Stanley Bing

Monetizing the Boson

An interview with the sexiest superstar in science since Einstein.

FORTUNE – On July 4, scientists at the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland announced the discovery of a particle that is probably the Higgs Boson, an entity that, it is believed, interacts with the building blocks of the universe to give them mass. Since mass is important, and heretofore unexplained, the Boson immediately became the star of the scientific, intellectual, and MORE

A cloudless night

In this day and age, a blackout means losing a lot more than your lights.

FORTUNE -- I saw the end of the world last night. Maybe you'll think I'm exaggerating, but I am going to take certain steps. I am going to heed the warning we received at 11 p.m. sharp in our small corner of Los Angeles, and I would advise you to do the same.

Could be tomorrow. Could MORE

Build a real retirement strategy

When you're planning your endgame, it pays to make yourself hard to fire.

FORTUNE -- You may be one of those who like the mental image of sitting in the sun in some far-flung location with a drink that's under the same kind of umbrella you are, laconically perusing a big fat book on a dead president and lots of the same in your wallet. Not me. I want to be MORE

We're forever blowing bubbles

Facebook is just the latest. And some of us will be relieved when it pops.

By Stanley Bing

FORTUNE – I don't like Facebook. There, I said it, and you know what? It felt good. I don't like Facebook I don't like Facebook I don't like Facebook. I have a feeling there are a lot of people who feel the way I do but are ashamed to say so. Our pop MORE

Recession recovery blues

If the downturn is receding, why is my mood indigo?

By Stanley Bing

FORTUNE -- Spring has sprung. The grass is riz. So it's reasonable to ask where the birdies is. Because I don't know about you, but I don't see no birdies. I'm tense. I'm nervous. I guess you could say that my consumer confidence is sort of ... leaky. Why should that be? All signs point to a slow MORE

Your taxing IRS FAQ

No taxation without obfuscation. It's the American way.

By Stanley Bing

FORTUNE -- This document will help you understand the United States Internal Revenue Code, Title 26 of the U.S. Code (26 USC) as you prepare to file your 2011 returns. Fitting this service onto a single page has necessitated abridgements. The actual tax code is more than 3 million words long and would fill 7,500 pages if printed on letter-size paper. For MORE

B-School confidential

Will the next generation of MBAs be up to the task of running our great commercial enterprises?

By Stanley Bing

FORTUNE -- I dropped by a famous business school the other day to do what death eaters do when we go to feast on the souls of the young. We talk to them about our industry. We tell them how we got where we are today. Where am I today? At my desk, MORE

Poached eggs

What happened when the farmers tried to protect their chickens: a fable.

By Stanley Bing

FORTUNE -- Once upon a time there was a farm that produced high-grade eggs for the entire world. This farm, nestled in the hills on the southern end of the very western coast, was small considering the quantity of eggs it produced, but it was successful and proud of its output. The proprietors had grown fat and prosperous, MORE

Best Companies: The quiz

Does your employer belong in the pantheon? Could it be that the answer depends on where you stand?

By Stanley Bing

FORTUNE -- We've done our best to identify corporations that are a pleasure to work for. But we couldn't possibly list them all. Maybe your company, too, is a party on a half shell! Take this quiz and find out.

When I go to work in the morning, I ...

A. Smile MORE

A look back from 2022

Remember the old days, before we had even moved government into the Cloud? How did we get anything done?

FORTUNE -- Happy 2022! No, that's not a typo, although it sure seems like it could be. 2022! For a while there it didn't look like we were going to make it, did it? But I think it's fair to say that with the destruction of the last fleet of Nebulons and MORE