BofA chief, wintry mix and tech toys

All my columns have a gimmick. Glad You Asked had the reader quiz. The Insider had the "whisper" photo. This one has Who Would Play You In The Movies. For a closer look, click on the photos. Send me your star and photos and I'll put you in.

First the good news: The Big Bank is staying. Now the surprising news: Young buck Brian T. Moynihan, 50, new chief, gave five times to John Kerry campaigns. Really? A pinstriped liberal? ... An inch or two of wintry mix to hit Charlotte area tomorrow? Buy bread and milk, and remember: If your car goes into a skid, drive like a Southerner and slam on the brakes while twisting the wheel madly. Actually, what you're supposed to do is pump the brakes slightly and steer in the direction you want the car to go, which is also probably the direction the back of the car is skidding. See a video demonstration here. ... Insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan hacked U.S. drone planes with off-the-shelf, $26 software? Oh, I feel safe. ... My last girlfriend and my ex-wife both thought Tiger Woods was really hot. They probably didn't realize they had a shot with him. ... Bill James, you're an idiot for your "homo" comment. But The Observer readers voting against same-sex benefits online need some educating, too. ... You gotta like the Spangler Foundation giving so much to schools, especially since it lost two-thirds of its assets in 2008, thanks to heavy investment in BofA. ... Man, is this town suddenly hot for the arts, or what? A spot at The Bechtler private New Year's Eve party is the invite to drooooool over.

I'm talking tech toys with Mike Collins Friday morning on "Charlotte Talks." Weird: An old-timey German board game called Settlers of Catan made popular in the '90s is sweeping high-tech circles, says the Wall Street Journal on Page 1 today. ... The worst holiday tech gift you could possibly give someone is the iPhone. That's not a gift. It's a lifestyle decision. (And one I've made three times.) They need to do it themselves. Besides, then they'll want to play with it on Christmas, but will have to fight through the AT&T bureacracy to get set up. Get 'em an Apple Gift Card. They can get whatever they want. This is crazy, and smart, you can get one for "any amount" in a retail store. No price limit. Millions? Billions? ... Best tech toys? It's a great time to get a game console. Wii, PlayStation and Xbox are all super cheap now... The Beatles Rock Band is supposed to be a winner. I mean, everyone knows the songs. ... The Kindle II is apparently cool, although I don't want to read the paper on an Etch-A-Sketch, myself. ... Casio sent me the High Speed Exilim camera to play with. It's the size of a thin bar of soap, and shoots 1000 frames of video per second. A typical video camera shoots 30. This thing gives you super slow-mo with vectors so you can study your golf swing.

Questions to ask about your business on social media: We're now on question 3. Previously we've asked What does our business hope to accomplish? and What social media accounts do we now have, how active are they, and what problems do they have? Today we move on to the next question:

Who's going to maintain, feed, and grow these accounts?

If a social media account isn't sustainable, it will slowly wither. (As most Twitter accounts do.) It just doesn't make sense for a business owner who doesn't speak social media to set up an account, get bored, and hand it off to a nephew who "gets this stuff." That's why so many businesses have doubts about Return On Investment: They've invested time, energy and attention that they don't have or want to give. Starting a social media account is like getting a puppy. You've got to ask: "Who's going to take care of this thing?"