Best Defense on hiatus for a week

Posted By Thomas E. Ricks Monday, April 26, 2010 - 9:19 AM Share

I'm not planning on filing anything to this blog this week, while I physically relocate to a remote, Cheney-ish location. I seriously need to get some writing done on my next book and it isn't happening here in DC. So I am heading into the bunker.

If something really unexpected happens I may pop up.

 

centralasian/flickr

 

JURGENMJ

1:59 PM ET

April 26, 2010

New Book

Tom,

Great idea to get away from all the noise. Good luck with your new book. Can you share the title and/or subject matter? Sometimes, the title may have to wait until you are further along or finished most of your writing.

Jurgen Schmelzer

 

JURGENMJ

2:00 PM ET

April 26, 2010

New Book

Tom,

Great idea to get away from all the noise. Good luck with your new book. Can you share the title and/or subject matter? Sometimes, the title may have to wait until you are further along or finished most of your writing.

Jurgen Schmelzer

 

DMDENNIS

2:27 PM ET

April 26, 2010

Noooo!

The temporary loss of your voice in the blog-o-sphere saddens me, but I understand the need to get to a better place for writing. Are you writing a third part to your Iraqi epic or are you switching gears? Will your readers still be able to contact you via email? I wish you the best; if I were to do some writing I would seek out a lonely ranch in Mazama, WA. One of the most serene places I've been CONUS-wise.

Good luck!
-D

 

DMDENNIS

2:37 PM ET

April 26, 2010

I feel dumb.

I thought you were disappearing for a couple months.

Doh.

 

RPM

3:04 PM ET

April 26, 2010

Just keep repeating...

Creighton Abrams, Creighton Abrams, Creighton Abrams...

Good luck with the book ;-)

 

DAZED AND CONFUSED

4:05 PM ET

April 26, 2010

Better art?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f1/Monkey-typing.jpg

Please keep in touch....

 

TOM RICKS

4:12 PM ET

April 26, 2010

You're right, D and C

Thanks!
Cheers,
Tom

 

MONKEYBOY

11:12 AM ET

April 27, 2010

Unathorized use!

You have used my photo without authorization!

I'll see you in court!

 

RPM

1:10 PM ET

April 27, 2010

nice hat to Tom in today's NYT

Also nice as it reinforced the view of Franks as a dope.

"... As recounted in the book “Fiasco” by Thomas E. Ricks (Penguin Press, 2006), Lt. Gen. David D. McKiernan, who led the allied ground forces in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, grew frustrated when he could not get Gen. Tommy R. Franks, the commander at the time of American forces in the Persian Gulf region, to issue orders that stated explicitly how he wanted the invasion conducted, and why. Instead, General Franks just passed on to General McKiernan the vague PowerPoint slides that he had already shown to Donald H. Rumsfeld, the defense secretary at the time."

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/27/world/27powerpoint.html?th&emc=th

 

BELLANCA

1:55 PM ET

April 27, 2010

on writing and the slush that is Powerpoint

As Keegan recounts, Grant's writing ability, and his evenings spent in written correspondence with his commanders, with his expectations and specific directions laboriously and artfully recorded, were core attributes of his leadership. His literary skills, which are impossible to fake if a man cannot think abstractly and subtly, were so strong that people thought that his publisher actually wrote his memoirs. His publisher was a semi-successful writer named Mark Twain.

Powerpoint has destroyed thought at so many levels of so many organizations that I didn't think I could be surprised by yet another example of its misuse. Wrong!

cf. Edward Tufte on how bureaucrats deploying powerpoint contributed to the Columbia disaster:

http://www.edwardtufte.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=0001yB&topic_id=1

or simply Norvig's .ppt version of the Gettysburg Address:

http://norvig.com/Gettysburg/

Powerpoint dominates discussion in my industry -- software -- and hypnotizing chickens is no exaggeration of its impact. You can't attend a meeting without your deck; you put them all to sleep; the two or three guys who are the decisionmakers wait until you're done, and you have a brief, real, conversation. The .ppt is just a set-piece: the facsimile of work and thought that reassures the chickens that they are attending something of note. Supposedly, McNelly, at Sun, banned its use. They used white boards, erasers, transparencies and markers, and a thumb if something needed erasing. I'm a bit surprised that even the generals who deplore it still allow themselves to be briefed with it.

 

JASON SIGGER

12:00 PM ET

April 30, 2010

Off topic question

Hey Tom:

For some reason, I can comment here on this post, but on the COIN post after this, I am blocked from comments. Would love to just note to the one commenter that the opposite of "COINdanista" is "COINtra," not "Luddite."

I've had this problem before, just thought I would note the technical problem for your sysadmin types.

 

Thomas E. Ricks covered the U.S. military for the Washington Post from 2000 through 2008.

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