A Most Interesting List Of Ten -- August 16, 2025

Locator: 48874INVESTING.

Before we get started, this graphic:

Now, back to the interesting list of ten.

Link here.

We've talked about gas turbines before. See backstory.

The top ten:

• Palantir: data mining, everywhere, especially in the US government, and more specifically, the military; the gold standard
• GE Vernova: about the only natural-gas turbine manufactured in the US; competes with Siemens, Europe;
• Newmont: gold mining
• Seagate: data storage; US but "HQ" in Dublin, Ireland; second to none?
• Western Digital: data storage, San Jose, CA; one of the world's largest hard drive manufacturers in the world;
• NRG Energy: energy generation; "HQ" in Houston, Texas
• EBay:
• GE Aerospace:
• Idexx: animal veterinary research

I think I've heard CNBC mention only one of those on a regular basis: Palantir.

Occasionally: GE Vernova. 

Maybe GE Aerospace but none of the rest are "ever" mentioned.

Amphenol: electrical and fiber optic connectors; coaxial cables.

My Favorite Chart -- August 16, 2025

Locator: 48873MMF.

Money market fund assets. Updated two days ago. Link here.

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Movie Night Tonight

Mad Max.

The original with Aussie dialogue. No dubbing.

1979.

Backstory is amazing.

 

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TV Series Later

Mash.

Starting with season 1, episode 1.

The episodes were produced by 20th Century Fox Television for the CBS network and aired from September 17, 1972, to February 28, 1983. The series, which covered a three-year military conflict, spanned 251 episodes, including the 2.5 hour finale over 11 seasons.

Me?

• 1969: graduated from high school.
• 1973: graduated from college. Mash, first full season, 1972 - 1973.
• 1977: graduated from medical school. 
• 1980: completed three years of residency.
• 1983: first full military tour. Mash, final season ends, 1983.

Amazing, Mash was exactly contemporaneous with my medical training ad first Air Force tour as a physician. I probably did not miss (m)any episodes. 

Hard to believe: Mash takes place in 1950. North Korea -- 75 years of worthlessness. Korean War Armistice signed July 23, 1953.

Investing -- How Many Of These Were Around When I Started Investing In 1984? Posted August 16, 2025

Locator: 48872INVESTING.

Link here.

How many of these were available when I started investing in 1984?

2Q25 updates for Drunkenmiller, link here:

Coal, link here:

Public School Education -- August 16, 2025

Locator: 48871EDUCATION.

Nationally, link here, as of February, 2025:

Across the United States, federal, state, and local governments provide $878.2 billion or $17,700 per pupil to fund K-12 public education.

Williston school district; link here. Webpage here.

• Williston Basin School District #7
• "revenue": $88 million
• budget: $87 million
• surplus: $1 million
• number of students: 5,235 students
• $88 million / 5,235 = $16,810 / student

More links here.

Trump Setbacks -- August 16, 2025

Locator: 48870ARCHIVES.

This past week has to be one of the worst weeks for Trump since his re-election. Nothing seemed to go right.

• bookends:
• extends tariff decision on China for another 90 days;
• red carpet treatment for Putin resulted in nothing and set a record for shortest international summit ever;
• doesn't even take questions at end of summit; 
• apparently a "Biden-in-the-headlights" moment -- what the hell just happened? 
• my wife's hunch: from the get-go, SecState Rubio knew this was a non-starter and told Trump to "get out [of Alaska now]” before Trump is sucked into an even bigger trap
• Rubio knew from the get-go that Putin was not interested in talking;
• it was all about the photo-op: a shaking of hands with President Trump
  
• Intel boondoggle sits at the top of my "craziness list"; 
• first he wants the Chinese-connected CEO to exit stage left
• then he suggests he may take a stock position in Intel; says CEO is right man for right job
  
• DC setback on something that seemed so obvious -- fighting crime; cleaning up DC
  
• more states than ever are now planning massive gerrymandering to counter Trump's Texas proposal to gain five GOP seats
• good news: The NYT says the GOP nationally has more to gain than the Democrats 
• exhibit A: there are "no" GOP districts in California north of San Francisco or south of Legoland
• there may be three GOP districts between Los Angeles and San Francisco 
• California has 52 US congressional districts.
  

Many more weeks like this and the mid-term elections could be a disaster.