JohnF

You can trust the cops, or the criminals. What's yer druthers? JF

Hey Dawg, If you ever wanna come up and fish the Thames I'll be happy to let you play in the mud on my lawn, provided it ends up looking as nice as yours. JF

Sweet sounding Subaru JF

I have Starchoice and I get Sportsnet and TSN alternates. I often get games on them, but there are occasional blackouts too. Look at the numbers just above 400 JF

What impresses me about that is that last spring I bought one of those in Stratford @ The Fishing Store for that price. He keeps telling me his prices are good. JF

Haven't they been doing that in the North Sea for quite a few years now (flappers on the ocean floor that react to the ebb and flow of tides)? There should be some data available by now on it's practical functionality. JF

Just in case happy endings really matter to you, Rick - My wife got a really nasty prognosis from the docs a few years ago. But she did the surgery (which turned out to be the easy part she says), did the chemo (but it wasn't working), did the chemo again (new better drugs that cost an obscene amount of money) and now she's doing great, at least so says her oncologist. The treatments and surgery really suck, but the alternatives suck even more, and once it's all behind you - well, it's behind you, and that's a good thing. Keep the faith, dude. JF

Including the fish caught dept. JF

When I first saw that pic I thought you'd pulled out somebody's teeth. JF

Drinking is an interesting study. Some folks just plain shouldn't drink, but surely that doesn't apply to any in our little group of partiers here, and for those of you who shouldn't, and don't, my hat's off to you for your self-control. Some guys are faithful to the end to one brand of beer or liquor and deviate hardly at all from their enjoyment of it. Others, as we've already read here, have one fave in the beerish world and one in the distilled world. Then there are those who drink only the cheapest lager when paying for their own, but suddenly become single malt drinkers when someone else is buying. Me, I'm an alcohol slut. I go with whatever's available. At home I tend to favour robust (cheap but decent) red wines and Famous Grouse, with occasional side trips to the basement fridge for whatever brew happens to be there. Recently Lakeport Ale continued to miraculously appear and disappear there but I realized that I had gained a few pounds in too short a time and had to kick it out and go back to wine and scotch as goto beverages. Beer is great for young active guys but us old sedentary farts should stick to lower carbs and calories. Each Christmas season I seem to settle on a new fave from the liqueur cupboard. Drambuie, Cointreau, Sambuca, Grand Marnier and various brandies have all had their moment in the sun but once Christmas has passed they are relegated to the cupboard until the next December rolls around. Cheers JF

I can't produce a cite for it but I'm pretty certain I once read that the bagpipes originated in Persia. We tend to think of them as a purely Scots thang, but the Irish were big on them way back before they were the Irish. The skirl of the pipes led many a man into battle. The sound goes deep into the soul, a purely visceral thing, and all at one time strikes fear into the enemy and drives fear from the heart of the attacker, far more effectively than any number of drums ever could. To this day I would rather listen to a really good pipe band than any other kind of marching band, although the Guelph Royalaires used to be pretty impressive back in the 60's with their screaming brass. Anybody remember them? As a side note, do I not detect a hint of piping at the beginning of the new CBC Hockey anthem? JF

Stempniak's a free agent next year, isn't he? Will the trade still look so good if the Leafs can't sign him? Hopefully there's more to the trade that we haven't heard about yet. JF

I just lay one of my old real estate signs across the top and weight it down with the umbrella base from the deck table. Has worked like a charm for years. My nephew the a/c guy told me it was just about keeping the heavy snow off the fan blades and not trapping condensation in the working area. JF

I had some issues like that with mine. Turned out the track had somehow become bent about 2 feet off the garage floor and it was just enuf for the safety feature to stop it. As soon as I bent the track back somewhere near straight it was fine. JF

Hardly, but I'm told they're stinky, and they always seem to be in the way when I'm looking fer real fish (i.e. bass). Given that they spend their lives snuffling up the crud on the bottom of our polluted rivers it would hardly be their fault if they're a tad stinky. My bass stay away from the bottom. Ergo they smell nice. JF

Bass? Lucky you. I've got water just a few minutes from my house too, but it's full of nothing but swans and big ole stinky carp. JF

Sounds like we're reading from the same page Lew. You said it better. JF

I just quickly scanned ahead and you've already got lots of good support and advice. Sounds to me like you already know what to do, just aren't sure how to go about it. Your son has come to terms with his sexuality from the sounds of things. Now it's your turn. Be supportive and positive. That may well include suggesting gently that public displays of affection sometimes make others uncomfortable and he should try to see himself and his partners through other eyes and ask himself if he's sending the kind of message he wants to send. I find that even hetero couples can be less than proper in public and I don't distinguish between 'em when I take offence. I once upon a time ran a bar that for some reason became popular as a gay hangout. That was great because gay men are generally much more entertaining and interesting than us hairy-chested fart machines. To this day I have several good friends who are openly gay and it's totally a non-issue between us. In fact, one of them makes the best martinis ever, also brews the best tea. I'd rather spend an evening first in the company of a beautiful woman, then a gay man or two, and finally any of you guys. In terms of conversation and entertainment value women and gays have it all over you guys. Since he's come out of the closet I think it's time for you to acknowledge that to him, and also to give him some advice as a somewhat objective observer. Sometimes there's so much relief to "coming out" that they tend to overdo it a bit, or a lot. Those with style just take it in stride and carry on with the same set of behavioural standards the rest of us have to live by. In blunt terms why draw attention by acting out anti-socially if you're not anti-socially inclined? That's a conversation best approached with diplomacy and a clear head, but if done right it can show him you respect him and are concerned about how the world will come to know him. In really crude terms, does he want to seen as a screeching very good dresser or as a mature responsible 21st century gay male. Gays are old news now. He doesn't have to fight the battle all over again. Just be himself and respect himself and look to you to do the same. In closing I'll just add this one thing. I envy you. Not for your open-mindedness and acceptance, but for having your son still alive and there for you to talk to and share things with. One of our two sons was killed in a car accident at age 18. We all miss him terribly, even after 14 years. Ask yourself how you'd feel if you lost your son that way. All the best with your own adjustment process. On the basis of your post I'm pretty sure you're going to be fine. The fact that you're willing to ask for help instead of hiding it is a huge step. JF

Are they just loading slower than they're playing? There should be a bar that shows the download progress. If the play catches up to the dl the vid will stop momentarily. If you wait for it to dl fully it should play without interruption. JF

Dear Confused, If you think back to the very early years you just may remember that elevators smelled of Odor-O-No. Helpful Hattie

It makes sense sometimes to sink 'em like that. They provide tourist revenues for the area. They provide new fish habitat. As a diver it's pretty darned interesting exploring the ship underwater - as long as you do it safely. Too often the accidentally sunk wrecks make for pretty dangerous dive conditions due to decay, entanglement hazards, disorientation and loose debris, so these properly prepared and properly oriented modern wrecks are much safer. The Americans have sunk some pretty big ships recently off Florida, but other countries are doing a fair bit of it. There was an interesting documentary on the prep and sinking of the Halifax (I think it was) off BC a few years ago and there was a tv report done on the prep and sinking of the Niagara II at Tobermory. There's quite an art to breaching the hull with explosives so it settles keel down. JF

For those of you who don't speak Gzzizzxltn, DD's daughter has potty mouth. JF

Burke always seems to have a serious chip on his shoulder, or perhaps he's just trying to live up to his hardassed rep. And Toronto seems to be onto something right now. Perhaps a hardass behind the bench is enuf, and one more might just lead to an implosion from internal friction. Who knows? JF

I've done stuff like that with MS Moviemaker that's delivered with Windows these days. It's a bit time consuming but works ok. JF

Jeez guys. Ya need to get real jobs (Except you, of course, GCD. We know yer unemployed fer chronological reasons.) For my own part I wuz way too occupied with getting my new real estate office up and running to fritter away the day talking to a bunch of fish-obsessed layabouts. I feel good about that - and really really lucky cuz it didn't happen on almost any other day of the year when I woulda been jonesing for a fix (of the OFC variety). Just don't let it happen again. I hate when my wife sees me whispering sweet nothings to my baitcaster - for want of a better way to pass time. JF