Think about it: The cast of this narrative-less saga now includes Woods, his wife Elin, her mother, and of course the more than 10 mistresses, each one with her own, growing internet dossier. We tried keeping up on our site but sort of gave up after trying to sort through the daily, disconnected crush of info and bits. (See: TMZ or anywhere else on the web. The internet may be groaning under the hourly tick-tock of Woods' life and lies unravelling, and the photos, audio and videos, but it's also only the web — not just technologically, but also the newish ecosystem of news and gossip sites that are eager to turn every bit of this story into traffic gold — that could handle the Tiger Woods story.

Sure, it all started in print, with a National Enquirer story on Tiger's "Cheating Scandal." But Woods' disgrace immediately mushroomed into something so huge and fast-changing that it became impossible for magazines or even daily tabloids to keep up. The Enquirer article precipitated a fight between Woods and his wife; then a car "accident;" then the truth about said accident; then an apology, a torrent of new mistresses; another apology, etc. etc. etc.

The volume of information grew exponentially, as each new skank became the nexus for loads of new information and media. (And photo galleries!) Rachel Uchitel, the original "mistress," remains the biggest of these sub-stories, with rumors about how she ran a sort of ad-hoc brothel for Woods; that she dated him; that she was going to reverse her denial of the affair; that she didn't because she'd been paid off by a magazine; and on and on.

But the other women have generated plenty of news, too, from the second madam (no one thinks he actually boned her, we were eventually informed) to the onetime stripper (she didn't immediately disclose this past occupation, outrageous!) to the porn star (who wouldn't deny the affair) to the Butter hostess (she got hotel suites) to the friggin' Perkins waitress (who Tiger supposedly had sex with in a church parking lot; who Tiger liked to spank; who Tiger called "rag doll;" who Tiger liked to... you get the idea).

Then there was news about Tiger's rapidly disappearing endorsements; about his marriage; his exit from golf. Even if you wanted to try and cram all these different threads of news and gossip and speculation and debunking into a celebrity weekly every week, you couldn't. Which is what make the degenerate ecosystem of Woods news something special: It was sprawling, it was deep, it unfolded over a long period of time. It was too big to fit anywhere but online.

The Web had a bonanza with the Eliot Spitzer scandal, too, but after the initial news, tearful apology and quick orgy of Ashley Dupre photos, the news quickly dried up. Bill Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky broke in a uniquely internetty fashion, when Web gossip Matt Drudge ran the story Newsweek refused to touch. The subsequent coverage was, indeed, endless. It was also about just one woman who wasn't saying much, and then about one political fight. Each revelation was tidy enough to fit in a sliver of the daily newspaper and to comprehensively summarize in a weekly magazine.

Tiger Woods' apparently voracious sexual appetite created a scandal big enough to truly feed, and even sate, the ever-hungry Web. It's been an uninhibited bacchanal of mistress galleries, trashy YouTube embeds and gossip scooplets. So if the Tiger Woods coverage leaves you feeling exhausted, it's because the celebrity sausage factory has been running at an obscenely and unprecedentedly fast tilt. As with Christmas dinner, you might as well try and enjoy the feast, no matter what you think of the company. Because you'll have to do the whole thing again soon.

Perhaps you've heard of Apple Daily, the Taiwanese newspaper that makes computer-generated cartoons corresponding to real-life events, like a man attacking his girlfriend with a knife, or the controversial, creepy and mesmerizing Tiger Woods video excerpted above. These digital shorts have Apple Daily's parent company, Next Media, in hot water with the authorities; the Taiwanese government is blocking Next from launching new ventures, says the New York Times.

Which is an outrage, right? Unless you want to live in a world where the government just gets to decide who can make a speculative video of Tiger Woods picking out lingerie for his girlfriends, and who can't. Fascism lies at the end of a slippery slope, mind you.

Consultant "John" and Cornell Business School employee "Lisa" are both married, Guest of a Guest reports, though now that their pictures and email thread are being seen by the entire world those relationships are severely endangered. Blame John's denial fetish: without all that sexual teasing he so clearly relished, he might not have been "WAY TOO FUCKING HORNY" to think straight at work and properly operate Outlook or whatever.

The full email exchange, apparently copied under the leaked email, is an odd mix of sexual panting, taunting and discussion of the mistress' children (who John apparently met) and their eating habits. It's pasted below, but here are some highlights, via Guest of a Guest:

(Top pic: Fredonino on Flickr)

Full thread:

From: John >

Date: November 6, 2009

To: Lisa >, $JSEvents >

Subject: RE:

Thanks! Tell him Hi right back at him when ya see him later!

Hey, can you re-send me that link to the article about Obama, and the one world, NWO? I misplaced the link to that, and hadn't finished reading it yet.

GOD, I can't stop feeling like you're tickling me, and I can't stop TASTING you!!! This is all VERY DISTRACTING!!! :)

From: Lisa

Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 1:58 PM

To: John

Subject: RE:

Trevor wanted me to be sure to tell you hi he's up here with me today or around here somewhere (I think he took the bus up to the mall).

From: John

Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 1:56 PM

To: Lisa

Subject: RE:

Ha! At the very LEAST!!! :)

From: Lisa

Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 1:55 PM

To: John

Subject: RE:

That's how I hope to go, only to be revived so we could do it all over again. I guess that would mean doing it TWICE!!!!!!!!!!

From: John

Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 1:54 PM

To: Lisa

Subject: RE:

Ha! Yes, my thoughts exactly!

Tickled and licked and orgasmed to death!!! :)

From: Lisa

Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 1:34 PM

To: John

Subject: RE:

I don't think you will either (she said with a devilishly shy grin), but what a way to go.;-)

From: John

Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 1:32 PM

To: Lisa

Subject: RE:

GOOD LORD HAVE MERCY ON ME!!!

And by this method, you bring me right to the edge of release, over and over and over again, yet each time I'm denied,and fiendishly tickled even more???

I don't think I'll survive!!! :)

From: Lisa

Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 1:23 PM

To: John

Subject: RE:

I see me sitting in your lap straddling, really.facing you with my legs draped over your restrained arms and then wrapped around you and your chair holding you in place you're pinned and unable to move. I'm leaning back ever so slightly with my hands braced on your desk, helping me to grind my pussy against you.

From: John

Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 1:21 PM

To: Lisa

Subject: RE:

OH DEAR GOD HELP ME!!!

You are pushing buttons that are getting me WAY TOO FUCKING HORNY for being stuck at work!!!

And just WHAT am I supposed to do now??? I can practically FEEL your torturous little fingernails flitting across my stomach, and they're making me ACHE with the desire for RELEASE!!! :)

From: Lisa

Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 1:07 PM

To: John

Subject: RE:

I have visions of strutting into your office in nothing but a trench coat and CFM heels locking the door duct taping your hands to the arms of your chair teasing your with my nails and tongue, tickling, poking, prodding..and then straddling your rock hard cock. Only to stop just seconds before you cum..and start all over again.

From: John

Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 1:03 PM

To: Lisa

Subject: RE:

Ha! Again, I SECOND that motion! (No pun intended!!! :))

From: Lisa

Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 1:02 PM

To: John

Subject: RE:

Yep, that sounds EXACTLY like something I would do.forget twice, I'd be doing it over and over and over and over again!!!

and I'd give anything to be doing exactly that right now!

From: John

Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 1:00 PM

To: Lisa

Subject: RE:

Yeah, you are CERTAINLY THAT for me also Baby! And I second the motion on time to hold you in my arms.

I think about the time spent on your couch often, in that regard. Plus, I also recall looking deep into your eyes, touching your face, and kissing you SO DEEPLY

And I also recall your naughty little hands getting very playful, snaking their way down my shirt to tickle!!! :)

From: Lisa

Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 12:57 PM

To: John

Subject: RE:

AMEN to that sweetie.you are my ounce of sanity in a very insane world right now .thank you so very much for that.I just wish I could spend more time hiding in the safety of your arms..

From: John

Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 12:55 PM

To: Lisa

Subject: RE:

Yeah, me too!

And you are CERTAINLY THAT for me also Baby, among many other wonderful things! :)

From: Lisa

Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 12:51 PM

To: John

Subject: RE:

(I like the private porn star best of all hehehehehe)

From: John

Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 12:48 PM

To: Lisa

Subject: RE:

ALL OF THE ABOVE BABY!!! :)

From: Lisa

Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 12:46 PM

To: John

Subject: RE:

I knew I could count on you!!! You're my hero!!!! My knight in shining armor!!! My private porn star!!!!!

From: John

Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 12:44 PM

To: Lisa

Subject: RE:

OH, I can SERIOUSLY help you with both of those Baby, don't worry!

And I will be SO FUCKING HORNY after I get done SPANKING that FINE ASS of yours for hours, you'll be FULL for a week after you swallow me! And I hear that CUM is an excellent source of protein, as well as other nutrients!!! :)

From: Lisa

Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 12:39 PM

To: John

Subject: RE:

Because more than half the time, I'm actually just fixing for just Jake as Trevor has already eaten half the house by the time I get home. And the minute we come in the door, Jake is heading straight for his highchair and wanting fed before I even have my coat off. So I fix him something quick (grilled cheese, omelet, etc.). Or over the weekend I'm make a big pot of something so we can have leftovers, which Jake and Trevor don't mind, but I get sick of them within a day or two and resort back to popcorn.I'm bad, I know.I think I need a good spanking.and to be put on my knees and force fed.

From: John

Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 12:34 PM

To: Lisa

Subject: RE:

Well, the my willing to feed you part goes without saying Baby!

So when you're fixing dinner for Trevor and Jake, why don't you just make enough for you also?

From: Lisa

Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 12:30 PM

To: John

Subject: RE:

It's the same thing I had yesterday honey.truth be told, I really don't eat very well anymore. I'm so busy with Jake that I don't have much time to fix anything decent for myself it's easier for me to fix him and Trevor dinner and then throw a bag of popcorn in the microwave for myself.BUT, if you're willing to feed me, I'm willing to swallow each and every time!

From: John

Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 12:27 PM

To: Lisa

Subject: RE:

Leftover chicken from last night. And a diet Mountain Dew!

A bagel is your lunch??? You need to CUM up here more often to I can feed you properly!!! :)

From: Lisa

Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 12:25 PM

To: John

Subject: RE:

A bagel and a soda.what are you having?

From: John

Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 12:24 PM

To: Lisa

Subject: RE:

Ha! I hear ya!

What's for lunch today?

From: Lisa

Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 12:16 PM

To: John

Subject: RE:

.I'm just sitting here eating my lunch and giggling at this whole conversation, we just crack me up!!!

From: John

Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 12:15 PM

To: Lisa

Subject: RE:

Yes, you CERTAINLY WOOD Baby!!! :)

From: Lisa

Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 12:01 PM

To: John

Subject: RE:

I'd have you up in the front seat right next to me.and although my car is an automatic, I do know how to drive a stick shift.and I'd be sure to have a stick to shift on my way home.

From: John

Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 11:59 AM

To: Lisa

Subject: RE:

Ha! EXACTLY where I was going with this sweetie! See, we are on the same wavelength, as usual!

You have me in the back of your car right now, tied up in the back seat. And you're sitting on me, giggling and tickling, giving me sort of a preview of what I can expect when you get me home! And I am sitting here SO FUCKING HARD from thinking about this!!! :)

From: Lisa

Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 11:54 AM

To: John

Subject: RE:

That depends on your definition of concerned But if I'm lurking in the dark to get you then conversely, you could be lurking in the dark to get me and just the mere thought of that doesn't concern me, but makes me very wet.

From: John

Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 11:52 AM

To: Lisa

Subject: RE:

Ha! Too funny Lisa!

So let's see you like bats, the dark, and the idea of tying me up, kidnapping me, and then mercilessly tickle torturing me!

Should I be concerned??? :)

From: Lisa

Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 11:49 AM

To: John

Subject: RE:

LOLOLOL.see, even the powers that be knew how much I liked the dark, so they just shut power of .sadly it came back on which is just as well, cause I was too far away from your desk any way!

From: John

Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 11:21 AM

To: Lisa

Subject: RE:

Ha! Oh? And why is that??? :)

From: Lisa

Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 11:07 AM

To: John

Subject: RE:

That's on my schedule for Monday.first thing.actually, if Don leaves Sunday night, I'll be making a night time raid.after all, I work best after dark.

From: John

Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 11:05 AM

To: Lisa

Subject: RE:

Ha! What was it you said to me last week? Something about tying me up and taking me home, never to be seen again??? :)

From: Lisa

Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 10:56 AM

To: John

Subject: RE:

You're sooooo willing.one of the many admirable traits I find so endearing about you.

From: John

Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 10:54 AM

To: Lisa

Subject: RE:

OK!!! :)

From: Lisa

Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 10:53 AM

To: John

Subject: RE:

Let me cum up there and feel ya.I need to see for myself.

From: John

Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 10:52 AM

To: Lisa

Subject: RE:

AT LEAST!!! The way I'm feeling right now!!! :)

From: Lisa

Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 10:50 AM

To: John

Subject: RE:

Yes it would.at least twice!

From: John

Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 10:50 AM

To: Lisa

Subject: RE:

That'll work!!! :)

From: Lisa

Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 10:48 AM

To: John

Subject: RE:

I'd do a private showing for you babe.just you, me, and your lap.

From: John

Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 10:47 AM

To: Lisa

Subject: RE:

Only if YOU'RE dancing there Baby!!! :)

From: Lisa

Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 10:44 AM

To: John

Subject: RE:

You and me both baby.so any big bachelor plans for the weekend?? Kumas? (hehehehe.)

From: John

Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 10:43 AM

To: Lisa

Subject: RE:

Don't I wish!!! :)

From: Lisa

Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 10:06 AM

To: John

Subject: RE:

It (and me) are only a bus ride away.

From: John

Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 10:05 AM

To: Lisa

Subject: RE:

Wow! I just LOVE that idea! And it would require no extra seasoning, seeing as how it would have your savory juices all over it!!! :)

From: Lisa

Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 10:01 AM

To: John

Subject: RE:

Uh,a bright blue thong.if you want more specifics you;ll have to just see it for yourself.it could be your lunch;-)

From: John

Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 9:59 AM

To: Lisa

Subject: RE:

Well, be specific please!!! :)

From: Lisa

Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 9:57 AM

To: John

Subject: RE:

A thong of course.

From: John

Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 9:56 AM

To: Lisa

Subject: RE:

That sounds VERY SEXY to me!!! What kind of panties do you have on??? :)

From: Lisa

Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 9:53 AM

To: John

Subject: RE:

I really hate the weekends anymore, how pathetic is that?!!?

On another note, I look like a damn schoolgirl today. Jake was up at 5:15 this morning and full of piss and vinegar so I had very little time to get ready. My hair's up in a pony tail and I've got on sneakers, jeans, and a sweatshirt.

From: John

Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 9:51 AM

To: Lisa

Subject: RE:

My thoughts EXACTLY Baby!!! :)

From: Lisa

Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 9:50 AM

To: John

Subject: RE:

Damn.wish I could be a bachelorette this weekend!

From: John

Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 9:49 AM

To: Lisa

Subject: RE:

Ha! That's it exactly!

That was a GOOD ONE Lisa! Thanks! I'm going to start calling them that!!! :)

From: Lisa

Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 9:47 AM

To: John

Subject: RE:

So you get to be a bachelor this weekend, just you and the kamikaze birds.

From: John

Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 9:45 AM

To: Lisa

Subject: RE:

Hard to say, my wife is on her way down there now, and the family is divided on what to do at this point.

From: Lisa

Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 9:43 AM

To: John

Subject: RE:

How's your mother-in-law? This must be such a difficult time for all concerned.

From: John

Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 9:42 AM

To: Lisa

Subject: RE:

Yeah, me too! I thought about you bunches yesterday!!! :)

From: Lisa

Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 9:41 AM

To: John

Subject: RE:

Glad you're back. I've missed you for sure. but then again, I'm always missing you!

From: John

Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 9:38 AM

To: Lisa

Subject: RE:

Hi Baby!

Much better, thanks! Here at work now.

From: Lisa

Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 8:33 AM

To: John Wilson

Subject:

Good morning sweetheart.you've been MUCH on my mind this morning. I'm worried and anxious to hear how you're doing this morning.

Since its inception, Facebook has been used to connect friends, political allies and organizations. And it's also being used for charitable causes, as exhibited in Silicon Valley, where Second Harvest Food Bank employed its network to raise over $10,000 for the area's hungry. (Too bad this guy doesn't live there.)

For every good deed done on Facebook, however, there seems to be one that's more calamitous. Just ask Bozeman, Montana, copper Cody Anderson, who resigned this week because of his Facebook commentary, which claimed police officers such as himself had the right to arrest people for being "stupid" and boasted about "messing with people."

Those remarks came into play in a lawsuit filed by a Bozeman resident who says he was falsely arrested. His lawsuit cites Anderson's "stupid" comment as proof that the police department doesn't respect the city's citizens. Thus, Anderson's career has come to an end.

The Facebook giveth and the Facebook taketh away. Respect it. Fear it. For it has the power to take you down.

Anderson referred to a certain town as "Crescent City (New Orleans)," and the reference caught VQR's Waldo Jaquith, who was reviewing Free, off guard. As he told Fishbowl NY:

At first, I was thrown off. I thought that maybe that before it was called New Orleans it was called Crescent City and I was mad at myself for not knowing that.

But Wikipedia's entry for New Orleans only had Crescent City as a nickname, not as the original monicker for the town. So Jaquith ran a Google search using some of Anderson's specific language and — boom! — up came a Wikipedia article describing the origin of the term "Free Lunch," which Anderson had obviously copied from.

I figured that what had happened was that whoever had written it wanted to be cute and call it Crescent City, but also wanted to link to the New Orleans article [on Wikipedia]. So they put it in parentheses,

Then Jaquith remembered Anderson had once, in Free, weirdly put the word "currency" in quotes, so he ran that section through Google too, and found another chunk of text had been copied from the Web. The rest is history.

Anderson might be a plagiarist, but at least he has what poker players refer to as a "tell." And how appropriate, for the editor of Wired, that it's his reluctance to remove hyperlinks.

[Fishbowl NY]

(Pic by Pieter Baert)

Amid SEC charges that Apple management had shifted the dates of stock options to benefit executives, including Jobs, Anderson, and former general counsel Nancy Heinen, the company took an $84 million charge in 2006. Jobs and Apple settled a shareholder lawsuit for $14 million, but avoided trouble with the SEC. Anderson and Heinen paid $3.5 million and $2.2 million in fines respectively, without admitting guilt.

The episode caused a major rift between Anderson and Jobs. Anderson had left Apple in 2004, but stayed on the board until the scandal led to his resignation in 2006. In the meantime, Anderson had joined Elevation Partners, a private-equity firm in Silicon Valley. As the stock-options scandal grew, Anderson and Jobs pointed fingers at each other, at one point issuing dueling press releases shifting the blame. Anderson has long maintained that Jobs knew more about the options chicanery than he has let on.

Elevation, which also counts famed Valley investor Roger McNamee and U2 frontman Bono as partners, backed Palm, a rival to Apple in the smartphone business, and recruited a former top Apple executive, Jon Rubinstein, as Palm's executive chairman. No one in Silicon Valley honestly believes this is a coincidence.

Forbes is another Elevation investment. The May 11 story, written by Bill Barrett and teased on the cover, centers on the 118-page transcript of a three-hour interview Jobs gave SEC examiners trying a case against former Apple general counsel Nancy Heinen, which the magazine obtained at some difficulty through a Freedom of Information Act. In the interview with SEC examiners, Jobs complained that the board was not looking out for him and he had to ask for a generous stock-options package, but maintained that he was largely unaware of the backdating and ignorant of the accounting consequences. (Backdating is not illegal by itself, but requires notice to shareholders and a charge to earnings, neither of which Apple undertook at the time it backdated options.)

Excellent journalistic work on Barrett's part. But here's the question: How did Forbes know precisely which document to ask for? It always helps to have well-connected sources. And it's hard to imagine who would be better placed to know the details of the case than Anderson.

Foursquare bears an unmistakable resemblance to Dodgeball, a cell-phone-based friend-finding service Crowley launched in 2004 and sold to Google in 2005 for an estimated $40 million. Crowley worked at Google for two years afterwards. And his former employer may be getting ready to take legal action, if a tipster is right:

The GOOG has reason to believe that the recently launched location-based service startup Foursquare went live using server code that originally powered Dodgeball. A cease and desist order might be sent out to the service as early as this week. An engineer named Harry could also face some additional discipline.

Dodgeball worked by having users check in via text message when they arrived at a location like a bar or restaurant, and broadcast the user's whereabouts to friends — a precursor of Twitter, in some ways, but focused on people's whereabouts. Google ended up killing Dodgeball (a smart move) but launching a similar service called Google Latitude.

Foursquare's added twist: It turns hanging out with friends into an interactive game, with users racking up points for going out. It also has some au courant features, like an iPhone app and integration with Twitter — the kind of thing any Web app needs to be hip these days. But according to an engineer familiar with Foursquare, its back end appears to bear a strong resemblance to Dodgeball's.

Crowley quit Google in 2007, complaining that Google had stifled Dodgeball. One rumor floating around has it that he tried to buy it back from Google, without success. So it makes sense that he would want to relaunch it, and might feel entitled to use the code he wrote, since Google abandoned it.

It also makes sense that he would have help from the inside. The "Harry" the tipster mentioned is almost certainly Harry Heyman, a Google engineer. Heyman was caught by surprise by his employer's announcement of Dodgeball's shutdown. In January, Heyman wrote on his LiveJournal:

Don't fret too much about not having a tool like this to use when dodgeball gets turned off. Like you, I'm pretty unimpressed with most of the other current offerings, but I know of a couple soon-to-be-released things in the works. Keep an eye out, and we'll all find a new home that suits our needs just fine.

But that's the hitch: Google already paid Crowley for the code, and even though it's not being used, Google's lawyers would reasonably want to disabuse startup founders of the notion that they can sell their startup and have it too.

Crowley and Heyman have not yet responded to emails asking for their side of the story. A Google spokeman promised to look into the matter but has not yet offered comment.

Now would be the perfect time to strike, with Crowley at the South By Southwest Interactive conference in Austin, Texas, surrounded by his friends and fans, many of whom have signed up for Foursquare.

The investigation does not involve Kundra. The White House, in a statement, said Kundra's leave came from "an abundance of caution," after a series of embarrassments with Obama appointees.

Though Acar was a minor figure in the D.C. government's technology operations, he had authority over hardware and software budgets which, according to an FBI agent investigating the case, allowed him to conduct a wide-ranging bribery operation. The agent's affidavit has some grandiose quotes from Acar and his alleged accomplice, a D.C. tech executive named Sushil Bansal, which are worthy of deposed Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich. Maybe Acar will write a book, too? Here's the transcript of a phone conversation between Acar and a cooperating witness ("CW"):

ACAR: Nothing. Eric's deal, okay? I was clear about that. I said I want fifty. You should, you should get fifty. And then whatever left behind, you should, he should get it.

CW: Exactly.

ACAR: It's hundred thirty dollar PO, hundred twenty dollar PO, he should get twenty. That's more than enough. More than [expletive] enough. We are- The risk is not equal, I'm sorry. The risk is not
equal.

CW: Yusuf (UI) is not equal. I mean, you know what can happen if God, God forbid, you know, if today things, uh, things uh crash.

ACAR: Yeah.

CW: You don't even have a couple hundred dollars that you can, for your family, to survive.

ACAR: No, nothing. I mean, I will jump on the next plane, go to Turkey and disappear. That's fine.

CW: And you don't have nothing!

ACAR: Yeah. Exactly.

CW: (UI) you going to run away with what, a couple hundred? What are you going to run with?

ACAR: Yeah.

CW: I mean, Yusuf, I'm telling you we need to talk to this guy.

ACAR: Look, I mean, look.

CW: We need to talk to him.

ACAR: [CW], this is beginning, okay? This is just like uh a scratch on the surface. We have a six million dollars. Six million mother [expletive] dollars. You and I should make at least three of that.

CW: And, and, and then we have only four months to do this.

Later, Acar asked the witness, "Are we going to jail?"

The key question for Obama's White House isn't Acar's crimes, which the FBI seems to have documented quite completely. It's how such a wide-ranging bribery scandal unfolded in Kundra's own office without his awareness. No one is saying Kundra is anything but innocent. But how can he be expected to manage the government's vast technology budget if he let such large sums slip out the door at a much smaller agency?

The full complaint, via Washington City Paper:

Yusuf Acar Bribery Affidavit

Or so say the geeks. Kundra isn't being implicated in the bribery investigation which resulted in the arrest of Yusuf Acar, who has been filling in as the District's chief technology officer on an interim basis since Kundra's nomination.

But why is the nerd press hastening to clear Kundra's name before the investigation has finished? The argument that the likes of Wired are making is that Kundra's mission to open up government databases and use cheap or free Web software is too urgent to quibble over a little thing like a bribery scandal. In other words: We use Google Apps, Kundra uses Google Apps — so lay off!

It's utterly ridiculous. If Kundra were actually a success at making D.C.'s technology operations transparent, wouldn't he have instantly detected the bribery scheme unfolding in his own office? And if he had really moved a substantial part of D.C.'s computer operations onto low-cost technology, what would possibly be worth a bribe?

Let's leave aside the question of whether Kundra is a technological P.T. Barnum without any real accomplishments besides his PowerPoint presentations. Yes, the economy is in shambles. Yes, we need to make the government more efficient. But are we supposed to suspend all critical thinking in the rush to find a rescuer?

The rumor itself is actually at least 18 months old — we first heard it last year after a reporter at a major business magazine got the News Corp. nuclear treatment when he rang up the flacks to ask whether they had made out at a party — largely spurred by Deng being named the "chief of strategy" at MySpace China last summer, putting her in close (business) contact with DeWolfe. And then there were reports that DeWolfe was using his friendship with Deng in his negotiations for a new compensation package with News Corp.

The first time in the most recent spate of tips was in the form of an an email from someone using the Dark Knight pseudonym "Harvey Dent" and was pre-written in gossip-columnese ("What media mogul billionaire’s wife has been guilty of so many sexual escapades that she is the talk of LA?"), but it also made some amateurish mistakes, such as referring to "Wendy Deng." The second tipster came from inside a media organization that's locked horns with News Corp. plenty of times in the past. The third was the most aggressive. Their first account was that they had heard that someone with a grudge against Murdoch had hired a private investigator who had discovered that Deng was involved with "Chris DeWitt." Asked why someone was digging dirt on Rupert, they said it was "more of a personal interest."

None of the new tipsters have offered any new evidence to made us think it's true. Like the Jossip item, all leaned heavily on the detail that they're hooking up at 141 Prince St. But that's hardly a secret address. since that's where the Murdochs live when they're in New York. And as someone familiar with the Murdochs points out, they sold that apartment in 2005 and now live on Fifth Ave. So color us skeptical. Though, of course, if you know more than our previous tipsters, we're interested in that, too.

• "Mini-Me Sex Tape Released On Overseas Website" (avn.com)
• Sex WIth Mini Me (SexWithMiniMe.com)

Previously: Verne Troyer Sex Tape Costar Tells All!, Not The Verne Troyer Sex Tape

Despite the fact that the basic facts of the evening seem to be proven, Wikipedia's power-mad power-users are immediately deleting any and all mention of the John Edwards lovechild scandal the second any other user adds it. You could go over there and add "In July of 2008, Edwards was confronted at a Beverly Hills hotel by National Enquirer reporters searching for evidence of his participation in an extra-martial affair"—all true and verified by more "reliable" sources!—and it wouldn't last two minutes. (Actually you couldn't add that. The entry has been locked.) It's not notable enough for them, apparently. Though this is. And hell, so is this!

But no, the details of the probable end of the political aspirations of one of the 2000s most visible Democratic politicians are just not as notable as the fictional history of the Wookee homeworld.

(Kudos, of course, to the enterprising editor who buried mention of this scandal in this unread entry on a book by Rielle Hunter's ex-boyfriend Jay McInerney.)

Our collaboration called Node 666 won about 17 people a Vloggie. PodTech said they would mail Vloggies to everyone who contributed to the collaboration, but they didn't. I just got an e-mail today from Steve Garfield wondering where his Vloggie is.

Their excuse was that they ran out of Vloggies at the awards ceremony and would have to have more made in order to send them.

No such follow up was made.

Brilliant. With PodTech losing this much credibility, I know I'm one vlogger who won't bother coming to its awards show this year. Disappointing, really; last year's event seemed so fun before this look behind the scenes.

Now Hurd needs to fend off accusations of his own involvement. So far, all that's been implied by public evidence is that Hurd knew some of what Dunn was doing, not that he was actually involved.

Hewlett Chairwoman Dunn Resigns [New York Times]

"People go by the cockroach theory: When there is one roach, there's going to be more."

HP bought the slogan and is already building an ad campaign around it.

Focus is on Hurd as HP stock price reacts to troubles [SF Chronicle]

Cablevision Systems Corp., the fifth-largest U.S. cable-television provider, awarded stock options to a dead executive in 1999, then backdated them to give the illusion they were granted when he was alive.

That's how Bloomberg gets people reading about the rash of stock option backdating scandals rocking the business world. The feds are investigating Cablevision, which released the "vested corpse" story in an earnings restatement. The Wall Street Journal says Vice Chairman Marc Lustgarten was the reanimated beneficiary. The paper also comments:

John Coffee, a professor of law at Columbia University, noted that options are intended to create an incentive for executives to boost their company's stock price. "Trying to incentivize a corpse suggests they were not complying with the spirit of shareholder-approved stock-option plans," he said.

Cablevision Gave Backdated Options to Dead Executive [Bloomberg]
Cablevision Gave Backdated Grant To Dead Official [Wall Street Journal]

Hewlett-Packard Co. chief executive Mark V. Hurd approved an elaborate "sting" operation on a reporter in February in an attempt to plug leaks to the media, according to an e-mail message sent by HP Chairman Patricia C. Dunn.

BusinessWeek (Tuesday):

Chairwoman Patricia Dunn and the company's general counsel [Larry Sonsini] have agreed to testify next week before a House panel investigating the affair.

SF Chronicle:

The House Energy and Commerce Committee on Wednesday gave the chairman of its oversight and investigations subcommittee the power to issue subpoenas in connection with the HP hearing.

And:

On Wednesday, the New York Times reported that HP's investigative team even considered infiltrating the newsrooms of Cnet and the Wall Street Journal by deploying investigators posing as clerical employees and cleaning crews.

Right, so now Hurd, the last good guy left in charge at HP and the board chairman-to-be, is implicated in the scandal that forced his predecessor Dunn to resign. We'll see what he has to say tomorrow in an HP press conference.

HP CEO Allowed 'Sting' of Reporter [Washington Post]
Hewlett-Packard to hold press conference [BusinessWeek]

In this piece about Silicon Valley's Guynn pulls telling quotes from high-level sources. A former SEC chairman, for example, tells her, "People are spending more time with lawyers than they would like to." She adds her own quips, like "White-collar investigations just don't go over well in a place where so few people wear collars." But the soul of this article is in its metaphors. Guynn compares the Valley to hamsters running in NASCAR, a foreigner getting a green card, and an overloaded buffet plate. One source tells her:

Silicon Valley had an incredible honeymoon. It enjoyed virginal capitalism and a period of exemption unlike any industry I have ever seen. But most industries have to face allegations of rapaciousness at one point or another.

Silicon Valley loses its sheen [SF Chronicle]

When we say "highest levels," we mean it — this week, South Korean Prime Minister Han Myeong-sook Tuesday apologized to the public for the entire situation and promised to fight the rampant illegal gambling now going on at about 14,000 arcades. No word yet on how much trouble this means for Lee Jae-woong or Daum (Korea's leading e-mail provider and owner of Lycos).

PM Apologizes for 'Sea Story' Scandal [Korea Times]