tengen

EPS up 15% from the prior year. I'm not sure that's enough growth to justify the current valuation. On the other hand, it's a wonderful business model and they seem to execute very well. Funny how the risks today seem pretty much the same as three years ago (regulatory risk, potential disruption, lawsuits). Still holding.

What's that old joke? Something like: Young guy: "Who are the Beatles?" Older guy: "That's the band Paul McCartney was in before Wings" Younger guy: "Who are Wings?" Youngest guy: "Who is Paul McCartney?"

+1

Perhaps it went through a fissure in the time/space continuum and crashed on a mysterious island populated with strange people (and a polar bear).

Does anyone still believe in bitcoin? I was skeptical from the start (my 'no' vote in the poll was recorded at the height of the mania). However, I think the concept is still very interesting and we might see some new crypto-currency emerge to take bitcoin's place. The thing is that I can't see it having more success unless there is some regulatory environment to keep the fraudster's in check.

I don't advocate sending in troops. I do think the rest of the world needs to take strong measures to let Putin know that his game is up. Some ideas: boycott Russian goods, deny visas to Russians, and suspend financial dealings with Russia. I am disappointed that some people are suggesting that now might be a good time to buy shares in Russian companies.

A thought I've been entertaining lately: Putin is the 21st century's version of Hitler, vilifying and jailing minorities, looking for some "lebensraum" and protecting the "volk" from dastardly foreigners. Not as crazy but perhaps only slightly less sinister.

I wondered what happened to my McJellyFish post in the climate change thread.

I thought it was hard drives filled with bitcoins.

Hockey at it's best. The USA was good but it just wasn't their day. No disrespect to Sweden but it's too bad Russia didn't make it through. Canada-Russia showdowns are always something special and the atmosphere would have been unreal in Sochi.

Outstanding! No need to throw away money on a flashy website. At least their website looks better than this one for a multinational corporation: http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/ I realize everyone has different tastes but for me jwmays.com is a total failure on several fronts including colours and use of white space. In the case of the Berkshire Hathaway site, the near total absence of any attempt to style the page results in a safe if dull design. The former strikes me as incompetent, the latter as parsimonious.

Lots of companies may nibble around the edges but I just don't see anyone doing serious damage to SBUX (unless it is self-inflicted). One tiny company ($30 million CDN market cap) I've been following for a few years is a specialist coffee roaster call Ten Peaks (TPK on the TSX). They have the exclusive rights to the "Swiss water method" to decaffeinate coffee beans. The Swiss water method's claim to fame is that it is "chemical free". One could argue that the CO2 method produces better tasting coffee and that CO2 is just as benign as water (in this context) but "CO2 method" just doesn't sound as nice as "Swiss water method". TPK are a bit at the mercy of global coffee futures and they really suffered when the price of unroasted beans spiked a few years ago. Since the price of beans has returned to normal, they've done pretty well and generating a nice cash flow. I don't own any shares and the price has been on a strong upward trend while I've been dithering.

In light of the actual game, this simulation turned out to have some eerie accuracy. ;-) http://www.sbnation.com/2014/1/30/5351052/breaking-madden-super-bowl-broncos-seahawks

Insiders have been buying, including Rick George: http://canadianinsider.com/node/7?menu_tickersearch=pwt

Maybe Sanjeev should create his own alt coin, the "parsad", and configure the web site to accept donations in this currency. Once that gains traction, he can open up Corner Market Capital to investments in parsads. http://www.forbes.com/sites/reuvencohen/2013/11/29/bitcoin-mania-how-to-create-your-very-own-crypto-currency-for-free/

Altus Minerals. Kami mine should receive environmental approvals in the next couple of mouths. I believe Altius will initiate a dividend. Stock price could double in the next 12 months. See the discussion in the ALS board.

The NEB approval was pretty much expected. I'm still very skeptical the pipeline will be built because the majority of first nations and BC citizens oppose the pipeline. It will be very hard to convince them to put aside their concerns over the environment, the 209 conditions notwithstanding. If they roll out the construction equipment, it will quite likely turn into a repeat of the protests against logging in Clayoquot Sound. If your investment thesis in the Canadian oil patch depends on this pipeline, I would look to something else.

Hmm, my Asparagus score was 18. Maybe I'm eating the wrong vegetables?

France must be very happy.

Coincidentally, I noticed a few Bitcoin related articles popping up in my news reader related to online fraud and digital heists. Now I'm just waiting for an email from the daughter of the former president of Gondwanaland asking for my help to to transfer her Bitcoin inheritance to a safe haven.

Thanks for posting this. I guess the title should be "Holes" since there appear to be more than one.

valuesource had some interesting info he posted in a new thread "Large Market-on-Close Imbalance". http://www.cornerofberkshireandfairfax.ca/forum/fairfax-financial/large-market-on-close-imbalance

I'd bet it's Flash. If there are 30 browser tabs open on sites with advertising, I'd guess a dozen or more have an embedded Flash object. For whatever reason, Flash just runs badly on OSX compared to Windows.

Not blind or crazy, but I have strong misgivings about Prem's entanglement with the BBRY "tar baby".

I'm more of the view that having Lazaridis return to lead the company is akin to having Wozniak returning to lead Apple instead of Jobs. Furthermore, there does not appear to be a BBRY version of Jobs. Maybe it was the co-op student who started Kik.