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That makes perfect sense.

In the annual Buffett talks about rascals, quote below. To whom could Buffett be referring. Who is the Rascal??

The probability of a margin call on the DJCO is probably 0. The company undoubtedly has access to liquidity to cover any eventuality. This arm chair quarterbacking of one of the best investors in American economic history is a bit comical, frankly. (Note, Charlie has repeatedly lambasted the comfortably rich flirting with catastrophic risk. He has said more than once, "I have no intention of going back to 0.")

Not to be contentious, Spec, but there is so much wrong here. There is almost no chance that Munger would have 'blown himself up'. Remember it was Munger not Buffett who was into quality stocks. Historical note their friend Guerin on the other hand did blow up, but died a very wealthy man; he was on margin a lot. Buffett acknowledges Munger's affect on him, I have never heard Munger say the reverse. Volatility is not risk, that is Buffett and Munger teachings #2 after #1 don't lose money. They shoot fish in drained barrels. He only used margin on absolute locks, this was when he was younger and did not have no-recourse debt Both of them are risk averse, see shooting fish above!

This is a story about a company that presented to Charlie and the board at the Daily Journal. It was a venture style investment (note: Buffett has invested in new companies) url to Linkedin article

the link didn't work for me.

What is the url for the transcript of the Li Lu/Greenwald talk? Thanks.

A few questions on the asset class: What are the best posts on cobf on crypto? (I know, I know, I will read this whole thread) What are the best posts on the web? Other than Ethereum and Bit, what else should one invest in, (pre IPO Coinbase would have been possible a few months ago.) Dogecoin It seems to me that we are in the late stages of this cycle so of a total allocation to crypto, invest 20%- 40% now and wait for the pullback.

Yes the computer generated transcript was not particularly accurate. No real revelations and I might add given the (presumed) IQ of the audience, Cal Tech afterall, the questions where not particularly good. I suspect most of the people on this board would have had better questions. (Obviously there could be sampling bias by the person who selected the questions.) But this just goes to show that effective horsepower is the key not potential horsepower, i.e. people on this board know a lot more about Munger than the questioners! At some point the talk should be on Cal Tech's Youtube channel. Highlights: Know your circle of competence. Go where the competition is weak, (I was not going to be brilliant in Thermodynamics, at least by Cal Tech standards) Find something you enjoy and can work hard on Try and benefit from a tail wind. People from Harvard and Stanford don't go to work at Costco, they should think about it, it's a rising tide (or at least it was) and your competition is not going to be that strong (inside of Costco). My department, Meteorology, was properly tossed, it was purely empirical field (not upto Cal Tech standards). I did not make my money on macro forecasting, but these are quite interesting times...I can't believe the rise of China and the level of debt of developed countries. He said he did not learn anything (academically) at Cal Tech that he used later in life, but he did say he learned he was not going to be studying Thermodynamics professionally (Circle of competence?). The competition in investing business was weak in his day. Sequoia's record in investing has been phenomenal. His (early venture) record on the other hand: he nearly killed himself in an oscilloscope business, total sales 3. They did not anticipate magnetic tape, as a recording medium. He stayed away from venture after that! He got in his usual dig on liberal arts professors.

Munger is live now

Good point. So, on a practical level, what would be the functional equivalence of this?

Although I haven't lived there in awhile, I can try: what is it that you want to know? Where to stay , where to party, what to see, where to buy RE? For sight seeing, the museums, when they reopen are free! As are the tours of the capital--ask your representative for tickets. Climbing the stairs to the top of George Washington monument is a good workout. Kayaking the Potomac is nice, beware of the Great falls area though. (the sunken shipwrecks is an interesting nature experience, south of DC) Remember that DC area it was a yellow fever swamp though, classified as hazard, tropical duty by the British foreign office. So it is hotter and more humid than Queens. As for partying, I'm afraid I'm out of date on that one, but the rectangle from say 22nd to the say 12th and L to U might be a good locus. I'm told that the Ethiopianl/Eritrean food is the best to be had outside of Adis Ababa, but last time I was there there were still no good renditions of fish oriented coastal cuisine. There are a number of brew pubs, as one would imagine, but you have Yelp for that. There are also a huge number of Salvadoran places. I have not found great Haitian food, but there has to be some there. And of course there is West African food. I think there are 2 or 3 Michelin starred restaurants, if that is your thing. a local speciality is soft-shell crabs, which I adore. You can also do hard-shell crabs, much cheaper and do a bucket with fries and beer The bus system is okay, but the Metro is great, much cleaner and quieter than NY but obviously 1/10 as extensive. Good luck

https://www.youtube.com/embed/Rh1WCzfCP24

Hey SD, Munger is quoting you ;) --WSJ today. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wsj.com/amp/articles/charlie-munger-the-phone-is-not-ringing-off-the-hook-11587132006 Although I (obviously) feel more threatened personally (read health-wise) with this crisis, financially I feel much better than 2008. Yes the GNP may really dip and small businesses are going to be mowed down, but the financial system was teetering in '08, which is (currently) not the case now. As always we are in uncharted territory, but it seems as if the returns in private (VC, small scale PE) and public markets require (even more) patience than one would think. Wait for the fat pitch or as Buffett also said, shoot the fish in a drained barrel. (Minor historical note, returns to capital tend to reduced after pandemics, both large and small.)

I'm halfway through Think Like a Rocket Scientist. It just came out this week. Varol really was a rocket scientist who left NASA to go back to university to become a law professor. It's is a great book. Varol is a good writer, who makes a narrative cohere to his point. The first chapter on decision making under uncertainty is worth the price of the book one year of college. I am a great believer in building and using various thinking tools. I've read a shelf full of books on thinking. Varol's will go into my highly used reference section with Thinking Fast and Slow and Poor Charlie's Almanack