I'll play along, so here is the counterpoint.
The article remarks on end of an era during which he transformed a failing textile mill into a global conglomerate valued at over $1 trillion.
So he never made anything? Wrong, textile mills make things.
Elsewhere in the comments someone links BuffettsAlpha.pdf
This explains that they used a 1.6-to-1 leverage refers to the estimate of the average amount of borrowed capital Warren Buffett uses to magnify the returns.
This level of leverage means that for every $1.00 of equity, Buffett manages approximately $1.60 in total assets.
It explains why Berkshire experiences high volatility (roughly 25%) despite investing in relatively stable, low-risk businesses.
A significant portion of this leverage—estimated at 36% of liabilities—comes from insurance float. This is essentially a "loan" that costs Berkshire an average of only 2.2% annually, which is more than 3 percentage points below the average T-bill rate.
So why does this matter? Unlike many investors who might face forced liquidations during market downturns, Buffett's unique access to stable, low-cost financing allows him to maintain this leverage even during significant drawdowns.
So yes, he chose the right "cronies" because during inevitable downturn the money was still there to be used to run these low risk stable business.
Do people idolise him? No need to debate that but power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Why did he continue to live a simple life while he has pledged that 99.5% of his wealth will go to philanthropic causes either during his lifetime or at the time of his death.
So I do think you "got that right", however you may have missed that he started with a factory that makes things, invested in a way that survived adversity, and then plans to deliver on the principle that his wealth belongs to society rather than to a "family empire."
I do wonder how you or I would handle running a business. To me that work does not sound easy.
> I do wonder how you or I would handle running a business. To me that work does not sound easy.
I think all of the hardest times in my management career have been dealing with investors/owners etc. 'Professional Investors' and PE have been some of the worst, because they tend to be extremely opinionated, whilst simultaneously demonstrating their contempt for the people doing the actual job, and their naivety in how things are actually done. Perhaps that has made me jaded. I never had the same problems with staff, customers and suppliers.
Not OP but I also use ControlD. I admittedly like NextDNS interface better, but honestly, I rarely need to login anyways.
So why ControlD? Because I don't want to run my own piHole, basically. They maintain ad block lists that you can edit as you see fit to add things or relax things that may cause issues(which you can't do easily with public ad blocking dns servers).
Why ControlD then and not NextDNS? First, because their support was awesome when I had an issue. AFAICT it was the founder actually emailing me back and forth, and it ended up being my ISP's fault, but I only knew that based on research provided to me by support. Secondly, I got a good deal on a 5-year subscription at one point.
Happy to answer any questions, not affiliated but a fan of the service.
Not GP, but I just run my own dns inside the network (unbound on a little openbsd sbc) with a cronjob that pipes oisd.nl into it every night, works great..
..."Indyke, an attorney who represented Epstein for decades, has not been criminally indicted by federal authorities. He was hired by the Parlatore Law Group in 2022, before the justice department settled the Epstein case. That firm represents the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, and previously represented Donald Trump in his defense against charges stemming from the discovery of classified government documents stored at Trump’s Florida estate."...
Projectivy Launcher, for Nvidia Shield Home Screen.
Before that I was building a rooted firmware and downgrading from that awful advert ridden update. I also tried Dispatch as a home screen replacement, but Projectivy wins.
Christian (includes Anglican, Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist) 59.5%, Muslim 4.4%, Hindu 1.3%, other 2%, unspecified 7.2%, none 25.7% (2011 est.)
First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me
What happened to curl?
The comment is referring to how the curl project is being overwhelmed by low-quality bug/vulnerability reports generated (or partially generated) by AI (“AI slop”), so much so that curl maintainers are now banning reporters who submit such reports and demanding disclosure, because these sloppy reports cost a lot of time and drain the team.
The episode shows how even small overdoses of acetaminophen can cause fatal liver damage, while decades of FDA delays and confusing drug labeling left millions of Americans at risk.
Ibuprofen also increases risk of strokes and NSAIDs have been linked to increased risk of intracerebral hemorrhage. It’s a question of whether benefits outweigh cons on population level and I am not an expert, but recommending ibuprofen over acetaminophen might be over-simplifying things. It depends on the person (their meds, their pre-existing conditions, their genetics etc)
"Tylenol is very safe if taken as prescribed. The overdose amount is relatively low, but not uniquely low."
The issue is that the overdose of Paracetamol is relatively similar to the effective, or safe, dose:
"(overdose) of paracetamol is caused by taking more than the recommended maximum daily dose of paracetamol for healthy adults (three or four grams),[38] and can cause potentially fatal liver damage. A single dose should not exceed 1000 mg ..." [1]
See the problem ? A mere 3x the single dose puts one in "potentially fatal liver damage" territory.
This problem is compounded dramatically in small children where errors in the estimation of the child's weight can put you half way to overdose before you even start. Now add a meniscus error as you fill a clear plastic cup in the middle of the night ... or Mom gives a dose at 5am without knowing that Dad already gave a dose at 2am ... ugh.
Compare this to Aspirin where the overdose is as high as 15-30x the effective dose.
I’ll note that if you aren’t used to taking Tylenol, be mindful of the difference between extra and regular strength. My dentist just wrote down a number of Tylenols to take every X hours, and I took them, but because they were extra strength I started hallucinating and chugging water during, I think, Detective Pikachu or some nonsense like it. My liver came out of it fine. But if I’d taken another handful poison control said they would have directed me to the ER. One more after that and it would have been permanent liver damage.
ibuprofen and similar are also much more likely to destroy your kidneys as well and exacerbate heart disease. Intermittent regular dose use is unlikely to cause kidney harm but people get in trouble in two ways: chronic extended use of higher “therapeutic” doses (800mg for ibuprofen) or they have other medical problems weakening kidney function.
Can someone explain what is being said here in literal terms please. Can you also identify any dark humour or social commentary because I don't know enough to be sure.
1. People do not stay on GLP1s for long, despite how effective they are
2. People often rebound harder from other forms of weight loss (dieting, temporary lifestyle changes, etc)
3. GLP1 reduces a LOT of health risks linked to obesity (heart disease being the most important IMO)
4. Older people are taking GLP1s in droves
5. Once these drugs are everywhere (they will be soon IMO in < 7 years obesity will probably be ~gone), the effects will get "priced in" to actuary tables.
No social commentary or dark humor intended -- GLP1s aren't miracle drugs but the effects (and relative lack of side effects) is miraculous.
Elsewhere in the comments someone links BuffettsAlpha.pdf This explains that they used a 1.6-to-1 leverage refers to the estimate of the average amount of borrowed capital Warren Buffett uses to magnify the returns. This level of leverage means that for every $1.00 of equity, Buffett manages approximately $1.60 in total assets. It explains why Berkshire experiences high volatility (roughly 25%) despite investing in relatively stable, low-risk businesses. A significant portion of this leverage—estimated at 36% of liabilities—comes from insurance float. This is essentially a "loan" that costs Berkshire an average of only 2.2% annually, which is more than 3 percentage points below the average T-bill rate.
So why does this matter? Unlike many investors who might face forced liquidations during market downturns, Buffett's unique access to stable, low-cost financing allows him to maintain this leverage even during significant drawdowns.
So yes, he chose the right "cronies" because during inevitable downturn the money was still there to be used to run these low risk stable business.
Do people idolise him? No need to debate that but power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Why did he continue to live a simple life while he has pledged that 99.5% of his wealth will go to philanthropic causes either during his lifetime or at the time of his death.
So I do think you "got that right", however you may have missed that he started with a factory that makes things, invested in a way that survived adversity, and then plans to deliver on the principle that his wealth belongs to society rather than to a "family empire."
I do wonder how you or I would handle running a business. To me that work does not sound easy.
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