In Brief

Nightvision (Taiyo Yamamoto) via Motion A Day

villeneuve — Sat, 25 May 2013 09:45:23 -0700

Nightvision (Taiyo Yamamoto) via Motion A Day

The collapsed I-5 Skagit River Bridge (Photo by WSDOT)

villeneuve — Fri, 24 May 2013 21:26:57 -0700

The collapsed I-5 Skagit River Bridge (Photo by WSDOT)

Skagit bridge collapse: Times designer and his iPhone provide first images

villeneuve — Fri, 24 May 2013 17:55:08 -0700

Skagit bridge collapse: Times designer and his iPhone provide first images:

Seattle Times news designer Rick Lund tells the story of how he got some of the first and best images of the I-5 Skagit River bridge collapse.

Snohomish County has its share of well-worn bridges

villeneuve — Fri, 24 May 2013 13:30:11 -0700

Snohomish County has its share of well-worn bridges:

Snohomish County, Skagit County’s southern neighbor, has plenty of bridges that are at the end of their useful lives, reports Diana Hefley and Bill Sheets.

The climate crisis is real, Republicans: Russia to evacuate Arctic station over melting ice

villeneuve — Fri, 24 May 2013 09:45:20 -0700

The climate crisis is real, Republicans: Russia to evacuate Arctic station over melting ice:

United Nations experts say that Arctic ice melted at a record pace in calendar year 2012. 2012 ranks as the warmest years on record. The melting ice has jeopardized Russia’s North Pole 40 research station, forcing an evacuation.

Raw audio: The initial police response to the Interstate 5...

villeneuve — Fri, 24 May 2013 00:18:27 -0700

Raw audio: The initial police response to the Interstate 5 Skagit River bridge collapse (via Broadcastify)

Senator Elizabeth Warren challenges Treasury Secretary Jack Lew...

villeneuve — Thu, 23 May 2013 17:15:37 -0700

Senator Elizabeth Warren challenges Treasury Secretary Jack Lew on “Too Big to Fail/Too Big to Jail” (Video courtesy of Senator Elizabeth Warren’s office)

The Palouse during harvest time (Photo by Charles Knowles)

villeneuve — Thu, 23 May 2013 13:30:17 -0700

The Palouse during harvest time (Photo by Charles Knowles)

"Our tax code is purposefully complex, so that corporations with resources are the only ones who can..."

villeneuve — Thu, 23 May 2013 10:15:00 -0700

“Our tax code is purposefully complex, so that corporations with resources are the only ones who can find the goodies their lobbyists have buried in the labyrinth.”

- The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart, noting that major U.S. corporations like Apple benefit from a crazy, complicated and loophole-ridden tax code that even accountants and tax lawyers don’t fully understand. (Apple CEO Tim Cook urged a Senate committee this week to simplify America’s tax code).

A snapshot of the Oregon coast as seen just off U.S. 101 near...

villeneuve — Thu, 23 May 2013 06:45:00 -0700

A snapshot of the Oregon coast as seen just off U.S. 101 near Newport (Photo by Larry Eiring)

"I would like to thank the Department of Energy and the members of Congress and their staffs that..."

villeneuve — Wed, 22 May 2013 20:05:34 -0700

“I would like to thank the Department of Energy and the members of Congress and their staffs that worked hard to create the ATVM program, and particularly the American taxpayer from whom these funds originate. I hope we did you proud.”

- Tesla CEO and cofounder Elon Musk, commenting on the news that the company has repaid its loan from the Department of Energy nine years early.

Adrian Dix on election loss: "I take full responsibility. No ifs, ands or buts."

villeneuve — Wed, 22 May 2013 13:20:00 -0700

Adrian Dix on election loss: "I take full responsibility. No ifs, ands or buts.":

The leader of British Columbia’s New Democratic Party has released a statement commenting on the party’s defeat in last Tuesday’s provincial elections, in which the NDP was expected to win, but lost badly. Dix is promising a comprehensive internal review as the party seeks to pinpoint what went wrong.

Lines in the sand: Obama’s Keystone decision

villeneuve — Tue, 21 May 2013 09:45:16 -0700

Lines in the sand: Obama’s Keystone decision:

Elizabeth Kolbert makes the case for why President Barack Obama should reject TransCanada’s application to build the Keystone XL pipeline.

Incredible, stunning footage of today’s tornado in Moore,...

villeneuve — Mon, 20 May 2013 19:56:10 -0700

Incredible, stunning footage of today’s tornado in Moore, Oklahoma (Courtesy of Basehunters)

"We can’t give up. In fact, now’s the time to work harder and faster. The environmental movement is..."

villeneuve — Mon, 20 May 2013 17:15:53 -0700

“We can’t give up. In fact, now’s the time to work harder and faster. The environmental movement is bigger and stronger than it’s ever been, and the planet just lit a fire under us”

- Greenpeace’s Cassady Sharp: Despite four hundred parts per million of carbon in the atmosphere, renewables are steaming ahead

The women of Congress, in fabulous watercolor infographics

villeneuve — Mon, 20 May 2013 13:30:05 -0700

The women of Congress, in fabulous watercolor infographics:

Fast Company: “The sitting Congress has the most women of any in history. Artist Emily Nemens is capturing each of them in paint, and using their likenesses in graphics to show how far we still have to go to bring gender equality to Washington.”

A gorgeous view down river from above the Grotto in Zion...

villeneuve — Mon, 20 May 2013 10:27:27 -0700

A gorgeous view down river from above the Grotto in Zion National Park. Photo: Tom Morris/U.S. Department of the Interior (via America’s Great Outdoors)

Yahoo's board signs off on Tumblr acquisition

villeneuve — Sun, 19 May 2013 19:20:01 -0700

Yahoo's board signs off on Tumblr acquisition:

The board of Yahoo has approved CEO Marissa Mayer’s proposed acquisition of microblogging pioneer Tumblr, which has a lot of potential but not a lot of revenue.

Tumblr, do you really want to sell to Yahoo!? After what happened to GeoCities?

villeneuve — Fri, 17 May 2013 23:16:00 -0700

Rumors are flying this evening that Yahoo! is on the verge of acquiring Tumblr. A deal may be finalized this weekend, so long as Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer can get approval from Yahoo’s board of directors.

Yahoo is thought to have offered $1.1 billion for Tumblr. The company apparently considers itself worth more than that and is trying to get Yahoo to pony up even more, even though it has paltry revenue compared to more established tech titans.

The report about the behind the scenes negotiations reminded me of a news item from fourteen years ago: the sale of GeoCities to Yahoo for $3.4 billion. Yahoo spent more than three times the amount of money on GeoCities in 1999 that it is proposing to spend now to acquire Tumblr. What happened to GeoCities? It was ingloriously shuttered a few years ago. So much for that acquisition.

The rationale for buying GeoCities was that it would add a lot of value to Yahoo. That’s what geniuses like Scott Appleby said at the time:

Analysts say the potential acquisition of GeoCities, or a company like it, is a must for Yahoo!.

“I really think it’s the only strategy,” says Scott Appleby, an analyst with ABN Amro, adding that the growth cycle of the Internet is still in its infancy.

”Customers and consumers are still building behavior patterns,” he says. “Now is the time to build your network, now is the time to build your brand and AOL has proven that now is the time to build your business.”

In retrospect, the Yahoo-GeoCities deal doesn’t look so rosy. Yahoo is still around - but GeoCities is not. So much for GeoCities being a must-have.

Research has repeatedly shown that most corporate mergers and acquisitions fail to create value for shareholders. The business press loves to report on deals and rumored deals, but that has no bearing on whether they make business sense. That explains why dealmaking generates more headlines than returns.

Which leads us to ask: Tumblr, do you *really* want to sell to Yahoo? This is the company that bought Delicious and was going to close it before it found a buyer to keep it running. This is the company that let Flickr go into a stall. And this is the company that bought GeoCities for a whopping $3.4 billion in 1999 and then extinguished it ten years later. Don’t think the payout you’ll be getting will be any kind of insurance against a similar fate for Tumblr down the road.

So, David Karp and team, think long and hard before you decide to sell. Look at what happened to the other companies that Yahoo bought.

And heck, ask Yahoo about it. You might want to drop the word “GeoCities” during the negotiations and see what kind of reaction that elicits.

CBO says the federal deficit has shrunk - but the traditional media isn't reporting it

villeneuve — Fri, 17 May 2013 12:11:06 -0700

CBO says the federal deficit has shrunk - but the traditional media isn't reporting it:

Media Matters: “Following months of media calls for deficit reduction, cable news channels spent just over 7 minutes reporting on a revised Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projection that the 2013 deficit will decline by more than previous estimates. Broadcast network news evening shows did not cover the new report.”

In Brief

Nightvision (Taiyo Yamamoto) via Motion A Day

The collapsed I-5 Skagit River Bridge (Photo by WSDOT)

Skagit bridge collapse: Times designer and his iPhone provide first images

Snohomish County has its share of well-worn bridges

The climate crisis is real, Republicans: Russia to evacuate Arctic station over melting ice

Raw audio: The initial police response to the Interstate 5...

Senator Elizabeth Warren challenges Treasury Secretary Jack Lew...

The Palouse during harvest time (Photo by Charles Knowles)

"Our tax code is purposefully complex, so that corporations with resources are the only ones who can..."

A snapshot of the Oregon coast as seen just off U.S. 101 near...

"I would like to thank the Department of Energy and the members of Congress and their staffs that..."

Adrian Dix on election loss: "I take full responsibility. No ifs, ands or buts."

Lines in the sand: Obama’s Keystone decision

Incredible, stunning footage of today’s tornado in Moore,...

"We can’t give up. In fact, now’s the time to work harder and faster. The environmental movement is..."

The women of Congress, in fabulous watercolor infographics

A gorgeous view down river from above the Grotto in Zion...

Yahoo's board signs off on Tumblr acquisition

Tumblr, do you *really* want to sell to Yahoo!? After what happened to GeoCities?

CBO says the federal deficit has shrunk - but the traditional media isn't reporting it

Tumblr, do you really want to sell to Yahoo!? After what happened to GeoCities?