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boilerhorn

Certifiably Surly
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Everything posted by boilerhorn

  1. Yeah, from about 1989-1996, he was a heroin users, a cocaine user, and would use whatever else he could find. Gahan died for 2 minutes in 1996. https://www.ajournalofmusicalthings.com/a-quarter-century-has-passed-since-depeche-modes-dave-gahan-briefly-died/
  2. That rule applies for almost every franchise or sole proprietorship.
  3. @C-Man - silly question about diminished value claims. At one point, I believe I read that Texas did not have a path to a diminished value claim. However, I am hearing anecdotes (and found some web references) where it is possible. Where does it make sense and how successful is it? I suspect it is more relevant for a classic car or a super car and not for a 2013 Honda Civic. With the baseball sized hail, I suspect an auto shop can repair the vehicle, but the claim against it might diminish the value. Any insights would be very welcomed.
  4. Reporting in a little late, but saw Sting at Moody in Austin on Sept 17. Setlist was great. Strong mix of Police classics with his solo work. He played around 19 songs and, after an encore, he closed with Roxanne then Fragile. Walking on the Moon and Fields of Gold might have been my favorites. He increased the tempo for Every Breath You Take, which I liked. Positives: Sting still sounds fantastic, vocally and on the bass. He is clearly keeping in fantastic physical shape, too. His guitar player, harmonica player, and backing vocalists are very talented. And he highlighted each of them at various points in the show. He comes off as fairly humble (which is not his reputation). Negatives: Mix for the first two songs had drums and guitars drowning out the bass and vocals. The drummer was pedestrian and it really stood out on King of Pain and Every Little Thing She Does is Magic. Especially King of Pain, where Stewart Copeland was masterful. The drummer just played straight ahead 4/4 on the high hat and snare. To me it was almost distracting. All in all, I am glad I went. It was a last minute decision.
  5. And puta is Spanish for Baylor.
  6. Barely any rain in 78750. Just wind. 78756 - pool ball size hail, broken windshield and damaged 2 of my kids' vehicles. Nowhere near as bad as some of the Round Rock experiences.
  7. Looking for some advice. Want to buy some boots and have not worn boots in 20+ years. In my limited research, I keep coming back to Lucchese as the best combination of comfort, quality, and fit. Given it is the first pair of boots for 20+ years, I want to keep the costs down, in the event they end up in my closet in 2 months time. One constraint: I have hallus rigidus (arthritic stiff toe) in my right foot and do not want the boots to make it worse (of course). So, that means I'll need a rigid/rocker sole and (possibly) a relatively large toe box. Any recommendations? And "Don't get boots, you arthritic city slicker" can be a legit response, if that's what you conclude.
  8. They have to wait until oil hits $125/bbl again. To replace Jimbo will cost in excess of $120mm, when you consider his buyout, the new coach's likely buyout, and the new contract. They set a horrible precedent giving a washed up coach a 10 year contract.
  9. Auburn has 7 QBS on the roster: 3 Fr, 3 sophomores, 1 upper classmen. The 1 upper classman is Thorne - a transfer from Michigan State. He had "ok" stats last year as a starter, but was mediocre to poor against any Big10 team w/ a pulse. QB2 is Robby Ashford, transfer from Oregon. He's pretty mediocre, too. QB3, Geriner, is a RS FR 4* recruit. They can't be worse, can they?
  10. Yep an average of an average of an average of .... yielding a single number should always be scrutinized.
  11. @Frank Drebin - thank you for posting that! A quick link to 2022 grade 8 math data: https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/mathematics/states/groups/?grade=8 Texas white: 284 Texas hispanic: 265 Texas black: 260 Texas asian: 307 Wisconsin white: 291 Wisconsin hispanic: 264 Wisconsin black: 237 Wisconsin asian: 288 Link to 2022 4th grade reading: https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/reading/states/groups/?grade=4 Texas white: 228 Texas hispanic: 205 Texas black: 204 Texas asian: 251 Wisconsin white: 226 Wisconsin hispanic: 202 Wisconsin black: 186 Wisconsin asian: 219 Texas 7, Wisconsin 1 - I picked 2 at random Fixating on averages can and may result in poor decision making Grade 4 literacy rates are directly correlated (and likely causal) to adult success, fwiw.
  12. LT bond writers and/or proponents ignored recent cautionary tales if they put everything in 1 or 2 bonds. RRISD set the example on how to do this around 15-20 years ago. A few years after the ~$36mm bond to build "The Palace on Parmer" (Kelly Reeves Athletic Center), darn near every bond failed. Someone on the school board or at the administration office (impossible that it was one of the superintendents, as they were mouth-breathers) had an idea to (1) split into many bonds and (2) make sure each bond impacted EVERY school in the district in some fashion. Johnny's middle school gets new carpet. Sally's elementary gets a revamped cafeteria. Holly's high school gets a new performing arts center. etc. From memory, I can think of few bonds that have failed in RRISD since. I concede that I could be misremembering details and that some bonds could have failed... Prosper receiving $100mm from recapture is insane.
  13. Totally agree that EVA > United. Of the 7 or so trips I made to Taipei, I took EVA 2 times. It is definitely superior to United, but its time/day options were a little more limited than United. Also, I was able to fly business, so the United experience was not as poor as it would have been in coach.
  14. I have never and will never fly spirit or frontier. There are far too many stories to share, but ones that stand out are canceled flights that result in you being stuck in your location for another 2-3 days. Even on SWA, there is a 100% chance you are out of there within 12 hours. For business, I try to optimize travel time, convenience, and cost - and in that order. I often will schedule a direct flight out of Austin at 6a to optimize travel time, only to regret it when I have to wake at 3:30a to get there. However, I arrive on the west coast w/ a full day. I typically avoid SWA coming from the west coast toward Austin, esp. at the end of the day, as they are notoriously behind schedule out of places like SJC. A former colleague did tons of flying to SFO and Taiwan - and I did a few times. His airline of choice was United, as SFO is a United hub and they have a daily direct flight to Taipei. For family, I use a similar calculus, but a little more biased toward cost. SWA often gets a lean here with their baggage "leniency" and their availability at some destinations. A mistake some folks make is saving $$ on tickets by taking a late flight to a destination (or early flight home), not realizing that they are spending the money w/ another day of hotel or a lost day visiting. None of the calculus will ever result in Spirit or Frontier. When the Spirit/Frontier merger was announced a common response was, "They wanted to make the unquestioned worst airline in the world."
  15. Austin location already shuttered. Elgin location closing. Ran out of money, it appears. https://www.mysanantonio.com/food/article/circle-brewing-closing-austin-18375336.php A popular Austin brewing company shuttered its original location earlier this year after more than a decade, leaving only its newer Elgin operation open. For fans of the brand's Blur hefeweizen, there's some more bad news out there this week. On Monday, September 18, Circle Brewing announced that it is completely shutting down after almost 15 years in business. "It is with a heavy heart and the utmost sadness that we must announce the closing of Circle Brewing Company," the owners Ben Sabel and Judson Mulherin wrote on Facebook, acknowledging that the COVID-19 pandemic played a major factor in the demise of the business. Started in 2008, the original Braker Lane location opened its doors in 2010, first as a distribution-only brewery and eventually as a taproom. That era saw an enormous upswing in breweries opening all over Central Texas, like Austin Beerworks, Jester King, and 512 Brewing, among dozens of others. In 2019, the company purchased 23 acres in Elgin, just east of Austin. The idea was to create a brewery that was fully farm-to-glass: grown, brewed, and poured onsite. "Then Covid came along to ensure the buildout took forever and cost twice as much," the owners wrote. Sabel and Mulherin write that their biggest regret is not seeing the Elgin vision through.
  16. This is a horrific student recruiting video. aTm was one of many colleges we visited for my youngest last year. I was pleasently surprised that NONE of the tour, videos, etc. were anything like this. It would have turned off nearly 100% of the crowd. The primary tour guides (aTm students) gave a single uninspired "whoop" during the tour as we stopped near Kyle Field. Our engineering dept tour guide was one of the heads of admissions - and an Aggie alumnus. He focused on the department, research, faculty, and facilities. None of the foolishness I feared. As an entity, though, they just cannot seem to modernize. And maybe they do not feel the need. They have record enrollment, which is good for business. The penchant of their leadership to collossally screw up the management and handing of female and minority administrative and faculty talent should eventually lead to a major modernization. Well, that's what I keep saying to myself... And hoping for, as a Texas resident and taxpayer.
  17. Tweet found on the MSU thread. Credit @4th&Five Looks like MSU might have a way to get out of that shitty contract they signed w/ Mel.
  18. Eldest daughter - UT grad - lives in upper-east-side right now and works as a teacher at a MS in the Bronx. She's presently completing her Masters degree at one of the CUNY schools there while working full time. There is a huge contingent of Texas-exes there (not sure if your daughter graduated from Texas) and she can easily and quickly connect with folks that way. This is our daughter's 5th year in NYC and my wife just helped her move into her 4th apartment. As you might expect, it is far more affordable if you have a roommate. Also, it is infinitely easier to find a place if you or your daughter are already there, which should be of no surprise. Also, renters need to have an annual salary of 40x-45x of monthly rent to rent a place in NYC. As a result, the first couple of years, we (and roommates parents) had to serve as guarantors - roommates were either fully funded by parents or were in grad school. Her early roommates were classmates at UT, so she did not have to play any sort of "roommate roulette." Not sure how much you like to visit NYC, but if you do, that can be a part of the calculus for an apartment. Hotel rates can be quite high in the city, so subsidizing your kid's apartment might be a good tradeoff depending on your love of NYC.
  19. This is a strong list of schools. As has been noted, UO will be almost automatic. UW very close. Friend's daughter went to Maryland for Public Health - loved it and is gainfully employed. Step-niece attended Maryland and has a PhD in molecular and cellular biology. Also loved it. You should consider suggesting again and possibly visiting. I know the NE and MW does not interest her, but... Also consider Minnesota (or any other university with a close affiliation to a VERY strong research and medical school). Minnesota is a fantastic school and the Mayo Clinic affiliation helps. Daughter 2 and I visited there for a different major - in December. LOVED the campus, but the program was not what she wanted. Make no mistake, it gets really fucking cold there. Ohio State has a really good medical school and - by extension - public health school. I visited there w/ my daughters. Nice campus; strong programs; not as cold as Minnesota. But... too many of their football fans are fucking assholes. So you have to keep that in mind. Another advantage of most large state schools - and larger private schools - is flexibility in changing majors. There is a chance a kid will change majors and they may want to stay at the same school. But definitely ask (and perhaps do some research on your own)- if SA's-Daughter wants to change from Public Health to Computer Science, what would it take? A place like UT Austin would say, "it can happen, but do not count on it." That would mean, "it ain't happening." Many schools are at capacity in their programs. And they do not flunk out 20+% of their freshman on an annual basis like when we were young. So, there's no room. Last, you might consider suggesting she take the SAT one more time. She has a great score (96+ percentile nationally) and she'll hate the idea, but it could help a bit with placement in some of the more competitive colleges.
  20. @Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand - fantastic song. Might be the best song on that release. Yes, better than "Nothing Compares 2 U"
  21. A more recent live version of Nothing Compares 2 U.
  22. Thought of this song as I read this thread. Suspiciously "peaceful" but the lyrics are quite bitter. Lyrics https://genius.com/James-were-going-to-miss-you-lyrics
  23. @PRONG HORN - thanks for that - the version from Letterman is quite good, too. I recall seeing it "back in the day"
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