Not even Facebook can help

In Thursday's Daily Show segment, Ored to Death, Aasif Mandvi learns that the town of Asbestos, Québec, has a Facebook page.
Indeed, it does. And, they want help, although they may be asking for a bit too much.

Asbestos, Quebec

One fine spring night

It was awards night for Mount Wachusett Community College last night.... More at  One fine spring night on Telegram Towns.

Happy 13th Birthday, Tess

New, improved, and perhaps unsuspecting Manuel

Is Skype+Kinect magic worth $8B?

OK, this is a deal that I just don't understand. Microsoft is buying Skype for $8B. (At this writing, the deal hasn't been announced, so the purchase price is still speculative. I've seen the deal priced at up to $8.5B.)
Time was, $8B was real money. Now, it seems to be enough to say "Hey, we can still get headlines." Microsoft is trying to fend off investor and analyst complaints that it's stalled. A few months ago, it all but bought Nokia, paying the Finnish handset maker to come to its party.
Maybe it's a preemptive to keep Skype away from Facebook. Such a move might make sense if Microsoft had a social software strategy. Instead, it could wind up like Groove.
The only clever idea I've seen so far is that adding Microsoft's motion-detector game gadget Kinect to Skype would make some fun games and interactive communications. It could be cool, even magical.
If it was my money and I was looking for magic, I'd reopen Jack's Joke Shop and pocket the rest of the money.