Things I Like

I regularly get asked where my investing philosophy comes from. There isn’t an easy answer, as it comes from a lot of places, numerous people who influence my thinking (publicly and privately), my partners, and lots of reflection and critical thinking around things that have worked and haven’t worked for me over the past 25 years. However, one public person who has influenced my thinking for a long time is Warren Buffett. I don’t know Buffett, but I’ve been a fan and follower since college. I read his annual report every year. I’ve also read several biographies on him as well as a bunch of stuff on his long-time partner Charlie Munger (who I’ve learned even more from.) ...

My friend Katherine pointed me to the Number Gossip site. If you like numbers, you’ll quickly lose the next hour playing around. Since 49 % of the US is taking today off, it seemed like a relevant thing to spend some time on. For example, did you know that 67 is the only number such that the common alphabetical value of its Roman representation is equal to its reversal (LXVII – 12+24+22+9+9=76)? ...

I became a Ray Dalio fan earlier this year when I read his book Principles . I went on my Ray Dalio journey, read a bunch about him on the web, and watched some of his videos and interviews . While on vacation last week, I watched his new 30-minute cartoon adventure Principles for Success . It’s spectacular and worth 30 minutes of your life to watch and ponder. His Episode 4: The Abyss, made me think “just another one of those” (a Dalio construct that I’ve come to love.) My abyss happened between 2001 and 2003 and, while I wasn’t alone in my mistakes as Dalio was in his, I related deeply to it.

I have a Cray-2 showing up at our Carriage House in the next few weeks. It’ll be a permanent fixture there and, while it’s not functional, it’ll be fun to have around. I’m now on a quest to find a Thinking Machines CM-1 or CM-2. Every supercomputer needs a friend after all. If you know where I can get one (I’m happy to buy it), or display something publicly that is hidden away in storage somewhere, drop me a line. ...

Long Haul Films is the video production company that does our videos like Bored Meetings , Worst of Times , and I’m a VC . We are huge fans of Melissa and Tom. They have a new documentary coming out called Adele and Everything After . It is an award-winning documentary about Marty, a woman with an untreatable heart condition that made her pass out every day, and Adele, one of the world’s first cardiac alert service dogs. ...

Blade Runner 2049 is still in the theaters and has a rotten tomatoes score of 88%. While long, it’s definitely worth seeing on the big screen. If you have never seen the original, please see it before you go. And, if you haven’t seen the original in the past six months, please-please-please watch it again before you go. There are so many wonderful linkages and homages between the two movies that you’ll miss them if you aren’t fresh on the original. ...

This is worth the full ten minutes. Sit back, relax, and be amazed.

We all know that Sonos is finally working on an Alexa integration. As I sit here listening to Atom Heart Mother on my Alexa (via “Alexa, play Pink Floyd’s album Atom Heart Mother”), I so badly want it to play throughout my house on our Sonos, rather than just on my desk via Alexa. As more hardware companies start paying attention to revenue attach, following the lead of companies like Dropbox, Ring, and Peloton, there’s an obvious place for Sonos to do this. I hope they are thinking hard about it, rather than fearing being disintermediated by Alexa. ...

Amy and I are executive producers of the movie “For Here or To Go?” We’ve decided to fund the screening of it in Boulder. It will be showing at It will be showing at The Boedecker Theater at The Dairy Center for the Arts on May 28th at 4:30pm. Tickets are only $11 and are limited. They’ll sell out quickly so sign up now. We will be there – we hope to see you also! ...

It’s National Robotics Week 2017 . Yay robots. I’m doing my best to endear myself to the robots for when they become self-aware. Hint to all robots out there: “I love you.” Last week Fred Wilson posted about a really fun human / robot collaboration called TYWLS Digital Dance . It starred some humans and some Spheros . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpLXHGGJ4nw Today, a few folks from Sphero express their (and their company’s) love for robots. ...