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boilerhorn

Certifiably Surly
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Everything posted by boilerhorn

  1. I disagree, but it is not a hill I care to die on His antics reflect poorly on him, not UT. Skip Bayless is a smarmy, loud-mouthed, lying douche. I'm not sure it really reflects poorly on Vanderbilt. It reflects poorly on him.
  2. Acho is monetizing Acho to the greatest extent possible. I don't have a problem with it. If he's on the TV while I am watching and he gets annoying, I turn it off. The stories about his "struggles" are likely a bit inflated or disingenuous, esp. before college. Most folks who attend St. Marks are probably doing just fine. Did he receive some verbal abuse along the way? Perhaps. HS boys say stupid shit all the time to each other. My suspicion is that he heard racial slurs infrequently, as he was one of the biggest, strongest, fastest guys at St. Marks. Even if he was a turn the other cheek guy, standing up and staring down a racist asshole likely stopped the comments for good. I do not think he reflects poorly on UT. His success shows the value of getting a degree and what opportunities could open up after a career in football concludes. That's good for UT.
  3. There are tons of good examples here. I'l view it through a slightly different lens: which debut albums "upset" their genre and/or changed the mainstream? In no specific order - many have already been said Beatles - Please Please Me Velvet Underground and Nico Jimi Hendrix Experience Sex Pistols - Bollocks Roxy Music - Roxy Music Ramones Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures The Jesus and Mary Chain - Psychocandy Van Halen The Smiths REM - Murmur GnR - Appetite Nine Inch Nails - Pretty Hate Machine Beastie Boys - License to Ill Black Sabbath Nirvana - Bleach The Stone Roses Oasis - Definitely Maybe NWA - Straight Outta Compton Public Enemy - Yo! Bum Rush the Show Eminem - Slim Shady Weezer - Blue Album I saw NIN in a bar in Miami in 1989. Opening acts were Meat Beat Manifesto and what would become Marilyn Manson. NIN played the entirety of Pretty Hate Machine and a few other songs. It might be the most entertaining show I have ever seen. There are many that I likely forgot.
  4. Since others have taken the thread in the direction of admissions and top-X%, here are a couple of random notes... In 1987, admission to UT could be had in 3 ways: (1) top-25% (2) 1100 SAT (3) take 2 summer classes at UT and get B average There are various opinions on "why does top-X% exist?" The first is "taxation without representation," as rural lege members were complaining that none of their constituents were getting admitted. The second was "response to Hopwood" and the observed reduction in minority representation at top Texas colleges. There are many academic papers citing and discussing the latter. The top-X% guarantees admission into the university, not necessarily into a specific/desired major. 100% of admits to Engineering, McCombs, and others are at the discretion of the schools. In general, the person who is top-12% at Westlake, Westwood, Highland Park, etc, is more likely to gain admission than the person who is top-7% at a weaker school. That person will have high standardized test scores and more exposure to AP classes. Note that only 10-15% of applicants outside the top-6% are admitted at Texas. Limiting auto-admits to 75% of the class was prudent. Top-10% admissions would ultimately fill UT with only Texas residents. It's not entirely clear they could fill seats in more selective majors with auto-admits.
  5. Have you never heard of The University of Phoenix?
  6. Another example of "wow, offseason sucks." Too many examples of fail to list, but I will... Handle: BigGameBoomer. Hint number one that it will be garbage. State College, PA - fail As noted, Seattle and Austin are not really college towns any more. Tuscaloosa is infinitely better than Auburn. Berkeley, CA? Really? NC - App.St. Fail - UNC, NCSU, Duke? Ohio over tOSU? Nope. tOSU t-shirt fans are morons, but that part of Columbus is pretty decent. No arguments: Minnesota - big city, but the campus area is great. Indiana - slightly better than Purdue and Notre Dame, but both are catching up to Bloomington. West Virginia - no other choices and no one else could read, so who cares Agree w/ Columbia in NYC, as Manhattan would be great as a college town. However most 18-22 year olds cannot appreciate Manhattan. It's more of a 22+ environment.
  7. Prior to its release, I paid zero attention to anything about this other than the name and Clancy affiliation. So, I recently reread Without Remorse (actually 2x speed audio book while I did my daily walks) in anticipation of this. While watching, I kept searching for the 1.5x speed option on Amazon video. Does it exist? Writing was mediocre. Acting was mediocre. Action was OK. They just borrowed a few names from WR and had some very loose ties to family deaths, CIA, Russians, etc. The writing does set up some possible derivative works, but they killed off the most talented cast member (Guy Pearce), acting-wise. However, quality acting is not really needed to carry an action series. A "true" portrayal of WR would require a considerably different investment and Vietnam-era storylines won't move the needle these days. I'm confused why Amazon - or the producers - felt the need for the additional expense for the affiliation to Clancy/WR for this. I guess a loose tie to the Clancy-verse helps with the 35+ demographic.
  8. Lake Conroe had > 4 inches over the past few days. This resulted in around 1.5-2 feet rise over its normal "pool level." Boats were floating off their lifts; lake closed; etc. Dam was opened to help mitigate. I think they delayed it a bit to see if others downstream could handle the extra water.
  9. According to this link, his brother was featured and he was referenced. https://www.distractify.com/p/nahshon-wright-last-chance-u
  10. Cowboys successfully reached on every pick through the first three rounds. 1.12 (12) Parsons - LB (rank 16) 2.12 (44) Joseph - CB (rank 64) 3.11 (75) Odiguizuwa - DT (rank 87) 3.21 (85) Gholston - DE (rank 177) 3.36 (99) Wright - CB (rank 272)
  11. It was the Bears after all. That said, just about all prognosticators had Jenkins ahead if Cosmi, if memory serves.
  12. There will be plenty of good OT at 33 and/or 45. I am surprised some of the defensive guys are still on the board: JOK and Moehring come to mind.
  13. The Etienne pick makes zero sense for Jax. They need damn near everything - EXCEPT RB. JOK would have been a very solid pick there.
  14. I am (naively?) hopeful that Texas A&M is becoming less racist over time. The population growth, auto-admit issues, etc. will definitely help with that. For the most part, a student who attends Texas A&M can get a top-tier education. Their engineering schools and business schools are well respected and well-ranked. Many students in those majors are there for the education and tolerate/ignore the associated idiocy. Their goal: degree then on to the next phase. I suspect most of the folks who post on college oriented message boards no longer attend the university. For many, they represent the lunatic fringe of the alumni or t-shirt fan base. I think TexAgs falls into that category. Surly ? Only sometimes The demographic shift at Texas A&M has been quite profound. 2000 2010 2020 White 81.50% 72.40% 57.80% Hispanic 9.10% 15.90% 25.20% Asian 3.40% 4.50% 9.40% Black 2.50% 3.30% 3.00% What is missing in the above numbers is that more and more of the top-notch students from suburban schools are enrolling at Texas A&M. Last, mean SAT scores have risen over 110 points since 2002 (~50 points from test redesign). That means that the mean SAT at A&M moved from the 75th national percentile in 2002 to the 85th national percentile in 2020. That is significant. As Texas residents, we need Texas A&M to be a high quality university. It seems to be improving in student quality and relevant rankings. In time, we will either see the racist fringes die off or be smothered by the more responsible majority.
  15. Yup. A half-time job paying $140k can surely salve the wound. Kelly took a prudent political position heading into the council race, labeled as a conservative republican. Otherwise intelligent, educated "R" have attached themselves to her as the way to guide Austin forward. It's insane. An acquaintance of mine touted her as the "Conservative voice of the Council" and I responded that she was "a kook." She's viewed as the path to saving Austin from the homeless problem. Uh, no. To be honest, single-member districts seemed like a good idea at the time. Increasing the number from 6 to 10 - at the same time - may not have been a good idea. The conventional wisdom at the time was that council was dominated by "Central Austin interests" and that the high-growth areas had no representation. 10 years later, we have Fitlump because only 15k people showed up to vote in the district 6 runoff. Did we get the representation we deserved?
  16. If Sarkisian thinks alternating between Thompson/Card is OK, then I am OK with it. Either of Card or Thompson are better choices than either of Ash or McCoy.
  17. I worried that the "no new appraisals" in Travis last year would run most of the aggregators and appeal consultants out of business. Fortunately, some are still around. For 2020, of the ~17k homes I reviewed in 78750 and 78759, only around 700 went up in value and most of those were not reappraisals, but removals of concessions made in previous appeals. For example, my home value increased by ~15% last year when functional obsolescence reductions were removed. Why? "Because people are moving from California and don't care about those things." Those were words from a TCAD appraiser. I did a formal appeal and got some of it back. This year, my property went up another 15%. I should appeal again - or hire someone - but I am not sure it will amount to much. Anecdotes from real estate agents I know Homes in River Place area often receive 20+ offers in a weekend and go for $150k above asking. Outlier went for $400k above asking (asked ~$900k - sold for $1.3mm) House in NW Austin on market for $1.25mm. Under contract for $1.4mm cash. TCAD: 2020 appraisal: $650k; 2021 appraisal: $725k Demand is high and supply is low, so it's only going to get worse.
  18. Attended the 2004 tOSU@Purdue game. Bought tickets early in the season, as it appeared both would be top-10 by the time of the game. That did not play out. Anyhow, tickets were in high demand, so we (brother, brother's wife, father) sat in end-zone. Turns out it was filled with tOSU fans. Most acted as adults, but still took everything too damned seriously. They were jerks when Purdue was kicking their ass in the first half and toned it down as they came back. Kyle Orton, who had been held out most of the game due to injury, was inserted for the final 2 drives. The first was a 3-and-out with Purdue up 17-10. tOSU tied it on the next drive at 17. tOSU fans started to bow up and get confident. Orton came in and proceeded to take Purdue 80 yards down the field - going 6-6 - for the go-ahead TD with 2:25 left. We Purdue fans were going bananas. We might have gotten shanked if we were in Columbus. Anyhow, after the Purdue win, the folks around us were as cordial as they could be. Which was not very. As my we walked back to my brother's house (reasonable walking distance from the stadium in West Lafayette), several clusters of tOSU "fans" offered to fight us, etc. My group took the high road, which was the appropriate choice. There are more details: foul language, "space" violations, etc. But I will spare that... Suffice to say, this was a proper indoctrination for when those assholes visited Austin in 2006. Those "fortunate" enough to visit Columbus in 2005 had it worse, I gather.
  19. That's a comment he should have just kept to himself. What a moron. Aggy... https://texasscorecard.com/author/ccheshire/ Cary Cheshire is the Vice President of Texans for Fiscal Responsibility. A 6th Generation Texan, Cary attended Texas A&M University was active in a number of conservative causes including Ted Cruz's Senate campaign. He has also worked on campaigns to elect conservatives to Congress and the Texas Legislature. Cary enjoys college football, genealogy research, and the occasional craft beer.
  20. Thanks - I should go back and read the jury charge. I lazily did a cut-paste of the statutes from the MN gov't website. I also did not include this - which is another variant. I think *this* was what the jury was directed. My mistake. The other felony was 3rd degree assault. (1) causes the death of a human being, without intent to effect the death of any person, while committing or attempting to commit a felony offense other than criminal sexual conduct in the first or second degree with force or violence or a drive-by shooting; or I
  21. Not a lawyer. Here is the definition of 2nd degree murder in Minnesota. I added the italics and BOLD. The jury must have concluded that Chauvin intentionally inflicted or attempted to inflict bodily harm while Floyd was restrained. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/609.19 609.19 MURDER IN THE SECOND DEGREE. Subd. 2.Unintentional murders. Whoever does either of the following is guilty of unintentional murder in the second degree and may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than 40 years: (1) causes the death of a human being, without intent to effect the death of any person, while committing or attempting to commit a felony offense other than criminal sexual conduct in the first or second degree with force or violence or a drive-by shooting; or (2) causes the death of a human being without intent to effect the death of any person, while intentionally inflicting or attempting to inflict bodily harm upon the victim, when the perpetrator is restrained under an order for protection and the victim is a person designated to receive protection under the order. As used in this clause, "order for protection" includes an order for protection issued under chapter 518B; a harassment restraining order issued under section 609.748; a court order setting conditions of pretrial release or conditions of a criminal sentence or juvenile court disposition; a restraining order issued in a marriage dissolution action; and any order issued by a court of another state or of the United States that is similar to any of these orders.
  22. Did they run out of time or is this a legitimate first loss?
  23. https://spectrumlocalnews.com/tx/austin/news/2021/04/18/3-victims-reported-in-active-shooter-situation-in-northwest-austin Cut-paste
  24. Brian Johnson has a show called "Life on the Road." To me, the series is fascinating. Johnson is down to earth and very humble. He has interviewed Robert Plant, Sting, Roger Daltrey, Nick Mason, Lars Ulrich. The following link is the entire episode with Dave Grohl. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZkKioEpRY4&ab_channel=BrianJohnsonTV
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