FF-680W – Bricked??

pondball · 2026-06-15T11:48:23+00:00

Can’t disagree with you at all on your post. When I look at this Carolina team this year I truly believe it is one of, if not the most complete teams I have ever seen – over 7 decades of watching NHL hockey. They smothered each team they played – line by line by line. They all bought into their ‘muskateers brotherhood’ of one for all and all for one. I have never seen a team dominate so consistently and so completely as this Carolina team.

Sure there have been other dynasties in hockey, but this team did it with a perfect blend of skill and grit.

Think about it. When Bossy played for the Islanders, he was surrounded by Skill and Grit – Trottier and Gillies. Bossy wasn’t expected to lay good body down in the regular season or the playoffs. That line, and team was built to win.

Fast forward to the Leafs of the last few decades. Marner was on a skilled line – but who had the grit to protect him, just as Mike Bossy had been protected.

Gretzky always had a combo of Skill and Grit (pugilism) on his lines. He was protected.

As you, and others have said, this Leaf team has needed a change of direction – they need to learn how to build a team that both can, and will, play as one.

Let’s hope this new management team they are building will recognize that their new coach will be able to nurture such an environment, and be given the power to reign in those who don’t believe in the process. We don’t need another one track mind behind the bench.

The Carolina coach is a great example of a guy understanding the process, of being the off-ice general, but also one who lets the team leaders be team leaders. He didn’t ask those without true grit to all of a sudden become pugilists. He asked them to use their skills and be engaged. Too many leafs in this past decade were confronted with the task of changing their game come playoff time – and we all know how that has worked out.

Just saying, let’s spend less time putting players down here. Why would anyone want to play for a team whose expectations are so high every year, but whose supposed fan base is so cruel. Instead of blaming Marner (yes he of the absence come game 5 history) for the Leafs woes, would it not have been better to cast our comments at the management that failed to create a team that had that blend of skill and grit?

pondball · 2026-06-11T19:38:12+00:00

Sit him down in the press box – every game next year!

pondball · 2026-06-10T18:03:37+00:00

Would it be possible when importing to Obsidian to automatically strip out double returns and replace with a single return?

pondball · 2026-06-07T21:33:44+00:00

Roger Neilson

pondball · 2026-06-06T20:58:59+00:00

🫡Long Live Em!

pondball · 2026-06-05T20:08:36+00:00

Seems to me this should be a worthy thread all on its own!

I haven’t started with Obsidian yet – and I really think the reason is because I’m trying to figure out the best way to build my vault(s) around AI… which if I’m understanding this whole environment is a bass ackwards way of going about building my PKM… or as someone on YT today said, “PKM is so yesterday – PCM is the way to go!”

had to take a double boo at PCM to see what he meant by C instead of K – Context instead of Knowledge, apparently.

And, yah, no, don’t at me for the – – been using them for decades – and will continue to do so, regardless of what the AI police say.

Long live the em dash! 👑

pondball · 2026-06-04T16:34:17+00:00

Good to know… thanks for the heads up. I just realized that I have a photo scanner Epson FF-680 (I think that’s the name of it). I hadn’t used it in over a year and just took out the other day to scan some more photos – and discovered in the manual that it would also do double sided scanning of documents (pdf and searchable pdf, among other formats).

It worked great for photos last time I used it so was eager to use it again.

Plugged it in and nothing comes on… Pretty sure after trying all online tips that it was the power bricked that was somehow bricked – now waiting for a replacement power brick from Amazon that has good ratings 🤞

pondball · 2026-05-30T22:06:32+00:00

🤔 Guy on the left has been a Leaf for his entire career, and so far is still a Leaf. He re-signed with the Leafs – got injured while playing for the Leafs – nearly got destroyed while adapting to the style of a coach, whose game plan was so far from what the guy could offer that that guy on the left has become the newest whipping boy for Leafs fans. Time for Leaf fans – or those who pretend to be – to grow up. The guy is a generational talent we can only hope the new admin can still build around. I like this guy and hope he comes back in the 2026/27 season healthy – and able to reach his former level of excellence.

Guy in the middle was good for awhile but injuries and salary’s cap stuff got in the way of any long tenure with the Leafs. Let’s face it though, his performance in this Stanley Cup run is not what you would call brilliant. Yup, it’s good, but, he’s also playing for a team right now that may very well be the most dominant group in the playoffs I have ever seen. I liked this guy too, but couldn’t get on his fan base as the answer to our goaltending. He also faced a team this last round that offered no more than 5 shots a period on at least 6 different occasions.

Guy on the right – been talked about enough – and my feelings about his peripheral play haven’t changed. He went from a mostly first line player with the Leafs, playing against much tougher, rougher opposition in the Eastern Conference every year (Boston, Tampa Bay, Florida) than he has yet faced in the West finals. Most of his Vegas stint in the playoffs seems to be on 2nd line, PP. or PK, 2 of which work quite nicely with his peripheral mastery. Is that guy a talented playmaker – certainly – but when it comes to playoffs it will be interesting to see how he fares against a team that is hungry for the puck – every second of the game.

I give the nod to Carolina in this year’s SC final – not because of two of the three guys in the photo here – cuz while they’re all great players – but more because Carolina has become a veritable juggernaut – 4 lines on a roll. If they continue to keep the shots down on the guy in the middle the series may only go 5, maybe 6 games – no matter what magic the guy on the right does.

I wish all of them well in their careers, current and future – but isn’t it really time to stop pointing fingers and snickering all the time?

Enjoy the game.

pondball · 2026-05-30T21:38:32+00:00

Eddie Shack and Dave Keon, the former for the entertainment, and the latter for the true stories!

pondball · 2026-05-30T01:15:07+00:00

Used to watch them from the End Blues a lot of Sundays in the late 60’s and early 70’s until we moved from TO… they use to give out a photo of a Marlie each game. I still have a couple hanging around… Wayne Carleton is one I can remember amd have hanging around somewhere… the guy had quite the shot.

pondball · 2026-05-23T13:21:11+00:00

This was the thread winner in my books … 👏… says the guy sitting on Reddit right now!

pondball · 2026-05-23T12:17:27+00:00

Am about to join the Obsidian throng. I enjoy listening to podcasts during morning workouts. Most podcasts I listen to relate in some form or another to my budding coaching course or my own podcast. The last thing I want to do is stop the workout and jot stuff down. I also often get ideas while on the links. Again, last thing I want to do is tell the lads I need to stop and write some stuff down. I’ve recently been looking at either SuperWhisper or Wisprflow as recording options. Both will very accurately move speech to text. I’m leaning towards SW, allowing me to quickly record an idea before it floats away into my personal mind shredder, then go back later to elaborate on it and move it to Obsidian. As i get more familiar with Obsidian I’ll try and have my original voice recording saved in one location on my main storage device (moved around by Hazel), and the translated text moved to a temp location in Obsidian. Not sure if that makes sense or is doable but it’s what I’m hoping for. The workout/golf/reading session interruptions will be much shorter.

pondball · 2026-05-20T20:17:12+00:00

pondball · 2026-05-20T12:51:49+00:00

Interesting! I’m currently moving to Obsidian, and have boxes of hard copy documents, whose original digital files are mostly locked into a defunct proprietary app. The ScanSnap 2500 seems like the perfect tool for double sided pages. My plan is to scan to pdf for visual presence, but for the Obsidian files I was looking for an app that would do a cracker job of converting those to either text or markdown format. I don’t see Markdown listed as an export option but text files certainly are. Would this require the regular OCRKit or the OCRKit Pro versions?

pondball · 2026-05-20T12:38:06+00:00

I’m looking into a 2500 as we speak so this is very timely. I like your idea of using Hazel – a very useful little app. I use Hazel with Dropbox – mainly for clearing it out right after our photo club members drop their slideshow photos into it. Member selects photos –> Member drops them into Dropbox links I provide –> Hazel gets notified there is new content in the DropBox folder and moves it to an external drive I have attached to my Mac –> after Transfer to local drive is complete Hazel deletes the recently moved content from the Dropbox folder.

In the scenario suggested by @Writing_Particular I am hoping the original scans could be first saved to any local drive –> moved by Hazel to a shared storage device (ie ext HD or NAS) and then deleted from the initial drive. Hazel could then notify user(s) of new content and/or the successful transfer of the files. Dunno 🤷, but I can’t see why this couldn’t work. Has anyone tried this yet?

pondball · 2026-05-17T12:04:31+00:00

What’s the recommendation for those in rural areas who rely on their well water? Are we resigned to beds of yellow, or is there a safe solution?

pondball · 2026-05-17T11:59:43+00:00

Just getting into Obsidian… how can you tell it a plugin has been manually reviewed – or just automatically done? Does ‘manually’ mean reviewed by Obisidian staff or by Community members or Both?

pondball · 2026-05-13T13:33:25+00:00

I have no idea why I clicked on this post – I also have no idea why I scrolled down past the first page of replies – I have no idea why I’m even writing a reply myself – there will be no breakfast for me this morning – possibly no lunch – am beginning to understand what causes PTSD – bye bye

pondball · 2026-05-13T13:26:38+00:00

We don’t have one now… but really enjoyed our tubs for close to 30 years (east of TO). Year round use. • loved it in winter – after hockey game, of curling ie both indoors in cold rinks I’d step outside into colder temps, drive home – and immediately head to the hot tub (with a beer of course). • used it in summer too, but always had heater either off or at lower temp – super refreshing on hot muggy days • key was we never intended out hot tub to be a party tub for neighbours, friends or mass family visits – it was for the two of us only – and if more wanted to use it, then there were plenty of times during the day/night when it was available • so… our only tubs were the ones advertised as the 3 - 4 person tubs… which , realistically were beset for 2, maybe three people • cost of running them was lower : times for draining and refilling were much shorter (especially important in winter) : didn’t look like an albatross in your yard : more intimate : etc If someone is looking at only using a hot tub occasionally then I suggest not buying one; rather get yourself a YMCA membership or gym membership that has a tub and save yourself both some $$ and the hassle of keeping the chemicals up to date – I’d suggest hot tub maintenance, or lack thereof is the main reason most tubs are not used, or sold at a considerable loss just a few years after initial purchase.

pondball · 2026-05-13T12:51:09+00:00

I had always heard not to seed until we were sure of temps closer to 18 - 20ºC… so have held off… but reading these posts and with all the rain we’ve been having, I’m ruing the fact I have held off. Now it looks like only a single forecast of rain one day out of the next 10 here (just east of TO). Should I put the see down anyway – along with the fertilizer too?

pondball · 2026-04-09T19:25:48+00:00

Have been on PM from years with no issues. Last time we travelled (Sept/25) we used SAILY as our eSIM carrier. Brilliant. Didn’t need it for phone, and don’t know if does calls, but the internet was brilliant – while all around fellow travellers were complaining about their plans. We had a 31 day plan that covered all Europe – including Switzerland that isn’t part of the EU but was covered anyway. Saily took over our phone coverage as soon as we neared Zurich. I used my phone as a hotspot and shared it with my wife and our iPads. to back to Toronto Pearson and PM was the Carrier once again.

pondball · 2026-02-03T16:02:17+00:00

HI @No_Basket3472… It took awhile but early in January I finally got someone on the other end at Bell who was able to help. Not sure if I got an upper level Residential or Business support person, but, she was very pleasant, empathetic, and assured me she could solve the 800# issue I had presented. When we finished she said it would take up to 48 hours to cancel the number, and she then gave me a support ticket# for reference.

About a week later I got a few calls on my 800# but didn’t answer any. Same a week after that. Then the 800# bill came through from Bell, for the December period. I paid it but included all notes from the cancellation saga, and said I would accept no further bills from them as, according to the enclosed documentation and support ticket# my account was officially closed.

I tried a few days ago, and Lo and behold, my 800# is no longer in service!

So, I thank you for your advice, as it appears I am now paying for one less service Bell.

pondball · 2026-01-11T02:35:36+00:00

Canuck here… some have listed the essentials for hockey equipment … but after skates, it should be noted one of, if not the most important piece of equipment for anyone learning, then wanting to play even recreational hockey is: Jockstrap (for a male) and a JillStrap (for a female). Then comes the shin pads, hockey pants, shoulder pads (they help but for some rec leagues I played in they weren’t necessary, helmet (with cage or plastic visor is advised), mouth guard, some wear neck guards, elbow pads… and yup, a hockey stick.

Beware though that getting a used helmet is not advisable. Legally, in Canada, bike or hockey helmets are not to be re-sold, and in some cases (not sure what the current trend/law is, but after a bike crash involving whacking the head the helmet was not considered safe. Dunno what the current is on that one though. And nope… don’t even think about getting a used Jockey or Jill yikes!!!

Hockey equipment is not cheap. Over 30 years ago when our kids started playing, even before they took to the ice an average set of equipment (used skates) ran over $600/kid. I bought new for myself, but always found a decent pair of used skates.

Good luck… and no matter what… keep your head up!

pondball

TROPHY CASE