Miscellaneous

Interviewed by Steven Pressfield

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Ahem…cough….hopefully Jonathan and the rest of the Chicago Boyz cast will not mind a brief moment of self-promotion.

In an unusual turn of events, I was the subject of an interview by novelist and historian Steven Pressfield, author of Gates of Fire and The War of Art. Pressfield was also a participant here last year in our Xenophon Roundtable .

Steve has an interview section on his newly redesigned site and I join a series of bloggers and authors like Instapundit Glenn Reynolds, Tim O’Brien and Seth Godin who have sat down, in a virtual sense, with Steve for a discussion about writing and creativity. Having done such interviews of others in the past, it was a good experience to be on the receiving end of questions, for which I thank Steve:

The Creative Process: Mark Safranski

SP: Mark, what is the ZenPundit philosophy? How do you decide which stories or posts (or even guest bloggers) you want to include? What criteria do you use?

MS: Good question. My philosophy is something I also try to impart in my teaching.

Marcus Aurelius said “Look beneath the surface; let not the several qualities of a thing nor its worth escape you.” Most phenomena have many dimensions, multiple causes and second and third order effects. To deal with all of this complexity, we simplify matters by looking at life through an organizing frame, which we might call a worldview, a schema, a paradigm or a discipline. Whatever we call our mental model, we tend to become wedded to it because it “works.” It helps us understand some of what we are looking at-and in getting good at applying our model, advances us professionally and brings prestige or material rewards. So we will defend it to the death, from all challengers!

That’s getting carried away. Our mental model is just a tool or, more precisely, a cognitive lens. We need to be less attached to our habitual and lazy ways of looking at the world, put down our magnifying glass and pick up a telescope. Or, bifocals. Or, a microscope. Stepping back and applying different perspectives to a problem or an issue will give us new information, help us extrapolate, identify unintended consequences or spot connections and opportunities. When I do analytical pieces, I try to take that approach….

Read the rest here.

Battle of Okinawa 65 Years ago today — May 17, 1945

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May 17, 1945

On Okinawa, the US 6th Marine Division, part of US 3rd Amphibious Corps, continues assaulting Sugar Loaf hill have Japanese positions are heavily bombarded by aircraft, artillery and ships.

Elements of US 1st Marine Division capture the western part of the Wana valley but fail to take the ridge.

Units of the US 77th Division, part of US 24th Corps, make a surprise attack on Ishimmi Ridge, west of the village, and end up in positions exposed to Japanese fire.

Campaign Background — Japanese Anti-tank Defense vs M4 Sherman

A Destroyed M4 Sherman on Okinawa

One of the keys to understanding the Okinawa campaign is that it was only the second Pacific Island campaign — Iwo Jima being the first — where the Japanese deployed a continuous ground defense with a anti-tank gun line and an integrated doctrine to separate American tanks and infantry. This gun line was based on a weapon able to defeat the front hull of the M4 Sherman, the Japanese 47mm type 01 anti tank gun. The Japanese also, for the first time in the Pacific War, systematically destroyed abandoned M4 Shermans every chance they got.

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The Battle of Okinawa — 65 Years Ago today, May 16, 1945

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May 16, 1945

On Okinawa, the US 6th Marine Division (part of US 3rd Amphibious Corps) reports heavy casualties in continuing attacks on Sugar Loaf Hill.

Japanese antitank guns knock out a number of American tanks supporting an advance, by US 1st Marine Division, along the valley of the Wana River.

Attacks by the US 77th Division to the north of Shuri continue to be unsuccessful.

The US 96th Division reaches the edge of the village of Yonabaru.

Love Hill, to the west of Conical Hill, continues to be held by Japanese forces.

Okinawa Campaign Background — SHINYO! Kamikaze Part Two

The picture of Kamikaze’s off Okinawa is that of burning Japanese planes crashing into carriers and battleships off the coast. While these were the the majority of Kamikaze attacks, they were not the only ones.

IJA Suicide Explosive Motor Boat

The smaller islands of the Ryukyu Island chain that Okinawa was a part of hosted hundreds of explosive motor boats (EMB) of the Japanese Navy’s “Shinyo” (Sea Quake) and Japanese Army’s “Maru-ni” types.

The invasion of the Kerama Retto anchorage several days before Okinawa proper saved the Okinawa invasion flotilla at Hagushi beach the attack of several hundred EMB the night of 1-2 April 1945. These suicide craft were well hidden and had been completely missed by Navy aircraft.

The more numerous, nimble and speedy “Brown Water” PT-boats of the US Navy’s 1942-43 Solomons and 1942-1944 New Guinea Campaigns were left in the Philippines by Admirals Turner and Nimitz. This left overworked fleet destroyers, slower destroyer escorts and very slow converted landing craft gunboats of the Pacific “Blue Water” fleet to face the EMB threat alone.

This was a mistake that would cost hundreds of unnecessary US Navy casualties, as can be seen from the following combat history that is clipped from from http://www.combinedfleet.com

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Strategy of the Headless Chicken

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The Magic Bullet
The Magic Bullet

[As requested by Adam Elkus]

The design of American strategy falls between two extremes: the Magic Bullet Strategy and the Strategy of the Headless Chicken. The Magic Bullet Strategy runs something like this:

Picture an Afghan village in a remote valley of the Hindu Kush. A majority of villagers are indifferent towards terrorism aimed at kittens. They support or oppose anti-kitten terrorism depending upon which way the wind is blowing. A minority of villagers favor anti-kitten jihad in principle but feel no immediate need to seek out kittens to destroy. A minority of the minority is adamantly anti-kitten and wishes to create a swath of territory from Spain to Indonesia that is 100% kittenfrei. This group of extreme kitten haters has recently been joined by kitten haters from outside the valley, some of whom are farangi. They’ve brought enough lawyers, guns, and money to shift the indifferent majority towards supporting anti-kitten terrorism.

What to do?

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America: You Need a Policy Chimp

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America needs a Policy Chimp. To qualifychimp-9090 as a Policy Chimp, an individual:

  1. Should be perceived as completely nuts.
  2. Should lack self-awareness or a sense of irony.
  3. Should randomly spout threats.
  4. Should be given to verbal flamboyance of the most extreme kind.
  5. Should lack a sense of humor.
  6. Should have a Chuck Schumer-like attraction to cameras.
  7. Should be able to easily scare foreigners and local intelligentsia.
  8. Should have a direct thought-to-mouth interface for maximum performance.

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