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PTINS

Burnt Ends
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Everything posted by PTINS

  1. I did a few turnarounds back in the 80's. I worked the 7pm-7am graveyard shift for 2 weeks inspecting the companies old and new pipes at the processing plant, and then I stayed at the swankiest hotel in Enid, Oklahoma. Coldest I've ever been in my life, standing outside in below zero weather with the wind blowing hard enough to blow the welders bead out of the pipes they were trying to weld. The only thing between Enid and Canada was a few fences. Don't talk to me about hard working conditions. As far as "...inspecting rich old dudes pipes in the middle of the night ...", I got nothing.
  2. That video is brutal to watch, the fire spreading eastward with the prevailing winds, and then the cold front sweeping down across the plains from the north. FYI, a million acres is equivalent to a ~ 1,550 square miles, or an 8 mile wide strip along I35 from Austin to Dallas, or this: Pray for help from Mother Nature.
  3. Looks like the 30 km "Tsar Train" is not the deterrent Russia thought it would be.
  4. Per a Google Map screenshot, the "Tsar Train" from Olenivka to Volnovakha (shown in magenta) is on the existing main RR between Donetsk to Mariupol (light blue). This is the only pre-war RR serving Mariupol from the North (Donetsk) and East (Russia). It appears there are parallel tracks, so the line may not be completely blocked. There were earlier posts of Russia constructing 2 new RR, one along the coast between Rostov and Mariupol (red line) and one new east-west line kinda in the middle of nowhere, spurring off from the Rostov-Donetsk line running southeast from Donetsk. Ukraine had previously attacked a bridge crossing on this new line. No idea if either line was constructed or operational. Geographically, everything east of the "tzar Train" towards the coast appears to be coastal plain/agriculture, void of any significant population or industry. Not obvious why they would put a rail barrier here, other than it prevents casual movements across open country.
  5. The first concert I took my son to was Britney Spears ~ 2003. The "Disney" production was not unlike ... a Super bowl halftime production. There was no way in hell Britney wasn't going to be wildly successful. Did she perform well and entertain? Yes. Can she sing? Don't really know, it was hard to tell with all the theatrics and army of musicians and backing vocals on stage. This. Most kids anymore are groomed by personal coaches and "professionals" at an early age. Kids play select sports instead of little league and a lot of them choose a sport to focus on before they reach puberty. Some of them reach the pinnacle. Most of them don't. Zero risk, like spending every waking moment pursuing your dream to realize you can't sing? Most parents would think having your kids dreams crushed before they are teenagers is a big risk. "Just a generic pop act?" You mean the cute girl with an intergalactic following that generated an army of Chief's fans, in Munich? You be you. This. You can fake it til you make it, but either you got it or you don't. Really, my post focused on the symbiotic Reid-Mahomes relationship as the force in the NFL. Don't think anybody responded to that. Its all about Taylor. She does check off a lot of boxes.
  6. Each of Reid and Mahomes are top of the food chain, together ... better hope your you're a Chief's fan. Andy Reid has been a known offensive talent since forever. His Donovan McNabb coached teams went to 4 straight NFC Championship Games. McNabb was an quality, above average QB, but he was never a super star that was going to carry a team on his back. Reid leaving Philly was good for him, getting away from the microscope and going to the calming stability of the Hunt's was as good as he could hope for. Getting Mahomes, was perfect. I remember some one, Phil Simms I think, talking about Andy Reid getting Mahomes, "He finally has a QB that can run his offense." Reid was a fixture in the NFL post season w/ McNabb, and he finally has a QB? Mahomes was a very good athlete, dripping w/ raw talent. You can tell he played baseball by how he cleanly he slides to avoid contact, and the accuracy of his side arm, short stop flips, or flings. "The Gods reached down and turned your right arm into a thunderbolt. You got a Hall-of-Fame arm ..." The Gods blessed Mahomes a second time, by giving him the opportunity to get coached by Andy Reid. Far from pissing it away, Mahomes listened. Not only could he make every throw, he had an offensive coach who could design plays, and get players, that were damn near impossible to defend. I always liked the Chiefs. Lamar Hunt was a sportsman, so he started his own football league. Hank Stram and "65 toss power trap." Bonus; they draft a lot of Longhorns. Nothing but love for Tay Tay. She has talent, and has earned, and built an empire. She is not a Mickey Mouse girl who had a Disney support network to guarantee her success. She deserves to be happy. Same for Travis Kelce. Incredible talent who put in the work to achieve success. Taylor probably brought more eyeballs to the NFL than any person in the history of the league.
  7. Or inside/outside the tackle box.
  8. Well, for the 2 million people in the Austin metro, I live in the country 😊. We anticipated growth, that is why the new HEB's are ~10 miles away. Not quite the long range views we have at the ranch, but the country grocery store in Utopia is only 4 miles away from the ranch. We have access to fiber optic at the ranch, but not at home. Go figure. Every year (10 years), we've had baby deer born on our property, and I see (not hunt) trophy deer at home every year, usually bigger than the ranch. That's my definition of being in the country. Love it when the cousins come to play.
  9. Interesting thread. Enshittening? Entropy is the word I learned, - the degradation of the matter and energy in the universe to an ultimate state of inert uniformity. Entropy is the general trend of the universe toward death and disorder. Like the waves in the ocean, the decay and dumbing down of society is inevitable. TLDR. Stop now, and save yourselves. I'm older (not retired, not working and not looking for a job.) I'm comfortable financially and have the freedom of choice. I started my career before cell phones and the internet, when companies made products and provided service. If you didn't do that, you probably worked for the government in some capacity, or were born on 2nd base. Every engineer I went to school with had a job before they graduated. Companies that came to recruit late in the cycle couldn't get people to sign up for interviews. Most people had jobs already. If I had worn a blue suit to my interview, I would have went to work for IBM instead of Oil & Gas. By the time I realized I should have been a doctor, or a lawyer or a banker, it was too late. I worked for 4 companies that got bought by other companies and lived in Houston 4 times, Oklahoma 3 times, as well as Denver and Lafayette, and traveled to damn near every oil & producing producing region in Texas, and the lower 48. I know about sacrificing and paying your dues. In 1991, my "company", one of 5 business sectors, was carved up and cannibalized into 5 asset groups. When I asked by new boss for a job description, he wrote "Make Money" on a sticky not and asked which word didn't I understand. Later on, when asked what I could do for a prospective company, that was my answer. Didn't get a lot of follow up questions. I learned a long time ago business decisions benefited the guys in the chairs more so than the companies they worked for. With that said ... I agree with this conceptually, but from two different perspectives; as an employee v. as a consumer/investor. I worked in the O&G industry, the Midstream sector before there was a midstream sector, just upstream and downstream. Gas Processing was the interface between production and processing/marketing. There was a symbiotic relationship with our customers, on both sides, in that none of us could survive without the other. Fucking people over was NEVER an option. Once a company got that reputation, they were toast. The competitive marketplace would not accept that behavior. The opposite was also true, once you got those customers, they were yours. Executing 10-20 year contracts, and over servicing those contracts worked. Long term contracts meant long term relationships. That industry and business model is much different today. Everything is MBA's and business models that tell you how to make money, now. All driven towards a favorable earnings release every quarter. I blame 2 things for the ... decay. Personal computers and Y2K. Personal computers gave people with 4 function calculator brains access to higher level mathematical tools, and Y2K invited techies into the board room with a disproportionate amount of influence. As a consumer, I can take it or leave it. I can still go to the local HEB, Home Depot & Walmart for most of my needs. Add Amazon, and that is ~ 90% of my consumer spending. As an investor, I luv me some FAANG companies, or whatever it is now. Not that I don't care about social and privacy issues, but financial preservation and growth is a much bigger driver. Some have store fronts and sale products. Others consolidate information and package information for consumption by others. Are they too big? too powerful? who cares? They make money, hand over fist. The vast majority of $ invested in the stock market has exposer to these companies. What is good for them is good for most people. Their decisions are numbers on paper computer screens. Their offices and cubicles are not going to explode and kill and main people. Are they good companies to work for? Don't know. I remember hearing Ken Lay speak to his employees (pre Enron days) at a luncheon, and someone made a comment about shorter term goals compromising longer term security. He said something to the effect he didn't remember telling anybody that long term security was ever the priority. Consumers vote with their spending, and their habits. You get what you pay for, always has been, always will be. If you don't like it, don't buy it. There are always "Peter Principle" employees in organizations that have mastered the technique of staying employed, some of which rise to the management level. The filtering of information at lower levels leads to decisions made on less than the best information available, and Voilà, corporate America. My first job out of college I made more money than my boss. It was probably that way for 10-15 years. Having to explain things to your boss is a hard way to make a living. Compensation moving from salaries to incentive compensation plans and stock options fueled the short term decision making, get it now while you can. "Tragedy of the commons" ?. I like that. Too bad I'm a common. If only the concept of "Fuck you Money" was a thing in my younger years. Ok, it probably was, but not for anybody I knew. My kids always complained that I complained when my quarter pounder had cheese on it. "Just eat it dad, you like cheese anyway." That wasn't the point. That is not how I ordered it. Good thing I didn't want my kids to do everything I did. But it served me well. "You don't get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate." The HEB catch all. My favorite store, and company. Not unlike Disney, Southwest Airlines, and Apple, in their prime. It all starts with hiring the right people. I like all the HEB personal shoppers; you never have to go far to find someone who can tell you exactly where a particular item is. We live in the country, ~ 10 miles from 4 different HEB's, 2 brand new. They have different layouts, yogurts, beer options, etc. If I have to leave the house, I usually go by HEB, just because I'm out. Wife still works full time, I don't. For general shopping, I'm a late morning shopper. Not busy, shelfs fully stocked, lots of stay at home moms. For an item or 2, I'm a mid afternoon shopper. Free wine and snacks is the greatest thing our society has to offer.
  10. I ordered a Prime Rib and they don't serve it w/ Au jus. Big WTF for me.
  11. Like Billy Joel writing "Just The Way You Are" for Christie Brinkley.
  12. From the size of the explosion, damn!!! This looks like it might have been the final assembly located out side of town, or maybe the town isn't there anymore.. A 250+ year old facility that produces ICBMs, oil and gas equipment, refrigeration equipment, metal-cutting equipment, castings, forgings, stampings and domestic electric appliances. Its about 900 miles NE of Kharkiv, maybe 400 miles deeper into Russia than any other targets? Perhaps another smoking accident? From Wiki: Votkinsk Plant, Izhevsk, Russia JSC Votkinsk Machine Building Plant was a machine and ballistic missile production enterprise based in Votkinsk, Republic of Udmurtia, Russia. Its production included the RS-24 Yars intercontinental ballistic missile, Russia's most recent ICBM development, as well as the submarine-launched Bulava SLBM. The company has two separate facilities: a final assembly plant located some 12 kilometers outside of Votkinsk where missiles are assembled, and the main plant, located in downtown Votkinsk, where missile components as well as civil and consumer goods are produced. The plant from its foundation until 1917 During the mid-18th century, there arose a need for ironworks due to the depletion of forests around the existing mining operations in the Urals. This led to increased costs in transporting firewood from far-off areas, putting a strain on production expenses. To combat this issue, it was determined that the most practical solution would be to move the production facilities to regions with plentiful forests. As a result, the Izhevsk ironworks was founded between the years 1760 and 1763 with the sole aim of addressing this particular concern. The plants went on to manufacture anchors, railway equipment, ships, drilling machines, gold mine tractors, and various military equipment. Notably, starting in 1773, under the directive of Catherine the Great, the factory commenced the production of steel anchors for national military shipbuilding. Furthermore, during the initial half of the 19th century, the plant accounted for no less than 62% of the total anchor output in Russia. Missile production (from 1957 to the present time) In 1957, by the resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the USSR and the Council of Ministers of the USSR, the enterprise was converted into the country's primary producer of ballistic missiles for the Soviet Armed Forces. In 1958, the plant delivered the first short-range attack missiles 8A61 developed by the Design Bureau-1 with a liquid-fueled engine and with a range of 150 km, adopted in July 1955. In 1962, by resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the USSR and the Council of Ministers of the USSR, the Votkinsk Machine Building Plant started to master the production of more powerful tactical missiles 9M76, being a part of the mobile theatre ballistic missile TR-1 Temp. The first serial missile systems rolled out of the plant in 1966. In 1974, the plant began to produce intercontinental missiles 15ZH42 for the mobile intercontinental ballistic missile complex SS-16 Sinner, in 1975 - the intermediate-range ballistic missiles 15ZH45 for the complex SS-20 Saber, in 1976 - the short-range attack missiles 9M714 for the complex OTR-23 Oka, and in 1989 - the tactical missiles 9M79-1 fot[clarification needed] the complex OTR-21 Tochka. In 1998, the plant launched the production of one of the most recent intercontinental ballistic missiles 'RT-2PM2 Topol-M'. In 2006, the plant started mass production of the missiles '9K720 Iskander' (its NATO reporting name is SS-26 Stone). The company also manufactures oil and gas equipment, refrigeration equipment, metal-cutting equipment, castings, forgings, stampings and domestic electric appliances. In February 2024, a large explosion occurred at the testing facility of the plant.
  13. "Those that can, do. Those that can't, teach. Those that can't teach, teach sports." Few ego's rival that of a HS Coach.
  14. "They raise cattle and football players in Texas. The cattle are treated better."
  15. 1970 - Cotton Speyrer We were playing football in the front yard that day. After this play, my friends older brother ran out of the house, blowing the screen door off the hinges, jumping up and down and hollering, "We won ! We won!" Seems like yesterday.
  16. Once again, welcoming to see the EU Leadership ... leading. And, for giving me a reason to dust off some older footage of Giorgia Meloni sharing her passionate support of Ukraine with her audience.
  17. We saw the eclipse in 2017 west of Seattle. Great experience, going from clear blue sky, to a giant dimmer switch slowly turning off the lights, and back again to normal. Knowing it was coming was cool. Not knowing, and experiencing it, would make one question their existence. We will watch it from our land near Utopia. Chamber of Commerce sunsets every day, the eclipse will add some midday excitement. Hopefully, we have a wet spring.
  18. FIFY. There is a pretty close correlation between assholes and prestige of MBA programs. In my slice of the energy spectrum, non-technical backgrounds go a pretty good job of staying in their lanes. I’ve worked with good and bad across all disciplines. Assholes don’t change, they just learn how to behave, some of the time. All the Michigan people I know I met when we were all in technical positions and migrated to the commercial side. Smarts and playing well with others were the staples.
  19. you jest ... I have 4 or 5 Michigan buds that I've known 30-40 years. Some of the most quality people I've ever met. These would be among the smartest guys in the room. I probably have more friends from Michigan fitting that criteria than from Austin. That's one reason I'm looking forward to going to Ann Arbor this year. A couple of them would shred the Double Black Diamonds at Taos, screaming like a sewing machine going down "Al's Run", with moguls the size of Volkswagens. One stood up in my wedding in the 80's; I introduced him to his wife. On the drive from Houston to Austin for a Texas football game, he drank 5 beers before we got to Columbus. I'll be hanging with him before the game next year. One a was fellow young engineer at a competing gas processing plant in South Louisiana, kindred spirits in bringing new ideas to facilities built in the 50's. One was affectionately referred to as "the professor" by fellow employees and colleagues; he referred me to PhD's in my company, to get help understanding a dense phase "hydraulics" issue. One has a summer home in Maine. I'll see him this summer. I recognize that not all representatives are quality, but the % of the ones I've met fitting in that group puts the Victors at the top of the list.
  20. Your thought processes were fractured and your hopes in vein; shouldn’t put the karst before the horse.
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