How did Joan Palevsky come up with $200 million for the California Community Foundation? Were the World Series ratings just as bad as last year? Can you trust those home price estimates on zillow.com? The answers to these and other puzzlers after the jump.

Astonishing gift: That would Joan Palevsky's $200 million gift to the California Community Foundation, among the largest bequests ever to a U.S. public charity. The name might sound familiar: she was the ex-wife of Max Palevsky who sold Scientific Data Systems, one of the nation's first computer companies, to Xerox in 1969 for $1 billion (at the time an astoundingly high purchase price). The LAT story that breaks the news this morning indicated that Joan, who died in late March at 80, probably started with about $40 million after her 1968 divorce. Max went on to become a major art collector and contributor to Democratic causes.

Series bust: As many had expected, the just completed World Series between the Cardinals and the Tigers was the lowest rated ever, down 8 percent from last year (which wasn't all that hot either). Among the culprits: the lack of a major market team, a five-game series (numbers typically pick up in Games 6 and 7), and a really boring Series. In case you hadn't heard, the Cardinals won.

Private-equity windfall: Might the new owner of the Tribune ask current management to stay on? It seems to be happening in a number of private-equity deals and raises questions on whether it might induce executives to favor one bidder over another. Seems to be a big deal with Clear Channel Communications, which is operated by members of the Mays family (badly, in the view of many). The Mays might wind up with even more money if they're allowed to stay on.

Zillow discrepancies: Convinced those zillow.com estimates of homes values are way off base? So is a fair housing advocacy group, which filed a 12-page complaint with the Federal Trade Commission that says the Seattle-based site is purposely misleading consumers - and that the "misinformation" help lenders and others take advantage.

What about agents?: A soft real estate market is bad news for folks in the biz. The California Association of Realtors projects a 6 percent drop in membership next year, to 197,000. Most of those impacted are newbies who have been in the industry four years or less. They often don't have the resources to weather a slowdown.

Gross talk: That's as in Idealab founder Bill Gross, who is the subject of Joe Nocera's NYT column (available only through Times Select). With several startups being nurtured (3-D printers, robotics, solar electricity, among the areas), Gross is still keeping active, though not nearly as active as during the boom boom 90s, when he lost his shirt on eToys, among other companies. Having a business that has "protectable intellectual property" seems to be key these days.