Welcome to the Homestretch


November 20, 2009
Olympians
Canmore, Banff and the nearby mountains have served as training ground and home for hundreds of our Olympians. This weekend the Whyte Museum opens a new exhibit that pays tribute to those athletes. It features 12 photographs of Olympians including Thomas Grandi from Banff. The museum's curator of photography, Craig Richards, is the man behind the lens.

Stamps Fan and Calgary Beer but only in Saskatchewan
Ty Lenius works for the Regina police service as a school resource officer,  was born and raised in Regina and he's a Calgary Stampeders fan. You can drive to Saskatchewan for the game on Sunday and buy a Calgary beer while you're there. But you can't buy it here. Calgarian Darren Havelock is lobbying Molson to start shipping Calgary beer to cowtown. He's behind the website  mycalgarybeer.ca.

Twilight
Calgary theatres were packed last night with people who couldn't wait to see the new Twilight movie. Eli Glasner has a review of New Moon.

Dave Bidini
David Gray's feature interview with Dave Bidini, a founding member of the Rheostatics, a solo performer in his own right, and a veteran of small town honkey tonks, mid-town arenas, and big city venues from Coast to coast to coast in Canada. Not to mention stages, siderooms, and diners from Finland to the Far East. He's on tour with his band in Calgary tonight at Local 522 and at the Banff Centre saturday night.



November 19, 2009
Adventure couples
Rick and Tanya McFerrin jumped on their specially built bicycles out front of their Calgary home in early July, and have been peddling ever since. With them on the bikes are their three boys, all under 10. Samson,  Marcos, and  Tarn. Read their blog.

Climate change
With the UN Climate change summit in Copenhagen just two weeks away, Canada is looking to the U.S. before moving ahead. Jason Grummet is the Executive Director of the US National Commission on Energy Policy. He helped write the Obama Energy Plan during the transition, and now heads a Bipartisan Policy Center. He is speaking tonight at the University of Calgary at 7:30 in MacEwan Hall.


November 18, 2009
Snowbird sexcapades
The majority of Canadian seniors who spend the winter months in Florida are sexually active, and they're having sex with multiple partners. Few of them are using condoms to prevent contracting HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections according to preliminary research from the University of Waterloo. Sandra Bullock studies sexually risky behaviours at the University of Waterloo.

Adventure couples
In our series on couples who look for adventure today we introduce you to Colin and Julie Angus. They were already accomplished adventurer's before they hooked up. Julie is the first woman to row across the Atlantic Ocean from mainland to mainland. And Colin is the first person to travel around the world using only human power. So how did they celebrate their marriage? They built his and hers rowboats, and took to the sea. Colin and Julie Angus recently rowed from Scotland to Syria, and survived to write the book. It's called Rowed Trip: from Scotland to Syria by Oar, and together, the were named joint winners of National Geographic's Adventurer of the Year Award.

Homework
A Calgary family has struck a deal with the school their children attend that their children can opt out of any teacher assigned homework. They say their children will still work at home, studying for tests and working on skills, but they'll concentrate on the subjects where they're weak. Vera Goodman is a retired teacher and the author of Simply Too Much Homework: What Can We Do?.


November 17, 2009
Adventure couples
All this week we talk to adventure couples about why they do what they do, and how they make it work. Last week Leanne Allison and Karsten Heuer's film Finding Farley won top prize at the Banff Mountain Film Festival.

Foodbank demand rises
The economy is causing more Canadian families to turn to the Food Bank. The biggest increase has come in Alberta. 61 per cent more Albertans are using the service compared to last year. That's according to a yearly report by the Canadian Food Bank. James McAra is the CEO of the Calgary Food Bank Society.


November 16, 2009
Toy testing
Janet Hetherington, the editor of the Toy Report put out by the Canadian Toy Testing Council , tells us more about this year's best toys.

Social capital
University of British Columbia economist John Helliwell studies an entirely different kind of capital. He will be speaking in MacEwan Hall B at the University of Calgary tonight at 7:30 and it's free.

Pesticide by-law
CBC reporter Scott Dippel was at city hall and brings us the story of the city's pesticide by-law. Walter Pang and Chester Lau are two high school students with Youth Earth Ambassadors, an environmental network of young Calgarians.

November 13, 2009
KISS
Two generations of Kiss fans review thursday night's show.  The CBC's Tim Tamashiro and his son, Jackson were at the Saddledome and bring their full report about the spectacular show..



Jackson's photos






















Managing diabetes
More and more Canadians are developing type 2 diabetes and according to a new survey by the Canadian Diabetes Association, 9 out of 10 aren't following a healthy enough lifestyle to manage the disease. Dr. David Lau is the Chair of the Diabetes and Endocrine Research Group at the University of Calgary. The university is holding a diabetes awareness day on November 24th.

Alberta earthquakes
David Eaton, a University of Calgary geoscientist, has launched a new study to look at links between oil and gas activity and earthquakes in this province. Eaton and some colleagues are constructing earthquake monitoring stations near Calgary.

Writing books for children
Simon Rose is a Calgary author of six children's books. This weekend he's taking part in the Calgary Children's Book Fair and Conference.

Alberta film
Lindsay Blackett , Alberta's Minister of Culture, has announced changes to the way Alberta producers and directors can access government money for projects.

November 12, 2009
Vogler Quartett
The group is commemorating the 20th anniversary of the wall coming down, and 25 years of playing together. Friday night the quartet will perform at Mount Royal University. Tim Vogler and Stefan Fehlandt make up one half of the Vogler Quartett.

Youngblut Etiquette
Restaurant staff, the world of good and bad service according to our columnist Shelly Youngblut.

City Budget
CBC reporter Zulekha Nathoo brings us up to date on the tentative budget for the City of Calgary.


November 11, 2009
War nurses
Diana Mansell, a historian and senior instructor in the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Calgary, talks about the history of Canada's war nurses. She is speaking tonight as part of the Big Rock lecture series.

Veterans video
Remembering veterans and their wartime experiences is something Allan Cameron of Sylvan Lake does every day.
He is the founder of the Memories Recovered Project, a video catalogue of Canadian veterans' wartime experiences.

David Gray at the Legion Number One downtown

Your remembrances A sample of your calls to our talkback line

November 10, 2009


Terra-Nova
Tim Dzaman and Cory Hanson were in search of new land. This summer the two friends jumped on their motorcycles and travelled around the world.

Yasmin Levy
The international singing sensation is on a world tour. Many of her songs are performed in Ladino, a  language spoken mostly by Sephardic Jews. It's the legacy of the Jewish community expelled from Spain in 1492.


November 9, 2009
Greenspan part 2
Alan Greenspan, the former Chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, is speaking at conference in Calgary on tuesday. David Gray had a chance to have a long and wide ranging phone conversation with him. Part two speaks about the financial meltdown.

Finding Farley Wins
One movie cleaned up at the Banff Mountain Film Festival that wrapped up last night. Finding Farley is the story of a Canmore couple who left their home by canoe, with their 2 year old son Zev and their dog Willow. Together, Leanne Allison and Karsten Heur retraced the literary footsteps of one of Canada's most famous writers. A 5000 kilometre trip, trekking, portaging, sailing and paddling from the prairies to the Maritimes.  Waiting at the end was Farley Mowat and his wife, Claire. Leanne Allison speaks about Finding Farley which won both the People's Choice and the Grand Prize award in Banff.

Berlin Wall
Twenty years ago on November 9th, 1989, the Berlin Wall came down. Annette Timm, an associate professor of history at the University of Calgary, is on sabbatical in Berlin.

Poppy fever
A survey carried out by the Historica-Dominion Institute suggests more Canadians plan on attending a Remembrance Day ceremony this Wednesday. On top of that, a remarkable 71%  said the two minutes of silence observed on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month should be mandatory for all Canadians. Andrew Cohen is the president of the Historica-Dominion Institute.

November 6, 2009
Alan Greenspan
For most of the last two decades, Alan Greenspan shaped and controlled the world's economy. As Chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, his words would move markets, his speeches parsed and dissected for hidden meanings and signs of the future. He's coming to Calgary tuesday November 10th. In David Gray's feature interview he asked him how the oil and gas industry in western Canada fits into the general direction of the global economy. Part two will air Monday. More at cbc.ca/money.