• Sources say venture capital firm Bridgescale is throwing a party for over 100 people at the Quadrus conference center on Sand Hill Road.
• Note to Alleywag applicants: We found writers for Friday and Sunday, thanks!
• Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen sells a chunk of his share in Dreamworks Animation, giving the New York Post a chance to drag up the worst possible photo of him (shown here), even worse than the shot of Yahoo CEO Terry Semel they rant the other day. Really, are they paying a kid with a camphone to sneak into meetings with these execs, or are they just blowing up 16x16 images? [New York Post]
• By the way, if you haven't been watching Bill Gates, the Microsoft founder is spending his days saving the world from AIDS. In other news, Mac fanboys still call him a devil because he built a crappy operating system. [Sci-Tech Today]
• Another Microsoft exec leaves to "spend more time with his family." Can we get a new alibi already, or has no one in tech actually learned to spend time with their families before they get unpopular at work and are shoved into retirement? [Register]
• No tech mogul for prez — Nextel cofounder and former Virginia governor Mark Warner announced today he won't enter the '08 race. [Washington Post]
• Dear Motley Fool: Shut up and eat your Grand Slam. [Motley Fool]

The Motley Fool (which, granted, thinks Google is sunk or soaring depending on the day, the time, and whether Mercury's ascending in Virgo) puts it simply: "Bad move." Because Google has $8 billion liquid right now, hasn't been spending all its cash on acquisitions, and pulled in another $1.6 billion last year.

So it's just another matter of "I want more, I'll take more, and you can't stop me."

Google's Surprising Stock Sale [BusinessWeek]
Google Gets Greedy [Motley Fool]
Google Inc. [Google Finance]