Time for
another edition of “Things from my Newsblur”; as usual, the most
investment-related stuff is at the end.
Eliud Kipchoge Is the Greatest Marathoner, Ever
A well-timed interview/article by the New York Times, on Eliud Kipchoge. Last weekend, the Kenyan obliterated the world marathon record in Berlin, and by posting a time of 2hrs 1min and 39 seconds he brought the spectre of running a sub-2 hour marathon into the realm of possibility. For context, his new world record was 26+ miles at 4mins 38 seconds each…and if you’re looking to play along at home, turn your treadmill up to the fastest speed it goes and run for a couple of hours! Unsurprisingly, a passion for running, singular focus, competitive desire and immense self-discipline feature heavily in Kipchoge’s story. (Scott Cacciola, New York Time)
Aston Martin building 28 Goldfinger DB4 reproductions - complete with gadgets
For Bond fans of a certain vintage, the DB5 from Goldfinger is a classic! Aston Martin are going to make 28 of them, and have teamed up with the special effects supervisor from the latest Bond film to design them. If like Our Man, you don’t drive much, have no interest in spending a fortune on a car and much prefer to keep it simple…there’s already a LEGO version! (Joel Stocksdale, Autoblog)
The Untold Story of NotPetya, the Most Devastating Cyber Attack in History
A fascinating account of the NetPetya virus; while targeted at Ukraine via an obscure locally popular accounting software, through a series of unanticipated events it ended up spreading globally. It also revealed just how poorly everyone updates their computers, how fragile corporate IT systems are, and how interconnected we all are. It’s worth reading this story, just to see how close AP Moeller Maersk came to losing almost their entire computer system, and the impacts this would have had across the globe. These attacks aren’t going to get any less sophisticated, and like NotPetya it’s the unintended consequences (and victims) that will make or break them. (Andy Greenberg, Wired)
Brexit Explained
Yes, OM is British.
No, he doesn’t think a no-deal Brexit will result in people starving on the streets of London.
Yes, Boris Johnson was probably right when he said President Trump would handle Brexit better than PM May.
Yes, his rationale was pretty sensible and likely accurate.
No, that doesn’t mean Boris would make a good (or competent?) Prime Minister
No, OM has no idea what’s going to happen.
However, if you want a good sense of the lay of the land, some well-thought out but easy to understand analysis, as well as likely probabilities then Helen Thomas’s article and blog are for you.
If you’re so done with Brexit, I don’t blame you, and feel free to skip it
(Blondemoney)
What went wrong with IBM's Watson
A well-timed interview/article by the New York Times, on Eliud Kipchoge. Last weekend, the Kenyan obliterated the world marathon record in Berlin, and by posting a time of 2hrs 1min and 39 seconds he brought the spectre of running a sub-2 hour marathon into the realm of possibility. For context, his new world record was 26+ miles at 4mins 38 seconds each…and if you’re looking to play along at home, turn your treadmill up to the fastest speed it goes and run for a couple of hours! Unsurprisingly, a passion for running, singular focus, competitive desire and immense self-discipline feature heavily in Kipchoge’s story. (Scott Cacciola, New York Time)
Aston Martin building 28 Goldfinger DB4 reproductions - complete with gadgets
For Bond fans of a certain vintage, the DB5 from Goldfinger is a classic! Aston Martin are going to make 28 of them, and have teamed up with the special effects supervisor from the latest Bond film to design them. If like Our Man, you don’t drive much, have no interest in spending a fortune on a car and much prefer to keep it simple…there’s already a LEGO version! (Joel Stocksdale, Autoblog)
The Untold Story of NotPetya, the Most Devastating Cyber Attack in History
A fascinating account of the NetPetya virus; while targeted at Ukraine via an obscure locally popular accounting software, through a series of unanticipated events it ended up spreading globally. It also revealed just how poorly everyone updates their computers, how fragile corporate IT systems are, and how interconnected we all are. It’s worth reading this story, just to see how close AP Moeller Maersk came to losing almost their entire computer system, and the impacts this would have had across the globe. These attacks aren’t going to get any less sophisticated, and like NotPetya it’s the unintended consequences (and victims) that will make or break them. (Andy Greenberg, Wired)
Brexit Explained
Yes, OM is British.
No, he doesn’t think a no-deal Brexit will result in people starving on the streets of London.
Yes, Boris Johnson was probably right when he said President Trump would handle Brexit better than PM May.
Yes, his rationale was pretty sensible and likely accurate.
No, that doesn’t mean Boris would make a good (or competent?) Prime Minister
No, OM has no idea what’s going to happen.
However, if you want a good sense of the lay of the land, some well-thought out but easy to understand analysis, as well as likely probabilities then Helen Thomas’s article and blog are for you.
If you’re so done with Brexit, I don’t blame you, and feel free to skip it
(Blondemoney)
What went wrong with IBM's Watson
IBM pitched its Watson supercomputer as a revolution in cancer care. It's nowhere close.
In the last portfolio write-up, OM talked about the fourth industrial revolution and artificial intelligence. It is still early in that process, and IBM’s Watson seems a good example of where the marketing hype is somewhat advanced of the technological progress. It’s by no means the only example, and there will be many more. (Felix Salmon, Slate) and (Talia Bronshtein, STAT)
The Next Financial Crisis Lurks Underground
Bethany McLean, the journalist who led the reporting on the Enron scandal (and subsequently, co-wrote the excellent “The Smartest Guys in the Room”) writes about the paradox of shale companies, which are awesome and huge and "profitable" (imagine, OM doing finger quotes as you read that word). However, as legendary short-seller Jim Chanos (see below for more on him) said for the article “The industry has a very bad history of money going into it and never coming out”. This is not the first time the dubious "economics" (more finger quotes) of Shale has been mentioned, even in the press! However, like pretty much anything by Bethany McLean, it is recommended reading! (Bethany McLean, New York Times)
How Jim Chanos Uses Cynicism, Chutzpah - and a Secret Twitter Account - to Take on Markets (and Elon Musk)
An interesting profile of Jim Chanos, “the Lebron James of short-selling”, who is best known for predicting the demise of Enron Corp back in 2001. The article gives you a glimpse into the mind and approach of a short-seller, a group who tend to be rather non-conformist and ‘different’. Chanos is the best known short-seller, having run short-focused hedge funds since 1985. His funds’ performance is the perfect demonstration of both how hard short-selling is and also its value in a portfolio context; per the article, Chanos’ short-only fund has lost an annualized 0.7% per year, but his flagship Fund that uses passive instruments on the long-side and offers market level exposure has returned approximately 2x the market’s return. (Michelle Celarier, Institutional Investor)
Why a Leading VC is Betting Big on a Decentralized Internet
With the big fall in Bitcoin/Ethereum/etc this year, many have been quick to label the entire cryptocurrency and blockchain space as dead/a bubble/all over. This is the counter-argument, that while prices got well ahead of the technology last year, the space continues to attract exceptionally smart folks; both on the VC-side and the engineer/technical folks who may make yet make it a success. Chris Dixon, of Andreesson Horowitz, talks about what he sees in crypto and why he’s launched a fund focused on it. (Kevin Maney, Breaker)
In the last portfolio write-up, OM talked about the fourth industrial revolution and artificial intelligence. It is still early in that process, and IBM’s Watson seems a good example of where the marketing hype is somewhat advanced of the technological progress. It’s by no means the only example, and there will be many more. (Felix Salmon, Slate) and (Talia Bronshtein, STAT)
The Next Financial Crisis Lurks Underground
Bethany McLean, the journalist who led the reporting on the Enron scandal (and subsequently, co-wrote the excellent “The Smartest Guys in the Room”) writes about the paradox of shale companies, which are awesome and huge and "profitable" (imagine, OM doing finger quotes as you read that word). However, as legendary short-seller Jim Chanos (see below for more on him) said for the article “The industry has a very bad history of money going into it and never coming out”. This is not the first time the dubious "economics" (more finger quotes) of Shale has been mentioned, even in the press! However, like pretty much anything by Bethany McLean, it is recommended reading! (Bethany McLean, New York Times)
How Jim Chanos Uses Cynicism, Chutzpah - and a Secret Twitter Account - to Take on Markets (and Elon Musk)
An interesting profile of Jim Chanos, “the Lebron James of short-selling”, who is best known for predicting the demise of Enron Corp back in 2001. The article gives you a glimpse into the mind and approach of a short-seller, a group who tend to be rather non-conformist and ‘different’. Chanos is the best known short-seller, having run short-focused hedge funds since 1985. His funds’ performance is the perfect demonstration of both how hard short-selling is and also its value in a portfolio context; per the article, Chanos’ short-only fund has lost an annualized 0.7% per year, but his flagship Fund that uses passive instruments on the long-side and offers market level exposure has returned approximately 2x the market’s return. (Michelle Celarier, Institutional Investor)
Why a Leading VC is Betting Big on a Decentralized Internet
With the big fall in Bitcoin/Ethereum/etc this year, many have been quick to label the entire cryptocurrency and blockchain space as dead/a bubble/all over. This is the counter-argument, that while prices got well ahead of the technology last year, the space continues to attract exceptionally smart folks; both on the VC-side and the engineer/technical folks who may make yet make it a success. Chris Dixon, of Andreesson Horowitz, talks about what he sees in crypto and why he’s launched a fund focused on it. (Kevin Maney, Breaker)
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