Following a lukewarm IPO and bloody second day, Facebook’s third day on the market was pretty lousy, too. An interesting breakdown of who owns what part of FB is available here. Continue reading Facebook Stock Sinks Nearly 9%
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was the time of the SUV, the flip-phone, and cargo pants. Google was just a search engine and Apple made PCs. Heck, there was even a website called MySpace. In seeking to relive the glory days, of, oh, 2003, AOL recently relaunched AIM, the … Continue reading Return of the Early-00s: AIM is Back!
For the second time in the last few months, Apple has passed ExxonMobil in market capitalization, to become the most valuable corporation on earth, worth some $468 Billion, as of Friday, compared to ExxonMobil’s paltry $405 Billion. However you shake it, that’s a lot of iPads – or gas station visits. Though this is the … Continue reading The ‘pad is Mightier than the Pump
While trying to start up the Cooper Union Volunteer Tutoring Initiative, I have discovered an interesting policy in NYC’s Department of Education that is of interests to students of Game Theory. In order for a volunteer to be in contact with public school children on school property, he or she must be fingerprinted in order … Continue reading A Classic Case of the Volunteer’s Dilemma
Holman Jenkins at WSJ writes an accurate piece on why Mitt Romney’s leadership of Bain Capital is not the sin that Gingrich & Co have made it out to be. Who knew that capitalism was a good thing? Continue reading A Bit of Common Sense
I’d like to echo Ben’s assessment of college tuition prices at free- or inexpensive colleges, and I’d like to do so with an anecdote. The other day, I was walking outside the Hunter College building and saw students with oaktag signs protesting $150/semester increases in tuition. The following day, in the hallway, I saw several … Continue reading Seconding the Motion
I attempted to attend Cooper Union’s President, Jamshed Barucha’s speech, last night. He was speaking in a forum with the students and alumni regarding the dreadful fiscal picture in which the school currently lies. There wasn’t any space left in the room because of an unexpected turnout so I cannot provide a play by play. However, here … Continue reading Cooper Union’s Financial Ills
I came across this interesting idea by economist Steve Allen (via Greg Mankiw) and attempted to comment there. Not sure if it worked so I will re-post here. He wrote, “My plan for zero unemployment: There were 14m unemployed workers in August. The $447b stimulus package could be used to generate a check of almost $32,000 … Continue reading Stimulus Stupidity
Here at Ben & David, we’re die hard Stones fans and we always make sure to keep tabs on whatever Mick & Co are up to. But this summer is shaping up to be the July (okay, fine, August) of Jagger, with two songs released within weeks of each other, either performed by or riffing … Continue reading The Summer of Mick
Silicon Spatula 