Liberty

You mean the debentures? Make sure you read the filings, because they're pretty unique. The interests reset each year based on the Canadian CPI and they are callable under certain circumstances...

This will affect all adtech companies. Those that will benefit are those that are relatively stronger than the others and have their own sources of info rather than only third-party tracking. ie. Google and Facebook.

I agree with that. I think a related phenomenon that I might write about is when you know someone so well that the simulation of them that you run in your brain gets good enough (even if still crude) that you can predict them pretty decently. I think that's kind of why Munger and Buffett used to talk for hours each day, and now they haven't been doing that in a while. Not because they aren't interested in what the other thinks, but because they know so well how they think. We end up being like that with some people like Buffett too, so that certainly reduces the novelty factor over time... But yeah, the piece I wrote is flawed in many ways. I could've made it clearer that I didn't mean that I thought this phenomenon happened to everyone, and as you point out, I could've made it clearer that to many people, they don't become less impressed even if they learn a lot less. I had a hard time finding the right word to describe things and ended up going with "impressed" in the title and that colors the interpretation of the whole thing, but I'm not sure what other word I could have used that would've been more precise... Writing's hard! Especially when it's about meta-cognition and fuzzy things like that...

Acquisition: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/constellation-homebuilder-systems-acquires-customerinsight-300659728.html

I didn't mean to imply that it happens to everybody, and I probably should have made that clear. It's just something that I often see in a noticeable fraction of the "old students" for many mentors. I think the best way to avoid this phenomenon is to be aware of it and calibrate yourself to the fact that the novelty has worn off and the low-hanging fruits have been picked. I think some people don't do that, and see to expect their mentors to constantly blow their minds the way they did initially. And I intentionally didn't name anyone else than some superstars because I didn't feel good comfortable doing so. Or I could be wrong about all this! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I wrote something. It's a pretty obvious concept, but for some reason I felt like writing it down. Sharing it in case someone else finds some interest in it, but frankly, it's nothing that will blow your mind, just a little phenomenon I kept noticing: https://medium.com/@Liberty/why-your-mentors-seem-less-impressive-over-time-e6d8938b2d51

That's a good question, but I think it's the same question you have to ask yourself even if there's no history between the parties. M&A is often done for the wrong reasons and destroys value (empire building, "strategic" reasons, following competitors, etc). At least buying tiny startups isn't quite as dangerous for these behemoths as doing large acquisitions where there's a chance that the culture will clash or that projections/synergies will never materialize.

Storm of Steel is a good one if your a war enthusiast. 'American Caesar' (about Douglas MacArthur) and 'Goodbye, Darkness: A Memoir of the Pacific War' and by William Manchester are also recommended. 'Strong Men Armed' and 'Helmet for my Pillow' by Robert Leckie, about the U.S. Marines in the Pacific during WWII were also very good, as was 'Ghost Soldiers' by Hampton Sides. I also quite liked the biography of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird ("American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer").

A lot of serial entrepreneurs do this in Silicon Valley too. Build something, get acquired or acqui-hired by Google, stay until you vest fully, then leave and build something else and get acquired by Google or Microsoft or Apple or whoever, rinse and repeat.

Exactly. I guess the lesson is that most "dull" razor blades are actually still pretty structurally sound and just need a little bit of help.

It's a good read, I recommend it too.

Apple just announced at WWDC that they have a deal with Charter to have all of Spectrum content be available through the Apple TV.

You've probably heard about this: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/06/03/technology/facebook-device-partners-users-friends-data.html I think there's an interesting nuance to be added: https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/06/why-we-disagree-with-the-nyt/

I shave in the shower, regular soap plus hot water is enough for me. It's not even so much to save money (though that's always a good habit to keep for things big and small, and I hate feeling gouged by regular shaving accessory prices), it's to keep things simple and not add steps and products that aren't necessary. There's satisfaction in elegance and minimalism, at least to me.

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.

ShawSpring Partners presentation from august 2016 (attached). JD.com_ShawSpring_August_2016.pdf

https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-amazon-wins-1527845402

More anecdotes/history than 'how to', but I remember 'More Money Than God' being pretty enjoyable. Same with Michael Lewis 'The Big Short'.

Talk by Dimon: Via

New book by Michael Batnick coming out next week, about "The Best Investors and Their Worst Investments": https://www.amazon.com/Big-Mistakes-Investors-Investments-Bloomberg/dp/1119366550/ I've always liked studying mistakes, hopefully to learn from them and make fewer of my own (I also liked the book 'Billion Dollar Lessons', not to be confused with 'Billion Dollar Mistakes', which I didn't like). Short video of Michael talking about writing his book:

It's as good as the title is cringe-worthy!

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/31/waymo-fiat-chrysler-expand-autonomous-vehicle-plans.html

Stocks with market caps under $50m CAD with a history of losing 95% of their value in 7 years tend to have low daily trading volume, in my experience. Insightful. Of course I mean the recent volume is low in relation to average volume. Only 2500 shares per day (less than $8k) over the month of May. I thought you meant volume in general, but I could have been more restrained with the snark. It's probably because I lost some money on this company a while ago (I call it tuition, that feels better) and it feels good to kick it in the ribs once in a while :P

Interview with Mike Schroepfer and Sheryl Sandberg (47min at Code conference):

Guessing you're asking about the US, since there are no 30y mortgages (with locked rates) in Canada..? I don't know, but it would certainly have helped some people if we could have locked rates for 30y here..