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"... why are you guys (Texans) that way?" I moved to Boulder in '93, and was talking with some old, and new, friends and colleagues. I shared stories of my nomadic career in O&G and my kids being born in Oklahoma; how I took some dirt from my mothers home in Austin, put it in baggies, and put it under the hospital bed so my kids could be born on Texas soil. Exasperated, one of my older Colorado friends asked me, "... why are you guys (Texans) like that? You seem normal, until you start talking about Texas, and then, its all about Texas, the biggest this, the greatest that... Why are you that way? Do they teach you that in school?" "As a matter of fact, yes, they do. 7th grade Texas History, everybody takes it." With a blank expression looking back at me, "Oh. .. " "You know, ..., I got to be honest with you. I'm jealous. Every single person I've ever met from Texas acts that way. Every one. I wish I was from a place that everyone felt that way, that had that pride." Many years later, at an industry conference, the same guy was late to a session, walked down the middle aisle, and found a seat on the front row. Later, I was kidding him about his bold entrance, standing out in the crowd. He winked and said, "I learned it from you."
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Me thinks China has been watching too many movies. Loading and unloading 300,000 vehicles for an invasion would be a cluster fuck of epic proportions. It would be more like Dunkirk than Troy in that Taiwan's biggest concern would be not having enough ammo for the turkey shoot. Spending ~ 5 hours bouncing around in a smallish boat so you can go rock climbing, on a volcanic island, loaded with provisions for a military invasion, all while somebody is shooting at you, sounds like a hoot and a half.
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Got me some season tickets today!!! FA, and almost FO.
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Texas Recruiting Notes 2025: Duck Around and Find Out
PTINS replied to texifornia's topic in 🤫$9.95🤫
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China was always gonna win; Russia has no other real geographical choice than to put their teeny 'nads into China's hands. Europe found a reasonable alternative to Russian oil & gas , which is huge. Europe is by far the chosen market for Russian O&G, due to geography, simply supply and demand. That connectivity has been temporarily benched the past 2+ years, but simple economics dictates that it will, and must work. The location of 1 of the 3 worlds largest energy producers proximate to a large population and demand center has to happen. Too much money involved. North America and the Middle East have resources, but no people or demand within their shadows. Russian and Europe is different. China is a demand center, but building a pipeline network from $iberia to coa$tal China is problematic for many reason$, most notably that Ru$$ian ha$ to depend on China and China ha$ to depend on Ru$$ia. There are reasons why Alaska North Slope gas has never been connected by pipeline to the lower 48. For the benefit of everyone, Russian resources must find a way into the market that it is already connected too. That is everyone, except the large LNG producers, the US, Australia & Qatar. Now that Europe has emphatically demonstrated that it doesn't need Russian energy, they will be able to secure that same energy, cheaper than before, under a unified umbrella in a post sanction world. The long term Take-or-Pay contracts of the past will be replaced with interruptible, best efforts contracts, at a fraction of the cost. This will wear the mask of war reparations, must it will smell like a deal that can't be refused. Germany still has that same access to cheap Russian gas, but now it has the EU & NATO as advisors and influencers to future energy agreements with Russia. They are the still the same industrial base, and still the landing point for the Nord Stream Pipelines, but they are not alone anymore in dealing with Russia. At its core, Germany and Germans are efficient. And resourceful. They co-existed with the Comanche's in Texas when nobody else could. And, I like Annalena, their Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs; Brisket? Down Boy!!!
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You can get shot now for not producing electricity - or get shot later for not producing electricity. I’m pretty sure I know which one they will pick. Other comments referenced the 6 Gazprom execs who "suicided" themselves in 2022, probably for recognizing how bad the Special Operation was going to impact selling gas to Europe. Fucked around, Found out.
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From the Newsweek article in the thread; Newsweek.com/russia-gazprom Putin's Crown Jewel Forced Into Fire Sale Amid Record Losses Published May 09, 2024 at 7:38 AM EDT By Brendan Cole Senior News Reporter Gazprom, the energy giant at the heart of Russia's economy, has announced it is selling property in Moscow, one week after posting record losses linked to restricted supplies to Europe linked to Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine. The company said on Wednesday that the properties include office and non-residential buildings, a car parking lot in the capital, and the Imperial Park Hotel and spa sanatorium and resort complex in Rogozino village, just outside of Moscow. "Gazprom is engaged in a fire sale. They had their worst year in decades, and their production has fallen precipitously, down to what it was in the 1970s," said Tom O'Donnell, an energy and geopolitical analyst based in Berlin. "This is a result of a miscalculation by Putin," he told Newsweek. In announcing the real estate sale, Gazprom posted a statement on Telegram next to phone numbers for prospective purchasers. "Taking into account the completion of the relocation of the Gazprom Group companies to St. Petersburg, PJSC Gazprom is announcing its intention to sell real estate in Moscow," the statement said. Until 2023, the majority state-owned multinational energy corporation headquartered in Putin's home city, St. Petersburg, was the world's largest publicly listed natural gas company and Russia's biggest company by revenue. However, last week, Gazprom Group, which also includes oil and power businesses, posted a net loss of 629 billion rubles ($6.9 billion) for 2023, according to Bloomberg, its first loss since 1999. Core profit, or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA), slumped to $7.2 billion in 2023 compared with $25.1 billion in 2022, the agency said. Gazprom has restricted gas flows to Europe amid the Kremlin's retaliation for Western support of Ukraine. Decreasing gas prices due to mild weather, sluggish demand, full inventories, and Western sanctions have also hurt Russia's revenues. O'Donnell, a fellow at the Wilson Center think tank, said that before the full-scale invasion, Russia had supplied Europe with 40 percent of its gas, and Putin had been planning to make the continent more dependent on its energy export. He said that before the war, Putin had cut off gas, mostly through the Nord Stream pipelines and conduits through Belarus and Poland in what was "part of his war strategy." "It was intended to shock Europe and force them into submission with an energy war to prevent their acting in solidarity with Ukraine. To his surprise, this did not happen," O'Donnell said. Gazprom has not published its export statistics since the start of 2023 but Reuters said its calculations showed that the energy giant's natural gas supplies to Europe had slumped 55.6 percent to 28.3 billion cubic meters (bcm) in 2023. Last October, Gazprom said in the first half of 2023 that gas production in the first half of 2023 had decreased by nearly a quarter (24.7 percent) which independent Russian-language news outlet Agentstvo reported was the lowest since Soviet times. From the comments in the article: Russia is going to start having massive problems with power generation. The natural gas fired steam turbines have a very short life expectancy if "minor" and "major" refits are not completed on a 3 and 5 year basis... precision bearings are replaced and drive shafts are checked at theses times as well as numerous other components. I imagine or hope these all are under sanction. If they are, "home building" replacements isn't something that's going to work on these incredibly massive and precise machines. Once these start failing and electrical grid load is transfer to an increasingly small number of them their attrition rate will go up.... and the lights will start to go out. Dozens and dozens of these rebuilds would normally happen on an annual basis in a rotating / staggered fashion. When this next winter hits and the demand is at peak I expect Russia's energy grid to be in worse shape than Ukraines. In the mid 80's, the Exxon operated Blue Water Gas Plant in Louisiana was running at 110% capacity due to record offshore production volumes. Plant owners opted to forego scheduled maintenance (48,000 hrs/5 years) on the GE Frame 5 Gas Turbines (DC 10 engines, ~ 45,000 HP), which would have reduced plant capacity by 33% for ~ 2 months, and cost of ~ $1-2 million. Later, the turbines had a major failure, that lasted 6+ months, at a cost ~ $5+ million. The turbines rotate at 4,670 RPM, driving a gas compressor that moves 350 million ft3/day. The millwrights who do this work, "known as the most highly trained workforce in every industry they serve", are not the same yahoo's Russia has building tank engines by hand. I expect Russia will run the existing equipment flat out until they don't run anymore.
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Russian oil refinery in Tuapse halts operations after drone attack – Reuters Rosneft's refinery in Tuapse, Krasnodar Krai, resumed operations only in late April after a drone attack in early 2024 Vira Kasiyan news editor MAY 17, 2024 TLDR - (In the absence of factual information, I'll make some up.) According to the agency's sources, the plant's liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) production unit was damaged. "There was no black smoke during the fire. That means it was just the gas (LPG) burning," a source explained. Black smoke is indicative of incomplete combustion. Crude oil is heavy, long hydro-carbon chains, with a low vapor pressure that does not vaporize easily and gives off thick black smoke when burned (the vapor burns, not the liquid). When crude is refined, (long hydro-carbon chains are broken into smaller chains), gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, etc are made. Diesel has similar characteristics to crude oil. Gasoline has a higher vapor pressure, ignites easily (explodes), and burns more rapidly. The Natural Gas Liquids are by-products of refining (and Natural Gas Processing). Natural gas (a single carbon) & natural gas liquids (LPG, have between 2-5 carbon atoms) are generally lighter than air. The C2 & C3 vaporize immediately on loss of pressure. Propane (C3) vaporizes immediately on loss of pressure, but the vapor is heavier than air. It lays on the ground until it dissipates, or finds an ignition source.) In a controlled environment, Natural gas (C1, methane), and C2 & C3 combust completely, without smoke. The C4 & C5 vaporize dependent on the "ambient" temperature, but much more quickly when proximate to a fire. They C4 may or not smoke, and the C5 will probably always smoke. In the US/western world, propane (C3) is used primarily for petro-chemical feedstock (to make plastics) and rural residential heating; in Russia, probably just as a feedstock, not sure of domestic fuel use. The C4 & C5 are used as pet-chem feedstock and for motor gasoline blending. If they cannot make the purity products, it probably gets used as fuel. The LPG unit, the towers (between 2 and 4) that separate the purity products, might have been hit and the initial blast with black smoke would have burned quickly and burned itself out with only limited residual vapors burning. If the towers were damaged, the unit is down until replaced/repaired; not likely with sanctions in place. The source believes the refinery could be restarted relatively quickly. "The LPG unit can be bypassed and primary processing can resume. Some of the gas can remain in the oil up to the saturated vapor pressure limit, while the rest can be used for the refinery's own needs – in the refinery furnaces," the source said. Like the old days, when high vapor pressure NGL were kept in the motor gasoline stream, increasing volume (good) but blowing in your face when you unscrewed the gas cap (bad). "Using the rest for refinery needs" means burning it as fuel. The Tuapse refinery, one of Russia's oldest, was built in 1929 and has a capacity of 12 million tons of oil a year. It produces naphtha, fuel oil, vacuum gas oil and high-sulphur diesel fuel. Exports via the nearby oil terminal go to Turkey, China, Malaysia and Singapore. In 2023, the Tuapse refinery processed 9.322 million tons of oil. *(~ 240,000 bbl/day capacity, similar to Conoco-Phillips in Lake Charles)
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Waiting for the sky to fall (Catch all tornado thread)
PTINS replied to Royalfan5's topic in Daily Texan
Prayers. 🙏🙏🙏 -
Waiting for the sky to fall (Catch all tornado thread)
PTINS replied to Royalfan5's topic in Daily Texan
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.- 314 replies
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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."
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