A quick filter pass on my interstitial "week back" between Washington and Europe...

Yay, finally: European Collider Begins Its Subatomic Exploration.  "After 16 years and $10 billion - and a long morning of electrical groaning and sweating - there was joy in the meadows and tunnels of the Swiss-French countryside Tuesday: the world’s biggest physics machine, the Large Hadron Collider, finally began to make subatomic particles collide." 

Question of the year: When will IPO fans stop wearing bags over their heads? 

Probably related to the lack of a strong IPO market: Half of commercial real estate mortgages to be under water by year's end.  Yikes.  That will be our next crisis. 

Steven Fry interviews Steve Jobs in Time: Inside Steve's Pad. 

"I think the experience of using an iPad is going to be profound for many people," Jobs says. "I really do. Genuinely profound."  That rings a bell.  "I've heard it said that this is the device for you," I reply.  "The one that will change everything."  "When people see how immersive the experience is," Jobs says, "how directly you engage with it ... the only word is magical."

On the cusp of the iPad's release, Dale Dougherty suggests the iPad needs its Hypercard.  "What's missing today is HyperCard, or an equivalent tool that can be used to create a new wave of applications for the iPad. And if Apple isn't thinking about it, you'd expect that Adobe would be..."  Huh, interesting point.  New platforms often take off when there's a new tool that makes authorizing applications easier.  VB enabled the PC, and as Dale points out Hypercard enabled the Mac. 

Eric Sink thinks This is a major wave of change.  "Computers, by and large, are still designed for geeks.  This is why we all buy T-shirts that say 'No, I will not fix your computer'.  The genius of the iPad is that it cannot get things like viruses.  It is a closed platform.  You can't put apps on it.  You can't write and distribute software for it without Apple's permission.  This is why geeks hate it and normal people will love it." 

Outrageously complicated Rube Goldberg machines compete for best of the year.  With videos...  I love it! 

An interesting idea: Want me to read your email?  Pay me...  Certainly an interesting way to route around spam.  Would you pay me to send me email?  Ah, I didn't think so.  Aye, there's the rub. 

Brad Feld notes how Facebook notifications that you've been tagged in a picture get a 100% click-through rate.  Absolutely correct. 

Also from Brad: email is still the best login.  Yes it is.  We realized that back in the day at PayPal, and it is just as true today as it was then. 

CNet: Sneak Peak: Pixar's 'Toy Story 3' a very big winner.  "Let me just say it now: 'Toy Story 3' is fantastic. I saw an advanced screening Thursday night, and going back over the notes I took in the dark theater at Pixar's headquarters here, I find this that I wrote about a third of the way into the film: 'I already know it's a BIG hit.'"  Cool.  Toy Story 2 was one of my favorite movies, period.  Can't wait!