I love smartpointers

Yes, ncm, I am also becoming obsessed with smartpointers. Not only do I think C++ badly needs a standard-approved reference-counting smartpointer, but I'm even beginning to think it should be part of the language syntax, though I might be nuts.

Seeing and believing are both often wrong

The Fog of War is fascinating. Robert McNamara, the Rumsfeld of his day, is remarkably honest and precise about his mistakes and successes, while just following orders. I don't believe that he didn't know about Napalm though.

A running theme is that conflicts are often caused by leaders who obsessively believe in false realities. There's a damning recording of a bloodthirsty LBJ outright reversing Kennedy's Vietnam withdrawal plan, because he was so convinced of the Domino theory.