LC

Rye manhattans have been on the list the last week or so.

Happy belated birthday, Sanjeev!

Happy Independence Day to my fellow Americans

Nice job Keith.

No better time than the present! (jk of course) ;D

I would like to see longer suspensions for criminal activity and large monetary fines for the cheating-type stuff.

ENTP here, apparently. I used to score INTP/J when I was younger, oddly.

Rational thinking should overwhelm sense organs' I disagree in some contexts. Sensory perception and body language overwhelm rational thought in most communication. Imagine approaching a woman at a bar. Rational discourse is probably the least important aspect. And yet the goal is forming a relationship which can create life (or at least practice :D)

In terms of psychologically distancing myself from the bias of cloning a PM's idea, I put in enough work to make it "feel" like it is now "my" idea.

careful of environmental issues. fly ash is the biggest problem and when i looked at monarch, the regulatory pressure certainly existed. kind of a utility, though. not much sense in setting up multiple cement plants for a given geography. oh also, perhaps send a PM to user 'Aberhound', he has a good knowledge of the industry IMHO.

what about red meats, dairy, protein in general? i ask because i think "most" people are usually trying to lose weight. i'm in the opposite camp. 155 lbs, 6 feet tall of pure skinny. so recently i've started lifting heavy weights (starting strength/stronglifts) and my diet is as such: breakfast: the ron swanson 3 slices bacon 3 fried eggs 1 cup milk 1 cup coffee lunch: the steak salad 1 serving steak, cut into pieces 1 cup steamed broccoli 1 cup leafy greens 1 handful walnuts 1 avocado doused in olive oil + vinegar dinner: we subscribe to blue apron (https://www.blueapron.com/) which is really awesome. healthy, delicious, perfect serving sizes for 2, and it teaches you new cooking techniques. very cool. during the day i snack on nuts, berries, and drink milk. i definitely feel healthier and stronger, and have more energy. i was never "fat" so putting on weight is a new feeling to me.

We had a meetup in late jan organized thru this site with a good turnout, keep your eyes peeled to the "events" sub forum.

Rrrright.... So not counting 2009, which Buffett's recent purchases have been "obvious"? Or perhaps you can tell which of your recent purchases have been "obvious"? :) Obvious to him doesn't mean obvious to everyone. Otherwise, there wouldn't be much opportunity to take advantage ;) Obviously! (sorry) Apple sub-400 was pretty obvious IMHO.

Can I amend my post?? I agree with HJ :D He is right: in certain spaces, debt is necessary. Here in NYC you can't hope to make an adequate return on RE without leverage. I've used leverage in my portfolio before but for me it puts me on edge too much, psychologically, and in retrospect I don't think it was worth the stress.

leverage: if you know what you're doing, you don't need it. if you don't know what you're doing, you definitely don't need it.

Scared me, I thought you were buying Lumber Liquidators. I would be scared to be short. one of the smartest stock pickers in the world just bought a big position. I saw that, and everyone's favorite whipping boy Tilson has made a very loud short case. I don't have a position, but if I had to initiate one here it'd be short. Gross margins at all time highs, bulk of the remodeling done by the Blackstone's of the world to build the world's largest rental pool, and the business still only generates $40 MM in FCF (less than 2% FCF yield). I just don't see how you get significantly much more upside in the stock. Sorry for digging this comment chain up from the grave, but 60 Minutes apparently did a piece on Lumber Liquidators confirming they have been selling flooring with levels of formaldehyde above legal limits: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/lumber-liquidators-linked-to-health-and-safety-violations/ I actually looked into the company but passed for this reason (although it was only a rumor at the time - but my carpenter neighbor confirmed LL sold the cheapest "wood" he had ever seen).

At the firm I used to work for, (NYC architecture/permit firm) we took deposits for permitting fees for large projects up front. We did a large Nomura project where permit fees were 75%+ of the total job. But large deals usually have special pricing. For us, deposits were usually ~15-25% of the total cost of the project. Also in general cash earned by us was not remitted until milestones were completed, although once the deposit cash was in our acct we could theoretically do anything with it (pay salaries, owner withdrawals, etc.). In terms of sniffing it out, I would look for large imbalances in the cash account over time. This is probably indicative of deposits. Also maybe how revenues are earned vs. the cash account, to see if they hit a certain milestone and then can recognize revenue, assuming they play fair. By Play fair I mean, we had huge receivable problems. Small firms like this are usually on the short end of the stick vs. large guys, and other small firms usually just don't have the cash flow. But we kept things on the books to avoid write-downs for years. Cash flow is definitely king in figuring out these things, I think.

Spinoff that division and let it go bankrupt?

For me, if I make adjustments for various accountings, then I would find growth in BV useful. But otherwise it can be influenced by all kinds of non-cash charges. For example under-depreciating assets, or under-reserving for insurance policies or loan defaults. These non-cash charges may not correct themselves for years, in the meantime you get inflated growth in BV. My philosophy is that assets value = capitalized earnings stream. So book value and earnings power are really one in the same, and growth in BV equals growth in earnings power (or reduction in capitalization rate)

Oh man...he seemed like a really, really nice man from what I read of him. RIP.

Congrats Sanjeev. Best of luck with your new enterprise!

I'm really getting pulled into this one. Next I'll be believing in alien abductions. But boy, these guys are really weaving a tale if it's purely fiction. Are they that bored in Nebraska (probably). But it reads like a summer novel. Lance Munger is even involved! Judges being paid off! CPA licenses revoked! Someone needs to turn this story into a film.

Honestly...I was (and still am) curious purely for the entertainment value. It's good drama! Everyone else in society has Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, or sports drama (come on pitchers & catchers already!), and I want some investing drama. And I love a good conspiracy theory on top of it!

but at least the accounting is exciting, right? They're really canning that underfunded pension liability! I'll show myself out.

Problem with Seneca is it might be too boring. My experience with these competitions is everyone likes a catalyst...