sherpa

I'm pretty certain the NFL and its sponsors like the Super Bowl on Sunday. The Super Bowl is a major economic event. Host cities put up a bunch of money to be chosen. Saturday night is the major revenue avalanche for the businesses in those cities. The teams are not known until two weeks prior. Getting corporate jet scheds, VIP folks and a bunch of other things lined up takes time. The major parties and social events are on Sat night, and losing this revenue would make the event far less attractive to the host cities and the NFL as well as their corporate sponsors.

Very good. How did I get the Battle of Midway wrong, and just as an aside, Naval Aviators don't study WWII battles, though I have looked at it in great detail because of McClusky, a Buffalo native.. Still, if you are going to call me a scumbag, you owe me a response to your claim. By the way, your repeated claim that I know what Jefferson would think because I live nearby is a false premise. My view is that Jefferson would view Biden as an idiot. Jefferson was the finest architect in the Colonies. Biden couldn't spell architect. Jefferson was an accomplished astronomer. He taught Merriweather Lewis celestial nav, and Lewis' observations were remarkably accurate based on what he learned. Jefferson was a studied, politician philosophy genius, who authored a document that changed the view of how the governed view the governors forever. Jefferson was an agronomist who introduced a number of plants to the western hemisphere. Biden couldn't find the rose garden. Jefferson was an inventor with numerous patents. Biden can't do a thing without a note card. As Kennedy said before a group of Nobel Laureates: "I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered together at the White House, with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone. Someone once said that Thomas Jefferson was a gentleman of 32 who could calculate an eclipse, survey an estate, tie an artery, plan an edifice, try a cause, break a horse, and dance the minuet. Joe Biden?

You are a waste of time. Yours and everyone elses.

Carter was an unmitigated disaster. Not going to argue that point with you. I didn't see the disaster that he ran in Iran on the "Today Show." I saw it unfold with my own eyes, though we were relieved by Nimitz just prior to the asinine launching of that hideous mission. Talked to guys who were involved. The man was a horrible president. An arrogant, disingenuous phony at all levels. Reagan was what he was, and he was light years better.

Reagan's first term, and especially the first two years were hampered by the stagflation of the previous administration. The US economy is massive and takes many years to turn. His first term included a public battle with Fed Chairman Paul Volker, who was determined to lower the runaway inflation of the time. 12.5% mortgage rates....Near 20% interest in money market funds. I was serving as a Naval Aviator at the time and without a doubt the world changed when Carter, who was a horrible Commander in Chief left office. During Carter's term, I doubt that 40% of Naval Aviation could get airborne. Massive parts swaps to keep the carriers at 75% aircraft availability, but the shore based squadrons, during their turn around cycle had nothing. Operation, Eagle Claw, the disastrous attempt to rescue the Iranian hostages is a great example of failed leadership.

So the Panthers open their season against a team they just acquired a starting QB from, for the second season in a row. Last year the Jets, this year the Browns. Statistical anomaly. Kind of like the Bills 2019 season. They start by winning a game they trailed 16-3, and ended losing a game they were up 16-3. Whatever happens, the Watson issue has impacted a lot of NFL teams this off season.

We live in an area that has a few free air balloon operators and they frequently fly over our property, as we are about 12 miles northeast of where they launch and the prevailing wind is from the southwest. The wind speed and direction puts them in our vicinity at about the time they land. Last year at about 7:50 on a Sunday morning, the doorbell rings and as I answer it, a guy asks me if they can land on my property. We have about 7 acres of mowed meadow with a vineyard on it, so plenty of space for them to land. The balloon was about 30' up and about 100' from my house. Being "aviation friendly," I told him "sure." They landed and my wife and I jumped in and we got a free lift to about 75' and then landed.

The odd thing to keep in mind is that Webb is looking back in time. A long, long time ago. This could turn out to be one of the greatest inventions ever.

I'm pretty certain Jefferson would react to Trump the same way I have. Typically ignorant. If you've read his selective writings, it is not too hard to conclude what he would have thought about this intellectually vacuous failure.

I live quite close to Monticello and am very familiar with Jefferson's life, achievements and expressed views. I am quite confident on one thing, and that is that the greatest mind of that time would look at present day Biden, his intellectual capacity, and say: "WTF."

In market parlance, that's called a dead cat bounce.

One of the greatest expressions of political philosophy and resultant change written by a 33 year old.

Thankfully, it impresses players. There is a genuine family atmosphere in Buffalo that appeals to some players who are used to be treated as mere commodities. It as appeal to some, as South Florida has appeal to others.

Completely disagree, but not Watergate related.

Or: Government, don't screw up a pretty good system that works for all. We're way beyond that. Hopefully, that changes.

Don't know the guy. We had no contact with Air Force KC-35's. Regarding the question about why only one guy, it might not be necessary to send two, but they probably would have. Other things missing were the lack of jammer airplanes, which would be clearly involved in a muti SAM environment, and no air to air refueling, though I guess it is just assumed. There is no way that the carrier task force would be close enough to a target place like that to have the F-18's do that thing without tanking. Good to see they used the E-2 though.

You sure edited that one. To your question, and having flown out of Miramar so many times, the departures are designed to avoid high real estate areas at Torrey Pines and La Jolla. Putting the new movie at North Island makes no sense, other than including San Diego scenery. As an aside, North Island is still my favorite Naval Officer's Club Sunday Brunch. Top Gun has been drastically changed, and moved to Fallon, Nevada.

The ones that are historically accurate are more "true to form" than the made up fictional ones, but probably for the moviegoer, less entertaining. Recently, Midway was accurate, but it's basically a retelling of the seven or so events that happened to decide the outcome of that battle. This recent Top Gun movie is fictional, so it's for pure entertainment. It just rubs me the wrong way when Hollywood suggests a culture that is not accurate, but I guess it makes for better entertainment. Still, having flown the F-18, and fought it hundreds of times, it was nice to see it looking good, while being grossly abused by the characters flying it, something that would not happen.

I saw it last night. Disclaimer: As an ex Naval Aviator who attended Tog Gun in the 80's, and subsequently served in the Pacific Fleet Adversary Squadron, (the guys who run those training flights and serve as the bad guys), I am very familiar with that culture. Without a tactical or technical discussion of questionable things which would be spoilers, there are a few things that made my skin crawl that were in the first movie, and are still used to extreme in this one. The first is this college sophomore-like character portrayal. People in that business are not like that at all. The level of maturity and professionalism far exceeds what is in these movies. I get that it's entertainment, but it's a bit embarrassing. For example, this absolutely crazy emphasis on call signs. Call signs have a real tactical benefit because of the need to get out very abrupt communications, but this extension of them into all realms of life is absurd. The thought that a three star admiral, the Jon Hamm character would still be called "Cyclone" by other Naval Officers is just crazy. I get that it is for character recognition, but it gets absurd. When we are treated to a radar like image that uses call signs on the screen, I squirmed in the seat. The other thing is the way they portray the normal conversations between senior people locked up at attention portraying these conversations as if it was Marine boot camp. Officers don't talk to each other like that. One thing they did better in this movie was to do much better in the fight scenes. The first one didn't show the often very violent nature of these things, though there seems to be a Hollywood obsession with "G's." I get that it is something that the actors went through and was probably interesting, but in that world it's just part of the job and not constantly talked about. Anyway, it's a movie, not a documentary. Someday, when spoilers aren't an issue, there are a few things that are worth discussing/

If he, or anyone else is a history buff or at all interested in this war changing event, here is a great description without all the movie industry nonsense. Two modern Naval Aviators who know the subject discussing it in detail.

Funny you should mention R. G. Smith. In the early 80's, the Naval Aviation Museum wanted to get rid of some of its art work. Among the canvas pieces was "Enterprise on Yankee Station." I'd always liked that piece, but it was unavailable. Somehow, I got hold of R. G. Smith's daughter, who sold me a canvas print for $130. Around 2004 or so, I found this artist in Lima, Peru who did really good oils, so I had him use this print to do an oif for me that sits above the fireplace in my office. Picking it up in Lima, the guy I was flying with liked it so much that he wanted to do the same thing. I lent him the print. He never returned it. Not two months ago, I figured I really wanted to get that original back. I remembered his name, called him, and sure enough, he had it still in the original shipping tube, eighteen years later. I got it back, and it's worth over $1000.

Eighty years ago today, the US Naval strike forces turned the tide of the Pacific battle with Japan in a period of about ten minutes, with great loss of life. Carrier airplanes from Enterprise, let by Buffalo born Wing Commander Wade McClusky found the Japanese task force and sunk four Japanese carriers in about ten minutes. McClusky and his strike force were nearly out of fuel when McClusky spotted a lone Japanese destroyer, the Arashi, going full speed. He correctly surmised it was headed back to the main task force after dueling a US sub, the Nautilus. Nimitz called McClusky's decision to head north instead of heading back to recover on Enterprise, where he then spotted Arashi as one of the greatest decisions of the war.

I think it is insanity and horrific leadership that stifles responsible, available energy, domestically produced. Promoting renewables while avoiding economic shock from fossils geopolitical nonsense is possible. Not even hard. We simply need to believe corporate America more than political America. Always been that way, with very few exceptions.

We already have it. Electrolyzers and fuel cells. No need for the distribution grid. A refrigerator sized one can produce the same power as a football field span of solar panel, and they do not require sunlight.

Regarding the logic of such an admission, I have no idea. Nothing that comes from this group surprises me. To the question, Iran's nuclear program is underground. We have developed a weapon called super bunker buster, which is a massive bomb that penetrates before fusing and exploding for just such a situation. After all, all underground systems need to have a ground access at some location. The problem with that is that it's quite big, which limits the ability to deliver it while stealth, which subjects the deliver aircraft to a significantly air defense capability. We were able to hack their nuc program a few years ago, so there's the electronic warfare option. Not sure where we are with that, but I bet the Israelis have some capability.