murraysovereign

The bullshit meter got overloaded and broke down several weeks ago. No sense trying to repair it, either, until the storm has passed, 'cause the new one would probably just get swept away by the force of the squalls.

You mean the terrorists, or the French?

There was an article in the Globe and Mail recently about exactly this issue of so-called "teflon" products (flouropolymers of various types) and the way they are persisting and accumulating in the environment. Both Canadian and US governemtns are getting concerned about it, and are looking into regulations or controls on the stuff. This will affect not just your "teflon" toilet cleaner, but also the laminates/coatings in Gore-Tex and other waterproof/breathables, and also the DWR treatments on the outer faces of those fabrics.

I'll give it a whirl. Their home page is a waterfall shot, and that just happens to be what I'm dealing with. Maybe it's a sign?

Dumber than curling? You can curl without spilling your - try going straight up the middle for a slam-dunk without leaving about half of your PBR all over the floor. Someone's gonna have to clean that up, you know. And in curling, if your beer starts getting warm, you just have to put it on the ground for a couple minutes, and it's icy cold again - try doing that on your pussy little hardwood court. Just on those two points, curling rools, and then you get to wear those natty sweaters, too.

Does anyone know of a good freebie program that can convert large, high-res photos to smaller, lower-res format?

"Landboarding"? From the picture, I'd say a better name would be something like "probable compound fracture of the tib/fib".

Easier than just buying the same stuff in Squamish? Why waste time pulling off the highway to shop in a Big Box when Black Diamond, Arc'Teryx, Five Ten, Petzl, La Sportiva, Wild Country, Mammut, CCH, Metolius and more are already available at the local shops in Squamish, at the same prices MEC charges? How does an extra stop in North Van make the day "easier" if you're heading for Squamish anyhow? Seems to me it would make more sense to drive to Squamish, pick up your gear and be climbing already while everyone else is sitting in a parking lot in North Van waiting for the Co-op to open. Adds a good hour of climbing time to your day, and you get a jump on the crowds on the more popular routes.

What, and put Snoboy out of a job?

My understanding of this particular case is that, yes he'd been arrested and yes he was still communicating with his various contacts. Not only did he cooperate with his captors by helping them decipher the various codes and such on his laptop, but he was also using that laptop to e-mail his contacts to get updates on their whereabouts and activities. He then passed that information on to his captors. That's what made him such an invaluable source of intelligence - he wasn't just singing, he was composing and performing entire chorales. The only way this makes sense is if they deliberately blew Khan's cover in order to protect an even more important source.

This I agree with - there's no question Truman was hoping not only to send a clear message to Stalin, but also hoping to bring the war to a speedy end so as to cut the USSR out of any post-war settlement with Japan. If the war with Japan was over before the Soviets became directly involved, it would undercut Stalin's pursuit of territorial claims as "compensation" for war losses. Somehow he still managed to get hold of the Kirules, but he wanted considerably more. However, I think Price takes the point a little farther than necessary by then suggesting this was evidence of

...or from your favourite Squamish gearshop/hotspot Imagine, spraying about your new gear as you're buying it !! Oh, Brave New World Oh, and as for the original topic - I've got a Compaq Presario 700 (Athlon 4 processor) that has worked well for me for 1 1/2 years now, with no serious problems. I even managed to drop it off the roof of the truck one night while loading a bunch of gear into the cab, so about a 5' drop onto concrete. The force of the impact jarred the hard drive loose, so it wouldn't boot up first time I tried (that was a pretty sick feeling, let me tell you...). But after figuring out the problem and re-seating the drive, it fired right up and has been running just fine ever since. My only complaint is that the screen is hard to read when using it outdoors in even moderately bright sunlight. Oh, and the built-in speakers have no bottom end at all, so you don't quite get that "concert hall" feeling.

Great - how long before it starts claiming "Speed Ascent" records?

For general purpose axes, the way we size them in the shop is as follows: Stand holding the axe in the "normal" position - ie with head of axe in palm of hand, fingers wrapped under adze, and axe hanging down beside your leg. The rule of thumb is that the spike of the axe should be about even with your lateral maleolus (that pointy bit of bone on the outside of you ankle). That gets you into the ballpark for general purpose axe length. From there you can go a bit longer or shorter depending on personal preference - longer for glacier slogs, shorter for steep stuff.

I've heard of very few break-ins this year, compared with past years. There was a bit of a flurry of them a couple of months ago, but since then it seems it's been pretty quiet. It's certainly not something to cancel your trip over - people can and do get sick in Mexico, but people still go, and the vast majority have no problems at all. Likewise with vehicle break-ins, be they in Squamish or Banff or downtown Vancouver or Exit 38 - for every one you hear about, there are hundreds or thousands who didn't have any problems. And borrowing "local" plates likely won't make any difference aside from exposing yourself to some major legal problems if you get pulled over for anything, and probably voiding your insurance in the event of an accident. Most of the break-ins I've heard about this year have involved local vehicles, so maybe you'd be better off with "foreign" plates. Or maybe not: it really doesn't seem to matter that much. So come on up. Yes, you need to exercise a bit of caution and common sense, but no more so than anywhere else. And if you're really that gripped about it, let me know when you get here and I'll make some room in the back of the shop for you to stash your stuff so you can relax and enjoy yourself.

A variation on the Serenity Prayer (God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference), seen at Vancouver Folk Festival last weekend: "God, grant me the authority to change the things I cannot accept"

There was an article in the Vancouver Sun a few years back about a monster rogue wave northwest of Cape Scott (northern tip of Vancouver Island). This area is apparently known for giant waves as sytems arrive from two or three different directions and the resulting "constructive interference" produces ridiculous wave crests. There's a weather bouy out there that records vertical movement as well as all the usual atmospheric stuff, and they sent a boat out to check on it because it had reported a vertical movement greater than any that had ever been recorded anywhere, and they though maybe the instrument was sending faulty data. It turns out the instrument was working perfectly, and the bouy had simply recorded a gargantuan wave. I forget the actual height from trough to crest, but they ran a graphic to put the thing in perspective - if it had occurred in the First Narrows, with the trough at normal sea level, cars at the apex of the Lions Gate Bridge would have been swept off.

I remember when I was growing up, the big thing back then was something called the "Balanced" diet. Everybody - and I mean EVERYBODY - was on it. It was hugely popular, and seemed to work pretty well for most people, but it seems to have fallen out of favour lately. In fact, no-one even mentions it any more. I can't remember the last time I saw a magazine cover with some celebrity extolling the virtues of the "Balanced" diet, or a best-selling book or even an Oprah episode about it. I guess that fad just ran its course, like all the others.

Canada's first "same-sex divorce" is presently illegal, it would seem.

And come to think of it, isn't the "W" kind of redundant? I mean, is it really necessary to distinguish between white anglo-saxons and, say, black anglo-saxons? Just how far from white can you get and still be considered anglo-saxon?

They may have some other meaning in mind, but traditionally it's stood for "White, Anglo-Saxon Protestant".

Some girl at Coast Mountain Sports thinks you're Jesus?

Gene, your post has been copied and forwarded to the Mayor, and to the Recreation Department's Manager of Special Projects. If you'd like to send them a note of your own, you can e-mail: Mayor Ian Sutherland "isutherland@squamish.ca" Manager of Special Projects Bruce Goldsworthy "bgoldsworthy@squamish.ca" And you might also cc the Operations and Parks department "OperationsDept@squamish.ca", but Ian and Bruce would be the ones who give the Ops people their marching orders, so e-mail them for sure.

They're just following GWB's example, and they decided to enact the Patriot Act first. Hey, you gotta start somewhere.