25iq: A Dozen Things Learned from Naval Ravikant about Investing, Business and Startups (LINK)
Jeff Gramm talks with Barry Ritholtz on the Masters in Business podcast (LINK)
Related book: Dear Chairman: Boardroom Battles and the Rise of Shareholder ActivismThe Brooklyn Investor blog: 13F Fun (LINK)
Latticework of Mental Models: The Zero Price Effect (LINK)
FASB Proposed Modifications to Hedge Accounting: Good Thing, Bad Thing, or Just a Thing? (LINK)
Seller’s Paradise: Companies Build Bonds for European Central Bank to Buy [H/T @jasonzweigwsj] (LINK)
The European Central Bank’s corporate-bond-buying program has stirred so much action in credit markets that some investment banks and companies are creating new debt especially for the central bank to buy.
Pensions Play With Puts for Protection (LINK)In two instances, the ECB has bought bonds directly from European companies through so-called private placements, in which debt is sold to a tight circle of buyers without the formality of a wider auction.
Some pension funds are seeking to profit from others’ fear.
The Spectrum Auction: How Economists Saved the Day (LINK)Pension funds in Hawaii and South Carolina are plying an arcane options strategy called cash-secured put writing. In a typical trade, the investor sells a contract, known as a put, to someone who owns stocks and is willing to pay up for protection in case they decline. If, within a certain time, the shares fall below a given price, the investor buys the stocks at that price, or covers their lost value.
The Bonfire of Venture Capital: The Good, Bad and Ugly Side of Cash Burn! - by Aswath Damodaran (LINK)
Uber’s CEO doesn’t think self-driving cars will cost jobs, and he might be right (LINK)
E-commerce is still really hard — even after Jet and Dollar Shave Club fetched $4 billion (LINK)
Ed Catmull on the This Week In Startups podcast (video) (Part 1, Part 2) [H/T Mike Dariano, who posted some great notes from Part 1 HERE.]
Related book: Creativity, Inc.Trends in — and the Future of — Infrastructure (video) (LINK)
“Infrastructure is dead”, some say, thanks to cloud computing — and a couple large incumbents sucking out all the profits in this space. Er… not really. We’re actually entering a renaissance of sorts — a “golden era of infrastructure” — and it’s one that is biased towards startups. They’re the ones who have the unfair advantage, argues a16z general partner (and former Nicira co-founder/CTO) Martin Casado in this talk.a16z Podcast: Pricing Free (LINK)
Email is Most Useful When Improving a Process that Existed Before Email (LINK)
Related book: Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted WorldThe Power of Writing About the Things You Read [H/T Abnormal Returns] (LINK)
Greek Buddha - by Massimo Pigliucci (Part 1, Part 2)
Related book: Greek Buddha: Pyrrho's Encounter with Early Buddhism in Central AsiaEpictetus: 254 Selected Quotes - by Massimo Pigliucci (LINK)
This is my personal collection of favorite quotes from Epictetus, covering all four extant volumes of the Discourses, the Enchiridion, and the known Fragments. Use them for inspiration and meditation. The pdf is searchable so that you can look for specific keywords, and if you’d like you can come up with your own selection of preferred citations, arranged by topics.Entropy Explained, With Sheep [H/T @TimHarford] (LINK)
Book of the day: Beyond the Box: B.F. Skinner's Technology of Behaviour from Laboratory to Life, 1950s-1970s