Tom S

There we go. Nice countertop burr grinder, if you grind it at the store you might as well buy pre-ground. Yeah, it would be really nice if Foodland could step up their game. Pretty sad selection of some items, I wish they would carry some decent fresh bread.

You busted Spiel's cajones for putting onions into a carbanara, but now you advocate making espressos with pre-ground coffee! And cappuccino after lunch to boot! Mamma Mia! I also have a 4-cup Moka pot, and enjoy making myself a pot on Saturday mornings. No milk or sugar for me, straight espresso made with just-ground dark roast beans (Costco actually has good beans for this). My wife won't touch it.

Beautiful fish

Yeah, don't let him cacciatore you or he'll gnocci you over the head.

Why are you busting my cojones? It's Spiel's dish. Onions sound good to me.

Mmmm. Carbs. I love carbs.

The Susquehanna is actually one of my bucket list rivers. I'd prefer to fish it from a raft or driftboat though, pretty crazy water to be taking a powerboat through.

List price might be $5K US, but I'm not seeing anywhere near that in parts. With a bit of searching I bet you could find almost every non-fabricated part on there for a decent price through outfits like Allied Electronics and Automation Direct.

Just wanted to pass on a tip as people may be cleaning up equipment as it gets put away for the hard water season. Mr Clean Magic Erasers work great for cleaning up dirty cork handles without having to resort to sandpaper or other abrasives. I was given an couple older rods for repair/re-wrap and the cork was pretty dirty. A couple minutes with the Magic Eraser and years of sweat, fish slime, and grime are removed without any damage to the cork. Cork still looks rough, but at least it's clean now.

Perhaps something that Oshawa and our government should be pursuing? Saving jobs by promoting green technology? That's political dynamite! Not that our sitting Ontario government has the greatest of relations with Tesla, but they're growing and can't keep up with demand. Make it worth their while to set up shop in Ontario, promote a connection to the tech companies in Waterloo and the excellent work they might be able to contribute, and who knows where this could go? https://business.financialpost.com/transportation/autos/elon-musk-says-tesla-may-consider-buying-idle-general-motors-plants

Brian, I think I have a couple packs of jig hooks kicking around that I don't have any use of. If I can find them you can have them for the postage. I've got a couple thoughts on the fly itself. If you look at how gobies move about, they remain horizontal as they dart from place to place. That may be something to check with where you have your weight located, switching to a jig hook with a bead or worm weight on a pin forming head might give a more horizontal weight distribution. With the weight in the middle you may end up with the tail dragging bottom, might look unnatural. You also mention that you don't think you'll need much weight - remember that gobies don't have swim bladders and should always be sitting on the bottom. To little weight and they might float up to much when you move them.Thinking something like these stonefly jigs from Centerpin Angling: I might also think about switching to marabou for the tail and some hackle for the pelvic fins. Feathers have a real strength in that they can move and pulsate with the slightest bit of current, which will make your flies appear to be twitchy and constantly moving. Rubber legs are great for more solid apendages like crayfish pincers, but won't have that constant movement without you providing motion. I hope this comes across as constructive criticism and not me being a debbie downer. I think you're on the right track to a good pattern.

With the new cellular/bluetooth versions of starters plus the wireless network capabilities of some newer vehicles, how long until someone is able to remotely hack into a car and cause some potentially nefarious problems? I know they have been hacked before as proof-of-concept, so it is possible. Lots of potential things to tinker with or disable that could cause damage to the car or accidents. * Goes and puts on tin-foil hat *

Boron and Fenglass. Classic stuff. From what I understand (and I could be completely wrong about this) Boron was overshadowed by graphite before it was able to be fine-tuned. It was just so easy to build a decent rod from graphite that no-one wanted to bother with the extra cost and complications of boron anymore. Developing a blank from boron required a lot of R&D work, graphite was a lot more forgiving. The benefit from boron was it could make a very light rod blank, but the trade of was a high price tag.

To be completely blunt I think it's been a pretty decent conversation until you started throwing comments like this out tonight. General consensus seems to be placing the blame on a large range of factors not directly related to either GM management or the union. A rapidly changing automotive sector, ridiculous antics by governments on both sides of the border, high energy costs, and a consumer that demands more for less have all created an environment where GM needed to reduce operations, and Oshawa unfortunately is one of the multiple plants they have decided to shut down. It sucks for the people directly involved, but we need to ask ourselves is it more worthwhile to prop up an unsustainable business model by throwing good money after bad? Or would that money be better spent attracting new, vibrant, growing companies to areas with infrastructure and a workforce? Oshawa should begin actively pursing new companies now, before they become a ghost town.

The entire concert is great, but 'Decoration Day' just sticks with me for some reason.

Just Empty Every Pocket

Interestingly enough, Toyota attempted to teach GM their methods to success, look up the NUMMI plant in Fremont CA (which in some strange twist of fate is now the Tesla plant). Even though they were able to produce cars at the same rate and same quality as the Japanese plants GM was unable to implement the success in other plants - it ran contrary to the culture embedded in management and the workers. And so began the slow death of the American auto makers.

I worry about the same thing. Never discount the trades, someone willing to get their hands dirty and take some pride in their work will always be busy. So many thoughts bouncing around my head about GM shutting down. So many factors leading up to this closure. -Cost of living and debt levels have risen faster than wages, causing a push for higher wages. Used to be able to buy a house working a job with just a high school education, not so much these days. But at the same time we're responsible for the rising cost of living as our culture of consumerism constantly raises our living standards as we want more stuff and are encouraged to borrow more and more. -Between the drive clean program and the 0% financing that was available during the economic crisis more people are driving new cars than ever. Leading to a slump in sales, since most people who were looking to replace a car have responded to incentives. Probably saw growth through the early millennium, with a plateau shortly after the recession. They managed to keep the plants running, but it's hurting them now. -I feel that the manufacturers and the dealerships don't have the same goals in mind. Things such as selling cars at below purchase price in order to meet sales targets, so that the dealership receives the bonuses required in order be profitable. (Excellent podcast for any interested in dealership shenanigans -> https://www.thisamericanlife.org/513/129-cars . -Cars are so complex and technologically advanced these days that prices become astronomical. Once again we're the source of our own problem, as consumers want gadgets and gizmos; and the environmental regulations require complicated control systems. Not saying that environmental regulations are necessarily bad in and of themselves, but can be taken past the point of common sense. I think that we're going to see a lot of cars scapped in the future because of electronics issues, costs a lot to buy the auto upfront and costs a lot to troubleshoot and repair the computerized modules when they break down.

Took a quick peek, under plans I'm seeing Beginner ($48.36/year-2,500 photos), Intermediate ($69.96/year, 25,000 photos), and Expert ($123.96/year - 100,000 photos). No sign of a Forever Plan.

Where do you live? Might try to find a nearby Starskys or european deli. They'll usually have some smoked fish in stock, or will be bringing it in for the upcoming holiday season.

I've heard good things about Goat Head Sole Spikes, which are screw-in studs similar to sheet metal screws but with a modified shape and tougher material so they stand up better. I was thinking to pick some up to install on my felt bottom wading boots for additional traction. https://www.goatheadgear.com/pages/ice-fishing

Nice. Really like that top one, beautiful grain with the matching reel seat, grip accents, and reel handles. Doesn't get any better than that.

Thanks, keeps me sane. Shorter rods demand more precise timing. Things happen faster than they do with a long rod. That Lee Wulff would definitely of had some collector value. I still scour the classifieds hoping to find a mislabeled Phillipson Swamp Fox or Royal Wand (Phillipson always had cool names) to add to my collection, but no success yet.

Thanks Dave. Agreed about the line weight. Do it properly and you don’t wear yourself out casting. Length is great in some situations, but length quickly adds weight to a fibreglass rod. If you look at some of the best regarded classic rods (Phillipson for example) they were often shorter yet are still known to be phenomenal casting rods.