VersaillesinNY

Some Fool Threw Away a Hard Drive with £4.6 Million of Bitcoin On It - Adam Clark Estes - Ever accidentally lose a pound coin? Then you count what’s in your war chest, realise it’s a quid short, and kick yourself for being careless? Well, a British IT worker knows what that feels like—except times 4.6 million. James Howells did a really smart thing back in 2009 and started mining Bitcoin before anybody had ever heard of it. He managed to stockpile 7,500 of the magic cryptocurrency before his girlfriend made him stop. (Evidently, she thought it “was getting too noisy.”) Based on today’s exchange rate of about £613 per Bitcoin, that stash is worth about £4.6 million. Then, earlier this year, Howells did a really stupid thing and threw away the hard drive that contained the key he needed to access the small fortune he’d saved up. Actually, he did two stupid things. First, he spilled lemonade on his mining machine and sold it for scrap, which is why he took the hard drive out in the first place. Then he threw it in the bin. His £4.6 million now rests under about four feet of mud and trash at the local landfill. For all intents and purposes, the money is gone. Howells can’t afford to spend the money it would take to mobilise a team to dig through the landfill, and, even if he did, he probably wouldn’t find the hard drive anyway. “I’m at the point where it’s either laugh about it or cry about it,” Howells told The Guardian. “Why aren’t I out there with a shovel now? I think I’m just resigned to never being able to find it.” Consider it a buried sacrifice to the cryptocurrency gods. [Guardian] http://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2013/11/%E2%80%8Bsome-fool-threw-away-a-hard-drive-with-4-6-million-of-bitcoin-on-it/

Alfred Feld, Goldman Sachs’s 80-Year Employee, Dies at 98 http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-26/alfred-feld-goldman-sachs-s-longest-serving-worker-dies-at-98.html http://www.bloomberg.com/video/goldman-says-goodbye-80-year-employee-alfred-feld-maz0ZIXWRAubVyRqc4evZg.html

It's always a good read. ---------------------------------------- "Were you to visit our offices, you would be reminded more of the reading room in a college library than some frenetic trading room at a major brokerage firm." Christopher H. Browne TBFundsSemiAnnualReportSept2013.pdf

Thank you Sanjeev.

Some videos features Sal Khan, Elon Musk, Kenneth Griffin, Ray Dalio and Daniel Loeb: http://www.livestream.com/dealbook Sal Khan http://www.livestream.com/dealbook/video?clipId=pla_bfe9a767-9908-42b0-a044-ae5546ad1347&utm_source=lslibrary&utm_medium=ui-thumb Elon Musk http://www.livestream.com/dealbook/video?clipId=pla_2acee178-0c26-44e2-a95a-47ea95337b0c&utm_source=lslibrary&utm_medium=ui-thumb Kenneth Griffin http://www.livestream.com/dealbook/video?clipId=pla_b88155d1-8177-4d4c-9485-94c1815758db&utm_source=lslibrary&utm_medium=ui-thumb Ray Dalio http://www.livestream.com/dealbook/video?clipId=pla_29509cc4-3b72-4dc1-be4c-dac6c86ce62c&utm_source=lslibrary&utm_medium=ui-thumb Daniel Loeb http://www.livestream.com/dealbook/video?clipId=pla_d6168ad0-5bf7-474e-826a-32aaf2261be2&utm_source=lslibrary&utm_medium=ui-thumb ---------------------------- "I think the idea that everyone can have wonderful results from stocks is inherently crazy. Nobody expects everyone to succeed at poker." Charlie Munger

"What's the secret of a great marriage? It's not looks, nor intelligence, nor money -- it's low expectations." Warren Buffett Good luck Gio and may the force be with you.

Another tycoon just passed away, the famous real estate developer and gambler Paul Reichmann. The remainder of his empire can be found in Brookfield Office Properties. His family story is interesting and well documented. Extract "With brothers Albert and Ralph, Reichmann built Olympia & York into “the greatest property development company in Western history,” according to Anthony Bianco, a former Businessweek writer who wrote a book on the family. Before its 1992 bankruptcy filing, the company was the largest private owner of commercial property in New York City. Forbes magazine calculated the brothers’ cumulative net worth at $9.2 billion at its height in 1988, making them among the world’s richest people" The saga http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-25/paul-reichmann-olympia-york-family-s-idea-man-dies.html Faith and fortune http://www.businessweek.com/stories/1997-01-19/faith-and-fortune The man who blew $10 billion - Fortune magazine http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1993/05/17/77850/index.htm Recommended Book: The Reichmanns: Family, Faith, Fortune, and the Empire of Olympia & York By Anthony Bianco --------- "You build on cost and you borrow on value." Paul Reichmann

Thanks for sharing. We notice that Gates is a big fan of Prof. Vaclav Smil. According to Vaclav's bio: Vaclav Smil does interdisciplinary research in the fields of energy, environmental and population change, food production and nutrition, technical innovation, risk assessment, and public policy. He has published more than 30 books and some 400 papers on these topics. Here are two of his lectures on Energy transition. ------------ "I’ve read about 80 books a year for the past 50 years. I come from cultural breeding. I don’t have a cellphone. When you spend all your time checking your cellphone messages, or updating your Facebook (of course I don’t have a Facebook page) then you don’t have any time for reading." Vaclav Smil

http://www.tweedy.com/resources/library_docs/quarterly/FundCommentary%20Q3%202013%20-%20Final.pdf "Bargain hunting remains challenging, but we have plenty of dry powder should the markets present us with an opportunity." Q3 commentary - Tweedy, Browne Company FundCommentary_Q3_2013_-_Final.pdf

Congrats racemize, your wife did surprise you! Warren does answer his mail. A couple years ago, I sent him a letter along with a Sophia Loren photo book. He replied with a handwritten thank you note and did not return the book :)

Thanks ajc!

Ourkid8: When star investor Warren Buffett came knocking on his door in 2008, Riegel sent him away. "Money was never my motivation," he said at the time. "I don't even know when I made my first million." Source: http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/former-haribo-leader-hans-riegel-dies-at-90-a-928034.html My guess is that he should have attended a Berkshire Annual meeting before declining Warren's offer. ;)

According to Bloomberg Business week: Hans Riegel sounds like something straight out of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The chief executive of German candy maker Haribo, best known for its chewy Gummy Bears, is eccentric, yet kindly to his employees and hugely successful in business. Every morning Riegel calls his top managers one by one into his Bonn office and personally distributes their mail, his way of keeping tabs on developments. Riegel sometimes stands at the end of the Haribo conveyor belts as they spew out licorice snails or golden chewy bears—100 million pieces of candy a day—stuffing his cheeks with samples. To keep in touch with Haribo's target market, Riegel watches children's TV programs and reads comic books. Riegel, who doesn't believe in ad agencies, writes Haribo TV commercials himself. This quirky management style seems to work. Family-owned Haribo doesn't release financial information, but Germany's Manager magazine estimates sales at $1.5 billion. Unlike Willy Wonka, though, Riegel does not plan to choose a successor by stashing a golden ticket in a chocolate bar. Ownership will pass to a foundation that will oversee management. Here are some nice papers on this marketing & sales champion whose leader just passed away. When star investor Warren Buffett came knocking on his door in 2008, Riegel sent him away. "Money was never my motivation," he said at the time. "I don't even know when I made my first million." http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/former-haribo-leader-hans-riegel-dies-at-90-a-928034.html The golden gift (A must read if you enjoyed the book: The Emperors of Chocolate) https://www.hersheystory.org/lib/pdfs/winners/The%20Golden%20Gift.pdf Hans Riegel, German Gummi Bear Baron, Dies At Age 90 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/15/hans-riegel_n_4101090.html The History, Making and Influences of Gummi Bears http://voices.yahoo.com/the-history-making-influences-gummi-bears-73490.html CEO Hans Riegel rare interview (in German - I wish it had English subtitles) "He who retires early gets old faster." Hans Riegel

It's interesting to see that Apple is hunting for retailers talents. Here is recent TED video featuring their latest pick: Angela Ahrendts. Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts talks about the positive and transformative power of human energy Published on Apr 27, 2013 -------------------- "I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." Maya Angelou

CEOs to Face Berkshire-Loyalty Test http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304500404579125312054180366

A great entrepreneur just left us: http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/Paul+Desmarais+Power+Corp+dynasty+dies/9015677/story.html Buffett Loses to Desmarais as Power Exceeds Return - Bloomberg 2009 http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aEl4wizkuSTQ Paul Desmarais: A kingmaker expounds - Globe and Mail 2008 http://www.globeadvisor.com/servlet/ArticleNews/story/gam/20080703/RYAKABUSKI03 Power Corp. shows Buffett how it's done - Globe and Mail 2011 http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/investment-ideas/power-corp-shows-buffett-how-its-done/article589406/ Paul Desmarais Sr. rare interview (in French) http://www.lepoint.fr/actualites-economie/2008-06-26/une-legende-du-monde-des-affaires-parle/916/0/255995 --------------------------- "You need a strategy, but it must be flexible, it is the instinct that tells us when to change strategy. Both are important but we can't have one without the other." " Il faut avoir une stratégie, mais il faut qu'elle soit souple, c'est l'instinct qui nous dit quand il faut changer de stratégie. Les deux sont importants mais on ne peut pas avoir l'un sans l'autre. " Paul Desmarais Sr. The_Hidden_Empire_of_Paul_Desmarais.pdf

Published on Oct 4, 2013 Billionaire Warren Buffett says fighting over the debt ceiling 'ought to be banned as a weapon' like 'nuclear bombs, too horrible to use.' His partner Charlie Munger says Buffett 'understated how awful it is' calling the practice 'deeply immoral.'

'Breaking Bad' superfan Buffett gives finale A+ http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000204555 -------------- "So it's grade school t-ball versus the New York Yankees. Yours is just some tepid off-brand generic cola. What I'm making is classic Coke. ... Do you really want to live in a world without Coca-Cola?" Walter White

Lessons learned from Batista or How Brazil's Richest Man Lost $34.5 Billion: http://www.businessweek.com/printer/articles/157438-how-brazils-richest-man-lost-34-dot-5-billion ------------------- “You only have to do a few things right in your life as long as you don’t do too many things wrong.” Warren Buffett

Harvard magazine: Bill Gates, Inside the Gates By Walter Isaacson on Sept 20, 2013 http://harvardmagazine.com/2013/09/walter-isaacson-on-bill-gates-at-harvard

Thanks for sharing the planet money link. I find one Coke episode particularly fascinating: Episode 416: Why The Price Of Coke Didn't Change For 70 Years: http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2012/11/13/165046113/episode-416-why-the-price-of-coke-didnt-change-for-70-years

--------------- "Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can't lose." Bill H. Gates

Charles de Vaulx: “We Have Never Been as Cautiously Positioned” Sept 17, 2013 http://advisorperspectives.com/newsletters13/Charles_de_Vaulx.php

Meryl Witmer, Eagle Capital Partners, reveals what she's learned from Wall Street legends. http://www.cnbc.com/id/101046912?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter ------------ "The greatest enemies of knowledge is not ignorance; it is the illusion of knowledge" Stephen Hawking

Brazil's Batista Says He'll Rise Again http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323342404579077483334974894.html Now we know why he failed: the stars were not aligned... ------------ "If you look at my astrological map, this period wasn't favorable for me. The good period? It has already started, literally this month." Eike Batista, Sept 2013 WSJ interview