Putting advertising on social network websites like Facebook or News Corp (NWS) MySpace has never made sense. They claim to have tens of millions of , , . Some of those people are doing dark and deeply disturbing things online. Others are looking for a date or communicating with other agoraphobics.
The whole idea of building a social network is a bit of a fraud. The sites actually new friends for you, people like Jim Cramer and the recently deceased pin-up girl turned crazy old woman Betty Page. For a lot of the visitors who have no friends, it may actually be a useful service.
Typical Facebook user posts pictures of themselves in their underwear, their kids, their pets--especially exotic birds. The site has become a rabbit warren of the perverse, the sociopaths, and the lonely--all people who would rather communicate in a semi-anonymous online world instead of face-to-face.

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The attempt by Treasury Secretary Paulson to put a gun to the head of Congress and terrify them into forking over a $700 billion blank check to the Bush administration in 48 hours has failed. Now what?
Most Americans would just as soon the Masters of the Universe were allowed to sink in their own folly. They had the party; let them clean up the mess. But, looking at sinking housing values and shaken retirement accounts, most Americans know something has to get done.
Banks and investment houses carry weapons of financial mass destruction. Last week, they looked into the abyss. If nothing is done, the chances for a deep and long depression are very great. So stocks skied around the world when Paulson announced his support for a massive bailout of Wall Street. And stocks and the dollar plummeted, and oil and gold soared when it became clear on Monday that the Congress wouldn't simply salute and go along. Doing nothing is not an option.
Leaders from unions, consumer and citizen groups havein, demanding strict conditions on any bailout. On Monday, Sen. Chris Dodd put forth a draft bill that called for an independent board to run the bailout, required that taxpayers get partial ownership in any firm bailed out, and mandated steps to forestall foreclosures and work out mortgages, helping to keep people in their homes. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi demands a kickstart for the real economy - extension of unemployment benefits, aid to states and localities, investment in green jobs and basic infrastructure. (But at only $50 billion, a relative pittance for the real economy compared to the sums demanded to rescue Wall Street). Rep. Barney Frank insists on limits on the compensation of executives of any firm that gets bailed out. Together, these conditions begin to make some sense out of a bad fix.
Initially, Bush and Paulson, backed by the slavish Republican leadership in Congress, resisted, calling for the bill to remain "simple and clear." Republican leaders denounced help for homeowners and Main Street as "political" and "partisan" as opposed to bailing out the Master's of the Universe which somehow is an emergency above politics.
But Paulson is a deal maker. As hisindicated today, he'll trade nominal oversight and a few bridges for the $700 billion. As someone who made half a billion on Wall Street, however, he's been unbending on limits on pay for his friends, on providing taxpayers with an equity stake in the firms that are helped, and on measures to force work outs of mortgages and a freeze on foreclosures. And he'll resist any detailed measures to regulate Wall Street to insure this doesn't happen again. For all the talk of bipartisan accord, this will be a face off. Democrats will have to stare him down.
With the financial markets reeling, who will blink first? Will the Democratic leadership insist on common sense? Will Paulson be able to panic Congress into folding? Will the financial firm lobbyists now swarming the Capitol like a plague of locusts be able to rent the votes they need?
The decisions will be made over the next few days. If you want to make your voice heard, goto contact your legislator, or to get more information.
But this staggering bailout - as perilous and costly as it will be -is only a stop gap. Broader lessons need to be drawn; larger and more permanent reforms are needed. One thing should be clear: the conservative era is over. The theology of market fundamentalism has proven to be a false idol once more. As Joseph Stiglitz has argued, the collapse of Wall Street is to the market fundamentalists what the fall of the Berlin Wall was to communism. It's over. The right has proved once more that it cannot be trusted to run the government it scorns. A trillion dollar debacle in Iraq. A trillion dollar bust on Wall Street. Hundreds of billions pocketed by Big Pharma and Big Oil. It is time for a reckoning.

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In past few years, for Microsoft, Google has graduated from a minor irritation to a redoubtable competition that is threatening their very relevance. Now Microsoft is baying for Google's blood. They want to take the fight to Google's footstep and they believe that Yahoo! will be their Achilles.

Every year Warren Buffet auctions a lunch date with him for charity. Last year this date fetched almost half a million dollars. If Mr Buffet decide to do the same this year, I would suggest Steve Ballmer bids on it and wins it no matter what. Warren Buffet said -" If you give me 100 Billion dollars and tell me to take away the leadership position of coke, I will return the money. It cant be done." Similarly 5 years ago if you had asked Mr buffet the same question about Windows, he would have said the same thing. What applies for Coke and applied for Microsoft five years ago, applies for Google right now. No matter how much money you throw, you cant displace Google from search leadership position.

Businesses like Coke, Microsoft Windows, Google search can not be destroyed by competing on the same grounds. They are destroyed only when they are no longer relevant. Probably thats why Mr Buffet prefers companies like Coke over Microsoft or Google because no matter what OS you use or search engine you use, you will still be drinking Coke.

Despite the current slowdown in the earnings, I believe that Google is a great investment opportunity. Google detractors call it one trick pony but its no ordinary pony, its the unicorn. Internet is already such a big part of our lives and soon will become soon become as ubiquitous as air. Think about internet becoming so pervasive in countries like India and China and the magnitude of opportunity just blows my mind.

Another point to note is that Google probably has the highest concentration of software engineering talent. I know for first hand that some of the most talented people I knew at Microsoft are now working for Google. Is it a co-incidence that Google hired mostly the engineering talent of Microsoft and not the management talent. Microsoft upper management is mostly comprised of Microsoft veterans well entrenched in the Microsoft system and not so fit to survive in any other ecosystem. There seems to be severe talent crunch at Microsoft considering that it just slipped to 86th best place to work for, from 45th last year whereas Google remains numero uno. With its amazing software talent and Google's commitment to let employees work 20% of the time on their pet projects, its only a matter of time until Google finds alternative revenue sources. After all it took a long time for Microsoft to turn two trick pony from one trick pony.

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This year my youngest son is entering his first year of middle school, which is a lot different from elementary school. Its been an adjustment but hes been doing great except for one small area.
His school requires all the kids to wear name badges. The school has threatened that if a kid is caught without their badge, they will face detention or in-school suspension (ISS). To keep him from losing his badge, I have told him to put it in the same pocket of his backpack every day. That way it will always be there when he needs it. Of course that went in one ear and out the other and my son paid no attention to my crazy advice.
Well, today on the way to school, my son starts freaking out because he doesnt have his badge. Hes like, Dad can we PLEEEEEASE go home and get my badge. I dont want to get ISS.
I was calm and told him that no I would not take him home to get his badge because he had to learn to take responsibility for his stuff.
Well, as I was driving away from school I started thinking about it. I thought that I had made the right decision but I still kept wondering if I was being a hardass. On the one hand, my son HAS to learn to accept responsibility for his actions and accept the consequences when he doesnt. Mommy and daddy wont always be there to bail him out. Then, on the other hand, I thought about him being in a new school, with more responsibility, and how it is an adjustment and that I maybe I should give him another chance.
Well, about 10 minutes later, I get a call from my son and he says, Dad, can you bring me my badge? The school says that they will make an exception this one time and let parents bring badges to their kids. I reluctantly said yes and took his badge up to him. When I walked into the school, I handed the badge to my son and said rather firmly (though not meanly), Keep your badge in your bag.
He said, Yes sir.
I think he understood that that was the last time I would be bringing him his badge.
So, heres my question for you:
Did I do the right thing?
I realize that theres really no right answer for this scenario but I would like to know what you think. Would you have done the same thing if you were me or would you have handled it differently.

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Point Blank Solutions Inc. (OTCBB: PBSO) announced another delay in their annual meeting today, which has some shareholders furious and others grateful. The body armor manufacturer said they need to wait for the Army's IOTV contract award before completing their review of strategic alternatives, which includes a potential sale of the company to some 90 potential parties.

Point Blank has already been awarded with a bridge buy of 150,000 IOTV's for a total of $86.2 million while the Army finishes determining who will win the larger 736,000 IOTV contract. The latter could be worth around $200 million or more, which is more than Point Blank's current market capitalization. Obviously, the award would substantially impact PBSO's valuation to a potential buyer.

However, at least one activist investor is sick of constantly waiting around. Steel Partners, who has been involved with the company since its fraud charges, has been waiting for an annual meeting for over two years and is currently suing the company to hold it. Interestingly, the activist hedge fund is also holding a proxy contest to overtake the board.

"The postponement was a unilateral stunt pulled by a Board in fear of losing an election contest and was designed to block the democratic process, limit accountability and further entrench the Board and management team," said Steel Partners in a regulatory filing. "Ask yourself whether you believe this Board was truly serious about exploring alternatives to maximize stockholder value or whether the Board was more interested in disenfranchising stockholders? We think the answer is obvious."

Supporters of Steel Partners believe that the hedge fund is simply trying to deliver shareholder value as quickly as possible. However, skeptics believe that they may be positioning themselves to acquire the company on the cheap before any major contract is awarded. After all, it is not uncommon for hedge funds to privatize a company during a turnaround when they are vulnerable and then re-IPO it later on and make bank.

Point Blank also faces problems with its former CEO David Brooks, who is facing criminal charges for fraud. Combined, Point Blank contends that it is facing adverse interests from both of these large shareholders and they say they are simply trying to protect the interest of the thousands of minority shareholders.

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