Facebook is about to go public. Typically what happens with such deals is the prospective public company enlists the assitance of an underwriter, who sells the shares on their behalf. Only a select few are given a crack at the first rounds before the stock is sold to the general public. Understandably, those who get in first make instant millions. Nice work if you can get it.

Sincerely, I've got to hand it to Mark Zuckerberg. Since starting Facebook to get the phone numbers of girls he was too embarrased to ask (darn, why didn't I think of that?), he's arguably demonstrated nothing but contempt for his users, yet here's his project on the cusp of earning billions. Meanwhile, to quote but one example, Julian Assange remains under house arrest. Think about that.