Whataday!

GDP was weak.

Fitch went on a downgrade rampage across Europe.

And of course, the market would seem "due" for a rest after the blistering start to 2012.

And yet, you can't keep it down.

The S&P 500 has just gone green.

And what's more, some of the best "risk" measures, like our new favorite the Junior Gold Miners ETF is surging, up 2%.

Financials are doing well, as are cyclicals.

Worth noting is that the 10-year yield is actually lower today, so the market is not without some interesting internal contradictions.

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Yu Darvish's arrival in the U.S. signals yet another instance of baseball insiders and fans either salivating over or doubting the talents of an incredibly hyped foreign star.

The Texas Rangers certainly hope Darvish is worth the $100 million plus they paid to have him come stateside.

He could pan out like Ichiro or flame out like the last highly-priced Japanese pitcher to make the jump, Daisuke Matsuzaka.

Hideo Nomo is probably best known for introducing U.S. baseball fans to the wacky wind ups of Japanese pitchers, but he had three 15 win seasons. He's also the only pitcher to ever throw a no-hitter at hitter friendly Coors Field.

South Korean pitcher Chan Ho Park turned five good seasons as a Dodger into a ridiculous $65 million contract from the Texas Rangers. He ceased being productive from then on out.

Livan Hernandez came over from Cuba and got everyone in Miami excited about baseball. He was named the 1997 World Series MVP for the Marlins.

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In a tweet, CNBC Julie Boorstein says sources told her that Facebook's 2011 operating profit was about $1.5 billion and that its operating revenues were about $3.8 billion.

The numbers are basically in line with several reports we heard toward the end of last year.

Facebook is supposed to finally file for an IPO sometime next week.

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One California synagogue on the brink of bankruptcy has asked for financial help from an unlikely donor: Mel Gibson.

Congregation Beth Shalom in Corona, Calif., wrote a letter to the embattled actor asking to help their flailing synagogue, TMZ reports:

“Our proposal to you, Mr. Gibson, is since you have been cited as an Anti-Semitic, and have denied those allegations, what better way to prove to all your fans and the nay Sayers — than to endorse and help raise funds for our cause — SOS, Save Our Synagogue.”

But the best part of the letter is the last line:  ”Mr. Gibson, we offer you to be a Mensch and make a sizable contribution to our cause.”

The embattled actor’s anti-Semitic tirade to a police officer after being pulled over for a DWI was caught on tape.

In the 2006 police report of the incident, Gibson is cited as yelling: “Fucking Jews… The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world.” Gibson then asked a police officer, “Are you a Jew?”

Gibson’s film, “The Passion of the Christ,” was viewed by some critics as having anti-Semitic undertones.

Gibson has denied allegations of anti-Semitism.

This post originally appeared at The Daily Caller. 

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Michael Roseman and Michael Stockman, two former MF Global chief risk officers, will testify in a hearing next week on the MF Global bankruptcy conducted by House Financial Services Committee's oversight and investigations subcommittee, Reuters reported.

The hearing, which is schedule for February 2, is the second part of a panel that began last year on Dec. 15, when MF Global executives, including former CEO Jon Corzine, former COO Bradley Abelow and former CFO Henri Steenkamp, testified. The panel is scheduled on the Committee's website, but the full list of those testifying has not been released.

Roseman was MF Global's CRO from 2008 until March 2011, according to his LinkedIn. In previous testimonies, Corzine said Roseman had disagreed with the amount of risk that the firm was taking in relation to its European debt holdings. Bear in mind that it was the publication of MF Global's $6.3 billion worth of European sovereign debt that caused investors to lose confidence in the brokerage firm.

Stock became the CRO of MF Global last March and retained the position until the company went bankrupt, it is unclear if he still retains the CRO title, as several executives have been fired in bankruptcy proceedings. In March 2011, he told Risk.net that he wanted MF Global to take more risk. “We are going to be actively and aggressively seeking to take risks in a broad fashion. In our client-facing businesses – this is no surprise as we build out – I would suggest we are not taking enough risk,” says Stockman.

Since MF Global filed for bankruptcy on Oct. 31 of last year, the investigation the $1.2 billion shortfall in customer has continued with little avail. Many customers are still waiting to be made whole, as their accounts at MF Global were frozen after the missing money was discovered, and it was announced this week that $700 million of the money may never be returned for U.S. customers because they would have to be shared with UK clients.

The role of CROs in the fall of MF Global has been questioned before by federal officials and the media. It'll certainly be interesting to hear Roseman's side of things come February 2.

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It's no secret that Americans love fast food. 

So when we recently discovered statistics compiled by the U.S. Department of Agriculture that track the number of fast food restaurants per state, we decided to create an interactive map to see where fast food retailers are hawking their fare the most.  

Vermont, Washington D.C., Maine, Montana and Rhode Island have the most fast food spots per capita, while less surprisingly, California, New York, Texas, Florida and Pennsylvania have the most total fast food locations. 

But a recent study suggests that fast food chains are targeting the wrong states. Published last year in academic journal Population Health Management, the study found that residents living in the South and Midwest were most likely to be frequent fast-food customers, (via The Washington Post).

The study also found that higher-income households are actually more likely to nosh on fast food fare, with those earning $60,000 the most likely. Plus, 80,000 households were more likely fast-food consumers than $30,000 households.  

Given that data, the per capita concentration in the northeast makes more business sense, as states like Connecticut and New Hampshire have median household incomes right above $60,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Check out the map below to see how many chains are in your state. (The darker the red, the more fast food per capita.) And to get more information, just click on the state you're interested in.  

(Note: the map uses 2008 data of "limited service restaurants," which is the most updated information provided by the USDA.)

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In the beginning, there was the Monster Miata, which took a first-generation Mazda MX-5 and stuffed a 5.0-liter Ford V-8 between its front fenders. Production versions made around 225 horsepower, which was plenty of grunt to drive a car weighing just 2,100 pounds.

The drawback to the swap was the weight of the Ford V8, which made the car nose heavy and significantly changed the car’s near-perfect stock balance. Ultimately, the solution was to use an aluminum block Chevy LS3 V-8, which weighs far less than the Ford V-8, yet produces a minimum of 300 horsepower.

As impressive as that may be, why stop with one engine when you can bolt in two? In the finest spirit of 1960’s hot-rodding, we give you Tony Hair’s twin-engine, V-16, 1990 Mazda Miata.

The car is built around a pair of relatively stock Chevy 350 engines. Since we don’t know their origin, we’re guessing that the car’s Turbo 400 transmission is getting somewhere around 450 horsepower. If we assume 20 percent of that is lost to the driveline, that’s still 360 horsepower to the rear tires.

We’re not sure why anyone would build this, except for “because hot rod.” You could probably make similar power from a blown LS3, with the added benefit of everyday drivability (and the ability to turn corners).

That’s beside the point, and the world already has enough V-8 Miatas in it. We salute you, Mr. Hair, for boldly going where no one before you was crazy enough to, and building what’s likely to be the world’s only twin V-8 Miata.

Call us when you bolt the blowers on and add the nitrous kits, OK?

This post originally appeared on Motor Authority.

Check out a video of it below (via YouTube):

Now take a look at this pristine collection of cars >

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During the height of Jewish immigration to the United States--from the 1880s to the First World War--most Jews who came to New York crowded into tenement buildings in the Lower East Side, with barely any light or air.

The standard was 24 families in a 25- by 100-foot lot, at four families per floor, according to the American Institute of Architects Guide to New York City.

The streets, however crowded, at least offered fresh air and light, and were bustling with commerce: hucksters peddling their wares, vendors dealing pickles, knishes, fish.

While today, the Lower East Side is merely a shadow of its Jewish immigrant past, some culinary enclaves have managed to survive the ebb and flow of New York life.

We've rounded up some of our favorite classic eateries for a historical walking-and-dining tour of the neighborhood. They're a throwback to the old world, and offer some of the best eats around.

RUSS AND DAUGHTERS: A quick walk down East Houston Street from the Second Avenue stop on the F train, this appetizing store, which opened in the early 1900s, has been in the same spot, owned by the same family, for four generations.

Choose from a variety of smoked fish, including salmon, herring, white fish, sable, sturgeon, and peppered mackerel. If you're feeling a particular yen for luxury, have a worker help you pick out a tin of fine caviar (500 grams of the coveted Siberian Baerii sell for $1,140).

There are dried fruits, too: peaches, pears, plums, papaya, and other varieties.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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Stewart Downing has yet to score a goal or even deliver an assist in 22 Premier League games this season. And that has left some Liverpool supporters wondering why the club paid $31.3 million to acquire the midfielder.

Well, according to Mat Kendrick of the Birmingham Mail (via The Big Lead)it turns out the owners of Liverpool became infatuated with Downing after seeing a video of him making trick shots into a series of trashcans from a long distance. There was only one problem: the video was fake.

Liverpool is owned by the Fenway Sports Group, which is led by Boston Red Sox owner John Henry and chairman Tom Werner (LeBron James is a minority owner)...

“There was some footage of Stewart where he was, from 30 yards away, kicking a football into five different trash cans and it was brilliant,” said chairman Werner..."John and I said: ‘Oh my God, this player is brilliant, we’ve got to figure out a way to make a deal with him’.”

It turns out, the video was created as part of campaign to sell tickets.

Here is the video...

 

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The media has decided that Romney is the frontrunner again, and that Newt is back to his implody ways.

Someone just needs to convey that now to the rest of America.

The Hill:

Gingrich leads by 6 points, according to Gallup’s national daily tracking poll, with 31 percent compared to Romney’s 25 percent.

Earlier this week, Gingrich surpassed Romney nationally for the first time in a month. Romney had a 24-point national lead as recently as Jan. 14, but since then the trends for the two front-runners have reversed course.

Despite topping out at 31 percent, Gingrich has managed to stretch his lead over the last few days with Romney dropping 4 points this week.

Yes, yes, we know. National polls supposedly don't matter in a primary. Whatever.

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It has been eight years since the team with the best record during the regular season won the Super Bowl. In fact, in the last six years, four seasons had a Super Bowl champ with a regular season record that didn't even rank in the top three.

What we are seeing is more teams like this season's New York Giants, who finished the regular season with a 9-7 record.

And now, for the third time in the last four years, the two teams in the Super Bowl combined for at least 10 regular season losses. That had only happened two other times in the first 30 years of the NFL's 16-game schedule.

Parity is good for keeping fans involved. But it also makes it less likely that the best team wins it all...

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Sorry Bank of America, but this is just so funny.

Funny or Die made a video poking fun at Bank of America for flip-flopping on their $5 debit card fee. Basically, the video collects a bunch of "personal stories" from "BofA customers" about how the bank treated them.

For example: "Bank of America threatened to burn my house down if I didn't switch to paperless billing. Then they didn't. No harm, no foul."

It's less than two minutes long so watch it. It's totally worth it:

 

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Today's advice comes from Google CEO Larry Page in his interview with Adam Lashinsky at FORTUNE.

"My job as a leader is to make sure everybody in the company has great opportunities, and that they feel they're having a meaningful impact and are contributing to the good of society."

Google is known for its amazing corporate culture and perks, like free food, gym memberships and lots of workplace entertainment. Larry Page says that looking out for their employees pays off for Google in the long-run. 

According to Page, the company's health care costs have grown less rapidly compared to other businesses mainly because they have healthy food available for their staff and even a doctor on site. If employees feel better, this also helps improve productivity, he says.

Google's corporate philosophy promotes an environment where people feel valued, are excited about their jobs and feel like their work results in large-scale changes in the world. 

"It's important that the company be a family, that people feel that they're part of the company, and that the company is like a family to them. When you treat people that way, you get better productivity. Rather than really caring what hours you worked, you care about output."

Want your business advice featured in Instant MBA? Submit your tips to tipoftheday@businessinsider.com. Be sure to include your name, your job title, and a photo of yourself in your email.

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Like beauty itself, beauty treatments are the stuff of dreams.

They promise va-va-voom lashes, frizz-free hair and flawless complexions.

But are they worth your money?

Not if value your natural good looks—and your wallet.

We spoke to renown New York City dermatologist Bruce Kratz and Meghan Rabbit, Total Beauty's executive editor, to get the scoop on what trendy beauty services to reconsider if you're on a budget and love the "real" you.

Gel manicures

Cost: $30-$90, depending on your city and salon

Gel manicures give the old-fashioned manicure a run for its money by lasting up to three weeks. In the past year, the market has "exploded" among women trying to cut down time at the salon.

But the fuss-free perks come at a price: ravaged nails and the risk of skin cancer, said Rabbit.

A gel manicure starts with a layer of base coat, then up to four layers of a whole lotta polish in between drying sessions under a UV heat lamp. If that last part raised your antenna, it should: Slather on some SPF hand cream.

To remove the teflon-like polish, you'll pay $10 to $25 to have a professional scrape. it. off. But that's not all—before the cringe-inducing scrape session, you'll be wrapping your digits in foil and soaking them in acetone to get them prepared.

"If you try to take off the polish, you could do some serious damage," warned Rabbit. "If it's done properly by a professional, your nails should be OK, but talk to a friend to get a referral before you get it done."

Lash dips

Cost: $120-$300

Lusting after Kim Kardashian's doll-like lashes?

Lancome mascara is one way to get them, but a lot of women are trying lash dips, a treatment that curls the lashes with a hot comb, then lacquers 'em up with a semi-permanent solution.

The result is Kim-like fringe that doesn't last very long. "That's a huge expense for two weeks of lashes," said Rabbit.

One Total Beauty editor tried the treatment and couldn't open her eyes the next morning when her top and bottom lashes got stuck to eachother.

"She paid $300 not to open her eyes the next morning," said Rabbit, "and she felt that her lashes were thinner and weaker. It took a month for them to feel normal again."

Brazilian blowouts and Keratin hair smoothing treatments

Cost: $300-$500

The promise: sleek, silky strands and less one-on-one time with your blowdryer.

The result: a fabulous coif for the first couple months, followed by years of lifeless locks.

"One reader told us her naturally curly hair became stick straight," said Rabbit, adding that others complained the treatment had turned their hair "flat" and "lifeless."

After the straightening product is applied, it's sealed with a hot iron to trap in the moisture and create a glossy finish. The smelly process came under fire last year when Oregon authorities cited several instances of nosebleeds, breathing problems and eye irritation, reported the Times.

The Federal Drug Administration doesn't approve hair-straightening treatments, so there's no telling what's seeping into your scalp, much less your stylist's nostrils.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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With Twitter's launch of new enhanced profile pages for brands imminent, advertisers might be wondering how to take advantage of the new tools the microblogger is offering.

A Twitter document—stamped "confidential"—featuring step by step instructions for advertisers who want to enhance their tweets and utilize the new environment was leaked to us yesterday.

It describes product specs, background designs, geographic targeting, and a promoted tweets tool that responds to whether a tweet is resonating with other users, among other features of the new platform.

Enhanced profile pages come with a price, according to the source who passed the document to us: "You can only get an Enhanced Profile Page if you are verified. You can only get verified (easily) if you spend money" advertising with Twitter, the source said. (The price is as much as $15,000.)

Looks like that long-awaited revenue plan may be finally falling into place!

There's one caveat: The date on the document is from December, and it appears to be instructions for the small number of pilot brands, such as Coca-Cola, who were selected for a test-launch of the enhanced profile page product last year.

Nonetheless, it's a fascinating look at the nuts-and-bolts of what advertisers go through in dealing with Twitter.

Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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This post originally appeared at The Christian Science Monitor

Veteran liberal politician Grigory Yavlinsky, who's been a presidential candidate three times before, will not be allowed to run against Vladimir Putin in the upcoming March 4 presidential polls, Russia's official electoral commission announced today.

The decision will not only prevent Mr. Yavlinsky from campaigning or addressing the electorate over the next five weeks, but also denies his party, Yabloko – Russia's oldest grassroots liberal party – from fielding election observers to monitor the voting.

 Kremlin critics are in an uproar over the ruling, saying it proves that the Putin system of "managed democracy," which weeds and landscapes Russia's political garden to ensure no viable independent challengers to the Kremlin's chosen candidates can emerge, is still alive and well.

 "The Putin strategy is to win the election decisively in the first round, and the presence of Yavlinsky on the ballot would have complicated things," says Sergei Strokan, a columnist with the Moscow business daily Kommersant.

"In the past, Yavlinsky could be relied on to get a limited and predictable portion of the vote from urban, middle class intellectuals, and that was OK with the Kremlin," he says. "But since the mass demonstrations in December, everything's changed. Unlike others on the ballot, Yavlinsky could be an acceptable protest candidate for millions of people who are tired of Putin. He could catch a protest wave that would possibly prevent Putin from winning a first round knockout. So, they decided he had to be excluded."

Election official Nikolai Konkin, who announced the ruling today, insisted that it was purely a matter of technical propriety. Yavlinsky's supporters collected well over the two million signatures needed on nomination petitions in the 25 days allotted, but upon examination, officials found about a quarter of them to be invalid, Mr. Konkin said.

Yabloko's press spokesperson, Igor Yakovlev, says the party collected the necessary number of signatures despite the short time frame and harassment from local authorities. He says that disqualification of signatures is one of the standard methods from the "managed democracy" toolbox for keeping genuine challengers off the ballot.

"The decision not to register Yavlinsky is purely political, and we believe it was taken by Putin himself," says Mr. Yakovlev. "That's the way the system works. But if Yavlinsky is off the ballot, it means these presidential election lose whatever was left of their legitimacy."

Many critics believe the decision to block Yavlinsky was made to favor Mikhail Prokhorov, the billionaire owner of the New Jersey Nets basketball team, who announced his candidacy last month and easily sailed through the registration process this week.

Mr. Prokhorov is youthful and energetic and talks a liberal line that might well appeal to Russia's disgruntled urban middle class. But he is also one of Russia's widely-despised "oligarchs," who earned his fortune in the murky 1990s privatizations of Soviet state assets, and a jet-setting playboy who, critics insist, stands zero chance of appealing to restive voters in Russia's far-flung conservative and working-class hinterland.

Prokhorov has denounced the decision to bar Yavlinsky from running.

"I have always stood for fair competition in politics," Prokhorov wrote on his LiveJournal blog about the Yavlinsky ruling. "This is what our citizens, who've been going to rallies, are demanding. A victory in the presidential elections should be won only by fair means."

With the ballot now finalized, the permitted candidates, besides Prokhorov, include Communist Party chief Gennady Zyuganov, whose ability to attract protest votes beyond his traditional supporters is sharply limited by the negative attitudes of many Russians toward the party that led the Soviet Union. Another is ultra-nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky, who has run in every Russian presidential election since 1990. His Liberal Democratic Party, whose name is widely seen as a misleading misnomer, is a fixture in the parliament and has never voted against any Kremlin-approved policy.  

Yet another contender is former speaker of the upper house of parliament Sergei Mironov, a former Putin crony who polled less than 1 percent when he ran against him in 2004. Mironov's most notable quote in that campaign was, "We all want Vladimir Putin to be the next president."

According to a public opinion poll released Friday by the state-run Public Opinion Research Center, Putin remains the most popular candidate, with 49 percent of respondents supporting him. Mr. Zyuganov is far behind with 11 percent, Mr. Zhirinovsky with 9 percent, and Mr. Mironov with 6 percent. Prokhorov received 4 percent of the votes, but pollsters point out that his support has doubled in the past week, indicating strong momentum. 

"Speaking personally, I would have gladly voted for Yavlinsky, but I will never support Prokhorov because I think he's as bad as Putin, even if he isn't an outright Kremlin project," says Mr. Strokan, the columnist. 

"I'm surely not the only one who thinks that way. I know an awful lot of people who would like to see an acceptable protest candidate on the ballot, an anti-Putin option that they could vote for with clear consciences," he adds. "Now there isn't one." 

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What is the efficient market explanation for the instant 19% surge in RenRen -- the so-called Facebook of China -- on the news that Facebook will be filing IPO papers wednesday.

For what it's worth, we're aware that these secondary names always move around IPO events of a dominant player in a market, but we don't.

Also, other internet/social names are moving nicely: LinkedIn, Baidu, Sina, and so on.

(HT: @technisidr)

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This is part 1 of a 2 part series.

The new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau states on its website that its mission is to “Make markets…work for Americans” via “education…. and enforcement”. In the next few installments I’ll offer suggestions as to where the new Bureau should focus its early efforts.  

The Bureau would do well to start by educating investors of the inherent conflict of interest between online brokers and their customers. Brokers make money with every client trade and so encourage their accounts to transact as frequently as possible, advertising lower commissions and increased ease of trading through their new high-tech trading mobile apps.

What online brokers don’t tell their clients is that each app that lets customers buy stocks from their iPhone while on a ski lift, or sell while in the checkout line at Duane Reade is actually costing the investor dearly. In fact, not only does the now standard $7/trade commission add up to a meaningful cost for a trader of any appreciable frequency, it isn’t even the largest cost to their trading.  

Each time an investor executes a trade they must pay half the bid/ask spread in order to be filled. For the most liquid US stocks (the components of the S&P500, roughly 5% of listed U.S companies) that spread is currently roughly 0.1%. Half of one tenth of one percent may not seem like a lot, but it adds up. Market makers, those that collect the bid/ask costs, have long been highly profitable. Specialist firms, which had a virtual monopoly on market making in the US until ten years ago, were no exception. One such specialist firm, Spear, Leeds , Kellogg sold to Goldman Sachs for $6.3bbb in 2000.  

In recent years hedge fund and investment bank’s high frequency trading desks, with their superior technology, have taken over the market making function from specialists. Profits to high frequency traders in the U.S. run to tens of billions of dollars a year. Each time a retail investor crosses the bid/ask spread they contribute to that kitty. To put it in actual numbers, assuming an investor trades in $25k unit size, his commissions at $7/trade are 0.03% of the value of the trade, which is 0.06% round trip (enter and exit).

Adding in the bid/ask spread .1% the total cost is .16% per round trip. Trading in an out of a stock once a month would mean fees of 1.9% a year. Trading once a week would cost 8% a year. Virtually no retail investor can make money in the long run paying away 2% a year let alone 8% a year yet the online brokers are unfettered in encouraging their clients to trade, trade, and trade some more. It should be noted that online brokerages funnel client orders to high frequency trading desks for a fee and are therefore collecting more than just the commissions on each order. They are in fact collecting a large percentage to the total cost to the client and thus have all the more reason to encourage heavy trading.  

Another reason investors should trade less rather than more is the significantly greater tax burden to more frequent trading. For instance, given today’s short and long term capital gains tax rates of 33% and 15% respectively, If you pay $100 for a stock and it appreciates 20% each year and you sell it at the end of 5 years, you will have $226 after compounding gains and capital gains tax costs. If on the other hand you pay $100 for a stock, and once each year sell it and buy it back even at the same price you sold it, and do so until the end of 5 years, you will have $187 after compounding and taxes (not including commissions). 

Why the difference? Because if you hold an investment rather than flip it not only do you benefit by ultimately paying the lower long term capital gains tax when you sell (assuming a profit) you get the benefit of your profits growing tax free until you sell—in other words your earnings compound on a pre- tax basis. However if you keep selling and buying back, you must pay taxes and thus your compounding each year is on an after-tax rather than pre-tax amount.

Even if long term and short term cap gains rates were both say 20%, pre-tax compounding would provide an additional $10 (10% of the original investment) more at the end of 5 years if you bought and held rather than traded in and out once a year.  That’s 2% a year, which may not seem like a lot but if a money manager beat his benchmark by 2% a year over a ten-year period, he’d be ranked in the top 5% of all mutual fund managers.  

Finally, there is ample evidence that the more frequently an investor trades the worse he does independent of trading fees and taxes. In 2000 Daniel Kahneman protégé Terry Odean and Brad Barber published  a paper called ‘Trading is Hazardous to Your Wealth’ wherein they looked at 10,000 investor accounts and found that the average retail trading decision is usually ‘wrong’ (buys went lower, sells went higher) over the course of the following year. It follows then that they found that the most active investor had the worst results (even before costs).

The authors were not certain why frequent trading would cause worse trades, but our surveys show that the public base investment decisions almost solely on recent price performance (as opposed to quality of company’s products, valuation, etc..) and as such are momentum traders, expecting prices to do tomorrow what they did today. However market data shows that prices typically revert, and thus the more frequently a retail investor trades the more he loses—even before their higher transaction fees and taxes.  

An investor stands the best chance of making money the less he trades. A consumer financial protection bureau worthy of its name would require brokerage advertisements to carry a warning that indeed frequent trading can be hazardous to your wealth. 

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Dust from the construction of New York's Second Avenue subway is being blamed for a growing number of repertory problems among Upper East Siders, casting doubt over a rosy air quality report from the Metro Transit Authority.

At a Second Avenue Task Force hearing last night, locals living near blast sites around East 70th and 72nd streets complained about what is being called "Second Avenue subway syndrome," said to involve chronic coughs, asthma and other problems, according to Andrew Siff at NBC.

DNA Info also reports that local doctors have noticed changes in air quality, and say that they are seeing an increase in patients with dust-related chronic sinusitis and post-nasal drips.

But the MTA's top executive Dr. Michael Horodniceanu, who commissioned a four-week study into pollution levels near the site during September and October, told the gathering the air is safe to breath.

The report, by Parsons Brinckerhoff, identified increased levels of small particles and sulfur dioxide for up to six days, but concluded that it was not caused by the construction blasting.

"The data shows we are not causing any current or future threat to the people around Second Avenue," Dr. Horodniceanu told last night's gathering, adding that all the chemical levels identified in the study were within EPA limits.

Residents remain skeptical.

The $4 billion project, which has already faced multiple delays and other setbacks, is due to be completed in December 2016.

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A few days before Thanksgiving on November 21, Marines William Carpenter and Nick Eufrazio were assigned to guard a particularly dangerous post in southern Afganistan. 

Dan Lamoth at The Marine Corps Times reports that it wasn't long into the two Marine's shift that they came under fire and an insurgent grenade fell onto the shelter where they fought.

No one knows for sure what happened then, but by all accounts Carpenter threw himself into the blast to protect Eufrazio. Carpenter himself can't remember what happened and Eufrazio was injured so badly he can't speak at all (video of Carpenter below).

The Marines are investigating what happened, while the troops on the ground that saw the aftermath posted their comments at Lamoth's page.

• LCpl Lilly, Jared Says: 

First off there is no “-or not?”. I was there that day, I was the first one on the roof and I saw the aftermath. There is no doubt in my mind that Kyle jumped on that grenade. Grenades push everything away when they blow up not draw them to the blast seat. Kyle’s upper body was positioned directly on top of the blast seat. Thats the kinda of guy that Kyle was, and Nick was like his little brother. Kyle would have done anything to protect him and he did, to try and associate any doubt with that is shameful. Kyle commited his body to making the ultimate sacrifice it just wasn’t his time. He didn’t try to throw the grenade away and lose a hand, he didn’t try to cover it with a kevlar, he covered that grenade just as he approached everything in life, with everything he had. I didn’t need to be an eye witness to what happened to know what happened that day, Kyle did everything in his power to save his friends life and did.

• HM3 CHRISTOPHER FREND Says: 

As the corpsman at the base. I was working on carpenter, the extent of his injuries sustained that day it’s only proof enough that this young man rolled onto the grenade that day. If he had not done it the injuries he should of received would of been on the left side of his body not the right. as of the no witness part. A whole squad was there to witness this event and if that’s not enough then the science and physics behind it will prove it true. any one that deals with explosives can tell you that grenades blow up…….they don’t blow down. Kyle will always be a hero.

Here is Carpenter in his own words:

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