Links

"If you want to be a clever person, you have to learn how to ask cleverly, how to listen attentively, how to respond quietly, and how to stop talking when there is nothing more to say." -Leo Tolstoy (A Calendar of Wisdom)

The Wrong Side of Right (LINK)

Thousands of rail workers back at Buffett's BNSF as volumes rise [H/T Linc] (LINK)

Good News for Young Strivers: Networking Is Overrated - by Adam Grant (LINK)

Uber's New CEO - by Ben Thompson (LINK)

Benedict Evans talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the future of cars (podcast) (LINK)

Dan Egan from Betterment on the Capital Allocators podcast (LINK)

Chastised by E.U., a Resentful Greece Embraces China’s Cash and Interests [H/T @manualofideas] (LINK)

Amazon Cuts Whole Foods Prices as Much as 43% on First Day (video plays) (LINK)

A Stoic’s Key to Peace of Mind: Seneca on the Antidote to Anxiety (LINK)

"Many stupid things are uttered by people whose only motivation is to say something original. " -Voltaire

Intellect and Kindness

From A Calendar of Wisdom:

"Intellect can be enlightened only in a kind person. A person can be kind only when he has an enlightened intellect. One helps the other." -Chinese wisdom

And from The Daily Stoic:

"Kindness is invincible, but only when it’s sincere, with no hypocrisy or faking. For what can even the most malicious person do if you keep showing kindness and, if given the chance, you gently point out where they went wrong—right as they are trying to harm you?" -Marcus Aurelius

Leo Tolstoy quote

From A Calendar of Wisdom:

"To tell the truth is the same as to be a good tailor, or to be a good farmer, or to write beautifully. To be good at any activity requires practice: no matter how hard you try, you cannot do naturally what you have not done repeatedly. In order to get accustomed to speaking the truth, you should tell only the truth, even in the smallest of things." -Leo Tolstoy

Leo Tolstoy quote

From A Calendar of Wisdom:

"Only when we forget about ourselves, when we get out of the thoughts of ourselves, can we fruitfully communicate with others, listen to them, and influence them."

Leo Tolstoy quote

From A Calendar of Wisdom:

"Stop blaming other people, and you will feel what an alcoholic feels when he stops drinking, or what a smoker feels when he stops smoking. You will feel that you have brought relief to your soul." -Leo Tolstoy

Links

Vancouver Homes Are So Pricey the Government Will Pitch In [H/T Matt] (LINK)

Stranger Things Are Going Into China's Overseas Shopping Basket [H/T Matt] (LINK)

Lazy Work, Good Work - by Morgan Housel (LINK)

Latticework Of Mental Models: Chauffeur knowledge (LINK)

Muddy Waters' latest short report (LINK)

We are short China Huishan Dairy Holdings (6863 HK / “Huishan”) because we believe it is worth close to Zero. We conclude Huishan is a fraud. In this first report on Huishan, we detail the following conclusions and supporting facts.

Exponent podcast: Episode 098 — Shattered Glass (LINK)

Ben and James discuss real estate and Opendoor, and the types of startups that will succeed in the future.

Megadiamonds point to metal in mantle (LINK)

Why you should turn off push notifications right now - by Dan Ariely (LINK)

The cost of being distracted is much higher than we realise

Quote of the day: "The greatest truth is the most simple one." -Leo Tolstoy (via A Calendar of Wisdom)

Leo Tolstoy quote

From A Calendar of Wisdom:

When you have doubts about what to do, just imagine that you might die at the end of that same day, and then all your doubts will disappear, and you will see clearly what your conscience tells you, and what is your true personal wish.  

A man condemned to immediate execution will not think about the growth of his estate, or about achieving glory, or about the victory of one group over another, or about the discovery of a new planet. But one minute before his death a man may wish to console an abused person, or help an old person to stand up, or to put a bandage on someone's injury, or to repair a toy for a child.

Leo Tolstoy quote

From A Calendar of Wisdom:

Remember how passionately you yearned in the past for many of the things which you hate or despise now. 

Remember how many things you lost trying to satisfy your former desires. The same thing could happen now, with the desires which excite you at present. Try to tame your present desires, calm them; this is most beneficial, and most achievable.

Links

The Base Rate Book: Integrating the Past to Better Anticipate the Future - by Michael Mauboussin et al. [H/T Hurricane Capital] (LINK)

Phil Jaber and friends : "Philz Coffee" | Talks at Google [H/T @iancassel] (LINK)

Moleskine Turns Paper Into Big Profit for Private-Equity Owner [H/T @chriswmayer] (LINK)

Microsoft to Salesforce: Game on (LINK)

Trump Tees Up a Necessary Debate on the Fed [H/T Matt] (LINK)

Leave the conspiracy theory aside and look at the facts: Since the Fed began aggressive monetary easing in 2008, my calculations show that nearly 60% of stock market gains have come on those days, once every six weeks, that the Federal Open Market Committee announces its policy decisions. 

Put another way, the S&P 500 index has gained 699 points since January 2008, and 422 of those points came on the 70 Fed announcement days. The average gain on announcement days was 0.49%, or roughly 50 times higher than the average gain of 0.01% on other days. 

Danny Meyer Just Single-Handedly Made the Apple Watch Relevant to the Hospitality Industry [H/T @IntrinsicInv] (LINK)

The Tim Ferriss Show: Matt Mullenweg on the Characteristics and Practices of Successful Entrepreneurs (podcast) (LINK)

Exponent podcast: Episode 090 — Fashionable to Be Cynical (LINK)

a16z Podcast: From Data Warehouses to Data Lakes (LINK)

Quote of the day: "There are two different states of human existence: first, to live without thinking of death; second, to live with the thought that you approach death with every hour of your life." -Leo Tolstoy (from A Calendar of Wisdom)

Gaining real knowledge...

The quotes below are from A Calendar of Wisdom:

"Knowledge is real knowledge only when it is acquired by the efforts of your intellect, not by memory." -Leo Tolstoy 

"Only when we forget what we were taught do we start to have real knowledge." -Henry David Thoreau 

"Read less, study less, but think more. Learn, both from your teachers and the books which you read, only those things which you really need and which you really want to know." -Leo Tolstoy

Leo Tolstoy quote

From A Calendar of Wisdom:

“The difference between real material poison and intellectual poison is that most material poison is disgusting to the taste, but intellectual poison, which takes the form of cheap newspapers or bad books, can unfortunately sometimes be attractive.” ―Leo Tolstoy

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Related links:

Stop Reading the News

Avoid News - By Rolf Dobelli

Avoid News: FAQs - By Rolf Dobelli