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PTINS

Burnt Ends
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  1. I did not mention "speech" in my post. That is the Freedom I cherish the most. You are free to tell my boss he's a fucking idiot, and he is free to fire you. I merely responded to where you might exercise that freedom. The freedom to assemble is provided for, but that does not mean you can do it wherever you want. The right to defend and protect your life and property are also provided for. But like it or not, agree or not, the City of Austin had/has a well known position of choosing not to enforce the law. UT called somebody who would. Will Trump be allowed to have a rally on the steps of the Capitol? Doubtful, but not my decision.
  2. This. A "peaceful" protest, the end result of which was the US Capitol was taken over by a violent mob that assaulted uniformed police officers, and openly sought to apprehend elected government officials. These is a place for everything. Not every place is for everything. Isn't that what witnesses say before things went to shit? It happens somewhere damn near every day. Kids in flip flops protesting? Who cares. Masked people with backpacks protesting? hummm? What's up with that? A large group, students and masked individuals, protesting "against" the most persecuted group of people in the history of the world? Prudent to err on the side of caution. You can say that, after the fact. No way you could guarantee that before it happened. Charles Whitman was a MODEL citizen, until he "occupied" the UT Tower and killed and wounded almost 50 people. Blacklab is moderating a message board. Give him a fucking break. This is a volatile topic that is not borderline CR, it is very much right down the middle CR. Take the CR to the CR, and have at it. Most of the posts here are inflammatory rhetoric, not factual information. Blacklab has deleted my posts that I knew were too heavy CR, and they should have been deleted. I posted them knowing that, I exercised my rights, and Blacklab did the same. I repectfully disagree. Allowing unlawful assemblies of large groups of people, students or otherwise, is putting people and property at risk. Was the protest peaceful? Yes. Was there a significant probability it might not be peaceful? Yes, given what has transpired across the country the past few months. Does the UTPD have adequate resources to "control" the number of people that gathered? IDK, but I'm betting they don't. (One would thing the US Government could protect the Capitol, who knew?) Could this unlawful protest have gone off the rails and become more unlawful to the detriment of all involved? Absolutely. Allowing an unlawful assembly with the potential to take over the university, shut it down, and reduce it to an online educational platform is unacceptable. That is one step removed from just shutting down the university. People protest, get arrested, get released. Some cheer, and others complain. No biggie. The only difference is people bring guns and bombs with them now.
  3. Ukraine is fighting to exist. I'm sure they're fighting by the rules. To be clear, Ukraine targeted Russian oil terminals this week, NOT the oil refineries. The only thing in common is the word oil. Huge, huge difference on the longer term impact of each. Ukraine targeted the Yartsevo Oil Terminal, Smolensk on 4/23/24 and the Talashkino Oil Terminal on 4/24/24. These are not refineries, they are terminals or depots, a series of storage tanks and a means to load/unload railcars and tanker trucks for further distribution. Both of these terminals/depots have smallish storage tanks, less than 50 ft in diameter, (~ 17,500 bbl each, or ~750,000 gallons). Chicks dig the long ball, the media likes big fires. Though the tanks are relatively small, they make big fires, and always make the news, because the news moves oil prices. Yartsevo Oil Terminal, Smolensk Talashkino Oil Terminal This is a screenshot of the Lukoil - Nizhny Novgorod Refinery (~ 340,000 bbl/day) that Ukraine attacked on 3/12/24. This is similar in size to the Conoco Westlake Refinery (~ 250,000 bbl/day) north of I-10 in Lake Charles. There are multiple, individual process units within the refinery, that are related, yet distinct in what they do. The footprint of the Lukoil Refinery is over 5 square miles. Much different than the oil terminals/depots. The largest tanks at Lukoil are ~ 200 feet in diameter, (~ 400,000 bbl each, or ~17,500,000 gallons). That is ~ 1 days production from the refinery. You take out a few tanks, and you burn up a few days production. If you take out the refinery towers, which Ukraine did target the last few months, that is a much different issue. While the refinery has multiple units, the big "crackers" at the start of the refining process may process ~ 30-70% of the refineries capacity. I'm a gas processing guy not oil refining guy, so take this with a grain of salt. US processing facilities are automated to the point that the most things are controlled from a central control from, or a series of control rooms. You look at a screen, you flip a switch or select an icon, and a valve opens or closes, and you move on to the next thing. (When you do routine maintenance, you physically make sure valves are closed, and you chain them so they can't be opened. - Safety First). Automation and centralized control works very well, until someone starts lobbing rockets and missiles at you.) The Russian facilities built by US companies, Sakhalin Island LNG for example, formerly Exxon operated, now Russian, would have state of the art automation. The traditional Russian oil facilities are probably similar in nature to their military equipment, cars, and toilets. Regardless of the technology involved, damaging a refinery has much more effect that simply hitting some storage tanks. Russian oil production is key contributor to the world market. Russian refinery production, not so much. As long as the production makes it into the market place, with or without sanctions, the world oil price is moderated. The Arab oil embargo quadrupled world oil prices, Russia-Ukraine raised them ~ 20%. If Russian oil production was shut off, whole different ball game. Russia is not a big exporter of refined products. Damaging their refineries is much more localized for Russia and not so much the larger marketplace. This impacts Russian's war effort without much impact on others. I would think some of these distinctions played a part in green lighting the longer range weapons that are on the way to Ukraine.
  4. A nugget from my Google News feed ... (can do you unwind a click algorithm?) Gig Em Gazette So, "the top line talent in the receiving room is second to none", and the "need at receiver showed up big time in the spring game." "Noah Thomas' amazing play" - the ball clearly hits the ground. Bryce Foster? FAFO.
  5. FIFY. We need to reduce consumption. There is not a source of fresh water source that can meet the demand. Aquifers are viewed as fresh water oceans; they not. They are static filtration systems with long term, multi year cycle rate. If you shorten the cycle, the water you put in is the same water you take out; unfiltered water. Once we have abundant, cheap energy ..., wake up, you're late for work. It costs what it costs, impacted by inefficiencies in politics, and physics. One is easier to fix than the other. There is a fundamental reason the south was sparsely populated til the 60's, AIR CONDITIONING. A/C follows air and water to sustain life. People tend to settle in places with running water. There is not enough running water between Dallas - Austin-San Antonio to "support" the current demand. Water for drinking is an absolute. Water for recreation and irrigation, and industrial consumption is not. It should be priced accordingly.
  6. The Kazan Aircraft Production Plant in Gorbunov, Tatarstan is 600+ miles/1,000 kilometers from Ukraine held territory.
  7. I did a quick wiki search for my comments. I know we get the remnants from East Texas, Northern Mexico and Pacific Coast storms. I don't wish misery or harm on anyone, but I like the Thunder in my Creek.
  8. I bought Thunder Creek Ranch in 2002, NW of Utopia and west of Medina. A series of tropical storms had dumped ~ 17" of rain over a few weeks that summer and it looked like a tropical paradise. Thunder Creek was the appropriate name for the area, then. I've learned It usually takes a hurricane/tropical storm weather event for Thunder Creek to Thunder, and sadly, those seem to be fewer occasions than when I roamed the 40 acres. Muck like the levels of Lake Medina. Texas has been "hit" by 46 hurricanes/tropical storms since 2000, but only 5 have made landfall between Corpus Christi and Brownsville; Generally, anything east and west of that corridor doesn't impact central Texas, including Utopia and Austin. August 9, 2002 – Tropical Storm Bertha makes landfall as a tropical depression near Kingsville, August 16, 2007 – Tropical Storm Erin makes landfall near Lamar July 23, 2008 – Hurricane Dolly makes landfall at South Padre Island September 8, 2016 – The remnants of Hurricane Newton bring heavy rains to parts of western Texas Late August 2017 – Hurricane Harvey makes landfall on San José Island near Rockport The occasional rain shower keeps things green, but it takes a series of wet years to keep the springs recharged, and the surface water is dependent on consistent localized rainfall, or a named storm. There is no "normal" weather pattern, just the length of time between the transitions of flooding and drought. It is amazing how different the weather is in the country v. Austin, ~ 113 miles as the crow flies. Big difference between the radiant heat sink generated by all the concrete, asphalt, cars and the millions of 98 degree meat popsicles around town and the open country with zero impervious cover. The people are different too. Nobody complains about the water levels while they are sitting in their swimming pools watching the sprinklers watering the grass.
  9. Now that I finished my "No Nukes" No CR rant... The Netflix Series, "Turning Point: The Bomb and the Cold War", is worth watching. Heavy CR slant to the dialogue, but the "factual"nuggets were very informative. The last few episodes are very topical. Simply labeling Putin as a KGB honk is misleading; His early years with a front row seat to the Berlin Wall coming down and the unraveling of the Soviet Union was much more impactful. His long term ties to the St. Petersburg mafia and the oligarchs provides a much better understanding of who and what he is and of the recent history with Ukraine. One thing doesn't change. Putin is pure evil and must be stopped.
  10. You sir, fucked up the most informative thread on this board. Please take your high school debate back and forth opinions and keep them to yourself, and off of this board. Thanks. Ukraine is fighting the same fight that my father, and you, and many before and after him fought, at a cost of maybe 2 cents on the dollar, without putting any American lives at risk. However, they are not fighting for the same things we fought for, they are fighting to simply exist. Thanks. Putin is the worst of humanity, on steroids, with ill gotten wealth that would make the titans of capitalism blush, and nukes. If it doesn't end here, it doesn't end. Thanks. This used to be the first thread I read every morning. The last few days have been brutal, and disappointing. Thanks. War is political. End of story. The self policing and keeping this thread on topic and void of CR has been admirable, until the past few days and weeks. Please don't fuck it up. Thanks. We all have questions. Perhaps some questions are better for Google, before they get asked here. I ask them here because I appreciate that so many of you have forgotten more about more things than most will ever know. I like this place because it usually provides the answers before the questions are even asked. You know who you are. Thank you. Slava Ukraini
  11. Hard to find any good news from Ukraine, so I'll settle for bad news from Russia. The flooding in Russia is not because of a "dam failure", but appears to be from the volumes of water flowing through the creeks and rivers and over the dikes, dams, and whatever else is in the way. Reports of water at ~ 10 meter levels (32 feet) proximate to 16 foot levees means there is 16 feet of water flowing over the top. The widespread flooding spans an area and different river systems from Sorochinsk to Kurgan, ~ 540 miles. The pitiful response from the state will not improve, as there does not appear to be any significant resources available, and the flooding situation will get worse before it gets better. The flooding in Orsk, just north of Kazakhstan, is not coming from the Ural River that traverses east to west, but from the Yelshanka River, directionally northwest of the city. In the second video below, at the 09 second mark, you can see the monument in Gagarin Square, with the flood water coming towards the front of the monument, which faces Northwest. It is shown in the Google Earth screen shot. In the screenshot below, everything (~ 25 square miles) between the 638' elevations north and south of the Ural River, including the Gagarin Monument, is probably under water. The residential area doesn't have high rises, just a shit load of high density single family dwellings. (The lots are ~ 30 ft x 100 ft). The numbers of flooded homes, ~ 10,000?, in Orsk alone, is going to cause a shit storm, literally (Ha! Ha!), that won't go away. There's not a FEMA bailout on the horizon. One official proposed ~ $108/month for 6 months as compensation. Another said "he should be on vacation, not here." If your home is trashed and you have no place to go, how much do you care about going to work? Or going to Ukraine to be a meat popsicle? Worker productivity at the industrial facilities is going to be impacted, but to what degree? In a few days or weeks, this won't just be a few people in front of city hall complaining. I'm hoping this energizes and mobilizes the masses like never before err ..., nothing since 1917. Too bad it's in the middle of bum fuck no where. Corruption, meet Karma. One can only hope.
  12. I did not get tickets and had 51 points.
  13. “just throwing it and hoping for the best.” This year, the last 3 quarters v. OU and 1st half against Hou, QE completion rate was 90+ %. There are numerous throws he made as the receiver was coming out their break, where he anticipated where the receiver would be and delivered a perfect throw in stride. Can he improve? Certainly. But there was nothing close to Mike “find the ball and go up and get it” Evans on the Texas roster the last 2 years. Fuck that hoping the best bs. His anticipating and missing has as much to do with the receivers be off schedule as much as it has to do with the throws. Maybe he could wait another 2/10ths of a second before throwing it. Maybe is doesn’t want to chance a 250 lb meat head driving him into the ground because of a weather vane whiff by the OL. QE throws as catchable ball as well as anyone QB I’ve ever seen.
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