My delayed return to posting here has been less about the holidays and more about my mood. I have been too depressed by the financial mess to say very much upbeat. So to drop kick myself out of the doldrums, I am going to think out loud about some things that prick a few rays of light in my clouds.
Where am I
taking my encouragement when rays of light seem so few and far between?
Let me free associate to see which top dozen things come to mind..
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My Top Dozen Rays of Hope for 2009
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11. That we are seeing so many well-tempered minds in high places again and it is no longer un-PC to admire an extra-strong intellect
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10. That when I want to just escape and forget for a bit, there will soon be new episodes of old faves on TV (House, Lost, 24, Galactica, and [eventually] Mad Men)
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9. The emerging return of mutual respect on the international stage, both towards us and from us. One does get the sense that many countries are sincerely cheering us on (except when not).
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8. That there is more and more accessible science content in print and on TV (e.g. SciQ and Brink on the Science Channel). Whatever the challenge, from the economy to the environment, we all will need a stronger grasp of how complex systems tend to operate. Meanwhile the nation is also gaining a clue about how big a difference healthy eating can make (a la Michael Pollan and Matt Goulding) and this awareness will pay back from our waistlines to our pocketbooks and help us make headway in health care too.
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7. I see increasing traffic on intelligent web sites (Salon, Slate, NYT, Wired, Seed) where good minds can cross-pollinate good ideas with a hope they will compound into wider understanding
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6. Encouraging headlines in health and medicine remind us almost daily of how much we have already achieved and how much more is coming soon (watch for another Top12 list this week)
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5. That already we are remembering how it feels when less turns out to be more.
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3. On the serious side of the street again, I am also grateful we are gaining perspective on how we got into this financial mess (such as this Mea Culpa and this lookback from Stein, and these comments from Kristof on the upside in the down) even if we sure still dont know what to do with it.
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2. I also appreciate that so many people in positions of power are becoming more comfortable saying, "I don't know, but together we will figure it out." Global warming might be helped quite a bit just from the resulting reduction in hot air.
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1. Did I mention that Obama takes office in just a few days?
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