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SL Xpress

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Everything posted by SL Xpress

  1. Yeah, there's only one. It's not like we're doxxing the guy: https://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2018-04-13/ut-policy-change-coincides-with-professors-sudden-death/
  2. I feel highly confident he's going to move on to have big time success. That doesn't make me regret the decision of UT. That makes me bitter about the decisions Beard made that led him to his overnight incarceration. And yes, I know about the professor. Different department, different decision. Even though they were both arrested for felonious assault, it's not like they're apples to apples. I don't even remember the name of the professor, and he's still at UT. Beard's name and mug shot was shown all over the world and was a featured story in many news casts. They're not an equivalency.
  3. I don't know who we get if we move on from Terry. But if we make a list of outlandish hires, starting with Jay Wright, Billy Donovan, moving on to Eric Musselman, Tony Bennett seems like the least outlandish. Which is not the same to say he's likely. But no one on this thread is saying that anyway. It's a hopeful thread, with people talking about who they'd hope to have Texas hire. Not the slam dunk thread where we're talking about the coach at North Texas. There's no one on the slam dunk thread that's going to get our juices flowing, so why bother spending time talking about who they might be?
  4. There's a lot of speculation regarding Beard and his fiancee. I just want to point out we know nothing about what happens with their relationship, or what is actually going on. I don't care, because at the end of the day what happened, happened, and that just can't happen and you still keep your job. But this idea we actually know the future of their relationship, or the dynamics between them, is silliness. I'd say it's way more likely he picks another crazy personality for a partner and begins another destructive cycle than there is he repeats the one he already has. But that's just my prediction.
  5. It's like when the Indians surrounded Tonto and the Lone Ranger, and the Lone Ranger turned to his faithful companion and said, "It looks like we're in deep shit this time." And Tonto replied, "What's this we shit, white man?" I loved Beard and yet I'll never regret the school firing him. You might, but you're not speaking for me with this we shit.
  6. That list bothers the shit out of me. It doesn’t change his point. But he’s got wars and battles thrown in together. He doesn’t include Vietnam, Korea, or the Iran-Iraq war. He includes Black Hawk Down, which was intended to be an enforcement operation to capture and incarcerate a specific warlord using US troops that then turned into a military operation. He’s all over the place. Not a fan. If you’re trying to make a point about Ukraine-Russia losses and their ratios, use comparisons that are useful. That said, the 1991 Gulf War is a little lol.
  7. Wagner got more ammo. From what I’ve read they’re the ones making advances on the northern flanks.
  8. Germans, Austrians, Swiss. Just something in that whole culture. I admire the loving shit out of them, and I’ve known plenty of generous, warm, unselfish Germans, but as an aggregate? Selfish, conceited, our farts don’t stink assholes.
  9. I’m glad to see Pistorious say out loud what everyone has known for decades. I’m not sure Germany ever carried its weight, but some of that is no one really wanted them to. It’s not like anyone is excited to see Germany build a really powerful military even after 80 years have passed. But the state it’s in right now is deplorable. And of course it is. Look how much they spend on defense. Nearly all of NATO is like that, but Germany has been the worst. Well, hopefully they do the right thing and start rebuilding their defense forces, but even with Ukraine there’s uphill sledding to do politically. And it can’t be fixed overnight.
  10. Kherson? I don’t understand what you mean by that. Heck, with the steelworks a lot of those guys would have been better off if they hadn’t surrendered. I feel like it was mostly they couldn’t afford to lose any more helicopters to supply them. But I don’t know that. Azovstal doesn’t seem like a good equivalent to me. The Donetsk airport, on the other hand, seems very similar to Bakhmut.
  11. So it would be like the Alamo if Ukrainian command was telling the military in Bakhmut to get the hell out of there, and they were collectively crossing lines in the sand saying, “Hell no, we won’t go!” Because that to me WOULD sound a lot more like the Alamo.
  12. So explain to me how that analogy makes sense. The defenders of the Alamo were not just outflanked. They were literally the only defenders within hundreds of miles. If they could have withdrawn to a better defensive position somewhere they would have. There was no where else to go. The situation in Bakhmut is that there is a high ridge literally just west of the town where the defenders inside the city would no longer be flanked and the supply lines would no longer be under such severe constraint. There are plenty of other disadvantages, but those are some big ones pros in favor of it. There is an opportunity here to trade territory for lives. To me that’s the obvious issue. Someone in the Ukrainian command has decided they don’t want to do that. Okay. They’re the ones in charge. They get to. But it’s obvious they’d prefer to trade lives to prove a point. We’re not giving up a single inch of territory to you fucks. Not a single inch. If that’s the case, it is what it is, but it’s depressing to witness. If that’s the case. Or we can believe there’s a brilliant strategy involved here. I do not believe that. I think an emotional decision is being made to defend Bakhmut come hell or high water, even though there was a perfectly good route to withdraw as recently as a couple of weeks ago. That was not the situation at the Alamo.
  13. Neither Severodoneysk nor Lysychansk were in this much danger of encirclement nor having their supply lines cut off. Bakhmut has held even better than either of those along the eastern front. It’s the flanks that have failed them. It was a direct withdrawal to the southwest in the former. Also, Lysychansk was the high ground in that area. At Bakhmut the only withdrawal route is now directly covered by artillery and mortar shells, and they have active SU-25’s running low altitude missions in the area. Not to mention the ground is a slog. The high ground in the area is actually to the west, where new defensive fortifications have been built. You could very well be right, but it’s not an apples to apples comparison. I never had the same feeling the defenders in Lysychansk would come under heavy fire while withdrawing the way I do about Bakhmut. Also Severodonetsk and Lysychansk had much more clear strategic importance than Bakhmut does. It’s not like I’m seeing an impending loss of the war. But it does appear to be a possible unnecessary loss of life. And as far as being armchair generals, that’s what anyone is who analyzes what is going on. If you’re a thinking human being that spends hours upon hours reading and studying this stuff you can’t help but come up with opinions, even if they’re wrong. Then you have the firing of the General who was commander of the overall forces in Donbas, including Bakhmut. Something went wrong in Bakhmut, either in part because of him, or he wanted to go in a different direction than people higher up the chain of command. I feel like the whole situation warrants some second guessing. Not saying any of it is correct, but it looks to me like there’s some second guessing within the Ukrainian command structure. It could be this isn’t a clever rope a dope strategy but an insistence on trading lives at the expense of voluntarily giving up any more territory. In other words, a political decision over a strategic one Which wouldn’t make it the wrong decision, per se, but it would make me very sad. I would prefer those men/women have been withdrawn at a stage where it wouldn’t be quite so harrowing than what it is now.
  14. Love this fucking interview with a couple of artillery officers: https://wartranslated.com/pravda-com-ua-interview-ukrainian-colonel-oleh-shevchuk/ BTW, I had to look it up. The Pions referenced are large self propelled howitzers that shoot 203 millimeter shells. Compare that to the 152 and 155mm shells the other Soviet and Western howitzers fire. As stated in the interview, they were originally designed to fire nuclear shells. Anyway, thoroughly enjoyed a lot of aspects of this interview, the information they imparted, and their general mindsets. As always, thanks to Volodya Treytak for the translation.
  15. My thoughts: Just because they state it's a strategic decision, not a political decision, doesn't mean it's true. And just because it's a political decision, doesn't make it the wrong one. They know the conversations out there. If you send in reinforcements, you're not going to confirm holding Bakhmut is for political purposes. So you either keep silent about the reasoning, or you say something out loud because you're concerned about the perception. Particularly the perception among your own military forces. Read about what the marines that served under MacArthur thought about his insistence of taking every Japanese held island with their blood. Lots of talk of an Army general much more willing to sacrifice Marines than his own Army grunts. If it was this important to hold, those reinforcements should have been sent to the flanks long ago. They've been steadily collapsing since the start of the year, two months ago. Of course there are other priorities, chiefly preparing enough units and making sure they're equipped for whatever counteroffensive they have planned in a couple of months. And there have been attempted Russian offensives in other directions, including the Kreminina and the Vuhldehar areas. Then there's the firing of the general responsible for the general armed forces in the Donbas, which I originally guessed, and still do, was because he wanted to pull the troops out of Bakhmut. If you look at the https://deepstatemap.live/#13/48.5762/37.9610 - which I'm not saying is the end all be all of the disposition of armed forces, but it's something and they do try to correct their data as it comes in - the situation looks completely untenable without managing to force back the Russian positions. Which the UAF has tried on both the northern and southern flanks according to various reports, and failed. How hard they tried, I have no idea. But without some successes with a quickness, Bakhmut cannot be supplied except irregularly, and probably some of that will have to come from helicopter just as it did in Azovstal until the UAF command ordered them to surrender. I don't have the information at my disposal the UAF does, so I hope something they know tells them this can continue to be a successful defense. Because the way I'm looking at it, I think there's about to be a lot of martyrs in Bakhmut, the same way there was in Azovstal, except these martyrs had a clear line of withdrawal available to them at one time. Some of the same dynamics occurred in the Battle for the Donetsk Airport. Not with the same numbers, but an insistence on keeping an untenable position for reasons, when a defensive position was available just to the west. I want to give the UAF the benefit of the doubt here, but I find myself too emotionally invested in the job the defenders of Bakhmut have done for so long, similarly to the defenders of the Donetsk Airport (the notorious UAF Cyborgs, who never slept or ate according to separatist legend), except on an even greater scale. In any case, I believe this is a political decision coming from Zelensky himself, and if it really is a strategic decision - which I don't believe - it's a fucked up one because more should have been done sooner.
  16. Richard Quick, the women's swimming and diving coach that left after a bitter divorce to go on to win multiple national championships at Stanford. Kind of Mick Haley, who left for the national team and USC after Texas wouldn't raise his salary nor let him coach the national team while being a head coach. He won two national championships with the Trojans. I guess Shaka Smart, but that was more of a you can't fire me, I quit sort of deal. Helped us out financially along with public perception, so thank you Shaka. I can't think of any others. Like, ever. Coaches just don't tend to leave Texas unless they're canned or they retire, even if it's a forced retirement.
  17. I agree, but it is an awesome show for what it is. The only regular season match they even mention is the loss to Iowa State. I'm with you. I'd love it if they could have made it an hour long show. But I sure liked reliving it in any case.
  18. I didn't think of it as condescending even a little bit. I'm not sure I'd even be bothered if someone was. If someone is taking the time to impart information to me from their military experience, I'm going to be appreciative regardless of its tone. I don't have a lot of ego invested regarding military systems. Plenty of other subjects, though. In any case, no apology necessary. We good.
  19. No joke, my stepfather served in artillery, and his hearing was so damaged that for the last few years of his life no level of hearing aid helped him much. It wrecked his cognitive abilities, too, because he ended up being so isolated. I took him personally to around 10 different hearing specialists around the country to try to get him something that would help. He was such a pleaser he'd always say they were making a huge difference, but as soon as we got somewhere with a decent amount of ambient noise, he was lost. Don't fart around with your hearing. Seriously. He led an extremely successful life, so it could be argued how much of an impact it made overall, but it severely impacted his quality of life for the last 2 years, for sure.
  20. Thank you for the explanation. Very much appreciated. I know about the different types of explosions. Same principles are used in torpedos/harpoons, too. But I didn't imagine it was set by turning a wrench on a setting on the warhead. I guess I imagined it was more automated than that? No reason, other than ignorance.
  21. Patented, huh. In the US that's a VA disability check waiting to happen for sure.
  22. I honestly didn't even know that was a thing. I'm amazingly ignorant when it comes to artillery and artillery systems. Thanks for the explanation. Edit: actually, I shouldn't be so specific. Pretty much any military system. I was in engineering on a steam ship in the Navy. We weren't firing anything at anybody down there. I can tell you all about ungrounded electrical systems, though. Weeeeeee!
  23. It's so interesting to me to see what a difference it makes to fire at longer distances with more precision. I mean, it's completely obvious, but we've always depended on air power for those types of strikes for the most part. Everyone has always known how critical it is to be able to destroy supply chains, but this war is hammering it home. Also, I'm sure logistics officers are watching this and wargaming on their end, too. Like you're saying, drones are such a game changer. I have a lot of members of my family who have served in the military, but the closest one who died in combat is my great uncle, who was flying an unarmed single engine reconnaissance plane over German lines in WWII. This Ukraine war is a bat to the face in terms of how far we've come since then. And we still have more to go. Magyar was showing in one of his in depth videos that the real time feed is not good enough for a lot of what he does. He needs to digital feed from the USB after the drone returns, and then reviews all that footage to find his most constructive targets. You know that real time feed is going to keep getting better and better. It almost certainly is with what the US armed forces are using versus a lot of the off the shelf stuff Magyar is utilizing. I realize people are dying out there in horrific ways, including innocent civilians, however I can't help but find the whole thing fascinating from an analytical point of view as well. War is always the ultimate political statement, whenever it's conducted.
  24. The lack of hearing protection.... What are you gonna do, though. You're fighting for survival, who needs hearing? What are they doing with the wrench with the top of the shell at the beginning of that video?
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