It’s now the bittersweet time for me to say goodbye. I wanted to thank Mr. WonKerr for the fun opportunity and for his patience during these ten months. The heartfelt thanks, however, are reserved for the few readers out there. Thanks for letting me entertain you with some silliness and providing me with feedback on the very few serious posts. And since the Russian “Staryi Novyi God”:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_New_Year holiday is still a few days ahead, I wanted to wish the best in 2009 and beyond!

I leave you with an excerpt of my most favourite piece from the March 2, 1981, issue of _NuclearFuel_. “Dr. Yumi Akimoto”:http://www.jaea.go.jp/04/np/en/shiryou/forum2006/frm06b03.html is commenting on the results of the 1977-1980 “International Nuclear Fuel Cycle Evaluation (INFCE)”:http://www.armscontrol.org/act/2004_12/Rauf.

In Akimoto’s view, INFCE resulted in two “major” achievements. The first is that “the world has reconfirmed the political nature of nonproliferation issues,” even though the exercise itself took “the opposite course.”

The second is “that the member states have recognized how the world is too small to allow arbitrary movements of individual nations.”

In that regard *INFCE was like hedgehogs “trying to warm themselves in winter cold*.

“Winter cold,” he said, “was the increasing danger of nuclear proliferation. The American hedgehog probably was the first who reacted to such cold and his sudden move resulted in unconsciously harming his companions, the other nuclear nations, with his spines. Due to the resultant confusion, many of the countries involved wounded each other.”

But INFCE, said Akimoto, “offered a suitable place for the wounded hedgehogs to display their respective wounds to each other and to learn how to warm themselves without harming others.”

Paul Says: Anya’s efforts made this blog much better than it otherwise would have been and she will be missed around these parts. But you will hear from her again, doubtless from much loftier perches.