Commentary on bank lending, corn sex and climate change, what the 2011 census reveals about the United Kingdom, how a flood disaster is getting Russians to pull together, is the United States on the verge of an energy miracle, and Margaret Wente discovers the inequality debate.

Thinking about banking.

Interfluidity -- What is a bank loan?
When a bank makes a loan, does it create money “from thin air“?

Yes corn sex is real and what does their inability to procreate tell us about climate change. (ed’s note – rain fell in Kyushu this week at the rate of four and half inches an hour).

New Yorker -- The Big Heat
Corn sex is complicated.

Filling up.

Economist -- The more the merrier?
THE first lot of long-awaited 2011 Census data came out this morning and has set the fox among the chickens.

Against Putin’s state.

New York Times -- The Flood That Changed Russia
The week following a catastrophe always feels long: it packs enough emotions for a few months or a year. We Russians know this because catastrophes are regular events here.

America’s looming energy miracle.

Financial Times -- Welcome to the new world of American energy
It is so dry in the Midwest that the trees are bribing the dogs.

Quote worth quoting.

“The first, and least foreseen, development since 2008, is that America is rapidly turning from a consumer into a producer nation.”

Oh no not in Canada, eh?

Globe and Mail -- The long climb from inequality
Robert Putnam is not a happy man.