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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. 😀
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... 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.
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I know lotsa people already commented, but I had to ...
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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
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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.
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You and me both...
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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.
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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.
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Disregard last map in post.
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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.
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[SWEET SIXTEEN BOUND] Texas vs Penn State - NCAA Tourney round of 32
PTINS replied to shadow_operative's topic in Basketball
This is the reason they call it” March Madness” and not “March Piece of Cake”. -
[SWEET SIXTEEN BOUND] Texas vs Penn State - NCAA Tourney round of 32
PTINS replied to shadow_operative's topic in Basketball
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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Go to 1:35...
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This is based on 2021 Data, during the period of the peak Covid impact. That distortion is not necessarily representative of the "normal" US GDP. The whole sale shut down of the oil & gas industry, with negative oil prices, had a severe negative impact on Texas. The tech companies plugged into the "work from home" dynamic was a short term economic boom that bridged a couple of years. Overall, the data is somewhat representative of the GDP distribution across the country, but Covid had a significant impact on the discreet metro area GDP's.
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Thanks for the info! Re: 360,000 shells/month. By my way of thinking, that translates to 360,000 targets, ~ 100,000 hits, casualties or mobile targets, plains, trains, & automobiles, tanks, artillery pieces, APC's, Ammo dumps, HQ, etc. What is a reasonable expectation of shells fired to targets hit? When I saw this I immediately thought of M777 howitzers and smart 155 mm shells delivered within 10 feet of the target. Theses must be but a small part of the total. I guess across a 500 mile front, that translates to 24 shells/per mile/per day. Staggering numbers when you think about it. I'll hang up and listen.
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We lived near Boulder many years ago and came back to Austin once or twice a year. When you are coming south, after you go through Raton Pass, the mountains open up and you can see the plains of NE New Mexico & the Texas Panhandle below. It always reminded me of a scene from The Lion King, with the fertile flats, bathed in sunshine, running towards the horizon. “The only thing I like about New Jersey is the view it has of Manhattan.” I have been all over Texas, and the only place it looks like that is from that part of New Mexico.
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Yes! Thunder Creek Ranch (my avatar) is near Utopia, 1 hour away from the Walmarts in Hondo, Uvalde or Kerrville. A few years after we bought the place, ~15 years ago, I was redoing the interior of the small ranch house and had an electrician doing work late one Saturday. I got to thinking the little grocery/hardware/deer processor store was closing within the hour and we better get there quick or were gonna be SOL. When we got there, the door was locked and it was dark inside, so we went around the back where they took the deer in. The guy let me in the regular store and told me to just grab whatever I might need, bring the rest back when I was back in town, and we would settle up on what I used. So I did. Neighbors have help me out with all kinds of stuff. Last election, we went into town, and damn near every plot of land had a Trump banner, flag or sign of some type. No surprise to me. The only issue I've ever had is the aggy who damned up the creek upstream of me. I never asked, but I wouldn't characterize them as racist. They all use, and appreciate immigrant labor. And they all have guns. These are some hard working people, that give an honest days work every day, and don't expect anybody to give them anything, yet they come out of the cracks when somebody needs help, or some assistance. I tell every body that comes out there to be careful, that everything out there will bight you, sting you, scratch you, or poke you, that everything out there is tougher than you are because it survives in a very harsh environment, and that the life-flight helicopter comes from San Antonio. They damn sure don't need anybody telling them how to live their lives.
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I remember moving to Houston in the 1980, working with some of the best & the brightest from all over the country, who were surprised Houston had so many trees. It is was ~ 10% humidity from being a tropical rain forest, but the image of Texas was tumbleweeds and cattle ranches. When they came to Austin, they were surprised by the hills and wondered why we didn't have ski slopes. duh!!! All you need to grow wheat is a relatively flat landscape void of trees, cold weather and warm weather. Which is damn near everywhere above and below the tropics. Everybody can grow it, but not everyone needs to export it. Export #'s mask the true supply & demand. Corn >> wheat, in margins, I would guess. A bag of deer corn was $2.88/50# in 2002. It's about $12/50# now, thanks to ethanol regulations. Cost of a loaf of bread never entered my mind. Clearly Russia/Ukraine wheat to the MIddle East is much cheaper than US or Australia. The winter wheat from the Red River to Canada, ...
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Queue Garry Kasparov, "What's the worst thing about being so intelligent? I understand things so clearly, and others don't." I look at my own life experiences, and try to project that against how the "average" American views things. Right or wrong, I would characterize the collective mindset as "it doesn't really concern me, so ..." I was an Air Force Brat and spent my early life on remote AFB's. Back then, most of what I knew I read someplace, not much broadcast news, and my real world life experiences were limited. Growing up in Austin in the late 60's was enlightening to say the least, the contrast behind a very structured life on an AFB v. the unbridled energy & passion challenging the establishment, especially with LBJ in the White House and Frank Erwin commanding UT (anti-war protests, tree huggers, and thank god, hippy chicks). I remember watching the news every day, seeing the Viet Nam casualty reports, and thinking "we're kicking their ass." Years later, when my older brother got his draft number, and his friends got drafted or went to Canada, after attending a vet/friends funeral, shit started getting real. I graduated HS in the 70's in Austin, and went to school with some kids that had never been outside of Texas, and a lot whose fathers went to Viet Nam. I stood along side Presidential Blvd at Bergstrom to watch LBJ's procession, seemed like every general in the US Military came to town. Nixon resigned on my 18th Birthday. That was a sliver in time where very few people had any desire to join the military and "Serve their Country." By the time I left UT, right after 3 Mile Island and the Iranian Revolution, I was more educated, questioned my past and confused about the future, or confused about my past and questioning my future, with a somewhat jaded view to not take anything at face value (American Interests?). Traveling, and learning, as an adult, crystalized many things for me. Are you from Texas? Kinda, 8th Generation, Land Grant family from the Crown of Spain. The Jefferson Memorial; "I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man." Having Au Pairs, travels to Europe, staying with our German Au Pair in a village 30 miles from Belgium; The rural Germans are the hardest working, most resourceful people I've ever been around, (if a cow takes a dump, there is a farmer standing behind it with a shovel), and unfortunately, devoid of any quality leadership for the past 100 years. Paris. If WWII Paris looked like Bakhmut or Mariupol, that would have been the greatest tragedy in the history of Mankind. Seeing their Statue of Liberty kinda put all that "... never fired, dropped once..." shit to bed. Bingo on the pay it forward! Translating all that to Ukraine, makes me want to take my 60+ year old ass and my 30.06 and go fuck up some Russians. Ok, lighten up Francis. Better to fire up the BUFF's! Thank you all, again and again. Your collective knowledge, insight, and experiences, and humor, make my day. Slava Ukraini
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I read it on the internet, so it must be true... Fascinating thread. What a black hole!!! It follows an alleged truck cargo from Odesa, Ukraine to Romania to Bulgaria to Georgia to Armenia to Georgia to Russia to Kerch Bridge ... Boom. May be 100% fiction, but like a Clancy novel, it just pulls you in ...
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