Okay, so the Yahoo!-Facebook talks got "bogged down." Again. Only in July the two companies came close to a deal, but then not only did Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) 's stock got slammed (because of delays in the new search advertising platform, Project Panama), but also a new set of numbers indicated that Facebook wasn't growing at the desirable, previously assumed pace.

If not Facebook, then something else. What is Yahoo! doing? What action, if any, is it taking?

I'm not saying that Yahoo! should rush into a deal it isn't comfortable with, but I am saying Yahoo! should do something, anything; either improve internally or bring outside help and growth through a good deal. Yahoo! needs to act. Now. It needs to show shareholders it is still a moving, happening company. Breathing would be good too.

I've complained about Yahoo!'s lack of action before, just prior to Yahoo!'s warning regarding Q3 results. Yes, I know I've also hailed Yahoo!'s patience for not running blindly into deals -- I still believe the reaction to the same Google-YouTube deal would have been different had Yahoo! been the buyer -- but patience is one thing and lethargy is another.

I remember shaking my head sadly when on the day that Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) announced it is buying YouTube, Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) announced the launch of its Time Capsule project. Hey, I'm just as geeky as the next person, probably even more, but the contrast was almost pathetic.