OlDawg

Never too old to learn. I do at least 2 or 3 Duolingo Spanish lessons a day to try to keep my mind working. You’ll find my name on drawings from cogen units, to glass/ultra-pure distillation towers, to crackers, furnaces, kilns, desalters, and beyond. You would be hard-pressed to find a drawing in many of the units at the old Shell DP or Geismar, LA that didn’t have my name on them in one place or another. Heck, you’ll even find my name on loading docks from Dow Freeport to Pequiven in Columbia. Haven’t had the pleasure of working in a cyclohexane unit. But, I have redesigned and upgraded an old Nylon unit at DuPont. Been around plenty of benzene and phosgene. Used to laugh when I was contracted to Bayer Cedar Bayou. We said the hourly beep on my watch was the daily phosgene release alert. That, and Shell DP were the most dangerous facilities I’ve ever stepped foot in—and I’ve been in more than a few in my day. My operations days were in a plant that made up to 70+% hydrogen peroxide, which was the fuel that went into the solid rocket boosters for the shuttles. We used to say all NASA had to do was throw in the rusty nail for the decomp, and hang on for the ride. If the hydrogen reactor blew, it was calculated it would take out a good chunk of Deer Park, La Porte, and Channelview. We had Air Products and Air Liquide on a direct pipeline for N2 to our reactor for purging, and could empty both of their capacities in 30 seconds.

No. Again. And again. And again. We are an oil exporter. That's different than being energy independent. We can't use our own ultra pure, light oil because our refineries are set up to refine dirty, heavy crude. We haven't been able to really take advantage of our newly accessible deposits because of regulations on our oil industry. He--like all the rest--is either too stupid to know the difference (entirely possible), or is intentionally misleading and counting on the public just to take the easy way out--or be too stupid themselves--and blame Big Oil without really investigating his claim. It's become a tired drumbeat. The new South Texas refinery will be the first new refinery built in 50 years. It will specifically process U.S. shale oil. Of course, it won’t help us with prices. All product is to be exported to India, as they are funding the project even though it’s a Texas based company.

I've explained this over and over again until I'm blue in the face. All politicians--regardless of Party--blame Big Oil when something they do causes prices to rise. Oil is a global commodity. If Administrations hadn't invoked policies that made it difficult to build/revamp refineries to process our own product, we wouldn't be quite so dependent on foreign supply. Trump is taking the easy way out. Just like all the rest. Blame someone else for your own screw-ups. Project reinvestments are typically done on a 10 year payout. The 10 year average profit margin for XOM & CVX is right at 6%. Hardly a profit large enough to make major investments in new technology. They don't set the price of oil, nor the price at the majority of the pumps. I guess everyone's a free market capitalist--until they're not. No wonder socialism and communism are gaining traction. Now, we're deciding how much profit is too much. Sounds suspiciously like the Democratic Socialists like AOC, Mamdani, & the Bernie Bro's to me.

The probable sidekick/understudy/backfield mate of Simon that Stepp referenced. He’s got pretty good hands and returns kicks as well. [Hidden Content]

Low t (itan). 😁

I'm waiting to see how LP's D will be this year. Pretty confident the O will be okay. Sounds like ST will be improved as well.

Haven't heard much on New Caney. But, I noticed they have 3 WR's on this list. Must be pretty potent through the air?

[Hidden Content] [Hidden Content]

Just saw where La Porte—along with 4 Stars Simon & Smith—also has a 4 Star kicker who is kicking 70 yarders. LP hasn’t had a kicker like that in a long time.

Change is happening all right, and Democrat voters who don't see this are fooling themselves. From a liberal news source: Democratic-aligned adults are generally comfortable with the possibility of their party nominating a candidate who identifies as a democratic socialist. While enthusiasm is considerably higher among democratic socialists, 64% of Democratic-aligned adults who do not identify as democratic socialists would be at least OK with such a candidate, while 36% would be upset or uneasy. [Hidden Content] [Hidden Content]

Wars are never--and should never be--popular.

I did find this link. It may be easier to find info in one place via their search. But, I don’t know how current. It says March 2026. [Hidden Content]

I’m aware of: Bridge City ISD, Lumberton ISD, Goose Creek ISD, La Porte ISD, Deer Park ISD. I’m sure there are more. You’d have to search by ISD for those you’re curious about. Some may surprise you as they are smaller districts. It’s not always the big ISD’s. It’s the money issue. Many adopted open enrollment of some fashion after school vouchers passed, and enrollment began dropping for multiple reasons (private schools, immigration policies, home schooling, etc.)

I think as more and more ISD’s lose enrollment, open enrollment of some type will become more of the norm to try to maintain numbers—thus State funding. The individual school ISD’s with open enrollment don’t seem to be the main issue. The issue seems to be the major metropolitan areas like DFW, GHA, and Austin where kids can transfer within the ISD as they choose. It almost makes some schools more like magnet schools. Not just “open enrollment.” For the major metropolitan areas areas, attendance zones would seem to be a good way to help make the mega ISD’s more similar to single/smaller ISD’s. If you change attendance zones, treat it like a move to another ISD. Maybe they do this already. I don’t know.

30 days... Hope everyone is buckled up. This is gonna' be a fun district to watch.