Last night, Pando reported that Apple is about to acquire Path, according to a single source in Apple's engineering team. We heard second-hand that Path is at least in talks with Apple. The idea that an app currently ranked no. 177 in the social networking category on iOS might end up in Apple's ion-strengthened embrace has left some in the tech community questioning their life choices.

Justin.tv shutting down before Google reportedly buys Twitch for $1 billion is a prime example of the unspoken brutality of acquisitions: "Purchases are often followed by consolidation, as well as cutting off any excess limbs."

Yahoo has a knack for bailing out bombing businesses. This time, they're saving Flurry: a mobile analytics startup that just took on $10 million in debt as it struggled to find an exit.

Marissa Mayer is quickly establishing herself as tech's preeminent taxidermist: the company will acquire Rockmelt, AllThingsD reports, a social aggregation something something that no one else wanted. They're paying $60 million for a dud. There's a pattern here.

Marissa Mayer's charitable foundation for struggling startups has officially hit a one acquisition per day pace. Congratulations, Xobni, you are today's winner.

Someone's gonna snatch up New York's finest local service, and it's not going to be Twitter: AllThingsD says the company just bought Spindle, a sort of poor man's Foursquare.

This time it's GhostBird, a thing that'll help them make Flickr better, maybe. GhostBird made apps that let you add filters and change colors in pictures you took. Now those things are gone, because Yahoo took them away. What thing will Yahoo buy next? Something.

The Tumblr afterglow is starting to fade, and Yahoo is back to dumping money into oddball startups without any explanation. Why? Don't ask why.