NormR

The Winner's Curse has been much on my mind re: size.

Who cares about that. Value investors like to see solid net asset value and good earnings power. ;)

It's great to see someone so young make a big mark on the world. Btw, did he attend a FFH diner? His looks familiar but it's hard to tell from the picture.

Speaking of gas, there was an even worse event in 1927, the Bath School disaster, where "The Bath School disaster is the name given to three bombings in Bath Township, Michigan, on May 18, 1927, which killed 38 elementary school children, two teachers, four other adults and the bomber; at least 58 people were injured. Most of the victims were children in the second to sixth grades (7–14 years of age) attending the Bath Consolidated School. Their deaths constitute the deadliest mass murder in a school in U.S. history."

Personally, I think there needs to be some reasonable balance when it comes to gun laws. While they don't have much use in cities, they are still useful in some rural areas. I know people in rural Ontario who hunt a good deal for food. (We allow some hunters on the family hobby farm where the deer population is generally out of control and turkeys are getting there.) Hunting can make a big difference in some family budgets in the poorer areas. As an aside, a childhood friend lives in the unfortunate town and two of his kids went to the school. Both are fine, but my heart goes out to the families who were less fortunate.

While idiots with guns are a concern, I'm more worried about wackos with viruses / nukes.

Be careful with Gladwell, he tells a very good yarn but many of the studies he highlights have later turned out to be, shall we say, "overly optimistic". Not that Gladwell is at fault, but "new and interesting" research has a low hit rate / high spurious result rate.

They did a similar thing a few years back.

Smart, but isn't it a little alarming that the FBI can access Google search terms?

Don't hold your breath

Student debt is the worst sort of debt. Some people flee the U.S. to avoid paying it. (Largely because they can't.) It's the modern form of debtors prison. Albeit with fewer rocks, etc.

Yup, even in 'low-cost' Canada things are wako for some programs. Many folks would be better off learning a trade.

I like both, but the near term could be rocky because the ad market is rather weak in Canada at the moment. On the plus side, most major newspapers have, or are, going to paywalls which should help to stop the cannibalization of the print market. Mind you, it's not clear what the upside catalyst might be. Disclosure: Own both, may buy or sell at any time, do your own due diligence, etc.

Well, the data seems to be net of fees and based on actual accounts (where IIRC investors might pick and choose the 'best' of the MF - could be wrong on this point). As a result, it's not indicative of the strategy itself. I don't think you are supposed to select from the stocks, just get enough for diversification, as I recall from the book. True, but evidently many people pick and choose. They have an interesting discussion somewhere that indicates the picking has reduced returns on average.

Well, the data seems to be net of fees and based on actual accounts (where IIRC investors might pick and choose the 'best' of the MF - could be wrong on this point). As a result, it's not indicative of the strategy itself.

Seems they have a serious "culture" problem at SAC. :o

Ex-SAC Manager Martoma Charged in Record Insider Scheme

They could just stop paying a dividend

Not to worry, IIRC, Saputo has the Hostess license in Canada. So, you'll have all the cake-like products you can eat. ;D Oh, an you might also engage in geographical-Twinkie arbitrage to help out those in deprived areas. ;)

:o

Why am I LOLing Sanjeev's new name for the event? ;D It should run from 3.00-6.30, but seating might be limited. The early birds get the worms. :)

Bloomberg is talking $20 billion total and ~$7.5 billion insured losses. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-29/hurricane-sandy-threatens-20-billion-in-u-s-economic-damage.html

Ycharts has some for free http://ycharts.com/companies/BRK.A/chart#series=type%3Acompany%2Cid%3ABRK.A%2Ccalc%3Aprice_to_book_value&format=real&recessions=false&zoom=10&startDate=&endDate=

Well, I just made up one and got in ;)

I hear that the bid for lunch with Norm is at $0.10 ;)