Couple of fascinating links :

Swoopo auction. Very watchable. Clever.

Interesting that US attitudes to nationalization depend so heavily on what you call it. (hat-tip Dariush)

Islamic banks are better in crisis. Would be ironic if Islam ended up winning the "clash of civilizations" due to weathering world financial crisis better than Western capitalism. Though Darius tells me Islamic banks were playing the securitization game just like everyone else, but labeling the charges "transaction fees" instead of "interest". (So really, this is another story about how you frame things.)