Month: March 2017
Fantastic Saturn V model launch
One of the best rocket model launches ever.
The amazing Saturn V
Native activists confront drug dealers at downtown Winnipeg mall
Group says drug dealing around Portage Place is getting out of control
“The women and the children don’t feel safe. The elders don’t feel safe walking through the back [of the mall] so we decided we’re going to shut all this down,” said Vin Clarke, a member of a group called Urban Warrior Alliance.
Clarke said drug deals outside the back entrance near Ellice Avenue have gotten out of control, and the recent robbery of an elder who took a photo of an alleged drug deal has sparked the need to protest.
“My wife can’t even walk my baby into the mall through that back area without being accosted for drugs and pills,” Clarke said.
The Urban Warrior Alliance and members of the Crazy Indians Brotherhood gathered Saturday near the back entrance and plan to demonstrate again Sunday.
Vivian Ketchum, a frequent shopper of the mall, found a drug baggie, a needle and a pill on the ground just steps outside of the back steps of the mall while a CBC camera was rolling.
She said she’s regularly offered to buy drugs by dealer who lurk around the back doors.
“I was in here this morning and then within half an hour of sitting down I had someone ask me if I wanted to buy percs (sic).”
Denny Wood, another activist with the Urban Warrior Alliance, said the groups are trying to send a message to drug dealers.
Wood said they have talked to dealers who try to sell pills like Tylenol 3 and Xanax. He said once activists have the pills in their hands they confiscate them. “We dump it right in front of them.”
In a video circulating on Facebook, one member of the alliance is seen taking a pill bottle, dumping it in a puddle and then crushing the drugs.
In another Facebook video, Winnipeg police officers can be seen talking calmly to the group’s members, asking them what they are doing and reminding them to read up on their rights and the Criminal Code.
I have a friend who lives right next to the drug dealing plaza. My photos below show the dealers and buyers taken from friends balcony.
Above, security tries to persuade dealers to scatter. Always to no avail.
The deal going down
Source: CBC Manitoba
Cityplace mall in downtown Winnipeg adds bigger security guards
Cityplace manager Lee Tai Twan said even though there really hasn’t been an increase in security concerns, we can’t be too careful. We must be ahead of the thugs at every step. The new guards will deter any nefarious actions by the street derelicts he added.
A Blast from the NHL Past
From rudimentary goalie masks to a player wearing glasses. Those were crazy days. All the hair is greased back and not one out of place.
The bone mask, Bernie Parent.
No mask!
Pokey Reddick
Terry Sawchuck
Dunc Wilson
Vancouver Canucks, a real ugly uniform from the eighties.
Canucks goalie Gary Bromley wore this for 2 seasons
Mike Palmateer
Ken Dryden
Rogie Vachon
Rod Gilbert on the left was a heartthrob for women fans throughout his career.
Clear the track, here comes Shack, Eddie Shack.
Winnipeg Police Service arrest man with BB gun using armoured car
The Winnipeg police are developing a formidable force. They now have boats, a helicopter and an armoured car. They are prepared for every contingency. They can nail drunken boaters on the rivers, observe bad guys on the ground at night from their airborne chopper equipped with infrared zoom cameras, and if a gang barricades themselves in a house with hostages, they can ram the place with a Gurkha armoured vehicle.
Winnipeg Police Service public relations photo.
The river patrol
Blast from the past, a hovercraft used by the police back in the 1970’s
The helicopter that is used extensively, it can be heard all the time patrolling over the central areas of the city.
And last but not least, the formidable armoured car beast. 8 gun ports.
WINNIPEG — Winnipeg police arrested a 52-year-old armed man with the help of their new armoured vehicle.
On Sept.21, members of the Tactical Support Team were called on scene to the 600 block of Notre Dame Avenue for reports of a man armed with a gun.
Three people had reported sitting in their vehicle behind an apartment block, when a man approached them and made threatening comments. The victims fled and called police.
Police determined the suspect was in a residence in the area. “Attempts to contact the suspect went unanswered and an armed and barricaded situation was initiated,” police said.
The armoured rescue vehicle (ARV1) was deployed and used to gain entry into home. Police found a Uzi-style replica BB gun and arrested the suspect.
A 52-year-old Winnipeg man has been charged with uttering threats and pointing a firearm. He was released with a promise to appear in court.
When the $343,000 armoured rescue vehicle (ARV1) was first unvelived in June, police said it was much needed tool for officer and public safety.
The Gurkha MPV tactical vehicle is bullet-proof, blast-proof and weighs around four times as much as a normal car (15,000 lbs). Heavy, but fast. It cane travel more than 100km/hour. Although police say they don’t expect to take such a heavy vehicle past that speed.
The tactical vehicle is also used in other Canadian cities such as Toronto, Calgary and Hamilton.
The vehicle was first deployed in July at a call in the North End.
Seems like a bit of overkill.
The new police toy in the year 2060.
Russian Stuntman pushes the limits
Charges for Russian after stunts atop Toronto skyscraper
An “urban explorer” has been charged after he was seen in an online video leaping and doing somersaults atop a downtown Toronto skyscraper.In a video posted to YouTube, Russian stuntman Oleg Cricket can be seen leaping, sliding and rolling on the ledge of a skyscraper. In another shot, he appears to be jumping between beams, with the CN Tower as his backdrop. In one of the final shots, Cricket is shown doing a handstand on a ledge, high above city streets.Police arrested Cricket on Nov. 12. He has been charged with breaking and entering and mischief, Toronto police say.
Cricket is well-known for his vertigo-inducing acrobatic feats atop skyscrapers in various cities. He records his stunts and puts them on YouTube and other social media channels, where his followers number in the hundreds of thousands.Another man who was allegedly with Cricket is facing the same charges.
The building, 8 Mercer St
Moroccan Wall: The Longest Minefield in The World
Western Sahara is a disputed and partially Moroccan-occupied territory in the Maghreb region of North Africa, bordered by Morocco to the north, Algeria to the northeast, Mauritania to the east and south, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. Its surface area amounts to 266,000 square kilometres (103,000 sq mi). It is one of the most sparsely populated territories in the world, mainly consisting of desert flatlands. The population is estimated at just over 500,000, of which nearly 40% live in Laayoune, the largest city in Western Sahara.
Occupied by Spain until the late 20th century, Western Sahara has been on the United Nations list of non-self-governing territories since 1963 after a Moroccan demand. It is the most populous territory on that list, and by far the largest in area. In 1965, the UN General Assembly adopted its first resolution on Western Sahara, asking Spain to decolonise the territory. One year later, a new resolution was passed by the General Assembly requesting that a referendum be held by Spain on self-determination.
It is a disputed region with a complex, war-torn history, and like many other disputed regions in the world, it has a highly militarized zone at the center of which runs a 2,700 km-long sand wall called the Moroccan Western Sahara Wall, or the Moroccan Wall, in short.
Unlike other notorious barriers in the world, the Moroccan Wall is rarely in the news and is little discussed outside of Africa. The existence of this wall has been buried in the desert, along with the 40-year-old plight of the Sahrawi people the Moroccan Wall has kept divided.
In 1979 Morocco began building a huge 2,700-km-long sand-berm dividing the territory longitudinally into two regions. The western side is occupied by Morocco, while the eastern side, the so-called “free zone,” is controlled by the Sahrawi rebels of the Polisario organization. It is estimated that between 30,000 to 40,000 inhabitants live in this landlocked swath of desert next to Algeria and Mauritania, mostly in refugee camps or as nomads.
Hostilities between Morocco and the Polisario Front officially ended in 1991 following a cease-fire, but the Wall continues to be manned by thousands of Moroccan troops all round the clock, while radar masts and other electronic surveillance equipment scan the region for possible intruders. All along the length of the wall runs a belt of mines that has been called the longest continuous minefield in the world. There are more than 7 million landmines throughout the Sahrawi Territory in addition to large quantities of explosive remnants of war and cluster munitions. Serious injuries, loss of limbs and deaths from accidental detonation of these landmines is frequent among civilians.
Moroccan military base along the wall
Left Moroccan side, right Polisario rebel side
Man Caves dedicated to NHL teams
The hardcore fan has to express his devotion to his team somehow. A man cave is one way of going about that in the extreme. But lord, these guys must hurt bad when their team loses. And hysterically rejoice when they win!
This one almost looks like a bar.
This guy is more into the beer than the team.
But the best one is in good old Winnipeg. A Winnipeg Jets man cave!
