rogermunibond

Zorro - one reason to hold off on purchasing an Ipad is the rumor of a 2nd generation Ipad coming Spring 2011. If it is 1/3 lighter than the current Ipad that will be a big improvement IMO. Plus, the likelihood of an added camera. http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2010/09/28/new-lighter-ipad-could-include-camera-usb-port-analysts-say/

Ditto to what globalfinance said. If PDFs are you thing, then the iPad or the Kindle DX. The regular size Kindle is great for books but awful for 8x11 pdfs.

Ersatz Munger may not realize that his box of corn flakes has been shrinking while the price has stayed the same.

I'm not familiar with Nokia's markets in Europe, Asia, and Africa and the Middle East. I think they traditionally have gotten a much bigger share of revenue from the EMAA markets than from North America. So whenever I think about Nokia, it seems hopeless in the U.S. market but..... they have traction in the RoW.

That puts his no double dip comment in perspective. Kinda hard to double dip into recession when you're still in the first one.

Einstein WAS the next Newton; and, of course, Obama is the next Franklin, right? ;D Feynman was the next Franklin. Hanging out with strippers in Pasadena is pretty close to courtesans in Paris.

Going hostile was the warning to me. Proxy fights might be fine for Bill Ackman and Tom Hudson (of the late Pirate Capital) but a future WEB-like figure will probably labor quietly away from the glare of newspaper stories.

CHK has been talking about the Cleveland, Tonkawa, Mississippian plays for a while now. At least since early 2010.

http://noir.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aqqEDrWMDO3w&pos=3 At least for part of it.

Uccmal - Do Power Corp and Power Financial trade at similar discounts to NAV as Pargesa does?

http://www.sumzero.com/postings/2985/guest_view MFCAF long thesis from Zeke Ashton. Of note, Canoro has filed its latest financial statement on SEDAR. Changed CEOs, the old CEO was demoted and a new guy was promoted. Looks like Michael Smith is already putting his stamp on Canoro. http://www.stockwatch.com/Quote/Detail.aspx?symbol=CNS&region=C

I don't think Markel has anyone of the caliber of David Sokol as a fixer, yet they have started up Markel Ventures and have acquired a number of companies. Why wouldn't Fairfax follow the same model of buying well-run companies with mgmt in place.

Read it again. "water on site." Irrigation draw rights are non existent from the Great Lakes, IIRC.

IMO, Burry's farmland investment has to do more with water than with the value of the land. Under either AGW (rapid rise in temps) or GW (slow rise from last Ice Age) scenarios, increasing temperatures leads to greater volatility of extreme weather events. Throw in increasing population, increasing income in emerging markets, inflation, change in consumption from grain/veggie to meat, what have, you and voila.

I think Burry might be interested in Brazil. http://www.economist.com/node/16886442?story_id=16886442&fsrc=rss

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-07/michael-burry-predictor-of-mortgage-collapse-bets-on-farmland-and-gold.html

http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fportalexame.abril.com.br%2Fnegocios%2Fnoticias%2Fwarren-buffet-compra-terras-brasileiras-593029.html Google translator link to the original article from Exame.

http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/96223/000009622310000032/lncsept2010form8k.htm C&S are pissed. Item 8.01. Other Events. On August 9, 2010, Leucadia National Corporation (“Leucadia” or the “Company”) was advised that Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (“FMG”) is asserting that its subsidiary, Chichester Metals Pty Ltd (“FMG Chichester”), is entitled to issue additional subordinated notes in an unlimited amount identical to the $100,000,000 principal amount subordinated note of FMG Chichester held by Leucadia (the “Leucadia Subordinated Note”). FMG further claims that any interest to be paid on additional subordinated notes can dilute, on a pro rata basis, Leucadia’s entitlement to the stated interest of 4% of the revenue, net of government royalties, invoiced from the iron ore produced from FMG’s Cloud Break and Christmas Creek mine areas. This extraordinary claim comes four years after the issuance to Leucadia of the Leucadia Subordinated Note, during which time FMG has never asserted this purported right to dilute Leucadia’s interest in any of FMG’s public filings or other communications. The Leucadia Subordinated Note was issued by FMG Chichester in August 2006 under a Note Deed Poll in the form set forth as a schedule to the July 15, 2006 Subscription Agreement among FMG, FMG Chichester and Leucadia, as amended (the “Subscription Agreement”). Leucadia does not believe that FMG Chichester has the right to issue additional notes which affect Leucadia’s interest or that the interpretation by FMG of the terms of the Leucadia Subordinated Note, as currently claimed by FMG, reflects the agreement between the parties. Leucadia is outraged that FMG and its chief executive officer, Andrew Forrest, now assert this claim.

Histories of the German Weimar period of hyperinflation abound. It lasted about 2 years (1922-1923) IIRC. During the period there were numerous commodity-indexed currency substitutes that were used in commercial transactions. Potato-linked and wheat-linked notes. I have a good history of that episode somewhere but the details escape me. I'll post it later. There's a short article by Reinhart and Savastano called "The Realities of Modern Hyperinflation" published in 2003. That discusses more recent episodes.

Taste does correlate to success but you have to look at your market. McDonalds suited my tastes quite nicely when I was a kid growing up. I agree it truly does have to with execution, and both the Snyder family and the Murrell family have executed and created wonderful businesses.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/08/burger-wars-five-guys-bests-inandout.html Zagat Fast Food survey Gives SNS something to shoot for.

I think Lampert's thinking on pension costs is conservative but accurate. 6% discount is much more realistic than the 8% that was used in the 2000-2008 period. Something that Buffett warned against in one of his letters. Looking for purposely hidden value in the pension is no-go for me.

You have an industry that is heavily dependent on government largesse. And that government now wants accountability on what it's getting for its money. IMO, many of the marginal players are in trouble; APOL is the best name in the sector.

I know someone in Omaha is licking his chops... China Said to Mull Insurance Market Easing for Foreign Firms By Bloomberg News Aug. 5 (Bloomberg) -- China’s insurance regulator is considering opening the market for mandatory liability insurance for automobiles to foreign firms, said three people with knowledge of the matter. The China Insurance Regulatory Commission may allow foreign firms to offer the product, said the people, who declined to be identified because the decision isn’t final. Foreign insurers have effectively been shut out of the broader auto insurance market as drivers tend to choose the same insurer for both optional and compulsory coverage. Almost six years after the insurance market was opened under World Trade Organization commitments, the share of overseas firms including American Insurance Group Inc. is 4 percent. China Life Insurance Co., the world’s biggest life insurer, more than quadrupled revenue in the period in a market that’s expanded an average 30 percent a year during the past three decades to $164 billion.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/ATSGS-SecondQuarter-Gains-bw-33152573.html?x=0&.v=1 $0.15 for the quarter seems a little light.