Winnipeg Free Press

Cool Toys, Sexy Interior

The sound system features satellite radio and a six-disc CD changer. And in what is becoming more the standard -- initiated by Nissan -- the preset buttons aren't tied to specific radio bands. So if you want CJOB on the AM dial as Channel One, 92-CITI FM as Channel Two, XM Satellite's Fred on Channel Three and so on, you can. There's no need to change bands to switch among your favourites. Nice. While the passenger and cargo specifications benefit little from the added height relative to its ...

The Great Ascent On Top of the World, One Piece and One Step at a Time the Bigger Pieces and Not Always the Heaviest Proved to Be the Biggest Headache.

He went into detail about one such request to put a car into the observation deck near the top of Toronto's CN Tower, the tallest freestanding man-made structure in the world at the time. A year earlier, you see, two men had carried a fridge and stove up the tower's narrow 1,760-step inner stairwell to draw attention to the pending United Way Stair Climb charity event. The proposal asked if GM could drive a car up the stairs of the landmark as a hype-builder for that year's Stair Climb. On th...

Park Right and Avoid a Costly Collision

Each student in turn gets into the driver's seat, adjusts the mirrors properly, and puts on the seat belt. An instructor takes a tall orange traffic cone and centres it a couple of metres behind the rear bumper. The driver is asked whether they can see the cone. They are permitted to use mirrors, turn to look behind, even raise up in the seat a bit the way one might during reversing. The instructor then moves the cone a metre back, and repeats the question. The process goes on until the top o...

Attention Gearhead Shoppers

There was a time not so very long ago when shopping for the car lover on your Christmas list was a real challenge. Other than boring stuff like floor mats and booster cables, there really wasn't all that much to choose from. Thanks to the immense popularity of the automotive hobby, nowadays there are literally hundreds of great gift ideas geared toward your favourite gearhead. Automotive related gifts are available from a variety of retailers and range from inexpensive items like key chains a...

New Ford F-150 Named Motor Trend Truck of the Year

"Motor Trend's awards throughout the years are a validation of what has been the key to our success: listening to customers, anticipating their needs and providing them with innovative solutions and features before they ask for them," said Matt O'Leary, F-150 chief engineer, in a release. "Our goal with each redesign is to top the last one, and we're doing that with the 2009 F-150."

Pat and Willy's Barrett-Jackson Bash Is Back

WE'RE on the move again, but it looks like this year we may have found the permanent home for [Pat Kaniuga] and Willy's Barrett-Jackson Bash. Peter Ginakes, the owner of the Pony Corral, has graciously offered us his downtown location free of charge for our third annual Barrett-Jackson bash, being held Saturday, January 17, 2009 from 5p.m. to midnight. With available seating for more than 400 people and a dozen flat screen televisions strategically placed throughout the restaurant and lounge,...

Porsche Practices What It Teaches

The Porsche Travel Club is also full of variety and offers day and weekend trips to popular German destinations such as Lake Constance, the Swabian Alb, Rheingau or Rügen. The travel club is even on the road in New Zealand. A special highlight is the desert camp in Dubai, where participants have the chance to drive a Cayenne across sand dunes, mountain ranges, and down dried-up river beds.

They Came Bearing Coins so Others Won't Go Hungry

"This is incredible," said an overwhelmed Terry Borys, the division's superintendent and CEO and -- during this season -- my angel counterpart there. "We have 10 full boxes and they're really heavy," Austyn said. "We should all send a letter to MP Pat Martin (saying) don't scrap pennies."

New Green Women's Jail Among the First

Plans for the environmentally friendly building mean it will be leaps and bounds ahead of the current prison in Portage la Prairie, a brick structure about 90 kilometres west of Winnipeg so dated it spells "jail" as "gaol" outside. "We need a women's jail yesterday," he said. "This has been many years we've been promised a new women's facility." "You have to incorporate those elements that support programming that didn't exist back in the day (when it was built)," said [Chris Hauch].

Magazine Puts City Eatery On New National Top 10 List

A top 10 spot for Pizzeria Gusto shouldn't come as a surprise.

Aboriginal Programs Get Funds

"I hope it grows," Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Grand Chief Ron Evans said. "We need this to be successful." The focus of the programs, and funding through the Winnipeg Partnership Agreement (WPA), is the handiwork mostly of [Sam Katz] and Evans, who've been meeting over the past year to find ways to chip away at the high number of young aboriginals involved in gangs and violent crime. Both also want to address the high suicide rate for young aboriginals. The other agencies are; Boys and Girl...

Letter of the Day

That disturbing accident should have scared the city. However, I notice that Lisa's accident has not had that impact.

City Beefs Up Transit Security

All 535 Winnipeg buses will be equipped with security cameras by the end of 2009, officials said yesterday. They hope the cameras will make buses safer because bullies, vandals and violent passengers will know they are being recorded and could be prosecuted. Transit director Dave Wardrop kicked off the media event by touting how the "five vandal-resistant, high-resolution cameras" will improve safety for drivers and 150,000 daily transit riders. "We won't be doing ongoing monitoring of driver...

Co-Op Membership has Its Rewards

"We've received a huge amount of support from the public and the neighborhood," store manager Mike Wolchock said. "We have memberships from people in every province and across the U.S.," Wolchock said. "I had a member from Michigan call me to wish me a Merry Christmas." "The letter summed up the spirit of what [Pollock]'s is about," Wolchock said. "Our motto is 'people before profits.' When Pollock's closed, it left a void in those who purchased goods from there, so we stepped in to fill it."

A Prescription for Seasonal Sadness

Some deny loneliness. One man who hated mankind was once found laughing to himself. "Why do you laugh?" he was asked, "There is no one with you." "That," he replied, "is just why I do." But it takes a hardy soul to reject companionship at this time of year. As the Greek philosopher Plato once remarked, "Whoever likes being alone must be either a beast or a God." For most people there's no denying loneliness. It wraps them like a fog. And during the holiday season distress centres and crisis w...

Surge in Afghanistan Will Borrow Tactics Used in Iraq

This has echoes of the "Sons of Iraq" militia that the Americans created in Iraq as part of their successful "surge." It is also akin to the Arbakai, tribal forces that historically operated in parts of Afghanistan. Another attempt at reform has been the so-called "focused district development" in which all policemen from a district are taken out for an eight-week training course, re-equipped, and sent back with American soldiers acting as "mentors." "The government is weak and people are los...

Deaths

BOULET (nee BOURRIER), Yvonne. LECZYNSKI, Tadeusz (Ted). NOTT (nee LACROIX), Jeanne (Jean).

Winnipeg Free Press Poll

Today's Question: Should business owner Alan Davison have to pay MTS the $52,000...

Dino Dads Looked After Kids: Study

The finding also "sheds light on the origins of parental care systems in birds," said Frankie D. Jackson, a paleontologist at Montana State University, one of the authors. "Is it convincing? I think it is," said Jack Horner, curator of paleontology at the Museum of the Rockies, in Bozeman. "I think it's a very interesting way that they've gone about trying to figure this out."

Correction

John Hornbrook, who was convicted in 2006 of attempted murder and...