murraysovereign

And still on the subject - I've got one pair of Titanal 2's in stock here in XL I'll sell for cost. Or I've got this year's versions also, either the Freerides or Explores.

One of the stranger things about Fritschi is their binding sizes - they make Small, Medium, and... Extra-Large. But no size Large. I've never understood it - it's a European thing, I guess.

Sorry, JayB, but we're not the ones paying for the product. This is market forces at work, pure and simple. You've developed a taste for formulaic garbage, and are more than willing to pay through the nose to get it, and that's nobody's fault but yours. Blaming Canada for your Celine Dion infatuation is no different than blaming Colombia for all the cocaine you guys consume. If there wasn't such an insatiable demand for the stuff, no-one would be producing it. So look deep into your own soul - our conscience is clear.

I tried watching "Canadian Idol" but didn't get past the opening introductions. I seem to have a violent allergic reaction to Ben Mulroney - every time his face shows up on the screen I have to lunge for the remote to change channels. I'm sure Ben is a nice enough guy, but that face... depending on the angle I see either his father, or his mother, or even (shudder) both at once. So no Canadian Idol for me, which is just as well since I'm only half-way through my Special Bruno Gerussi Memorial Edition CD-ROM Box Set of the Beachcombers, and I want to finish it all by summer.

I would just like to point out that while Celine may have originated in this country, she'd be working at a Tim Horton's in Chicoutimi if it weren't for all her adoring AMERICAN fans throwing fist-fulls of money at her every time she opens her mouth. I mean, sure, we let her get out in the first place, and that's clearly our bad, but if you honestly want her to go home, then for God's sake STOP FEEDING HER!! She desperately needs to feel adored by someone, anyone, and in the US she's found vast throngs of the pathetic, fawning idolators that sustain her. As far as I can tell, she's there because you people want her there, and you're welcome to her. Let's face it - you Americans can't get enough of that dreck (or "dreque", in Celine's case). Not only do you keep all the Celine Dion's and Kenny G's and Yianni's of the world on artificial life support in order to satisfy your pathological craving for schlock, but you're actively scouring the country hoping to find more. This "American Idol" thing you're all addicted to is the pop music equivalent of drilling for oil in ANWR. Instead of constantly trying to increase your supply, maybe you should start weaning yourselves from that crap before it kills you. And I, for one, can remember when Bryan Adams played Rock & Roll - Gawd, how old does that make me?

But it's perfectly logical. With the cuts to education spending, more people will be forced to join the Armed Forces in order to get an education. That increases the number of troops available for GWB's next adventure - Iran, Syria, maybe one of the former soviet republics (go ahead, Rummy, pick a "stan", any stan). Just don't go after Saudi Arabia, because it's their oil revenues that provide the terrorist funding that justifies keeping the whole mad, mad, mad machine running. And of course, the cost of the next adventure will be so high they'll have to cut education funding again to pay for it all, forcing still more people to join the army, and...

Not sure I agree with you, griz. If he sent it back to TNF to see what could be done to repair or replace the tent, and their response was to give him a new one, then I'd say that's pretty good warranty policy on TNF's part, rather than the customer's "abuse" of that policy. Now, if the customer starts throwing hissy fits, demanding a replacement for their 13-yr-old tent from the outset, then I might reconsider, but in this case it just sounds like good customer service.

Looks like someone got the new "RONCO Bumper-Stick-o-Matic" for Christmas. **AS SEEN ON TV!!** Yours for just three easy payments of $19.99 - that's right, just $19.99!! But HURRY - this offer won't last long, so CALL NOW!! Operators are standing by!!

From what I heard, the security bill was passed off onto the residents of DC, something like $16 million. I can understand the locals being a bit pissed at having to cover the cost of the doormen and bouncers whose primary function is to keep those same locals away from someone else's party, and having to do it every four years.

Well, for starters, he didn't round them all up and gas them...

The Korean was originally presumed to have gone into the lake and not come out (RCMP dive team was searching under the ice for a couple of days). The found a snowboard and gloves out on the lake, next to two holes in the ice, and the early reports suggested there were no footprints leading away from the holes, which would suggest whoever had been out there was still there. But maybe he had managed to get out of the water and was hiking out toward Function Junction when he succumbed to the cold. Certainly given those temperatures and a thorough soaking in a frozen lake, your chances of getting to safety are pretty slim.

I was talking to a friend at the Brew Pub who had seen the story on the supper-hour news. From what she was saying I think it was either CBC or CTV (she mentioned Gloria Makarenko (CBC), and a news helicopter (CTV)) or maybe both. "Experienced climber" 38-yr-old male from Oregon (?) I think she said. Sounds like injuries are not life-threatening, mostly cuts and bruises and a back injury of some type, but again apparently not serious. Sounds like a block detached while he was on it, and away he went. Most of the injuries were sustained when the ice landed on him at the bottom. Bear in mind I'm getting this third-hand so don't assume any of it is even remotely accurate, but that's what I've heard so far.

I just spoke to Kevin. He says the book should start showing up in Seattle middle of next week, but very few US shops have ordered it, so it will be hard to find even then. Incidentally, JayB just picked up a couple of copies on his way toward Whistler - maybe you can all PM him with orders and he can pick up a bunch more on his way back? That would save the time and cost of mail-ordering individual copies. Kevin just dropped off another 40 copies here, so we've got good stock for the next couple of weeks at least.

Ice is looking a bit scarce

Also from that Biblical Astronomy site: GDB? That wouldn't be George Double-U Bush, would it?

Open until 6 on Saturday, but if you're running late just give me a call. I don't usually get out of the store until 7-ish or later on a good day, so I'll probably still be here even if I've turned the lights off.

Ice Guide arrived at Valhalla Pure in Squamish yesterday. It looks great, Don, good work. And everything's frozen solid just in time. We can arrange mail order for people who can't wait for it to arrive at your local shops - 1 877 892 9092

Why on earth would anyone ask Mariah Carey anything about King Hussein's death? I mean, sure it's fun taking jabs at the celebrity airheads, but shouldn't we be directing some of our scorn at the interviewers for asking such unbelievably stupid questions?

Vancouver is bracing for accumulations of as much as 6 cm !! Finally, something is going to push that puny little tsunami off the front pages. For the next week we'll be reading breathless stories of courage and survival in the blizzard of '05

Spoke to Kevin the other day - he's figuring some time around middle of March.

On the subject of theft - I believe the milk crate in the back of your truck is the legal property of "Country Morning Farms." So maybe this is just Karma. Maybe if you return that milk crate to its rightful owner, you can break this cycle of senseless property crimes.

heh,heh great minds think alike heh, heh great minds are equally bored

Google says it's Iroquoian. You're right - cool word.

Maybe they just "swapped" as part of a peace deal - tell Quaddafi if he likes the Palestinians so damned much maybe he'd like to live next to them for a while. He gets Tel Aviv; the Israelis get Tripoli.

Did you catch this bit in yesterday's Globe and Mail? "Giant squid are taking over the world -- well, at least the oceans -- and they are getting bigger," writes Simon Benson of http://www.news.com.au. "According to scientists, squid have overtaken humans in terms of total biomass. That means they take up more space on the planet than us."