Welcome to our "Features of the week", where we share some of the web's most interesting articles, interviews, and blog posts. Sit back, browse, and enjoy.

1. Matthew Simmons presents his view of current and future energy realities in this recent interview with Financial Sense Newshour.

2. The Russian government prepares to take control of its gold mining industry, as resource nationalism continues.

3. Central banks are stealing from the average citizen, says Bill Fleckenstein.

4. Finance Trends Matter is featured on "Financial Blog Watch".

5. "Ron Paul, the Mogambo Guru and Me". M.A. Nystrom.

6. Bill Alpert takes a look at "Jim Cramer's bad bets".

7. Is a hedge-fund hit man behind attacks on Fairfax Financial?

8. Bill Gross thinks the debt of financial companies such as Merill and Goldman offer attractive yields, and that the asset-backed commercial paper market is finished.

9. Investing in Africa may not be as easy or as profitable as some would claim.

10. Time-machine design made simpler. Personally, I hope we never get our hands on this kind of technology. Picture an American Idol obsessed society with nuclear weapons and time-travel capabilities...now breathe.

11. "We have broken speed of light". Damn. Back to my breathing exercises...

12. Behold, telepresence. The Economist on a new step up in conferencing technology that could reduce our reliance on business travel.

13. The Economist on "Putin's people: the spies who run Russia", and "The making of a neo-KGB state". Do check these out.

14. F.A. Harper on, "Liberty Defined".

15. Brooke Astor and Leona Helmsley, a study in contrasts.

16. Billionaire Eli Broad is warning about a potential fall in art prices, as noted in last week's features. This week, Bloomberg has added a spiffy video clip to accompany the story.

17. "Top Republican says bring troops home". FT.com.

That's it gang, thanks for reading and enjoy your weekend.