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Schopenhauer: On Reading and Books (LINK)

Related previous post: Arthur Schopenhauer quote

Horizon Kinetics: Utilities - Running on Empty: Major Disruption Ahead (LINK)

The attached white paper was originally published in late 2014. However, we feel it sufficiently relevant, despite the modest 10% to 15% decline since year-end, such that it continues to bear reading. The Utilities sector was among the best-performing of 2014. Yet, it is not much represented in Horizon Kinetics strategies, despite the sector’s 3% weight in the S&P 500 Index®. This is not an oversight.

We believe the Utilities sector is in the midst of a largely unrecognized bubble—a valuation correction of the scale we anticipate has never befallen it before. The source of the valuation risk, aside from any substantive increase in interest rates—which would be no small matter—is a threat to demand. The largest (of a number) of drivers for this drop is the emergence of solar power as a viable source for a meaningful share of the electricity supply. One need only look at the European experience (particularly in Germany) to preview what might occur in the United States as solar power adoption increases.

Larry Page on Google and Alphabet (LINK)

The SEC filing for the Google announcement of Alphabet (LINK)

Alphabet Lets Google Chase Moonshots and Stay Profitable (LINK)

In an interview with The Financial Times in October, Page said there’s no precedent for the company he wants to build. But it seems he’s taking a page or two from the most successful investor in Wall Street history: Warren Buffett, who runs the vast conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway.

Indeed, Page pointed to Buffet as someone who knows how to lead the kind of company he and Google co-founder Sergey Brin have in mind. And according to The Wall Street Journal, Page went even further in December during a meeting with top shareholders, saying Berkshire Hathaway—which spans everything from insurance to underwear to aerospace supplies—exemplifies how a large, complex company should be run. “Mr. Buffett has a cadre of CEOs running operating companies and doles out capital from the holding company to these businesses based on their performance each year,” the Journal wrote.

Fred Wilson on Google and Alphabet (LINK)

China Moves to Devalue Yuan (LINK)

Books of the day (since I felt the urge to watch the Pale Blue Dot video a few times last night):

Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space

The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark

“Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality. When we recognize our place in an immensity of light‐years and in the passage of ages, when we grasp the intricacy, beauty, and subtlety of life, then that soaring feeling, that sense of elation and humility combined, is surely spiritual. So are our emotions in the presence of great art or music or literature, or acts of exemplary selfless courage such as those of Mohandas Gandhi or Martin Luther King, Jr. The notion that science and spirituality are somehow mutually exclusive does a disservice to both.”

-Carl Sagan

- Links
Shane Parrish talks to Jason Zweig in the latest The Knowledge Project podcast (LINK) Related book: The Devil’s Financial DictionaryRationally Speaking podcast with Phil Tetlock [H/T @jasonzweigwsj] (LINK) Related book: Superforecasting:...

- Links
Latticework of Mental Models: Do Something Bias (LINK) For Google’s New CEO Sundar Pichai, a Low-Key Style Pays Off (LINK) Buried in the Wordplay: Life Sciences Graduates From Google X - by Steven Levy [author of In The Plex: How Google Thinks, Works,...

- The Untold Story Of Larry Page's Incredible Comeback - By Nicholas Carlson
Link to article: The Untold Story Of Larry Page's Incredible ComebackBy August 2001, Schmidt had fully extricated himself from his responsibilities at Novell. He became Google’s CEO — so-called adult supervision for Page and his co-founder, Brin....

- Ted: Larry Page: Where’s Google Going Next?
Link to video: TED: Larry Page: Where’s Google going next?Onstage at TED2014, Charlie Rose interviews Google CEO Larry Page about his far-off vision for the company. It includes aerial bikeways and internet balloons … and then it gets even more interesting,...

- Delivering Dividends With Owens & Minor Inc.
I currently own just 3 companies that are directly health care related, although I do own some health care REITs that provide additional exposure to the industry. According to a 2014 report from the Census Bureau, the 65+ population in the United States...

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