeroconf (?), and the other application would run on a cell phone (iPhone, Android). How, then, do you authenticate the cell phone? A question as simple as this has kept me busy for three straight days and I can’t find a good answer to it. Ideally, the service would be installed as a package (on OSX) and there should be no user interaction at that stage, and the service would continually be available through launchd (like inetd). Authentication-driven authorization is needed because other users would be able to maliciously connect to the service while you don’t want them to. That, then, gives us two goals: When the user itself is requesting authorization, it should be as easy as possible on both the desktop and server side When a malicious users is requesting authorization, then the authentication mechanism should automatically reject the connection, without any interaction on the desktop. I might at this point be writing an important document and would not want to be disturbed with silly dialogs saying “would you like to authenticate this user”. So how do you implement authentication over a network that meets both of these requirements? I am considering using the password of the currently logged-in user on the Mac as key for authentication. However, I have yet to find a way to actually check a password for validity in Mac OS X. Its security model (rightly so) places actual authentication in a process separate than the running application (securityd and Security Agent), which means that I can’t do my own version of that. Of course, the password would be sent encryptedly over the network. I could use a separate password, but then the desktop-service would require configuration, which sucks. Bluetooth pairing-style authentication/authorization involves actual interaction, violating condition (2) above. You could pop up a dialog on the desktop asking the currently logged in user if it’s OK for the iPhone to connect, but that again sucks for the reason given in condition (2). Dear lazyweb, any ideas?

a novel symbolic representation of time series

Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery, Vol. 15, No. 2. (18 October 2007), pp. 107-144.Abstract Many high level representations of time series have been proposed for data mining, including Fourier transforms, wavelets, eigenwaves, piecewise polynomial models, etc. Many researchers have also considered symbolic representations of time series, noting that such representations would potentiality allow researchers to avail of the wealth of data structures and algorithms from the text processing and bioinformatics communities. While many symbolic representations of time series have been introduced over the past decades, they all suffer from two fatal flaws. First, the dimensionality of the symbolic representation is the same as the original data, and virtually all data mining algorithms scale poorly with dimensionality. Second, although distance measures can be defined on the symbolic approaches, these distance measures have little correlation with distance measures defined on the original time series. In this work we formulate a new symbolic representation of time series. Our representation is unique in that it allows dimensionality/numerosity reduction, and it also allows distance measures to be defined on the symbolic approach that lower bound corresponding distance measures defined on the original series. As we shall demonstrate, this latter feature is particularly exciting because it allows one to run certain data mining algorithms on the efficiently manipulated symbolic representation, while producing identical results to the algorithms that operate on the original data. In particular, we will demonstrate the utility of our representation on various data mining tasks of clustering, classification, query by content, anomaly detection, motif discovery, and visualization.Jessica Lin, Eamonn Keogh, Li Wei, Stefano Lonardi

Markets Defy Conventional Theories

By Blakemore Foster - Brighton House AssociatesDuring the past month there have been numerous articles written in financial journals and newspapers regarding the intensified effect that the global economic downturn is having on emerging markets. Developed economies are struggling to combat rising unemployment and tightening credit, and that, in turn, has had an exponentially negative impact on emerging markets that rely on developed growth for support. However, this grim news has not deterred alternative investors. During the month of March, BHA interviewed 69 alternative investors that said they were targeting emerging markets-focused funds; 36 of those investors were explicitly searching for emerging markets-focused hedge fund managers. If developed markets have been battered over the past couple quarters, emerging markets have been crushed. However, in the hedge fund space the HFRX Emerging Markets Index is down only .5%. Alternative investors appear to be taking notice of this gritty performance, and there is a very high degree of risk and opportunity in this space. With valuations so low, investors are recognizing an opportunity to move into emerging markets in anticipation of the return of rapid growth that investors saw before the current crisis. The director of research at a U.K.-based consulting firm that manages over $1 billion in client assets is actively seeking global macro managers that are currently specializing in emerging markets. Because emerging market investments have inherent risk, global macro managers are uniquely positioned to move in and out of different strategies. Managers that can shift with volatile emerging economies have an opportunity to acquire drastically undervalued assets and enjoy the upside as developed markets recover. Emerging markets funds are difficult and risky as they tend to be more volatile then funds focusing on developed stable markets. However, with nearly 70 investors during the month of March alone indicating their renewed interest in emerging market funds, there is a clear mandate for these types of managers despite current headlines.

Hedge Funds Investing in India

HedgeFund.netIn early 2008, HFN launched a series of benchmarks to trackperformance of hedge funds focusing their investments incountries or regions garnering an increasing amount ofinterest. The country specific benchmarks included the HFNBrazil, Russia, India and China Averages. At the time of launch,expectations were high for India focused funds. However, thebenchmark has shown them to be among those most impactedby the financial crisis and the country more dependent uponsustained global growth than previously expected.The HFN India Average ended 2008 -56.56% behind only theHFN Russia Average,-61.20%, for worst performing hedge fundclassification tracked by HFN. In 2009, through February, Indiafocused funds have surpassed those investing in Russia to bethe worst performing group. The HFN India Average is -9.93%year-to-date (YTD) which even trails the country’s primaryequity benchmark, the BSE SENSEX.Most likely due to poor performance and fund liquidations, thebenchmark has experienced above average turnover as 19% ofthe original benchmark funds have exited the HFN database.The total number of funds in the HFN database has fallen only13% from its peak in October 2008. Despite being higher thanaverage, India fund turnover is significantly better than otherpoorly performing fund groups. The HFN Russia Average, whichwas launched at the same time, has lost 38% of its originalcomposition and total fund products in the benchmark havefallen from 61 a year ago to 48 through February 2009.Another victim of the financial crisis could be the BRICacronym itself, or that Brazil, Russia, India and China shouldbe classified together as growth leaders. It was obvious duringthe strong markets through 2007 that each nation benefitedfrom global growth and the resulting commodity anddevelopment boom. Their mutual success was a result of theirunique positions to benefit from strong economic trends. Eachnation has had to face the economic fallout with a differing setof weaknesses which has exposed them to entirely differentscenarios for resurrecting growth.The remainder of this report will focus on the performance andgrowth trends of hedge funds investing primarily in India,including a comparison with funds investing in the othercountries formally known as the “BRICs”. The size and healthof the hedge fund industry and the exposure funds are willingto accept to the country’s economic development may have animpact on India’s recovery.Total Asset LevelsAt the end of February 2009, HFN estimated that total assetsin hedge funds investing primarily in India’s markets were$6.10 billion. Asset levels peaked at the end of 2007 at anestimated $18.74 billion, meaning India focused hedge fundassets have fallen 68% during the financial crisis. During thatsame period, the HFN India Average fell -60.87%. This is aninexact, but reasonable way to illustrate that performance hasaccounted for the vast majority of the reduction of Indiafocused hedge fund assets.Given the level of losses, we would have expected a higherlevel of investor redemptions. During the same time frame,broad hedge fund assets fell 39%. The difference being thatalmost half of the broad industry’s asset reductions came fromredemptions and liquidations. This is evidence that, for betteror worse, investors in India focused funds have not redeemedat as rapid a rate as the broad industry.Correlation of ReturnsSince the end of 2007, global markets have shown muchhigher levels of correlation than many had anticipated waspossible. Despite the underlying domestic circustances beingvastly different, emerging markets have exemplified this highlevel of correlation. In Figure 4/5 the correlations of monthlyreturns are compared for the time periods of two years prior tothe onset of the financial crisis and the fourteen months since.During the first period, the correlation of monthly returns forIndia focused funds to other emerging markets was relativelylow. India funds showed higher correlations to broad hedgefund performance than to Brazil, Russia or China focusedfunds. Since the beginning of 2008, the correlations increasedmost dramatically to China, yet actually decreased to Russiafocused funds. One possible explanation for this is the similar,high level of influence foreign investment had on the Chineseand Indian equity markets. Correlations to funds investingacross broad EM and to the broad industry benchmarkincreased only slightly.Comparisons between the India Average and the SENSEX alsoshow interesting points. If we look farther back than the twoyears prior to the crisis (1997 through 2007) the correlation ofmonthly returns between the two was only 0.58, an indicationthat before the run up to the crisis, India focused hedge fundslikely took a much more specialized approach to investing inthe region. In the two years prior to the crisis, when Indiafocused hedge fund assets increased more than 350%,fund/SENSEX correlation rose to 0.83. In the wake of the crisisthis correlation increased to 0.96.Percentile Ranked ReturnsPerhaps the most interesting aspect of percentile ranked fundreturns is evident when Figure 6 is compared to the samechart from the prior report in March 2008. At that time therewere 13 India focused funds with greater than $100mm inAUM, compared to only 3 now. This does not take into accountfunds which do not report assets to HFN, but it does clearlyillustrate the destructive losses.Going ForwardThe conceptual fault of the “BRICs”, thinking of these nationsas one highly related group, became clear in the aftermath ofthe crisis. While Russia had tried to diversify from a highlycommodity dependent economy, the faults in its bankingsystem were exposed. Brazil appeared to best solidify itscapital structure and diversify its economic base while Chinahas used its massive currency reserves to stem more severeeconomic decline. India on other hand had benefited fromglobal corporate growth and as a place of internalreconstruction driven by FDI. This combination was severelyhurt by reduced leverage in the global financial system andexposed a government less capable than China to spend tosupport growth.The $1 billion accounting fraud at Satyam Computer, thoughtto be one of the country’s leading businesses, uncovered at theend of 2008, will likely slow the speedy return of outsideinvestment. The future of hedge funds investing in Indiadepends, in part, on the ability of the Indian government tostimulate foreign investment. While steps have been made bythe government, including reducing bank cash reserverequirements and increasing rupee limits on corporate bondpurchases by foreign investors, unfortunately they have nocontrol over the ability of outsiders to generate the capital toallocate. This implies that perhaps India was more dependenton a rising global economy than initially thought and strongperformance from the countries equity markets may not returnuntil there is a clearer global economic picture.

Observe and Report Delights and Disturbs

Seth Rogen, center, plays Ronnie Barnhardt, the head of a crack team of mall cops in the brutally funny new movie Observe and Report. Photo: Peter Sorel/Warner Bros. Don't see R-rated Observe and Report if you expect a mainstream comedy with standard-issue gross-out scenes leading to a happy ending. Instead, steel yourself for a jarring journey into the twisted world of bipolar security guard Ronnie Barnhardt, played by Seth Rogen. Surprisingly complex, Observe and Report, which opens Friday, is by turns bloody and bawdy, frightening and silly, disturbing and wickedly funny. See also: Seth Rogen Goes From Geeky Comic Hero to 'Super Antihero' Gun-Loving, Zombie-Hating Twins Geek Out in Observe and Report Writer-director Jody Hill, who kicked up some laughs with abrasive Taekwondo comedy The Foot Fist Way, knows he's veering into uncomfortable territory with his second feature film. "I figured there'd be a few freaks that like it, but it's probably a polarizing film, you know what I mean? It's not for everybody," he told Wired.com in an interview after the movie's world premiere at the South by Southwest festival last month in Austin, Texas. Some unsuspecting ticket-holders will undoubtedly walk out of Observe and Report wondering what the hell they just witnessed. But those with a taste for damaged antiheroes will find much to like in a film that dares to mix nuance, vomit and violence into a delirious cinematic cocktail flavored with equal parts Pulp Fiction, The Big Lebowski and There's Something About Mary The movie's biggest surprise: Geek comedy king Rogen breaks from his lovable schlub persona to portray delusional mall cop Ronnie. Beefy and sporting a burr cut, the clean-shaven actor shows genuine acting range, especially during the many awkward moments when the real world intrudes on his character's delusions of grandeur. As head of Forest Ridge Mall's weak-ass security force, Ronnie rules his underlings with an iron fist as they do battle with skateboarders and vandals. When a flasher in a trench coat invades Ronnie's walled-off world, the self-important mall cop seizes the opportunity to look heroic. He also gets an introduction to real-world police work, courtesy of no-nonsense investigator Detective Harrison (played by Ray Liotta), who pegs Ronnie as a potentially dangerous dumbass. In the weird little drama that unfolds, Rogen's oaf staggers through a series of tiny victories and humiliating defeats. A bipolar braggart with gun fantasies who is burdened with a softly abusive drunk of a mother (Celia Weston), Ronnie gets his jollies by beating up skateboarders and squaring off against crack dealers. Rogen fully inhabits the flawed character, displaying surprising depth in his portrayal of what the actor calls a "super antihero." Observe and support: Actors Celia Weston, Michael Peña, Anna Faris and Collette Wolfe (left to right) turn up the laughs. Photos: Peter Sorel/Warner Bros. Rogen benefits from an extremely strong supporting cast. Michael Peña (Crash, Babel) earns standout laughs as Dennis, Ronnie's ridiculous right-hand man. Anna Faris (The House Bunny, the Scary Movie series) gets saucy (and sauced) as Brandi, a cosmetics-counter party girl who inspires Ronnie's fantasy life. Patton Oswalt plays the asshole boss who torments Nell (Collette Wolfe), a fragile food-court employee who sees Ronnie's softer side. And machine-gunning twins John and Matt Yuan inject a geeky goof factor as backup for their boss Ronnie. Artfully edited, Observe and Report also features a surging soundtrack that suits the movie's many moods as it darts between adrenalized rockers and softer songs. For all that, Hill's quirky, politically incorrect movie isn't for everyone. Viewers with no stomach for foul language, comedic drug abuse, brutal fight scenes, conflicted characters and full-frontal male nudity should stay home. But for those who appreciate a rough-around-the-edges dark comedy, get to the theater this weekend and show Hollywood that movies don't have to be mainstream to hit the mainline. That's an order. Wired: Brutal laughs; high-as-a-kite kiddie train ride. Tired: Co-stars a penis. Rating: Read Underwire's movie ratings guide. See also: Gun-Loving, Zombie-Hating Twins Geek Out in Observe and Report Movies: Observe and Report May Slay Dragonball SXSW: Observe and Report Makes Violently Funny Premiere Review: Pineapple Express Lightens Superhero Overload Review: Zack and Miri Scores With Funny Porno Farce