The downfall of Bear Stearns and Co. shares the tropes of a Greek Tragedy (following the pattern of http://antigonejournal.wordpress.com/2007/04/10/what-is-greek-tragedy/):

• Olbos: the initial prosperity, quite apparent from Bear's track record
• Hubris: Bear's reputation is not one of courtesy (http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/03/18/business/NA-FIN-US-Bear-Stearns-Employees.php)
• Phthonis: the gods' jealousy and the ensuing warnings. Chatter of one Wall St. major's demise could be heard as early as last August. The prime candidate was Bear, the first to be hit with the forced liquidation of two hedge funds it controlled.
• Ate: persistence in reckless behavior. This was in the eyes of the historian beholder as far as the "long term hubris'' is concerned. Since August, and until the beginning of last week, it seemed it was business as usual at Bear's.
• Nemesis: the eventual ruin that the gods's retribution brings to bear.

"Facebook Fatigue'' was one of the least spectacular of the 10predictions that Business Week put out for 2008 (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22475182/). Others, such as oil breaking the $100 ceiling, have already come true. But judging from the anecdotal evidence of my dwindling Facebook e-mail notifications, I would say that many are already about-facebooking. I was one of the early weary Facebookees, tired almost as soon as I began. Already burdened with the plethora of communication we receive everywaking minute, the cuteness of a shared hand-drawn heart on your FunWall struck me at first, but after a few more such niceties I just could notmake myself care. Sharing your intimate acts of mundanity, such as baking cookies or cramming for your next job interview used to be the purview of phone calls to your friends or (better?) casual or not so casual conversation with friends and neighbors. Modern life exacts its toll: time. We often no longer have the luxury of face-to-face conversation. Social networking sites enter the scene, and there you go, our everyday exploits find another stage, one that potentially (depending on your privacy settings) includes the entire web community. (Incidentally, I find it intriguing that while many more or less consciously erect daunting barriers to friendship at the same time casually expose the minutia of life that only intimate relations are privy to---it's like fearing thevoyeur while living in a glass house ...) I have not read the mission statement of Facebook or myspace, but it stands to reason that they intend to amplify our ability to relate to our circle of friends and acquaintances and possibly extend it via new channels and content---a telephone (or e-mail) on steroids. Yet, it seems that instead of enriching and empowering our inner socialite, such sites de facto replace our social Self. Well, short of a Matrix-likeglobal simulation, the ultimate ersatz social interplay is a virtuallife, such as the one offered by http://secondlife.com/. This remark prompts my twist on the Business Week prediction. Those of us---probably (still!) a minority---who are really set on living vicariously through an avatar will gradually migrate to secondlife (or yet to be born similar virtual worlds---will there ever be a thirdlife.com, or an nthlife.com and how will these parallel universes interact?). The rest will slowly forsake their facebook profile to return to good ole face-to-face interaction, with telephone conversation and e-mail on theside. But every rule has its exceptions. On February 4th millions took to thestreets of 27 Colombian cities as well as 104 other cities around the world (http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/02/08/business/protest11.php).This protest against the FARC kidnappings was the largest in the country's history. It was organized mainly through Facebook. In this case, the site helped create a new social network of individuals sharing a common cause. It stands to reason that most did not know each other. Yet, their degree of separation was likely very small. Facebook provided the organizational vehicle for the social epidemic to take fire. This is active social engagement not passive surrogation of existing relationships. And perhaps this is one way in which social networking sites will find their raison d'être after all.