Liberty

Indeed. U235 occurs naturally at about 0.7%, if I remember correctly, and even nuclear weapons only need to go to about 90% enrichment. Nobody would ever quote the price of pure U235 on the market (if anyone did, I'm sure Iran would be very interested) :) That's an aside, but what I'd like to see commercialized eventually is the thorium LFTR reactor: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LFTR It seems like a better, safer, more efficient model than the uranium reactors that we have, and if the military hadn't needed to make so many bombs, thorium would probably have been picked over uranium from the start...

I think it's 100% U235, otherwise it would read just "uranium" and would represent the energy density of a mix of U235 and U238. This comic is drawn by Randall Munroe, a former NASA guy. He tends to get the science right. Wikipedia has the energy density of U235 at 83,140,000 MJ/KJ, so the comic was apparently being conservative.

Liberty, thoughts on the book? I've read about 1/3 of it and then set it aside to focus on a few other books (I tend to always read a few things in parallel). So far, I feel like I've learned a lot about Greenberg and how he got his start in the business and how AIG was formed, but not so much about the current incarnation of the company, so there are very few useful insights so far. Maybe that'll come later in the book.. It does sound a bit like "Hank the super genius who saw what nobody else saw and made it work through sheer hard work and determination" at times, and I'm not sure if it's getting into hagiography territory or if it's just a fair description of how good Greenberg is (was?). It's not written in the most griping style, but it's not terrible either. I'm witholding judgement for now, though...

Congrats! :)

Heh, that works too. Solar shade's a nice bonus if you're going to get panels anyway, though.

Eric: Another benefit of getting solar panels is they keep your house cooler (by providing shade to your roof -- the effect is bigger if there's empty space between the panels and the roof) and reduce the need for AC: http://ssi.ucsd.edu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=468:solar-panels-keep-ucsd-buildings-cool-july-18-2011&catid=8:newsflash&Itemid=20

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-22/why-buffett-bailed-on-india.html

That's my approach too. I'm renting, and will stay here until the market is a lot lower than it is now or the fundamentals change in some major way that make the valuations make sense (but I really don't see how that's possible other than with a big RE correction -- it's not like wages will suddenly start going up double digits to catch up and people's debts melt away without killing housing).

I don't short, but those looking at Canadian RE should probably have a look at this: http://www.cansofunds.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Canso-Px-The-Canadian-Housing-Market-July-2013-Revised-2.pdf

King Icahn is a good biography. It's a bit dated as it was written in the mid 90's but gives a good story of his career and life to that point. You can download its pdf file on the IEP - Icahn Enterprises thread. giofranchi Thanks, found it!

You might be interested in this if you haven't already seen it: http://www.greencarcongress.com/2013/07/pia-20130714.html

A lot of people go off-grid with lead-acid batteries. With advanced li-ion batteries like Tesla's, it wouldn't be that many. Of course, anyone going off grid should first make sure that their energy usage has been cut down as much as possible first (ie. energy efficient appliances, good house insulation, LED/CFL lighting, etc) to keep the need for batteries to a minimum. So if Eric doesn't go off-grid and keeps a grid tie, he could do with a lot fewer batteries and just get the extra power he needs on peak days from the grid yet get most of his power from batteries on normal days (I'm sure with historical data of his power usage he could do the math and figure out the optimal amount of battery storage for max ROI).

Thanks!

Good move, congrats to Paul!

Have you looked at SolarCity? Of course, it's probably better for you to buy the system outright since you have the capital... But maybe they offer something that could interest you.

If wonder if Sanjeev did another masterful option trade this time? ;)

Anyone has a good book on Icahn to recommend? I've never been too interested in the man, but maybe if I knew more about what he's done I would be..

Interesting paper on housing in Canada. The intro's a bit too cute, but good overview and lots of interesting charts and stats: http://www.cansofunds.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Canso-Px-The-Canadian-Housing-Market-July-2013-Revised-2.pdf

People tend to overestimate the range that they need. Unless you are one of those rare people who constantly drive very far without stopping much, 300 miles is already more than it might seem if you compare directly to a gas-car; by that I mean that electric cars are usually fully charged when you leave the house in the morning, so you always have a "full tank", while gas cars are only charged every X number of days, so you leave the house on many days with probably a lot less than 300 miles of potential range yet that's not a problem.

Don't feel too bad. Gas and diesel-powered vehicles have received all kinds of direct and indirect subsidies for decades, a lot more than electric cars are likely to ever get. Just the military costs of securing oil routes and oil producing countries around the world would probably pay for a Model S for everybody in the US...

300 miles, but it depends on conditions and many are getting more than that apparently. http://www.teslamotors.com/models/options

Wish I had been around for that. Lotsofcoke, any other recommendations for us? :D

Welcome back to the board, Lotsofcoke. I joined after you left, but it's nice to meet you and see that your legend was kept alive during your hiatus! :)

But I, somehow, some way, keep comin up with funky investment widsom like every single day... (that's Eric's line, not mine obviously)

You guys broke Eric, now he speaks in koans ;)