Liberty

Thank you for your thoughtful perspective, Sanjeev!

Lots of interesting views on Fairfax. I'd be curious to hear what is Sanjeev's current thinking on FFH?

I think IV is going to be different things depending on how you define it (I know, that's a tautology). By that I mean: If for you IV is the intrinsic value that a being with perfect knowledge of the future would assign to a security, then it is fixed. If for you IV is the value that someone with imperfect knowledge would assign at a particular point in time, then it'll vary as new information is known and events change the business. Maybe there should be two names for these two things, but lots of people seem to be using IV to mean both.

The past few posts have been excellent, thanks everybody.

Happy birthday Sanjeev 8)

Thanks for posting.

New interview with Musk: http://www.reuters.com/video/2013/06/19/musk-time-to-tackle-dealer-dispute?videoId=243437843&videoChannel=6

I started a thread about it in the Books section a while ago, though nobody else commented :( http://www.cornerofberkshireandfairfax.ca/forum/books/there's-always-something-to-do-(peter-cundill)-christopher-risso-gill/ I can't say I remember it very clearly, but I found it good and enjoyable. I'm sure I'll re-read it at some point.

http://beaconreports.net/kyle-bass-tells-beacon-reports-its-checkmate-for-japan/ Recent interview with Kyle Bass.

Well, not to take away some of that, but it is a harder book than the Jobs biography, mostly because it's about events that are farther removed from us than consumer electronics and industrial design. But IMO it is a rewarding read and Franklin was truly an inspirational figure.

Interesting. I liked the Franklin bio better. The Jobs one was quite interesting too (Jobs is interesting), but it seemed like it was rushed, probably because of Jobs' deteriorating health (or maybe even because of his death -- not sure about the timeline) and wasn't quite as polished/edited. I still need to read the Einstein bio by Isaacson, though.

+1

I quite enjoyed that book on Chuck Feeney. Hope you'll like it too, hyten1!

http://travelforaircraft.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/blog-shatter-sword-cover-maryam-rostamian.jpg?w=400&h=546 http://www.amazon.ca/Shattered-Sword-Untold-Battle-Midway/dp/1574889249

Video of the shareholder meeting, 1 hour of Musk: http://www.teslamotors.com/2013shareholdermeeting

Congrats James, good one. :)

Latest announcement on Supercharger network expansion: http://www.teslamotors.com/about/press/releases/tesla-dramatically-expands-supercharger-network-delivering-convenient-free-long

Happy birthday, Tim! :)

Here's the video of the interview: http://allthingsd.com/20130530/tesla-ceo-and-spacex-founder-elon-musk-the-full-d11-interview-video/

Musk at the AllThingsD conference: http://thenextweb.com/insider/2013/05/30/elon-musk-says-a-roughly-30k-tesla-in-3-4-years/

The 1990s version of this is the Tightwad Gazette, a newsletter that was compiled into a book (looks like a phonebook). Basically the bible of frugal living. Some parts are a bit dated, but it's very readable, and it does help reinforce the right mindset to get expenses down if that's what you want/need to do. http://www.amazon.ca/Complete-Tightwad-Gazette-Amy-Dacyczyn/dp/0375752250/ Also, the original "here's how to retire young with minimal expenses" book that inspired many: http://www.amazon.ca/Your-Money-Life-Transforming-Relationship/dp/0143115766/

Ooh, upgrades :) I'd love to get a list of what the changes are if you have a chance. Thank you, Sanjeev.

Really? Impact doesn't matter? "That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence." I just said that of course running water is more important than an iphone because it fulfils a more basic human need. And of course you won't often get inventions that meet basic human needs because there aren't that many of them, so once they are met, everything else can seem comparatively superfluous. It doesn't tell us much because it's an obvious statement (just like the obvious statement that it's much harder to invent the iPhone than running water -- also doesn't tell us much). Other questions are more probing, IMO. Not sure what you thought I meant.

You could also ask: "What's harder to invent, running water or an iPhone?" It wouldn't really tell us more, though. Of course we start with the most basic and important things to keep us alive, and then when those needs are met we can move on to less vital things for survival. These basics will always be more important than everything else for survival. But are they more impressive inventions? If we're waiting for more of those before calling them real innovation, then I suppose that curing the diseases of aging will be the next thing (ie. when people's mortality per year isn't higher at any age than for young adults).

I don't think it's surprising that it didn't have an effect immediately. In fact, I'd be surprised it if had. Technologies spread a lot slower back then, but also it wasn't a sufficient innovation in itself. As long as you just keep printing religious texts with it, it's not going to make you move forward. But once you have the scientific method and the enlightenment, then you can use the printing press to make real progress. But if you have the scientific method without a printing press, then you are held back tremendously and you have isolated pockets of people constantly reinventing the wheel because there's no easy way to spread knowledge widely and know what others know. You also have a huge leakage of knowledge over time as people die and forget and things aren't being archived efficiently for others to later (re)discover.