What could possibly explain this highly periodic crash in overall network hashing speed?  I think this is not a random thing, but rather some effect due to actions taken by minors.  What is going on?  That is a pretty strong down trend late in the cycle. 

Satoshi make the BitCoin. Now Mark has them stolen.

What's up with that?

Wow.  Great description on how a bitcoin project is funded with $5 million in the Wall Street Journal today.
TinyURL(dot)com/pga3dy8
Can you think of any other ways to get a bitcoin startup project going - by using bitcoin itself?  Very clever.