Featured Trades: (MALCOLM GLADWELL)

3) An Evening With Malcolm Gladwell. I spent an evening with the New Yorker Magazine columnist, Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point, Blink, and Outliers, and probably the most prolific publisher of original, consensus challenging ideas today. Half English and half Jamaican, the preeminent challenger of cliches and stereotypes was himself a cliche and a stereotype, wearing the standard issue New York intellectual?s blazer, pressed shirt, blue jeans, and loafers, to compliment his gaunt face and conspicuous afro. His latest book challenges the myth of meritocracy, that luck is a bigger factor in success than privilege or education, that in fact all meritocracies are rigged. Bill Gates built Microsoft not by being brilliant, but by having the good fortune to be raised by a family who could send him to one of the few Seattle high schools that then had a computer program. The Beatles made it only because they practiced? more than any other group in history. The falling crime rate since the seventies was not the result of a series of new, tough anti crime laws, but the removal of lead from gasoline in 1973, which literally drove young inner city dwellers violently insane. Successful hockey players are almost exclusively born during the first three months of the year, enabling them to beat the crap out of younger, smaller competitors in their junior years. It is cheaper to deal with the homeless than ignore them, because of the massive drain they create on the public health system. He cited the infamous example of the drunk, ?Million dollar Murray,? who single handedly drained the budgets of Reno, Nevada?s emergency rooms. Gladwell?s arguments may not be accurate, or even right, but he certainly forced you to look at problems from a new perspective.

Featured Trades: (JOHN PETERSEN), (JCI), (XIDE)

3) The Skinny on Batteries With John Petersen. John Petersen is an attorney specializing in venture capital investments in the alternative energy space with Fefer, Petersen & Cie in Berne, Switzerland.? He argues that the entire electric car movement is a complete fraud orchestrated by a few big car companies pandering to growing numbers of ?green? consumers. Batteries are expensive, and do a poor job of replacing a gas tank. For example, the $100,000 all-electric Tesla roadster uses 6,000 model 18650 cell phone type batteries, which is akin to using ?6,000 hamsters to pull a stage coach.? Deutsche Bank says that there are enough new factories on the drawing board to build batteries generating 36 million Kwh by 2015. These will be used to power vehicles like the $44,300 Nissan Leaf, which launches in December, and will be powered by several hundred larger, soda can sized batteries. But even if the world?s total battery output is devoted solely to vehicles like the Leaf, fuel savings would amount to only 600 million gallons of gasoline a year, worth only $1.8 billion, about five hours worth of global oil production. If these batteries were devoted to hybrid vehicles like the Prius, the energy savings would amount to 3.8 billion gallons worth, a much more substantial $11.4 billion. The low hanging fruit for investors in the fuel efficiency race can be found by pushing forward existing, simpler, and cheaper technologies. A great example is the ?stop-start? integrated starter/alternator. Cars burn about 10% of their fuel idling at traffic lights while driving in cities. ?Stop-start? turns the engine off, and then restarts it when the light turns green. European car manufacturers are rushing forward with this fuel saver, which costs about $600 per vehicle, to meet stringent CO2 standards. The system requires more advanced batteries which can handle dozens of engine starts a day, instead of a handful. The Department of Energy recently handed $34 million to Xide Technology (XIDE) to develop just such a product using a lead-carbon formula. Global auto parts supplier Johnson Controls (JCI) is also involved in the space. The play here is that far more versatile batteries can command much higher prices, possibly $150, compared to the average $57 for traditional car batteries. Those taking a look at XIDE will find a $429 million market cap selling at $5.57/share versus $20 a year ago. In the meantime, car companies are going to hold back on making major capital investments in lithium battery power trains until the technology becomes proven. Better to invest in a company that may become profitable next year, rather than in five years, or never. To learn more about John Petersen?s views on alternative energy, please visit his blog at www.altenergystocks.com. You can also find an archive of his past work at http://seekingalpha.com/author/john-petersen/articles. You can contact him directly at fefer.petersen@gmail.com. To listen to my complete interview with John Petersen on Hedge Fund Radio, please click here.