...At least as far as Europe is concerned.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323582904578484711384991702.html

Seems like Japan has enjoyed a 1% growth for the first quarter of 2013. The nice-sounding result is mostly thanks to a combination of aggressive fiscal policies plus massive government expenses, something called "Abenomics" (after Shindzo Abe). And this of course is causing some awe and applause in the Eurozone. Because even the most stable European economy, Germany, only has a 0.1% growth for the same period. While everyone else is stagnated.

More about all that...

Record Auction Price for Barnett Newman, $43.8 Million, Is Set at Sotheby’s

Young Superstars Dominate MTN SAMA 19

Millions of viewers tuned into SABC 1 and witnessed the glitz, glam and the pizazz at the 19th Annual MTN South African Music Awards as Toya Delazy and Khuli Chana dominated the evening taking home 3 awards each at the Sun City Superbowl on Saturday, 11 May 2013.

The full list of categories and winners for the 19th Annual MTN South African Music Awards are here:
http://samusicawards.co.za/profiles/blogs/young-superstars-dominate-mtn-sama-19

You hear that, rock music lovers? The early strains of You Give Love a Bad Name, the thunderous applause and the crazy screams of the crowd? Yebo, Mother City fans! It's time for the über-sexy Bon Jovi to perform live at the CT Stadium!

I've been having Livin' on a Prayer on repeat since last week, lol. :)))

Study: Female hormones linked to sexual desire



U.S. scientists have confirmed what many women and researchers have long suspected -- a woman's libido has a lot to do with her hormones.

Lead author James Roney, a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and colleagues demonstrated hormonal predictors for sexual desire.

"Ma'am, I think I saw a strange armed man coming through the schoolyard."
"You know what to do, my little ones. Shoot'em! Shoot'em now, kids!"
"Aw hell yeah!!!"

US schools weigh bulletproof uniforms: 'It's no different than a seatbelt in a car'
As gun control legislation grinds to halt in Washington, parents and teachers are taking matters into their own hands

You saw that coming, didn't you...

You ARE more beautiful than you think: Dove hires FBI-trained forensic artist to prove women judge their appearance more harshly than strangers



- Artist could not see the women, so he sketched pictures based on their descriptions of themselves
- He then created a second drawing based on a stranger's description of the women. In all cases, the pictures created with stranger's input were much more attractive
- Video has been viewed more than 6.5 million times in 3 days on YouTube

You know what the most horrifying words are for a scientist? "I cannot repeat your results". But for the economists Kenneth Rogoff and Carmen Reinhart of Harvard, the words should probably sound like "I think you made an Excel error".

Some might have already heard of the scandal that broke out about the research of these two economists of renown, whose works have hugely influenced governments and economic policies throughout the world ever since the publication of their paper. Particularly governments looking for scientific reference in support of possible austerity measures and similar policies. But here it is:

http://www.newrepublic.com/article/112951/kenneth-rogoff-carmen-reinhart-and-world-excel-error-research

Some more...

First off, I hope none of our pals here have received bad news about dear and close people suffering in the horrible attack in Boston.

All the debates about when the appropriate time to begin talking about these things aside (and being aware that an agreement is inevitably impossible to reach on this issue), here's something I've noticed in the recent couple of days that left me with mixed feelings.

Namely: lots of voices expressing a hope that the perpetrator of the attack was a white male Christian American rather than a representative of any minority group, or worse, a foreigner. An example, and some more...