Zorrofan

congratulations! Is the company going to be listed publicly at some point?? cheers Zorro

You have to be careful not to confuse shale oil with oil shale...there is a difference. If I recall correctly shale oil is oil trapped in shale rock similar to nat gas, and can be fracked just like nat gas. Oil shale is in the rock and can be mined similar to coal. Shell had a big deposit in Colorado it spent something like 40 years trying to figure out....... http://www.shell.us/aboutshell/projects-locations/mahogany.html cheers Zorro

Big thanks - I HATE Scribd too....... cheers zorro

More and more I feel this ends badly for Japan....why would I hold a low-yield Japanese long bond in depreciating yen while the government tries to restart inflation, further reducing the already low return in real terms?? cheers Zorro

Patmo, I notice you have TESB listed as TESB.EN rather than TESB.BR so I was wondering if that is just an different exchange? thanks Zorro

Is George turning into a mega bear?? http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-08-15/soros-put-rises-record-billionaire-investor-betting-market-crash and this is somewhat surprisingly severe drop..... http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-08-15/chinese-power-consumption-crashes-lowest-growth-16-months-tumbles-10-shanghai-much-2 cheers Zorro

yes, thanks for posting! cheers Zorro

+1 from John Donne "No man is an Iland, intire of it selfe; every man is a peece of the Continent, a part of the maine; if a Clod bee washed away by the Sea, Europe is the lesse, as well as if a Promontorie were, as well as if a Mannor of thy friends or of thine owne were; any mans death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankinde; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee."

What do you think will replace it? If I Zorrofan knows that, then he'd be busy creating it. Or at the very least investing in it. And I doubt he'd share it with us yet. I wish I had invented it - but the teenagers they interviewed on the show said that they and all of their friends were using Snapchat......my point is that it is way too early to put Zuckerberg in with the likes of WEB. cheers Zorro

Zuckerberg? I doubt in 10 years Facebook will be relevant. It is no longer hip or cool (or whatever term kids use these days). i watched an interesting interview where they interviewed three teenagers - the response was Facebook is what my parents use. I just don't see it lasting the way Amazon or Google will.... cheers Zorro

speaking of buying gold bars and and predicting another Great Depression..... http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-08-01/india-slams-us-global-hegemony-scuttling-global-trade-deal-puts-future-wto-doubt He has been predicting the collapse of the Us and indeed the entire Western world since 2008......and still going strong. cheers Zorro

Eric Nuttal is a terrible investor Let's see....79.7% in the last year, 19.2% over the last 5 years versus a benchmark that did 7.7% over the last 5 years. I should be so terrible.... http://www.sprott.com/products/sprott-energy-fund/ What makes you think he is such a terrible investor?? cheers Zorro

thanks for posting this.....more reading, getting closer to 500 pages a day - LOL Cheers Zorro

LOL - You're never going to make it without some twinkies!! And since this is the Corner of Berkshire and Fairfax, maybe some DQ and a coke? cheers Zorro

Okay, I like to follow the lead of Charlie Munger, always invert, always look for the flaw in your thinking so when I get bored I like to read Zerohedge and a few of the other websites that lean to the bearish side..... yes, I am a bit of a bear myself currently but it really struck me today that some of these sites are very, very negative - the end of the world as we know it is just about here. Then I noticed that this message is often " the end of the world as we know it is just about here, buy my book explaining how you survive and prosper in the economic collapse that's coming". Some sites have some interesting stats, good information that should make you think, but they also tend to trot out the same uber-bears and their warning of imminent doom. Marc Faber has been warning of the collapse of the US since at least 2006? Any day now, its coming....... Where do the rest of you stand. Do you just ignore these sites, do you find anything of interest there? Do you have a favorite site for economic data or are you like WEB, five seconds spent on macro is five seconds wasted?? Look forward to your comments.... cheers Zorro

Sigh, no your not..... :( cheers Zorro

Happy Birthday Sanj!! And if I may give an old Irish blessing - May you live as long as you want to, and want to as long as you live ;D cheers Zorro

What about something like Canadian banks (3.5 to 3.8% yield), FFH in case all H@ll does break loose and those hedges pay off (roughly a 2% yield) and finally some OAK (7.8% yield and invests in distressed situations). my concern with the S & P 500 would be what happens if there is a black swan (europe?), Ukraine, Iraq etc etc..... cheers Zorro

thanks for the help ukvalueinvestment & ni-co. cheers Zorro

ni-co, Do you know of any reits in Germany, or even Europe in general, that concentrate on residential or seniors complexes? Everything I come across seems oriented to office or shopping malls. thanks, Zorro

No. He is saying that prices are information. When prices get distorted for a very long time, like we have had in Europe since the Euro was ill-advisedly introduced, information get to be very misleading. When information are misleading, people make very bad decisions. And bad decisions have the nasty habit of compounding their nefarious effects. We all agree Italy and Spain , also France I guess, must clear their own houses and start behaving responsibly and reliably. But what doesn’t work must be fixed: a monetary union, without a political and fiscal union has never worked. Show me one single example in history… By the way, I am not saying what Draghi is doing will work… In fact, I think it is only a palliative… Gio When Germany agreed to allow countries like Greece and Spain to join the EU the result was these countries were extended a "triple A" credit rating. This enabled a country like Greece to go on a spending binge with a credit rating they would never otherwise ever had. And lets be honest - Germany, which was no longer competitive globally because of countries like China, benefited for years by selling Greece and other countries within the EU goods on credit. Now fast forward to the financial crisis, Germany again benefited when the Euro fell as Germany was once again competitive globally. Now I am not saying that countries like Greece, Spain and France are blameless - and yes they do need to get their financial house in order - but Germany is acting rather hypocritically. Germany benefited from the entire process and helped enable the entire process. Now that the Euro has once again risen (to the point Germany is less competitive globally) Germany is complaining about the result. IMHO this is Europe's version of the US housing crisis but instead of giving don't ask, don't tell mortgages to people who couldn't afford them credit was extended to countries who have little or no hope of ever paying it back. My $0.02 cheers Zorro

Thanks for posting!! cheers Zorro

Packer - how about a small modification. First, IMHO, without a doubt FFH should be buying quality companies for the 100% owned business portion (i.e. MRK and BRK). However take $2 billion, about 10% of the investment portfolio, and create a BAM-type investment fund (similar to what they just proposed for India). Get pension funds to kick in another $8 billion and you have a $10 billion distressed asset investment fund. Charge 2% plus a performance fee. FFH makes about $160 million, or 8% guaranteed, in management fees plus performance fees if the fund does well. And on top of the management and performance fees FFH has a 20% stake in the fund. It works for BAM why not FFH?? Thoughts?? cheers Zorro

I don't know about that. I am pretty satisfied with my position, but I can't imagine being in a state where I didn't want more. What would get you up in the morning? Personally, I'd hate being in that position (always wanting more). That isn't peace. I have plenty of things to wake me up in the morning (family, friends, learning, etc). When I get to a certain level, it's hard for me to believe I'd want more and more (at least to big degree). I'd prefer money to not control me. Rather, I'd much prefer to control it. Keynes was quoted as saying "Money is a fine servant but a terrible Master". You may agree or disagree with his economic viewpoint but he did throw a heck of a party (so I'm told) ;D cheers Zorro

I have been watching with some interest the recent interaction between AZN and PFE. PFE made what I thought was a fairly good offer for AZN, several large shareholders of AZN spoke in favor of the deal and yet management resisted. Now with PFE walking away the share price of AZN will likely drop quite hard tomorrow. So, the question becomes "Did management really act in the best interests of the shareholders or did they act in their own self-interest?" How often does management really act in shareholders best interests? Witness the recent KO controversy with regards to management compensation. If you use management integrity as one of your screening criteria the pickings are IMHO getting a pick thin....... Looking forward to your thoughts, cheers Zorro