JohnF

Does that mean you think he's a fat guy? JF

Buck was only sizing them up for personal biteability. He's a bass hoe-er. JF

He'll be hard pressed to keep up just drilling one hole in each spot. I move very very fast on unfamiliar ice. In fact I seldom go out on the ice except on a very fast moving sled. JF

Hot air makes me deceptively light. JF

Get a fat friend to walk ahead of you. You follow and drill holes. JF

An alien? JF

That's the way to go. They can be pretty pricey but really do the job. I've still got one from my cold water diving days. Otherwise you can buy thermals at Marks W.W. At least that's where I got mine. I used them under my drysuit in warm water. JF

That Quantum was my first baitcaster and I've been very happy with it. Perhaps I shouldn't be playing with all the adjustments as much as I do but I like not having to open up the case to set the one brake. I fiddle with that a lot in changing conditions. Perhaps as I get better with it I'll be ok just leaving it off completely. Anyway, I like the Quantum. JF

It's called cherry picking, but based on the NHL's decisions of late, it may well appeal to Bettman et al. They obviously use yardsticks totally unrelated to the game of hockey except as a cash cow. JF

Perhaps if he surrendered the keys to a designated driver? JF

As I've said before I'm way out of touch, but isn't that a pretty violent engagement for a trail sled? We barely kicked in that high with the track sleds back in the day. JF

Dude! Seriously! JF

Unfortunately applying the "lowest common denominator" rule is about all that works. I'll use myself as an example. I believe I'm an above average driver. I've had one accident in almost 50 years of driving and it was nowhere close to being my fault. A semi crossed the median and took out 11 cars on the 401 in a snowstorm. I'm not a lane jumper. I maintain my vehicles mechanically to the highest practical standard with good tires etc. I consider the road and weather conditions and try to never drive beyond my abilities to react to situations within my control. I have a bit of racing experience. I never drive if I've been drinking at all. But I always liked to drive fast so it would be nice if I could explain to the cop who stops me that for all those reasons I should be exempt from silly restrictive speed laws. And of course if I get away with it because I'm such a credible soul, then the guy who thinks he's an excellent fdriver with only a few lite beers under his belt has a similar argument for why he should be exempt, and his buddy who says he can hold his liquor even better is right in claiming that he's perfectly in control with 3 or 4 lite beers in him, etc etc. Ultimately we get to the guy who says he can guzzle a quart of scotch and still see to drive asking why he should be restricted. Drivers and drinkers are really just like a union. Everything is geared to the lowest common denominator. The responsible folks suffer for the stupidity, laziness, irresponsibility or whatever of the lowest of the order. Imagine if there were no drinking and/or driving laws. Our world would be an exciting place. Sometimes laws are an inconvenience but think about all the laws that make your life safer or more comfortable. JF

They were just confusing Quebec City and Saskatoon methinks. JF

It's the thin edge of the wedge. Most restrictive laws (and which ones aren't to most folks?) originate out of the inability of a few to exercise proper judgment and self control. The majority therefore are assumed to subscribe to the same standard of irresponsibility. If the enforcement of laws was predicated on the individual's self assessed standards of responsibility there'd be no need for the laws. Do you know anyone who doesn't think "I'm perfect, but I'm just not so sure about you." JF

Torrents JF

Mea culpa. JF

I'm not certain of this but I think his point isn't whether or not the work is needed for the boat's safety, rather whether he should settle for a compromise after being sold the defective piece of merchandise. Is it enough to just fix their problem when the fix possibly alters the utility of the product? JF

Has the reduced storage affected your uses in any way, assuming you use the storage areas? Or, does it still do everything (stress everything) to the same extent you bought the boat to do? JF

I first became addicted to the smell of Castrol R at the sports car tracks. The guys were running it in their crankcases. Incredible smell. Klotz will always be second in my heart. I ran it in my trail sleds, too. JF

The Green Energy and Green Economy Act 2009 has passed, but as I understand it the regulations are still under consideration, and I wouldn't be surprised if the firestorm brought on by the HST might be the death knell for any other ill-conceived burdens being imposed on the home owner, at least for a while. Anyone with a substandard older home will take it in the ear if the audits are mandated. Those of you who own older homes that aren't absolutely up to today's efficiency standards might want to sell fast if you think the audits will be mandated because they'll probably cost the average old home owner a sizeable percentage of their equity (or all of it plus some) in upgrades or price abatements if they have to sell later. Not everyone can afford to get burned for that much on top of all the other costs involved in selling. If it goes thru I predict a whole lot of very unhappy home sellers. Imagine having a home with a high ratio mortgage (the 100% kind our govt was allowing for a while to stimulate the economy) and realizing you have to sell for some reason. Let's take a $100,000 property, the price range that will almost certainly require upgrades from an audit in most market areas, and assume the buyer had 5% down, a not uncommon number for first time buyers today. By the time the high ratio mortgage insurance gets added on there's not a lot of equity left. Now factor in the mortgage discharge penalty, if any, for early payout, the assorted costs of selling (realtor, lawyer, disbursements, moving, etc), tack on the wonderful new HST of 13% on all those expenses and suddenly you have to cough up a chunk of money just to sell your property. You are already in the hole. So now our government in their wisdom tacks on the burden of an energy audit inspired upgrade which you probably can't afford so you have to negotiate a lower price with the prospective buyer. A quick calculation tells me you'll only have to pay about $15-20k out of pocket in a worst case scenario, but hey, you'll have unloaded the property. Oh yeah, and you still have to pay the $300 + HST for the energy audit. Hopefully it will be a tax deductible expense. If you can avoid using the services of a realtor and get yer buddies to move you and had the foresight to take out an open mortgage or at least a short termer then you may escape with a loss of only $5-10,000. How many people will not be able to afford to sell? Even if they offset the damage with a whole bunch of grants to cover the costs of the audit inspired upgrades the inconvenience of organizing it all will still negatively impact older home sales. Will you lay out five or ten grand before you list it for sale? Will you have time to get the work done before you sell? And where will the offsets come from? New taxes? That's just what we need. And for those of you about to buy think hard if you really want to take a chance on an older place that might require expensive upgrades should you decide to sell in the future. Your government may be about to do what's best for you again, so bend over, smile and spread 'em. The good thing coming out of all this is that anyone with the money to buy low end real estate in the next few years should probably load up. Prices are bound to be very very good (read low) and inevitably one of our governments will delight in reversing all the ill-conceived legislation to get themselves some votes so they can have their own turn at making our lives interesting for a while. Then for a while the market will spike and there should be some sweet profits, at least until the next round of economic fornication. Sorry about that rant but I thought some of you would be interested in one man's perspective on this latest bit of government wisdom JF

Well, good luck with the fix. Let us know if the new jets work out. JF

Thank you. This thread was getting a little surreal. I was starting to wonder if a bunch of 60 year old men wearing high heels, weird clothes and black and white clown makeup was even remotely close to normal, cuz if so I'm way out on the fringe in my sensible shoes, cords and Old Spice. JF

I think I may have mentioned this before but I had a minor problem with my new Panasonic Viera. All it took was a call to the service number provided and a description of the problem and I had a call from the local service people setting up an appointment. My son had a similar (actually identical) issue with his other brand name unit and went thru hell trying to get service. He finally got satisfaction but it took a lot of wrangling to get it, enough that he won't be dealing with that brand again. He also was very impressed with the difference between the quality of the picture on his year old bargain unit and my new Panasonic. JF

I sit about 8' from my 46" Panasonic at a slight angle and have no issues at all. The image is awesome, particularly in HD. Oasis is great. Hockey is better than great. I hate to watch hockey in regular definition any more it looks so washed out. The Leafs looked great skating rings around the Sens last night. JF