Some readers of yesterday's blog entry may be wondering if they might have missed the chance to ride the first day's price appreciation (over 13% in 8 hours) -- if only they had acted on Thursday June 22, the day before the Blackstone Group's IPO. Not to worry. It would have been difficult, since most Blackstone shares were already snapped up by money managers and big financial institutions.

But, hey, the stock is now publicly traded -- you can take your chances on future Blackstone appreciation -- call your broker! And remember, having watched what the Blackstone Group just did, other "alternative investment funds" may now choose to go public, such as KKR, The Carlyle Group, and more.

Among all the factors plaguing the vast majority of US citizens, very little space in these blog entries to date has been devoted to the unremitting and enervating trend over the last six-and-a-half years, of the rich-getting-richer, and the poor-getting-poorer in the United States.With the US government (a) providing unwarranted tax cuts favoring the rich, (b) encouraging rising energy prices by condoning the lack of new oil refineries, (c) stoking international fear, anxiety and doubt, and (d) implementing countless other such policies, the resulting economic conditions have allowed the US wealthy to thrive while US workers’ wages have not even kept up with inflation, despite massive worker productivity gains during the period.In the last few days, we have witnessed a quintessential example of the “rich-getting-richer” syndrome. Run by billionaires, the private-equity giant Blackstone Group popped up again in the news June 21, 2007 when Representative Henry Waxman, Democrat and chairman of the House Committee...

Its that moment of "How Brilliant! How come nobody ever thought of that before" that seperates what I call Innovation verse Step-wise refinement --both having value in our engineering world the Dante N Bini demonstrates through his approaches of building systems.

Are mentorships and Internships all they're cracked up to be. Being a mentor is a great trust and can have lasting impacts upon your young protégé's career for life.

Is the engineering profession a victum of its own success, delivering on promises with great regularity were other professions don't?

In the June 3 blog entry in this space, Cadence was mentioned as one of the Big 3 EDA vendors. The New York Times reported on June 4, 2007 that Cadence is in talks with at least two buyout firms about a possible sale of the company. Cadence is said to have held talks with Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and the Blackstone Group. But they warned that a deal may not happen because of the “complicated risks in the company's business”. Other private equity firms apparently have looked at Cadence, but passed. Like the private equity purchase of MCAD vendor UGS several years ago, (prior to its acquisition by Siemens this year), a deal for Cadence would be one of the biggest moves by private equity firms into technology, a sector they are said to avoid because of its volatility and capital needs. Though both Kohlberg Kravis and Blackstone have invested in technology firms before — most recently, Kohlberg bought the First Data Corporation and Blackstone purchased Freescale Semiconductor — private equity has rarely approached...

On May 27, 2007, I had planned to use this space toreport the financial results of the top three MCADvendors and the top three EDA vendors for Q1 2007.However, comments on Memorial Day remembrances tookprecedence.For the record, in nominal Q1 2007, Autodesk brokeinto the rarified atmosphere of eclipsing $500 millionin total revenue for Q1 (at $509,000,000). DassaultSystemes posted $381,000,000 in revenue, and Siemens UGS came in at $302,000,000.An earnings' comparision will have to wait, as neitherAutodesk nor UGS reported earnings this quarter, eachfor different reasons.EDA vendor Cadence reported $385,000,000 in revenue inQ1, followed by Synopsys at $293,000,000, and MentorGraphics at $190,000,000.So the Top 3 MCAD vendors topped the Big 3 EDA companiesby a 1.4 to 1 ratio in revenue for Q1 2007.These performances are remarkable in light of the poorperformance of the US economy in recent times, especiallythe ongoing decline in overall US manufacturing employment for the 11th consecutive month in May, as announced...

AutoDesk acquisition of NavisWorks - Good news or not? What are your thoughts?