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PTINS

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Posts posted by PTINS

  1. On 3/7/2024 at 9:28 AM, 83Horn said:

    You said The Armadillo twice...also forgot the Vulcan Gas Company.

    Vulcan was before I was a teenager. Closed before I came of age.  

    "You said rape The Armadillo twice."  I liked The Armadillo!!!

    My favorite music venue ever, nothing else even comes close. Saw so many bands and groups there, perfecting their craft, on their way to bigger things. Austin was a laid back, comfortable, Willie & Waylon and the boys kinda town. But the energy in Austin was different. And the Armadillo, on those hot steamy nights, was off the charts.  Musicians bouncing around the stage, sweat running down their faces, with that glaze in their eyes, "They want more, ... I have to give them more!"   

    The Armadillo was small, everyone was close to the stage. They sold more beer than the Astrodome.  KLBJ night for $.94 and their 3 for a $1 nacho's makes me smile every time I think about it.

    Re; Springsteens love of Austin;  The raw, high energy Boss at the Armadillo was magical. He was not alone. I saw Tom Petty at the Austin Opry House in '79, and again at the Erwin Center in 2017. He expressed similar sentiments of Austin. No comparison to seeing those shows in the smaller, more personal venues.   

    I probably saw Freddie King at the Armadillo more there than any other musician. I'm not sure if this is the same painting from the Armadillo, and later, Threadgills, bit it captures the feeling between musicians and the Armadillo, and Austin.

     

    image.png.984b262d345d0613d6ac00428f0f4917.png 

     

    On 3/8/2024 at 8:42 PM, Armybrat said:

    Also The New Orleans Club, The Id, Louie’s Lounge, and Charlie’s Playhouse.

    I listed mostly '69-'79 venue's, as that was my golden age of seeing quality live music in and around Austin. I lived elsewhere from mid '79 til 2015.  

    On 3/9/2024 at 7:00 AM, Sabalo said:

    When did the Broken Spoke close?

    My Bad. Still there. My neighbor and coach took me there after an American Legion baseball game. I was 15. Not the same as it was, but its still there, at least. "I dance country at the Broken Spoke". Still got he bumper sticker. I wish!

    • Hook 'Em 5
  2. 6 minutes ago, crimsonlonghorn said:

    Having been to the one in Missouri back in 2017, let me jump in here and say two things in this thread:

    1) If you are inclined to go see it, GO! The one in 2017 was absolutely one of the most unique and transcendent experiences I’ve ever had. DO NOT just shrug and say, “Well, it’s __% here, so that’s close enough.” Trust me, it’s not at all close enough. The difference between 99% and 100% might as well be the difference between 99% and 1000000000%. There is no comparison at all seeing the sky get dimmer and dimmer and then dark and seeing the corona and the red beads and hearing the birds suddenly be quiet for 4-5 minutes in the middle of the day. It’s so cool, I’m absolutely going to go to Austin that weekend and fight traffic and put up with the hassle, just because it’s totally worth it. You might get annoyed getting there, but you absolutely will not regret it when it’s over. 
     

    2) An interesting thing about eclipses is that there is no need to go anywhere special. As long as you are within the path of totality, you get to see it. Think about it this way: assuming the weather is clear you can see the sun anywhere you go, right? Well, then you can see the eclipse too. There is no need to go to a state park or a special property or any of that shit. Just pull over into a parking lot or go out in your backyard and you will see the exact same thing people are seeing in Fredericksburg or Enchanted Rock or whatever. 
     

    Again, yes it’s going to be a pain in the ass, but it’s something that is exceedingly rare and absolutely 100% worth experiencing. 

    Don’t go to a parking lot.

    Go someplace with trees that have individual leaves, so you can see the crescent shaped shadows.

    • Hook 'Em 5
  3. 1 hour ago, Captainant said:

    Lmfao what a ridiculous false choice you're trying to steer the convos with. Replacing a known bad pole in a dry and windy area seems like a pretty high priority fix, and a pole isn't some earth shatteringly difficult replacement. 

    It was a CHOICE based on a calculated risk to not replace a known bad and tagged pole. I don't fucking buy the argument that they didn't have resources to fix the pole. That's their entire fucking business. 

    Why are you defending their CHOICE to let this risk stay loose and active?

    I am not defending Excel. Period.

    I am pushing back on the notion that everything done by every utility is driven 100% by profits.

    Is sounds like Excel  was notified the pole was "snapped' in two, certainly damaged beyond repair, and the replacement should have been repaired prioritized.

    I'm pretty sure any bad pole in the 50,000 square miles of West Texas is in a dry and windy area.  

    Re: The Bastrop fire; I commented that I read reports early in the process that a controlled burn got out of control was a cause of a fire proximate to Bastrop. I have not read the final reports and have not seen any info pertaining to any litigation of same. 

    Buried power lines are easy for new developments. For retro fits, they are extremely intrusive and expensive.

    Damn near everybody I know with power lines on their property has issue with trees encroaching on the power/phone lines, and have chosen to keep the majority of the trees rather than cutting back the trees to the "recommended" distance.  

    I don't live in areas with above ground lines, and don't live close to "green belts" that are really high pressure O&G pipelines.

    Shit happens and people make poor choices. 

     

  4. 1 hour ago, YGIFS said:

    We can’t prevent flammable power lines?  If only there were a hundred countries to look to for examples?

    I don't believe any other country has the litigious nature and punitive cost structure of the US.

    • Hook 'Em 1
  5. On 3/7/2024 at 9:48 AM, Nicole44 said:

    Well at least we have answers as to how it started.

    A fire may have started in the vicinity of a damaged power pole ...

    On 3/7/2024 at 10:00 AM, Post Oak said:

    I can't believe they admitted it 

    "its facilities appear to have played a role"

    On 3/7/2024 at 10:06 AM, Brisketexan said:

    Yeah...there must be some stone-cold evidence showing a busted utility pole as the point of origin.  Still, wonder about the interplay of that statement with their insurance coverage, if they coordinated with the carrier before making it, etc. 

    Recall that there was similar litigation against Bluebonnet Electric (and importantly, the company that did their tree trimming - or failed to do so) after the Bastrop fires.  That was all insurance money in play.

    A busted pole does not necessarily mean it caused the fire.

    Re: The Bastrop Fire, I thought it started from a TAMU Forest Service controlled fire, that under windy conditions, got out of control.

    "Similar litigation" ...  Sue the big company because they failed to do their tree trimming. Were they in the vicinity of the fire? No, it doesn't matter, they failed to do their tree trimming, so pay me and I'll go away.  

    On 3/7/2024 at 10:16 AM, YChang said:

    PG&E causing fires on the regular and other problems in CA. Now this outfit here. But nooooooo let's never really hold them accountable. 

    Damn right. Every tree and every branch in proximity to every power line must be trimmed after ongoing, repeated inspections, every week?, month?, or year? (because, you know, those damn things keep growing back). 

    If it was up to utilities, there would be no trimming involved, because there would not be a single tree or branch encroaching in the Right-of-way. Period. Just laser straight ribbons of grass with power lines running down the middle.

    image.png.82a03e51598a4b96ac600387db3c82a0.pngimage.png.ac2ef71ece2c29037031d935a2c0c8cb.pngimage.png.ec9074dac8d0681532f70912ef3b2d98.png  

      Instead, you  see things like this every place you go.  Layers and layers of people, HOA's, agencies, foundations and companies, each with their own attorneys, saying you CANNOT trim that particular tree, branch, limb, twig or leaf. Either you clear the ROW, or you don't. Kinda like being pregnant. No grey areas.

    The O&G industry is allowed to clear the ROW. In my experience, they fly the lines on a routine basis, identify encroachments (trees, barns, houses, driveways, buildings etc.), and remove them. In my first job, we had people walk from Tulsa to St. Louis, to document any abnormality along the pipeline route, things that could be identified from an airplane, which was the federal regulation. That was not normal or routine, or required, but something that was deemed necessary to ensure public safety and the operational integrity of that particular asset.

    Granted, power lines don't usually explode. 

     

     image.png.c935933d9ded824d744e968a3769bbd5.pngimage.png.7beea68b347078755e5f022894b76406.pngimage.png.b8d3001f464d60eb0591d88a4ff70986.png  

    On 3/7/2024 at 11:54 AM, Frank Drebin said:

    I am pretty sure PG&E was sued in to Bankruptcy, charged criminally, and paid something like $14 billion to victims in a trust.  What else do you want?

    So, $4+ Billion for attorney's fees, and the rest into a trust. Money is set aside for the expressed intent of repairing and maintaining facilities, including ROW. And, invariably, some one will sue them to prevent them for doing just that.

    On 3/7/2024 at 12:17 PM, YChang said:

    You're right, they've certainly paid their share of penalties. They're out of bankruptcy protection now and it's closer to $5.4 billion in cash and 22.19 percent of its stock into a trust for the fire victims.

    I'm talking about lack of accountability within PG&E at the corporate/senior leadership level and this culture of letting stuff like that happen regularly. Fwiw, I did some contract work with PG&E for a bit, and the everyday folks take their work seriously. 

    Hey, if the post-bankruptcy PG&E does improve, then kudos to them as well! Was just drawing from past recall from living in CA and PG&E's repeated neglect with maintenance over costs. 

    "FWIW, every day folks take their work seriously."

     

    23 hours ago, Captainant said:

    In the linked AP article, the plaintiffs are alleging severely under-maintained, arguably negligently so, infrastrcture

    It's too bad that doing regular maintenance is viewed as a "cost" and not a requirement. The pole the seems to have fallen and started the fire was KNOWN to be a dangerous hazard.

    There is no law or regulation requiring Xcel to fix their shit in a timeline manner, so they did not do anything about it.

    I'd bet my bottom dollar the end of this lawsuit is gonna be merely civil, and nothing criminal. Despite this negligent manslaughter and wholesale destruction of more than a million acres of property

    I have read that the pole was damaged, or snapped off (broken into 2 pieces, which doesn't necessarily mean the business end was touching the ground, maybe he hanging suspended in the air, or fallen. Each of those mean different things, and each would be addressed differently, including the time frame in which thet would be repaired or replaced.

    Some would say if it can't be replaced immediately, just cut off the power until it can be. That is the only way to be 100% safe. Do you agree?

    23 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

    I won't go CR here.  I'll just observe the pretty plain truth that when public utilities were changed from actual "public utilities" (regulated, with a guaranteed reasonable rate of return, and guaranteed recovery of reasonable operations and maintenance costs) to for-profit entities, things like this are bound to happen.  Yes, such things can also happen with a regulated utility -- no such operation is 100% failure-proof -- but the frequency and the likelihood would be materially lower.  

    "The market" will take care of this event.  There will be insurance payoffs, bankruptcy liquidations, and the like....but all that land will still be burned up.  There are some things "the market" doesn't handle particularly well.  I'd suggest that public utilities, or at least many aspects of those utilities, is one of them.  But my thoughts don't make a shit -- here we are, and here we shall stay.

    I agree. It is compounded by the fact that power lines and the power generation facilities are owned by different entities. When the legislature privatized the "public utilities", there was not a lot of forward thinking in their decision making. How can going from a public utility to a mosaic of for-profit companies be a bad thing?

    23 hours ago, Leeroy Jenkins said:

    Oncor is horrible at maintaining their lines as well.  They let trees grow up in the power lines which result in small fires and power outages all of the time.  

    Addressed above.

     

    1 hour ago, YGIFS said:

    How can Texas; with all its resources, constantly fuck up energy and weather and cattle so frequently?  Can’t wait for the “beef prices are outta control because inflation!” Whining next month. 

    Well for one, we have a populace that demands to be catered to, without having any real idea what they are talking about.

    There has to be balance between science and economics.  We could build planes that never crash, but nobody would be able to afford to fly. 

    If something is done to 100% satisfaction, they are deemed to be negligent. Their has to be an allowance for failure, including people occasionally making a poor decision.

    Saddling an entity with a $10+Billion judgement because one individual made a bad decision is ludicrous, but that is the world we live in. 

     

    3 minutes ago, Herbie Hancock said:

    Goddamn you miserable fucks

    Thanks! I guess I could have just made a shorter post.

    To be clear, I don't accept compromising safety for profit. I have the scars to prove it.

    But shit happens.

    image.png

  6. 12 minutes ago, YGIFS said:

    Yeah, your mom provided cultural entertainment for $10.  Dammit, I had something for this.  

    it is really weird to see the drum with no top on it.  Probably 300 hoops games and 50 concerts over my time here.  And I think one drug induced monster truck rally.  But I can’t be sure.  
     

    Our sleepy little town just got a bit older today.  

    Mom's still kicking at 94. Kicking be the operative word, so be nice!

    She took us to see the Batman World Premier at the Paramount in 1966, and to see Led Zeppelin in '69 for my 13th birthday. 

    Sleepy little town getting a bit older? Let's see ... The Paramount, Municipal Auditorium, The Teen Club at Bergstrom AFBCity Coliseum, Kings Village, Antone's, The Armadillo,  DKR-TMS, Mother EarthAustin Opry House, The Back Room, The Armadillo, Continental Club, Soap Creek Saloon, Silver Dollar, Broken Spoke, Rauls >> ???, Club Foot, 3rd Coast, Super Drum >> Erwin Center, C-Boys, COTA, Moody Center, 

    • Rage+1 1
  7. I remember the '77-78 Inaugural season of the Super Drum that included Texas beating Arkansas' Final 4 team w/ the "Triplets", and Texas winning the NIT Championship and Abe Lemons winning the National Coach of the Year.

    Abe had a national following and recruited Johnny Moore (PG) from NYC, CO-NIT MVP's Ron Baxter (PF), the LA HS Player of the Year, & Jim Krivacs (SG), a transfer who earned All-America honors, and Ovie Dotson, a future Harlem Globetrotter.  

    I played pick-up games w/ Krivacs in Gregory Gym, before I knew who he was. F*cker!

    The Super Drum was big step up in concert venue's from the Municipal Auditorium and City Coliseum. Back in the day, you could buy an annual pass for Intercollegiate Athletics for ~$30/year and Cultural Entertainment for $10/year. 

    Oh, ... for the good ole days.

    • Hook 'Em 1
  8. His NFL Combine interview is worthy of the time you spend watching it.

    You can’t hear the questions so you have to read between the lines.

    His HS sophomore track times is the last time he ran track. Covid took his JR year and he graduated early his SR year. He thinks he could run a 10.2, maybe a 10.1. He came to the Combine to get the record.

    Thinks he has a very high football IQ, maybe higher than anybody at the combine. I don’t dIsagree with him. Knowledgeable of most NFL offenses and players, said repeatedly that whatever team he was asked about runs the same run first offense as Texas. Great endorsement for Sark & Texas.

    He knows who all the fast football players are.

    He is not just a speed guy. Thinks his start, and stop & go quickness is his strongest attribute. (Different video, but his HS Coach said the same thing.)

    Thinks he has good hands, he just needs to have more focus. Prefers running the short and intermediate routes.

    He committed to Harbaugh and his pro style offense. When Michigan screwed up his paperwork, he committed to Sark without ever seeing Texas.

    From a Pat McAfee video, Pat said the Ewers moon shot at Alabama came down like a bottle rocket falling from the sky.  I only mention that because X tracked that ball very well, and at other times that has not been his strong suit.

     

     

    • Hook 'Em 4
  9. On 3/2/2024 at 10:01 PM, Rimbo said:

     

    I fucking love this video.

    4.21 without the benefit of pushing out of the blocks. I was going to say that's a fast MF, but nothing but respect for X. Fast. Fast. Fast.

    Look at all the other players take off running towards him after his time posts.  He's also earned the respect of his peers.

    Even Stacey Dales in her pink blazer took off jogging to get to Xavier.

    Great moment for him. And us.

     

  10. 21 hours ago, FartingMonk said:

    I mean we did drink.  I was inspecting rich old dudes pipes in the middle of the night at the swankiest hotel in Pampa so maybe?

    16 hours ago, Gatorubet said:

    IMG_2408.gif.91b4aaa814c3db3af11348b0470b80d4.gif

    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.

  11. 15 hours ago, Nicole44 said:

     

    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:

    image.thumb.png.5c0c49739ad373688813b86b3d6a5b79.png

     

    Pray for help from Mother Nature.

    • Hook 'Em 4
    • Like 1
  12. On 2/12/2024 at 2:54 PM, Pescado_Rojo said:

    Earlier in this thread we had a discussion about how critical trains were to Russian supply efforts and how eliminating rolling stock would be good for Ukraine as Russia would have a difficult time replacing it. Now they've got 30km worth of cars they can fill with sand or gravel and use for defense? And blocking a rail line with it? Are they giving up on supplying units on that rail axis? Is that a rail line with no strategic value like a spur line or something?

    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. 

    image.png.0559e1bf90cf482f431971f4e6ab179c.png

  13. 21 hours ago, Vic Mackey said:

    Let's not pretend she is some rags to riches story. She had the backing of her parents money to do what she wanted and money gets her access to stuff most don't in that industry or life in general. She might not have had the backing of Disney machine but she did have the backing of a lot money to push her along.

    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. 

    21 hours ago, Guadaloopy said:

    Now do Mahomes and McCaffrey.  

    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. 

    20 hours ago, Vic Mackey said:

    Her parents were millionaires and allowed her do pursue her passion with zero risk at an early age.

    I don't care about her music one way or the other. She's just a generic pop act with little substance and a huge following. Good for her. But to pretend she's some big underdog story? Lol./

    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.

    19 hours ago, Texzilla58 said:


    This is just stupidity. I don’t follow her music but you don’t just waltz into big record deals at 14 and get ordained a superstar. You have to have serious talent, and you have to be an entertainer genetically. It’s fucking hard work and the odds of actually putting together a sustainable long career are infinitesimal.

    The typical common issue: they could sing but couldn’t entertain. You either got it or you don’t.

    This. You can fake it til you make it, but either you got it or you don't. 

    19 hours ago, PittsburghTiger said:

    Man, this thread started out about football & Taylor Swift, and now, it's pretty much just Taylor:train trainwreck GIF

    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.

    image.thumb.png.c88c487dd6db103a582c674e11f4e179.png

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  14. 5 hours ago, slorch said:

    Not denying Reid's part in the relationship.  Mahomes changed Reid's trajectory, 

    5 hours ago, BurntOrange&White said:

    And as I said last night, Mahomes is lucky that Reid drafted him. 

    4 hours ago, Fastbreak said:

    Very good partnership. I liked Reid before, even with Eagles.

    4 hours ago, BurntOrange&White said:

    IReid without Mahomes has 4 NFCCG and a Super Bowl appearance. If I’m not mistaken he’s the only coach in NFL history to win 100 games with two teams, right?

    4 hours ago, Pam Cummings said:

    He is a sneaky all time great. Was getting to the playoffs consistently with Alex Smith, him getting an all timer like Mahomes isnt fair.

    3 hours ago, Evil Bill Obrien said:

    Per the Wikipedia machine this is correct, and he is also the only coach in NFL history to take 2 different teams to 4 straight conference championship games. Andy is the man,

    2 hours ago, Pam Cummings said:

    That's just not correct. He was not "like every Tech QB ever". 

    You're just so fucking far off it's hilarious. Go watch the guy's college highlights. It's an absolute show. He should have been the first pick in the draft.

    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.

    1 hour ago, South Austin said:

    I’ve had no problem with the Taylor Swift coverage this season, but as much as the NFL is a whore for eyeballs on the TVs, I’m surprised at how little they showed her during the game.

    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.

    mic-drop-boom-anna-kendrick-yzgc63x5d9tj

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  15. 1 hour ago, immamac said:

    I have news for you “old man” you don’t live in the country anymore. Hahahahahaha

    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.

    image.thumb.png.3f16cc0a847796749e1c6267774db389.png

    Love it when the cousins come to play.

    image.thumb.png.d0afec46784b1b9104c8c3a8f499e41b.png 

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    • Hook 'Em 5
  16. 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 ... 

    On 2/8/2024 at 11:04 AM, Brisketexan said:

    Except (as discussed in another thread), that concept of fiduciary duty has been reduced to just one thing: profits in the next quarter.  Period.  

    Our warped, narrow definition of "profitability" is a big contributor to enshittening.

    TLDR version: treating customers like shit and ripping them off is lauded, because it yields an immediate profit advantage; the fact that such treatment will cost you customers (and profit) in the long-term is a non-issue, and is someone else's problem.  The system incentivizes fucking people over today, who cares what it costs you tomorrow?

    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. 

    On 2/8/2024 at 7:17 AM, Neonmoon said:

    Companies keep chiseling because Americans are fat lazy cash machines that sit back and pump out money when asked. Zero pushback.

    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.

    On 2/8/2024 at 2:35 PM, Captainant said:

    Being public doesn't automatically make you a bad or unethical company, ... Given enough time, a shithead is gonna be in charge and do some bad shit that is amplified thanks to the size of the organization. 

    The biggest criticism I have with public companies is that their single most important driving factor is to grow quarter over quarter, forever. That's literally cancerous behavior. There is never a growth number or business size that is acceptable, because that is what is demanded by their shareholders. 

    Companies may be made up of people, but corporations are not governed by the people who comprise them. They're steered exclusively by the BOD and its shareholders, which solely and exclusively care about quarterly profit growth, ad infinitum. 

    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. 

    On 2/8/2024 at 2:39 PM, Brisketexan said:

    I don't disagree with this at all.  And maybe what's hard to get at in this short-form discussion is that structures can create different incentives among different stakeholders.  My suggestion is that our current structure of how we assess and compensate for "value" is skewed to incentivize many of those stakeholders to prefer profit today at the expense of investment in tomorrow.  Tragedy of the commons stuff, or my preferred metaphor, eating your seed stock.

    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.

    On 2/8/2024 at 2:39 PM, Samson's Wig said:

    A lot of SMBs came to the realization during the pandemic that a certain percentage of their customer base isn't worth dealing with anymore. 

    A lot of it is generational ... "I want to talk to someone before I place an order, by god!  No real reason other than I want to!"). Whether or not that is reasonable is beside the point, as businesses will eventually stop caring what customers who require more effort to close want and for good reason. 

    As wealth continues to shift from the gigantic older generation to the gigantic younger one, older folks are going to complain more and more about customer service.  It won't matter when those old folks are GenX, as we've been too small in numbers for anyone to ever give a shit about anyway.

    The point: customer service seems worse for the neediest customers because businesses have stopped focusing on attracting their business.

    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.

     

     

     

     

     

    • Hook 'Em 6
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