Brandon DonnellyCanada must become a global superpower
The silver lining to the US starting a trade war with Canada and regularly threatening annexation is that it has forced this country out of complacency. Indeed, I'm hard pressed to remember a time, at least in my lifetime, when patriotism and nationalism has united so much of Canada. According to a recent survey by Angus Reid, the percentage of Canadians expressing a "deep emotional attachment" to the country jumped from 49% in December 2024 to 59% in February 2025. And as further evidence of...
Brandon DonnellyThe bank robbery capital of the world
Between 1985 and 1995, Los Angeles' retail bank branches were robbed some 17,106 times. In 1992, which was the the city's worst year for robberies, the number was 2,641. This roughly translated into about one bank robbery every 45 minutes of each banking day. All of this, according to this CrimeReads piece by Peter Houlahan, gave Los Angeles the dubious title of "The Bank Robbery Capital of the World" during this time period. So what caused this? Well according to Peter it was facil...
Brandon DonnellyThe story behind those pixelated video game mosaics in Paris
If you've ever been to Paris, you've probably noticed the small pixelated art pieces that are scattered all around the city on buildings and various other hard surfaces. Or maybe you haven't seen or noticed them in Paris, but you've seen similarly pixelated mosaics in one of the other 79 cities around the world where they can be found. Or maybe you have no idea what I'm talking about right now. Huh? Here's an example from Bolivia (click here if you can't see...
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Brandon DonnellyCanada must become a global superpower
The silver lining to the US starting a trade war with Canada and regularly threatening annexation is that it has forced this country out of complacency. Indeed, I'm hard pressed to remember a time, at least in my lifetime, when patriotism and nationalism has united so much of Canada. According to a recent survey by Angus Reid, the percentage of Canadians expressing a "deep emotional attachment" to the country jumped from 49% in December 2024 to 59% in February 2025. And as further evidence of...
Brandon DonnellyThe bank robbery capital of the world
Between 1985 and 1995, Los Angeles' retail bank branches were robbed some 17,106 times. In 1992, which was the the city's worst year for robberies, the number was 2,641. This roughly translated into about one bank robbery every 45 minutes of each banking day. All of this, according to this CrimeReads piece by Peter Houlahan, gave Los Angeles the dubious title of "The Bank Robbery Capital of the World" during this time period. So what caused this? Well according to Peter it was facil...
Brandon DonnellyThe story behind those pixelated video game mosaics in Paris
If you've ever been to Paris, you've probably noticed the small pixelated art pieces that are scattered all around the city on buildings and various other hard surfaces. Or maybe you haven't seen or noticed them in Paris, but you've seen similarly pixelated mosaics in one of the other 79 cities around the world where they can be found. Or maybe you have no idea what I'm talking about right now. Huh? Here's an example from Bolivia (click here if you can't see...
Subscribe to Brandon Donnelly
>4.2K subscribers
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I am sure many of you are getting tired of the news. I know I am. But it turns out that when you're in a global pandemic and you spend the entirety of your day looking at Zoom -- while fidgeting your leg, I might add -- there's only so much else you can talk and write about.
One of the more interesting things you could read is Howard Marks' memos. Howard is the co-founder of Oaktree Capital Management and, from what I can tell, he's been writing since 1990. Some years it's an annual memo and some years -- like this year -- he writes a bunch more. His most recent is regarding, "Knowledge of the Future."
If I had to summarize it: The future is unknowable and none of us can say with any certainty what the next quarter or the next year is going to look like. In Howard's words: "These days everyone has the same data regarding the present and the same ignorance regarding the future."
Most of the time, he explains, we simply extrapolate from the past and then apply our own biases to come up with a prediction. Howard describes himself as more of a worrier, whereas I would describe myself as more of an optimist. I believe, to a certain extent, in creating self-fulfilling prophecies.
Notwithstanding our inability to predict the future (which isn't a new phenomenon), I think it's important to have opinions and take positions. Any decision is better than no decision, right?
For a full archive of Howard Marks' memos, click here.
I am sure many of you are getting tired of the news. I know I am. But it turns out that when you're in a global pandemic and you spend the entirety of your day looking at Zoom -- while fidgeting your leg, I might add -- there's only so much else you can talk and write about.
One of the more interesting things you could read is Howard Marks' memos. Howard is the co-founder of Oaktree Capital Management and, from what I can tell, he's been writing since 1990. Some years it's an annual memo and some years -- like this year -- he writes a bunch more. His most recent is regarding, "Knowledge of the Future."
If I had to summarize it: The future is unknowable and none of us can say with any certainty what the next quarter or the next year is going to look like. In Howard's words: "These days everyone has the same data regarding the present and the same ignorance regarding the future."
Most of the time, he explains, we simply extrapolate from the past and then apply our own biases to come up with a prediction. Howard describes himself as more of a worrier, whereas I would describe myself as more of an optimist. I believe, to a certain extent, in creating self-fulfilling prophecies.
Notwithstanding our inability to predict the future (which isn't a new phenomenon), I think it's important to have opinions and take positions. Any decision is better than no decision, right?
For a full archive of Howard Marks' memos, click here.
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