PTINS

This. I love America not so much for what it is, but for what it aspires to be. Sell the promise? That happened long ago ..., the internet amplified it. The daily freedoms we enjoy that so many take for granted are recognized around the world, not so much for the scars and warts we have, but as a contrast for what many around the world don't have at all, and want. The simplest of things, basic freedoms. "I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man." - Thomas Jefferson It seems the next step is to wreck the Crimea land bridge supply lines. Once the rail is compromised, Russian supply & logistics is fubar, and the Russian territory will eventually collapse from within like a black hole, similar to Kharkiv, Izyum & Kherson.

Great day for some football. See y'all in a few hours.

Great news on your mother. That dwarfs any sports related event! That said, my Saturday was pretty okay: Sunrise at Thunder Creek Ranch, Utopia, Texas Son got him a 10 point buck at sunrise Aggy loses ugly, again... I Lee Harvey'd ~ 150 lb wild pig at sunset, fresh venison & pork Texas beats K-State on the road (really happy to see Coburn find the beast within) Houston Astro's (Go 'stros!!!) spanked the Phillie's and are World Series Champions, again .... I don't usually get sprinkles on my ice cream, but the other losers on Saturday, OU, Tech, Okie State, and Arkansas, Alabama, Tennessee & Clemson

Growing up in the late 60's-early 70's, I made a personal judgement that Democracy works for an educated populace. That was also premised on a belief that an educated populace, when given a choice, will do the right thing. It's hard to admit how flawed my thinking was. I confused education w/ making reasonable and logical choices. We have an "educated" society that doesn't have the deductive reasoning to spell cat if you spotted them the the "c" and the "a". Unfortunately, that's not the worst part. The realization that so many people will make a conscious choice to do what they know is "wrong" is ... um ... sad.

FIFY Really? "There are no absolute truths in science, so yes there are such things as multiple truths, we just may not know it yet." That is probably the most ignorant thing I have ever read. Multiple truths? I'm guessing you weren't a science major. Taking selective information that supports a preconceived notion, while ignoring other information that refutes that preconceived notion, is not science. That flawed thinking and reasoning is why ill informed people believe there are versions of the "truth".

Call it what you will, but the market cap of the just the FAANG stocks has risen almost $3 Trillion in ~ 20 years. A significant portion of that value increase is shared by the majority of pension funds, 401k's, and numerous individuals who have chosen to invest in these particular stocks. Those "obscene corporate profits" have resulted in a proportionate increase in stock value, meaning each individual investor has realized a proportionate increase in their investments. One share of Apple in 2006 was ~ $35/share, and has split 7 for 1 in 2014 and 4 for 1 in 2020, giving you 28 shares from your original 1 share. Your $35 original investment in 2006 is worth over $4,000 today. Perhaps characterizing a 100 fold increase in value as a trickle is not the correct term.

I'll play. First post on CR, I think, and I only read the last 3 pages... What happened in 2000? I used to think that Y2K was the reason for so many ills in our economy in that it gave the IT community access to the highest levels of corporate America. Over time, I realized that innovation and riding the tech wave increased our efficiency in damn near everything, resulting in much higher productivity and ultimately, corporate profits. I never saw the cost/benefit of paying 4X for an Apple computer over a Microsoft based clone. Still don't. I took my high school age son shopping at the Apple store in 2006, and was overwhelmed by so many happy people who couldn't wait to tell me about their great products. Didn't buy anything that day, but I bought Apple stock the next day. Ding, Ding, Ding!!! WINNER!!! Over the last 10-15 years, I migrated from investing in Oil & Gas (my profession) to high tech ($$$). Apple was making train loads of cash with iphones (no risk) v. O&G, which is arguably the highest risk profession there is. Taking Oil & Gas, boosting it to high pressure, and putting a fire under is the definition of risk. Fast forward, and over time, my salary, the "Labor Share" on the graph, was secondary to my investment earnings (savings, 401k, IRA, Roth, etc.), the "Profit Share" on the graph. That statement probably holds true for everyone who is not dependent on a government paycheck. Every pension fund, not government related, his heavily invested in the stock market, and every contributor to every pension fund is by definition, invested in the stock market. Corporate Profits are not a bad thing. Those profits trickle down to individual investors and pension funds, who pay their share of taxes. So, the solution is call the Tech company management before congress, and ultimately, kill the geese that were laying golden eggs. Well done. Re: stimulus checks. Lets see, Covid disrupts everything, people can't/don't work, supply chain issues, same amount of people chasing fewer goods and services, supply and demand fundamentals go to work, and prices start rising. Some people, those forced out of the workplace, needed help. I get that. But a lot (most?) of people didn't, they were able to work remotely. But everyone got a check, whether they needed it or not. Inject Trillions of $$$ into a supply challenged economy, and now we have a whole lot more money chasing good and services that were already in high demand, superheating the economy, and inflation explodes. Combining those two events, crushed profit margins and out of control inflation, and we went from our best economy ever to dogshit in a few short years. I got a few $ from my stimulus checks in return for my life's savings getting crushed. Whoppee shit! I think that applies to most of America.

In my opinion ... I would agree that the Nordstream explosion appears to be internal rather than external. Explosion as in man made detonation and not a "natural" leak/rupture followed by detonation. I have seen "normal' pipeline failures and explosions but am not familiar with the details of a pipeline intentionally blown up. The "missing piece" of pipe on Norstream is more indicative of an explosion that cut the pipe in a circumferential direction rather than a longitudinal direction, maybe in two different places. With easy access, this could be done from the outside. The deep water location is not easy access and would require time and equipment, first to expose the buried pipelines lines just to gain access, and then to place the explosive charges. That type of activity would have been noticed. If there was a valve assembly of sorts above the sea floor, an external explosion becomes more probable. Nordstream 2 is huge, two pipelines with a total capacity of 5.3 BCF (Billion Cubic Feet) of gas per day, roughly half of the US LNG capacity. Each pipeline is made of 100,000, 12m-long individual steel pipe joints, with 24t (tons?)in concrete weight. The internal diameter of the pipeline is 1,153mm (45 in) and the wall thickness is 41mm (1.6 in). Not quite a "gun barrel" pipe, but that's a big ass piece of iron. Pipeline leaks/ruptures look similar, with the initial cause of the leak affecting the appearance. A corrosion related leak starts with a pinhole; once the integrity of the pipe is compromised, the leak propagates until eventually there is a catastrophic rupture. Whether or not there is an explosion will determine what the site looks like. Without an explosion, the pipeline still has continuity, there is just a big gap in it. A mechanical failure, like a bad weld at a pipe joint, looks different, like the pipe was simply cut in half. Similar action; a pin hole leak at the weakest point, with the leak/crack propagating circumferentially along the weld, until it separates and ruptures. This is a really cool picture! Bernoulli's fluid principle: PV=nRT. A rapid drop in pressure has a proportional rapid decrease in temperature. I remember a similar pipeline rupture w/o an explosion on a natural gas liquid pipeline; I could feel the temperature dropping as we got closer to the pipeline, and we didn't get very close!!! Same principle as a thermobaric weapon. Explosions are ... the most exciting thing to make the evening news. Big orange fireballs. Gas will leak until the leak is stopped, disperses, or until it finds an ignition source. The explosion itself will rip the pipe wide open, so you have a full diameter pipeline leak at pressure, ~ 1,OOO PSI (lbs/square inch), burning with enough heat to melt steel and turn dirt into glass. Nordsteam appears to have had an explosion that ripped the pipe in pieces, but didn't have a fire that would have melted the steel. Hard to imagine an explosion that could rip apart a 1.6" thick, concrete coated, pipeline. Pipeline "pigs" were used initially just to clean out pipelines, commission new pipelines (use a pig in a pipe to separate the fluid in front of the pig (water or nitrogen) from the fluid behind the pig, the fluid paying the bills (oil, gas, gasoline, diesel, etc.), or to just separate two different fluids . Over time smart pigs were developed in the 70's-80's with instrumentation to measure metal thickness, corrosion, etc. (I have no idea how far technology has progressed since my training program.) Suffice it to say that it would be relatively easy to rig a very complicated bomb, place it in/on a pig, move it where you want it, and blow it up.

Thanks for posting.

That's ~ 15 miles of trucks lined up.

Enjoy looking at #3 on the field while you can ... Reposted from another thread..., with a few edits. The collective offensive talent Texas puts on the field is as good as any that has ever graced the 40 acres. Ewers, Bijan, Whittington, Sanders & Banks (the 5* guys) w/ a side of Roschon, Worthy, & Robinson #2, and a few things that haven't finished marinating yet. The imagination and play calling of the offense for an entire game is off the charts compared to anything else that has been here. The combination of those has yet to fully mature. Remember, Colt had been throwing to Shipley for 10 years. Quinn's only had 1st team reps for a few months. A lot of the "OU playbook" was under wraps until last week. There is no substitute for reps between the QB and receivers. Bijan; "...he ain't going to throw it...get open, man ... here it comes...catch it", or Whittington's enthusiasm when talking about QE's calm demeanor and confidence. There will come a time when their response will be "...oh, ...yeah... he does that all the time!" It reminds me of when a reporter watched a Troy Aikman-Dallas Cowboy practice and reflected that he didn't remember a pass ever hitting the ground, and a staffer replied "that happens a lot". Wait 'til Ewers has had hundreds of reps w/ all the receivers. QE has played in parts of 3 games. Big arm? "You got a gift. When you were a baby, the Gods reached down and turned your right arm into a thunderbolt." But he has so much more; Anticipation. Awareness. Unreal ball placement. Attitude. Humble beyond belief. The video of him trotting out of the Cotton Bowl tunnel, looking around, taking it all in. He was born for this. Ewers is young and has some lessons to learn. Other good coaches that watch game film. LB's and DL that are faster than he is. DB's that have the same awareness and anticipation. He has already faced adversity, and his response was admirable. "You take good care of this boy of yours Mister Sarkisian, because if you drop him, you'll not find another like him."

Maginot Line 2.0? That mindset is damn near 100 years old! "The Maginot Putin Line had two major failings – it was obviously not mobile and it assumed that the Ardennes Ukrainian farmland was impenetrable. Any attack that could get around or over it would leave it floundering like a beached whale."

Brisket, You Rock!!! "I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man." - Thomas Jefferson The guiding principle that is my foundation. Sometimes it's hard, and I have some scars to prove it, but some things are worth fighting for, whatever the cost.

The collective offensive talent on the field as good as any that has ever graced the 40 acres. Ewers, Bijan, Whittington, Sanders & Banks (the 5* guys) w/ a side of Roschon, Worthy, & Robinson #2, and a few things that haven't finished marinating yet yet. The imagination and play calling of the offense for an entire game is off the charts compared to anything else that has been here. The combination of those has yet to fully mature. Remember, Colt had been throwing to Shipley for 10 years. Quinn's only had 1st team reps for a few months. A lot of the "OU playbook" was under wraps until last week. There is no substitute for reps between the QB and receivers. Bijan; "...he ain't going to throw it...get open, man ... here it comes...catch it", or Whittington's enthusiasm when talking about QE's calm demeanor and confidence. There will come a time when their response will be "...oh, ...yeah... he does that all the time!" It reminds me of when a reporter watched a Troy Aikman-Dallas Cowboy practice and reflected that he didn't remember a pass ever hitting the ground, and a staffer replied "that happens a lot". Wait 'til Ewers has had hundreds of reps w/ all the receivers. Quinn Ewers has played in parts of 3 games. Big arm. Unreal ball placement. Anticipation. Awareness. "You got a gift. When you were a baby, the Gods reached down and turned your right arm into a thunderbolt." Ewers is young and has some lessons to learn. Other good coaches that watch game film. LB's and DL that are faster than he is. DB's that have the same awareness and anticipation. "You take good care of this boy of yours Mister Sarkisian, because if you drop him, you'll not find another like him."

Love this play from Sark & Quinn. Pre snap, he reads the safety following the motion, vacating the middle and leaving Worthy outside 1 on 1. He knows where the ball is going. As he fakes to the RB, he sets his feet in anticipation of the pass to come. Play fake, feet are set, quick set up and release, Touchdown Texas! Now that's a Quarterback.

I think Alabama was the loudest game. (Sat in N. end zone, second deck) Ricky's Run was loudest sustained moment. (Stood on East side, ~ 30 yard line, ~ 20th row.) Ricky's run started loud, and got louder as be broke through the line, and just got louder and louder 'til he scored, like Marty McFly cranking the giant amp to 11. Boom!

choose ... chose ...

Yes!!! 1977 was my 4th Tex-OU game. Earl Christian Campbell and I were both freshman in 1974 and lived in Jester East; he was a god-like physical specimen of a man, and I was not. Earl was highly recruited and very well known in Austin, having led John Tyler to the High School Championship over Austin Reagan in 1973. Reagan won the prior Championships in '67, '68, & '70. In 1974, time and again, Earl disappeared as he went into the middle of the OU line, just getting swallowed up by OU's defense. OU won 16-13. In 1975, with OU leading 24-17 late in the 4th quarter, OU faced a 3rd & 8 from their own 10. With Texas chomping at the bit, Joe "Smoke through a keyhole" Washington quick-kicked a 76 yard punt down to the Texas 14 yard line, giving OU 5 in a row over Texas, and eventually back to back National Championships. The '74 & '75 OU teams were the best college football teams nobody ever saw, as OU was on probation and banned from TV. OU had a 28 game winning streak, back to back National Championships, 8 All Americans each year, Joe Washington, & the Selmon brothers. In 1976, we had the best seats in the house, ~ 15 rows up right on the 50 yard line, immediately next to 36,000+ Okies, w/ 36,000 Texans at my back. Incredibly intense, hair standing up on the back of my neck. No way we were leaving Dallas without getting in a fight. Game ended in a 6-6 tie. Disappointing season. Darrell Royal's last year at Texas. 1977: Preseason, OU came is as #1 and Texas was unranked. Fred Akers scrapped the Wishbone and put Earl in the "I". Texas started 3-0, winning 44-0, 68-0 and 72-15 v. Rice (Texas was favored by ~59 over Rice, and I was drunk, or course, and hollering for Texas to score at the end of the game to cover my bet). Earl running from the "I" was a gift from the gods. Thank you Fred! The vibe in Austin was already electric. The Armadillo, Mother Earth, The Silver Dollar and Willie & Waylon and the boys and no cover to see Stevie Ray Vaughan. Earl & Texas Football supercharged it. Friday night; for Texas-OU weekend, Dallas would block off 8-10? blocks of Commerce Street for the crush of people in Dallas, and the crowd would move in a long counter-clockwise circle along the sidewalks on either side of the street. Screaming, yelling, no standing, just keep moving, or else. Arrests would number in the hundreds. We (12-14 of us) had a 2 rooms in the Baker Hotel that fronted Commerce Street. Seems like Dallas County was dry back then, but they allowed open containers on the street that night? We'd make a drink, walk the big circle, up to the room for refills, and repeated as necessary. At midnight, maybe 1am?, they lined up big fire engines w/ their water cannons and slowly paraded down the street, washing everything, including the people, off the sidewalks and the streets. I fondly remember watching that from our hotel room, yelling at people below to run! Oh yeah, they also had a football game that weekend. October 8, 1977. #5 Texas v. #2 OU. Damn, my head hurts!!! Earl scored the only TD on a highlight reel 24 yard run right before halftime, leading Texas to a 13-6 win over OU for the first time in 7 years. He finished 23 for 124 yards, 1 TD, (0-1 passing with an interception), accelerating his Heisman Trophy run. Please note All American's Earl Campbell (standing), LB Daryl Hunt (85 ) and NG Reggie Kinlaw (62). Randy McEachern came in off the bench in the 2nd quarter (the first 2 Texas Qb's got knocked out of the game) to guide Texas to a hard fought win, and the #1 ranking. Russell Erxleben kicked 64 & 58 yard field goals and missed one from 69 yards. Johnnie Johnson, Collin's All American DB father, had a key 4th quarter play, stopping the OU QB inches short on 4th down at the Texas 5 yard line. Erxleben had a 69 yard punt w/ 2 1/2 minutes left to seal the game. Points were hard to get back in the day. I only remember part of Fred's quote early in the week, something about expecting a tough, physical game, "... they better have their head gear strapped on tight!" We choose not to linger in Dallas after the game and made a beeline back to Austin to a Mardi Gras-like scene down on the Drag. By far, my most memorable weekend of College Football. Texas Shocks Oklahoma, 13-6 The Rites of Autumn

The Azovstal Defender Mykhailo Dianov

That appears to be a cargo plane and not a Mig, like a RU version of a C-130.

Thanks for all the good info. It seems that UK doesn't really need to "take" Kherson. The city and the RU troops aren't going anywhere, and the RU supplies will decrease day by day without any significant resupply options. Once UK pushes south along the Dnipro to Beryslav and controls the P47 bridge across the river, about 25 miles south of Mylove, it appears to be nothing but open farmland down to Crimea. Game on. The highway's jammed with broken heroes On a last chance power drive Everybody's out on the run tonight But there's no place left to hide... Oh honey, tramps like us Baby, we were born to run

First play of the game is a 22 yard catch & run by Bijan. That was also his last reception. At worst, he is always the last option on any passing play when he is on the field, and to not be able to get him the ball is unforgivable. Tied for the worst utilization of talent in the history of football. We scored on 4 of 5 first half possessions, with an interception being the outlier. Quick hitters on short passes worked. We did executed none of that in the second half. That is basic 7 on 7 stuff, pre snap reads, short quick throws. Ball game. In 3 possessions, when moving the ball and running some clock was paramount, Card was 1 for 6 for 0 yards. Speed and athleticism all over the field nets ZERO yards. Beyond pathetic. As Abe Lemons would say, "... you got 1 more yard then a dead man...". Oops! No, you didn't!!! There was a lot of bad coaching and bad plays to go around. 1 for 6 for zero yards doesn't need much context.