The Indelible Bonobo Experience

good:

Hidden in a lush forest along the Spree River in East Berlin sits an abandoned amusement park filled with wild grass, sun-faded dinosaur models, roller coasters frozen in time, a pirate ship, a Ferris Wheel, and a train that still runs after years of disuse.

Now, it’s becoming a public art exhibit. Read about it on GOOD.is.

It’s actually featured in a weird German or Finnish movie - if I can only remember the title. It’s about the Germans having experimented and created a super-girl who was raised in Laponia (or something like that), then sent to avenge the death of her natural [surogate] parents. The final scene is filmed in the park, if I remember correctly.

Dozens of child beggars from Bulgaria and Romania are back on Helsinki’s streets this spring. Some of the kids are school-age, though many are even younger, Finish Yle Radio reports. Roma children have not been seen begging in Helsinki since the city removed them from their minders’ care a few years ago. The move intended to make a point that Finland does not condone child begging. But the custody issue now seems forgotten. Children regularly visit a Roma day centre run by the Helsinki Deaconess Institute. The organisation says Roma from eastern Europe are now bringing their whole families to beg in Finland. Children’s ages range from a few months to older ones who should be in school. The Deaconess Institute says the Roma rent modest studio flats that may house up to dozens of families. On Tuesday Finland and Romania penned an agreement to tackle Helsinki’s beggar problem. The deal includes a Romanian envoy travelling to Finland to help work out the situation. (via Bulgarian, Romanian child beggars reappear in Helsinki - FOCUS Information Agency)

People of working age who live alone increase their risk of depression by up to 80% compared with people living in families, says a Finnish study. (via BBC News - People living alone ‘are more depressed’)

The study tracked the use of anti-depressants in 3,500 Finnish people: 1,695 were men and 1,776 were women, and they had an average age of 44.6 years. They were surveyed in 2000 and asked whether they lived alone or with other people.Researchers found that people living alone bought 80% more anti-depressants during the follow-up period, between 2000 and 2008, than those who did not live alone.

Dr Laura Pulkki-Raback, who led the research at the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, said the real risk of mental health problems in people living alone could be much higher.

(biomed, PDF)