Tracking Russia's Northern Fleet; Memo To Self: Check On This Building In Seven Years -- October 24, 2016

Updates

October 25, 2016, 3:40 p.m Central Time: the flotilla is a few hours away from Gibralter; still along the southwest coast of Portugal.
 

Original Post

 

Interested in tracking Russian's Northern Fleet headed for Syria?

You can even watch the Russian flotilla by tracking the transponder signal from the Nikolay Chiker, a helpful little tug which travels with the malfunction-prone Admiral Kuznetsov in case she breaks down. On the morning of October 22, 2016, the tug was steaming southwestward out of the English Channel.

I can't make this stuff up. It really works. When you get to the linked site, track "Nikolay Chiker." It looks like it is off the coast of Portugal. Could be wrong. I'm new at this.

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A Big Story

Something tells me this is going to be a big story.

Ask yourself: "Leaning Tower of Pisa, 16 feet, over how many centuries?"

Ask yourself: "How often do you know your putting is off in a brand-new high-rise because the building is tilting?"

Something tells me this is going to be a big story.

If this were in the Enquirer, I would blow it off. But this is an AP story.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Pamela Buttery noticed something peculiar six years ago while practicing golf putting in her 57th-floor apartment at the luxurious Millennium Tower. The ball kept veering to the same corner of her living room.

Those were the first signs for residents of the sleek, mirrored high-rise that something was wrong. 

The 58-story building has gained notoriety in recent weeks as the "leaning tower of San Francisco." But it's not just leaning. It's sinking, too. And engineers hired to assess the problem say it shows no immediate sign of stopping.

Completed seven years ago, the tower so far has sunk 16 inches into the soft soil and landfill of San Francisco's crowded financial district. But it's not sinking evenly, which has created a 2-inch tilt at the base - and a roughly 6-inch lean at the top.

The good news, the building was completed seven years ago, during the Obama administration, so I guess it can't be blamed on George W. Bush:

Several documents involving the downtown building were leaked in recent weeks, including exchanges between the city's Department of Building Inspection and Millennium Partners, the developer. They show both sides knew the building was sinking more than anticipated before it opened in late 2009, but neither made that information public.

In a February 2009 letter, a chief buildings inspector, Raymond Lui, wrote to the tower's engineering firm to express concerns about "larger than expected settlements." He asked what was being done to stop the sinking and if the building's structural safety could be affected. 

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And Then He Kissed Me, The Crystals