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crash_davis

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Everything posted by crash_davis

  1. Rice farmers are feeling the pain. Unpopular opinion but it's time. For the last 20 years, Texas has fluctuated between moderate to severe drought. As temps continue to rise, we probably won't see that changing other than for the worse. Rice is the wrong crop to be farming in a drought, but I guess any crop is the wrong crop to be farming in a drought. Long article, well worth the read. I included some snippets below. https://www.texasobserver.org/rice-farmers-on-the-brink/ Rice farming in Texas dates back more than a century, and state water policies have always been an issue. In 1915, a group of rice farmers made what was then a two-day trip from the rice farming counties of the Lower Colorado River Basin to Austin to join forces with the city’s Chamber of Commerce to convince federal officials to build dams on the Colorado River to control floods and ensure a steady water supply. By the end of their meetup, the four dozen attendees had formed the Colorado River Improvement Association, the predecessor of the LCRA. Buchanan Dam, which created Lake Buchanan, was completed in 1938, and Mansfield Dam, which made Lake Travis, was completed in 1942. These two reservoirs provide water to people in the Austin region, along with rice farmers and industrial users, while contributing environmental flows to maintain the health of Matagorda Bay downstream. But in contrast to the unity farmers and businessmen originally enjoyed, exploding population growth in the modern era has increasingly pitted rice farmers against city dwellers in the fight over water rights. The LCRA splits its buyers into two categories: those whose water supply is “firm” and those whose is “interruptible.” In exchange for cheaper rates, interruptible water can be shut off if reservoir water levels decline below certain levels, which are updated every five years. Rice farmers’ water is interruptible; water sold to city dwellers and industrial users like power plants is firm. Only after firm water users’ allocations are fulfilled may rice farmers buy water. With more users, less water is available for rice farmers. The population of the Austin area nearly doubled from 1.2 million in 2000 to 2.3 million in 2020 and has been projected to reach 4.5 million by 2050. Nationwide, drought has become the number-one reason for crop insurance payouts for farmers unable to plant. According to the nonprofit Environmental Working Group, those payments shot up from about $1 billion in 2001 to $7.6 billion in 2021. How long payouts can continue remains to be seen. Climate change has piled on other risks besides drought for rice farmers. Hurricane Beryl, the earliest Category 5 Atlantic hurricane ever reported, made landfall on July 8 in Matagorda County as a Category 1. “[It] damaged the crop, and the wet conditions have made harvest difficult,” said Lowell “LG” Raun, a third-generation rice farmer who cultivates about 1,000 acres in Wharton County. “In my 50 years of farming, I have never had a hurricane make landfall nearby prior to harvest.” For some Texas farmers, converting thirsty rice fields to solar or wind farms—which also help combat the climate crisis—makes too much sense to resist. Increasingly, solar-related income is more reliable than crop sales. Solar leases can last decades and provide landowners $1,000 an acre annually. The historic 32,000-acre Pierce Ranch in Wharton County leased 2,800 acres to AP Solar for its Red-Tailed Hawk Solar Project, said Laurance Armour, a fifth-generation rice farmer and the ranch’s general manager. When the project came online in May, a 25-turbine wind farm was already operating on the ranch. Armour may soon add battery storage and carbon sequestration to the mix. “It’s much more lucrative to be doing renewable energy these days than farming, frankly,” Armour said. “And so that’s why we’ve chosen to do what we did.”
  2. Phone lines open @ 7AM for reservation. In person reservation starts at 5:30 - 6:00AM, depending on the course. This means people get there at 3:30-5:30AM (depending on the course) to get on the sign up sheet to book reservations in person. If you call, by the time you get in, it'll be a 2 or 3PM tee time. I'm not walking 18 at 2PM in the afternoon when all the scrubs are playing which means it'll be a 4:45 - 5 hour round. Tee off by 7:30ish, it'll be a sub 4 hr round. People who get up at 3:30AM to make weekend reservations don't tolerate slow play. We wake up early to avoid the idiots.
  3. Neg global warming. It's a fucking furnace in the West right now.
  4. Austin - 14 Day forecast. https://www.timeanddate.com/weather/usa/austin/ext
  5. Left the house at 3:50AM to drive to Kizer golf course to get tee times for this weekend. Sitting at the light at Koenig and Burnet, car next to me decides the light is taking too long and runs the red light. Driving down 183 toll, car passes me on the left. It's a drunk dude is driving over 80. As he passed me, he drifts into in the middle lane but continues drifting into both the left and right lanes for a few couple of miles. I kept my distance behind him. Sitting at the red light at Montopolis and Burleson, car next to me decides light is taking too long and runs the red light. Lesson, don't drive between 1AM and 6AM.
  6. Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller sounding the alarm. You mean it's getting hotter and we're running out of water. Great, just great. Problem is, this is not a Texas problem. This is a national problem. https://www.khou.com/article/news/politics/inside-politics/texas-politics/texas-agriculture-commissioner-sound-alarm-says-texas-is-running-out-of-water/287-f9fea38a-9a77-4f85-b495-72dd9e6dba7e?trk=public_post_comment-text Miller, and at least two other state lawmakers who’ve appeared on Inside Texas Politics recently, tell us the water shortage issue is about to take center stage in Texas. Miller recently wrote an op-ed describing the problem and offering possible solutions for what he calls “self-reliance.” “Our tomato production in the Valley is just about gone. They usually grow five crops of vegetables in that Winter Garden area. They have enough water to grow one. So, our production’s down 80%. And it’s all about water,” Miller said as an example. Miller thinks the state should prioritize capturing stormwater and reusing treated water. Other options he includes to maximize our water resources involve improving the efficiency of irrigation and other delivery systems, increasing storage capacity and adding new reservoirs. “We gotta recycle our water,” the commissioner said. “Our water treatment water goes into the creek, right out in the Gulf. We need to capture that and let my farmers irrigate with it.” To “maximize every drop,” Miller says part of that would include off-channel storage, so nothing goes to waste. And this does include using brackish water, which is saltier than fresh water, but not as salty as seawater. Miller says a new brackish water treatment plant will open in Alice, Texas later this year, which will provide 2.7 million gallons of fresh drinking water daily. Even the oil and gas industry has a role to play, according to Miller. The Agriculture Commissioner thinks the state should consider using brackish water for fracking instead of fresh water. But, as expected, solving the problem will be expensive. Miller says we can pay for it through federal grants that already exist, tapping into funds from the Texas Water Development Board that taxpayers have already paid into, and grants by the Texas Department of Agriculture. As an example, Miller tells us the Department gave out 90 grants to small communities across Texas, $500,000 each, to replace antiquated water lines. The bottom line, Miller says, is Texans need to be talking about this problem more and it’s time for lawmakers and other leaders to act. “You can’t get a Pecos cantaloupe anymore," Miller said. "The wells are dry out there. They don’t grow cantaloupes in Pecos anymore. Everybody used to love to eat Pecos cantaloupes. You can’t find one anymore because the farmers are gone. There’s no water. They had to leave.”
  7. Sark had/has the rep of being a coach who can develop QBs and is one of the top OCs in the country. QBs and WRs want to play for him. Shrek is a mid-level coach. Klein's offense beats up QBs and isn't known to be WR friendly. Recruits aren't overly excited about either coaches.
  8. We post this shit every year but this may be the first time it's going to happen.
  9. I'm assuming that Hudson. If so, fucking LOL. When does the portal open?
  10. Did you use Chat GPT to write that?
  11. So...did he call Sark at halftime and commit?
  12. Fuck Bo Davis, sorta.
  13. Arch's family have totally adopted Texas and Austin. Cooper is a member of Austin Country Club and I believe Arch's younger brother, Heid, is a freshman at Texas. Arch aint going nowhere.
  14. He has to. Sell hope and discredit your rival. aggy writers have existed on that shit for 50 years. They aren't a fan based who deals well with reality.
  15. Dominating win. When it mattered, both lines owned the LOS. Quinn looked really good. Play calling was awesome. 2nd half, coaching staff new that Mich probably couldn't drive 75 yards for a TD, or if they could it would eat 5-7 mins. We adjusted everything accordingly. With that said, Sark's gonna be pissed how we executed in the 2nd half. Team knew it was going to win and kinda put shit on coast.
  16. Dude, yall need to chill. This game is won. Michigan hasn't proven that they can drive the ball all the way for a TD. Even if they do, it'll take 5 mins. Sarks knows this and his play call is reflecting it. Sark doesn't want to show anything more on offense for DCs to game plan against.
  17. Most people visiting this thread for recruiting discussions....
  18. She a trashy skank. There are hundreds of that trash every Fri and Sat night prancing around on 6th street. I'd rather fuck a trash can. It's the same thing.
  19. This country is beyond fucked up when dipshit parents think of AR-15s as presents that you buy for kids. In no other country on Earth would this be anywhere near normal.
  20. His first problem is that he's still on facebook. https://slatereport.com/news/florida-woman-25-ends-date-by-stealing-mans-car-slitting-his-throat-and-tossing-him-off-a-bridge-say-cops/ A Florida woman is facing multiple charges after she allegedly slit her date’s throat and then tossed him off a bridge. Natalie Fonseca, 25, is charged with attempted murder, carjacking, kidnapping, and robbery with a firearm after she and a male accomplice allegedly stole a man’s car, shoes and cash before leaving him for dead. She and her alleged accomplice, 31-year-old Nafis Reynolds, have yet to enter a plea. An arrest warrant obtained by Inside Edition Digital says that the victim approached an officer outside a convenience store shortly after 8 a.m. on Oct. 8. The victim “was covered in dry blood, his face was bruised and swollen, he could hardly stand and he was barefoot,” according to the warrant. He also had “deep lacerations on the front and sides of his neck,” and told the officer “his friends attacked him …stuck a knife in [his] neck … beat him … stole [his] car, and threw him off a bridge,” says the warrant. The victim was then rushed to the hospital for surgery, but later that day provided officers with more information. The man claimed that he met a woman on Facebook and “offered to take her to dinner or take her to buy some food” when she mentioned having money troubles, according to the warrant. On their first outing together, the man told police that he took the victim to a taco truck and then dropped her off back at home. The following day, the victim “started receiving messages from the female again about wanting to see him,” says the warrant. He told her he would meet up with her after cashing his paycheck, and after arriving was told by the female that she needed to pick up her cat, according to the warrant. The female then drove victim’s car to get said cat and returned to her home. The warrant says that the female went inside and then returned to the car with a male, who showed the victim that he had a pistol before the three drove to a barbecue, which the female said was at her uncle’s house. Once again, the female drove the victim’s car, both to the barbecue and later to a liquor store where the victim purchased wine and beer for her, says the warrant. The victim says that when he was ready to go the three got into the car and the male began “punching him,” while the female said “They were going to take him to a place and take everything from him, kill him, and throw him in the water,” says the warrant. The pair allegedly did just that, with the victim telling police that the female “cut him on his neck while the male was hitting him and then the male cut his neck with the knife, telling him he was going to die,” according to the warrant. The pair then took his cellphone, shoes, and $350 cash before throwing him off the bridge, says the warrant. The victim somehow managed to swim to a bank, where he lost consciousness and was awoken the following morning by a woman on a boat who ferried him back the roadway, says the warrant. He then managed to flag down a motorist who drove him for a little while before pulling over and informing him he had to get out of the car, at which time the victim walked 10 minutes down the road and encountered a police office, according to the warrant. The victim did not know the woman’s name or her exact address but did describe the home and police later found surveillance footage of the victim and Fonseca at a local convenience store as well as video of Fonseca entering a store while the victim and Reynolds sat in his car outside. After three days in the hospital the victim was discharged and took police to the scene of the crime and identified the home where Fonseca and Reynolds live as being the home of the man and woman who tried to kill him, according to the warrant. Fonseca and Reynolds are scheduled to be arraigned on Nov. 17. She looks batshit crazy.
  21. Maybe he's a really really good shot and likes the challenge of making the target look really really small.
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