PTINS

Bryce Foster, of the "I'm going to focus on the Shot Put in lieu of Spring Football" fame, came in 12th place at the SEC T&F Championships, finishing 3.19m (10ft, 5.75") behind the winner. Foster won the 6A Shot Put as a HS Senior and was a 5* OL that wanted to come to Texas, but he cowed to his Red-Ass momma and followed her dreams to aggy. He entered the Transfer Portal after being dismissed from the team this spring.

I coached my sons T-Ball team in the late 90's. For the first Coach's meeting, they brought in the Coach from the High School; "This is the way we teach at the HS level, and this is the way we want you to teach." Kids are picking daisy's in the outfield, and we're supposed to turn a 6 year old into Tony Gwynn? Yeah, the Turf Bowl in Rhodes Stadium for Katy Youth Football was kinda' a big deal.

My brother is. Dad was at Chanute in the early '50's.

My bad for trivializing the efforts of the intelligence services into a single sentence. The gathering, analysis, and dissemination of information before the invasion was exemplary. Giving Russia too much credit before the fact, the "Second Army of the World", was an oft used phrase that in hindsight, was in indictment of anybody who believed it, me included. The missile barrage on Day 1 was impressive, but after that... I, like most, was surprised about the effectiveness of Ukraine's response. Said another way, I was more surprised about the Keystone Cop mindset of the Putin's cronies/military leadership, and the repeated missteps that were so crucial in the first few days. I recalled reading about Basher 52 and the rescue of F-16 fighter pilot Scott O'Grady, and his comment, "you want to go in and dominate a situation." Similar mindset in Desert Storm, plan, anticipate and manage the logistics tail before you start, specifically, making sure the front line people have plenty of ammo, fuel & food. The graphic depiction of the air campaign is the poster child for effective planning and organization. I had enough data points to recognize that was not the Russian way. I ignored them and just accepted what I heard and read. Later, I found this thread, and I saw the light. Russia failure to gain air superiority and the fighting at Hostomel Airport were pleasantly surprising. Kinda like recovering the fumbled opening kickoff. Uniforms instead of food tells you everything you need to know. And so much better for humanity. Cyber wars and misinformation campaigns is a way of life today. Invading with tanks is no bueno. Ukraine has earned our respect and deserves our support. Ukraine must win and Russia must lose. This appears to be similar to an administrative role Putin had at one time, that allowed him to funnel money, and ultimately control the oligarchs. Better for Putin and Shoigu, not so much for Russia.

The Eastern European baby boomers grew up knowing and living through the suffering of their parents and grandparents under Soviet Russia's thumb. They've seen and prospered under a different life, no way your getting that toothpaste back in the tube. The EU & NATO recognized that their complacent acceptance of the recent past has put them in a position they don't want to be in. They are increasing defense spending in a manner that they can defend the front lines, in the belief that their allies have their backs, the isolationist behavior of the US be damned. Now, more than ever, the world economy is interconnected as never before, with the causes and effects manifesting in days and weeks rather than months and years. The longer this drags on, the more Europe is at risk, and the higher the probability for economic shocks, which will ultimately gets the US to open their eyes. Ukraine voluntarily gave up their nuclear weapons, based on representations by the powers that be. Given the fucked up non-response by the US in 2014, and our on-again off-again mindset, I don't see many countries compromising their nuclear "security" in the future. Hard to believe that Russia and China would jeopardize their piece of a multi $ Trillion world economy over a few trinkets, but here we are. 100% Ukraines decision. But somebody need to have their back, or it doesn't matter. The US gave Ukraine 3 days, and they are now in year 3. Pretty embarrassing to be that wrong given the amount of "intelligence gathering" in the world. Everyone here knows that US support now costs pennies on the dollar v. defense spending to fortify Europe with a Putin mindset of getting the band back together. If a choice must be made, the red line is preferable to conceding Crimea. The main issue being the line of demarcation is no more significant that a red line on a map. Acceptance of the status quo and waiting for Putin to die is okay, but has implications that Ukraine is going back later to get what is theirs. That means Ukraine "violates" the cease fire, or there was never a real agreement in the first place. So why wait. Now is the time to stop this. If not, it continues to go on forever.

Thanks for posting. Used to see the subs on the Hood Canal with their surface escorts. The A-10s are new. That refinery is ~ 835/1,350 km miles to Ukraine controlled territory, the furthest into Russia that Ukraine has hit a refinery.

I find the "don't do anything until they break the law" scenario with the "stop them before something bad happens" scenario interesting. Setting aside the Constitutional arguments for now... Consider the hypothetical differences between an engineer and a personal injury attorney; consider everything that might happen and have a contingency plan in place to prevent it, or call Thomas J Henry after the fact because someone did not prevent an eventuality that was conceivable and possible. Let someone take over the Harry Ransom Center and compromise its contents, or not? I agree. The broad brush is inefficient, is not uniform, and wastes too much paint v. painting them with a spray wand. The issues with Hamas, including colocating command and control centers under hospitals and schools, is problematic to say the least. "It's like deja vu all over again." I'm all for peaceful protests, but there are huge differences between the mindset of the 1960's and today, and the 1760's and today. A time and place for everything. Marching up Speedway? Go on ahead. Setting up camp in front of the Tower with expressed overtures of taking over the building? Not gonna happen. You cannot allow an outside entity to take over the Tower. Period.

Prayers. 🙏🙏🙏

Before I moved to Tulsa in 1979, my thoughts of Oklahoma were The Grapes of Wrath legacy and going to Texas from 74-79, OU weekends in Dallas, and watching some of the best college football in the history of the sport. I lived in Tulsa, Enid and Edmond (OKC), and traveled and worked all over the northern and western parts of the state, damn near all of which had oil production, and oil & ga$ royaltie$. The Oklahoma Sweet grade of crude is unlike any oil I've seen, looks just like the greenish-yellow Quaker State 10W-40 that comes out of the can. Never saw evidence of the Grapes of Wrath image. On the contrary, the reddest dirt, the bluest skies, and the winter wheat, ... Bartlesville is/was the home of Phillips Petroleum. Ponca City, ~ 70 miles west, is/was the home of Conoco. Much like college towns, these were smallish towns dominated by a single entity, one that everyone owed their livelihoods too. There's a big difference between a town full of young, poor, college students and the homegrown HQ of oil companies that have been around for almost 150 years. Once you accept that you live in a relatively flat, wind swept prairie, the rest of the town is pretty nice. Most of the town has good, well paying, and stable jobs, and to say that Phillips and Conoco supported the towns is an understatement. Though the industry itself is cyclic, the HQ function and the refineries are not. Wind swept prairie? The wind blows hard, all the damn time. Nothing between Oklahoma and Canada but a few barbed wire fences. Got down to -15 °F every year I was there. That was the worst thing about living in Oklahoma. Them SEC boys about to freeze their 'nads off. Going to work for Conoco in Tulsa in 1979 was not one of the mistakes I made in life. Formerly Continental Oil Company, the Hottest Brand Going, recognized that Conoco developed super high octane aviation fuel that powered the allied war effort in WWII. Conoco & Phillips pioneered many things in the oil industry, and taking care of the home folks is one of them. BTW, some parts of Oklahoma are not flat. Candy Loving, from Ponca City, was a co-workers cousin. She was also Playboy's Playmate of the Month for the January 1979 issue and their 25th Anniversary Playmate. Tulsa was similar to Austin; tree covered hills, a river and the lakes that go with it, and a good music scene. Tulsa Time was about 10 years behind Austin. No liquor-by-the-drink, just private clubs. They used to tell me not to go 'there', they were on the wrong side of the tracks; but those are my people! I saw Tom Petty at the Austin Opry House, moved to Tulsa, and saw him at the "Old Lady on Brady". Was there for the Will Rogers Centennial. Enid, OK, (north-central OK) home to Vance AFB, ideal location for pilot training. When I lived in Enid, I drove 71 miles back and forth to Chester, OK (Plant Manager at a gas processing plant). My first week there, we got 14" of snow, and had snow drifts over 10 feet high out at the Plant. Couldn't get my guys out of there, and the snow was too deep for horses. The local grocery store/propane dealer used his snowmobiles to get them out. Who the fuck has snowmobiles in Oklahoma? The propane guy said he did over $3 million/yr selling propane and propane accessories. You'd never know it talking to 'em. There was ice fishing on Canton Lake. The people seemed nice, considering I was from Texas. Maybe being the company man where we spent tons of money had something to do with it. Had one guy call in sick over New Years weekend. He went to see OU in the Orange Bowl. Fuckin' Sooners. I had a commercial job in Edmond (north OKC). Spent my time chasing drilling rigs all over NW Oklahoma, and played golf 3x a week. Good times. Learned two life skills that served me well. Dealing with owners of the small independent production companies was choice. When I "took" them out for lunch, they paid. Good people that might of done some shady shit? That is the Oklahoma legacy. One constant when I was there; if you didn't have a plane reservation on Fridays, you weren't flying on Fridays. Seemed like everybody had money and they were going someplace. I'm 8th generation Texan and both kids were born in Oklahoma. The oldest was born in Enid, on Texas soil. Took dirt from my mothers house in Austin, put it in baggies, and placed it under the hospital bed. Youngest came out so fast I didn't have time to put on scrubs, much less put dirt under the bed. They developed Doppler Radar in OKC. Good for them. They deserve that, and I mean that in a good way. Getting a town by town and road by road update as a tornado was barreling down was traumatic. I used to have the 3 Little Pigs theory about houses and tornados; build your house out of brick and stone. Had one hit a compressor station and twisted the structural steel building into a pile of hot spaghetti. F*ck that. When Twister came out, I took my young kids to see it, as Wakita is close to Enid. Parenting mistake #37. Scarred them for life. Thoughts and prayers for my Oklahoma friends.

and then what? It crosses over to illegal conduct ... the speakers shit went blast (sorry about the mess), ... but its all good, we arrested the speaker. It’s also possible that in 20 or 40 or 60 years, someones kids or grandkids or great grandkids will want protection from anonymous tyrants who jeopardize the safety of innocent people, and the law should have been set up to allow the government to do that. "I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man."

The standard for “the juice is worth the squeeze” is pretty damn high.

I did not mention "speech" in my post. That is the Freedom I cherish the most. You are free to tell my boss he's a fucking idiot, and he is free to fire you. I merely responded to where you might exercise that freedom. The freedom to assemble is provided for, but that does not mean you can do it wherever you want. The right to defend and protect your life and property are also provided for. But like it or not, agree or not, the City of Austin had/has a well known position of choosing not to enforce the law. UT called somebody who would. Will Trump be allowed to have a rally on the steps of the Capitol? Doubtful, but not my decision.

This. A "peaceful" protest, the end result of which was the US Capitol was taken over by a violent mob that assaulted uniformed police officers, and openly sought to apprehend elected government officials. These is a place for everything. Not every place is for everything. Isn't that what witnesses say before things went to shit? It happens somewhere damn near every day. Kids in flip flops protesting? Who cares. Masked people with backpacks protesting? hummm? What's up with that? A large group, students and masked individuals, protesting "against" the most persecuted group of people in the history of the world? Prudent to err on the side of caution. You can say that, after the fact. No way you could guarantee that before it happened. Charles Whitman was a MODEL citizen, until he "occupied" the UT Tower and killed and wounded almost 50 people. Blacklab is moderating a message board. Give him a fucking break. This is a volatile topic that is not borderline CR, it is very much right down the middle CR. Take the CR to the CR, and have at it. Most of the posts here are inflammatory rhetoric, not factual information. Blacklab has deleted my posts that I knew were too heavy CR, and they should have been deleted. I posted them knowing that, I exercised my rights, and Blacklab did the same. I repectfully disagree. Allowing unlawful assemblies of large groups of people, students or otherwise, is putting people and property at risk. Was the protest peaceful? Yes. Was there a significant probability it might not be peaceful? Yes, given what has transpired across the country the past few months. Does the UTPD have adequate resources to "control" the number of people that gathered? IDK, but I'm betting they don't. (One would thing the US Government could protect the Capitol, who knew?) Could this unlawful protest have gone off the rails and become more unlawful to the detriment of all involved? Absolutely. Allowing an unlawful assembly with the potential to take over the university, shut it down, and reduce it to an online educational platform is unacceptable. That is one step removed from just shutting down the university. People protest, get arrested, get released. Some cheer, and others complain. No biggie. The only difference is people bring guns and bombs with them now.

Ukraine is fighting to exist. I'm sure they're fighting by the rules. To be clear, Ukraine targeted Russian oil terminals this week, NOT the oil refineries. The only thing in common is the word oil. Huge, huge difference on the longer term impact of each. Ukraine targeted the Yartsevo Oil Terminal, Smolensk on 4/23/24 and the Talashkino Oil Terminal on 4/24/24. These are not refineries, they are terminals or depots, a series of storage tanks and a means to load/unload railcars and tanker trucks for further distribution. Both of these terminals/depots have smallish storage tanks, less than 50 ft in diameter, (~ 17,500 bbl each, or ~750,000 gallons). Chicks dig the long ball, the media likes big fires. Though the tanks are relatively small, they make big fires, and always make the news, because the news moves oil prices. Yartsevo Oil Terminal, Smolensk Talashkino Oil Terminal This is a screenshot of the Lukoil - Nizhny Novgorod Refinery (~ 340,000 bbl/day) that Ukraine attacked on 3/12/24. This is similar in size to the Conoco Westlake Refinery (~ 250,000 bbl/day) north of I-10 in Lake Charles. There are multiple, individual process units within the refinery, that are related, yet distinct in what they do. The footprint of the Lukoil Refinery is over 5 square miles. Much different than the oil terminals/depots. The largest tanks at Lukoil are ~ 200 feet in diameter, (~ 400,000 bbl each, or ~17,500,000 gallons). That is ~ 1 days production from the refinery. You take out a few tanks, and you burn up a few days production. If you take out the refinery towers, which Ukraine did target the last few months, that is a much different issue. While the refinery has multiple units, the big "crackers" at the start of the refining process may process ~ 30-70% of the refineries capacity. I'm a gas processing guy not oil refining guy, so take this with a grain of salt. US processing facilities are automated to the point that the most things are controlled from a central control from, or a series of control rooms. You look at a screen, you flip a switch or select an icon, and a valve opens or closes, and you move on to the next thing. (When you do routine maintenance, you physically make sure valves are closed, and you chain them so they can't be opened. - Safety First). Automation and centralized control works very well, until someone starts lobbing rockets and missiles at you.) The Russian facilities built by US companies, Sakhalin Island LNG for example, formerly Exxon operated, now Russian, would have state of the art automation. The traditional Russian oil facilities are probably similar in nature to their military equipment, cars, and toilets. Regardless of the technology involved, damaging a refinery has much more effect that simply hitting some storage tanks. Russian oil production is key contributor to the world market. Russian refinery production, not so much. As long as the production makes it into the market place, with or without sanctions, the world oil price is moderated. The Arab oil embargo quadrupled world oil prices, Russia-Ukraine raised them ~ 20%. If Russian oil production was shut off, whole different ball game. Russia is not a big exporter of refined products. Damaging their refineries is much more localized for Russia and not so much the larger marketplace. This impacts Russian's war effort without much impact on others. I would think some of these distinctions played a part in green lighting the longer range weapons that are on the way to Ukraine.

A nugget from my Google News feed ... (can do you unwind a click algorithm?) Gig Em Gazette So, "the top line talent in the receiving room is second to none", and the "need at receiver showed up big time in the spring game." "Noah Thomas' amazing play" - the ball clearly hits the ground. Bryce Foster? FAFO.

FIFY. We need to reduce consumption. There is not a source of fresh water source that can meet the demand. Aquifers are viewed as fresh water oceans; they not. They are static filtration systems with long term, multi year cycle rate. If you shorten the cycle, the water you put in is the same water you take out; unfiltered water. Once we have abundant, cheap energy ..., wake up, you're late for work. It costs what it costs, impacted by inefficiencies in politics, and physics. One is easier to fix than the other. There is a fundamental reason the south was sparsely populated til the 60's, AIR CONDITIONING. A/C follows air and water to sustain life. People tend to settle in places with running water. There is not enough running water between Dallas - Austin-San Antonio to "support" the current demand. Water for drinking is an absolute. Water for recreation and irrigation, and industrial consumption is not. It should be priced accordingly.

The Kazan Aircraft Production Plant in Gorbunov, Tatarstan is 600+ miles/1,000 kilometers from Ukraine held territory.

I did a quick wiki search for my comments. I know we get the remnants from East Texas, Northern Mexico and Pacific Coast storms. I don't wish misery or harm on anyone, but I like the Thunder in my Creek.

I bought Thunder Creek Ranch in 2002, NW of Utopia and west of Medina. A series of tropical storms had dumped ~ 17" of rain over a few weeks that summer and it looked like a tropical paradise. Thunder Creek was the appropriate name for the area, then. I've learned It usually takes a hurricane/tropical storm weather event for Thunder Creek to Thunder, and sadly, those seem to be fewer occasions than when I roamed the 40 acres. Muck like the levels of Lake Medina. Texas has been "hit" by 46 hurricanes/tropical storms since 2000, but only 5 have made landfall between Corpus Christi and Brownsville; Generally, anything east and west of that corridor doesn't impact central Texas, including Utopia and Austin. August 9, 2002 – Tropical Storm Bertha makes landfall as a tropical depression near Kingsville, August 16, 2007 – Tropical Storm Erin makes landfall near Lamar July 23, 2008 – Hurricane Dolly makes landfall at South Padre Island September 8, 2016 – The remnants of Hurricane Newton bring heavy rains to parts of western Texas Late August 2017 – Hurricane Harvey makes landfall on San José Island near Rockport The occasional rain shower keeps things green, but it takes a series of wet years to keep the springs recharged, and the surface water is dependent on consistent localized rainfall, or a named storm. There is no "normal" weather pattern, just the length of time between the transitions of flooding and drought. It is amazing how different the weather is in the country v. Austin, ~ 113 miles as the crow flies. Big difference between the radiant heat sink generated by all the concrete, asphalt, cars and the millions of 98 degree meat popsicles around town and the open country with zero impervious cover. The people are different too. Nobody complains about the water levels while they are sitting in their swimming pools watching the sprinklers watering the grass.

Now that I finished my "No Nukes" No CR rant... The Netflix Series, "Turning Point: The Bomb and the Cold War", is worth watching. Heavy CR slant to the dialogue, but the "factual"nuggets were very informative. The last few episodes are very topical. Simply labeling Putin as a KGB honk is misleading; His early years with a front row seat to the Berlin Wall coming down and the unraveling of the Soviet Union was much more impactful. His long term ties to the St. Petersburg mafia and the oligarchs provides a much better understanding of who and what he is and of the recent history with Ukraine. One thing doesn't change. Putin is pure evil and must be stopped.