posted 04-24-2014 06:35 PM ET (US)            

I don't see any E-TECs in these same areas, perhaps its because the Canadians buy them all. Which, of course, makes sense, as its a Canadian company that owns Evinrude. I suppose you knew this though, Jim.

posted 04-25-2014 12:03 AM ET (US)            

I should elaborate on my observation of Verado engines. I actually see them, but always on boats owned by the federal government, a state, or a local municipality. The Verado engines that I have seen are mostly on law enforcement boats. And, as we all know, there are plenty of law enforcement boats on the water these days.

I have never seen in person a Verado on a boat that was a re-power. In fact, I have only see pictures of perhaps two boats in the past ten years that were re-powered with a Verado. One was a Verado Four-Cylinder and the other was a Verado Six-Cylinder.

I have seen a very limited number of Verado engines on new, non-law-enforement boats, about four engines in total. But most of those engines I have seen were on just one boat: it had triple engines. The other Verado was on a newer Boston Whaler boat. Oh, I have seen Verado engines on boats at a Boston Whaler dealer, for sale. But in terms of what engines I come across on the water on other recreational boats like Patrick's and mine--older Boston Whaler boats--there are not that many Verado engines where I go boating.

I think it might be due to where I go boating, too. I don't go boating in the same 20-mile stretch of near shore, inshore, or canal waterways over and over again. Now, if you just go boating in the same 20-mile stretch of water, you might see the same boats over and over again, and you'd keep seeing the same engines over and over. On some of our boating trips, we might not see any other recreational boats, or perhaps just a very few.

These sorts of reports are all just anecdotal, and really have no statistical significance. For all I know, nine out of ten outboard engines on the Great Lakes are Mercury Verado Six-Cylinder or Verado Four-Cylinder engines, and in the past ten years I have just been boating in the only place on the Great Lakes where they aren't any.

Also, I think the Canadian government agencies might be favoring the E-TEC due to the location of the BRP headquarters in Canada, but you ought to keep in mind that those headquarters are in Quebec. For some Canadians, Quebec is a little different from "Canada." If you do any boating in Ontario it does not take long to pick up on an anti-Quebec sentiment in some Ontario folks.

posted 04-25-2014 02:00 PM ET (US)            

The Japanese still have a great deal of revisionist history in their school textbooks that whitewashes their brutal occupation of China and events such as the "rape of Nanking" massacre.

There are 2 million ethnic Koreans living in Japan today at what equates to second class citizenship.

posted 04-26-2014 10:13 AM ET (US)            

Korea was a colony of Japan until the end of WW II. The Japanese were extremely cruel colonists and were well on their way to creating a second Japan in Korea. They were trying to erase the Korean culture and language and had a lot of success. When I was in Korea in the early sixties many if not all elderly Koreans spoke Japanese. The Japanese also used Korean sex slaves to service the troops and civilian military employees during the colonization period. The thousands of Koreans who have been living in Japan for multiple generations are not assimilated and live in "Korea Towns". They are not well regarded by the Japanese.

The Japanese are quite polite but never think they are incapable of some rather remarkable behavior.