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PTINS

Burnt Ends
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  1. Ships collide in Hormuz Strait in shadow of Israel-Iran war British security firm Ambrey says the incident involving an oil tanker was not security related. Published On 17 Jun 2025 Two oil tankers have collided in the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most critical oil checkpoint just off the coast of Iran. British maritime security monitor Ambrey said that the collision on Tuesday of the Adalynn and the Front Eagle is “not security-related,” despite the proximity of the accident to the war raging between Israel and Iran and concerns over its impact on navigation. Shipping company Frontline said a fire was extinguished on the Front Eagle tanker, 15 nautical miles (28km) off the UAE’s Gulf of Oman coast. It added that no pollution had been detected. The United Arab Emirates coastguard said it had evacuated 24 people from the Adalynn oil tanker. The Front Eagle was loaded with 2 million barrels of Iraqi crude oil and was en route to Zhoushan in China, according to monitoring service TankerTrackers.com. The Adalynn, a Suezmax-class tanker owned by India-based Global Shipping Holding Ltd, had no cargo and was sailing towards the Suez Canal in Egypt, the monitoring service said.
  2. The Iranian Revolution spooled up the year I graduated. I have no first hand knowledge of any those sweet things. I'm betting everybody was much happier.
  3. I agree with this. Watch the first 3 minutes of Argo. The world has changed a lot since 1979. America does't have anywhere near the influence, and a lot of countries have a lot of money = influence. I'm not offering any endorsement or criticism of anybody, but Iran migrating towards a Qatari/Emirates mindset would make the world a much better place. As Charliie Wilson opined, "You think they might be a lot happier over there if they could just get women and booze in the same room at the same time?"
  4. I agree. Israel will finish this, while they have the chance, and while the rest of the world waits (and quietly supports). From the Bullock Musuem,
  5. I agree. Even though most Iranian oil goes to China & India, it doesn't matter who produces the oil. It is a zero sum game. Take a major source off the table, and the buyers frenzy flips the stabilized market to a sellers market with to guardrails. The biggest difference being, that Iran appears to be totally isolated this time, with everybody else watching from the sidelines.
  6. I am just reading what is posted, and offer this article without comment. I have no definitive information, one way or the other. B-52s Join B-2s On Diego Garcia,10 Bombers Now At Indian Ocean Island
  7. Aggy gonna Aggy. preaching to the choir, I know. They just ignore the Head-to-Head recruiting battles Texas has with Ohio State & Georgia, and to a lesses extent, USC, Oregon. and the local school of the day, for the cream of the crop in HS football every year that would never consider Aggy, but for a steaming pile of shit, opps!, or cash. Because those guys never consider aggy, they don't exist. Therefore A&M is close to Texas in talent. Better business model than selling ice to the Eskimos. Looch gets to fleece the locals year round.
  8. I get what you are saying, kind sir. Having hiked up to the precipice of the numbered peaks at Breckenridge, I can assure you, there are no crossroads there, just a one way trail up. The ride down? Standing at the top of the world, the purest of wind blown snow, the glitter filled air with newly formed ice crystals. Adrenaline overwhelms the rational thought processes. You gently slide over the edge, and immediately you are sliding face first towards the snow fence before the rocks that define the cliff, and the recreational skiers down below. Somehow, you make it down, alive and in one piece. One more data point of a charmed life lived. Back among your people, the rational thinkers, on the marked trails. The moment defines you. Skiing is meant to be a gravity sport, with the skis pointed downhill, not up. Time to grow up, old man. Yes, the kid has a big choice in front of him. Choose wisely, son.
  9. Goes to same HS as Cat Osterman did. Calculator.
  10. I don't disagree with your summary. I liked the phrase my bud always shared with me. "Go ugly early." Save yourself time and money, with a very high hit ratio.
  11. There was an article in one of the threads here that discussed same. Basically, the Nuke treaties had a requirement on being able to verify aircraft, and that only certain named bases could house them. Over the years, I have updated my Google Earth to include all of the Air Bases I have been to or have some knowledge about things that have happened. I've done similar things to O&G facilities I've been to, and others of significance. I'm glad Bergstrom is no longer an AFB, and the only explosive proximate to my domain is the buried propane tank and a few gas cans.
  12. Thank you, and sorry, I initially responded to the wrong comment. I kind'a knew that. No Ding & Clark to laze the targets. I was just channeling my inner Billy Jack, when you know its coming, "You want to know something? There's not a damn thing you're going to be able to do about it."
  13. My neighbor thinks the property lines are measured from where the house is built. Can't help but laugh. Cruise Missiles and other guided munitions are going to an X-Y GPS coordinate, and there is damn little you can do about it. It does't really matter what is there, with or without tires, what ever is there when the munition arrives is getting ...
  14. I haven't read this thread since ... a long time, the last time there was good news. It used to be the first thing I read every morning. The 2025 Longhorn Baseball team is no mas, My Apple Wallet was "hacked" this morning, and by extenstion (with my assistance no less), all of my apple devices were exposed and required an electronic cleansing of sorts. F*ck!!! And I come here, and this is one of the best days in my not so young life. I won't quote every post, so many are worthy. Just a few highlights. Choripan, You Sir, are my hero! I applaud you, I envy you, and I thank you, for doing what so many wish they could do. For doing what I wish I could do, or could have done. I grew up, learning to hide under a desk, because of Russia. I've been intrigued by Ukraine since I could remember, when I saw the Antonov 225, and its MIG escorts, in OKC in the late 80's. Those cool looking planes, marvels of engineering, painted in Ukraine Blue & Yellow. Soviet? Yes, but from Ukraine. I've wanted to go to Ukraine since the term "Russian Brides" was coined, and I had a Yoga Instructor from Ukraine. (I didn't have her that way.) And then Fucking Putin invades Ukraine, because he can. The images of brutality that flooded this website. I read your chronicle of the stories you shared, before your trip, while you were there, and what I just read today. You went and helped Ukraine, with your hands, working side by side with the most deserving people on God's Green Earth, in a way that this 68 year old, quintupled by-passed, arthritic, 5'-8'', 155 lb, whiskey drinking Texan, could never do. For a few weeks, I lived through you. You are the poster child of Service to others. You made me proud to be American. I'm in Austin. Drinks are on me. Let me know. When I first saw these pictures, my first thought was from MIDWAY. Is this the inflection point in the Russia-Ukraine War? One can only hope. Fucking Russia; It's bad enough they have used horses, and golf carts, and motorcycles to fight a war; now they're down to sticks and stones? They are working back to the stone age, all by themselves. The ingenuity of Ukraine, and their ability to continue to deliver at the highest level, against the 2nd Army of the World, is simply, amazing. Clap! Clap! Clap! You bet your ass. WOW!!!! Little David, with his newly dropped little 'nads, dragging his little grapes all over Putin's face like icing on a cake. I can't wait for Russia to tear itself apart from the inside, looking for ghosts. Couldn't happen to a worse group of people. Thank you all for your posts, and insights.
  15. C’mon Scluss, park it!
  16. Don’t worry, we offset that by watching more strikes down the middle of Broadway.
  17. Did anybody get a video of Schloss' version of the Augie locker room "Pep Talk"?. Anyone?
  18. It was a fast, hard slide and the 2B ended up in a bad position, completely blocking the bag. It happens. If they don't wear spikes, how can they hang 'em up when they retire?
  19. I lived in Jester my first year, and had 808A Calculus at 8 am, from the Professor who wrote the book. I don't think I was looking for that arrangement, but that's was what I ended up with. Bad news. The kids for Dallas & Houston (Frats?) sat in the back doing crossword puzzles. I made in A in 808A, the second time I took it. I remember my Engineering advisor saying Calculus 808A and Physics 403 K were to separate the wheat from the chaff. 808B & 403L were for the science majors. Do you curve the grades? No, go to the business school. Do we get a walk the Friday before OU? No, go to the business school. In hindsight, it was the best thing that could have happened. I realized if I didn't focus on school, I was going to end up working in some kind of physical labor capacity. I never thought about changing my major, but the sum total of career guidance I had was 0.0. I did graduate as an engineer, migrated to the business/commercial side after ~ 8 years, and am comfortably retired. My uncle told me later, after I graduated, that if you're successful in business and life, you're going to need a banker, a lawyer, and a doctor. Cut to the chase and become one of the 3. I wish I knew that as a HS senior. I got offers from Engineering Schools, so i became an engineer. F*CK!!! I did graduate as an engineer, migrated to the business/commercial side, and am comfortably retired (see avatar). Yes! I'm also on a first name basis with my cardiologist, and am late in getting back to my finance and legal advisors. Double F*CK!!!
  20. Good for you. For coming back and finishing. But sorry dude, you blew it. My favorite story about UT having big classes: I took Government as a freshman ('74-75), like you're supposed to, with about 250-350 other undergrads in Burdine Auditorium. That was long enough ago that the Prof (not a TA) did a lecture on each US President. Jefferson & Lincoln were inspiring. He did FDR from a wheelchair. I told my friend about this guy and told him you have to come hear his last lecture on Nixon. I wasn't the only one. The 500+ seat auditorium was packed, standing room only. "Nixon was the most corrupt ... The end." got the Prof a standing ovation. In a freshman Government class. It would have been criminal and a huge waste of resources to have him speaking to a group of 20-25 students. His lecture inspired me to go see all of Nixon's cronies that went on the speakers tour at LBJ Library. The last one being Senator "Sam" Ervin, Dem. NC, (chair, Senate Select Committee to Investigate Campaign Practices, also known as the Senate Watergate Committee). That was also a packed house so I knew to get there early. That's my bookends on taking Government at The University of Texas v. ACC or High School credit. What I heard cemented my beliefs on HS recruiting, and my disdain for all things OU, A&M & from what I knew, Alabama. Little known fact. Burdine Hall resembles a ForTran computer punch card. My scholarship paid for the Freshman Orientation week; yes, I slept in Kinsolving for a week. Hasn't everyone? UT did a multi-media slide/video show at Burdine Auditorium to Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, a cloud of sweet smoke waifing though the air, and afterward we went to Nothing Strikes Back for ice cream in their Black Light/day glow dark room ("When the munchies strike... Nothing Strike Back"). Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day You fritter and waste the hours in an off-hand way Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town Waiting for someone or something to show you the way Tired of lying in the sunshine, staying home to watch the rain And you are young and life is long, and there is time to kill today And then one day you find ten years have got behind you No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun Every time I hear Pink Floyd takes me back to 1974. Good Times & fond memories.
  21. My first thread on CR is directed at State Representative Carrie Isaac. She is the poster child for putting business over people and needs to hear from the people she was elected to represent, and from the people that are most affected by her "leadership." Capitol Address: Room E1.306, P.O. Box 2910, Austin, TX 78768 District Address: 137 Fredericksburg Rd., New Braunfels, TX 78130, (830) 730-6248 Contact link: Texas Rep - Carrie Isaac My personal view on this is grounded in the simple fact that Central Texas does not have adequate water resources, and those finite resources need to be addressed now. I drilled a new 400+ ft water well in May 2022 (to replace a natural spring that went dry), and within a year, the well went dry and the pump was lowered 40 ' to reestablish the water supply. Every time I go to the ranch, I drive by the Water Park recently built west of Bandera, that is probably the primary reason my new well went dry. This well draws from the Trinity Aquifer, the primary supply of water for the I-35 corridor from Oklahoma to South Texas, including Austin and Central Texas. Carrie disagrees that water resources are finite, and is in favor of unlimited pumping of groundwater. She introduced House Bill 2812 that seeks to exclude public water supply wells from the regulatory oversight of the Hays Trinity Groundwater Conservation District. Public wells would not be subject to the district’s monitoring, permitting processes or metering requirements. This Bill is a direct response to the over pumping of groundwater, well in excess of the permitted amount, in Hays County that resulted in Jacob's Well, in addition to many private wells, going dry. Envision Barton Springs, and Hamilton Pool and every spring fed water resource and swimming hole in Central Texas going dry. Two water bills could have far-reaching impacts Teresa Kendrick Managing Editor - 03/26/2025 08:00 AM Two Texas bills, Senate Bill 2660 and House Bill 2812, filed within the last two months, could have far-reaching impacts on the future of water in Hays County and the Wimberley Valley. Introduced last month by Republican Representative Carrie Isaac, is House Bill 2812 that seeks to exclude public water supply wells from the regulatory oversight of the Hays Trinity Groundwater Conservation District. Public wells would not be subject to the district’s monitoring, permitting processes or metering requirements. The new provision would specifically exclude public water supply wells from the District’s regulatory oversight. Currently, wells producing less than 25,000 gallons per day and used for domestic purposes by single private residential households and wells used for conventional farming and ranching activities, are not subject to District’s monitoring. The bill, if passed, is set to take effect on September 1. It is currently before the Natural Resources Committee. “This would be a disaster for the springs that feed Jacob’s Well and other regional water sources,” said Executive Director David Baker of the Watershed Association. “It takes all the controls off of managing groundwater resources. It is pro Aqua Texas and anti-groundwater conservation. We hope she withdraws this bill.” Representative Carrie Isaac in a response to the Wimberley View said, “I have been fighting against overreach from the Hays Trinity Groundwater Conservation District (HTGCD) since 2019. Their ongoing efforts to regulate beyond reason— including denying permits to water providers, proposing new fees, metering private wells, and even seeking to pay their director with public funds—represent an unacceptable threat to property rights and water access in Hays County.” To read the rest of her response, see below. When asked what the Hays Trinity Groundwater Conservation District thought about H.B. 2812, Charlie Flatten, General Manager, said, “We have no comment.” Introduced this month in the Senate by Republican Charles Perry, the Chair of the Senate Water and Rural Affairs Committee, is Senate Bill 2660, that also relates to the Hays Trinity Groundwater Conservation District. In this bill, it authorizes the Conservation District to place all public water supply wells and commercial wells in Hays County under the same groundwater production fee structure authorized by the legislature in the 2023 session for the Barton Springs district in the eastern half of Hays County. When asked about SB 2660, Flatten said, “SB 2660 provides the tools needed to protect private and permitted water wells from predatory drillers without harming the rights of existing well owners. The District thanks Senator Perry and the Hays County community for its widespread support for SB 2660.” According to Flatten, Senator Perry authored and filed SB 2660 to provide western Hays County’s water well owners the same standard protections enjoyed by landowners in groundwater conservation districts across the rest of the state. Groundwater conservation districts have been created in many parts of Texas to allow local citizens to manage and protect their groundwater. In 2001, local citizens created the Hays Trinity Groundwater Conservation District. Like every other groundwater conservation district in Texas, it is charged with preserving, conserving and protecting the public and private water wells that the community relies on. It is also charged with enforcing the Texas Water Code and protecting natural treasures that rely on healthy aquifers. The District’s creation was successful but, according to Flatten, “was limited by powerful special interests that successfully inserted language to protect their interests over local private property rights. The result has been a District that does not have the tools or funding as every other District in the state. It also has contributed to the low flows that our springs and rivers are experiencing.” Full statement from Rep. Carrie Isaac "I have been fighting against overreach from the Hays Trinity Groundwater Conservation District (HTGCD) since 2019. Their ongoing efforts to regulate beyond reason— including denying permits to water providers, proposing new fees, metering private wells, and even seeking to pay their director with public funds—represent an unacceptable threat to property rights and water access in Hays County. That’s why I filed House Bill 2812, which removes HTGCD’s authority over water providers already regulated by the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC). These providers are fully accountable to the PUC, which ensures responsible service, guards against price gouging, and protects consumers. Denying them permits doesn’t just create bureaucratic chaos— it risks cutting off water to thousands of families and businesses. That is not a solution. I support legislation to strengthen infrastructure, including desalination and brackish water development—critical steps toward long-term water security. In contrast, the HTGCD through Senate Bill 2660 would expand their power to levy new groundwater production fees—up to 38 cents per 1,000 gallons—on private well owners. It also repeals critical safeguards in state law that currently protect domestic and agricultural wells from metering, permit requirements, and property inspections without consent. These are unnecessary and invasive measures that I strongly oppose. As a founding member of the Texas House Water Caucus I remain focused on real water solutions and have filed numerous pieces of legislation addressing our water issues. Access to water is not a luxury—it’s a necessity. I will continue to defend our water supply, protect property rights, and oppose unnecessary government overreach. Hays County families deserve solutions—not threats to their water." — Rep. Carrie Isaac MARCH 13, 2025 DATA FROM DROUGHT. GOV SHOWS THAT HAYS COUNTY, SHOWN BY THE “DROPPED PIN” INDICATOR, IS EXPERIENCING EXTREME DROUGHT. SUBMITTED GRAPHIC
  22. SEC Baseball Awards Hard to pick the team that built a 5 game lead on the way a 19-2 record and won the conference by 2 games. 1 position player and 1 pitcher from a team that was in 1st place for every day but 1, all season long. At least they recognize defense.
  23. You're against the death penalty but you have no problem with cold blooded murder? "... someone who actually knows how to raise children." Like you? You should not be allowed to reproduce, nor raise kids. I'm a Del Valle grad. When I graduated from Texas, a friends older brother congratulated me for "escaping"; I thought that was a strange word to choose. At it's core, it's similar to other places. Good kids from good families, easier access to drugs than alcohol, and kids making choices, some good, some bad. They are still "their choices." People know when they are doing something wrong before they do it. Play stupid games. Win stupid prizes.
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