How About Some Friday Fun?

Do you like puzzles?

Okay. I have one for you. Can you explain why a “company” (and I do use the term loosely) which produces not one thing (aka “goods”), has no assets (other than a few employees), and probably is responsible for reducing the GNP (by enhancing worker un-productivity), can be “valued” at $104 BILLION (and climbing)?

Uh.. really?

I don’t really want an answer to that. They make money.. it’s as simple as that. But how? Could it be from all our personal information they’ve been sucking up like a Hoover vacuum?
Nah.

One day I, too, want to be a 28 year old MULTI-BILLIONAIRE.  So I won’t knock it.

But still.. maybe ask yourself: isn’t there something wrong here? (I never took more than Economics 101, but, maybe.. we need to bring back the Gold Standard..?)

Related:

* Facebook IPO Valuation Sets Record: Is It Really Worth $104 Billion …

“Facebookfinally set its IPO price Thursday evening: $38 a share, for a record-setting value of $104 billion on the social media giant. Is it worth it?” Read more..

* WOW! Facebook Is Now Worth More Than These 10 Huge …

 “That means that the total value of Facebook, an eight-year-old company, is more than some of the largest, most successful companies in the … Read more..

Update: Facebook’s IPO fails to live up to all the hype

Facebook shares, which underwriters had priced at $38 late Thursday, opened on the Nasdaq stock market Friday just below $43, and in their first hour of trading sank to as low as $38. The stock then recovered as IPO underwriters stepped in to support its price, according to reports. Facebook’s share price eventually finished the day at $38.23. Read more..

More puzzles (and games):

* JigZone is an online Jigsaw Puzzle where you choose the level of difficulty from a simple 6 piece cut to a challenging 247 piece cut.  A new Puzzle-of-the-day every day.

* PuzzleFactory.com Online Puzzle Games – Flash Games PuzzleFactory.com Online Games … Puzzles. Retro. Arcade. Sudoku. Casino. Racing. Dress Up. Driving. Strategy. Board Games. Action. Adventure. Customize …

Fun video:

Today’s quote:

“Definitely believe that which you stated. Your favorite reason appeared to be on the net the simplest thing to be aware of.

I say to you, I certainly get annoyed while people think about worries that they plainly don’t know about. You managed to hit the nail upon the top and also defined out the whole thing without having side-effects , people could take a signal. Will likely be back to get more. Thanks.” ~ spambot comment left on yesterday’s article.

Copyright 2007-2012 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.

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All we really have, in the end, are our stories.
Make yours great ones. Ones to be proud of.

Quick Post — Games!

I only have a moment today, but I will use it to post a ‘heads up’ for a very popular category — free games (and timewasters).

Today’s free link: Thinks.com offers free puzzles of all sorts (crosswords, sudoku, jigsaw, codebreaker, etc.) and games like checkers and chess. Fit for the whole family.

Now, I’ll admit two things: these kinds of games are kind of “old school”, and I cannot do Sudoku.. But Thinks.com is a Bookmark in all my browsers on all my machines. Check it out.

Bonus: FREE Today Only – Audubon Birds: A Field Guide to North American Birds

“I visit daily the Amazon daily FREE paid (Android) app giveaway and today I noticed they have available Audubon Birds: A Field Guide to North American Birds. This app typically goes for $9.99 and is available today for FREE. Audubon Birds: A Field Guide to North American Birds includes over 770 species and contains the […]” Read more…

Copyright 2007-2012 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.

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>> Folks, don’t miss an article! To get Tech – for Everyone articles delivered to your e-mail Inbox, click here, or to subscribe in your RSS reader, click here. <<

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All we really have, in the end, are our stories.
Make yours great ones. Ones to be proud of.

Retrospective Wednesday

June is the month I started posting Tech – for Everyone articles. 2007 was the year. Today I am re-posting one of the articles from that first month.. four long years ago now. I hope you enjoy this ‘blast from the past’.

People Google The Darndest Things

I suppose I’m not alone in this, but I am a stat-watcher. It is a way for me to learn about you — the reader: about what topics you’re interested in and which ones you don’t bother to investigate (“you” in the broad sense). I love to get into all the statistical details, and sincerely believe that a fella cannot be presented with too many informational statistics — and I always want more. I hope Word Press brings back the Feed Stats, and does it soon.

I am fascinated by “keywords” that catch your eye: a great ‘for instance’ is that this blog is for the most part a ‘how to’ and is almost always posted in that “category”, and yet only one “view”, so far, has been linked from there. (What is that telling me???) It surprises me sometimes that my “catchiest” titles have the lowest number of views, and that I would get a lot more Google Search “hits” if I simply titled a post “System Restore”…as an example. [Now I don’t want you to think I’m ‘hit-desperate’, and would start resorting to such tricks. I’m not. Honest. But it does make one think…)

I am fascinated by which of my “Today’s free links” get used and which one’s don’t so much. It says nothing about which one is more useful than another, but it does tell me some things. For instance, apparently my readers already have anti-spyware tools or just aren’t concerned about malware, yet a large number just as apparently delete files they’ld like to get back. Curious. At least to me it is.

But the most interesting statistic is the Search Engine Links, which shows not only how many people found my article via a search on Google (Yes. I know. There are more engines than just Google.) but what words they used in their searches. These “search terms” have been the source of ideas for posts I’ve written, and will continue to be so. There is one inescapable factoid that becomes quickly obvious when reading these search terms, and that is: I am not as poor of a speller as I thought I was…by comparison. Of the many people who googled ‘system restore’, not one spelled it correctly. The folks at that outfit are doing a terrific job of not only deciphering our gibberish, but doing it in micro-seconds, and I for one am grateful for it. They sent me one spelled “sistim restro”…amazing!

Tip of the day: If you are like me and need a helping hand spelling a word every now and then you probably (like me) hailed the “built-in Spell Check utility” as the greatest thing since sliced bread. And you’ve probably learned over time (like me) that they miss far more than they catch, and cannot see the difference between they’re, there, and their, and generally aren’t much help at all. The one here on WordPress is terrible. You simply won’t be doing yourself any favors if you rely on spell-check, and I don’t care whose it is.

Instead, bookmark an online dictionary like Merriam-Webster and enter your word into their search box. Unlike a real dictionary, you don’t have to know how to spell the word to find out how to spell it. Enter “sistim” and the top choice of spellings/words is “system”. It gives definitions, so you can make sure it is the word you’re thinking of. And it has a thesaurus so you can find words with the same or similar meanings. Online dictionaries are great resources, and I hope you will find them as useful and handy as I have. I couldn’t write this post without one…

Let’s just have some fun with Today’s free link: Thinks.com offers free puzzles of all sorts (crosswords, soduku, jigsaw, etc.) and games like checkers and chess. Fit for the whole family.

Orig post: 6/24/07

Today’s quote: “If at first you don’t succeed, do it like your mother told you.”  ~ Unknown

Making the world a better place department: If you have ever driven more than 6 miles with your left turn blinker on? Don’t ever drive again. You are causing accidents, I guaranty. (Show this to the guilty you know.)

Copyright 2007-2011 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.

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