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PTINS

Burnt Ends
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Everything posted by PTINS

  1. Like Billy Joel writing "Just The Way You Are" for Christie Brinkley.
  2. 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.
  3. "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.
  4. "They raise cattle and football players in Texas. The cattle are treated better."
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. 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.
  8. 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.
  9. 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.
  10. Your thought processes were fractured and your hopes in vein; shouldn’t put the karst before the horse.
  11. I lived in Jester West my freshman year and would always see Earl in the lobby. It was hard to believe an 18-19 year old kid could have that kind of muscle tone, especially his abs; they didn't call it a six pack back then. DKR & Bum got all the press, but Fred putting a 215 Lb Earl in the "I" was genius. My favorite Earl was the cat quick Earl, blocking a punt against Arkansas, and running like a spooked deer on a 24 yard TD scamper against OU in '77, on his way to the Heisman. He always had the power, and the punishing stiff arm that knocked DB's off their feet. Growing up in Austin in the late 60's, and watching Earl at Texas for 4 years; talk about setting an expectation. Good times.
  12. If you don't, or can't, get your thoughts together before your alligator mouth overloads your hummingbird ass, that's something you'll take to the grave. 12 hours may do it, but some will live longer than that. Linear, logical thought processes and common sense are not as common as you think.
  13. It is not obvious exactly what was hit at the Ust-Luga complex in the Baltic Sea. It appears to be the gas (natural gas, not gasoline)/condensate processing facility/terminal. In addition, there is a crude oil export (large) terminal, and a new LNG Plant/terminal (2 trains) that was set to come on-line in 2024 & 2025. I haven't gone own the black hole, but I'm assuming the LNG is delayed at best. * According to Novatek, the Ust-Luga complex, launched in 2013, processes gas condensate into light and heavy naphtha, jet fuel, ship fuel (fuel oil) and gasoil, and enables the company to ship oil products as well as gas condensate to international markets. Just speculating, but this export terminal looks like it was for European demand, not domestic consumption. More later. In one of the links in a prior post, one of the Russian refineries that was damaged by Ukraine? had difficulty getting western (US) replacement parts and obtained the "Made in China" variety. The new parts didn't work, and that portion of the facility was shut down. In this case, the refinery products probably went towards the war effort ... advantage Ukraine. I addressed this in the Arctic Freeze threads, it is hell on earth. Some places the facilities are put inside buildings, which protects you from the elements. The flip side is taking extremely volatile natural gas, increasing the pressure, and adding heat just to make it more fun, and putting it inside a structure that prevents small leaks from dissipating naturally. The stories that make the news all have common elements; there is a leak, either equipment failure or human error, the actions taken are either correct or not, and the leak continues until it is shut off or finds an ignition source. The outdoor facilities as shown above have their own problems. Process facilities are cooled by aerial coolers, cooling water systems or mechanical refrigeration. Aerial coolers are affected by cold weather mixed with precipitation. eventually, the ice wins. Cooling water system are more efficient and dynamic, and expensive. Water & steam moving through pipes in freezing weather is normal. Water & steam not moving through pipes in freezing weather is a big problem. You can imagine the phone calls these guys get; "Is the fire out yet? Why Not? What's taking so long?" "They should keep hitting Russian oil and gas infrastructure." I expect this is one area where the EU, US & Asia have a direct influence on Ukraines targeting of oil & facilities. Assistance and support for Ukraine is dependent on healthy domestic economies for each contributor. You cannot shut down significant Russian oil production without a catastrophic impact on worldwide economies. There is not enough extra capacity worldwide to replace the Russian capacity. It is a zero sum game. That is the tricky part. You want to hit the parts that only affect internal Russian dynamics without interrupting the portion that feeds worldwide commerce. Some data I saw while mousing around; I did not/cannot verity source of data, so take it with a salt shaker: Russian Crude Oil Tracker "Timely and publicly available data on Russian oil exports is insufficient (the best effort we are aware of comes from CREA who we build upon). Our aim is to help fill in the gap by providing clear and comprehensive information on recent export volumes and routes. We have compiled our data from multiple sources and validated numbers against external sources, and we believe the data allows for sensible interpretation of trends over time." Russia's waterborne crude exports have increased since the invasion of Ukraine. Western consumption of Russian shifted from the EU/Far East to China & India, while crude oil supplies that used to go to China & India have shifted to the EU/Far East. The realities of world economies. It is not so much the impact on the average consumer, but the impact on the businesses that are impacted by the simple facilitating of the changing supply & demand. They don't go where it goes and who uses it, as long as it goes somewhere.
  14. I was stoked when Banks made the Freshman All-American Team. The next year, so did Bison-tits. Then I realized that most OL redshirt their first year for S&C development. Superstars start as freshmen, and the other guys are freshmen who go to teams with desperate O-lines. Two guys who on paper are similar, when in reality they are opposite ends of the spectrum. Tony Dorsett, Earl Campbell, and Billy Sims. The golden age of patience, acceleration and speed. Guys are born with those attributes. Or not. Either way, you can't really teach them. You can learn to be patient, but if your default instinct is to hit the hole, you end up with guys that are flat footed in the backfield. If you know you have acceleration and breakaway speed, it's easy to be patient. As the OL gets better, the need for patience is diminished.
  15. Straight Sunco 105 Cookin’ with Natural gas, not motor gasoline. That would be extraordinarily bad, like crossing the streams.
  16. He was listed as a LB. DT was heavy SEC. I chose my data carefully.
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