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Ghost of LL

Burnt Ends
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Everything posted by Ghost of LL

  1. The amazing thing is that together, the United States and Canada now produce more petroleum than do Saudi Arabia and Russia combined. We're kind of caught in this very Boomer mindset that the Arabs control the global petroleum market. Today, that couldn't be further from the truth. Combined, the Gulf Arab producers (i.e., Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait, the UAE, and Qatar) produce less annually than the United States and Canada. Yes--the SPR is stored in salt domes in Texas and Louisiana. So there is a lag not only in production, but in transportation. But whether that lag is meaningful is another question. When it comes to addressing economic considerations, which is the only purpose to which the SPR has ever been put, the lag has not been material.
  2. But we have the reserve inventory. It's in the ground. It's not going anywhere. Your point makes sense for Oklahoma as it continues to weigh the benefits of creating a Strategic Meth Reserve. Unlike petroleum, meth has to be manufactured. And it has to be manufactured from chemicals that themselves have to be manufactured. So there is the potential for a shortage if there is any interruption in the manufacturing process. But petroleum isn't manufactured. It's already there. All we're doing with the SPR is transferring petroleum from one hole in the ground to another hole in the ground. And yeah, it's more accessible when it's in the second hole. But it's not like we're ever going to have a real shortage of production equipment sufficient to justify the costs of the SPR.
  3. I love BUR. My favorite BUR story was from the 2005 NCG. We spent all week in LA, going to the Tournament of Roses Parade and everything before the game. So since we were going to be in LA for nearly a week, we decided to take one light and fly to Vegas, have dinner, make a few bets on the Longhorns, and gamble all night. So around 8:00, we head over to BUR for the Southwest flight to LAS. We're not even getting a hotel room, so we had no luggage. And so Mrs.LL (back when she was just LL's Girlfriend) is dressed to go out in Vegas. Very short tight black dress with lots of cleavage. Cool. I mean, it's maybe a bit of an outfit for a weekend night at the airport, but there's a flight to Vegas leaving, so it's not completely out of the realm. We gamble all night. Amazingly, we hit "10" on the roulette wheel. That was fun. Thanks, Vince. And around 5:00 AM we head to the airport to catch the 6:15 flight back to BUR. We land at Burbank at around 7:15 at BUR in the same clothes we went out in last night, and . . . well, Mrs.LL didn't feel terribly comfortable walking through early-morning weekday travelers at BUR in her going-out-in-Vegas attire.
  4. I initially completely misread this to mean that you thought Arkansas vs. aggy should play every year in Austin (instead of Jerryworld), and I personally think that would be awful, hilarious, and fantastic all at the same time.
  5. He needs to be enrolled in school for the spring semester. The shit’s that borked is that the playoffs go so far into January that football is now also a spring sport.
  6. Well, unless we're the defending national champions.
  7. Fuck that. I'm cheering for Maalik wherever he goes. He could go to aggy, and I'd hope he would go 25-25 for 350 yards and 4 TDs in every game. Just so long as aggy then loses every game 70-24. Which, in light of the fact that their entire defense is apparently transferring, is not entirely out of the question.
  8. Where is this supposed SEC meatgrinder we were all told about in which every game is the football equivalent of Verdun? Apart from Georgia, this is a schedule that is pretty comparable to your average Big12 schedule in terms of difficulty. Playing aggy at College Station is roughly equivalent to playing Tech in Lubbock. Playing Arkansas in Fayettenam is roughly equivalent to a trip to Ames. But Kentucky, Mississippi State, Vanderbilt? Don't those match up pretty evenly with Kansas, TCU, and Baylor? Of course, we could completely shit the bed. We routinely did that in the Big12 over the past decade. But if that happens, it won't be because the schedule is so much more difficult than what we faced this year. But if we don't shit the bed, we'll get the benefit of having played an [hushed and awe-struck voice] SEC Schedule [/hushed and awe-struck voice] when the playoff rankings come out.
  9. "Born to Run" by Chris McDougal.
  10. I really hope Maalik does well where ever he ends up.
  11. Brother, have I got a tale for you.
  12. It's akin to the experience of the British Army in World War I. At the beginning of 1914, the British Army had roughly 250,000 troops. In August and September, about half those were sent to France as the British Expeditionary Force. By the end of the year, pretty much all of them were dead or wounded. On Boxing Day 1914, the British Army formed the Second Army. That's not a term like the Germans had with First Army and Second Army, which invaded Belgium and France in August 1914. The British Second Army was more like "we need to raise a second army because the first army got all killed and shit in the first five months of this war." That's where Russia is. Their first army is gone. They've now formed a second (and probably really a third) army. I'm just going to tell you--at this point, I don't see how Ukraine can prevail without direct Polish involvement. And what worries me is that I don't think the Poles are inclined to allow Ukraine to lose.
  13. I think that's all right. And you hit on something I referenced--there is a gender issue at play, both as to the complimenter and the receiver of the compliment. I think the lesson, more than anything, is "use good judgment." And if you have any question about whether you have good judgment, then perhaps consider foregoing a compliment. As an aside, and as I referenced, my former partner was the head of the firm's employment section. And later that afternoon, a bunch of us attorneys were laughing because the employment section is always the one that is the closest to the guardrail when it comes to workplace behavior. It's pretty much a cliche across law firms at this point--every firm I've ever been associated with has had the same opinion of its employment lawyers. But here's the thing--they have good judgment based on years of professional experience. They know when something is going to be unwelcome and offensive. They don't make those comments. So they may make comments that seem out of place among others who are cognizant about watching our step. But they never actually make comments or do anything that would be truly unwelcome.
  14. It's not about the aircraft. The discussion was in the context of a drone vs. a live pilot who is in the cockpit. And in a dogfighting scenario, the human pilot can see the movements in the control surfaces, which will cause a change in the orientation of the opposing aircraft before the aircraft actually reacts to that change in its own control surfaces. As an aside, that has to make it difficult for the pilot of a 4th Gen. fighter in any dogfight with a 5th Gen fighter, because the control surface movement would be so different that it would really throw off the pilot of the 4th Gen fighter.
  15. Now that the United States is a net exporter of petroleum, it's really hard to justify the SPR. It's akin to Greenland maintaining a Strategic Ice Reserve or Oklahoma holding on to a Strategic Meth Reserve. It doesn't really make any sense.
  16. Well, well, well . . . look who's being the bad conference partner now.
  17. So wait--a person who is uncertain about what her legal rights/obligations are can't go to court to obtain a decision . . . let's call it a "declaratory judgment" . . . declaring what those rights/obligations actually are? Well fuck, and here I have been citing Chapter 37 of the CPRC for more than two fucking decades. Silly me.
  18. But let's be real fair--"Asian" is a lousy geographic description because it is so non-specific. To give any idea what you actually mean, you need to say "East Asian" or "South Asian" or whatever. The implication that "Asian" means "East Asian" brings its own problems. It indicates that you're ignoring (among other places) the most-populous country on Earth. And yeah--some people find that kind of offensive. All of which should serve as your periodic reminder that today's progressivism is tomorrow's cringe. In this anecdote, we're talking about a woman complimenting other women. So I think the discussion about what we as men can or can't do in the workplace is a bit misplaced. But somewhat relatedly, our former partner who was the head of our employment-law section was in the office yesterday to handle some EOY benefits stuff. She retired a year ago and hadn't seen me in at least six months. And during that time, I've lost a bunch of weight. So when she stopped by my office, she said "damn, GOLL--you look hot." Fuck yeah, I do. I'm not eating fucking salads and spending my evenings in the gym to look not hot, after all. But even so, that (very accurate) observation had me strutting around like a peacock all afternoon. And it occurs to me that we shouldn't forego compliments that are going to validate someone's efforts for fear that the person may have a condition that only a tiny percentage of the population has. Besides--in my experience, people with IBS make sure everyone around them knows about their IBS. They're a little like vegans in that way.
  19. "It is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is." Marbury v. Madison (1803). . . . except in Texas, in which it is up to doctors to try to fumble around and figure out whether a particular pregnancy fits within a statutory exception, because the Supreme Court isn't going to say what the law is.
  20. And of course no sooner than I issue my learned prognostication than SCOTX hands down its decision, showing my prediction to be 100% wrong. So let this be another small rock upon the mountain of evidence demonstrating why nobody should ever listen to my pontifications.
  21. 100% they dismiss the appeal as moot. I would very much expect to see that order come out Friday at 9:00.
  22. Well, they're going to have some real trouble when they enter the workforce. Because by the time they get into the workforce, the people who are young employees now are going to be the boss. And let me tell you--they are frequently very sensitive and conscientious about these topics. I don't think they're going to appreciate their subordinates not showing appropriate respect for minorities (or anyone, really). So fun thing as I watch L.A. Law, which is now streaming on Hulu and was one of my great television pleasures as a young person. Back in the late 1980s and early 90s, L.A. Law was seen as a very progressive show. It even had a transgender person on it. But now you go back and watch it, and the word "yikes" frequently crosses your mind. So let this be a lesson, particularly to all the GenZers who are oh-so-progressive and judgmental of their elders' perceived malfeasances: Today's progressivism is tomorrow's cringe.
  23. Yeah, so the GQP now has a one-vote majority? Or is it two votes? Beyond running the risk of losing the majority if they have a retirement or death (or another expulsion), it enables any single member to flip the majority by switching parties. And for a few of them in Biden districts, that may be pretty appealing.
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