Missile One Away, Captain.

Thank you XO. Missile one running straight and true!

Prepare missiles three, six, and eight for launch, target package, Xray.

Once it starts, the faucet make not get turned off again for a while as the retirements start!

The feat they are trying to accomplish is to determine where the new staffing level will be in the next down turn. They would prefer to run short in the up turn and then be correctly staffed in the next down turn. A feat to guesstimate that, but something they are trying to do.

Dear FtB:

Does the new picture make sense now? :D

The USS Wisconsin would have worked too!

Firstmobber, :D did you mean post or thread? :D

Yes! And I'm enjoying the show as expected. Did you ever see the best prop plane movie ever, Always? There was a scene where John Goodman takes a large umbrella out to the fire bombers practice run and sits there in the shade with music and a fruity drink grading their drops, that's us.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Delta, Continental, and United airlines say they're applying for permission to fly from the U.S. to Tokyo's Haneda Airport.

Delta and United are the biggest U.S. airlines serving Japan, and they already fly to Tokyo Narita airport. Continental is looking to expand its flights to Asia.

Flying to Haneda would put them in the airport closest to downtown Tokyo, which has mostly been used by domestic travelers. A proposed aviation treaty with Japan would open that airport to U.S. carriers for the first time since 1978.

Delta says it applied to the Transportation Department to fly to Haneda from Seattle, Detroit, Los Angeles, and Honolulu. United says it is wants to fly from Seattle. Continental's flights would be from the New York area and Guam.

Southwest: Non-Stop Dumbness


Once upon a time, you were the darling of the aircraft industry. The one company not only made a profit but also cared about your customers. Friend to Everyman, you didn't reserve seats, hewing to a first-come, first-served system. Unlike carriers such as Delta (NYSE: DAL) or Continental (NYSE: CAL), you didn't charge for checking baggage -- and you had a sense of humor about it. Who could not love LUV?

Which made it all the more strange when you so unceremoniously escorted Generation-X's "biggest" hero, professional funnyman Kevin Smith, off a plane over the weekend. (We kid because we love, Kev.)

Southwest's big mistake
So here's the story. Booking a flight on Southwest Saturday, Smith adhered to company policy for persons of his girth, by buying two tickets on a particular flight. But Smith also put himself on the standby list for an earlier flight. He got "lucky" and snagged the seat, but after he took it, the pilot determined that Smith needed more than one seat to fly safely. Smith was therefore taken off the plane.

Oh, no!
Oh, yes. Southwest would have been better off banning Warren Buffett over fears he might break a hip, or denying Madonna a seat on suspicion of international baby-smuggling, than antagonizing Smith. Because this is when things got really ugly. Over the ensuing hours, Smith let loose a Twitter-borne tirade against the company, relentlessly needling the company over its "customers of size" policy.

Exit, stage wrong
Compounding its gaffe, Southwest offered Smith a $100 voucher to compensate him for his troubles.

That was, of course, the exact wrong tack to take with Smith. A smarter company, and one with a bit of personality -- one like ... well, the company we all thought Southwest was *-- might have laughed the incident off. Offered Smith a jumbo-sized Whitman's Sampler and a Valentine's Day card: "Honey, I shrunk the seats. No hard feelings?"

Opportunity, lost
No such luck. Instead, Southwest's $100 offer bought itself a world of trouble. Before the weekend was out, the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance was calling for a boycott of Southwest, and suggesting Smith's fans switch to a more accommodating carri

That movie also had my favorite line "everytime you come in the fire trucks go out!"

ahhh, humor Brasillia pilots can appreciate.