ecugringo

Not wanting to join an argument. I'm stuck in the middle on this. 1. Its becoming more clear that the virus escaped from a lab. 2. 2-3 months into this there already is a vaccine ready for testing? 3. This tech for the vaccine has been around for 20+ years but this is the first go at it with a vaccine 4. If the tech has been around so long why dont they use MRNA for the Flu? They can develop a covid shot but not malaria? or other viruses? 5. teh covid stats are of 100 ppl, 60 won't know they have it, 28 mild symptoms, 12 hospitalized, 1 might die. Now we have breakthrough cases....is hte vaccine even working? 6. there was a mom in her early 30's now paralyzed after the shot and I guess a few others. Most likely would have been fine having covid. Not worth it to them. 7. Now the Lamda variant in S. America escapes hte vaccine. 8. the media has made this a cash cow selling death. More ppl are dying of murder than covid in major cities now. All that being said one can easily justify being hesitant vs the vaccine. Im glad its available and if i were older id be on it.

There's also a lot of women reporting menstral cycle changes as part of a side effect. It's not being discussed very much. Still unknown what the long term side effects of these changes are with relation to fertility. I read somewhere that if 100 ppl get covid, 60 will have no clue they ever had it. 28 will have flu like symptoms, 12 will be hospitalized and 1 of the 12 will die. However the 12 could be determined by pre existing conditions, age and general health. With the increase in cases, and the media scaring everyone again, the key factor is hospitalizations. Obviously you can still get or carry covid now with a vaccine. Is the spike really due to ppl not vaxed? or is this showing the vaccine may not be as protective as thought?

Good friend of mine was an elite level gymnast. Was on the Canadian national team, missed the olympics due to injury. Asked his opinion. Gymnists get something called the "twisties" you completely lose focus, forget your routine. He said a lot of injuries happen from this. Either way, she's regarded as the greatest ever, this will tarnish her reputation a bit by not being to handle the pressure.

Just had a call with our Canadian office. Canada is shutting down again. Read an article last night how Russia was trying to take advantage of the situation in the EU and push the Sputnik vaccine. Not sure how true this is but interesting. Also have a buddy in Malaysia that handles the Asia-Pac region for my company. No vaccines yet, unknown when it will happen.

We had a colleague come to the US from our Netherlands office last week. They are where we were last May. You can get takeout but bars, restaurants, shopping closed. There is a curfew in place at night. He said he can't even meet at a soccer field to kick a ball around with friends. Must be under 25 to do that. Parks are closed. THere are protest over these lockdowns in every country, we just dont see it covered in the news. He said if it goes into the summer with warmer months mass rioting will take place. People dont trust the vaccine there so a lot of resistance against it. All seems pretty sad.

Is it odd to anyone else that the most infectious virus ever really only affects the old and sick, kids are mostly unaffected also gets a vaccine created within like 3 or 4 months? Meanwhile many other viruses still have no vaccine?

Had a beer with my neighbor who has a Tesla yesterday. He sold his 2015sh BMW 4 series coup for it. His thoughts.....Tesla is stupid fast, but does not compare to the handling of the 4 series. His wife thinks the interior is cheap vs the Bmer and doesn't ride as well. Hes super techy so he thinks its cool.

My bet would be 2 months removed from the Holidays, winter months, people are staying inside their own homes? I can't see the vaccine having this much of an effect so early. Or the virus is running its natural course and running out of viable targets and dying off?

Still not sure why it's news that Cruz went to Mexico? Who cares? What was he going to do to make TX warmer and get power back? This is no different than Trump/Obama golfing all the time. I can do my job from the links so long as I have reception. Its just the optics.

Kids are getting fat due to the school activities shutting down. Maybe not in TX but school sports idled while club sports were F it.

I thought the Nikoli truck looked pretty sick vs the Tesla, but that turned bad for GMC. I have a F150 and love it. Has a 36 gallon tank I can go 600+ miles on it, the truck is pretty quick for a truck and has a ton of room for kids and dogs. Its hard not to have a truck after owning one.

We're in one of the top districts in CO. PPL are willing to be stupid house poor to send their kids here. More and more parents are doing home school near us. The virtual learning is a joke and the kids are getting fat. If I were a well respected teacher I would highly consider quitting and getting paid cash to teach a small "POD". But I've met teachers here and the few Ive met thought I was the devil for working in Oil and Gas. One just started bitching at me at a block party how I was killing the earth. She drove her Honda there BTW. But these are the people teaching our kids. They're also the first to duck and cover from COVID and let the kids suffer. If I get the green light to work more remote were out of this state.

I think a lot of people are realizing that our public education system really sucks and the quality they were lead to believe just isn't there. I get it, we need a school system with both parents being required to work in a lot of situations. After meeting some teachers where we live and seeing the result of a lot of our friends kids in the K-5 school where our kids would be going is pretty discouraging. We made the decision to home school and make sacrifices so my wife can stay home. Our 4 yr old is better off than most 2nd graders we know. The way the teachers union has handled this in a lot of areas is sad. It makes a strong case to do away with the unions. Our school district is now more focused on making sure nobody is offended and the kids dont call anyone he/she anymore.

I live in the burbs of Denver in a very large new subdivision (hoping covid will allow me to work from a more rural part of the country near a smaller city). Due to the tax breaks the state gives, we get hit up couple times a month by some sales kids trying to push solar. I dont think they have any college behind them, the pitch is it doesn't cost anything to you....Its a scam industry. My buddy up the road purchased a system. It costs a bit over $20k. The loan is 20 years. He said his payment is about $90/mo. We're on gas and electric. Summer months his electric might hit $130. I dont know what happens if he moves, but the life of the system is about 25 years. Seems like a lot of work to have $0net electric bill. Maybe he can generate more and sell into the grid?

Wind/Solar is really only viable due to subsidies and tax breaks given to power companies. Major energy companies would probably never go at Wind or Solar to produce energy to sell on the grid without incentives. Also, many of these turbines aren't designed very well. The lifespan is much shorter than advertised. In windy areas such as KS, WY, CO, West TX, they load is pretty high and there are structural issues. Also, when they reach retirement they will sit in a fill for 1mm years. There are oceans of natural gas under the US. Its cheap, cleaner and easy to produce. If they want to go that route they need more cogen plants built across the US. Arizona uses these plants to offset the Nuke plant during peak usage in the summer. The CA grid is pretty maxed out. Moving away from NG and Nuke plants will only strain the grid more and make energy more expensive for the user. Coal is still a huge industry in the US and we are actually an exporter of coal. Most of the world doesn't have the ability to buy expensive green energy, (its not free) they will be dependent on a cheap source of power for the foreseeable future. India, Sub Sahara, Africa, S. America, Asia.

Yeah it's far more complicated than just put the pipeline in and gas will be .69 cents/gallon....You actually want a healthy fuel price for the downstream side of the industry. The crack spread is the profit refineries make on the price of oil they purchase it and what they can sell the finished products at. Upstream needs the price of oil traded at a healthy price as well. Exxon, Shell, Chevron etc....have no interest at oil traded at under $50/bbl. Once the price dips, they will throttle back. If the US stops buying Canadian crude, they will sell it to China and build a pipeline to the west. Interesting note on XL. Warren Buffet campaigned against the XL pipeline. Warren Buffet owns BNSF Rail. As of now the pipeline infrastructure is not inlace to move large amounts of Bakken Crude which is sweet crude other than rail. BNSF owns the rights to move all Bakken crude by rail. When Obama canned XL BNSF bought something like 10k rail cars for crude. Rail is by far more dangerous to move oil. Bakken Crude is mostly moved by train to the west and barged down to CA refineries to process or it moves east to the Coastal refineries. Yes, 70k F150's are very common. Everyone I know has a lot of toys. Cash maybe not so much but $10k hunting trips aren't out of the question.

I use to follow this site when I was going into UPT and trying to get into OTS. I still surf around and follow some conversations from time to time. There are usually some interesting perspectives here. I separated from the AF and work in Oil and Gas now and have had a great career for the past 10 years. I'll add my .02 on energy from my perspective. Keystone XL. There already is a Keystone pipeline. The XL would allow more crude to flow from Canada. Canadian Crude is heavy sulfur or sour crude. Sweet crude is more often found in the Middle East and is just below the surface. Most of the northern refineries and midwest burn Canadian crude. You need special equipment to turn products out of it. Enbridge Pipeline has several lines running across the border and even under Lake Michigan (Line 5). The benefit of Canadian is that it's dirt cheap. However, it is harder on equipment. The coastal refineries dont allow it to be processed. Their crude comes from the middle east. The US is the largest oil producer in the world. But US oil is really only profitable at around $40/barrel in most locations. Middle East crude is something under $10/barrel. I dont know how many jobs are lost if XL is cancelled. It's a stupid amount of steel though. It's push against energy in general that has me worried. There was a brain drain in the industry in the late 80's. But with the Bakken and Eagle Ford basins there was a massive demand for bodies. You can have a GED and make $100k. I have 2 reports that are Navy Vets with only a GED making over $200k. I dont think many people on the coast realize how many people make a great living in this industry and no they can't just go get windmill jobs. We have Aerospace Engineers working with us that make more on pipeline engineering than they ever did at Lockheed. This past year has been bad on the industry. I dont think Biden has a clue not just cancelling XL but putting a target on this industry how bad it could be. Also interesting note about Nuclear Plants. The largest plant is west of Phoenix, Palo Verde. They use public city waste water for cooling. Also since CA closed their plants, Palo Verde sells power into the CA grid.

Dont post here much anymore, but I visit from time to time. This looks like it could be good. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xExzwSc4_eQ

Well if you have actually been there done that, you have the right to say as much or as little as you want. My buddy that pisses me off is a contractor and can walk away any minute he wants but he talks more shit than anyone I've ever met. He's there for a fairly large paycheck. He's a passenger pilot but you would think he's doing CAS from his FB page. I dont think he even flies that much and basically pets paid $200k to lift weights.

Haven't posted here in a long time but still check the site from time to time. I'm no longer in the Air Force, but I have a buddy who is a contractor in Afghanistan and Iraq who never served. His FB page is always blown up with patriotic themes and sacrifice quotes, if you didnt know any better you would think he was a SEAL, but he's just a dash-8 pilot. Anyway now this movie is out he's running his mouth about his duty and BS being a contractor and everyone should see it to see what he deals with on a daily basis for his country. Its pretty lame, I dont even want to talk to him anymore. Considering another good buddy of mine is Army SF and never says shit.

Heres a thought for the CIC....Its a regional conflict that have many different players involved. Either way, Saudi Arabia needs to step up to the plate and take a leadership role in the area supported by the US. If they dont want to take on this responsibility, a naval blockade of SA crude ships to cripple their economy all while the US and Russia can keep pumping away. The blockade is lifted when they get their heads out of the sand. I dont think the US can solve this problem on our own.

With everything going on currently in Israel, Syria, and Iraq. I recommend "Lawrence in Arabia" Great book that discusses the Arab revolt, how the colonial powers came into play, and also briefly discusses how the Saudi royal family have been paying off followers of wahhabism for over 100 yrs to practice else where.

There was a Frontline episode about 2 weeks ago on ISIS. It was pretty interesting, most has been covered here. But it said Obama pretty much wanted nothing to do with Iraq.

You serious Clark?

How do you find out if you qualify for a VA loan? I was a reservist, still in the IRR, but I have no idea if I qualify or not.