Many things to be thankful for this year so roast up your turkey (or your ham, or your manicotti or whatever your Thanksgiving tradition is), and celebrate with your family and friends.
Oh yeah, don’t forget the wine!
26
Nov
09
Happy Thanksgiving!
The Fourth Star: Four Generals and the Epic Struggle for the Future of the United States Army.
by David Cloud and Greg Jaffe
History fascinates me. Beyond the facts of the names, the dates and the places, there is the endlessly mutable level of context where for me real thinking and learning take place. Doubly fascinating to me is watching history occur. I can study the events of the distant past, but I can never really know what it was like then. What were the subtleties of life in Athens? What were the personalities of the Athenian leaders? What were the lessons and events that shaped their world-view and drove them to create a democracy and spread their influence far from their shores? The significance of The Fourth Star is that it offers a unique opportunity to understand the influences, strengths, weaknesses and character of four men who have had a profound impact on the shape of the history that is unfolding today.
General John Abizaid
General George Casey Jr.
General Peter Chiarelli
General David Petraeus
There is an old saying, “Come the moment, come the man.” I am not sure if it was intentional or not, but the most striking thing to me about The Fourth Star is that it gives a clear and compelling picture of how history unfolded to not only shape the skills, talents and ideas of these four leaders, but put them into places where those skills, talents and ideas impacted upon the world around them. All four of these men joined an army broken by the failures against an insurgency in Vietnam. All of them rose through the ranks of an army that built itself into the Cold War Leviathan yet along the way gained experiences and skills that would become vital in the Iraq War. With just a few minor changes to those events, how different could the world be today?
The Fourth Star is very well written and enlightening profile of four of the key military leaders of the Iraq War. Each General is portrayed in a way that feels fair and without malice or bias. Each is highlighted for the unique contribution he made to the reshaping and of the United States military. Granted, General Petraeus seems to come off particularly well, but even General Casey who has been maligned in other accounts is shown to be a soldier’s soldier as well as a thoughtful, intelligent and dedicated leader didn’t flinch when faced with what was, in many ways, an untenable situation and learned its hardest lessons. Though it may require a basic understanding of military culture and practice, it is clear and engaging to read. In its pages you can really get a sense for the driving forces behind each of these four Generals. Many books have already been written about the Iraq War, and there is no doubt that there are many more yet to come, but for a student of history The Fourth Star is a book that should be read very early on in any study of the events of this time period for the context it provides.
Today I have a trio of Malbecs from Argentina on the tasting. In Argentina, Malbec is quickly becoming the signature red grape varietal of the country and is most often bottled by itself instead of being blended with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot as it is in France, where it is originally from.
The great thing about Malbec is that it is a great example that shows what a versatile and varied flavor profile a single kind of grape can yield. Each of these three Malbecs, while united by a similar basic taste, display variations on that theme that are very educational to the palate.
Altosur Malbec 2007
Of the three Malbecs the Altosur is the lightest and fruitiest and boasts the bright spiciness and soft tannins that will please the palate of a Zinfandel or Syrah/Shiraz drinker. Flavors of cherries, plums and light cloves create a round and balanced flavor profile ideal for barbeque.
Altos Las Hormigas Malbec 2008
(not 2007, but a 2008 picture I liked was not to be found)
The most immediate difference between the Altos Las Hormigas and the other wines in this Malbec tasting is the almost charcoal-like smokiness in the aroma. The fruit flavors are also darker and sharper dark cherries and ripe plums giving way to licorice, black pepper and blackberry notes with a bit of extra tannin to balance the darkness of the fruit. The finish also seems a bit shorter and softer yet still very pleasant.
Punto Final Malbec 2007
Punto Final is the heaviest of these three Malbecs yet still retains the bright fruitniess of the Malbec grape. Think of it as a Malbec doing a Cabernet Sauvignon impersonation. Raspberries and blackberries accompanied by dark cherries and mocha chocolate notes fill the mouth, backed by firm tannins and wood spices that fade toward a smooth finish.
Many reviews have already been written about The Gathering Storm. Some reviews are glowing, some are lukewarm, all seem to be mostly concerned with how Brandon Sanderson did filling in for Robert Jordan. While I am pretty sure that if I got right down to it I could probably dissect out what parts Jordan had already written, what parts he left notes and outlines, and what parts Sanderson created from scratch, none of that was foremost on my mind when I was reading the book mostly because it really doesn’t matter to me. When Sanderson was named to be the author to continue the Wheel of Time series I did my homework and read the books he had already published; Elantris, the Mistborn trilogy and Warbreaker. He is, hands-down, an outstanding writer and possibly one of the best world builders in fiction past or present. I long ago came to the conclusion that Brandon Sanderson is a writer with the ability and the attitude to write the ending to the Wheel of Time and give it the consideration and the credit it deserves even to the point of asking that Robert Jordan’s signature be printed on the title page of each book because he didn’t feel right signing a book without it. That, ladies and gentlemen, is true class.
So, putting aside the question of Sanderson’s ‘voice’, what about the story of The Gathering Storm itself? In short, I found The Gathering Storm to be the darkest and most emotional of all of the Wheel of Time books. Several events of the book resolve major plot arcs and will leave any dedicated Wheel of Time reader grinning from ear to ear. However, one of the criticisms of the Wheel of Time is that most of the main characters as twenty-somethings, shouldn’t have the experience or couldn’t have the ability to do the things that they do as they match themselves against, in some cases, people who have literally hundreds of years of experience. In The Gathering Storm the answer to this criticism reveals itself as at least one of the main characters is being crushed under the weight and strain of that duty. What this does for the story is to temper the emotional highs for the victories of some with a sense of profound sadness for the emotional agony of others. This isn’t the book that will define the series, that book is no doubt two books away, but for the reader of the Wheel of Time this is the book where everything in the plot up until now comes to the point that it cannot become any worse and finally, coming to a Garden of Gethsemane moment, strips away everything until there is only one thing left; hope.
Everything seems to be falling apart. Nothing seems to be positioned in the right place to withstand the coming Last Battle. Nobody seems to have a correct and comprehensive picture of the situation. Yet, if the reader takes a step back from the details, the foreshadowing and all of the expectations and assumptions to look at all of the events of the story in context, there are clues that point toward these apparent flaws and reveal them to be anything but. For example, the pattern itself seems to be unraveling to the point that rooms and hallways inside buildings are physically rearranging themselves. This seems to serve nothing but chaos, and may even be evidence of the Dark One touching the pattern, yet, if it were not for one of those seemingly random shifts one of the pivotal and climactic moments of The Gathering Storm would have occurred in a much different and probably disastrous manner. Taking that into account what purpose may be served, for example, by the Borderland army that is far, far away from the Blight, or by a half dozen other elements that seems to be wildly out-of-place.
With that in mind, The Gathering Storm is a less a great book in itself (though it is), but more of a promise that the greatest parts of the epic Wheel of Time story are yet to come. For that, The Gathering Storm and the rest of the Wheel of Time books are well worth the read.
While watching a concert on Palladium the other day I was blown away by the performance of this group: Elbow
Grounds for Divorce:
The Bones of You:
One Day Like This:
Mirrorball:
The Phillips boys know wine. They are fifth generation wine growers and they specialize in Rhone style wines as well as the mighty Zinfandel grape that the Lodi region of California is known for. This tasting featured two of their offerings, the reserve Zinfandel known as Earthquake, and a little known varietal called Symphony.
Old Lodi Vines, yielding supreme
Like ancient volcanoes, releasing their steam.
Danger is present, felt but unseen
Vines of such power, such high self-esteem.
Intentionally hostile, purposely bold
Nice not an option, when truth must be told.
Energy captured, awaiting release
Zinfandel Vines, the great seismic beasts.
Instilling such fear, a risk few will take
Nothing prepares you for the Zinfandel Quake.
Are you ready for the big one?
Put simply, this big brother to Michael & David’s Seven Deadly Zins is a powerhouse of flavor. Big and jammy, it is a mouthful of bright raspberries with hints of clove, vanilla, coffee, chocolate and wood spices that linger through the long smooth finish. This wine fears no food. Bring on the beef, the lamb and if you happen to have a Tuscan boar turning on a spit nearby (Or some nice smoked and stuffed chops if you don’t), bring that too. This is also one of those dry red wines that is a great pairing for chocolate desserts, so if there is a chocolate cake waiting in the wings after the boar, be sure to save a glass.
2007 Michael and David Symphony
Symphony is a hybrid of Muscat de Alexandria and Grenache Gris developed in the 1940’s by Dr. Harold Olmo at U.C. Davis. The Michael and David vines were some of the first planted of this varietal which is almost exclusively found in California.
I have had the Symphony grape on one other occasion (actually grown outside of California) and it seemed to be a combination of a Gewrztraminer and a Gruner giving it a floral lightness combined with a solidly acidic punch. The Michael and David Symphony is a horse of an entirely different color probably due to the much warmer climate of Lodi. This Symphony is much sweeter with an almost citrusy/melony juicyness followed by an acidic finish that contains a slight funkyness shown by some muscat wines. It is quite tasty, but unique. Because it has a unique flavor profile I’m kind of having a hard time with food pairings except to say that spicy asian flavors like Thai food would be the best compliment. Honestly, the best pairing for this wine may just be a group of good friends and a couple of good stories after a hectic week.
16
Jul
09
Zenpundit on ‘The Big Picture’
A great post by the Zenpundit:
The Big Picture – The Nexus Between Education and Grand Strategy
“Is it reasonable to educate people in a way where all subjects are disconnected from one another, prioritizing narrow specialization, emphasizing accumulating facts over understanding principles, rewarding the “right answer” instead of the “best question”, demanding conformity instead of curiosity and then expect our leaders to be visionaries and adaptively creative statesmen who think in strategic terms?
Why would our societal orientation in complex, dynamic, fast moving situations be good when our educational system trains people only to think through simplified, linear, sequential problems? Strategic thinkers need to be able to see “the big picture” and handle uncertainty, or they cannot be said to be strategic thinkers.”
I think the problem in many ways goes even deeper. How much has a focus on the minimum required effort, intellectual instant gratification and a lack of any kind of emphasis or training in long-term thinking affected the very culture of the United States and contributed to a range of problems from obesity and political apathy to over-spending and the credit crisis.
How we teach becomes how we learn, and how we learn becomes how we think. We teach to the test. We learn the minimum required to reach the minimum standard. We think no farther than the next chapter, the next test, the next evaluation, the next paycheck, the next credit card payment. We have stopped thinking about year five much less year twenty five of a thirty year mortgage, and the same thinking horizon applies to health and political decision making. It isn’t about intelligence. There are many very smart people out there who are very good, very fast, thinkers, and if we have gained any kind of skill in dealing with “complex, dynamic, fast moving situations” it is only because we are in a constant state of flux, constantly in crisis mode, and constantly trying to squeeze advantage at best and survival at minimum, out of the bad situations we constantly find ourselves in. That takes skill and inventiveness, but not everyone is that quick, innovative or lucky. However, long-term, strategic, thinking in advance of a crisis could have prevented those situations from ever adversely impacting us or even turned them into opportunities to further our goals.
01
Jul
09
Twittering
I don’t use Twitter. I have never really had the urge to use Twitter. However, it seems that everyone else in this corner of the blogosphere (or at least most of the bloggers on my blogroll) do use Twitter. The newly redesigned authors page at D5GW (very nice by the way) has, at least to my eye, a glaring hole in the middle of it because I don’t have a Twitter profile.
I still don’t especially want to Twitter (like I need something else to spend time on), but I can’t help feeling like I’m missing out on something.
Warbreaker is a work of epic scale. It has a sense of history and flavor that comes only from masterful world building. It has characters that are interesting and mysterious, heroic and yet flawed in surprising ways. It has a story that is compelling, exciting and twisty. You may think you know what will happen next, but you’re probably wrong and you can’t be sure until the final pages. It is a story told with an economy of effort and pacing that is dead-on perfect.
As if this accomplishment wasn’t enough Brandon Sanderson manages to do all of this in one book. Not an epic series, not a trilogy, a single book that effortlessly draws the reader into the story and makes them want to keep reading. It is for that reason that Brandon Sanderson is one of the best authors, of any genre, writing today. You may not read fantasy fiction, but you should read Sanderson.
Sanderson likes to write about the contrasting what-ifs that go against the fantasy formula. The Mistborn trilogy (a fascinating story with an amazing magic system) was essentially a story about what happened when the Dark Lord instead of the Hero won. Warbreaker is about the princess who is sent to marry the Evil Lord and instead of being saved, actually has to marry him! Personally, my favorite aspect of the book isn’t the settings, the characters or even the exceedingly cool magic system, but rather that even though the plot reached its conclusion, Sanderson doesn’t actually tie up all of the loose ends into one tidy little “that was convinient” package. There is still mystery in this world. There are still questions to be answered and magics to be discovered. I don’t need more from the story, but I do want to read more about the world the story is in.
About three months ago a Sysadmin-in-miniature, the 119th Agriculture Development Team of the Indiana National Guard, deployed to Khost province in Afghanistan and Bloomington Indiana journalist Douglas Wissing is embedded with the unit and will be filing a series of reports about the unit’s experiences.
From Wissing’s most recent report:
About the size of four Indiana counties, Khost Province sits on the eastern Afghanistan border with the Taliban-controlled tribal regions of Pakistan. Populated by the Pashtun warrior tribe, Khost has been a hotbed of fundamentalist Islamic armed resistance since the start of the 1980s Soviet war. Today, elements of the society continue their insurgency against the Afghan national government and its American allies, complicating the ADT mission.
“The information that has been presented to us that far and away Khost Province is the most kinetic of the 34 provinces in Afghanistan,” said ADT Commander Col. Brian Copes. “Kinetic simply meaning shooting and explosions and IEDs and indirect fire-artillery, mortar and rocket fire.”
In late May, insurgents launched attacks on the provincial capital, Khost City, and the nearby Forward Operating Base Salerno, where the ADT is posted. Suicide attackers invaded a downtown Khost City government building to kill the governor meeting with American officers. Twenty people died in the attack. A suicide bomber exploded a truck just outside the FOB Salerno gate, killing nine Afghans. An errant Taliban rocket landed on a mosque near the base, killing three worshipers. On FOB Salerno, three ADT soldiers narrowly escaped injury when an insurgent mortar round exploded 50 meters away.
In spite of increasing risk, the ADT persists with their development work- though with precautions. To protect the soldiers, the team travels in gargantuan armored vehicles called MRAPs, designed to withstand IED blasts and ambushes.
The Agriculture Development Team is composed of 16 experts in livestock and crop farming, forestry and veterinary medicine and a security force of 35 Indiana National Guardsmen. They will be working with and advising Afghan farmers in order to improve their productivity and efficiency.
The Sysadmin aspect of this effort is further distinguished by the older and more experienced makeup of the unit with its specialist knowledge and capabilities and the language and cultural training they received before going off to Afghanistan.
Douglas Wissing’s pictures as well as print and audio reports on the Agriculture Development Team and their efforts in Afghanistan may be found at the Cultivating Afghanistan website at Newsmatters.org
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