Countdown to Zero

On Tuesday, after work, Neera, Jeff and I joined Stephanie and Beth for a special showing of the new movie "Countdown to Zero."

Countdown to Zero is a documentary about nuclear weapons. It builds off a speech that President Kennedy gave that said, "Every man, woman and child lives under a nuclear sword of Damocles, hanging by the slenderest of threads, capable of being cut at any moment by accident, or miscalculation, or by madness." The movie then goes through the details of how a nuclear weapon could be set-off due to accidents or an act of terrorism. I studied nuclear weapon policy a bit last fall in my security policy class, but I think if you've never studied the topic, it would be very shocking to learn about the close-calls and accidents that have happened related to nuclear weapons. They also do a good job of explaining the various incidents of people stealing highly enriched uranium. Overall, I'd definitely recommend checking this movie out - it's well made and interesting.

After the movie there was a reception at a place called Zola - their private room was just over the Spy Museum, which was pretty cool. We had some nice wine and cheese and chatted with friends.

From there, Stephanie, Beth, and I went to Ping Pong Dim Sum, where I had the lychee and roses martini - one of my favorite drinks in DC. Afterwards, Stephanie and I were having a hard time getting a cab, so we decided to take a bicycle-taxi. It was actually really nice - it was not too hot out (for once), so it was fun to have a bit more time outside. Our bike-driver was a kid named Bryant who had just finished the "bike and build" trip, which is a cross-country bike ride organized by Habitat for Humanity.