July 2008

Hi,

you are receiving this message because you have purchased one of the Modern Ships series of picture books from Nimble Books.  The next book in the series is now available.

 











CVN-74 JOHN C. STENNIS, U.S. Navy Aircraft Carrier

Next up: U.S.S. Harry S. Truman, CVN-75.

And a special treat: in 2009 we will publish the definitive book about the UK CV-F (aircraft carrier, future) by noted British defence correspondent Tim Mahon.

Best,

Fred Zimmerman
Publisher, Nimble Books LLC
wfz@nimblebooks.com

What a public service.

Google LatLong: Avoiding tolls
This week we’ve added an ‘Avoid tolls’ option to Google Maps driving directions.

I’ll be fearlessly candid and say that it continues to be a source of intense frustration for me, as a member of Ann Arbor’s tech community, that Google’s Ann Arbor office is, to all appearances, solely a Google Adwords “call center.” I’m sure they use email a lot more than the phone, but the basic concept, and the basic nature of the jobs, is the same. It’s galling that Google’s offices in other cities seem to have “real” developer and product jobs, but the Ann Arbor office sounds like a sort of AdWords ghetto. It might as well be a catalog call center. Until that changes, Google’s contribution to the Ann Arbor economy will be mostly in terms of maintaining the (already super low) unemployment rate by soaking off smart young people. A2 Googlers, I’d be delighted to learn I’m wrong …

Official Google Blog: Hello from A2

Inside our walls, you’ll find a team that’s committed to our AdWords advertisers — from identifying potential advertisers, to assisting current ones with day-to-day challenges, to strategizing with others for the future. That’s who we are. We’d love to have you join us.

The CO and Exec of George Washington got the chop for this.

God, fires aboard ship are terrifying.

Two top Navy officers fired over $70 million carrier blaze | HamptonRoads.com | PilotOnline.com

…the Navy said it concluded that the fire likely was caused by “unauthorized smoking that ignited flammable liquids and other combustible material improperly stored in an adjacent space.”

The fire and its intensity “were the result of a series of human acts that could have been prevented,” the Navy summary added. It cited “the storage of 90 gallons of refrigerant compressor oil in an unauthorized space” as a factor in the fire’s severity.

The summary said the fire began in a boiler exhaust and supply area and spread quickly because of a “chimney effect” in nearby spaces and duct work. The 12-hour battle to extinguish the fire injured 37 sailors, one of whom received first- and second-degree burns.

Google overcomes a key sticking point for information professionals.

Official Google Blog: More transparency in customized search results
Today, we’re rolling out a new feature in Google Web Search that will help you better understand how your search results are already customized.

Amen

Sometimes you really just need a good old-fashioned hard copy,

Google LatLong: Power to the print

Israeli government stands accused of … good acting. Of course they’re trying to give the impression that they might bomb Iran … if they did anything else, they would be cutting their own throat.

Political Punch

Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, met with House Democrats yesterday, talking about his trip abroad and his observations.

Obama told the caucus, according to an attendee, “Nobody said this to me directly but I get the feeling from my talks that if the sanctions don’t work Israel is going to strike Iran.” Others in the room recall this as well.

It’s a sign of the continued relative power of the U.S. that countries in Latin America and Africa are getting upset about primarily bureaucratic actions like the activation of 4th Fleet and AFRICOM.

Nimble Books author David Axe will be joining the 4th Fleet next week.

War Is Boring

Two weeks ago the U.S. Navy reactivated the long-defunct 4th Fleet to oversea American warships in South American waters…

And this week, in a letter to Fidel Castro, Chavez accused the U.S. of rekindling the Cold War through its actions down south. “They’re trying … to press the fear buttons,” he said.

But how scary is this? Next week I’ll join the USS Kearsarge amphibious ship for a mission to Nicaragua handing out free medical care.

wfzimmerman's review: "This went immediately to a place of honor on a bookshelf at home. Simply the best movie guide. Our only gripe about Maltin is that he has a bit of a tendency to overvalue action packers and undervalue "weepers"--his 3 1/2 star weeper is usually our 4-star."
Signet (2008), Paperback, 1664 pages

This will be significant if it happens.

Part of what’s going on here is jostling for position in a warming Arctic Ocean. A few Russian carriers in an unfrozen Arctic Ocean would make a difficult challenge for the U.S. and Canada. We would struggle to extend carrier power into an ocean that is literally surrounded by Russian airbases.

Russia to rejuvenate its navy - International Herald Tribune

Russia will build five or six aircraft carrier battle groups in the near future, the RIA news agency quoted a navy commander, Vladimir Vysotsky, as saying at Navy Day festivities in St Petersburg.

“We call this a sea-borne aircraft carrier system that will be based on the Northern and Pacific fleets,” Vysotsky said. “The creation of such systems will begin after 2012.”