WebCogitoStop. Stay. Think.

In hidden vaults across the country, the US government is building a stockpile of $1 coins. The hoard has topped $1.1bn – imagine a stack of coins reaching almost seven times higher than the International Space Station – and the piles have grown so large the US Federal Reserve is running out of storage space.

Americans won’t use the coins, preferring $1 notes. But the US keeps minting them anyway, and the Fed estimates it already has enough $1 coins to last the next 10 years.

And at the current rate, the inventory will grow to $2bn (£1.3bn) by 2016, the Fed estimates.

Yet the piles have continued to grow because the law requires the US Mint to issue four new presidential coins each year even if most of the previous year’s coins remain in government vaults.

Exactly one week ago today, DMagazine owner Wick Allison wondered whether Dallas Federal Reserve President Richard Fisher was right in saying there wouldn’t be any inflation in the neat future. I commented that I agreed with Fisher that there was a lot of money on the sidelines.  I wanted to include a figure, but I couldn’t find one.  Until today.

The Wall Street Journal claims that

Nonfinancial companies were sitting on about $8.4 trillion in cash as of the end of March, or about 7% of all company assets, the highest level since 1963. Even before its [$1.5 Billion] bond issue, IBM had $12.3 billion in cash and short-term investments, which accounted for about 12% of all its assets.

That’s 8 1/2 Trillion, with a T. Sitting on the sidelines, waiting.  We need to end this uncertainty, and get back to the business of making money.

Obama ready to show mortgage holders some love

Rumors are running wild from Washington to Wall Street that the Obama administration is about to order government-controlled lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to forgive a portion of the mortgage debt of millions of Americans who owe more than what their homes are worth. An estimated 15 million U.S. mortgages – one in five – are underwater with negative equity of some $800 billion. Recall that on Christmas Eve 2009, the Treasury Department waived a $400 billion limit on financial assistance to Fannie and Freddie, pledging unlimited help.

The move, if it happens, would be a stunning political and economic bombshell less than 100 days before a midterm election in which Democrats are currently expected to suffer massive, if not historic losses. The key date to watch is August 17 when the Treasury Department holds a much-hyped meeting on the future of Fannie and Freddie.

What is happening is that the president’s approval ratings are continuing to erode, as are Democratic election polls. Democrats are in real danger of losing the House and almost losing the Senate. The mortgage Hail Mary would be a last-gasp effort to prevent this from happening and to save the Obama agenda. The political calculation is that the number of grateful Americans would be greater than those offended that they — and their children and their grandchildren — would be paying for someone else’s mortgage woes.

After selling a bumper stack of 1.5 million copies in just 48 hours, StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is officially the fastest selling strategy game of all time.

According to Blizzard, StarCraft II had already managed to rack up over a million sales in its first day alone, making it the best-selling PC game of the year in just 24 hours. Blizzard says it compiled the figures using a combination of public data, reports from distribution partners and its own internal company records.

Wired Magazine has an insightful article with Fred Brooks, author of The Mythical Man-Month (i.e., you can’t always speed up an overdue software project by adding more programmers).  In it, the man behind the most successful IBM mainframe ever is asked his greatest technological achievement. His response? Enabling lowercase letters.

The dream of generations of comic-book fans came true as Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Captain America (Chris Evans), Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) gathered together on the stage along with writer/director Joss Whedon. The Avengers, assembled at last!

The original games were incredibly popular in the 1980s and early 1990s, combining the traditional text adventure format with basic graphics and music. Created by fans who had the intention of giving the game away for free, The Silver Lining caught the attention of Activision’s legal team who issued the developers with a cease and desist order. After negotiations, the C&D [cease and desist] has been officially rescinded, and Phoenix Online has been granted a non-commercial license to release The Silver Lining!

HDMI’s short-lived reign over the TV cable racks could soon be over, thanks to a new usurper that combines several connections into a single, standard network cable. Designed by a coalition of consumer electronics manufacturers, including Sony, Samsung, LG and Valens, HDBaseT promises to not only carry video and audio signals, but also provide a network connection, a USB signal and even electricity using a single cable.

Reaction to the sorry spectacle of the prime time one hour special on ESPN, in which former Cleveland Cavalier LeBron James announced he would be leaving the team to join Dwayne Wade in Miami to play for the Miami Heat.

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In what only can be classified as an upset, World Cup favorite Brazil lost tonight to the Netherlands 2-1, and saw its dream of another title end.
A perennial favorite, Brazil lost in the round of eight to a Holland team which was down 1-0 at half-time.

However, that quickly changed in the second half, as a Brazilian mistake allowed the European team an equalizer, followed shortly by the goal that would give the Netherlands a lead that they would never relinquish.

Just 10 minutes into the game, Robinho scored the opening goal to put the Brazilian side up for the rest of the half. A scant 8 minutes after the second half got under way, however, an own goal by Felipe Melo allowed the Dutch side to tie the scoreboard. The score would remain tied for another 15 minutes until Sneijder would score off a corner kick for the Clockwork Orange and give the game its final margin.