Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed

• Best news bloopers (so far) of 2012. I'm a sucker for this stuff. http://t.co/wORbFn4a! ->
• RT @BrianSHall: @pkedrosky for those that don't have a WSJ subscription, my earlier take;-) http://t.co/KBtHt4Ys ->
• WSJ: Nokia's Problems Haunt Microsoft – http://t.co/Cm1C22J4 ->
• Yammer's last round (of $142 m raised) was $85m in Feb at $500-$600m valuation. ->

• Re-sorting that Inrix traffic data on y-o-y worsening, LA still finds a way to out-do. Congrats, CA-57 NB from I-5/CA-22/Chapman! ->
• Most congested US highway corridors (from Inrix data) http://t.co/mCZ6UqMB /via @herf ->
• Microsoft said to be in talks to buy Yammer social network http://t.co/SqvwlPBy /tip @techmeme ->
• Cramer: Dimon is a "loser" – http://t.co/6wj0Uu4A /via @herbgreenberg ->
• Look out! "Thirdhalf.com, LLC reported today in a filing …. it had raised $100 in new funding" http://t.co/seeojV7C ->
• Fun: This time it is not different – Canadian housing prices reach apex and set for deep fall. http://t.co/WjDLzqHA ->
• Lance Armstrong charging letter from USADA (in pdf) – http://t.co/hePRM8rF ->

• Insert Chinatown ref here ________: Water war reignites as L.A. resists fixing some Owens Lake dust http://t.co/RpkZcDTC ->
• Interesting similarities in IEM graphs in 2004 ( http://t.co/Wu5rF7o8), 2008 (http://t.co/cC9mznDz) and 2012 (http://t.co/NwUDTpNt ) elections ->
• "Hey, over here! Have your picture taken with a reclusive author!" http://t.co/usoynd0s #obPynchonOnSimpsonsReference ->
• Thomas Pynchon concedes that this e-books thing may have legs after all – http://t.co/kK5oKHxs ->
• Interesting RT @bfeld: The most important provision of the JOBS Act: http://t.co/Ij6sohkH via @sether ->

• Neat visualization of the routes flown by the world's top 7 airlines – http://t.co/IHm3Rup7 ->
• Well, we've got that going for us: Euro 2012 unlikely to cause trading slumps, unlike World Cup – http://t.co/NQDlgXXz ->
• "Astonishing depravity" & "hooligan males": Euro 2012, right? No. Adelie penguins, circa 1910. http://t.co/nFItEU8h ->
• Copy of that new Nature paper ("Approaching a state shift in Earth’s
  biosphere") I mentioned earlier – http://t.co/uLbnZ0dO ->
• Interesting: Apple TV SDK coming to WWDC 2012 http://t.co/2Mr3Po1v /via @streetbrief ->
• Invasive species ride Japanese tsunami debris to US shore http://t.co/CHxZGSxj ->
• Game of Thrones Crowned Most Pirated TV-Show of the Season | TorrentFreak http://t.co/0CU4Ba13 ->

• Lovely time at @bloombergwest soiree tonight in San Francisco. Thanks to @emilychangtv for reminding me. ->
• Absurd Vancouver Property of the Week (June 7, 2012) « http://t.co/1kNHuKIR /via @kpooya ->
• Zillow graphic showing how Menlo Park real estate got bid up in anticipation of Facebook IPO. http://t.co/Yi2HR0cw ->
• extenyNY: The Manhattan Grid extended to every point on Earth – http://t.co/mJ2JpR0J /via @kathrynschulz ->

• "History repeats the old conceits / The glib replies the same defeats" – "Beyond Belief", Elvis Costello ->
• This admittedly isn't a record, but longest men's rally so far at this year's French Open? An absurd 43 strokes. ->
• You are correct: the three older than Powell's long jump record. RT @MarcosCarreira: @pkedrosky Shot Put, Hammer, Discus ->
• The fourth-oldest men's world record in track & field is Mike Powell's 8.90m in long jump from 1991. What three records are older? ->
• HBO: Game of Thrones Life Size Replica Iron Throne for $30,000 http://t.co/HeZHeDCc ->

• I get it, but this still seems … wrong: A Ferrari crossover vehicle – http://t.co/p0hdaY5M ->
• Wondrous lunacy of CA municipal finance: Cutting costs on muni projects will increase … costs –http://t.co/oQ7f1OkI ->
• As always, I'm way ahead of the curve: Let’s Be Less Productive – http://t.co/pHWkKS5x /via @timoreilly ->
• Why do appliance companies make it impossible to find out when they launched a particular product? Absurd. ->

• "The citizens in their cars looked at the porcupines, thinking: What is wonderful? Are porcupines wonderful?… Are they what I need?" ->
• Vid for Black Keys tune "Gold on the Ceiling" is like a Devo homage made by animatronic Pez dispensers. http://t.co/rp302BH6 ->
• Building jobs' share of Canadian employment now 50% higher than U.S. share was at peak of bubble – http://t.co/iqkL7QCN ->
• Apple: Let's Have Some Fun Reading Way Too Much Into the Preliminary Schedule for WWDC 2012 http://t.co/xVAT5F1J ->
• I knew it: Music is getting louder over time – #HeyYouKidsGetOffMyLawn http://t.co/k5oSs90V ->
• William Gibson: "But somewhere along the way … Tomorrow went lowercase." http://t.co/o25TpthF ->

I like this comment from Peter Thiel in his latest Stanford lecture. He is talking about the trouble with unique investments:

Peter Thiel: It is very hard hard for investors to invest in things that are unique. The psychological struggle is hard to overstate. People gravitate to the modern portfolio approach. The narrative that people tell is that their portfolio will be a portfolio of different things. But that seems odd.

Things that are truly different are hard to evaluate. Suppose someone wants to start a rocket company. You might ask, quite reasonably, “What experience do you have with rockets?” The answer might be “zero.” Elon didn’t have any experience in making rockets before he started SpaceX. Or suppose a VC wants to invest in a rocket company. The question becomes: “What on earth do you know about rockets?” Again, the answer is probably “nothing.” No one has invested in rockets in over 40 years.

iPhone games, by contrast, are entirely familiar. If you ask a gaming entrepreneur what experience he has with games, he’ll tell you about all the games he’s made before. Ask a VC what they know about games and they’ll go on and on about the many gaming companies in their portfolio.

The upside to doing something that you’re unfamiliar with, like rockets, is that it’s likely that no one else is familiar with it, either. The competitive bar is lowered. You can focus on learning and substantive things over process, which is perhaps better than competing against experts.

More here.

• The Real Banking Crisis, Part II – Sprott Asset Management (Source)
• Spain faces ‘total emergency’ as fear grips markets – Telegraph (Source)
• IMD announces its 2012 World Competitiveness Rankings (Source)
• Use Put Options to Get Facebook at a Discount – Barrons.com (Source)
• A Special Report on the Future of Money – IEEE Spectrum (Source)
• Soccer Rulers Slam Player-Trade Investment as Outsiders Cash In – Bloomberg (Source)