Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2017 July 31

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July 31

What did Curtis LeMay say about the attack on the USS Liberty?

Curtis LeMay had retired shortly before the attack, so I presume he was still engaged and knowledgeable. Also, since he was an opponent of defense secretary Robert Macnamara, I wonder if LeMay voiced an opinion.184.169.45.4 (talk) 03:25, 31 July 2017 (UTC)

Are you talking about USS Liberty (AGTR-5)? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 06:59, 31 July 2017 (UTC)

yes — Preceding unsigned comment added by 144.35.45.79 (talk) 22:20, 31 July 2017 (UTC)

I'm not finding anything in newspapers.com about it. That's not an all-encompassing newspaper collection, though. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 00:47, 1 August 2017 (UTC)

LeMay and the USS Liberty are both targets for conspiracy theorists (who claim that the US paid Israel to attack the USS Liberty), so if you do find anything, it is very likely that it will be completely made up by some idiot. 209.149.113.5 (talk) 12:31, 1 August 2017 (UTC)

I expected that if Lemay had anything to say, he would have said he was not happy about the attack. Why anyone would ask him what he thought is another matter. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 13:20, 1 August 2017 (UTC)

• • Maybe no one ever in history has ever needed to ever say anything, because we could just ask you what you expect they would have said...but LeMay knew a lot, he was blunt, he might have been pretty pissed at Johnson and MacNamara, and the Liberty attack was strange-I asked this question because I thought if LeMay said anything it might be more than gee what a shame, I'm not happy about it. I thought he might have guessed what really happened and bluntly said what that was. I think an investigating reporter generally contacts disgruntled former employees-that's why someone might ask LeMay. (Of course, that's if the whole thing wasn't just a huge mistake). I hope this helps your comprehension.2602:306:CFC8:DDB0:5D83:F8D9:BF49:E274 (talk) 00:33, 6 August 2017 (UTC)

I also wouldn't say it was shortly before the attack. Curtis LeMay retired in February 1965 and was essentially forced from relevance because he lost the trust of McNamara. Over two years later, it seems unlikely that anyone would have sought his council on such a matter. He wasn't in public life much; the Republicans courted him for a few political offices, which he politely declined. He did come back to public life to be George Wallace's 1968 running mate on the racist American Independent Party ticket in 1968 but that came a over a year after the Liberty incident. Between 1965 and 1968 he kept a pretty low profile. --Jayron32 14:44, 1 August 2017 (UTC)

TM

What does the abbreviation TM means?

In the following text:

Genesee and Wyoming: Rail Flaw Detection: 18,900 TM’s, Geometry Testing: 14,300 TM’s, Vegetation Control: 16,000 TM’s in 2017.

It seems to be a unit of length. Terameter is not correct, that would be too much. The same for track miles. (Genesee and Wyoming owns a total of 14,800 miles in north America)

--Semmeringbahn (talk) 09:43, 31 July 2017 (UTC)

Where is that text from? I can't find it in the article. Iapetus (talk) 10:17, 31 July 2017 (UTC)

It's from 2017 NRC conference presentation--Semmeringbahn (talk) 11:44, 31 July 2017 (UTC)

Can you link to the source, please. It's rather hard to work out what something means without seeing the original context. Iapetus (talk) 10:01, 1 August 2017 (UTC)

It may still be track miles. G&W may own 14800 track-miles outright, but it may also lease other tracks and/or may have maintenance contracts on them. No other abbreviation makes sense in this context. --Jayron32 11:59, 31 July 2017 (UTC)

But they don't will control the whole network in one year, or do they? Two ideas, if it's not a length unit: track machines or team members (but the number is always too high). What do you think is they most obvious?--Semmeringbahn (talk) 12:19, 31 July 2017 (UTC)

I think it is track miles of maintenance work. Since some maintenance work on some tracks will be done more than once a year (e.g., G&W claim to do Rail Flaw Detection quarterly on some tracks), the annual number may actually exceed the track miles operated. No longer a penguin (talk) 12:34, 31 July 2017 (UTC)

It may refer, not directly to track maintenance operations performed, but perhaps to a Track Maintain form that is filled out when remedial work is deemed to be necessary by an inspector or by technical evaluation. Akld guy (talk) 00:58, 2 August 2017 (UTC)