murraysovereign

Adidas sold Salomon - including Arc'Teryx - to Amer Sports (Suunto, Wilson, Atomic). As far as I know, the plan is to keep doing what they're doing, just under a new corporate parent. I don't imagine the consumer will notice any difference in product design or quality, much like when Salomon-Adidas bought them a few years back. They may reorganize a little internally to fit into the larger corporate structure, but that's about it.

Never mind the Maestri controversy - just wait until the official speed climbing association gets hold of this. No mention anywhere of verification by independent timers; use of fixed ropes (!); no GPS tracklogs - this is a travesty!

With most of our suppliers we already know whether they repair or replace stuff, and act accordingly. If they generally replace things (FiveTen, for instance, always replace faulty product or at least issue us a credit) then we just give the customer a new pair of shoes and send the old ones to California. But if the supplier generally repairs things and sends them back to us (La Sportiva, for instance) we explain that to the customer, and no-one has had a problem with it yet. When in doubt, we call them and ask - even though they won't "officially" do anything until they receive the faulty goods for inspection, we're often able to come to an informal agreement by e-mail or over the phone while the customer is still in the store. It's been a year or more since we last got surprised by used product being returned to us unexpectedly.

Strictly speaking, it's up to the manufacturer or distributor to warranty product. They may opt to repair, replace, or refund at their discretion. Others have already pointed out the warranty agreement is between the consumer and the manufacturer, not consumer and retailer. That said, we can usually tell with a reasonable degree of certainty if a product is going to be warrantied, and so we often will give the customer a replacement on the spot before sending the faulty product back to the manufacturer for replacement or credit. There are cases where it's a bit borderline, and on those occasions we will wait for the maunfacturer's decision before proceeding - otherwise we can and have been left holding an old pair of used boots after giving the customer a new pair only to find the manufacturer decided not to warranty them. We've also had pretty good results using a digital camera to take photos of suspect product and e-mailing them to the manufacturer. They will often make their decision on the basis of the photos rather than waiting for items to arrive in the mail, so we can resolve things for the customer faster.

I went through school with a guy named Steele Rail - he married an old GF of mine from High School. Edward R. Murrow's real given name was Egbert Roscoe.

What?! Not so. Hell, mine's not even all that "utilitarian" much less "art"

Don't be too quick to jump on WFP for finally shutting down Woodfibre. Yes, it's going to hurt a lot of people who have been making a good living there for many years. But that mill has been losing money for years now and there's no law, nor even any reasonable expectation, that a company should have to continue operating an outdated plant in the face of increasing losses just to protect their workers from economic reality. Frankly, I think WFP deserves some credit for hanging in as long as they did, and for coming forward with a pretty generous severance package for their workers when they finally had no choice but to throw in the towel. In fact, the biggest concern among many of the workers now is that someone may come forward with a plan to save the mill, so their severance will be lost, then the mill will shut down again in a few months anyhow, and they'll really be screwed because then they'll get nothing but a kick in the ass. And yes, it was shitty getting the news a couple of weeks before Christmas, but the company was required by securities regulations to announce the closure as soon as the decision was taken. And would they really have been doing anyone any favours by stringing them along for another month, or two, or three before springing it on them the day of their last shift? I say they did the right thing by letting people know, now, that the mill is closing in March, so they can start, now, planning what they're going to do next. It's a far cry better than Interfor's treatment of their workers at the Squamish Sawmill. That mill was closed for years, and the company kept playing everyone the same cheery song that they were just weeks away from maybe reopening, on a limited basis, for a short time with maybe one or two shifts, but there's more stuff being planned, so just hang in there and we'll be back up and running again someday real soon - you just wait. And wait, and wait, and wait... until everyone had finally dropped off the seniority lists, and they didn't have to pay severance to anyone no matter how long they'd worked their butts off for Interfor. And then and only then did they finally announce - surprise!! - the mill's being shut down and sold for scrap and the property is being redeveloped. And Interfor made a bundle selling the property, and the workers got nothing. So as unfortunate as it is, I wouldn't be too critical of WFP either for the decision to close the mill down, or for the way they've handled it.

Simple - the Republicans are upset because news like this will make it harder for them come next year's mid-term elections, whereas Democrats are glad that Dubya keeps looking worse and alienating even some of his core constituents because it helps them in those same elections. It's a classic strategy: "give 'em enough rope."

Chic Scott will be at the Eagle Eye theatre in Squamish, Saturday January 14th at 7 PM and 9 PM, with his own slides and film clips from the filming of the Eiger Sanction, and recounting his behind-the-scenes stories of Clint Eastwood's climbing and stunts and such. Rumour has it he puts on a pretty entertaining presentation. Tix $12 advance, $15 at the door. Available in Squamish at Valhalla Pure Outfitters and Climb-On Equipment, or at the Fringe Cafe on West Broadway in Vancouver.

Which size(s) are you looking for? I'm all out, but I might be able to find a few scattered about in some other shops.

I wonder if Dru's post count is visible from space yet?

I've seen a couple of interviews on TV with the fellow who wrote the White House policy position on acceptable interrogation techniques. Basically, the definition of acceptable interrogation techniques includes anything that does not cause permanent organ failure or death. Anything that does cause permanent organ failure or death is deemed to be torture, and is not allowed. So then it depends on what your definition of "organ" is. If fingernails are defined as "cartilage" rather than "organs", then it's OK to rip them out with pliers. Lots of room for semantic games, and we all know how much Rummy loves semantic games.

Nope - that can't be it. Only 3 Downs in Canadian Football. Maybe there's 5 Downs in "International" Football, like at the Olympics? I think she's finishing off a six-pack: down, and to go.

I think that's supposed to be "The Band" without the "Nitty Gritty Dirt" part, isn't it? That's the only Last Waltz album I know of.

I'm nominating this for the all-time Thread Drift award

Maybe lobotomies are the secret to enlightenment.

At one point a few days ago, it was near 0C in Whistler Village, and 15C at the Peak - that's a temperature gradient of about one degree Celcius per 100M of elevation. That's just wrong

From the last couple of photos, it looks to me like the rope was coming tight at the moment of impact. Not by much, maybe, but enough to save his ass.

Yeah, but it's a dry cold. My Hell was a year spent in Lloydminster, Saskatchewan, working on an oil rig. Which also brought about my longest commute - Lloydminster to the Okanagan Valley for my days off. As I recall, it was about a 16 hour drive each way. Work 3 weeks, drive back to BC for a week off, then back to "Lloydmonster" for another three weeks of work, then drive back to BC... repeat until you just can't go on anymore. Anyhow, one of my fellow rig pigs couldn't understand why I'd drive all the way back to BC for my days off, and asked why I didn't stay in Lloyd - "here in God's country" is actually what he said. I told him the only reason it was God's country was because no-one else would have it. A brief scuffle ensued, but no one got hurt.

BC Highways Home Page Happy Trails!

Happy Birthday, Neil Long may you run...

Snorkels are aid. By all means come up for a day to check things out, but don't plan on doing much climbing, unless you're really into sketching your way up flowing waterfalls. If you've got a play boat, you could chalk up the first kayak descent of the Grand Wall, or just play around in the eddies on Diedre. There's probably some decent standing waves on Slab Alley, too.

That makes sense - we haven't seen them around town in a few years now. We were wondering where they'd gone to...

I think most western countries have experienced similar crime trends over the period cited, regardless of whether they were governed by conservative or liberal governments. It's not doctrine that reduces crime: more than any other factor, it's demographics that reduces crime. The greater the proportion of young males in the population, the higher the crime rate. As those males in their later teens through mid-twenties - who are far more likely to engage in criminal activities than the general population - move into their late twenties and early thirties, their predilection for criminal behaviour drops off dramatically. Yes, socio-economic status is a contributing factor, but if the entire population was in their 60s, there would be very little violence or property crime, no matter how great the socio-economic disparities, and no matter how "liberal" the governing doctrine.

...which is pretty much the dictionary definition of "worth", when applied to retail products. If you want to talk about what something is "worth" in a moral sense, that's an entirely diferrent discussion altogether. But in terms of a buyer/seller relationship, if $130 is the most people are willing to pay for these snowshoes, then that's what they're worth. The larger issue here has to do with protection of copyrights. Why would any company engage in the costly and time-consuming process of developing new products if they knew their new product would immediately be boot-legged by some guy with no more "R&D" input than a digital camera and a tape measure. Would any of us keep going to work day after day if we knew someone else was going to be cashing the paycheques? Protection of copyrights is as important as protection of any other form of property, and without that protection Cascade's snowshoes wouldn't even exist, because no-one would be stupid enough to develop the designs and materials and production technologies needed to produce them, so the question of whether they're "worth" $130 would be moot.