A Second Science Front: Evolution Champions Rise To Climate Science Defense

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Eugenie Scott, executive director of the National Center for Science Education, long the nation's leading defender of evolution education, discusses the NCSE's new initiative to help climate science education.

January 16, 2012

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Eugenie Scott, executive director of the National Center for Science Education, long the nation's leading defender of evolution education, discusses the NCSE's new initiative for climate science education. ??

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=db5c2b6664f6cd8a8da4297dd31d74d0

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Internet giants oppose Web control in India court (Reuters)

NEW DELHI (Reuters) ? Internet giants Google and Facebook told an Indian court on Monday that it is not possible for companies to block offensive content that appears on their websites, in a case that has stoked fears about censorship in the world's largest democracy.

Google and Facebook are among 21 companies that have been asked to develop a mechanism to block objectionable material, after a private petitioner took the websites to court over images deemed offensive to Hindus, Muslims and Christians.

At the heart of the dispute is a law passed last year in the country that makes companies responsible for user content posted on their websites, requiring them to take it down within 36 hours in case of a complaint.

The case was originally filed in a lower court, but the companies have appealed to the Delhi High Court, challenging the lower court's ruling asking them to take down some content.

"The search engine only takes you till the website. What happens after that is beyond a search engine's control," Neeraj Kishan Kaul, a lawyer for Google's Indian unit, told a packed High Court hearing on Monday.

"If you use blocks, which is very easy for people to say, you will inadvertently block other things as well. For example: the word 'sex'. Even a government document like a voter ID list or a passport has the word 'sex'," he added.

Siddharth Luthra, a lawyer for Facebook told the court it was not possible for the social network to "single out" any individual on the basis of religion or views and said the users should be held responsible for content they post.

Less than a tenth of India's 1.2 billion population have access to Internet although its 100-odd million users make it the third biggest Internet market after China and the United States. Internet users in India are seen nearly tripling to 300 million over the next three years.

Despite the new rules to block offensive content, India's Internet access is still largely free unlike the tight controls in neighboring China.

Civil rights groups have opposed the new laws. But politicians say that posting offensive images in the socially conservative country with a history of violence between religious groups presents a danger to the public as Internet use grows.

The high court will resume hearing the case on Thursday, Justice Suresh Kait said. The judge was last week quoted by local media warning the websites of China-style controls if they did not create a means to curb material seen as offensive.

(Writing by Devidutta Tripathy; Editing by Matthias Williams)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120116/wr_nm/us_india_websites

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'Artist,' 'Descendants' score top Globe wins

The cast and crew of the film "The Artist" pose backstage with the award for Best Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical during the 69th Annual Golden Globe Awards Sunday, Jan. 15, 2012, in Los Angeles. From left, Missy Pyle, Jean Dujardin, Uggie, Michel Hazanavicius, Berenice Bejo and Penelope Ann Miller. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

The cast and crew of the film "The Artist" pose backstage with the award for Best Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical during the 69th Annual Golden Globe Awards Sunday, Jan. 15, 2012, in Los Angeles. From left, Missy Pyle, Jean Dujardin, Uggie, Michel Hazanavicius, Berenice Bejo and Penelope Ann Miller. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

In this image released by NBC, Jean Dujardin accepts the award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy Or Musical for "The Artist" during the 69th Annual Golden Globe Awards on Sunday, Jan. 15, 2012 in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/NBC, Paul Drinkwater)

Actor George Clooney, left, poses backstage with the award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Drama for the film "The Descendants" with Stacy Keibler during the 69th Annual Golden Globe Awards Sunday, Jan. 15, 2012, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

In this image released by NBC, presenter Natalie Portman is shown during the 69th Annual Golden Globe Awards on Sunday, Jan. 15, 2012 in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/NBC, Paul Drinkwater)

Viggo Mortensen arrives at the 69th Annual Golden Globe Awards Sunday, Jan. 15, 2012, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles)

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) ? The black-and-white silent film "The Artist" led the Golden Globes with three wins Sunday at a show that spread Hollywood's love around among a broad range of films, including best drama recipient "The Descendants" and its star, George Clooney.

Wins for "The Artist" included best musical or comedy and best actor in a musical or comedy for Jean Dujardin. Along with best drama, "The Descendants" won the dramatic-actor Globe for Clooney.

The dual best-picture prizes at the Globes could set up a showdown between "The Artist" and "The Descendants" for the top honor at next month's Academy Awards.

Other acting winners were Meryl Streep, Michelle Williams, Christopher Plummer, and Octavia Spencer, while Martin Scorsese earned the directing honor.

"I gotta thank everybody in England that let me come and trample over their history," said Streep, earning her eighth Globe, this time as dramatic actress for playing former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

Williams won for actress in a musical or comedy as Marilyn Monroe in "My Week With Marilyn," 52 years after Monroe's win for the same prize at the Globes for "Some Like It Hot."

The supporting-acting Globes went to Plummer as an elderly widower who comes out as gay in the father-son drama "Beginners" and Spencer as a brassy housekeeper joining other black maids to share stories about life with their white employers in the 1960s Deep South tale "The Help."

"With regard to domestics in this country, now and then, I think Dr. King said it best: 'All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance.' And I thank you for recognizing that with our film," Spencer said.

Scorsese won for the Paris adventure "Hugo." It was the third directing Globe in the last 10 years for Scorsese, who previously won for "Gangs of New York" and "The Departed" and received the show's Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement two years ago.

He won over a field of contenders that included Michel Hazanavicius, who had been considered by many in Hollywood as a favorite for his black-and-white silent film "The Artist."

Williams offered thanks for giving her the same award Monroe once won and joked that her young daughter put up with bedtime stories for six months spoken in Monroe's voice.

"I consider myself a mother first and an actress second, so the person I most want to thank is my daughter, my little girl, whose bravery and exuberance is the example I take with me in my work and my life," Williams said.

Dujardin became the first star in a silent film to earn a major Hollywood prize since the early days of film. He won as a silent-era star whose career unravels amid the rise of talking pictures in the late 1920s.

It's a breakout role in Hollywood for Dujardin, a star back home in France but little known to U.S. audiences previously. His French credits include "The Artist" creator Hazanavicius' spy spoofs "OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies" and "OSS 117: Lost in Rio."

While the musical or comedy categories at the Globes offer recognition for lighter films amid Hollywood's sober-minded awards season, the winners usually are not serious contenders for the Oscars. The last time the winner for best musical or comedy at the Globes went on to claim best-picture at the Oscars was nine years ago with "Chicago."

This time, though, "The Artist" and Dujardin have enough critical mass to compete at the Oscars with dramatic counterparts such as "The Descendants" and Clooney.

Both films have a good mix of laughs and tears. "The Artist" could be called a comedy with strong doses of melodrama, while "The Descendants" might be described as a drama tinged with gently comic moments.

Directed by Alexander Payne ("Sideways"), "The Descendants" provided a more down-to-earth role for Clooney, who's often known for slick, high-rolling characters such as those in his "Ocean's Eleven" heist capers and or the legal saga "Michael Clayton."

Adapted from Kaui Hart Hemmings' novel, "The Descendants" casts Clooney as Matt King, the scion of an aristocratic Hawaiian clan and a neglectful dad suddenly forced to hold together his two spirited daughters after his wife falls into a coma from a boating accident.

Along the way, Matt uncovers a staggering secret about his marriage and comes to reevaluate the principles under which he's lived his life.

Charming audiences since it premiered last May at the Cannes Film Festival, "The Artist" tells the story of George Valentin (Dujardin), a big-screen superstar known for adventurous comic capers alongside his adorable dog, who's always at his side on screen and in real life.

As talking pictures take over and the Depression hits, George loses everything ? his career, his marriage, his fortune and his home. Through it all, he has a guardian angel in Peppy Miller (Berenice Bejo, a supporting-actress Globe nominee and Hazanavicius' real-life romantic partner). A rising talkies star, Peppy got her career going with help from George, and she now aims to repay the favor.

The only time silent films have won best-picture or acting Oscars was in the awards first year, for 1927-28, 16 years before the Golden Globes even started.

At that first Oscar ceremony, when the transition to the sound era was just under way, the silent winners included the war story "Wings" as outstanding picture and the marital betrayal tale "Sunrise" as most unique and artistic picture, the only time that category was used. Janet Gaynor won as best actress for "Sunrise" and two other silent films, while Emil Jannings was picked as best actor for the silent films "The Last Command" and "The Way of All Flesh."

Other than some short silent films and one silent foreign-language nominee in 1983, it's been all talkies among contenders for top honors during Hollywood's awards season in the 83 years since the first Oscars.

"The Artist," which led the Globes with six nominations, also won the musical-score prize for composer Ludovic Bource.

Among its losses was for screenplay, a prize that went to Woody Allen for his romantic fantasy "Midnight in Paris," the filmmaker's biggest hit in decades. Never a fan of movie awards, Allen was a no-show at the Globes.

Steven Spielberg's "The Adventures of Tintin" won for best animated film, while the Iranian tale "A Separation" was named the foreign-language winner.

Ricky Gervais, who has ruffled feathers at past shows with sharp wisecracks aimed at Hollywood's elite and the Globes show itself, returned as host for the third-straight year. He started with some slams at the Globes as Hollywood's second-biggest film ceremony, after the Oscars.

Gervais joked that the Globes "are just like the Oscars, but without all that esteem. The Globes are to the Oscars what Kim Kardashian is to Kate Middleton. A bit louder, a bit trashier, a bit drunker and more easily bought. Allegedly. Nothing's been proved."

He also needled early winners, saying the show was running long and stars needed to keep their speeches short.

"You don't need to thank everyone you've ever met or members of your family, who have done nothing," Gervais said. "Just the main two. Your agent and God."

___

Online:

http://www.goldenglobes.org

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-15-US-Golden-Globes/id-2107e74c97c242328b40e56de3ae6692

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Obama challenges Republicans on goal they embrace

President Barack Obama delivers remarks on government reform, Friday, Jan. 13, 2012, in the East Room of the White House in Washington.(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

President Barack Obama delivers remarks on government reform, Friday, Jan. 13, 2012, in the East Room of the White House in Washington.(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

President Barack Obama delivers remarks on government reform, Friday, Jan. 13, 2012, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)

President Barack Obama delivers remarks on government reform, Friday, Jan. 13, 2012, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama is promoting his efforts to make government more efficient and to persuade companies to bring jobs back to the U.S. from overseas.

He rolled out those election-year ideas this past week and used his radio and Internet address Saturday to urge Congress and the private sector to get on board.

"Right now, we have a 21st century economy, but we've still got a government organized for the 20th century," Obama said. "Over the years, the needs of Americans have changed, but our government has not. In fact, it's gotten even more complex. And that has to change."

On government reorganization, Obama wants a guarantee from Congress that he could get a vote within 90 days on any idea to consolidate federal agencies, provided his plan saves money and cuts the government. His first order of business would be to merge six major trade and commerce agencies into one, eliminating the Commerce Department, among others.

The proposal is a challenge to congressional Republicans because it embraces the traditional GOP goal of smaller government.

"These changes will make it easier for small-business owners to get the loans and support they need to sell their products around the world," he said.

Obama is also promising new tax incentives for businesses that bring jobs to the U.S. instead of shipping them overseas, and he wants to eliminate tax breaks for companies that outsource.

"You've heard of outsourcing. Well, this is insourcing," said Obama. "And in this make or break moment for the middle class and those working to get into the middle class, that's exactly the kind of commitment to country that we need."

Obama went so far as to bring several U.S.-made products to display in his weekly video ? a padlock, a candle, some socks and a pair of boots ? to demonstrate his commitment to made-in-America manufacturing.

Republicans used their weekly address to promote the Keystone XL project to carry oil from Canada to Texas Gulf Coast refineries. Under a GOP-written provision Obama signed into law just before Christmas as part of a tax bill, the president faces a Feb. 21 deadline to decide whether the $7 billion pipeline is in the national interest.

The GOP is pounding Obama over the issue, saying it's a question of whether he wants to create jobs and import energy from a close friend and ally, or lose jobs and see Canadian oil go to Asia instead.

"If the Keystone XL pipeline isn't built, Canadian oil will still be produced and transported," said Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D. "But instead of coming to our refineries in the United States, instead of creating jobs for our people, instead of reducing our dependence on Middle Eastern oil and keeping down the cost of fuel for American consumers ? that oil will be sent to China."

Obama had sought to delay the project and the State Department has warned the deadline doesn't leave it enough time for necessary reviews. Hoeven accused Obama of turning his back on American workers if he fails to approve it.

___

Online:

Obama address: www.whitehouse.gov

GOP address: www.youtube.com/gopweeklyaddress

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-01-14-Obama/id-a18b964adf2d4526a23d5c1e42489e69

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JPMorgan earnings miss, Europe drag stocks lower (AP)

NEW YORK ? Stocks fell in morning trading after a rare earnings miss for JPMorgan Chase, the country's largest bank, and as reports swirled that France and other European governments may get their ratings cut soon.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 123 points to 12,347 as of 1:30 Eastern time. That's a drop of 1 percent. All 30 stocks fell.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. led the Dow lower, losing 3.8 percent. Bank stocks fell broadly. Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. dropped 8 percent.

It was the first earnings miss for JPMorgan since the final quarter of 2007, a period in which a credit crunch began taking a toll on financial markets. The thinking is that if JPMorgan, widely considered one of the best managed big banks, had trouble in the fourth quarter of 2011, the rest of the industry may have trouble, too.

"JPMorgan is the gold standard," said Phil Orlando, chief equity strategist at Federated Investors. "So what happens to the banks that aren't quite as strong and aren't quite as well managed."

It's called the "cockroach theory" on trading desks, Orlando said. "You never see just one cockroach. If you see one, you know there's bound to be a lot more."

The euro slipped to its lowest level in 17 months after reports came out that Standard & Poor's may follow through on warnings to cut credit ratings for European governments. The euro dropped 1.3 percent against the dollar to $1.26. Borrowing costs for Italy and Spain, two countries at the center of the region's debt crisis, increased.

The dollar and U.S. Treasury prices rose as investors moved money into lower-risk assets. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note fell to 1.84 percent from 1.93 percent late Thursday.

Standard & Poor's warned Dec. 5 that 15 countries that use the euro were at risk of getting downgraded, citing higher borrowing costs for top-rated governments and ongoing disagreements among European leaders.

The weakness at JPMorgan opened the season for bank earnings on a sour note. Though a pickup in the stream of U.S. earnings may help steer markets over the coming days, Europe's debt crisis is likely to remain the focus.

In other trading, the Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 14, or 1.1 percent to 1,281. The Nasdaq composite fell 26, or 1 percent, to 2,698.

Even with Friday's fall, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq remain on track to post gains for the second straight week. The Dow is down 0.1 percent for the week.

Among stocks making larger moves than the overall market Friday:

? Diamond Foods Inc., which makes Emerald Nuts, plunged 13 percent after The Wall Street Journal reported that federal prosecutors opened a criminal inquiry into its financial practices. The Journal also reported that two large shareholders have dumped most of their stakes in the company.

? Safeway Inc. rose 1.5 percent. An analyst at Jefferies placed a "buy" rating on the stock on the expectation that the grocery store chain will benefit from an improving job market, especially in California.

? Alpha Natural Resources fell 10 percent, the largest loss in the S&P 500. The coal company bought Massey Energy last year, and the U.S. Department of Justice is considering whether to prosecute those who ran Massey when its Big Branch mine exploded in 2010.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120113/ap_on_bi_st_ma_re/us_wall_street

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Social media widens scope of Nigeria fuel protests

Protesters on day five of the nationwide strike following the removal of a fuel subsidy by the government, in Lagos, Nigeria, Friday, Jan. 13, 2012. Unions in Nigeria announced Friday a weekend pause in a paralyzing national strike amid new negotiations with the government over spiraling gasoline costs. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

Protesters on day five of the nationwide strike following the removal of a fuel subsidy by the government, in Lagos, Nigeria, Friday, Jan. 13, 2012. Unions in Nigeria announced Friday a weekend pause in a paralyzing national strike amid new negotiations with the government over spiraling gasoline costs. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

People protest on a sign written on a major road saying' No subsidy removal' on day five of the nationwide strike following the removal of a fuel subsidy by the government in Lagos, Nigeria, Friday, Jan. 13, 2012. Unions in Nigeria announced Friday a weekend pause in a paralyzing national strike amid new negotiations with the government over spiraling gasoline costs. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

Muslim women pray as the protest on day five of the nationwide strike following the removal of a fuel subsidy by the government in Lagos, Nigeria, Friday, Jan. 13, 2012. Unions in Nigeria announced Friday a weekend pause in a paralyzing national strike amid new negotiations with the government over spiraling gasoline costs. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

Angry youths protest as one youth carries a brazier with burning trash on day five of a nationwide strike following the removal of a fuel subsidy by the government in Lagos, Nigeria, Friday, Jan. 13, 2012. Unions in Nigeria announced Friday a weekend pause in a paralyzing national strike amid new negotiations with the government over spiraling gasoline costs. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

Angry youths protest on day five of a nationwide strike following the removal of a fuel subsidy by the government in Lagos, Nigeria, Friday, Jan. 13, 2012. Unions in Nigeria announced Friday a weekend pause in a paralyzing national strike amid new negotiations with the government over spiraling gasoline costs. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) ? A nationwide strike and demonstrations have unleashed years of pent-up frustrations in Nigeria over its kleptocratic leaders, and the rage has grown even stronger across social media this week.

Twitter users shared pictures of dead protesters while others broke down the oil-rich nation's 2012 budget figures, comparing funds allocated to the president and vice president's offices with the cost of living of the average Nigerian. Hackers have targeted government websites, while others criticized local news coverage of demonstrations in nation where journalists often accept bribes from those they cover.

"I think the government has opened a can of worms and we are now picking each one at a time," said Kola Oyeneyin, 31, an entrepreneur who uses Twitter to give protest updates.

Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets across Africa's most populous nation to protest the government's removal on Jan. 1 of a subsidy that had kept gasoline prices low for more than two decades. Overnight, prices at the pump more than doubled, from $1.70 per gallon (45 cents per liter) to at least $3.50 per gallon (94 cents per liter). The costs of food and transportation also doubled in a nation where most live on less than $2 a day.

President Goodluck Jonathan insists the move was necessary to save the country an estimated $8 billion a year, which he promises will go toward badly needed roads and public projects. But the president, who used Facebook to announce he would run in the nation's presidential elections last year, has faced increasingly angry comments on his own profile where most offered praise in the past.

Protesters ? who joined the current nationwide labor strike under the hash-tagged slogan of "Occupy Nigeria" ? say the government is in no position to ask people to sacrifice in a nation with extravagant government spending and a history of widespread theft of billions by military rulers and politicians.

Nigeria, an OPEC member nation producing about 2.4 million barrels of crude oil a day, is a top supplier to the U.S., but virtually all of its petroleum products are imported after years of graft, mismanagement and violence at its refineries.

"They (the government) are saying that they need to save. OK, but do you need to save by making us pay for your waste?" Oyeneyin asked.

The country only recently passed a Freedom of Information bill granting, in theory, public access to documents. But the nation's budgeting remains opaque at best in a nation that operated for years under an official secrets act that made unauthorized release of government information an imprisonable offense.

"People are now more informed about what's going on and it won't be long before we have an open and transparent government," said Ngozi Sulaiman, a businesswoman who was sending photos to her Blackberry contacts from a protest in a posh Lagos neighborhood.

However, social media also has spread false information about government resignations in recent days as well. Text messages circulating the country also fed a rumor that a radical Islamist sect planned to infiltrate and bomb demonstrations.

A group of hackers also have attacked a series of government websites over several days, including the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Friday.

Eager to calm public anger, government-aligned groups have published front-page newspaper advertisements for days trying to sell Nigeria's more than 160 million people on the idea that money saved by removing fuel subsidies will go toward needed projects. While Nigeria has an unruly free press, underpaid journalists often accept so-called "brown envelope" bribes slipped into briefing documents at news conferences. And at least one private news channel in the country has gotten calls from government officials asking it not to broadcast live images of a daily demonstration in Lagos that drew more than 20,000 people on Friday alone.

Criticism of news on the state-run Nigerian Television Authority also sparked a protest outside its Lagos headquarters by more than a thousand people Thursday. The channel aired a short story on the protest 43 minutes into its nightly broadcast, after a host of pro-subsidy removal stories and commercials.

The protests will continue to be swayed by social media, despite low incomes, as Nigeria has the continent's top mobile phone market and is estimated to have the largest online audience in Africa.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2012-01-14-AF-Nigeria-Fuel-Subsidy-Media/id-268c09f867f14ebcbb6752738e207fc5

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7% Alpha ? World Beta ? Stock Market and Investing Blog of ...

We published?The Ivy Portfolio?back in 2009, and honestly it probably should have been three separate books (investing like the endowments, global tactical approaches to investing, and picking stocks via the 13F tracking of hedge funds). ?We went with the kitchen sink approach, and now the good news is that you can buy the $50 book for $9 on Kindle which is pretty cool.

I?ve got a good bit of totally new material coming out in the next few months so stay tuned (finally).

Anyways, we spent a chapter educating on 13F investing in Ivy, what works, what doesn?t work. ?We then have done lots of follow up posts on 13F ideas, and we will update this post from last year with new stats:

The Value of Ira Sohn (Hedge Fund Stock Picks)

There are a lot of people debating the value of stock picking events like the recent charity Ira Sohn Conference. ?Felix Salmon and David Gaffen debate?the usefulness (Felix responds?here)? and Joe?Weisenthal chimes in here.

There is?so much?misinformation in the 13F space, and most comments are simply not based in a firm understanding of what works and what doesn?t, but rather guesses. ? But that is what most financial commentary is (ie all of the commentary surrounding buy and hold and market timing, what drives stocks, often has the feel of debating religion or politics). ?I like reading David, Joe, and Felix but if you want to know what works and what doesn?t in 13F tracking you should be listening to people that have spent many years getting their hands dirty with the data and truly understand what works (and what doesn?t) like?Jay at MarketFolly?or Maz at?AlphaClone?or John Heins at Value Investing Insight.

There is also reams of academic papers on the subject including this paper from my friend?Wes Gray at Empirical Finance?that demonstrates ability to follow managers and disclosures.

Some of the comments:

Gaffen: ??Some of them (following hedge funds) work and some of them don?t?the more complicated you get and the more derivitives you get involved in the less you can follow?the ones that are slightly more straightforward you can follow.? ?David is spot on here.

Felix: ??Trying to chase hedge fund managers is a fools errand?my big problem in all of this is that you and I have no ability to pick stocks and if we have no ability to pick stocks then what on earth makes us think we have the ability to think we can pick hedge fund managers.? ?Clearly I disagree.

I am a quant. ?I used to pour through these filings by hand a number of years ago (take a look at the blog archives back in 2006 and 2007), but being a quant I could never get comfortable with following these managers until I tested them.? I had an inkling that it worked but I wasn?t?sure.? Like Fama says, ?if it is in the data??

?so my intern and I went and backtested 10 funds (Buffett, Blue Ridge, Greenlight, etc) and what we found is that there is huge value in tracking the funds that have lower turnover and derive most of their value from their long stockpicking book.? Like Gaffan says, there are some things that work and some that don?t ? SAC doesn?t make sense to follow (too active), Rentec doesn?t make sense to follow (derivatives), and if you want more information there is an entire chapter?on 13F tracking in my book. ?The benefits, the drawbacks, what works and what doesn?t.

But like Salmon mentions, 13F tracking rests on two questions:

-Can anyone beat the market?

-Can you pick a manager ahead of time that will beat the market in the future?

Most of the academic literature suggests no to both answers (on aggregate). ?But does that mean someone cannot answer yes to both questions? ?Of course not.

We can all backtest until the cows come home but all that matters is real time performance of course.

All data courtesy?AlphaClone.

I included a list of 57 funds that I thought would be interesting funds to follow. ?Out of that 57, 8 were never added to the database.? Excluding the? never added, the other funds beat the S&P 500 by an average amount of 7 percentage points per year. (Historical research shows that following Buffett since the 1970s would have resulted in >10% outperformance per year ? and he has beaten by 8% per annum since ?00.? So much for all those detractors that say he isn?t a good stockpicker!)

Roughly 70% of the funds beat the S&P500 over the time period. ?The average fund beat the S&P in 2009 and 2010 before losing about 5% in 2011.

Impressive real time results, and not to mention 13F tracking?would have kept you out of Galleon.

So, at the end of the day would you rather?listen to Seth Klarman?or your local broker when picking stocks?

Top funds that did over 25% a year include:

Eagle, Pabrai, ValueAct, Newcastle, Abrams/Pamet, Baupost, Akre, Tiger, Icahn, Perry, Lone Pine, and Steel.

The worst funds were:

King Street, Tontine, Private, Glenview, Maverick, and Bridger

Here is a chart of all of the funds, and the black dotted line is the S&P 500.

?

?

Funds included in analysis:

Greenlight

Blue Ridge

Buffett

Eagle Value Partners (Witmer)

Pabrai Mohnish

ValueAct Holdings

Newcastle Partners

Abrams Capital (Pamet)

Baupost Group

Akre Capital Management

Pershing Square Capital Management

Tiger Global Management

Icahn Capital LP

Perry Capital

Lone Pine Capital

Steel Partners

Fine Capital Partners

Relational Investors

SAB Capital Management

Jana Partners

Appaloosa Management

ESL

Chieftain Capital Management (BW)

Viking Global Investors

Pennant Capital Management

Atlantic Investment Management

Highfields Capital Management

Glenhill Advisors

Cobalt Capital Management

Second Curve Capital

SemperVic Partners (Gardner Russo)

Cannell Capital LLC

Eminence Capital

Trafelet Capital Management

T2 Partners Management

Third Point

Omega Advisors

Chesapeake Partners Management

Bridger Management

Maverick Capital

Glenview Capital Management

Private Capital Management

Tontine Associates

King Street Capital

Defiance Asset Management

Abingdon Capital Management

Alson Capital Partners

Scion Capital

Shamrock Activist Value

Tracer

Barrington Partners

Gotham

Lane Five Capital

Libra Advisors

Thames River

Wyser-Pratt Management

Yaupon Partners

?

?

?

Source: http://www.mebanefaber.com/2012/01/13/7-alpha/

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