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PTINS

Burnt Ends
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Everything posted by PTINS

  1. In the absence of factual information, I'll make some up use my idle time wisely. My GoogleEarth map, showing main railroads in Occupied Ukraine The NE-SW line from Volnovakha-Polohy-Tokmak-Melitopol is the critical supply line to Crimea, and basically everything Southwest of Donetsk. Controlling any portion of the line isolates Crimea by rail, and cuts off any Russian troops to the west from supplies by rail. Same map, zoomed in, showing the main roads & highways, depicting how those smaller towns are choke points of road & rail traffic across Russian occupied Ukraine. Interesting thought on the movement of Russian troops from the flooded Dnieper River. Were they moved far enough east to provide meaningful support or will they be cut off and isolated by advancing Ukraine troops? Pretty much all cultivated farmland from there to the coast, "...I'm ten years burning down the road...Nowhere to run ain't got nowhere to go."
  2. Appears she likes Pearl Necklaces.
  3. Sorry, but not sorry. Every man, woman & child on God's green earth needs to see that picture; it's a clear cut referendum on life. Which side are you on? There is no neutral. You don't get to say "I didn't know" anymore. The fact you opened this thread obligates you to share it with others.
  4. SL, thanks for the thought provoking response. D-Day 2.0 started last night, and I don't want to derail the thread. I am only responding to make it easier to find this tangent later. Perhaps Crown & Anchor is a better forum? My two cent; the US was founded on the principles of Liberty and Freedom (said another way, we ran away from structure and rules until the Pacific Ocean stopped us). We are an infant that adopted a role as protector on December 7, 1941. Everybody else has been fighting over the same shit ... since forever. Two fundamental principles constantly at work, and at conflict; Evolution ... adapt or die ... the strong survive... Slave Ukraini!, and Entropy... the inevitable, natural decay into disorder...Russian warship, go fuck yourself!!! My new desktop says it all ... Good v. Evil, the protector v. the oppressor, Right v. Wrong.
  5. The line at the car wash? Them boys look ready for a stroll across the plains. Pasted from one of the threads. More Kool-Aid, please.
  6. "It Can't Be Bargained With. It Can't Be Reasoned With... And It Absolutely Will Not Stop, Ever... Until You Are Dead!" Sydney, you nailed it, buddy.
  7. SL, I agree with your comments, except this part. I don't really disagree with your point, just the words used to characterize it. Germany & Japan were forced to abandon their imperialist, expansionist aspirations, and funneled that energy inward. Give me some rope here. When you combine ... Recognizing the obvious, that the US Industrial capacity & efficiency won WWII. Worldwide transition from a depression/war economy to the boom from all the babies G&J each peg the meter on work ethic, probably to a fault Industrial capacity far in excess of domestic needs and consumption Minuscule Government spending on Defense, or Korea or Viet Nam or the Cold War Increased Government spending on infrastructure Minimal Corporate expenses associated with a punitive driven legal system Acceptance of more Democratic & Capitalistic ideals The result is an entity that works harder to make a better products at cheaper costs, to the detriment of anyone else, ... two efficient, high functioning economies with export driven growth strategies. Ironically, one thing hasn't changed; they are still dependent on reasonably priced energy imports to make it all work.
  8. Kakhovka Reservoir is ~ 60% of the capacity of Lake Mead, or 13x the capacity of Lake Travis. Kakhovka Reservoir surface area is ~ 832 Sq Miles, ~ 3.4x that of Lake Mead, or 28x the surface area of Lake Travis.
  9. expert reaction to reported attack on Ukraine’s Kakhovka dam It has been reported that the Nova Kakhovka dam in the Russian-controlled area of southern Ukraine has collapsed. Prof Tom Scott, Professor of Materials, UK Centre of Expertise for Uranium and Reactive Metals, University of Bristol, said: “Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant is safe, as the IAEA has said: there is a huge amount of water stored at ZNPP with its own full cooling pond, 18 more backup pools of water and 18 mobile pumping units. It needs very little water because all the reactors have been shut down for more than eight months. Based on our current understanding of the situation, the risks posed by this incident on ZNPP are actually very limited at this point in time.” Dr Mohammad Heidarzadeh, Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering, University of Bath, said: “The Kakhovka dam is one of the biggest dams in the world in terms of reservoir capacity, with an enormous reservoir water capacity of approximately 18 billion cubic meters. For comparison, it is 90 times bigger than the largest dam reservoir in the UK. It is obvious that the failure of this dam will definitely have extensive long-term ecological and environmental negative consequences not only for Ukraine but for neighbouring countries and regions. “From a structural point of view, the dam is an embankment (also known as earthfill) dam which means the dam is basically made of gravel and rock with a clay core in the middle as its water-sealing element. Sadly, these types of dams are extremely vulnerable, and are usually washed away quickly in case of a partial breach. And this is the reason that the dam is already completely washed away." Prof Philip Thomas, Visiting Academic Professor, University of Bristol, said: “The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station is upstream of the Kakhovka dam that has just been blown, and so will not be flooded. The engineers on site should be able to cope with low water levels in the Kakhovka reservoir. There should not be concern for the safety of the nuclear power station at this time.” Dr Mark Wenman, Reader in Nuclear Materials, Imperial College London, said: “All 6 reactors at the plant are in a shut down state. 5/6 of these are in a state known as “cold shutdown” for many months meaning that the processes of radioactive decay in the fuel can no longer heat the water in the reactor vessel. In layman’s terms this means that the reactors are effectively self-sufficient in terms of water needed to cool them and it simply needs to be circulated around the system. The 6th reactor is in warm shutdown state meaning it is a bit hotter and is being used to provide steam for use on site and possibly the local area. Even this reactor will only need minimal cooling however. Overall the risk to the plant or the fuel cooling ponds is very low indeed.”
  10. After Ukraine finishes kicking the stuffings out of Russia, I think their appetite to continue with the old way of doing business is going to be damn near zero. I read about WWII and America's Greatest Generation. We have the luxury and the privilege of seeing Ukraine's Greatest Generation at their best. Beginning with, "I don't need a ride, I need ammunition!", and every day since, Ukraine's resolve has brought out the best in so many others. The effect it has had on the civilized world is something to be appreciated. The leadership of smaller European countries and the EU (Sanna, Kaja, Giorgia, Annalena, Ursula, & others) have stood up and made you listen, shaming the old guard leadership and their dumb-assery western politics, to stop their dicking around and do what's right. That broad coalition of support for Ukraine will continue through Ukraine's reconstruction. The Ukrainians, each of which have made sacrifices for their freedom, in the name of good v. evil, have worked side by side with the best of the best, working with the various NATO militaries. They have clear examples to follow of doing things right, from Prime Ministers to privates (ok, NCO's), and a clear contrast to the old way of doing things. Those skills will translate to civilian life. They are and will be totally dependent on Western support for some time, and I believe they know what and how they have to do things to keep it. I cannot see them backsliding to where they came from. Your welcome. Sanna Marin Kaja Kallas Giorgia Meloni Annalena Baerbock Ursula von der Leyen
  11. Thank you. I knew that water was free flowing out of the reservoir; I didn't realize the earthen were a lower elevation at the ends.
  12. The issue from the meltdown is different from the purpose of the containment building. The melting nuclear mass will heat and melt what ever is below it, until it comes in contact w/ the water (water reservoir a la Chernobyl) or the water table itself. Either scenario ... hot mass of metal + tons of water = explosive steam cloud ...Big Badda Boom ... and release of radioactive material into the air. The US reactor containment buildings were built to withstand a direct hit from a 747, or a catastrophic leak/explosion; ~ 4 1/2 ft thick reinforced concrete with a matrix of ~ 15 (?) layers of 2 1/4" rebar. Note that they have a semi-spherical shape not unlike a pressure vessel, meant to dissipate the energy over a larger area. Whether or not they would contain a full blown meltdown & explosion is not known (Thankfully!!!). Chernobyl & Fukushima containment buildings were square in shape and appear to have much less reinforced concrete than the US version. More protection than a Walmart building, but neither one came close to containing the explosions within. The Zaporizhzhia Reactor containment buildings look to be a combination of the two, more robust than C & F. But Soviet design and construction, so all bets are off. From what I read on the posts & threads here, it appears the higher water level in the reservoir is absolutely necessary during the power generation/cooling of the operating reactor, but is not as critical when the reactors are not operating. Photo's indicate a smaller contained reservoir proximate to the reactors that would suffice for maintenance cooling, as long as the reservoir is replenished, and used properly for its intended purpose. With the Russkies in control of it, that's not a given. The Addicks Reservoir and Barker Reservoir were constructed in the 1930's to prevent downstream flooding of Buffalo Bayou in the City of Houston ("...to prevent Houston from washing into the Gulf"). Addicks Reservoir is formed by an earthen dam ~ 12 miles long with a 12-foot-wide gravel road along the top of the dam. During Hurricane Harvey, the Corp of Engineers opened the Addicks flood gates, which started the flooding along Buffalo Bayou. Eventually, the water level in Addicks topped the dam spillway, causing uncontrolled flooding downstream, as well as upstream of the dam. Everything in Cinco Ranch (8,000+ acre planned development) upstream of the Reservoir was built at an elevation above the Addicks Dam spillway, which infers that it would never flood. Harvey's 40+" of rain resulted in a water level higher than dam spillway, flooding a significant part of Cinco Ranch upstream of the dam. Russia intentionally lowered the lake level for some time, before closing the gates and letting the lake fill to higher than normal levels. Russia would have had access to the upstream and downstream sides of the dam, as well as the inside of the dam itself. Blowing shit up is easy.
  13. time to "Start the Music"
  14. From an economic perspective, it is an absolute disaster for Russia. They had a bottomless cash cow, and they shot it in the head. With the caveat that you never get involved in a land war in Asia, nobody is going to invade Russia and annex their lands, meaning nobody is going to take their mineral resources. Russia's was the largest Oil & Gas Exporter in the World, with total exports of ~ $200,000,000,000/yr, roughly $130 Billion in oil and $70 Billion in gas. Europe was the perfect trading partner for Russia, with limited production and a common border, and imported ~ 70% of Russia's export $, or ~ $130 Billion worth of Russian O&G. Keep in mind that Russia's gross proceeds and net proceeds are different than US O&G companies, as they are not burdened with production and severance taxes, they don't pay royalties (except some bribes maybe?), pay for permits, wrestle with the EPA, OSHA and countless other governmental regulations, they don't pay for right-of-way and damages incurred during construction, and they are not fighting against 100's of organizations who sole purpose in life is to make sure they never drill another oil & gas well anywhere at any time. They won't get expertise from Exxon, Shell & Conoco anymore, so replacing US technology with "Made in China" will affect on-line performance. Where domestic O&G companies has profit margins in the 5-10% range, Russia's are maybe 80%. That will never be replaced. Over time, the production will find its way into the market, but at a much different price point. I expect war reparations Russia pays to Ukraine will take the majority of that revenue for a some period of time, and after that, Russia will be a secondary supplier to Europe and left to deal with China & India. How will Russia replace that revenue, Vodka and mail-order-brides?
  15. Question for Surly: I have taken the liberty of plotting various Ukraine targets within the past few weeks. I have omitted the targets within occupied Ukraine for clarity. Take all this with a decent size block of salt. The targets to the SE proximate to the Black Sea are small refineries and storage terminals, which are self explanatory. Belgorod area is Ukraine, "Slava Ukraini", as well as Russia v. Russia. The targets in Russia east of Belarus are interesting; haven't seen a lot of detail on what exactly was targeted/hit, but just the geography indicates an effort to compromise infrastructure (airbases, rail, power, etc?) between Belarus & Moscow, ~ 180 miles away from Ukraine proper (blue line), well away from the Uk-Ru front lines. Ukraine, overt or covert? Russia v. Russia? Isolate Belarus? Pull Russia troops away from Ukraine? The Iraqi mind fuck? Thoughts?
  16. Logistics vessels USNS Fisher and USNS Bob Hope on the move from Puget Sound. Class and type: Bob Hope-class roll on roll off vehicle cargo ship Displacement: 62,096 tons full Length 951 ft 5 in (290.0 m) Beam 106 ft (32.3 m) Capacity: 300,000 sq ft (28,000 m2) ~ 3 large Walmarts USNS Fisher Conducts Onload USNS Fisher Conducts Onload By Mass Communications Specialist 1st Class Tacoma, Wash. – The USNS Fisher (T-AKR 301) conducted an onload at the Port of Tacoma May 17th to the 24th. The onload was an integrated effort between US Army Reservists and ... The joined forces onloaded various pieces of equipment including Strykers, Load Handling Systems (LHS), and Joint Light Tactical Vehicles (JLTV). “What we’re doing here is not uncommon, we do about a dozen or more of these missions every year,” ... “What makes this evolution unique is the size of it.” In this particular evolution the ship is moving more than triple the pieces that is normal for this type of evolution. “We are moving the most amount of pieces in one port in a very long time,” “You have the Army, the Navy, and what I call the 5th arm of defense, the Merchant Marines working hand in hand together to fulfill the mission, which is logistics,” ... “I think it’s impressive. Without Logistics our armed forces could not be successful.” Most of the pieces of equipment will go to Australia to support Exercise Talisman Sabre.
  17. I didn't realize Solovyov was so short til I saw the picture of him and his basketball playing wife. Seeing that little sawed off mofo standing in the middle of normal sized people really puts his rant in perspective. Exhibit 231459 of "small man syndrome." Queue the Putin holding a Solovyov marionette gif.
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