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Welcome, 77 artists, 40 different points of Attica welcomes you by singing Erotokritos an epic romance written at 1713 by Vitsentzos Kornaros

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

It's No Wonder So Many People Are Terrified Of Clowns

sad clown

Does anyone really like clowns? 

Though Coulrophobia — or an extreme fear of clowns — is highly-disputed in the academic realm, many people would admit that clowns totally freak them out.

With National Clown Week this week, Smithsonian writer Linda Rodriguez McRobbie wrote a fantastic piece on "The History and Pyschology of Clowns Being Scary."

Turns out, clowns have long been associated with a dark and disturbing history — murder, financial ruin, infidelity, and pedophilia have all stained the clowning profession.

The entire piece is worth reading, but here are the nine historical events that have contributed the most to a negative perception of clowns.

The earliest documented clowns date all the way back to 2400 BCE in ancient Egypt. Clowns appeared in ancient Greek and Roman societies, eventually evolving into court jesters in the late Middle Ages. These professionals would openly mock sex, food, drink, and the monarchy, all the while behaving maniacally for a laugh.

Source: Smithsonian Magazine



London entertainer Joseph Grimaldi was said to have invented the modern clown in the early 1800s. Grimaldi performed physical comedy while wearing white face paint with red patches on his cheeks and bizarre colorful costumes. He was known for being extremely depressed outside his routine: His first wife died during childbirth, his father was tyrannical, and his son became an alcoholic clown who drank himself to death at age 31.

Source: Smithsonian Magazine



Around the same time in France, everyone was laughing at Jean-Gaspard Deburau's Pierrot, a clown character with a white face, black eyebrows and red lips — one of the first professional silent mimes. He was universally beloved in France, but in 1836 Deburau killed a boy with a blow from his cane after the boy taunted him. Though he was ultimately acquitted, the image of a killer clown stuck in the public conscious.

Source: Smithsonian Magazine



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CREDIT SUISSE: Europe's Recession Is Over, And Even Greece And Spain Are Getting Better

destroyed euro currency money

The list of European countries that have taken a turn as the crisis-economy-du-jour is a long one, but brighter days may lie ahead. Credit Suisse called the end of the European recession at the beginning of August, and encouraging signs abound even in two of the region’s hardest-hit economies—Greece and Spain.

Both have caused their share of investor headaches – Greece’s outsized debt touched off the euro crisis in 2009 and led to a series of bailouts, while a sharp rise in Spanish borrowing costs drove the European Central Bank to announce an unlimited sovereign bond-buying program last year. For the first time in a long time, though, consumers and businesses in both countries are feeling more confident about the future. Feeling better isn’t quite the same as doing well, but it’s a start.

Positive change is starting to happen where it always does, on the margins. More than one in four adults are unemployed in both nations, but employment statistics are either improving or worsening more slowly than before. Meanwhile, a key indicator of manufacturing activity and confidence has been rising throughout Europe, even in the so-called peripheral countries of Greece, Italy, Spain, Ireland and Portugal. The manufacturing purchasing manager’s index (PMI) rose in Greece, Italy, Spain and Ireland in June – and, with the exception of Ireland, hit heights last seen in 2011. Greece and Spain both continued to improve even further in July. Nervous investors have also stopped yanking their money out of the periphery, as they were doing for the past two years, Credit Suisse’s European Economics team noted in the latest edition of “Peripheral Data Monitor,” a monthly research note. “The euro area economy is at the start of recovery, and it appears to be common to the weaker periphery as well as the stronger core,” the team wrote in an early August note entitled, “Inflection Point.” “Importantly, this recovery appears to have been driven by better fundamentals from within the euro area, rather than a response to stimulus from elsewhere in the global economy. Much like the recession that preceded it, the recovery is made in Europe.”

So what’s the prognosis for the region’s toughest turnaround cases? Better than you might think.

Spain Counts on Exports

Spanish wages are still falling, but exports are becoming more competitive as a result, making the economy look “less bleak,” Credit Suisse analysts wrote in a note entitled “Spain: The Sun Also Rises” earlier this month. Spain passed laws last year that made it easier to hire and fire workers and gave employers more flexibility on worker pay, but wages were already falling relative to other European countries long before that. In fact, after a decade of above-average nominal wages, Spanish pay has been below the euro area average since 2010. After adjusting for labor costs, Spain’s real effective exchange rate has dropped 10 percent since a peak in early 2008, Credit Suisse wrote. As a result, exports rose 7 percent in the first four months of this year. Credit Suisse economists indexed the export levels of four key European countries to their individual 2008 levels and found that Spanish exports have shown a healthier bounce since the depths of the crisis than the other three, including Germany, widely considered Europe’s export powerhouse.

European Economics

On the flip side, with many Spanish citizens unemployed and the rest coping with falling wages, imports are down. As a result, Spain’s current account went into surplus in July 2012 for the first time since the inception of the euro in 1999. The current account balance has moved up and down since then, but it was positive for six of the last 12 months. It will take a true economic recovery before Spain’s ailing consumers feel confident enough to start spending again, Credit Suisse analysts said, but that day may not be far off. Inflation has been low, easing the blow of falling pay, while consumer sentiment is also improving, perhaps because unemployment declined slightly for the first time in two years last quarter. Joblessness remains at an eye-watering 26.3 percent, but Credit Suisse said the hemorrhaging is likely over in the hard-hit construction sector, where employment has fallen 60 percent since the Spanish property bubble burst in 2008.  Since labor reforms and falling wages have made hiring a more palatable proposition for employers, analysts said, GDP growth of even 0.5 percent might jumpstart employment growth.

Spain’s troubled banking sector is still a concern. Spain has nationalized several ailing banks and established a “bad bank” that absorbed the worst loans and foreclosed properties as a condition of last year’s €41.3 billion bank bailout. But Moody’s Investors Service noted late last month that Spain’s high unemployment rate and struggling real estate sector propelled the proportion of non-performing bank loans to 11.2 percent in May, up from 10.9 percent the previous month. Even before those numbers came out, Credit Suisse analysts had cautioned investors that bad loans would likely keep increasing in the coming months – and as a result, banks would likely continue tightening the lending spigot. But analysts also noted that since establishing the bad bank, “good” banks now have 50 percent fewer real estate sector loans and foreclosed assets on their books. The pace of annual nonperforming loan growth slowed at the end of last year to 20 percent from 30 percent the year before. In the first quarter, that rate slowed again to 10 percent, though May’s increase may undermine that trend in the second quarter, analysts said.

Maybe a Greek-overy?

Continuing problems in the Greek economy can make it difficult to see the bright spots. After six years of recession, Greek GDP is down nearly 25 percent from its 2007 peak, and unemployment is the worst in the euro zone at nearly 27 percent. As in Spain, Greece’s current account deficit is narrowing in year-over-year terms, but unlike Spain, that’s mostly because economic pain at home is reducing domestic demand — not because exports are growing — according to a late July report from the International Monetary Fund. The report suggested that the country could need an additional €11 billion in financing by 2015. But additional bailouts would likely mean additional austerity, and with Greeks already tired of the continuing economic pain imposed by the country’s creditors as a condition for assistance, anti-austerity protests have been frequent. Just last week, Athenians massed at the Acropolis to protest the layoff of 500 culture ministry employees. In June, one of the three parties that comprised a fragile governing coalition withdrew from government over a cost-cutting move to close a state television station. What’s more, key European leaders, including Germany’s Angela Merkel, are growing impatient with yet another call for help from Greece.

And yet, the IMF said the Greek economy could start growing again as early as next year if it receives the assistance it needs. Credit Suisse isn’t as optimistic, but the bank’s economists believe real GDP should at least stop shrinking in 2014. The trend is already heading that way.  Economic output declined 5.3 percent year-over-year in the first quarter compared to last year’s 6 percent decline in the fourth quarter and 7.2 percent drop in the third. Businesses and consumers alike seem to agree that things are looking up. A closely watched indicator of consumer and business sentiment in the industrial, retail, construction and service sectors published by the Foundation for Economic & Industrial Research, a Greek think tank, has been rising steadily, except for a tiny dip in June, and is now at its highest level since 2008.

The unemployment rate appears to be hitting a plateau, and businesses have been hiring more workers than they are firing, Credit Suisse noted in the “Peripheral Data Monitor” note. Finally, bank deposit levels have also climbed 7 percent since the August 2012 nadir, a fact Credit Suisse attributed to the reduced threat of a euro breakup.

In the end, government reforms will drive a Greek recovery as much as anything else. IMF officials said ongoing efforts to collect more taxes – that is, making sure tax officials press citizens to pay on time and in full – are critical, as are plans to trim the bloated public workforce by 150,000 by 2015. “The Greek authorities have continued to make commendable progress in reducing fiscal and external imbalances,” IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said in a July 29 statement. “However, progress on institutional and structural reforms, in the public sector and beyond, has still not been commensurate with the problems facing Greece. Greater reform efforts remain key to an economic recovery and lasting growth.”

The suffering is not over in the European economies that took the harshest blows during the financial crisis. But the bleeding is slowing, and could soon stop altogether. When that happens in the worst-off economies in Europe, the outlook for the whole region will become much, much brighter.

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Greek Myths and Reality


Greek Myths and Reality
Brookings Institution
A successful Greek recovery is crucial, not only for Greece itself, but for the whole of Europe and the eastern Mediterranean region. Greece has and can continue to have a stabilizing role in the region, and has played this role particularly ...


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Greek capital 11th cheapest among 50 European cities this month


Kathimerini

Greek capital 11th cheapest among 50 European cities this month
Kathimerini
This is the fifth-straight annual drop while the cumulative decline in accommodation rates in the Greek capital comes to 32.5 percent from 114 euros in August 2008. The current average rate for Athens is the 11th lowest among those in 50 European ...

and more »

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How Much Do Tourists in Greece Spend

An average of 15.5 million tourists visits Greece each year and spends an average of 627 euros each, according to a study carried out by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). The same study mentions that 83 million tourists visited France last year, more than the country population which is 66 million. France attracts at least 16 million more visitors than the USA who rank ...

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Fresh hope in a vital sector

The Greek tourism industry has done even better than expected this summer.There is no doubt that Greece is unique in terms of its natural beauty and characteristics.Of course the country could benefit from better organization and presenting itself as more professional with regard to the ways in which we welcome those who choose to visit Greece.This is because the aim should not be to attract the ...

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A collapsing house of cards

By Costis Fafoutis One of the unique characteristics of the Greek crisis vis-a-vis the other countries in the eurozone is that what went bankrupt in 2009 was not the banking system, but the state itself. The state borrowed way beyond its means in order to maintain levels of social spending and to pay its employees and pensioners, while at the same time feeding a large part of the private sector. ...

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Lonely Planets Top Greek Island Experiences

The favored spot for tourists to take photos on Santorini. The sunset's even better. With Greece enjoying a record tourist season - helped in large part by celebrities and TV reality stars like Kim Kardashian flocking to places like Mykonos, it is those dreamy Greek islands that are the favored place for many. Many years ago, an advertisement in American magazines showed an alluring picture ...

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Greek Eateries Keeping Reduced VAT

The first week of a five-month trial in Greece of cutting the Value Added Tax (VAT) from 23 to 13 percent on food services such as restaurants and tavernas isn’t going well, with 92-95 of the eateries not reducing their prices and apparently keeping the profits for themselves, putting in jeopardy already whether the reduction will last. Prime Minister Antonis Samaras warned ahead of the ...

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For Greek Hungry August Means More Hunger

(Photo/John Kolesidis/Reuters) Constantinos Polychronopoulos ladles out food at a soup kitchen in Athens. UNICEF estimates that nearly 600,000 children now live under the poverty line in Greece. ATHENS - Hunger is not a word that comes easily to Antonis Antakis. And at 28 Veikou Street, in the cramped confines of the Solidarity Club, it is not a word that is ever mentioned. But the fear of not ...

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Greek authorities announce emergency measures as wildfires rage

The Greek government has introduced a series of emergency measures after several wildfires broke out. Homes were evacuated while it is understood 10 houses in a hamlet near the historic town of Marathon were burned by one fire. The government has imposed a ban on cars in some areas with roads around the capital closed. Nearly 300 firefighters, soldiers and volunteers supported by fire engines ...

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Mid-caps join OPAP and OTE on fifth straight day of gains at local bourse

Greek stocks posted gains for a fifth straight day on Tuesday, spurred by interest in betting firm OPAP (+3.55 percent), Piraeus Bank (+1.92 percent), OTE telecom (+0.99 percent) and mid-caps.The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed at 925.73 points, up 0.87 percent from Monday. The large-cap index was up 0.42 percent to 314 points, while mid-caps advanced 2.23 percent. Bank warrants ...

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Man arrested in Larissa for photovoltaic park scam

A man suspected of obtaining about 1 million euros by conning people into believing he would build photovoltaic parks has been arrested in Larissa, central Greece.The man, identified by authorities by his initials, NP, had been wanted since 2012, when a number of people in Fthiotida and Thessaly began reporting complaints to police about the scam.The suspect is alleged to have set up a company, ...

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Culture Minister Booed At Philosophers Convention

The world's philosophers meet in Athens for the first time, opening at the famed Herod Atticus Theater under the Acropolis. Among the topics is Greek philosophy. ATHENS - Returning to the land of philosophy and one of Ancient Greece's most treasured contributions to civilization, more than 2000 philosophers from 105 countries convened here for a conference and found out what was on ...

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Greek Communist Party confirms sale of 902 radio and TV station

The Communist Party (KKE) said on Tuesday it was left with no other choice than to sell its TV and radio station, known as 902, thereby confirming earlier reports.KKE said it had been driven to the decision to sell the broadcaster, which employs almost 50 people, due to financial difficulties.The sale includes equipment and vehicles that belonged to ...

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Evansville Lands Calenos for Madame Butterfly

Noted Greek opera soprano Eleni Calenos in one of her many roles on stage. EVANSVILLE, Ind. -- The Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra has netted a Greek Butterfly and enlisted an Italian officer for this season's operatic revival of a Puccini classic. Eleni Calenos, a Greek soprano, has signed to sing the title role in the orchestra's fully staged production of Giacomo Puccini's ...

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Average Pension at 921 Euros

According to data released on August 6 by the Ministry of Labor, Social Security and Welfare, the number of pensioners in Greece reaches 2,707 million, while the correspondent sum for payment of pensions amounts to 4.45 million euros. In particular, the data on the total number and value of pensions in the country was released by the Minister, Giannis Vroutsis, as part of the presentation of the ...

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Greece police target distracted drivers


13WHAM-TV

Greece police target distracted drivers
13WHAM-TV
Greece, N.Y.- Greece Police released the number of citations handed out to drivers last month during a distracted driving operation. Officers in both marked and unmarked police cars were assigned on four separate dates in July to specifically enforce ...


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