PTINS

Now do running backs.

I grew up in Austin, as a Texas Fan, and a Cowboy Fan, and an Oiler Fan. Everybody from Dallas & Houston told me had to pick one or the other. Nope, not going to happen. Dallas drafting Tony Dorsett, and the Oiler drafting Earl a year later was muy bueno. Bottom Line Bud moving the Oilers and Jerry Jones throwing Tom Landry out of a moving car was the other side of the equation. Over time, I came to respect the organizations, as much as the teams or the players. Both Dallas & Houston were easy to dislike. My son played youth football for the Eagles, that won the "Turf Bowl" 5 years in a row, over the ...Cowboys, the chosen ones. Still got the hat. Cut the tags off and wore it last year for the first time. Took it off when the Super Bowl started. Super Bowl teams don't get to draft the best player in college football. Bijan at KC would be ideal (Texas players thrive in KC). Bijan with Hurts and the Eagles would be the best thing for Bijan. Bijan deserves to be drafted by a class organization. Hard to see him going to the Cowboys being the best thing for him. Simply selling jerseys is not the goal. Jerry would fuck it up. You know it. The Eagles have a good organization. Jalen Hurts is an easy man to be a fan of, works hard on his craft. Class act. Easy to see Bijan in a Super Bowl with the Eagles.

From the thread ...

Perhaps the handling of Bobby Taylor burned the Katy-ATM bridge?

FAFO, Mo-Fo!!! Treason: "Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall suffer death, or shall be imprisoned not less than five years and fined under this title but not less than $10,000; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States."

He looks athletic and nimble. Not a fatty. Barrel chest, powerful arms (Damn!). Notice how small the football looks.

carbohydrate ~ hydrocarbon

Damn it!!! I get the analogy, but leave Buddy out of it. Buddy Holly is a Texas Icon, the first high profile musician to adopt the Fender Stratocaster as his guitar of choice, creating the sound that started the British Invasion, influencing The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, among others. I got nothing against Van Halen, but perhaps you might leave Buddy out of it. 😀

... and they rape and murder and steal and destroy everything that others have just because they are too fucking spineless/stupid/ignorant to do anything about it. I read Machiavelli's The Prince with great interest as a freshman, and my core philosophy (catholic upbringing) was much different, that people are basically good. Life is a cruel teacher at times, and my initial beliefs have been challenged time again over the years. Reading this thread, and everything related to it, for the past 400 days, convinced me that Russia and Russians are pure evil, who have no desire to change and fit into civilized society. "Listen, and understand. That terminator is out there. It can’t be bargained with. It can’t be reasoned with. It doesn’t feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until ...." There is only one way this can be allowed to end.

I know lotsa people already commented, but I had to ...

Went to see Eric Johnson at the Paramount last night. Still the God Standard for Austin home grown Guitar Players. I think the first time I saw Eric was with the Electromagnets in the early 70’s. I might have seen him before that at the “Teen Club” at Bergstrom AFB. Always admired his style, just a pure sound, with his fingers effortlessly dancing up and down the neck, very chill… the way Austin used to be. I have had the joy of seeing EJ many times over the years, including 3 times at the Paramount. Eric Johnson is what Mozart would have sounded like if he had access to a Stratocaster, “…too many notes…more than the mind can comprehend? …” Eric Johnson - Cliffs of Dover 1984

We lived in Cinco Ranch in Katy 10 years ago. The only metric that kept CRHS from having the highest possible rating for a public school dealt with "english as a second language, limited english proficiency" type issues. I asked, "What is so hard about finding bilingual teachers?" CRHS had kids that spoke 27 different languages, including 4 or 5 different Chinese dialects. Katy-Cinco Ranch is light complected, (3,000+ kids, whites, hispanics & asians, maybe 2 or 3 kids that speak one of 20 different languages), but beneath the veneer its quite different; I doubt many HS in America have that kind of diversity, though not the numbers. My palate is not as diverse as the demographics, but Houston has always had great restaurants. Every nationality has some type of quality food, and fortunately, food transcends basic prejudices. The other side of the coin; I had no idea how many private schools there were in Houston until I started going to lacrosse games. Much different demographics, and not for the better.

You and me both...

This. Not meant to be CR… As much as I enjoy each of these European Leaders, one after the other, giving well thought out, forceful, and passionate speeches, I wonder where the American counterparts are? Kudos to the ladies for the damn the torpedoes mindset. The Meloni speech? Damn!!! Even if you didn’t understand it, how the hell could you ever disagree with it. Looking forward to the Hitler-esque parody the next time a players or a coach has the inevitable WTF moment.

Thanks for the info. Your highlighted observations are what pushed me to try to get a better understanding. I'm also an armchair general, with a limited understanding of geography and topography in Ukraine. Ukraine knows their backyard better than I ever will, so any failures to understand I have are due to my insufficient knowledge. It seems again, holding the high ground is the key. Russia would need the equivalent of a Pickett's Charge type assault to surround Bakhmut from the southwest. That doesn't keep them from trying. If Russia took Bakhmut and the high ground to the west, there is not a significant geographic barrier to the west for a 100+ miles. Not unlike pouring a pitcher of water on a table, with the only containment of the spread being the volume of water. Now replace the water w/ Russians. Better to keep the cork in place rather than trying to clean up a much larger geographical mess later on. I am hopeful for a successful spring offensive, with refortified troops integrated with new weapons systems. There are parallels to Desert Storm. Clearly not the magnitude, but a necessity to get all the pieces in place, including the logistics tail, before you start. The coalition had all the pieces in the box, they just had to get them out. Ukraine, doesn't have that luxury.

Except no US Armor coming to save the day.

Disregard last map in post.

Bakhmut, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine: The collective posts and comments here are incredibly informative, but left many questions in my mind that didn't connect the dots. Why does Ukraine want to hold Bakhmut so bad? I have taken the liberty to facilitate the discussion and comments related to Bakhmut. So....below are my renderings and Google Earth screen shots of Bakhmut, and the surrounding area. Bakhmut: Red line is the nominal Ukraine-Russia Contact Line, with everything east of the line "held" by Russia. Russia has controlled the 3 sides of Bakhmut for some time, with the sliver to the west controlled by Ukraine. Note the "Bakhmut River", with the tributary to the west, which flows from south to the north. Same map w/ highways. Bakhmut, with the 450' Elevation Line depicting the Bakhmut "valley" and higher ground: The headwaters of the "river" originate in the valleys above the 450' Elevation Line. Everything north of the 450' line area depicted (the straight green line) is a lower elevation than 450', everything west, south and east is higher than 450' (the straight green line is shown for clarity only, this is an open valley descending towards the northeast). Bakhmut, with the 600' Elevation Line (orange line). Bakhmut is in kinda a box canyon open to the north. Bakhmut, with the 750' Elevations: The mains higher elevations to the west, held by Ukraine. The higher elevations to the south and east, held by Russia, are not shown. The highest point I found was 1130', ~ 30ish miles southeast of Bakhmut. 1. Note that almost everything in the valley is within 10 miles of the 750' plateaus to the west. 2. The 750' plateaus to the west are the highest points west for 200+ miles. (Mount Bonnell in Austin is 775' & Lady Bird (Town Lake) is 428'). 3. Note the 600'+ plateau towards the southwest of Bakhmut is mainly cultivated fields, which does rise to ~ 750' towards the base of the triangle towards the southwest. I expect this is where we saw a lot of the videos of Russia vehicular targets along the tree lines and the Orcs/open fodder in the open fields. 4. Bottom line, if you controlled Mount Bonnell and could hit any target in Austin, would you give it up? 5. If you controlled Austin, and were getting shelled from Mont Bonnell on a regular basis, would you stay? 6. Thank you all again for sharing what you know.

This is the reason they call it” March Madness” and not “March Piece of Cake”.

Sweet! Sweet! Sweet! Sweet! Sweet! Sweet! Sweet! Sweet! Sweet! Sweet! Sweet! Sweet! Sweet! Sweet! Sweet! Sweet!

... as compared to the Nuclear Reactor and Containment buildings? The Primary Containment wall of the Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant is ~ 4.5 feet thick with a matrix of #18 Rebar (2 1/4" thick, 13.6 #/foot), 14-16 layers of rebar. Inside this structure is a Secondary Containment building ~ 2 .5 feet thick. Inside this the the Reactor Vessel itself with an 8.5" thick steel wall.

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