I'm pretty sure the timing is planned rather than coincidental. He mentions the "busts" of both Bear and Lehman in the notes on figure 2.

Or maybe I'm misunderstanding you and you mean the timing of his release of 'black swan'.

If so, I still have to say that from what I can tell, Taleb has been espousing these same ideas for several years, so it's still not just coincidence that his ideas are getting a wider audience at the same time that the meltdown he warned about is taking place.

Talk about being at the right place at the right time. Taleb may have even timed the release of this new essay.