Tonight's a big one on the social scene — and Web 2.0 Summit hasn't even opened yet. Have a hearty meal and drink lots of water beforehand. You'll need to fortify your defenses to get through the night. Oh, and practice your French, too. Mais oui!

A Valleywag tipster whispers that a company that had made the initial cut of 20 companies for the Techcrunch40 conference — back when it was known as "TechCrunch20" — got bumped when conference organizers "doubled down" and expanded the list to 40 startups. The company's sin? Competing with a startup funded by one of TechCrunch40's four VC sponsors. The competitor got bumped, and room was made for a sponsor-backed startup. "Ah, the Valley mafia at its finest," the tipster concludes. Of course. Sand Hill Road was built on conflicts of interest.