Find me at *Beacon*. Where does everybody know your name?
A group of Chinese researchers propose what they call the “shared-direction effect” in an upcoming paper in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. Couples who commute in the same direction, even if they don’t travel on the same train or even leave at the same time, seem to be happier together than those who don’t, all other things considered. “That is, mere similarity in the direction of commuting to work increases marital satisfaction,” the authors report.
Degas, Apres Le Bain
Alyssa Monks, Vapor
‘Longboard’
[…] the €130 billion, or $162.2 billion, European bailout that was supposed to buy time for Greece is mainly only servicing the interest on the country’s debt — while the Greek economy continues to plummet.
If that seems to make little sense economically, it has a certain logic in the politics of euro-finance. After all, the money dispensed by the troika — the European Central Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the European Union’s member governments — comes from European taxpayers, many of whom are increasingly wary of the political disarray that has beset Athens and clouded the future of the euro zone.
As they pay themselves, though, the troika is also withholding other funds earmarked for keeping the Greek government in operation.
Last week, the Athens office that tracks revenue said Greece could run out of money by July. If so, Greece could default on its debts — except those due to the E.C.B., the I.M.F. and the European Union.
“Greece will not default on the troika because the troika is paying themselves,” said Thomas Mayer, a senior advisor at Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt.
In an elaborate payment system that began after the May 6 election that brought down the Greek government, and is meant to ensure that the Greeks do not touch the cash, the big three creditors are now wiring bailout payments to an escrow account in Greece. There the money sits for two or three days — before much of it is sent back to the troika as interest payment on the Greek bonds that Europe accepted under terms of the bailout deal struck in February.
“Why are we doing it like this?” Mr. Mayer said. “Because we’re Europe.” ‘
- Liz Alderman and Jack Ewing, Athens No Longer Sees Most of Its Bailout Aid via NYTimes.com
Bailout Theater.
Radiation from Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant found in US tuna
AP: New research has found increased levels of radiation in Pacific bluefin tuna caught off the coast of Southern California. Scientists say the radiation in the fish came from Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant that was heavily damaged by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
Photo:Workers are seen harvesting bluefin tuna near Ensenada, Mexico, on March 5, 2007. (AP Photo/Chris Park, File)
Another reason to stop eating ocean fish, especially the top-of-food-chain predators, like bluefin tuna.
If by a “Liberal” they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people — their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights and their civil liberties — someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a “Liberal”, then I’m proud to say I’m a “Liberal.
- John Fitzgerald Kennedy, who was born 95 years ago today.
(via think-progress)
![theatlantic:
The Spring of 2012 Is the Hottest in U.S. History
In case, you know, you haven’t been outside in the past three month, it’s about to become official: unless a freak blizzard blankets the country by Thursday, the spring of 2012 will go down as the warmest for the U.S. in 117 years of record-keeping. The National Climatic Data Center won’t release a report on the temperatures in May until sometime in June, but based on their assessment of March and April, University of Maryland professor Steve Scolnik, who blogs at Climate Capital, says that our warm May will smash the 102-year-old record.
Read more at The Atlantic Wire. [Image: Dino Grandoni]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m4sy2g5zhc1qcokc4o1_500.png)
The Spring of 2012 Is the Hottest in U.S. History
In case, you know, you haven’t been outside in the past three month, it’s about to become official: unless a freak blizzard blankets the country by Thursday, the spring of 2012 will go down as the warmest for the U.S. in 117 years of record-keeping. The National Climatic Data Center won’t release a report on the temperatures in May until sometime in June, but based on their assessment of March and April, University of Maryland professor Steve Scolnik, who blogs at Climate Capital, says that our warm May will smash the 102-year-old record.
Read more at The Atlantic Wire. [Image: Dino Grandoni]
Most of the time, we live our lives within invisible systems, blissfully unaware of the artificial life, the intensely designed infrastructures that support them. Accidents, disasters, crises — [when] systems fail we become temporarily conscious of the extraordinary force and power of design, and the effects that it generates. Every accident provides a brief moment of awareness of real life, what is actually happening, and our dependence on the underlying systems of design.
Black-Olive Salsa
Recipe adapted from Matt Gandin, Comal, Berkeley, CA
Yield: 4 servings
INGREDIENTS
1 small shallot, finely chopped
2 tablespoons Champagne vinegar
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/2 tablespoons finely chopped olive oil-packed anchovies
2 cups pitted and coarsely chopped black olives
¼ cup salt-packed capers, rinsed and coarsely chopped
2 Serrano chiles—halved, seeded and finely chopped
1 medium lemon, finely zested and juiced
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 bunch cilantro, stems removed and leaves finely chopped
2 teaspoons kosher salt
DIRECTIONS
1. In a small bowl, combine the shallot and Champagne vinegar and set aside for 10 minutes.
2. Using a mortar and pestle or in a small bowl and using a fork, mash the garlic and anchovies together until they form a paste.
3. Strain the shallot, reserving the vinegar. In a medium bowl, combine the shallot, anchovy-garlic paste, olives, capers, chiles, lemon zest and juice, olive oil and cilantro. Add the salt and season to taste with the reserved vinegar. Serve immediately or refrigerate in an airtight container for up to one week.
So much art now doesn’t want to look like art, but painting can’t help it.
The Mediterranean area should become like the Federal Republic, only with better weather.
Paul Krugman Interviewed In Der Spiegel
SPIEGEL: Mr. Krugman, does Greece have to leave the euro zone?
Krugman: Yes. I don't see too much alternative now. It's going to be terrible in the first year if they do leave. So I am really reluctant to say that it's a little bit like shouting "Fire!" in a crowded theater, but what is the realistic option here? It's not as if anything anyone's proposing has any hope at all of getting them out of the mess they're in.
SPIEGEL: If Greece should leave, will this finally contain the euro crisis or, rather, make things worse?
Krugman: What happens if Greece leaves? Then you have again a bank run in other peripheral countries because they've set the precedent. But, again, that could be contained with lending from the ECB (European Central Bank). What has to happen is that the ECB has to be willing to replace all euros withdrawn as is necessary. And I think the case we're making for that lending becomes a lot easier because the Greeks were actually irresponsible. The Greeks actually did behave badly, and so the political case for unlimited exposure to Greece is very hard to make. A much easier case to make is for Spain and then Portugal and Italy, all of which did nothing wrong on the official side. So you could argue that the bad actor has been ejected, but we need to save the good actors.
