rogermunibond

http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/the-genes-of-human-behaviour/ https://www.economist.com/books-and-arts/2018/11/08/a-scientist-makes-the-case-for-the-power-of-dna Revolution ongoing in behavioral genetics Polygenic scoring, educational attainment, genetics

The FT and some other media sources have been covering innovation in agritech. Lots of possibilities. It's similar to the revolutions made in the 1960-70s. Most people didn't know the name Norman Borlaug back then. https://www.ft.com/content/199cae4c-cbc6-11e8-b276-b9069bde0956

20,000 years ago the earth's carrying capacity was enormous. The human condition was not nearly advanced enough with technology to come close to harvesting the resource. Malthus has been mainly right for the bulk of 600,000 years of modern human existence. Only wrong for the last 300 years.

This is the kind of game-changing technology that could rapidly remove CO2 from the atmosphere. Paired with low cost solar for example.

Google and Amazon tend to acquire and build their own datacenters with full ownership - though Amazon especially leases opportunistically. Their govt/CIA datacenter is a COPT leased property IIRC. Microsoft seems to be a wholesale lessor and pretty big client of DLR, EQIX, and COR. All three design their own chips and contract build their own specifically designed servers. Apple, FB, IBM, Oracle are all in this game too but have lagged the leaders.

This graph makes me think the real Matrix will be our consciousness uploaded into the Big Three server farms.

We may have already stalled out the glaciation cycle. http://theconversation.com/ice-ages-have-been-linked-to-the-earths-wobbly-orbit-but-when-is-the-next-one-70069

I think the best argument pro-climate warming is probably Fred Singer's that the off chance of an Ice Age in say the next 100 years make running the climate a bit hotter prophylactic. The argument against that is, of course, we have no idea when the next Ice Age will start. Could be off by 2-3K years.

http://80000hours.org/podcast/episodes/martin-gurri-revolt-of-the-public/ Podcast and interview. Pretty fascinating.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/25/full-transcript-billionaire-investor-warren-buffett-speaks-with-cnbcs-becky-quick-on-squawk-box-today.html

Can't tell if Holmes is a full blown sociopath or just highly narcissistic psychopath.

https://www.gnxp.com/WordPress/2019/02/13/a-brain-warped-by-reading/ Good review and commentary on Stanislas Dehaene’s Reading in the Brain: The New Science of How We Read How reading rewired our brains

Detectorists (Seasons 1-3) Hulu Kim's Convenience (Season 1-2) NFLX - Season 3 on CBC Succession (Season 1) HBO Killing Eve (Season 1) Hulu Little Drummer Girl - Michael Shannon was excellent Flash from the past Spaced (Seasons 1-2) Hulu and Amazon Cool new feature on Google is that for many TV shows and movies the search results include where it's available for streaming.

He's fighting the last war.

What's the story with Shire? Both he and David Abrams bought in the quarter.

Have any of you listened to listened to the Planet Money on credit bureaus or read this book by Josh Lauer on the history of credit reporting? In it's inception that was literally your neighbors (credit reporter) finding out about your situation (business and otherwise) keeping tabs on your successes failures, scuttlebutt, gossip, etc. If you had a bad reputation and weren't able to leave a town, that could ruin your life and the lives of your progeny for generations. Some digital form of this with ability to promote/demote social reputation is bound to be applied in some form not only in China but eventually across the developed world as well. IT's just a question of when. https://cup.columbia.edu/book/creditworthy/9780231168083

12x and 1.5x is on sale?! Given their capital cushions and high ROEs, I think so. They have a M&T vibe in terms of cultivating profitable banking relationships with specific segments - wealthy, business owners, etc.

Svenska Handelbanken on sale - anyone buying?

https://www.amazon.com/Early-Bird-Power-Investing-Young/dp/1973235439 Pretty good book on investing written by a young woman.

This long position paired with their VSAT short is interesting.

MidAmerican will be first to create enough wind energy to cover 100% of consumer use Donnelle Eller, deller@dmreg.com Published 1:05 p.m. CT May 30, 2018 MidAmerican Energy Company is repowering its oldest wind farms to extend their life by another 20 years. Kelsey Kremer/The Register MidAmerican Energy said Wednesday it plans to invest $922 million in added wind-power capacity, equaling as much renewable energy as its customers use. "If the project is approved, it will allow our customers to get 100 percent of their annual energy use from a clean, renewable and cost-effective source," said Adam Wright, MidAmerican's CEO. "This is, no doubt, historic." MidAmerican said it will be the first investor-owned electric utility nationally to meet the goal, which the Des Moines utility announced in 2016. The latest wind investment, expected to be completed in late 2020, would enable the company to freeze consumer rates for a decade, MidAmerican said. More:Is wind power saving rural Iowa or wrecking it? "With wind, we don't need to buy fuel to make the energy," Wright said. "This is a big reason why MidAmerican Energy's rates are 37 percent below the national average." MidAmerican needs the Iowa Utilities Board approval before it can move forward with the project. MidAmerican's newest project would add 591 megawatts of wind generation. With nearly 2,200 turbines, the company's wind generation capacity is 4,400 megawatts. It has 27 wind farms across Iowa. The utility declined to say where the new wind turbines would be located. Some rural Iowa residents are opposed to wind farms, saying construction can damage farmland and the turbines disrupt rural living. With its newest project, MidAmerican will have invested about $12.3 billion in wind generation in Iowa since 2004. MidAmerican will receive about $10 billion in federal production tax credits for the investment, covering the capital costs needed to build the wind farms. Even though the production tax credits are being phased out, MidAmerican said this newest project will qualify for the full amount of credits. Wright said about half of the electricity MidAmerican generated last year came from wind, with the remainder of energy coming from natural gas, nuclear and coal-fired plants. More: Even with good pay, wind technicians are hard to find By 2021, MidAmerican Energy's wind-energy capacity will equal customers' energy needs. Given that wind energy won't always be available to cover demand, MidAmerican said it would still need to rely occasionally on traditional electricity plants for energy needs, but was unable to immediately estimate how much. Gov. Kim Reynolds said MidAmerican Energy helps Iowa lead the nation with its share of wind energy. Last year, Iowa received about 37 percent of its electric generation from wind, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Wind was second only to coal as an energy source for electricity. Iowa's reliance on coal for electricity has dropped from 76 percent in 2008 to 45 percent in 2017, the agency said. MidAmerican said the newest project will create about 300 construction jobs and 28 permanent jobs to operate and maintain the wind turbines. MidAmerican said it paid $19.6 million in Iowa property taxes on wind turbines last year. The newest project will add close to $7 million more in Iowa property tax payments.

http://www.spratings.com/documents/20184/769219/Five+Guys+Funding+LLC+(2017-1)/84ede481-cb0c-4950-a3fe-9911d09c3e67 From a 2017 bond issuance for the Five Guys Funding unit. Good unit statistics on the stores, franchise/owned units, etc.

I think there are some ways to gain A share exposure through ETFs or indices. ASHR comes to mind though it has a high-ish expense ratio.

Stropping with your skin or jeans works like using a knife steel. Lines up the cutting edge of the blade.

His ALSN position is also interesting to me given the downgrades on fears of electric trucks.