Anyone Investing in Facebook?

Is Facebook sustainable?
Source: Examiner.com

Facebook announced this week that it anticipates filing for its much anticipated initial public offering, or IPO, as early as this Wednesday, 1 February 2012.  It is estimated (by some very smart people) that the company could raise $10 billion (that's US$, and with a "B"), which would give the company an immediate market capitalization ranging between US$75-100 billion.  To put this in perspective, the Washington Post compared this to other discussion-worthy IPO's, which shows that Facebook is in impressive company:

RIP SOPA

On Friday, January 20, Lamar Smith (R-TX), the chief architect of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), and Harry Reid (D-NV), the author of Protect IP Act (PIPA), pulled the controversial online piracy bills after months of controversy and protests, culminating in a day of online protests by major websites who "went black" to protest the bill.  I was late in understanding the entire issue, and indeed really knew very little about it until talk of blackouts started to swirl.  Now, before I have really wrapped my arms around it, they are dead.  Regardless, the topic has peaked my interest, and like any responsible citizen, I have felt compelled to know more.   I initially wrote about it, briefly, in "SOPA SOPA!", but I was looking at the topic very generally.  I have been seeking for a couple of days to find a way to better express my views, without having to reference Rick Santorum.  On Friday, it was done for me.

SOPA SOPA!

Google.com 01/18/2012

On Wednesday, several prominent internet sights went "dark" to protest two new bills in the legislature.  They were described by the Google landing page as follows:

Two bills before Congress, known as the Protect IP Act (PIPA) in the Senate and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House, would censor the Web and impose harmful regulations on American business. Millions of Internet users and entrepreneurs already oppose SOPA and PIPA.  The Senate will begin voting on January 24th. Please let them know how you feel. Sign this petition urging Congress to vote NO on PIPA and SOPA before it is too late.

Debating the Debate

Uncanny Likenesses

I had the fortune to attend the Republican Debate on Monday night, January 16th, in Myrtle Beach.  It was a very interesting experience to say the least, and while I would love to dive headlong into how I felt about the outcome, I think Chris Cillizza at The Fix  (Washington Post)  does a rather nice job of summing it up.  Instead, what I took from the debate was an epiphany resulting mostly from a Facebook conversation the night before with a political science high school student.