Gotta see this movie: the genesis of the Burn After Reading poster. Can't miss a Coen Bros. film. Just can't, no matter how ridiculous it looks. tjc

A great video that takes you through, step by step, exactly how the Large Hadron Collider works. Pretty sweet indeed. eab

I first heard of Fleet Foxes from Carrie Brownstein via Monitor Mix. Then they came highly recommended to me by resident memetician E.A. Blair. Well, I finally bought the record and gave it listen. All I can say is "Wow!" So, now, I highly recommend them to you. jmj

Nine years ago today the NY Times reported on Fannie Mae's decision to ease credit requirements on mortgages in the hopes of increasing home ownership among minorities and low-income consumers. Let the sub-prime crisis begin! Blame it on Clinton apparently. (thx wc) eab

Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been under increasing pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among low and moderate income people and felt pressure from stock holders to maintain its phenomenal growth in profits.

Apparently many saw the future that was to unfold.

"From the perspective of many people, including me, this is another thrift industry growing up around us,'' said Peter Wallison a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. ''If they fail, the government will have to step up and bail them out the way it stepped up and bailed out the thrift industry."

End Days 101: five superthreats to human extinction. This according to a high-tech simulator that predicts into the future. You must know the problems before you can work on solutions. Here they are. tjc

I read on Kottke that Google has submitted a patent application for a cell phone rate selector service that would do away with being under contract from one cell company. They want to use the frequencies abandoned by the banishing of analog TV. And both of those things reminded me of this video from the New Yorker conference last year where a Columbia University professor alluded to both of these occurrences. Tim Wu should have submitted this patent! He was right there! tjc

The fear of switching is the foundation of customer loyalty for PC's. Something about that sentence makes me shudder on many levels. eab

With that being said, I never thought I'd see the day that Microsoft would develop a commercial in order to compete with Macintosh. Crazy! jmj

From Web of Fate, another collective intelligence website: a plotting of people's predictions by date. tjc