Signatures

[Tortoise]

Love vaca frita! But I enjoy ropa vieja even more. I really hope my local Cuban restaurant survives this lockdown.

[dualstow]

Love vaca frita! But I enjoy ropa vieja even more. I really hope my local Cuban restaurant survives this lockdown.

Indeed. There's a place in Key West where the vaca frita is a bit too dry but the ropa vieja is good every time. With sangria.

[dualstow]

In 2001, the United States' military airdropped 2.4 million Pop-Tarts in Afghanistan during the US invasion.[11]

but they had no electricity for the toasters ....

I'm sure the Afghans figured out how to heat them up just fine.

[Smith1776]

I think Smith1776 is here today to talk about Bill Ackman's stock picking successes!

I'm quite fond of Bill Ackman! Ackman, like Buffett, "saw the light" when he discovered The Intelligent Investor. I believe there was a Forbes magazine cover that called him 'Baby Buffett', which I think is an apt description.

What's especially interesting about Ackman is that he's found an extra dimension in value investing that may be a relative safe haven from the ravages of market efficiency. That is, he practices activist value investing. What kind of opportunities can be had when a value investor can influence management?

Going even further to use CDS's in order to turn some 26 million dollars into 2.7 billion dollars. I think an operation like that would fall under Graham's definition of "special situations." I think that can fall under the rubrik of value if one thought the CDSs were mispriced (in this case it appears they were).

All this talk about stock picking is giving me that hankering...

[l82start]

Does anyone on this forum raise chickens?

dualstow so why the question about chickens?

[Mountaineer]

Does anyone on this forum raise chickens?

dualstow so why the question about chickens?

I'm guessing the "raise chickens" means live ones, not the chicken legs I raise to my mouth and slurp.

We do have a relatively close neighbor in a large new home that has a chicken pen in his yard with a dozen or two birds. You can hear the roosters crow early in the morning. Perhaps they are for eggs, perhaps for meat, perhaps to teach his children some history or how to take care of animals, perhaps for the alarm clock.

[dualstow]

Does anyone on this forum raise chickens?

dualstow so why the question about chickens?

I asked you first.
Nah, I’m just asking because it seems to be becoming a trend. I’ve got a school friend who’s been raising them for years, but the number of friends who is raising them is suddenly increasing.

...
We do have a relatively close neighbor in a large new home that has a chicken pen in his yard with a dozen or two birds. You can hear the roosters crow early in the morning. Perhaps they are for eggs, perhaps for meat, perhaps to teach his children some history or how to take care of animals, perhaps for the alarm clock.

[l82start]

Does anyone on this forum raise chickens?

dualstow so why the question about chickens?

I asked you first.
Nah, I’m just asking because it seems to be becoming a trend. I’ve got a school friend who’s been raising them for years, but the number of friends who is raising them is suddenly increasing.

...
We do have a relatively close neighbor in a large new home that has a chicken pen in his yard with a dozen or two birds. You can hear the roosters crow early in the morning. Perhaps they are for eggs, perhaps for meat, perhaps to teach his children some history or how to take care of animals, perhaps for the alarm clock.

my sister raises chickens, for eggs/pets, she is living a rural farm style life, so its not exactly trendy..

[dualstow]

Cool!

[Tortoise]

I just noticed this addition to your sig, Smith. Good one!

Knucklehead (noun): Someone who knows the expense ratio of everything but the value of nothing.

[Smith1776]

I just noticed this addition to your sig, Smith. Good one!

Knucklehead (noun): Someone who knows the expense ratio of everything but the value of nothing.

I aim to please!

[Smith1776]

Aussie GoldSmithPP - 25% PMGOLD, 75% VDCO

Love the sig, Hal!

[dualstow]

Tortoise, there are days when I feel galaktos intolerant

[Tortoise]

Tortoise, there are days when I feel galaktos intolerant

Ah, the infamous gas giant...

[dualstow]

[Smith1776]

While Bogleheads focus on parroting Buffett’s comments about gold — I’m not trashing them — they should be paying attention to how gold moves relative to the dollar.

What really gets me is when no one on that forums sees the obvious logical fallacy in Buffett's argument.

Buffett presents a binary choice between all the productive farmland and something like 7 Exxon Mobils versus a block of gold. He then makes the obvious choice of saying the productive assets are the clear choice.

Well, duh.

But in the real world investors don't have a binary choice between stocks and gold. There's an infinite gradation between 100/0 and 0/100. Buffett committed the logical sin of the black-or-white fallacy -- a well known flaw that even a first year philosophy major should have been able to detect.

I honestly expected a stronger argument from someone as smart as him.

[Libertarian666]

While Bogleheads focus on parroting Buffett’s comments about gold — I’m not trashing them — they should be paying attention to how gold moves relative to the dollar.

What really gets me is when no one on that forums sees the obvious logical fallacy in Buffett's argument.

Buffett presents a binary choice between all the productive farmland and something like 7 Exxon Mobils versus a block of gold. He then makes the obvious choice of saying the productive assets are the clear choice.

Well, duh.

But in the real world investors don't have a binary choice between stocks and gold. There's an infinite gradation between 100/0 and 0/100. Buffett committed the logical sin of the black-or-white fallacy -- a well known flaw that even a first year philosophy major should have been able to detect.

I honestly expected a stronger argument from someone as smart as him.

Yes, that is an elementary logical fallacy: no one chooses between all the gold in the world and all the diamonds in the world either. There's this thing called "marginal utility".

But he doesn't need good arguments when people treat him as a guru.

[Mark Leavy]

dualstow - congrats on the kombucha!

[dualstow]

dualstow - congrats on the kombucha!

Thanks! The plain is delicious and I’ve got a few bottles in the cupboard attaining various flavors.

[Tortoise]

my house smells like star anise

Funny you should mention that, @dualstow. Just last week I bought some star anise for the first time ever to go in some mulled wine I was making.

[dualstow]

my house smells like star anise

Funny you should mention that, @dualstow. Just last week I bought some star anise for the first time ever to go in some mulled wine I was making.

It’s my favorite spice. A few pieces in a slow cooker with ribs (and cinnamon and few other ingredients) ⇢ magic.
I also put it in vodka with caraway seed and fennel.

[Tortoise]

[Star anise is] my favorite spice. A few pieces in a slow cooker with ribs (and cinnamon and few other ingredients) ⇢ magic.
I also put it in vodka with caraway seed and fennel.

Cool, I'll be sure to try that. A few years ago I experimented with making different kinds of infused liquors (cherry whiskey, vanilla/ginger vodka, etc.).

[Smith1776]

Where's Jack Ma?

Where is he indeed??? China just keeps getting more and more scary. Real life 1984 over there. Disinformation, people disappearing, a zeitgeist of conformity.

Or are we just getting misinformed by our media and China is the real promiseland?? Now that would be very 1984.

China has that law that says you can be punished for insulting the CCP no matter what country you reside in. If you travel there afterwards you could be detained. I will test that.... for science.

The Chinese Communist Party is a bunch of no good wankers.

Okay, going to China. BRB.

[Smith1776]

Dualstow, if I don't make it back you can have all my gold. It's buried under the shed.

[Mountaineer]

Dualstow, if I don't make it back you can have all my gold. It's buried under the shed.

As long as it isn’t under Vinny’s compost pile!