Depression Investing - Which Currencies to Hide in?

Thu, 03/12/2009 - 16:55 — Richard

 

 

Depression Investing - Which Currencies to Hide in? - The world's a mess and in our eyes policy makers are inadvertently doing their best to worsen a bad situation. [Safehaven]

Can Aging Be Solved?

Wed, 07/01/2009 - 08:02 — Richard

Can Aging Be Solved?

Gerontology pioneer Leonard Hayflick discusses the biological causes of aging.

 [MIT Technology Review]

A Powerful Way to Edit Images Online

Sun, 05/10/2009 - 00:19 — Richard

A Powerful Way to Edit Images Online - An advanced Web-based editing tool New York-based startup called Aviary is connecting to sites across the Internet.


Mystery box: This image was created with an application called "3-D box generator." The application was built by Aviary user Mike Peutz using the company's API. Other users can redesign the box via the application.
Credit: Aviary



 [MIT Technology Review]

Color E-Paper That Rivals the Real Thing

Sun, 05/10/2009 - 00:13 — Richard

Color E-Paper That Rivals the Real Thing - Turning pixels on their side may finally mean high-quality color electronic paper.

Color scheme: A prototype in-plane electrophoretic display consisting of 1,000 pixels.
Credit: Philips



 [MIT Technology Review]

Bear Market Rallies Spark False Confidence

Sun, 05/10/2009 - 00:09 — Richard

Bear Market Rallies Spark False Confidence - Based on my work, I believe that we are seeing a "resting period" just as Mr. Rhea talked about and that the market is appraising the damage to its structure. While the Dow theory does not tell us how long the bear market is apt to last ...

[Safehaven]

Relative Investment Returns of Art vs. Equities

Sun, 05/10/2009 - 00:05 — Richard

Art v. Equities -

Asher Edelman advises clients on “individualized art investment programs.” To promote that service, he has been sending out some information on the art market. Here he shows the relative returns for the end-of-year price on the Artprice Global Index v. other major indices for the 2000-2008 period. That’s a convenient time frame for making his point. But the point stands nonetheless.

chart_5-07-09

Here’s the breakdown of numbers represented in Edelman’s chart.

  • A $1 Million Investment from 2000-2008 would yield $1,711,711 if you invested in the Artprice Global Indices,
  • $780,211 if you invested in the Dow Jones Industrial Index,
  • $614,894 if you invested in the S&P 500 Index, and
  • $387,420 if you invested in the NASDAQ Composite Index


Impressionist & Modern Evening Sale Totals in Historical Context

Sat, 05/09/2009 - 23:59 — Richard

Impressionist & Modern Evening Sale Totals in Historical Context -

The graph below shows the totals for the New York Impressionist & Modern Evening sales over a nine year period beginning in 2001 up to this week. You can see from the graph that the final bar is smallest since May 2003. [We missed the gargantuan Greentree sale, where the $100 million Picasso sold--in an earlier compilation. So we've corrected the graph.] In May 2003, the overall average lot value was $2.6 million vs. a combined average lot value of $2.4 million this week.

mod-evening-sales-2001-2009

Compared to the last few years the total looks puny but in the context of the first few years of the century, the sale totals would have been on the low end but well within the range of a normal market for what was then a decent climate for buying and selling art. So let’s look at this week’s evening sales in that context. In the chart below you can see May 2009 as the final bar on the graph. The 2001-2003 period was the previous recession. So this is a good period to compare. On that basis, the market his holding up well in terms overall volume and relatively well on the average price. Though factoring in a little bit of inflation over the six intervening years would change that a little bit.

South African Art Holds Up

Sat, 05/09/2009 - 23:56 — Richard

South African Art Holds Up -

South Africa’s art market has remained relatively strong in comparison to other markets even though the country is entering its first recession in 17 years. This week’s sales were led by the Kebble Collection of art being sold by the estate of disgraced murdered mining magnate Brett Kebble. Estimated in the 50 to 70 million Rand range, the collection was 94% sold but only brought in 54 million rand ($6.42 m) at Graham’s Fine Art Gallery led by Graham Britz. Here’s Bloomberg:

Irma Stern Woman Sewing Karos

The collection of 133 items included Irma Stern’s “Woman Sewing Karos” and “Mother and Child,” and Maria Magdalena Laubser’s “Portrait of an Old Woman with Head Scarf: Landscape in Background.” Volschenk’s “The Valley of the Kaffirkuils near Riversdale” sold for 720,000 rand, a record for one his works, while Stanley Pinker’s “Trapeze in the Sky” fetched 500,000 rand, three times more than previous prices paid for his art, Britz said.

Strauss & Co. on March 8 raised 38 million rand for South African art, including 7.15 million rand for Stern’s still life portrait “Magnolias in an Earthenware Pot,” according to its Web site.

Genetic Research Work Opens Up New Horizons To The Design Of Customized Medicines Against Breast Cancer

Sat, 05/09/2009 - 23:50 — Richard

Genetic Research Work Opens Up New Horizons To The Design Of Customized Medicines Against Breast Cancer - Scientists report that gene expression profile study is a “promising strategy to individualize and improve tumour treatment”, reducing toxicity and increasing its efficiency. Their work has permitted to study in depth the molecular response mechanisms to medicines, and will be useful to design other pharmacological treatments according to the patient’s genetic characteristics.

[Breast Cancer Research News]

New Technique May Help Detect Potential Breast Cancer Spread

Sat, 05/09/2009 - 23:48 — Richard

New Technique May Help Detect Potential Breast Cancer Spread - A new phase III clinical trial of early stage breast cancer patients has shown that a molecule designed to home in on nearby lymph nodes is just as accurate as current techniques, but faster, more specific and easier to use.

[Breast Cancer Research News]

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