sherpa

Do you have something to add to this? Are you at all familiar with how this, (US Navy ship transits), usually works?

Ya. Roosevelt just in-chopped to 7th fleet on its way to the Western Pacific for a long scheduled deployment. Nimitz just in-chopped on its way home. Nothing magic about this.

It happens, and sometimes it's just schedule coincidence. To answer your question directly, in 2007 three carrier battle groups were in the Pacific and didn't get "used." The explanation is quite simple. Carrier schedules are planned well in advance, more than a year, Occasionally, one will be on the way home and one on the way out. That is exactly what is happening now, but the media prefers the suggestion that it is something other than that. 1. Reagan is in Busan, South Korea on a port call. It is based in Japan and almost always part of the 7th fleet, the fleet responsible for that area. Named fleets are responsible for specific geographic areas. 2. Roosevelt just left the US on a scheduled deployment. Ships "in-chop" to the 7th fleet shortly after leaving Hawaii. 3, Nimitz is on it's way home from the Persian Gulf, and left the 5th fleet, entering the 7th fleet area on the 23rd. Simply transiting on its way home. So, you have three carriers in the 7th fleet because one is permanently based there, one is transiting on its deployment, and one is transiting home. Another case of the media overlooking the obvious for a suggestive headline, and people always bite.

I get that, but you mentioned you had purchased the wine after a barrel tasting. From reading your posts, I think you are a bright guy with discriminating tastes. As a producer, I know that wine goes in the barrel after a minimum of about six weeks of fermentation and clarifying. I have four week old petit verdot sitting right behind me in secondary, anaerobic fermentation. The same stuff we sold that will end up at over $25-$30 per bottle in a couple years. Initially, the tannins and other proteins are so overwhelming that there is now way for a consumer to judge the final product at that point. So...If I was going to make a purchase decision on fresh wine just put in oak, I would ask what the chemistry was at harvest. Without going into specifics, they would have the three or four data points involved, and knowing the appellation and the specific wineries history, I could make a decision.

To be clear, I never said it was "always a bad fire season." I said they always claimed it was going to be a bad fire season. If it was a dry year it would be bad because of an elongated season. If it was wet, too much fuel. Regarding your other post about buying wine that is recently harvested, did they give you the "chemistry" on it? We sell about 3000 pounds a year to a winery, but keep about 10 gallons for our own production. I have found, over the years, that the chemistry at harvest has been a far more accurate indicator of eventual flavor than when it's new in the barrel. I often taste our wine that the winery is producing, and don't get a feel for the final product until its been in oak at least a year.

I seriously doubt it will have any impact on retail wine prices. There is so much on the market. Expect a lot more truck traffic between the San Joaquin Valley and Napa-Napa's little secret. On the California weather thing, re fires, they're never happy. If it's a wet winter there's more fuel for the fire season. If it's a dry winter the fire season is extended. It was non stop annual complaints, no matter what. Twelve years there, six near Napa, and no matter what weather they had, it was going to be a bad fire season.

The vast majority were harvested weeks ago. They had an issue this year with early raisoning, because of excessive heat, so they harvested early. Still cost them 10% or better of their crop, but not too serious. Only issue with harvested grapes in fermentation is smoke damage, and that can be prevented.

It certainly seems that the receiving end of the supply chain is lacking. Same as happened after the Haiti earthquake.

I doubt is was airplane related. Animals don't like stress. The cargo compartment is about 60-65 degrees, and comfortably pressurized, but it's stressful for them.

Animals in the cargo compartment has more to do with the airplane than the company. Some airplanes have fairly good environmental controls and monitoring of cargo. Some do not. If I knew there was an animal there, I would always make it a point to check on them on the ramp, prior to them going into the compartment. Never saw one on a flight over six hours, and not a good idea, as the drugs wear off. After a career of this, I would never put a pet of mine in there. Dark, noisy and probably really scary. Most airlines do not permit carriage in the summer. The ramps are too hot.

Regarding your comment on getting the airplane in the air and "rolling the dice," that doesn't happen. There's an old axiom in aviation: "Better to be on the ground wishing you were in the air than being in the air wishing you were on the ground." You simply don't take problems airborne. On the "service" dog issue, it's complete nonsense and one of the problems that we will see more of in the future. You need an MD "prescription" to justify it, and they are not hard to get, because the MD really doesn't care. There was an MD in the Dominican Republic who used to charge for them. Made quite a bit of money doing it, I'm told, so every time you'd leave Santo Domingo, there'd be about ten of them, which is not possible to handle. Big thing in LA as well. Have a great day.

Isn't going to happen, at least the payout. People do all kinds of funny things on airplanes, and make all kinds of bizarre demands. I once had the wife of a hall of fame QB refuse to sit for takeoff, (and said she wouldn't for landing either), becasue she had cosmetic butt surgery the day before. She said she would stand in the galley. Fortunately, her "demand" was made known at the gate, so it was resolved there.

There are lots of reasons to deny boarding or have someone removed. Airline crews do not administer injections. They do have a few things on board, but if necessary, they find a physician or licensed medical individual to do it, and there is almost always one on board. Wouldn't be done at the gate though. You'd have the passenger removed and handled by airport medical folks, who are available. Passengers do not have the right to limit other passenger's options, but if they state they have a condition at the time of the reservation, if possible, they will be accommodated. This happens more frequently with people who have peanut allergies. This professor now has to face five separate charges. Pretty dumb move.

There weren't any additional airplanes built for Vietnam.

Kemp was a smart guy with a deep concern for racial issues. He would probably think there was a much better strategy to deal with the issue than doing something silly during the national anthem.

Hurricanes go where they do based on atmospheric pressure. They generally follow the trades from Cape Verde or further west until they encounter a stronger jet stream or pressure systems over our continent. We rarely see strong winds aloft in the August time frame south of 30 north latitude, so there is nothing to shear them. They also draw energy from warm water, over 80 degrees. That's why they generally head into the warmer Gulf of Mexico early in the season, and follow the Gulfstream, more or less, later on. Ultimately, they are easily steered by pressure systems aloft, and that's why it's tough to predict them over 72 hours.

Last week I was driving down this curvy road where I live. To my surprise, a bicycle passes me. I'm thinking he is going way too fast for this road, when I notice he looks like a rope driving a bike. Sure enough, a bit later, after a big curve, I notice he has crashed on the side of the road. I survey the accident scene and he does indeed look like a rope. Braids everywhere, twisted and tied onto himself in a messed heap. Strands of fiber here and there. So I asked, "Are you OK?" He answers "No, I'm afraid not,"

A priest a rabbi and Protestant pastor are at a religious retreat held in a wilderness area. After a few drinks, they start bragging about their ability to recruit non believers to their faith. They agree to compete during the week, and meet the next Friday night to judge who was best. Friday night comes and the pastor sees the priest and asks him how he did. The pastor said he did great. He met a bear and read him the first few chapters of a Catholic catechism and stated that the bear agree to receive holy communion the next day. The priest asks the pastor how he did and he tells the story that he also met a bear and relayed to him the story about redemption by faith through grace and that the bear agreed to be baptized the very next day. They wonder where the rabbi is, and at that moment a couple men come in carrying the rabbi on a gurney. His face is slashed and he has numerous broken bones. They ask him what happened. He states that he met a bear also, and stated: "I knew I shouldn't have started with circumcision."

Excellent post. An amazing project. I will be watching.

You can tell the ufo community that the alien who was flying it was LCOL Eric Shultz. A bit of a legend.

Another, more recent, item to share about Groom Lake. A "foreign" airplane crashed there on Sep 7, killing the commanding officer of the squadron that "evaluates" foreign fighters. We have a long history of "acquiring" foreign airplanes through a variety of means and testing them in that area.

I listened to the game and post game on WGR. Not having to listen to the insufferable Rex was win enough.

Key West aviation forecast. Tomorrow: 2AM wind northeast sustained 56 knots gust 70 knots (82mph). 5AM wind northeast sustained 75 gust 95 knots (107mph). 7AM wind north sustained 90 gust 120 knots (138mph). 11AM wind west 75 gust 100 knots (115mph). It will be worse further north.

You may want to throttle back there amigo. I never refuted or argued against anything you said. I simply stated that "if" there was an implication that volcanic ash had anything to do with the location of the phenomena, it was unsupported. Your second paragraph, where you question "where I gleaned," is not comment-able, because it never happened. I'm not here for confrontation, and I cant be baited into it.

I get your point, and I fully agree that there is no evidence that the solar storm to visible aurora to volcano/earthquake (or whatever), sequence has ever been established. But, in your post, if you are implying that the volcano was the source of the northern lights in this instance, I would strongly disagree. The phenomena extended, geographically, way beyond any ash from the volcano. The difference in appearance of any aurora is completely different from anything that is earth atmosphere "pollutant" caused, and the appearance of this particular event preceded and succeeded the volcano. Just an weird observation, but one that is interesting and undeniable, and I've never been able to justify the coincidence.