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Extras to ask for
These should all be thrown in for free, assuming they're available, which they should be 'cause white people don't eat them:
 * Offal: including the heart, ox tail (simmer for 3 - 4 hours and make pho, kare kare, or Korean ox tail soup), tongue (slow roast or braise and make into tacos or slice and eat cold. So good!), and liver (might be inedible in the sense that mine tasted so much like a farm/barn that I couldn't eat it, and I generally love liver, but worst case you can give it to the dog!)
 * Soup bones (usually come with some tasty meat on them too. Get a stew going!) Ask for the neck bones too for delicious soup.
 * Fat (the 'leaf lard' around the kidneys, known as suet, I believe, make excellent tallow): I ask for 10 (with a 1/4 cow) - 20 (with a 1/2) lbs of the stuff

Cuts of beef
See this butchering checklist to instructing your butcher IF you get a 1/2. With only 1/4, your options are limited to nil since you gotta split with a stranger:
 * Overview: This has a nice picture of the different sections of beef: http://thatmamagretchen.com/2014/07/what-to-tell-the-butcher-when-you-order-a-quarter-beef.html
 * http://galvinell.com/pdf/butch.pdf
 * http://galvinell.com/pdf/BEEF-BUTCHERING-FORM.pdf
 * or this one: http://sfc.smallfarmcentral.com/dynamic_content/uploadfiles/751/CustomerBeefCutOrderForm.pdf
 * This one helps you determine what you should expect to get (and gives you one potential configuration): http://www.newgrassfarm.com/ordering-quarters-halves-whole-beef


 * Also think about specifying the fat % of the ground beef. Ask the butcher that 'typical' is. I'd guess somewhere around 20 - 25%. I personally love fat, but might recommend 30% as a max, 'cause even at that level you get a lot of rendered fat in the pan, which is fine in saucy dishes like tomato sauce, but not as easy to deal with in 'dry' taco meat.
 * Your butcher might give you the option (for free or a small extra charge, like $0.70 / lb) to have some of your ground beef shaped into hamburger patties, which is really handy and well worth it considering your time.

Individual Cut 	Quarter/split half 	Half Beef 	Whole Beef Chuck Roast 	10-12 lbs 	20-24 lbs 	40-48 lbs Rolled Rump Roast 	3 lbs 	5-6 lbs 	10-12 lbs Sirloin Tip Roast 	3 lbs 	5-6 lbs 	10-12 lbs Round Steak, or Stew Meat 	3-4 lbs 	6-8 lbs 	12-16 lbs Ribeye Steak 	2.5-3.5 lbs 	5-7 lbs 	10-14 lbs NY Strip Steak 	2.5 lbs 	5 lbs 	10 lbs Sirloin Steak 	2 lbs 	4 lbs 	8 lbs Tenderloin Filets 	1.5 lbs 	3 lbs 	6 lbs Flank Steak 	.5 lbs 	1 lbs 	2 lbs Skirt Steak 	1.6 lbs 	3.2 lbs 	6.4 lbs Brisket 	2 lbs 	4 lbs 	8 lbs Short Ribs 	2 lbs 	4 lbs 	8 lbs Soup bones with meat 	4 lbs 	8 lbs 	16 lbs Liver 	1 lb 	2 lbs 	4 lbs Ground Beef 	45-50 lbs 	90-100 lbs 	180-200 lbs Total amount of beef 	84-93 lbs 	 168-186 lbs  	 336-372 lbs Approximate Freezer space needed 	3 cubic feet  	6 cubic feet  	 12 cubic feet

Advice from Splendid Table: http://www.splendidtable.org/story/how-should-the-butcher-prepare-my-cow: First of all, you want the meat aged for about 3 weeks, and not in plastic. A lot of times they'll take the primal cuts, the big cuts of the steer, and they'll just put them in Cryovac and tell you that the meat has been aged. Aging dehydrates the meat and gets enzymes going to make it taste delicious. You want it hung. And if they do any kind of aging at all, they're going to know it.

Now, you're going to lose some weight with that, because they're going to have to trim off mold. Crustiness develops, and it's not harmful, but they have to trim it off. You're going to pay for weight and then it's going to be lost.

If the animal is divided from nose to tail, you want them to keep for you the hanger steak, the skirt steak, the flank steak, the belly and the short ribs. You also want the shanks; the best stew comes from the leg of the animal, so you don't want them to skip giving you the shanks. You want those cheeks, the tongue and the liver. And the other thing is that you want to ask them to cut the chuck (the shoulder) into a seven-bone pot roast, a chuck arm roast. These are things you're going to cut up to make burgers, or you can just cook them whole.

Then what you want them to do is dress out the entire top loin, because the top loin is where the great steaks come from. Dress out means to cut that top loin as a solid piece of meat with no bone in it, because then you have the option of slicing it into steaks or treating it as an entire roast, which could be stunning. If they're going to be freezing it, you want them to cut that into steaks 1 1/2 inches thick. Nothing thinner than that.

The rib area is the other area that's utterly prime -- you can have part of that cut as a rib roast, which could be a holiday treat. Then you could have the rest of it cut into thick steaks.

And you do want the bones. You want the shank cut into 2-inch thick slices across the bone. That is going to give you some of the most phenomenal stew you'll ever eat in your life -- the bone, the marrow and the meat. And you want the neck, because the neck is also going to give you phenomenal stew meat.

-Lynne Rosetto Kasper This was helpful too: http://www.chowhound.com/post/cow-butchered-929927?page=3, and including advice such as: Be very forceful/clear about you wanting the the tongue, brisket, short ribs, bones, etc.

I ask for the ground to be packaged into 1 pound packages. I ask for flank steak, flat iron cut, brisket, t bone, ribeye. I like the tail too. I usually get two oxtail packages from one steer. Femur bones cut for soup

I always made sure to ask for bones (for stock and for the dogs). Do go for the "cube steaks" if that's an option... they make great sandwiches and Chicken Fried Steak. Get the tenderloin, not the porterhouse steaks, if that's an option. I always asked for the brisket (they'll usually grind it if you don't ask) and to have the chuck cut into small roasts... I could always grind them, if I wanted, or cut into chunks for stew or cook as pot roasts... gives you lots of options. I always asked for 2" steaks, knowing they'd be 1" or a little more at best (for some reason, our butcher just wouldn't cut them THICK).

Splendid Table

 * Eat radish greens: http://www.splendidtable.org/story/try-radish-greens-in-sandwiches-or-salads
 * Roast beans: http://www.splendidtable.org/story/dont-overlook-roasting-as-a-cooking-technique-for-beans

Session beers
http://www.themadfermentationist.com/2012/01/vienna-malt-session-ipa-recipe.html

Seattle distilleries to try
This article looks GREAT! http://seattle.eater.com/maps/best-distilleries-seattle-alcohol
 * Take Fremont Mischief's tour for $17 including 5 tastings. https://fremontmischief.com/tours-3/
 * Westland Distillery: One of the most buttoned up distilleries in the city, this SODO spot is beautiful and well-stocked with some of the best booze in town. Try some Scotch-style peated whiskey, still an uncommon product for American producers, or the Pedro Ximinéz and Oloroso cask-aged Sherry Wood whiskey, infinitely drinkable alone or in a cocktail.
 * 2bar makes Washington-grained whiskey and sounds good! 2960 4th Ave S #106, Seattle, WA 98134. They have a tasting room (Tues - Thurs 12 - 4pm, Fri - Sat 12 - 6pm), and you can schedule a tour via email: http://2barspirits.com/Tours.aspx They buy all their grains from Wilbur, WA, probably from these guys: http://www.cwgg.net/, or another grower that's part of the Highline LLC group.
 * Old Ballard Liquor company: http://www.oldballardliquorco.com/tasting-room.htm, "And don't miss the Cherry Bounce, an aged sour fruit liqueur."
 * Sound Spirits distillery off 15th Ave NW in the Interbay area: whiskey + other stuff
 * Batch 206 off Elliot Way make a bourbon!
 * Copper something-or-other downtown (take a visitor!)
 * OOLA: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjn1ZzF-9PQAhVW92MKHQTVCxIQgU8IOzAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ooladistillery.com%2F&usg=AFQjCNESuOa60h7qlUz5M0BhRQn404qKTQ&sig2=y1ZQhAoM5GsMHP1PfiFW8g&bvm=bv.139782543,d.cGc

Seattle Home Business rules
Home Business Rules See also: Illegal Businesses If you have a home business, you need to limit impacts on your neighbors. What Is It? You’re allowed to run a business out of your home in Seattle as long as it doesn’t interfere with other residents in the neighborhood. The home occupation rules in our Seattle Municipal Code (SMC) contain limits designed to minimize the impact your commercial activity has on your residential neighborhood.

What It Isn’t This code section does not cover:

Illegal businesses in commercial properties Bed and breakfasts Marijuana businesses Rules to Follow Our ordinance requires that you:

Live in the unit where you operate your home business Limit the number of your employees to two, in addition to you Limit deliveries to your business to one a day on weekdays Use only small signs to identify your business from the outside to discourage drop-in traffic Limit signs in single-family zones to the name of the occupant, not the business name (for example Joe Smith, Attorney at Law, not Seattle Premier Attorneys) In addition, your business cannot produce noise, odors, or other emissions that can be detected from your property line. You cannot change the character of the dwelling from residential to commercial. Our rules are slightly different for home-based child care programs. Bed and breakfasts are subject to different rules.

Tip 236, Home Occupations Allowed in Residential Zones Tip 108, Regulations Governing Child Care Centers Read the Code Director's Rule 8-87, Home Occupations SMC 23.42.050 Fines If you violate the home occupation standards you could be charged penalties of $150 to $500 a day. Your fines can accumulate if you do not correct the violation in a timely way. We will also charge for inspections.

Opening a craft distillery
Licensing The WA license lets the craft distillery product up to 150 K gallons of spirits, and ...
 * Read this: http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2014/09/04/federal_state_and_local_regulations_make_opening_a_craft_distillery_a_long.html
 * And this from the WA liquor board: http://www.agbizcenter.org/FilesUploaded/file/WSLCB%20Presentation_Richard%20Manoli.pdf (some info seems wrong/outdated. This should be accurate: http://lcb.wa.gov/enforcement/distillery-faq)
 * Sell spirits of its own production for off-premises consumption - limit 2 liters per day per person
 * Samples - maximum of 2 ounces per person per day - free of charge at the distillery
 * Spirits used for samples and off-premises sales must be purchased from the board
 * Requires MAST for any person involved in the service of samples

Alcohol server permits (WA 'MAST' permit class 12): http://lcb.wa.gov/mastrvp/mandatory_alcohol_server_training Mandatory Alcohol Server Training (MAST) is required by law for persons who serve, mix, sell, or who supervise the sale of alcohol for on-premises consumption at liquor licensed establishment. Class 12 is for those 21+, Class 13 for those 18 - 20. Class 12 allows you to...
 * Draw alcohol from tap and mix drinks
 * Perform duties included in the Class 13 permit
 * Manage the establishment
 * Conduct alcohol tastings at an approved locations with a tasting endorsement
 * At least one Class 12 permit holder must be on duty

Helpful info on what you can/can't do: http://www.servercertificationcorp.com/state.php?statecode=%27WA%27 Washington Regulations for Bartenders/Sellers/Servers: Happy Hour Laws: Washington state law does not allow the following types of promotions:
 * Two for the price of one,
 * Buy one, get one free,
 * Two drinks for a fixed price, and/or
 * All you can drink.

A business also may not sell (or offer or advertise to sell) alcohol for a price that is less than the acquisition cost. There may be exceptions under certain circumstances, such as when a product is discontinued or seasonal (after the season for the product) or the goods are damaged or have deteriorated. Dramshop/Liquor Liability: No. Third Party Liability

What Washington grows
http://planwashington.org/blog/archive/whats-growing-in-washington-state/

Grains Washington grows
No one will be surprised to learn that Washington is the nation's largest producer of apples. However, it's in the red raspberry market where our state holds the largest market share. Washington leads the nation in production of twelve agricultural commodities. [Could make kirshwasser and a raspberry liqueur/spirit, as well as applejack!] - See more at: http://planwashington.org/blog/archive/whats-growing-in-washington-state/#sthash.cwRaeKZX.dpuf
 * A lot of wheat and barley, and some sweet corn. What kind of wheat is good for whiskey...? http://wagrains.org/all-about-wheat/varieties-of-wheat/types-of-wheat/
 * Great Western Malting Company makes malted barley from Washington: http://www.greatwesternmalting.com/gwm/products/products
 * Especially for craft brewing & distilling sales: http://countrymaltgroup.com/
 * Any rye...?
 * Oats...?
 * 1) Red raspberries, 90.5 percent of U.S. production
 * 2) Hops, 79.3 percent
 * 3) Spearamint Oil, 75 percent
 * 4) Wrinkled seed peas. 70.4 percent
 * 5) Apples, 71.7 percent
 * 6) Grapes, Concord, 55.1 percent
 * 7) Grapes, Niagra, 35.9 percent
 * 8) Sweet cherries, 62.3 percent
 * 9) Pears, 45.6 percent
 * 10) Green peas, processing, 32.4 percent
 * 11) Carrots (2011), 30.6 percent
 * 12) Sweet corn, processing (2011), 29 percent

Share Repurchases
https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2013/03/14/questions-surrounding-share-repurchases/ A few excerpts from the above: In order to come under Rule 10b-18’s safe harbor, a company and its affiliated purchasers, taken together, must meet all the following conditions:

1. Manner: all of the bids and purchases must be made through only one broker or dealer on any single day;

2. Timing: the purchases must not:

(a) constitute the opening transaction, (b) for a security that, during the preceding four weeks, has an average daily trading volume (ADTV) value of at least $1 million and a public float value of at least $150 million, be made during the 10 minutes before the scheduled close of the primary trading session in the security’s principal market, and during the 10 minutes before the scheduled close of the primary trading session in the market where the purchase is made, and (c) for all other securities, be made during the 30 minutes before the scheduled close of the primary trading session in the security’s principal market, and the 30 minutes before the scheduled close of the primary trading session in the market where the purchase is made;

3. Volume: the aggregate purchases on any given day must not exceed 25 percent of the purchased security’s ADTV. “Block” trades typically will be included in computing a security’s ADTV. However, once per week, “in lieu of purchasing under the 25 percent of ADTV limit for that day,” a company or its affiliated purchasers may make one block trade of its shares without regard to the volume limit, provided that it does not make any other Rule 10b-18 purchases on the same day. Purchases made pursuant to this block trade exception will not be included in computing a security’s ADTV for purposes of Rule 10b-18 volume limits; and

4. Price: the purchases must not be made at a price that exceeds the highest independent bid or the last independent transaction price (whichever is higher) quoted or reported in the consolidated system at the time the purchase is made.

The safe harbor applies on a daily basis, and a failure to meet any one of the four conditions will remove all of a company’s repurchases from the safe harbor for the day.

Generally, companies attempt to comply with Rule 10b-18. Companies typically enter into an arrangement with a broker or dealer that agrees to implement the repurchase program according to the companies’ instructions and in accordance with the requirements of Rule 10b-18. All of the major brokerage firms understand the Rule 10b-18 requirements and implement programs accordingly.

Macro stock market valuations
http://www.multpl.com/ for 1-year S&P 500 PE ratios and http://www.multpl.com/shiller-pe/ for Shiller's 10-year ratio. Market-to-book ratio: http://www.multpl.com/s-p-500-price-to-book

Reading

 * Berkshire's letters to shareholders:
 * Whitney Tilson's articles at Fool.com:
 * Some guy's list: http://www.investorgeeks.com/articles/2006/09/06/reading-list-for-the-investing-master/

Watching

 * TV/media expert Laura Martin (Harvard MBA) of Needham & Company and Capital Knowledge. (She asked sharp questions at Q1-2016 WWE earnings call.)
 * Her talks on media/TV (probably smart to watch for understanding WWE, VIAB, etc): https://www.ctam.com/events/pages/meet-laura-martin.aspx
 * On mobile monetization and it's importance: https://www.twst.com/interview/mobile-monetization-key-to-higher-growth-trajectory-for-internet-content-providers
 * Her 'tip' ranking: https://www.tipranks.com/analysts/laura-martin

Valuation
Return on Invested Capital: http://www.oldschoolvalue.com/forum/discussion/944/invested-capital-calculations Another definition: https://www.newconstructs.com/invested-capital-definition-and-formulae/

Valuation screens
Try this one for ROIC: http://www.marketinout.com/stock-screener/stocks.php?screen=20_to_30&picker=roic&fundamentals=43=7&sorting=roe http://www.oldschoolvalue.com/stock-screener/cash-return-on-invested-capital-croic-stock-screen.php

Idea Generation

 * Good post for follow up companies: http://seekingalpha.com/article/4010102-10-micro-caps-never-heard
 * Interesting blog: http://www.oddballstocks.com/2012/03/value-mirage.html

Arbitrage Ideas
CAB (Cabela's) purchase by Bass Pro Shop for $65.5. Might close end of Q1 or end of Q2 2016. If the changes of closing are $65.5 * 90% + $46 (pre-pre-buyout price) * 10% = $63.55 which is a 3.67% premium over the (current/my purchase) price of $61.30. So if it takes 6 months, that's about 7.3% gain annualized, or 3.7% for 1 year.

Still, less than 4 percent of deals raise enough concern that antitrust agencies launch an in-depth investigation called a “second request,” and only about 2 percent of all deals are ultimately challenged in court by antitrust agencies. That’s according to Hunton & Williams, a Virginia law firm that represents corporate clients on antitrust matters. Those figures have held fairly steady under the Obama and Bush administrations, the firm said.
 * 'Typical' justice department/FTC blocking on antitrust grounds is < 2% per Omaha Herald: http://www.omaha.com/money/could-federal-regulators-block-the-bass-pro-takeover-of-cabela/article_085cf28b-e367-5050-97c2-14532ddbd93c.html
 * Plus, there's a chance the shareholders reject the deal, but in this case, the premium over previous trading price is very high ($65.5 was ~19% over prior-announcement price, and even higher over historical trading price.)
 * Could always cash out early if the price fluctuates up enough to make the risk/benefit proposition lower (say, the $63.5 range.)

Common Stock Ideas
PRKA: http://www.otcmarkets.com/stock/PRKA/filings Industry Report - Starting a New Business Chapter
 * Spat with ex-CEO and 19% shareholder in 2009: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/eastland-sends-open-letter-to-the-board-of-directors-of-parks-america-inc-61890297.html
 * Bowlin Travel Center (lacklust family company, but might have great land assets 'hidden' and have 0.5 bk to equity. Throws off a lot of cash, but consumes it via capex.
 * OTCQX:SMID (precast concrete seller on the east coast in West Virginia, North Carolina)
 * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precast_concrete
 * (TRY TO FIND AT SPL) US econ report on precast concrete: http://www.ibisworld.com/industry/default.aspx?indid=556:

The Precast Concrete Manufacturing industry produces a diverse range of concrete products with end uses ranging from ornamental to structural multistory support beams. Entry into the smaller niche markets may be achieved relatively easily, but significant barriers exist for entry into the major industry segments.

Existing manufacturers already enjoy an established market profile and product reputation within their regions. Leading players also have a high level of vertical integration into cement and concrete production, which affords them cost and resource advantages potentially unavailable to new operators. Furthermore, the difficult-to-transport nature of this industry's products places severe constraints on the geographic market a new player could easily serve
 * Precast.org: http://precast.org/2016/01/precast-forecast-2016/

NWPX
Northwest Pipe Company
 * 2016 outlook for large diameter pipe industry: http://www.freedoniagroup.com/brochure/29xx/2974smwe.pdf
 * GOOD THINGS:
 * No debt. Management seems reasonably able & focused on 'long term profitability'. Some ownership by management (could be more, if I recall.)
 * Large water pipe shipping must generally happen locally, it seems, so facilities aren't easy to reproduce.
 * Generally cash flow positive, assuming cap ex is wise and no silly acquisitions happen.
 * Was cheap relative when trading around $10 - $12/share to assets (trading ~40 - 60% at likely fair market value of assets).
 * CONCERNS:
 * uses of cash! Working capital will go up a bit. Will be 'cautious' in Q3 2016 with cash. GOOD!
 * Commodity product that's often the victim of municipal market downturns and no pricing power (due to too much capacity.)

BREW
Craft Brewing Alliance includes Redhook, Widmer (both declining a LOT) and Kona (growing around ~13 - 18%). At around $15.10 per share, market cap is ~$300 M. They are on track to sell around ~800 K barrels of their own beer (+ a little contract brewing of ~50 K barrel, I think). Kona is on pace to hit around 400 K barrels, which probably makes them worth at least $200 M (at $500/barrel), and MAYBE equal to the entire value of BREW (or more!) at ~$750/barrel ($300 M) or $1000/barrel ($400 M, unlikely NOW given their large size & sllow down in craft beer, maybe.)

This 'sum of the parts' math suggest Kona worth about $200 M at $500/barrel + Widmer & Redhook at, maybe, ~$250/barrel = $100 M (~400 K barrels * $250/barrel), which is pretty close to what they're at. BUT, if Kona keeps growing/is worth more than $500/barrel, and maybe the other brands + contract stuff is worth ~$300 - $350/barrel, BREW might really be worth closer to $420 M in market cap, or trading close to a 30% discount.

Plus, the insiders bought a little stock (C-level folks) around $14 and then $15.40 (the CFO) per share: http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=95666&p=irol-sec

HOPS
From this: Leading the way in North Carolina last year was Asheville's Highland Brewing Co., which notched about 38,000 barrels in 2014 and has set its sights on hitting 43,000 during 2015, according to a recent article in the Asheville Citizen-Times.
 * Info on craft beer M&A for guessing at valuations: http://www.craftbrewingbusiness.com/business-marketing/craft-beer-mergers-acquisitions-esops-liquidity-transactions/ **Firestone was acquired for, maybe, $250 M and was 208 K barrels, so $1200/barrel, maybe.
 * 2016-10-12: relative popularity on untappd.com: 'Monthly' ratings: AMB - 3258, Highland Brewing Co - 7599, Foothills Brewing Co - 8424, Wicked Weed - 35,995, Deep River - 1904, Natty Greenes - 2111.
 * 2016-11-03: relative popularity on untappd.com: 'Monthly' ratings: AMB - 3085, Highland Brewing Co - 7327, Foothills Brewing Co - 8308, Wicked Weed - 33,681, Deep River - 1837, Natty Greenes - 2115.
 * Conclusion: everyone's down a little bit, and AMB appears to be about the same relative to other folks (down ~6% in popularity, same as Wicked Weed. Other breweries down a big less, like 2 - 3%, but whatever.)

Close behind them was Winston-Salem's Foothills Brewing, which hit 32,487 barrels last year and now has a 50,000-barrel capacity at its brewery.

Greensboro's Natty Greene's recently increased its annual brewing capacity to 30,000 barrels, and it's now in the planning stages for an expansion that could cost as much as $10 million and help it hit a capacity of 100,000 barrels. OTC Pink Sheets: http://quicktake.morningstar.com/stocknet/secdocuments.aspx?symbol=hops&GDLTab=Financials Financials at morningstar (check for Q2 2016 release soon, maybe around mid-August 2016?): http://quicktake.morningstar.com/stocknet/secdocuments.aspx?symbol=hops&GDLTab=Financials Question from the below: where are the remaining 5.1 M Preferred B outstanding at...? (8,125,724 Preferred B shares outstanding as of May 16th 2016) Number of Shares Beneficially Owned and Percentage [as of May 16th 2016, per OTC disclosure linked above from otcmarkets.com] Sean Spiegelman   7,200,000 Common       89.57% 1,000,000 Preferred B     11.9% 9,998,889 Preferred A     99.9% CEO, President and Chairman Name and Address Stephanie Spiegelman 163 Boone Creek Drive Boone, NC 28607 Number of Shares Beneficially Owned and Percentage Stephanie Spiegelman 2,000,000 Preferred B 23.8% From Dec 31st 2015 year end financial press release: Revenue increased 79% to $1,735,418 compared to $968,470 year-end 2014 as wholesale distribution with Craft Brew Alliance continued to expand throughout Western North Carolina including one month of additional statewide release of its core portfolio in draft only. Gross margin remained strong at 65% for year-end 2015 as the Company continues to apply diligent cost control measures with all beer and cider production. Total barrels of beer produced for 2015 was 3,840, a 330% increase compared to 890 barrels produced in 2014 and 580 barrels produce in 2013 respectively. This increase is attributed to expanded demand for company products through its master distribution with Craft Brew Alliance. From July 6th, 2016 Press Release: For the three months ended March 31, 2016, revenue increased 47% to $511,743 compared to same reporting period last year. Total revenue increased 88% to $1,735,418 for year-end December 31, 2015 compared to year-end 2014. [= Rev/barrel of $451.93, way too high, and must account for food etc rev.]
 * Beer industry stats on major breweries (sales per barrel, etc) which sounds useful: http://www.wikinvest.com/stock/SABMiller_(LON:SAB)
 * More helpful financials, this time on otcmarkets.com: http://www.otcmarkets.com/financialReportViewer?symbol=HOPS&id=155279
 * Diluted shares, including full conversion of Series B (issued at $2.50/share, and having a discretionary dividend provision), would be 16.4 M shares (EXCLUDING the 10 M, apparently, of Series A outstanding, which require unanimous board approval to be converted to 4 * (# of series A + # of common shares outstanding) common shares.)
 * Series B info was found in the comments here: http://seekingalpha.com/article/3978918-time-belly-appalachian-mountain-brewery at this link: http://search.sunbiz.org/Inquiry/CorporationSearch/ConvertTiffToPDF?storagePath=COR\2013\1230\54436784.Tif&documentNumber=L52786
 * At $1.55/shr * 16.4 M shares = $25.4 M valuation, which is between 13 K (~current 2016 production) - 52 K barrels/year at valuation (respectively) of $2000 - $500/barrel. There are other NC breweries close to that production, like Highland at ~43 K barrels in 2016. Lower cap ex seems possible due to CBA distribution and brewing (in Portsmouth, NJ) deal. Will that hurt the local brand...?
 * At $1.45/shr * 16.4 M = ~$22 M valuation, about 22 K barrels/year, which seems doable.

In the first six months of 2016, the Company has surpassed its total Craft beverage production for all three previous years combined since the Company’s inception (2013-2015) by over 30%.

[Extra info as of 11/17/2016: revenue from that period was 1.123 M (ending 6/30/16) + 0.511 M (ending 3/31/16) = 1.634 M with 6903+ barrels PRODUCED, which is ~$236/barrel, although the true barrel rev is probably less since they have food truck, draft beer sales mixed in there. If we take the current revenue of 2.9 M from the year ending 9/30/2016 and divide by $236.7/barrel, that's 12,251 barrels, which is about on track for hitting around 16 K barrels for 2016 (and would need 3748 more barrels, or rev of $887 K in last quarter, which seems reasonable.)

Company valued today with full Series B dilution and 16.4 M total diluted common shares * $2.35 = $38.5 M, but really should probably just used existing common shares of 8.04 M * $2.35 = $18.9 M. A little high is you give a $1,000/barrel valuation, but could be argued to be low/reasonable if they're still gonna grow fast, like to ~32,000 barrels/year by Dec of 2017, say.

Quarter ending 9/30/2016 indicates YoY ANNUAL growth of 1.70, 70%. BUT, the quarterly growth was around 2x YoY (slowing slightly in 9/30... Is that concerning...?)] So, from 2013 - 2015, that's 580 + 890 + 3840 = 5310 barrels * 1.3 = 6903+ barrels in 1st 6 months of 2016 (run rate of 13.8 K barrels by year-end 2016.) From Q2 2016 quarterly report (end of 6/30/2016, submitted 8/15): Rev in Q2 2016 of $1.124 M & gross prof of $287.3 = margin of 74.4%, up from 65% for year end 2015 (probably lumpy though.) Op Inc was about 0 this year (1%), which is good! (It was negative ~20% for year-end 2015.) To add some color to that, according to Soundbrew, beer sold retail by the glass in a brewpub generates between $700 - $1,000 per barrel. By comparison, beer sold wholesale in bottles to distributors on generate about $145 - $190 per barrel.
 * Also, let's assume the diff in revenue between 2015 and 2014 (= $766,948) is due solely in increased beer sales (3840 - 890 = 2950 more barrels). This gives rev of 766948/2950 = $260/barrel, which seems reasonable, although maybe a little high. This also means 'fixed' revenue in 2014 of $968,470 - 890*$260 = $737,000 for a year, or $184,000/qtr. If we subtract that from Q1 and Q2 rev, we get 1260 barrels in Q1 and 3611 in Q2 (4871 total.) The actual number was > 6903, though, so maybe the rev/barrel is more like $183/barrel (or maybe it's dropped as a result of the distribution agreement...?)
 * Latest news: http://www.nasdaq.com/press-release/appalachian-mountain-brewery--announces-record-growth-20160818-00455 Need #s for barrels by channel in 2015 to compute new barrel figures!!! Ask IR for 2015 data?
 * Good article including data on per barrel revenues of beer: http://seekingalpha.com/article/3987711-smaller-craft-breweries-taking-market-share-big-brewers

Because most of its craft beer was sold at the AMB brew pub in Boone in 2013 and 2014, a very simplistic analysis of production and revenue showed a ratio between $884 - $1,037 in revenue for every barrel produced. In 2015, that figure dropped to around $451 in revenue for every barrel of production, presumably because of increased distribution
 * Article on BREW: http://seekingalpha.com/article/3985244-something-brewing-craft-brew-alliance

Questions send to IR
Q from me on 2016-10-04: Dear AMB investor relations - I'm trying to understanding the impact (on dilution/debt) of our company's preferred shares. I noticed here that only 3,000,000 of the roughly 8 million Preferred B shares are held by Mr & Mrs Spiegelman (who are apparently the only 10+% holders of those shares): http://www.otcmarkets.com/financialReportViewer?symbol=HOPS&id=155279

Could you please describe who holds the remaining 5 M of Preferred B shares? Are they members of the board, or other controlling parties, or were they sold to 'ordinary' shareholders?

Also, can you please confirm/explain the conversion features, and also any interest provisions, on these Preferred B shares? From this: http://search.sunbiz.org/Inquiry/CorporationSearch/ConvertTiffToPDF?storagePath=COR\2013\1230\54436784.Tif&documentNumber=L52786 it appears that the shares can be converted 1:1 with common stock at any time with a conversion price of $2.50/share (i.e.: in exchange for giving up the $2.50 owed by the company per Preferred B share, the converter gets 1 share of common stock), with (majority) board approval.

Lastly, if each Preferred B share represents debt of $2.50/share, and there are 8.1 M shares outstanding, why doesn't roughly $20 M show up in debt on the balance sheet? Does the debt not have to be redeemed, and is therefore being treated as equity (and would presumably be shown diluting earnings, etc)?

If you could briefly described the Preferred A shares as well (I see Mr. Spiegelman owns all 10 M of them) in terms of the questions above, that would also be helpful.

Thanks for the help in understanding your financials! Ward Williams, shareholder

MENB - Mendocino Brewing Company
TOO DANGEROUS: looks to be headed towards bankruptcy, and no faith in the management. It's been losing money, and only the UK distributorship looks profitable. Maybe try to buy it as it comes out of bankruptcy once the debt has been solved...? Could be bought out, but that's the only hope/long shot.
 * ~75% owned by debtor and fugitive Vijay Mallya.
 * Initial DPO offering info from 1994: http://www.dfdpo.com/clientsum6.htm
 * SEC files: http://www.secinfo.com/$/SEC/Registrant.asp?CIK=919134
 * Amended articles of incorporation: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/919134/000089155402001878/d50241_ex3-1.txt
 * Write to H. Michael Laybourn: http://www.bloomberg.com/Research/stocks/people/person.asp?personId=1333734&privcapId=981591

Overview
http://www.otcmarkets.com/stock/MENB/profile
 * 12,611,133 outstanding at $0.205/share = $12.8 M market cap as of 8/18/2016. At 75 K barrels brewed, that's $34/barrel (BBL), which seems cheap, but maybe isn't since a bunch of that is probably contract, and might dry up (Kingfisher US/UK, for example) if Mallya sold his interest, since he owns UB which owns India's Kingfisher.
 * Only 736K in float, though, which makes sense, and is only $150 K, which is 6% of the company. 2,139 shareholders of record, though, somehow? Employees? Small time guys?

WWE

 * International concerns (despite growth in Network internationally.) Questions: do local stars & live attendance matter that much with the Network...? How does WWE fare vs AAA in Mexico (-1 to -.5 in ratings per some guy. Side ?: How do ratings work?) and New Japan Pro Wrestling in Japan, and also in other countries? Apparently UK & Australia are doing well, but no where else.) https://forums.2k.com/showthread.php?385863-How-bad-WWE-is-doing-Internationally-in-Popularity-Ratings-Attendances-etc

To research/watch

 * DIT - Amcon distributors and health stores

Portfolio

 * CURRENT: Wikinvest portfolio tools: seems promising! https://www.wikinvest.com/portfolio
 * DEPRECATED: finance.google.com, or this to track performance: https://www.fool.com/scorecard, BUT it doesn't have OTC stocks..., so you could use this https://www.google.com/finance/portfolio, BUT that doesn't compute XIRR or, I think, really compare a benchmark very well (not sure about that, and not sure about dividends).

Roth IRA brokerage

 * 1300 NWPX

Taxable brokerage

 * 744 BRK.B (down vs S&P over life of investment by pretty substantial amount: -53.80% (+43.8% vs S&P's total return of +97.58%)

Closed Positions

 * COH (loser by 35% vs S&P)
 * MVL (big winner by XX% vs S&P. The only reason this 'past' portfolio (pre-2016) was a net winner over the S&P.)
 * DIS (owned as result of MVL sale to DIS; should've kept it longer in hindsight, probably, but sold 7/2011!)
 * HOC (lose by ~30% vs S&P. Was -50% vs S&Ps -20% over same period)

Quotes

 * Marketwatch seems pretty good, even for OTC stocks: http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/SMID
 * Yahoo! Finance is fine for exchange-traded stocks, usually, although sometimes it seems inaccurate: http://finance.yahoo.com

Idea Generation

 * Joel Greenblatt's stock market screener: magic value investing
 * Ben Graham Intelligent Investor screen:
 * Fat Pitch appears to show major investors in stocks: http://www.fatpitch.biz/cgi-bin/f.cgi/psp/extn/lmt_entry/cik.1598207.1059.html

Value Investment Shops

 * Wax Asset (they own SMID) http://waxasset.com/StrategyStatement.html
 * Tweedy Browne?
 * Tilson Parters: Whitney Tilson

Opinions and analysis

 * Motley Fool
 * Seeking Alpha

Insider Trading
This is tracked in SEC Form 4 submissions. Make sure to distinguish between actual open market stock buys vs Options and RSU grants/vesting
 * NASDAQ compilation of insider trading: http://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/nwpx/insider-trades (example for NW Pipe Co, Ticker: NWPX)

Form 4
How to Read SEC Form 4 – Transaction Code Definitions

General Transaction Codes

P – Open market or private purchase of securities S – Open market or private sale of securities V – Transaction voluntarily reported earlier than required

Rule 16b-3 Transaction Codes

A – Grant, award, or other acquisition D – Sale (or disposition) back to the issuer of the securities F – Payment of exercise price or tax liability by delivering or withholding securities I – Discretionary transaction, which is an order to the broker to execute the transaction at the best possible price M – Exercise of conversion of derivative security

Derivative Securities Codes

C – Conversion of derivative security (usually options) E – Expiration of short derivative position (usually options) H – Expiration (or cancellation) of long derivative position with value received (usually options) O – Exercise of out-of-the-money derivative securities (usually options) X – Exercise of in-the-money or at-the-money derivatives securities (usually options)

Other Sections 16b Exempt Transactions and Small Acquisition Codes

G – Bona fide gift L – Small Acquisition W – Acquisition or disposition by will or laws of descent and distribution Z – Deposit into or withdrawal from voting trust

Other Transaction Codes

J – Other acquisition or disposition (transaction described in footnotes) K – Transaction in equity swap or similar instrument U – Disposition due to a tender of shares in a change of control transaction

Read more: http://www.oldschoolvalue.com/blog/investing-strategy/sec-form-4-transaction-code/#ixzz4HcP22MmW

Research

 * Seattle Public Libraries: http://www.spl.org/library-collection/articles-and-research/business-finance-and-fundraising
 * Value Line: https://ezproxy.spl.org/login?url=https://research.valueline.com/secure/dashboard
 * CSI Market price to book ratios by industry (for P&C Insurance, in this example): http://csimarket.com/Industry/industry_valuation_ttm.php?pb&ind=705

SEC Filings at NASDAQ
http://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/nwpx/sec-filings

Chances of Startup success
From this in 2009: "I spoke with an investor recently who told me that 1,500 deals get funded (presumably by VCs?) / year in the US, 80 (5.3%) eventually sell for $50 million and only 8 (0.5%) eventually sell for $150 million or more."

Also, Band of Angels says their track record (since 1994 through 2016; presumably many are still in limbo) was 277 deals ($231 M) had 10 IPOs and 55 acquisitions.

General Startup Investing Guides

 * Tim Ferris 'Make your own MBA' (read part I too): http://fourhourworkweek.com/2010/07/05/how-to-create-your-own-real-world-mba-part-ii/

Startup Lawyers
https://bothsidesofthetable.com/how-to-work-with-lawyers-at-a-startup-cf4f15feb8d3#.b23cmpxit

Financing

 * Term Sheet roundup: http://www.feld.com/archives/2005/08/term-sheet-series-wrap-up.html

Convertible Notes
Kyle Hill, Bona-fide aesthete. Updated Sep 5, 2012 Typically, a convertible note has ten critical features;
 * Convertible note implicit liquidation preference overhang: http://siliconhillslawyer.com/2015/04/29/capped-convertible-notes-liquidation-overhang/
 * Very helpful example with 'cap table': https://www.capshare.com/blog/understanding-convertible-debt-and-how-it-affects-your-cap-table/
 * In-depth post series with helpful examples:https://dragonlaw.io/blog/post/fundraising-via-convertible-note-explained/
 * Helpful slide show: http://www.slideshare.net/MarkHaddad/understanding-vc-term-sheets
 * Typical convertible note terms for (Silicon Valley, etc) startups? https://www.quora.com/What-are-some-typical-terms-in-convertible-notes

(1) Amount—which usually ranges from $25k to $500k and higher; (2) Duration—how long the note has to mature, which is usually at least 24 months; (3) Interest—the simple interest rate that will be accrued, which is typically around 6%; (4) Discount—the discounted price paid by qualified investors in a next qualified round, which ranges from 20-30%; (5) Conversion Cap—the maximum valuation cap that the shares can convert in the next qualified round; (6) Liquidity Event—the amount paid back to the investors in the case of an acquisition, which is usually 2X or 3X; (7) Maturity Terms—specifies what happens if maturity is reached before raising a Series A or other qualified round (usually the shares convert at a pre-negotiated valuation that is close to the cap amount); (8) Pre-Payment—allows or disallows the company to pay back the principal to the investor. If this is permitted, you will also need to negotiate whether or not to require prior consent from the investor before prepaying the principal, because this usually isn't what the investor wants; (9) Qualified Round—essentially sets the minimum aggregate proceeds that need to be raised in the next round of financing in order for the investor's note to be eligible for conversion. This is usually $1.5M or more (Series A). And lastly, (10) Type—the loan can be secured or unsecured. Most convertible notes I've seen have been unsecured.

It's important to remember that the conversion in the next qualified round shall be the lower of (i) a [discount%] of the Series A preferred stock share price, or (ii) the price-per-share assuming the Series A pre-money valuation was set at [cap amount]. For more info, here's a great resource on convertible debt fundraising: http://flwtb.co/Mer75t

Liquidation Preferences
Basically, be very wary of VCs/companies that give more than 1x liquidation preferences. Also, 'full participation' seems like a scam too (I think it means AFTER the VC gets the entire amount of 'liquidation preference' (equal to their initial investment if 1x, or (shudder) DOUBLE their initial investment if 2x, etc), the remaining amount is split up at the proportion of equity that the VCs (preferred) shares represent: http://www.businessinsider.com/how-liquidation-preferences-work-2014-3
 * Example: VC has 1x liquidation preference with (I think) 'full participation' and buys $10 M of company with $20 M post-money valuation, and therefore owns 50% of the company. Company doubles in value to $40 M and is sold. VC first takes out its initial 1x investment of $10 M, leaving $30 M left. BUT, VC also gets 50% of that, or $15 M, so VC takes home $25 M, leaving only $15 M for common stock shareholders. They gained 50% on their investment (1.5x), but the VC gained 150% (2.5x).

Startup Equity guide for employees
Learn the three standards that define Startup Equity and three questions to ask to know if you have the real thing. 1. Ownership - “Can the company take back my vested shares?” 2. Risk/Reward - “What information can you provide to help me evaluate the offer?” [how many shares are outstanding (e.g: what % of the company will I own)? What are the liquidation preferences of Preferred shareholders?] 3. Tax Benefits - “Is this equity designed for capital gains tax rates and tax deferral?” [WW: Examples of equity with tax benefits include Incentive Stock Options (ISOs), Restricted Stock + 83(b) election, Early Exercise NQSO + 83b election]
 * Startup employees bill of rights: http://stockoptioncounsel.com/blog/startup-equity-standards-a-guide-for-employees/2014/4/15
 * 3 ways VCs and CEOs screw over startup employees: http://www.businessinsider.com/this-22-year-veteran-of-startups-says-employees-are-getting-screwed-by-vcs-and-ceos-2014-3

Types of fuels and heaters

 * Fuel comparison by BTUs: http://www.erpud.com/comparison.htm
 * Kerosene vs Propane heaters (propane is 'cleaner' in terms of CO output): https://www.uaf.edu/files/ces/publications-db/catalog/eeh/EEM-00253.pdf

Getting licensed

 * 1) Study guide here: http://www.kb6nu.com/…/2014-no-nonsense-tech-study-guide-v2…
 * 2) Practice tests (you need 26/35 question to pass each of the first two. I'm gonna try to pass BOTH the Technician (1st) and General (2nd) exams in one sitting): http://aa9pw.com/
 * 3) Find and register for an exam session near you (make sure to 'Register', most VE-administered exams are $15 CASH) here: http://www.arrl.org/exam_sessions/

Equipment and software

 * 1) While you're waiting to get licensed, order something like the Baofeng UV-5R (any 'version' of it) for a good 'starter' hand-held radio. They're about $25-$30. You'll want a good USB programming cable too, and
 * 2) you'll want to use the CHIRP software instead of the (apparently) crappy Baofeng software.

Radio waves and spectrum

 * Overview of the radio spectrum and how it works: http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/radio-spectrum.htm
 * How information is actually encoded into radio (sine wave) signals (with helpful wave pictures): http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/radio7.htm

Build a radio

 * Try these things out! (9V battery & a coin with a nearby AM radio receiver): http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/radio1.htm
 * Make a baby monitor: http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/radio4.htm
 * Build an AM receiver! (2 simple parts): http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/radio9.htm

Radio scanners
Intro: http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/radio-scanner.htm
 * Scanner laws: http://www.fireline.org/scanlaws/

Voice encryption
About: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_voice
 * Interesting forum on why police don't encrypt their communications over radio (TL;DR: it'd be expensive and complicated): https://www.quora.com/Why-dont-the-police-encrypt-their-radio-comms

Washington State Civic Education

 * Detailed 'How a Bill Becomes Law' legislative process overview: http://leg.wa.gov/legislature/Pages/Overview.aspx
 * WA State resources: http://leg.wa.gov/CivicEd/Pages/Resources.aspx

Districting and Gerrymandering

 * Read this: http://uselectionatlas.org/
 * And this: https://www.nwprogressive.org/weblog/2013/09/why-creating-house-districts-could-make-the-washington-state-legislature-more-diverse.html
 * And this on 'nationwide redistricting: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/8/6/1115538/-What-if-We-Had-Non-Partisan-Redistricting-Nationwide
 * Dave's Redistricting App (seems to be the Gold Standard for doing sample maps!): http://gardow.com/davebradlee/redistricting/launchapp.html

Finding and tracking legislation
This looks useful too for tracking legislation: https://legiscan.com/WA/bill/SB6379/2015

WA State Legislation

 * Cutoff dates for WA legislature (roughly Jan 11th - March 10th each year): http://leg.wa.gov/legislature/pages/cutoff.aspx
 * "​The 2017 Regular Session begins January 9, 2017 and ends on or by April 23, 2017. " per this http://leg.wa.gov/
 * Track WA legislation via automated notifications: https://app.leg.wa.gov/DLR/user/login.aspx?justregistered=1&ReturnUrl=%2fdlr%2fbilltracking%2fdefault.aspx
 * WA Legislature bill tracking: http://app.leg.wa.gov/DLR/billtracking/
 * How a bill becomes law: http://leg.wa.gov/legislature/Pages/Bill2Law.aspx
 * Tour the WA State capitol in Olympia: http://www.des.wa.gov/services/facilities-leasing/capitol-campus/tours
 * Testify in the legislature for a bill! http://leg.wa.gov/legislature/Pages/Testify.aspx (wear a suit & tie, practice, and write everything down, with citations, facts & figures!)

Federal legislation

 * Automatic voter registration:
 * House version: https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/5779?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22Robert+Brady%22%5D%7D
 * Senate version: https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/3252?resultIndex=1

Finding and contacting your elected officials

 * This has other elected officials governing the state as a whole: http://elections.mytimetovote.com/elected_officials/washington.html
 * Just type in your address & hit Submit to find your Fed and State reps! Great tool: http://www.commoncause.org/take-action/find-elected-officials
 * No email addresses here though... Check this: http://app.leg.wa.gov/memberemail/
 * How to effectively email politicians: https://www.planning.org/advocacy/toolbox/emails.htm
 * 1) Put Your Name and Address at the Top of Message.
 * 2) Humanize Your Message: This is one of the most important things you can do to ensure your e-mail makes an impact. [...I]t is this information that separates one's message from the standardized, bulk messages drafted by interest groups. These messages are more likely to be read than simply tallied.
 * 3) Be Brief.
 * 4) Be Clear About Your Position: concrete, actionable item, e.g., "I would like you to support H.R. 100."
 * 5) Make Your Message Timely: Send your message when the legislation is being considered. Your message is worthless is it arrives after a critical vote. Look to APA to keep you informed about the timing of critical stages in the legislative process.
 * 6) Don't "Flame."
 * 7) Avoid Attachments.
 * 8) Don't Become "Spam."
 * 9) Establish Your Credibility: Explain if you are an expert in some area. Also, do not shy away from saying that you are either a personal supporter or a party supporter (but never imply that because you voted for somebody or contributed money to their campaign that they owe you a vote).
 * 10) Don't Lie.
 * 11) Don't cc Everybody: Resist the urge to send a copy of your message to every member of Congress. You will persuade no one and annoy everybody. A legislative office wants to know that you have appealed to them for specific action.
 * 12) Proofread Your E-mail.

Find addresses for your representatives in Congress in APA's Legislative Action Center.

Washington state-level officials

 * WA State Senators: http://leg.wa.gov/Senate/Senators/Pages/default.aspx
 * WA Senate Transportation committee members: http://leg.wa.gov/Senate/Committees/TRAN/Pages/MembersStaff.aspx
 * WA State House Representatives: http://leg.wa.gov/house/representatives/Pages/default.aspx
 * WA House Transportation committee: http://leg.wa.gov/House/Committees/TR/Pages/MembersStaff.aspx
 * Washington Statewide Elected officials: http://leg.wa.gov/legislature/Pages/ElectedOfficials.aspx
 * Great example of an easy-to-read and complete list of representative contacts from the city of Lakewood, WA: http://www.lakewood-chamber.com/elected_officials

Automatic Voter Registration
https://www.brennancenter.org/analysis/automatic-voter-registration

State officials comparison
https://ballotpedia.org/Comparison_of_state_legislative_salaries, WA state clocks in at $45,474/year with per diem of $120/day

Recommended Reading

 * These? https://mises.org/library/ten-books-state and https://www.govloop.com/community/blog/8-essential-books-government-leadership/, which included Sunstein's Simpler
 * Christian Science Monitor's list: http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/2013/0808/11-best-political-books-of-all-time/Democracy-in-America-by-Alexis-de-Tocqueville
 * Locke, Jeremy Bentham? Founding fathers like Jefferson! Keyenes, Hayek.

Already read

 * See 'Words of Ward' post of 25 books to read. Specific to government including Nudge for policy, microeconomics texts.

Evidence-based Policy
Background and some key takeaways: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evidence-based_policy
 * Best-practices from Campbell Collaboration: https://www.campbellcollaboration.org/blog-list/blog/just-keep-testing-four-principles-for-evidence-based-policy-and-practice
 * Organizations:
 * https://www.campbellcollaboration.org/ (Sister organization of the Cochrane Collaboration, which focuses on evidence-based medicine)
 * http://www.alliance4usefulevidence.org/
 * http://www.arnoldfoundation.org/initiative/evidence-based-policy-innovation/

Open Government organizations
http://sunlightfoundation.com/

Indiana
Indiana and governor Mike Pence seem to be the model for this:
 * http://www.govtech.com/data/Data-Analytics-Helps-Indiana-Change-its-Approach-to-Infant-Mortality.html
 * http://www.nascio.org/events/sponsors/vrc/Infant%20Mortality%20-%20KSMC%20branded%20SAP%20sheet.pdf
 * http://www3.gcn.com/Articles/2016/10/06/Indiana-CIO-QA.aspx

Utah
http://www.govtech.com/policy-management/5-Best-Practices-Open-Local-Government.html With support from prominent Utah elected officials and community organizations, students will formally ask all 273 local governments in Utah to adopt the following five best practices in support of local government openness.

1.   Local governments should establish a dedicated open government webpage, providing a searchable repository for all public information, accessible in three clicks or less.

2.   Online information needs to be collected, generated and maintained in a digital form and made available on the open government webpage in a timely way.

3.   All electronic communications made with government supplied equipment, including emails and instant messages, should be considered public records.

4.   Elected officials and senior administrators should post their schedules publicly, maintain open settings on social networking sites and commit to a culture of transparency.

5.   Governmental bodies should make all public meetings as open as possible by posting agendas and meeting materials in advance, streaming live meeting audio or video, posting recordings within 48 hours and allowing remote participation.

The complete list of the five transparency best practices for local governments from the Utah Transparency Project is available here.

Washington State data
DSHS:
 * https://www.dshs.wa.gov/sesa/research-and-data-analysis/client-data
 * https://www.dshs.wa.gov/sesa/research-and-data-analysis

Washington State office of statistics:
 * http://sac.ofm.wa.gov/, Directed by Thea Mounts as of Nov 2016

Washington State Budget summary data

 * 2016: http://leg.wa.gov/Senate/Committees/WM/Documents/Publications/2016/2016%20CGTB_Final_website.pdf

Income gap in voter turnout

 * Income gap at the polls: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/01/income-gap-at-the-polls-113997

Felon disenfranchisement

 * State by state felony voting rules: http://felonvoting.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=000286
 * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felony_disenfranchisement#In_the_United_States

Homelessness Data

 * US national homeless data: http://www.nationalhomeless.org/publications/facts/Whois.pdf
 * The need for homelessness data explained: https://www.uwkc.org/homelessness/homelessness-and-big-data/
 * Seattle spending on the homeless: http://www.seattle.gov/Documents/Departments/HumanServices/Reports/HomelessInvestmentAnalysis.pdf

Charitable Giving

 * www.givewell.org Top charities For The Win
 * For evaluation of US charities: http://www.givewell.org/united-states/process, and http://www.givewell.org/research/other-charity-reviews#AllUnitedStatescharitiesconsidered

Education
The social benefit from Pell Grants, which allowed talented and motivated incarcerated people to earn college degrees before being put back on the streets, may have been the greatest of all. The demise of this program and the declining real value of grants to low-income students in general provide clear evidence that politics dominate efficiency considerations in the design of federal subsidy programs. Individual Outcomes of Education The first conclusion from this [...] is that for both genders, at any given age, individuals with more education perceive higher wages. Moreover, these estimates suggest that the incremental benefit from additional education grows with experience: the differences in wages between people with varying degrees of education become larger as they advance in their careers. In other words, education pay-offs are not constant over the life cycle. Other studies using different data have found similar results (see, for instance, Blundell et al. 201320)
 * The Federal Role in Financing Education: https://www2.ed.gov/offices/OPE/PPI/FinPostSecEd/baum.html
 * Human Capital externalities and education: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/22434/1/MPRA_paper_22434.pdf
 * Overview of education and historical influences: https://ourworldindata.org/global-rise-of-education

These estimates can still not be interpreted causally, because there are yet other potential sources of bias that are unaccounted for, such as innate ability. To address this issue, the economics literature has developed different strategies. For example, by contrasting the wages of genetically identical twins with different schooling level, researchers have found a way of controlling for unobservable characteristics such as family background and innate ability. The conclusion from these ‘twin studies’ is that the average estimates suggested by the figure below, are not very different to those that would be obtained from more sophisticated models that control for ability. In other words, there is robust evidence supporting the causal effect of education on wages (for more details see Card 1999).

Social Outcomes of Education [...] [A]dults with higher qualifications are more likely to report desirable social outcomes, including [increased trust in others,] good or excellent health, participation in volunteer activities, interpersonal trust, and political efficacy. And these results hold after controlling for literacy, gender, age and monthly earnings.

As usual, correlation does not imply causation – but it does show an important pattern that supports the idea that education is indeed necessary to produce social capital. [...] Countries with higher educational attainment in the past are more likely to have democratic political regimes today

[T]his positive correlation is indeed supported by the data. [... C]ountries where adults had a higher average education level in 1970, are also more likely to have democratic political regimes today (you can read more about measures of democracy in our entry on Democratization).

As usual, these results should be interpreted carefully, because they do not imply a causal link: it does not prove that increasing education necessarily produces democratic outcomes everywhere in the world. However, the academic research here does suggest that there is a causal link between education and democratization – indeed, a number of empirical academic papers have found that this positive relationship remains after controlling for many other country characteristics (see, for example, Lutz, Crespo-Cuaresma, and Abbasi‐Shavazi 201023). [...] Women’s education is inversely correlated with child mortality

An important body of literature stipulates that women’s education leads to lower child mortality because it contributes towards healthier habits and choices, including child spacing (see Brown and Barrett 1991 for a more detailed conceptualization of the mechanisms).24

The following visualization shows the strong cross-country correlation between child mortality and educational attainment. [...] “better education does not only lead to higher individual income, but also is a necessary (although not always sufficient) precondition for long-term economic growth.” [...] This coincides with other studies showing that historical increases in the number of universities across countries are positively associated with subsequent growth of GDP per capita (Valero and Van Reenen 2016).28
 * READ THIS: Causal Impact of Education, Harvard Biz School: http://scholar.harvard.edu/files/aghion/files/causal_impact_of_education.pdf
 * Econ Lib Public Goods: http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2008/08/public_goods_ex.html

School drop out/graduation rates

 * Drop out prevention programs work generally! https://www.campbellcollaboration.org/library/dropout-prevention-and-intervention-programs-effects-on-school-completion-and-dropout-among-school-aged-children-and-youth-a-systematic-review.html