Sunday, July 8, 2012

Sunday Links

  • Pharma long idea?: "What Prozac did in two to four weeks, ketamine in a single dose was doing in one day"
  • Six ways to improve returns: "One Man vs. the World: Workflow Management for Investors"
  • EFF: "In a motion filed today, the three former intelligence analysts confirm that the NSA has, or is in the process of obtaining, the capability to seize and store most electronic communications passing through its U.S. intercept centers, such as the 'secret room' at the AT&T facility in San Francisco first disclosed by retired AT&T technician Mark Klein in early 2006."
  • "Steve Jobs on programming, craftsmanship, software, and the Web"
  • Economist: "an out-of-print book by Seth Klarman, the boss of the Baupost Group, sells for as much as $2,499 on Amazon." He's a good investor, but the book is way overrated. We have a 3/5 review we have been meaning to give.
  • Wired: "Because a smartphone would goose the sales of both digital content and physical deliveries, Amazon could subsidize its phone to a price point that makes the traditional wireless carriers look stingy."
  • Goldbugs: "since the February peak alone there have been eight different periods where gold attempted a rally, only to see the advance run out of gas..."
  • Coal to gas switching: "data for April showing that natural gas generated the same amount of power as coal-fired plants for the first time in recent history."
  • Study via MR: "becoming an entrepreneur was associated with social skills and entrepreneurial intentions expressed at age 16. In addition, we found gender-specific pathways. For men, becoming an entrepreneur was predicted by having a self-employed father"
  • BW profile on DE: "Deere’s tractors are pricier than others, but they’ve paid off in productivity and reliability. [...] Deere, unlike some major rivals, makes its own metal tractor frames. Executives say this is a competitive advantage"
  • WSJ on Kickstarter: "Investors following Pebble are blunt about the challenges the start-up faces. 'The big challenge for Eric will be delivering watches in volume [...] I told Eric that he has to take production super seriously and that if it doesn't keep him up at night, it should.'"
  • Convergent evolution: "the evolution of similar traits in unrelated lineages—is rife in nature, as illustrated by the examples below. The ultimate cause of convergence is usually a similar evolutionary biome, as similar environments will select for similar traits in any species occupying the same ecological niche, even if those species are only distantly related."
  • Earnings season about to start: "Companies begin reporting second-quarter earnings this week,... in large part because of slowing demand from customers around the world, particularly in Europe."
  • NGL glut coming?: "rapid shift towards NGL-rich plays is liable to produce more NGLs than the market can handle. According to George Little, a partner at Groppe, Long & Littell, an oil and gas analysis and forecast provider speaking at the Symposium, the leading indicators of periods of NGL oversupply are the relative prices of olefins ethylene and propylene, which are made from NGLs."
  • Arctic glacier: "This is not your ordinary bankruptcy there the equity holders get wiped out. In this case, I expect there to be a substantial cash distribution to the equity in the amount of $0.27 center/ share (35% gain)."

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