Wednesday

A second night of pain as I woke at 6 from the pain. My left leg and some dental pain on my left side kept me awake, and I could not go back to sleep. I did take some painkillers when I went to bed and then they wore off. If the problem continues to reoccur, I will contact the doctors. I switched chairs while writing.

I woke at 4 on Wednesday with some pain but managed to fall back to sleep and rose around 8m; this is late for me. I  wrote the blog until 10 with a few interruptions. Among the interruptions, I set my Quicken numbers to match my investments. These do not update automatically, and I manually adjust them at the month’s end. I had forgotten to do May. Now, my net worth statement is correct for May 2024.

I dressed and headed to McMenamins Cedar Hills to meet Dr. Ernest, who runs the Hillsboro Python and Machine Learning Meet-up. We both were on time, and Dr. Ernest soon confused our waiter because he talked so fast. He switched to Spanish, and all was good. We talked about my adventures for the past couple of months and my recovery. We also talked about Ernest’s proposal, which I will consider. No details here as this is Dr. Ernest’s proposal.

After lunch, I headed to Powell’s, and that turned out to be expensive, as it often is. I found a new book, Nuclear War: A Scenario, that covers a scenario of a nuclear war happening today. I paid $30, knowing it was cheaper elsewhere, but I thought I would read it today, so I splurged. I also found a used book, Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison, by Piper Kerman, which I also started today. It is well-written and hard to put down; the author is an excellent storyteller.

Air Volvo returned me to the Volvo Cave, and I started to read Nuclear War: A Scenario by Annie Jacobsen. I could not put it down. It starts with the nuclear destruction of the Pentagon, Washington D.C., and the nearby areas (where I used to live and work). The book then describes the creation of nuclear weapons and the spies that gave the technology to the Soviet Union. It is heavily footnoted, and the author interviewed many people, and their comments fill in the story. I am tempted to order copies of some of the original documents to read the US rationale for the creation of nuclear weapons. It is quoted in the book. I just love the footnotes.

The scenario is possible, set in today’s world, and, according to the author, could happen today. The book covers the US government and military operations second by second and minute by minute, with the first nuclear attack, the Pentagon, in 33 minutes from lunch in North Korea to exploding a 1-megaton bomb. The details the author is able to provide, quoting and footnoting her sources, have updated my understanding of the current nuclear threat and capability (most of my memory is Cold War news reports and books like Fail-Safe and, of course, the movie Dr. Strangelove).

Corwin was surprised to see me reading the whole day away. I could not put down the first 100 pages. The next part includes speculation and storytelling and fewer facts. In this story, the President of the United States does not make it to safety, as I have seen in many movies. The Russian officials will not listen because the President is not available and assume the counterattack the US launches against North Korea is an attack on Russia, and the story spins into the end of the world.

What was interesting to me was the fact that the Russian Federation’s nuclear attack detection is flawed and may provide misleading information. Annie Jacobsen backs this up with various sources. It is quite possible that Putin and friends would misread a counter-attack on North Korea as directed at Russia. For example, the US ICBM range is too short and cannot reach North Korea without overflying Russia. This is the book’s end of the world story; Russian officials believe it is being blamed for the US attacks, the USA has launched a counter-attack on Russia, Russia has only minutes to respond, and the end is nigh. I put the book down at this point as it is now more speculative and storytelling. The damage, loss, targets, and other parts, I am sure, will be footnoted and based on documents and expert interviews. It reads more SciFi than history, but I will finish it.

With my reading, I did not make dinner. Corwin is available for dinner, so Air Volvo takes us to a favorite, Nonna Emilia Ristorante Italiano. I had the gnocchi, and Corwin, remembering that Susie always ordered the veil, had Veil Parmigiana. We both felt like we missed Susie at dinner. I took half of mine home. I cannot eat large potions anymore. Corwin took a side of spaghetti home.

Corwin was again surprised that I returned to the book and read until 9 when I hit the Russian attack and the US launching a full attack in response. While speculative, the author points out that Biden and Putin get only about six minutes to respond to an attack, and the pressure to respond is high. The US and Russian military doctrine is there must be a nuclear response to a nuclear attack, an overwhelming response. The author wants the reader to understand that this was true before President Reagan in the 1980s (who publically complained that six minutes is too short), and the risk is still real, and nuclear war could start today.

I needed a break from nuclear war and went to read Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison by Piper Kerman. This is the story of a gal who graduates from Smith College and finds it exciting to connect with some shady characters (what I have read so far) and goes to prison. So far, she is an excellent storyteller, and I had trouble putting the book down. Nice to have two books from Powell’s that are easy to read.

I changed my dressing and was happy to see just a dot of blood this time. Better! Two more days of antibiotics and a week of dressing (or less, hopefully) to go. I sleep until 1AM when the bedroom lights come on. I order them out, and they come back on and then brighten to full power. I kill them at the switch and go to sleep. As I said, I woke up in some pain and rose too early on Thursday. I changed chairs this morning and am sitting on a pillow.

Thanks for reading!