Liberty

New book from a former employee about product design and software engineering at Apple during the Jobs era. I've heard good things about it, but haven't read it yet: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1250194466 Sample available here: http://creativeselection.io/

I haven't read it yet, but this seems pretty interesting. Adding it to the list... New book written by 15-year Apple employee Ken Kocienda about design and software engineering at Apple during Jobs era. http://creativeselection.io/

Is there anything useful there, Liberty? On the Visa write-up and the site in general? The writing is very good and very in-depth, and the author is very good at succinctly explaining very complex industry dynamics, so I quite like it. There are many sample posts available freely on the site if you want to get an idea: https://www.scuttleblurb.com/category/sampleposts/ f.ex: https://www.scuttleblurb.com/vrsk/ https://www.scuttleblurb.com/mco/ https://www.scuttleblurb.com/inxn-eqix/ https://www.scuttleblurb.com/cprt_kar/

Write-up on Visa and MasterCard (subscription required): https://www.scuttleblurb.com/v_ma2/

The bigger news is that Tesla chief accounting officer left. The guys counting the beans are often the first to leave a sinking ship. They've lost a large amount of execs in the past couple years, a few in finance dept... Certainly not a good sign. Some people keep a list of departures on Twitter... Found this by Googling: https://www.dropbox.com/s/doe1755m6gyztnc/Tesla%20Executive%20Departures%20List.pdf?dl=0

Musk interviewed by Joe Rogan:

Good new blog: https://www.insecurityanalysis.com/writing/

http://jdcorporateblog.com/minnesota-updates/

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-09-05/jd-com-ceo-s-release-from-u-s-jail-suggests-police-lacked-proof https://www.wsj.com/articles/billionaire-founder-locked-up-jd-coms-board-cant-meet-without-its-mighty-boss-1536225892

https://www.wsj.com/articles/arrest-of-chinese-billionaire-came-after-night-of-wine-and-japanese-food-in-minneapolis-1536143960

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-09-04/arrest-of-jd-s-billionaire-ceo-connected-to-suspected-rape

This is a very compelling point. I indeed feel that some people are selling because they (Hill & Tiger) are selling. Don't know if I should sell just because they are selling, given what I wrote about valuation. I see everybody commenting that they are selling but nobody talks about WHY they are selling. I mean, what is the argument? And why have Hillhouse invested ~1B in JD Logistics in the beginning of the year? What happened since then that made they sell JD if that is the case? They are still growing, users are growing, cash generation is on track. Hillhouse knew that margins would come lower bc of logistics because well they had access to the JDL financials, and even so they decided to invest. Very strange. But after all, investing is an act of arrogance. Hope to be right. In the same Q2 13f of hillhouse, one can see that they increased BABA holdings 300%+ (1b usd investment). maybe they just think BABA is a better platform business for eCom, and they got JD's best part/future in JDL? I saw some speculation that BABA might have forced them to sell JD if they wanted to have a chance to invest in Ant Financial. No idea if there's any truth to it, but that seems to be a fairly common practice in China (ie. as a third party, you can be part of team Tencent or Team Alibaba, but it's hard to do business with both).

I'm not a member, but I would certainly guess that the content is high quality based on the publicly available stuff.

Not new or unknown, but some of my faves off the top of my head are: http://basehitinvesting.com/ http://brooklyninvestor.blogspot.com/ http://valueseekerinvestments.blogspot.com/ http://yetanothervalueblog.com/

Interview with Jeff Bezos: https://www.forbes.com/sites/randalllane/2018/08/30/bezos-unbound-exclusive-interview-with-the-amazon-founder-on-what-he-plans-to-conquer-next/

Welcome to the board!

Possibly more detail... Things still unclear.

https://bloom.bg/2Pvnsn6

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-05-03/the-gambler-who-cracked-the-horse-racing-code

https://player.fm/series/the-joe-rogan-experience-142216/ep-1109-matthew-walker As a bunch of people trying to make money through good decision-making and analysis, I think more of us should think about the quantity and quality of sleep we're getting. Good interview with Matthew Walker, " Professor of Neuroscience and Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, and Founder and Director of the Center for Human Sleep Science" He also has this book: https://www.amazon.ca/Why-We-Sleep-Unlocking-Dreams/dp/1501144316/ Though I haven't read it yet, but I've added it to the list.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-08-30/google-and-mastercard-cut-a-secret-ad-deal-to-track-retail-sales

For reference, previous discussion of WDC: http://www.cornerofberkshireandfairfax.ca/forum/general-discussion/western-digital-seems-extremely-cheap/

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180830005217/en/HEICO-Corporation-Subsidiary-Acquires-Aftermarket-Avionics-Display

Congrats to XPEL owners. I owned it a few years ago, but sold when I couldn't underwrite the risk from the 3M patent lawsuit... Those who have been patient (and better analysts than me) have been well rewarded.

For those who were wondering if this trick works, I've been on the same blade cartridge since I posted that, and it wasn't a new one at the time. I don't have a Homer Simpson beard, though, some your mileage may vary. Another update. I'm still on the same blade cartridge as back in February. The whole disposable blade industry is built on a lie. Granted, I'm not Homer Simpson in the beard department, but still, I'd usually have gone through multiple cartridges since last Feb if I wasn't doing this trick...