John: I don't know anything about common practice but the law is clear that board members must act in the best interest of the company. But what if they believe the best interest is that it should be acquired? I don't know how this law has been interpreted by the courts but I'd love to know more...

There are many interesting themes this story raises such as how businesses, even when run by ethical people and committed to ethical principles, tend to act in their own narrow self-interest.
The issue that most interests me is the responsibility of Craigs List board members who represent Ebay. The law in this area is atrocious. They have a total fiduciary (ie legal) responsibility to act in Craigs List best interest. But everyone knows that they are supposed to represent and p

The size of funds is definitely pushing a lot of VCs way out of seed stage.

Angels can and will fill the gap because they're getting more and more organized.

As for the financial crisis, I've heard some angels say that if things take a turn for the worse, then valuations will drop, and investments will be even more interesting. Innovation doesn't slow down when the economy does, even if the larger funds start slowing.

Just to be clear: we are hand-optimizing very little in Wikipedia. Our parser works on any kind of text, be it Wikipedia, a newspaper, or even your blog.

Agreed that the best way to get the Powerset experience is to try out some queries!

Mike: Yes, "All American" does sound so last century. Around here we are "All Global" in terms of looks and plenty of good looks at that. It's a pity that ABC won't venture beyond its Always Be Conservative nature.

Tom - I like the "Friday Wrap" format and Monday news teasers. Hope the 2nd Friday get-together at the DeYoung was smashing. I look forward to the Rooster Club & Media Collective gatherings coming up soon.

I’m not an easily-offended bleeding heart pinko, but I’m surprised to see the continued use of “all-American” for job descriptions. I’m pretty sure there was a landmark discrimination suit that involved this and other code words 15 or 20 years ago. Hey ABC, how about entering the 21st century with the rest of us?

Melic: Your British ironic humor is so wonderful. However, you miss the point. Now that this information is out there all the criminals in the US will move to Britain, Germany. and Japan. I would if I was in that profession. Their chances of being banged up in the big house are very low--just look at the numbers. Once they've gone we don't let them back in. Just as Cuba did when they let Scarface et al move to Florida.

I appreciate the hat tip!

The UK has the highest incarceration rate in Europe with 151, so it does not look as good as it may seem if you live in Europe.

Congratulations to the FBI on solving so much crime anyway, Germany with 88 and Japan with 63 are obviously very dangerous places where you can get shot anytime.

Desk Diva: Yes, you are right. It can only be seen in hindsight, although some people do get a glimpse of the future, the new day before others. These are the Roosters :-)

China Law Blog: Yes, you might be right. I know some of our US companies such as Yahoo have tried to help China lock up more people...

Couldn't this be because our police are so effective at solving crimes? I once saw that something like 80% of all violent crimes get solved in the US, whereas in China, I believe it is more like 20%. This alone might explain why the US has four times as many people incarcerated per capita as China. Right?

When you don't know the next big thing--it's a near certainty that a) you're not it b) you're not in the loop. This is much like listening to the radio and realizing the only stuff you like is on an oldies station. It happens (without us):}

What! No social media press release.

Jeff: It seems that the bubble-to-bubble comparison is currently in terms of the parties :-)
The parties today are still not on the scale of the dotcom dotbomb days, imho.

There seems to be some confusion here. A tech bubble would be one of inflated pricing, while it appears that the bubble has already been discounted over the past several months. In addition, unlike the 1999, the valuation of startups then was held by the stock markets, but these days it is based on angel / vc / company acquisitions. In addition, there are no problems with access to capital (as was the case in the past bubble, since these large pools of vc money were still available). There ar

Andrew, yes, that has been a common attitude. Journalists spent too much time in the office and not outside in their communities. In 2006 The Fort Myers News Press came up with the idea of "mojos" mobile journalists with laptops sent into their communities!!!
Newspapers have cut themselves off from their communities and now are rediscovering each other.