Parsad

This is hilarious. Anyone who has read Black Swan knows Taleb's opinion, that the nobel prize is a joke and should be considered an insult if won. Taleb's generalizing. I'm pretty sure Woodrow Wilson deserved one for creating the precursor to the United Nations, as did Martin Luther King and Mother Theresa. If anyone's visited Poland lately, Lech Walesa probably deserved one as well. Cheers!

There was a time when winning a Noble Peace Prize was a reward for a lifetime of dedication and work for the betterment of humanity. Now its been reduced to a political prize awarded on the basis of ideology. Its significance is insignficant. I agree, but let's not completely disregard the significance of Obama's selection. The sheer magnitude of how the world views the U.S. between this administration and the previous administration is like night and day. While a hammer fist works some of the time, I believe goodwill usually leads to greater long-term alliances. Cheers!

I'm sure Bill Clinton is just pissed as hell today! This guy won in one year, what Clinton has sought for so many. I'm sure Bono is about to make a call asking for money. My brother and I were talking the other day about Bono. We believe if Bono from the 80's (that made the Joshua Tree) were able to travel time to the future and meet Bono from today, he would kick his ass and tell him what a sell-out he's become. Even more so, why is U2 allowed to shelter their money offshore, but ask international governments for theirs for humanitarian aid? At least Oprah gives away millions and millions while asking for other people's money. Anyway, that was my rant on Bono. ;D Cheers!

I believe no sitting U.S. President has won the Nobel Peace Prize while still in office since 1919 when Woodrow Wilson won and previously President Theodore Roosevelt won in 1906. Cheers!

Simons is retiring, but he will leave his investments intact within the fund. Cheers! http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=apValkFCAG9w

Is this some small-time fund manager or an attack by disgruntled shorts. Anyway, Capgrowth Partners (which I can't find anywhere) has filed a class-action lawsuit against Fairfax regarding the ORH offer. Cheers! http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/915191/000095012309049298/o57399exv99wxayx5yxiy.htm

Dual, how about you do the analysis yourself and report back to the board. Would that not add substance to my PR-like heading?

You mentioned all his funds were up > 3% when compared to S&P 500. Is the 3% annualized or total? Also, how many years are his funds in business? Thanks in advance for your comments. Yes, even with the huge loss last year, and then the subsequent rise, all of his funds have at least a 3% annualized margin above the S&P500 TR since inception. So if you invested from day one, you would have grown at a minimum of 3% better than the S&P500 TR when annualized. In fact, I believe PIF2 has something like a 18% annualized differential since day one. Can't one roughly granulate through 13Fs filings? Yes, you can but I'm not about to do the work for anyone. Cheers!

He didn't mention how many positions he has at this point. Only his partners will know at year-end when they receive audited information and his annual letter. Cheers!

PIF 2 - +112.5% YTD PIF 3 - +118.6% YTD PIF 4 - +113.0% YTD All three funds are now beating the S&P500 TR by 3% or better since inception. PIF 2 is beating it by over 17% annualized for the last ten years! He's still below his high watermarks, but at least he's moved enormously in the right direction. Assets under management are now back up to $460M, and Mohnish's stake is back up to $37M. The 2010 AGM's have switched places: California will be on September 11th, and Chicago will on September 25th next year. Cheers!

Hi David, You know, I wasted much of my eating opportunity in Chicago on Steak'n Shakes, but there are alot of great restaurants in that city. Next year I'll take it easy on the SNS, and eat a bit more at some of the other restaurants. Another great place in Los Angeles if you like seafood is Dukes in Malibu. Fantastic fish, comfy place and great atmosphere. Make sure you get a table near the windows at the back so you can watch the waves crashing about 20 feet from where you are sitting. Cheers!

Actually, Alnesh, my brother and I hung out a couple of times at "The Urth Cafe" on Melrose last September. That's where Vince and his crew usually hang out in the show. Very good coffee, dessert, pastries and sandwiches. I also took my Mom to The Ivy for her birthday. Nice atmosphere but the food is over-rated. Quite the snobby attitude from the servers as well. We had a very nice outside patio table to gawk at the celebrities. My favorite place to have a nice breakfast or lunch in Los Angeles is The Blvd restaurant in the Beverly Wilshire. The first time I went there was to meet Jonathan Dash for breakfast. Now when I go to Los Angeles, I always eat there. Very nice, but not pretentious. The food is surprisingly good for a hotel restaurant, and the prices are quite reasonable considering the location, hotel and atmosphere. The eggs bennie are one of the best, as are the Kobe beef mini burgers. Cheers!

I believe it was in the late 90's. John Forlines used to be in charge. He's still the largest shareholder, but gave up the CEO position many years ago. Remember, a long string of successes multiplied by a zero is zero. Cheers! http://www.bankofgranite.com/page/81/90-remarkable-years.html

Joint venture between Berkshire and White Mountains, Symetra Financial, plans to raise up to $575M. Cheers! http://www.rttnews.com/Content/BreakingNews.aspx?Id=1085462&Category=Breaking%20News&SimRec=1&Node=

For those that remember the Bank of Granite, hard times have come along. Cheers! http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Bank-of-Granite-Signs-Order-iw-3439832419.html?x=0&.v=1

Interesting article on how Canadian banks are taking advantage of the current global malaise. Cheers! http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aNaLwcGrz3.8

I don't think there really is such a thing as a value trap. Almost any good value idea is a distressed idea, or a business under pressure. The eventual outcome is a direct result of that business' economics, operations, competitive advantages and management. If any of them falters, there is always the possibility that the business could go under. Imagine if Coca-cola continued their shrimp farming business rather than expanding their global footprint or reinforcing their distribution system. Even Coca-cola could have gone under if management was stupid enough. So you will be correct on investment ideas and you will be incorrect on investment ideas...the goal is to get the big ones right most of the time! ;D Cheers!

The 2010 Fairfax Financial AGM will be held at Roy Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe Street, Toronto Canada. It's about a block north of the Metro-Toronto Convention Centre where the 2009 AGM was held. The date has also been switched to a Thursday (April 22, 2010), as there is a large convention being held in the city around the same time. You would be wise to book your hotels and flights early this year. You can find more information at www.fairfax.ca. We will also be holding our annual Fairfax Financial Shareholder's Dinner at Joe Badali's again, and that will be at 6:30pm on Wednesday April 21, 2010. Directions to Joe Badali's can be found here: http://www.joebadalis.com . Last year's was fantastic with Sam Mitchell, Brian Bradstreet, Wayne Cadwallader and Francis Chou all attending and answering our questions. Cheers!

He's also aligned himself often with many of the Chanos', Morgensens, Greenbergs and Noceras of the world, so it is nothing unexpected. Cheers!

I've lived here all my life, and the one thing I never grasp is exactly how high and how far Vancouver real estate prices can get. I thought it was considerably overpriced three-four years ago, yet it has gone up since. I consider it quite overvalued today as well, but unfortunately there is only so much land here, and the region is incredibly desireable. At some point we'll see a correction, but I have no idea when. Cheers!

Seven insurers this year have been forced into rehabilitation this year, compared to four last year. Penn Treaty is the latest casualty. Cheers! http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=ae9RjCMGOqkk

You know what's crazy? This dipshit puts out these phony press releases and gets these articles written, and then probably manages to raise millions in investment capital. But here we are, kicking the market's ass for four years during the worst economic slump in decades, and we can barely raise a dime. Amazing! Cheers!

I decided to spend another ten minutes on this and see what I could come up with. Apparently, one of Artin's first deals at Javan was to buy a company called "The Countertop Company" where financial terms were not disclosed, and they had multiple locations around Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina. He had this to say about the deal back then: "In the current economy, realizing solid returns on investment from the capital markets is tough," said Afsharjavan in a statement. "But, there are still great opportunities for long-term gains through direct investment in small companies with strong business models that offer growth potential." I found the company website and called a few of the stores: - The first one in Alexandria had some poor old Italian lady answer and she had no friggin' idea what I was talking about - The second location in Richmond is closed "due to the poor economic environment". - The third in Rockville had no answer or voicemail. - The fourth in Charlotte was disconnected. Somebody should write an article asking him to back up anything written about him! Cheers!

I think he's full of shit! I've tried to view their website, but it seems like it's half-finished and partly still under construction. When I tried to log-in to their client site, it wouldn't even let me attempt to enter any sort of username/password. It goes straight to "password" on a new page. I've tried to find stuff on this guy, and all I can find is the same articles and stories from when he was 19, that he sold his businesses to some company called "Javan Capital" for $6M, and he was starting a new company dealing with diamonds. No EDGAR filings for Artin, Javan Capital or New Century Investments...nothing. You would think he would have gone after some small company at some point, thus probably would have had to file a 13-D. Then all the other articles and press releases available are around this Trump offer. Trump's representative only said that they aren't sure that New Century can back their offer. His LinkedIn profile says he was CEO at Continental Alliance Corp. At EDGAR, Continental stopped filing in 1999. If he's 21 now, then he was filing his 10-Q's and 10-K's when he was 11 years old...at the latest...the earliest filings go back to 1997, so he started when he was eight years old. Javan Capital Partners website is under construction, yet he sold his businesses to them for $6M last year. I don't know who this Persian is but he ain't no Biglari. Any journalist writing about him should spend the same ten minutes I did and do some due diligence! Cheers!

Looks like some numbnutz bought 100 shares near the ask price and pushed it up. I can understand if someone bought several thousand or even several hundred, but 100 shares looks pretty damn obvious that someone is just propping up their quarterly numbers. Cheers!