I’ve been in the arena trying stuff, so to speak. Enjoy!
(i) Berkshire Hathaway Inc. 2023 Annual Report
Maybe Buffett’s most pessimistic letter. I’ll be at the meeting this year.
(ii) Clark Street Value: BankFinancial: Shareholder Discontent, Activist Added to Board
Not endorsing the idea but the conference call excerpts here are great.
(iii) (Twitter) Freightwaves' Craig Fuller thread on combining a media business with an adjacent business
Craig advocating a timely generalizable model for what he has done at Freightwaves.
(iv) Law, Disrupted: Litigation, Arbitration and Asset Recovery Against Sovereigns with Dennis Hranitzky
Big fan of the the Quinn Emanuel podcast. Dennis is the absolute man when it comes to international enforcement actions. Wide-ranging and interesting discussion throughout. Also see: Off the Run: Piero Sraffa and Imperial Japanese Government Bonds. Fun story.
(v) Economist Tyler Cowen on How ChatGPT Is Changing Your Job - Ep. 7 with Tyler Cowen
Cool interview where Tyler discusses the nuts-and-bolts of how he uses AI-tools. Also see GPT as ethical advisor. And— A simple Google Bear vs. Bull. Perhaps a reminder that bearish views almost always sound smarter. And: Stratechery: Gemini and Google’s Culture.
(vi) Le Monde: Des Indiens recrutés à leur insu dans l’armée russe
Story about Indians who thought they had accepted a job offer in Dubai and instead were forcibly recruited into the Russian army and sent to the frontlines. Bruh.
(vii) WaPo: Is Polyamory the future?
“The dating site Tinder reports that, in 2023, 41 percent of Gen Z users were open to or seeking non-monogamous relationships, and 26 percent were open to ‘hierarchical polyamory’.” Hell yeah. Also, the other tail in the distribution: Incels place themselves slightly to the left of the political spectrum.
(viii) McDonald’s Locations vs. Golf Courses
There are more golf courses than there are McDonald’s locations in the US. I would not have guessed that.