Thomas D’Agostino says highly enriched plutonium has been removed from 19 countries where it wasn’t secured since Obama proclaimed this a priority in April 2010. There are 16 countries to go. They transferred the material from the Ukraine into safekeeping during a top secret midnight operation over the Xmas vacation involving 4 countries and over 40 different organizations. I passed this good news to Rafi carefully deleting Obama’s (good) name and the exclusive source (Rachel Maddow).
Steven Johnson apparently wrote a book that was discussed on a Nov 2008 edition of radiolab.org that was re-aired today. The psychologists seem to have pretty convincing evidence that the “stress” of having to memorize 7 numbers is enough to make study participants choose cake when offered a choice of 2 snacks. People that only had to keep 2 numbers in their head overwhelmingly chose fruit. More interesting, they found that people who rely on their gut feeling make better decisions than those who overanalyze. Apparently, the conscious mind gets misled when it attempts to process the excess of available information. In contrast, the subconcious brain is able to synthesize a quick accurate answer by stirring hundreds of tiny personal experiences into one emphatic answer.
Lauren’s rational mind recognizes that it’s tough to maintain a relationship with a boyfriend who is and will be in a different country for the foreseeable future but she KNOWS she wants to marry Carlos. By contrast, she said it was over analysis that yielded her decision to go to Eckerd College. The proximity to family turned out even better than anticipated but the lackadaisical academic environment didn’t work.
Rina was a cheerful, insightful addition to our New Year reunion in Scottsdale this year. Bethany has always been pretty but she stunned everyone with her beauty after Emily made her up. Iris and Rafi acted like sweet lovebirds, to their offspring’s great relief. And Loaded Questions was the perfect game choice. Rafi, Iris, Derek, Bethany, Summer, Emily and I all played, laughing the whole time and actually learning things we didn’t know about each other… Iris would have liked to play TENNIS and the GUITAR. Summer has never cleaned a toilet. Emily has (apparently) done EVERY HOUSEHOLD JOB that exists while Iris freely admitted that she had never cleaned a computer keyboard. Lynelle brought her friends over so they could spend one more middle of the night with Summer after I reinstated Summer’s curfew. And she was kind enough to drive me, Emily, Derek and Bethany to AZ on the Rocks climbing gym. She also drove everyone to coffee plantation. Luckily, I beat the rest by an hour or two and the time to work on my book cheered my up so I was able to enjoy the company of Emily, Bethany, Summer and Lynelle. The plantation people were nice enough to accomadate us even though we only bought 3 cold drinks.
The lame duck congress came through ratifying the nuclear arms agreement with Russia. Rachel Maddow’s greatest fear is nuclear destruction. She’s brilliant so hopefully I’m wrong thinking shortages of fresh water will do us in. (Encouraging that Mike Whitehead also thinks water will remain plentiful). Solange bought a $4400 mountain bike (will cost $6600 after upgrades) and I kept up with her when she turned the corner from Thompson Peak Road to 100th St. Emily, Lauren, and Andy are all on the Dean’s List at the Univ. of Washington AND my favorite 84 year old pickle ball friend Kurt, said that whereever I go there should be a piano. The first thing I did on returning home was play Brahms which I love.
Probably the main reason I was in such a good mood today is my run with Levi. This was our first run together since he became completely blind. He nearly fell off the bridge and he bumped into a few branches while sniffing out the perfect toileting spot but he made up for it. Out on the icy sidewalk, he easily stayed right behind me. Off leash at Highland Middle School, he really took off running fast on the snowy grass and followed me just fine through the woods. We were both happy to sit in the sun at Ivar’s and take a leisurely walk enjoying the smells of Donuts, Petco, coffee and ethnic foods at Crossroads. Fully rejuvenated, we happily ran all the way home. When I sat down at the piano, he took his loyal listener spot on the couch. Cherish your blind dog. Emotional trumps rational.
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