Man walking his dog in the snow

We don’t often get snow in our neck of the woods here near Rome, and when we do it’s usually no more than a three-minute wonder. But recent weather forecasts predicting arrival of the beautiful white stuff were raising my hopes.

So yesterday, I loitered near our front windows watching the steady fall of the rain, hoping for the magical transformation into winter wonderland. Finally ’round midnight, my vigil was rewarded. I would say at least five inches fell — and it’s still here!

From “A Tear At The Edge of Creation” by Marcelo Gleiser

I’ve often wanted to take a photo like this. With the perfect light we had here yesterday, my wish came true.

Human routines are stubborn things, which helps explain why 88% of all resolutions end in failure, according to a 2007 survey of over 3,000 people conducted by the British psychologist Richard Wiseman. (Wall Street Journal, 2009)

New Year’s Day:  Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions.  Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual.  ~Mark Twain (quotegarden.com)

 

Notwithstanding the dismal prognosis of the first quote above, and the blackly humorous perspective of the second one, I will be making a couple of resolutions when I raise my glass of spumante in a New Year’s toast a couple of days from now. And I suspect in doing so I will be among the majority in the Western world.

Old habits die hard, you  might say. And that is one of the points of the Wall Street Journal article, excerpted above. In particular the article recounts some recent studies about will power. And in spite of its gloomy opening paragraph, the report also offers some hope.

In effect, it’s not that there are superhumans among us who simply have amazing will power, it’s that these humans seem super because they’ve learned how to cleverly manage the same meager will power we all share. The research the WSJ cites shines a light on how that’s done. And the good news is that anyone can do it.

To read that good news, read the full article here (it’s short).

I also unearthed a one-minute video on how to keep our resolutions by the psychologist Richard Wiseman quoted in the WSJ article. Click on the screenshot below to watch it.

And I leave you with a dash of optimism from Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Ellen Goodman, who probably knows a bit about will power.

We spend January 1 walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched.  Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives… not looking for flaws, but for potential.

Happy New Year, or as they say in my part of the world… Buon Anno!

Il giro in bici più pericoloso del mondo (la Repubblica) – video — I wouldn’t even be brave enough to walk this.

Solar-powered boat sails around the world (Aljazeera) – video

How to draw… dragons (Guardian) – absolutely brilliant! (click on thumbnail below to see photo series)

 Europe

Germany in Europe: Christmas Presents from Merkozy (Social Europe Journal)

Can Italy survive the Financial Storm? (Social Europe Journal)

Egypt

Alaa al-Aswany: ‘Overthrowing Mubarak was too good to be true’ (Independent)

Underneath (Rantings of a Sandmonkey) – very discouraged local blogger. (Saw this link on Antony Loewenstein’s blog)

Planet earth

Major victory as Russia bans trade in harp seal skins  (International Fund for Animal Welfare)

Extreme Weather Map
2011: Thousands of Weather Records Broken in the US, Costs Climbing – and Climate Change a Factor (NRDC)

Odds and Ends

The Meme that Refuses to Die: Government Debt Must Be Paid Back (Angry Bear) (Saw link on Naked Capitalism)

Some Facts About Carrier IQ (Electronic Frontier Foundation) – lots of info here

And just because she’s so beautiful – my dog Amica (photo by Tarcisio Arzuffi)

Rejected Ginger Seal Pup Finds A Home, Gets Webcam (Huffington Post) – related story and photos here.

A Workplace with Dogs – Advertising Agency in Nebraska let their employees bring their dogs to work (Dogwork.com) – Awesome!

Architect Reveals The Simple Genius Behind Pasta Shapes (Fast Company’s Co.Design)

Italian style

Is There Such A Thing As ‘Pure’ Chocolate? Italy Bitter Over European Ruling (WorldCrunch) – Bravo Italy!!

The Shard’s bleeding edge: anatomy of a 21st century skyscraper (ars technica) – click on screenshot below for related video

Some politics

Why the Euro Isn’t Finished (New Yorker) – an unusual optimism from across the sea

Anarchist Anthropology (New York Times) – piece about guiding theorist for OWS movement

Serious matters

Who Knows What Youhavedownloaded.com? (KrebsonSecurity)

A New Revisionist History of Railroads in the U.S. (books&ideas.net) — more evidence that the so-called virtue of the free market is a crock!

Brilliant, brave, funny and fiercely committed. In a recent talk, Naomi Klein analyzes why we as a society are addicted to risk, and why this is creating so much destruction all around us.

Click on screenshot above to see video. Link here also.

Some joys

Wine Tasting May Be An Art, But There Is Science In The Swirl (Worldcrunch)

 Il giro del mondo in 30 colazioni (dissapore) – photo series - breakfast anyone?

Indottrinamento al cioccolato: esegue Gianluca Franzoni di Domori (dissapore)

Some things political, economic…

Is Germany’s future still European? (Eurozine)

The curious case of German leadership (Centre For European Reform)

Jean Pisani-Ferry video interview on eurobonds (Bruegel TV)

Jacques Delors interview: Euro would still be strong if it had been built to my plan (The Telegraph) – interview with architect of the eurozone

In Translation: Ahmed al-Sawy on the elections – “This isn’t the final bout” (The Arabist)

Some of the thinkers…

Umberto Eco: ‘People are tired of simple things. They want to be challenged’ (Guardian)

‘We’re blind to our blindness. We have very little idea of how little we know. We’re not designed to’ (Independent) – Nobel Prize winner for Economics analyzes how we make decisions — I’m going to buy his book.

What does seven billion look like? (Fathom) -  – graphic illustration (saw this on fastcodesign.com)

Good to know

Attempted Malvertising on KrebsOnSecurity.com (KrebsOnSecurity)

One of the heroes

A Video Message from Carlo Petrini (Slow Food) – Italian w/English subtitles – click on screenshot below to see video

From “A Tear At The Edge of Creation” by Marcelo Gleiser