Yeah, I've got a book going on, and I'm trying to work on some animation stuff. And, you know, and I don't need a crowd-funding campaign to do most of that stuff. It's just me and a couple cups of coffee at home on the computer. So I'm fairly low-budget with my needs at the moment.

Tell me a little bit about this book before we let you go. It's "How to Tell if Your Cat is Plotting to Kill You"?

Yeah. It's basically a collection of funny cat comics ranging from how to tell if your cat thinks it's a mountain lion. There is another one that will show ways to identify if your cat is a raging homosexual. So it's this kind of a mixed bag of weird cat. . .

News you can use, in other words.

turn 2 : The content of the book is humorous and not meant to be taken seriously.

Which type of comics are included in the book?

Answer: Funny


. . . And she really went for the eyes. But besides that first thought, my sister was a genius. She was just a creative person all around. And when I came into the world, my sister kind of took me by my hand and was like, OK, you know, our family didn't have a lot of money, but this is how you have fun - and just showed me how to use my imagination, how to be creative.

On this album, Brittany Howard talks about how she became herself - the artist, but also the person.

(Singing) My grandmama's a maid. My momma was brave to take me outside, because momma is white and daddy is black. . .

This song is called "Goat Head. "It's about a racist incident that her parents experienced. It's also about what it meant to be a biracial kid in Alabama in the 1990s. Growing up, Brittany had a lot of questions.

turn 1 : how she became herself implies the story of her discovery and success

How does Brittany Howard's album focus on her personal development?

Answer: development


They are the showrunners.

That's right. And they were really, really supportive of it. They really liked it. So that made me feel good. And they really stood up for it. And they basically said, if you don't show it, then we're walking off the show. So the compromise was that a title card was put up, which, you know, may, in the end, have the same impact, or even greater impact than the spot itself. But, of course, personally, I would've liked people to have seen it.

Speaking of your animation, they said, we had concerns with some subject matter in the episode's animated short. This is the creative solution that we agreed upon with the producers. So you're a professional. Do you think this is a creative solution?

You know what?I don't know. I have to be kind of careful with what I say. I can kind of sympathize in a lot of ways with the decision they made 'cause I run my own business, and I'm pretty sort of pragmatic about, you know, decisions that are made. But I think it's just really kind of disappointing, if anything. And I think people would've really liked it.

turn 1 : The literal meaning of the turn only provides information about the showrunners, but the actual meaning involves the compromise and the speaker's feelings about it.

Answer: actual


'Cause there are a lot of industries now that can point to the fact that they are using fewer people to sometimes produce even greater revenues.

Well, that's what using fewer people will sometimes do. It certainly will - using fewer people will increase the productivity of the people that you are using. And we had been living through an age where we are adapting to a transformative technology - the Internet. I mean, this has enormous effects on the workplace. But, you know, I'm a mere writer. I wouldn't even know how to begin to answer the question you just asked; how much of this is a fundamental shift in the economy and how much of it is a result of the way we've led our financial lives?

Michael Lewis, what should, in your mind, Americans learn from the financial crisis in Europe?

The thing that has interested me the most is the role of the big financial institutions in our economy. I think over the period of the last several decades, they have spun out of control; that they are too big to fail, which means that the normal sort of mechanism of a market economy is not allowed to work in a financial sector. That normal mechanism is creative destruction. It's, you know, someone builds a better one and the old one dies. And I would have thought the big lesson from the period of 2007, 2008 is that we can't really build an economy based on such institutions. It's like building your house on sand.

Which institution does Michael Lewis think has spun out of control in the economy?

Answer: Financial


What Bonnie Raitt song, may I ask?

O'NEILL: "I Can't Make You Love Me. "

(Singing) Here in the dark, in these final hours, I will lay down my heart and I'll feel the power. . .

Kate O'Neill, who wrote about her sister, Maddie Linsenmeir in the Vermont Weekly Seven Days, thank you so much for being with us.

turn 1 : The speaker is mentioning a song that reflects their current emotions.

How did the speaker express their emotions?

Answer: Singing


Aw. We mentioned that you worked for President George W.  Bush, who advised John McCain. In your circle of friends, people there at the Hoover Institution - without violating any any confidences - your friends and colleagues - is your opinion widely held or are people who ordinarily would support the Republican candidate talking about voting for Hillary Clinton?

I think this is a real time of crisis for Republicans. It's hard for many of my friends to think about supporting Donald Trump. And it's very hard for many of my friends to think about supporting Hillary Clinton. In fact, I would have indulged the luxury of writing in one of my terrific nephews for president if I hadn't seen that the polls during the British referendum were off by 12 points. And my concern that (inaudible) be accurate, and everybody's vote's actually going to count this election.

Kori Schake is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution. She joined us by Skype. Thanks very much.

You're welcome.

turn 1 : Many of my friends are in a difficult position deciding whether to vote for Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton.

How are some of the PersonA's friends feeling about the upcoming election?

Answer: Difficult


Yeah - African-American mayor from Tallahassee.

Yes. So this is sort of a test of whether real progressive candidates can win in these sort of purplish states. And so that's going to be a really - you have a Trump ally there in Ron DeSantis. It's going to be, I think, a really close race still. Next door in Georgia, another woman trying to make history - Stacey Abrams would be the first African-American woman ever elected governor.

Right.

And that's a state that is changing. Has it changed enough?That's a really big question. And then there's sort of a handful of surprising opportunities for Democrats in the Midwest and in the Sun Belt. Nevada and Ohio - those were always sort of toss-ups. But then Democrats have real chances to flip some places - really ruby-red territory - like Kansas, South Dakota, maybe even Oklahoma.

turn 3 : Ruby-red states re not literally colored. They vote nearly always for Republicans, who are "red" in American political parlance.

What is the meaning of "ruby-red" in American political parlance?

Answer: Incorporating


Absolutely. And that's something that my father always stressed upon my sisters and me and that we've all thought it's very important that you should be engaged in the process. In this case it is a political process, because the process of electing our government leaders is one that will have a direct impact on whether we're here and what we do here. So it's fine to criticize, but at the same time if you're not engaged in the process I feel that's a real discredit to everything you try to protest against.

Do you sense a great excitement among the men and women there about the election?

Well, there's certainly a lot of open questions, a lot of us are wondering if Barack Obama's elected versus John McCain and vice versa, whether that will have an effect not just on this tour, but on future military careers because we have a lot of soldiers and a lot of officers who are planning to make a military career and I'm not one of them. I'm going to be leaving active duty when we return from this tour.

But for those soldiers especially, the big question now is, when and how soon they'll have to deploy to Afghanistan. Because many of these soldiers are on their third, some even on their fourth tour here to Iraq. And so now they're looking at another open ended involvement in Afghanistan. And so they've got a lot of questions about that and so we're really just curious right now what both candidates - what decisions they'll make.

turn 0 : Being engaged in the political process is important for protesting against things you disagree with.

How is being engaged in the political process important for protesting? (Answer: discredit)

Answer: Discredit


So let me ask you because eating the supermodel of the fruit world doesn't sound like necessarily a bad thing. You've written a book about this kind of stuff, "Bet The Farm: How Food Stopped Being Food. "Is food part of the problem?Has it become less nutritious?Is it just good-looking and less good for us?

I think that the argument among the dietitians is that, yes, the higher sugar content is robbing food of a lot of its nutritional value. And I also think there is a tradition in America of somehow seeking perfection through our food, that somehow, if we eat right, we will make ourselves mentally and spiritually better. And so, of course, if we see row after row of perfectly glistening, absolutely gorgeous, completely look-alike apples, we think, yeah. I want that.

But fruit is still good for humans?

Of course, eat like your grandmother told you to eat - is probably the best advice.

turn 0 : The fruit is not a supermodel, it is just the perfect, good looking one of the crop.

What is the fruit compared to in the statement?

Answer: Supermodels.


That's what won, finally, the attention of the old man. And only when he was tough did the old man respect him. And I think when his father became incapacitated, Bobby began to resort to who he was as a kid. As a kid, he was - he hung around all the time with African-American kids. Those were his playmates, even in Hyannis. He was - he, you know, Father Feeney - when Father Feeney said no salvation outside the Catholic Church, he railed against that, which was so extraordinary in that very Catholic family.

You know, Ralph Bunche - he insisted that that great African-American statesman get to speak to a integrated audience at UVA when he was in charge of the lecture series down there. There's all kinds of evidence of Bobby in the beginning being a liberal in the best sense of that word. And I think it just came more to life after Jack was gone and after the old man was out of action.

Will American voters these days - and donors and journalists, for that matter - let a public figure change in public the way Robert Kennedy did?

Well, I think the hardest thing for him - and to me, the sweetest part of the book - was his evolution on Joe McCarthy. There's no doubt that he loved the guy. It came through right to the end when he was driving in the car at National Airport. And Kathleen, his young daughter, said he was so stricken by the news that McCarthy had just drank himself to death at Bethesda Naval Hospital that he drove around the airport three times. He was just distraught.

turn 3 : (4) Implied meaning: How did Robert Kennedy come to terms with the death of Joe McCarthy?

What was Robert Kennedy's initial opinion of Joe McCarthy?

Answer: loved


If there's one politician that you could interview, which one would it be?

I probably would have to say that if there's one person I'd want to interview, it'd probably be President Trump. I think right now would be - to interview most. But, I mean, there's obviously - it's a huge field right now. And I'm definitely hoping that there'll be more than one of the 2020 candidates I'll be able to spend some time with in the next few months.

Gabe Fleisher, writer of the political newsletter Wake Up To Politics and current high school junior. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

turn 1 : It's not a field, but a large number of people the person would want to interview.

Which word describes the scope of people the person would want to interview?

Answer: Field


No, no, I worked with John, he had already come here, and I worked with John, and then I went to Bell and worked with John Moll and then later was in the Army in a group they won't let me talk about too much, it was an intelligence group in Japan.

And then when I got out, I was six years at GE, and that's where this happened. And then I had a fantastic colleague there, Bob Hall. Bob's getting a little bit old, but he was a stalwart figure. He would've been the next Nobel Prize I would've given in the semiconductor field.

But I had access, you're right, to some of the very, very best people that were pioneers.

It must have been very exciting during those times.

turn 1 : Bob Hall was a great colleague and could have won a Nobel prize

Which colleague of PersonA had the potential to win a Nobel prize?

Answer: Bob


Yes. We got involved and that's 25 years ago. And it took us about 25 years to get it done. We met monthly. And - well, actually, we met like biweekly and just phonetically translate it - every word in the New Testament to Gullah.

Can you read something for us, a short passage?

Well, why don't I read just the first few verses of the Lord's Prayer that most people are familiar with?

That would be wonderful.

turn 3 : That would be wonderful. (Actual meaning: B expresses enthusiasm or appreciation for the suggestion made by A.)

Which response did PersonB give to PersonA's suggestion?

Answer: Wonderful


But there's another debate at the end of this month. She's going to have a lot of pressure on her to perform because some of those Democrats didn't maybe see that debate. They're going to be looking to size her up.

And in that debate, of course, she challenged Vice President Joe Biden. And he did not attend this event. And that might be noteworthy.

Yeah. I mean, he went a more traditional route and decided to speak directly to black voters in a key state. He's campaigning in South Carolina, where 60% of the Democratic electorate is black. And he told them yesterday that he was wrong for comments that he made about working with segregationist senators 40 years ago. How he does in South Carolina, though, is going to be key to his chances. Without it, it's hard to see what his path is for winning the nomination.

All right, let's talk about the Trump administration. They are trying to get this citizenship question onto the U. S.  Census. Now the president says he is considering an executive order. Are there going to be political consequences for this fight?

turn 0 : They are not taking her size but are judging her competence.

Answer: Competence


So this prosecution brings together a lot of theories that are very sexist that would justify massive control of pregnant women on grounds that they owe a duty to their fetuses to behave in certain ways and that - and ultimately make pregnant people vulnerable to prosecution for just about any kind of conduct that can be deemed risky.

Marshae Jones is African American. What is the relevance of race in your view?

Racism is what caused the notion that using drugs during pregnancy, which is a health problem, could be turned into a crime to prosecute pregnant women and mothers. We can trace that to the so-called crack epidemic at the end of the 1980s, early 1990s. And the first women who were prosecuted were black women who smoked crack cocaine during pregnancy.

And the vast majority of women who were prosecuted among hundreds of women were black women, even though there is evidence that drug use during pregnancy is not more likely to happen in any particular racial group or economic group. And so this was clear targeting of black women, which I believe is part of a long history of devaluing black motherhood in particular and also a result of discriminatory behavior in hospitals, where hospitals were much more likely to turn in black patients for using drugs during pregnancy than white patients.

turn 0 : very sexist implies being very interesting and attention demanding not in amorous or lustful way

Which word describes the implication of "very sexist" in turn 0?

Answer: theories


Let's clear this up immediately: blonde, lithe, the initials V. P. So, is Vanessa Pierson Valerie Plame?

The great thing about fiction is that you can fix things and make things better. I think Vanessa is a smarter version of where I was. And it's definitely informed by my experiences in the CIA.

Well, that raises another question. So, did you take some top-secret operation and just thinly fictionalize it to this book and, you know, are. . .

. . . are there Russian agents reading this now and saying, oh, this is what we were looking for?

turn 3 : .are there Russian agents reading this now and saying, oh, this is what we were looking for? The implied meaning of this turn is that the speaker is asking if the Russian agents might recognize the source of the fictional book, and whether they might say "this is what we were looking for".

What might the Russian agents recognize in the fictional book?

Answer: B


I want to say the same thing that Al Pacino says in "Godfather" - that every time he wants to quit the mafia business, they pull me in. And every time I want to retire, some customer comes and tells me how much he enjoyed the food. And there I am, back to the drawing board, trying to think of something new to make and put on the menu. I'm working on a few more things, whereby I could have a Himalaya goes West kind of restaurant. Yes, it's contradictory to what I said - that I want to retire. And then I want to. . .

I was about to say.

. . . A part of me wants to open a second place where everything is Indian and Pakistani-style hamburgers, Indian and Pakistani-style fried chicken, Indian and Pakistani-style pizza. I've already done some tacos, some tamales with the Indian spices. So sky's the limit. As long as there are other ethnic foods to draw from, I'll be busy.

That's chef Kaiser Lashkari, speaking at his Houston restaurant, Himalaya.

turn 2 : A has a new vision for a type of restaurant he would open.

What is the name of the chef speaking at his Houston restaurant, Himalaya?

Answer: Kaiser


Absolutely. And the blog that you refer to with Melissa Harris-Lacewell is a blog called Down from the Tower, and it's an ongoing discussion between Melissa and Marc Lamont Hill, who is a professor at Temple. And so, one day, you might click on, and Melissa will have the call and Marc will have the response. One day, he may toss out a question to her. He'll have the call and she'll have the response. And it's a very lively - up to now, it has been a political discussion. But they may take on other things. Politics seems to be dominating the moment.

But I do hope that the site evolves into one where our writers are talking to one another and talking to the Web and to communities that live outside The Root, bringing new information and ideas and, you know, creating a vibrant marketplace for idea.

And I also think one of the things that I like about - I'm glad you pointed out the exchange between Melissa and Marc, because it is debate and it is thoughtful, weighty, witty debate. And it's not…

All right.

turn 1 : In turn (2), the speaker expresses their hope that The Root evolves into a platform where writers engage with each other and with communities outside the website, creating a vibrant marketplace for ideas. The literal meaning of the turn is straightforward. However, the implied meaning is that The Root aims to foster a diverse and inclusive online community where different perspectives are heard and debated. This suggests that the website has a broader mission than just providing a platform for writers to share their ideas.

How does the speaker hope The Root evolves?

Answer: Vibrant


Sure.

So explain to us why you gave that request, which we agree is a legitimate request.

Security. So I wrote an in-depth and possibly embarrassing report on a top aide to Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The report was on Saud al-Qahtani, who's best known in the West for masterminding the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, the Washington Post journalist. But he also heads up the kingdom's efforts to intimidate and silence critics, primarily through online hacking. So if there is a computer hacker sitting in Riyadh who's been tasked with finding out who wrote this report on his boss, I want to try to make his life a little bit harder.

So in terms of what you found in your research, what does Facebook mean when it says that Saudi Arabia engaged in coordinated inauthentic behavior?

turn 2 : to silence critics means to threaten them with something horrible.

How would you describe Saud al-Qahtani's role in Saudi Arabia's efforts to intimidate and silence critics?

Answer: mastermind


And we shall not - I certainly won't see his like again. He was also incredibly fun. And so that's the thing to try to hold onto.

He wrote a lot of letters by hand, didn't he?

He wrote tons of letters. I bet there are a hundred thousand - hundreds out there signed, all the best, George Bush. Many of them are compiled in a lovely volume he did. His - you know, he was the son of a mother who insisted that he not talk - that one not talk about oneself. He was - so when it came time to write a book after he left the presidency, he didn't. . .

Oh, right.

turn 0 : I won't see someone like him again because he was unique and special, and not because he was dead.

How was the person being referred to in turn 0?

Answer: Unique


That's one of the projects, yeah, that I followed in the book. Can we build a limb that is basically indistinguishable from a natural arm?So if you're missing an arm, you get this new prosthetic that can sense and move and operate like a natural arm. And that's typically ambitious, and they call that DARPA-hard. Let's try something that just seems completely insane, totally, you know, crazy ambitious. And in that case, they didn't get there. They didn't quite get to that point, but they did get a lot of these technologies in motion for controlling a robot with mind power alone, for instance.

Yeah. How do they ensure that they keep getting new cutting-edge thoughts inside of DARPA?

That's one of the challenges, and that's one of the reasons I was able to write this book, too, because they need to get the word out. They need to find people out there who've got these ideas, who want to pitch them to DARPA. Or come to work for DARPA as a program manager because DARPA program managers, they all leave. After two to six years, they're gone. Their expiration dates are printed on their ID badges. So they've got this turnover, 25 percent every single year.

And they also have a deadline, right?

turn 0 : Developing a prosthetic that mimics natural arm capabilities is very challenging.

What is the goal of the project mentioned in turn 0?

Answer: prosthetic


They are the showrunners.

That's right. And they were really, really supportive of it. They really liked it. So that made me feel good. And they really stood up for it. And they basically said, if you don't show it, then we're walking off the show. So the compromise was that a title card was put up, which, you know, may, in the end, have the same impact, or even greater impact than the spot itself. But, of course, personally, I would've liked people to have seen it.

Speaking of your animation, they said, we had concerns with some subject matter in the episode's animated short. This is the creative solution that we agreed upon with the producers. So you're a professional. Do you think this is a creative solution?

You know what?I don't know. I have to be kind of careful with what I say. I can kind of sympathize in a lot of ways with the decision they made 'cause I run my own business, and I'm pretty sort of pragmatic about, you know, decisions that are made. But I think it's just really kind of disappointing, if anything. And I think people would've really liked it.

turn 1 : The literal meaning of the turn only provides information about the showrunners, but the actual meaning involves the compromise and the speaker's feelings about it.

Answer: title


Investors are ecstatic about central bankers working there. Listen to this, the German DAX Index up about 10 percent, the French CAC 40, up more than nine percent. Now, they are both measures like the Dow 30, which on Wall Street jumped 500 points in the morning.

In Britain, Prime Minister Gordon Brown put $65 billion of government money into three British banks. NPR's Rod Gifford is in London. We're going to him. Rob, hello. I think that people are saying it is this British plan, the so-called British plan that seems to be may be spurring a little bit of a recovery around the world. What is the British government doing, and what does it want in return?

Well, as you say, Alex, Gordon Brown is getting a lot of kudos from this, because he was the one who put this plan forward last week. What they're doing, as you say, is to put a lot of government money that is taxpayer's money, $65 billion worth of it, into three British banks into order to - they hope - free up the bank to bank lending, and the whole crisis of confidence that has struck British banks as it has done elsewhere.

In return - some very important conditions they want in return. Right upfront, leaders of these banks that have got into trouble must step down. Bonuses are being frozen for other executives who stay on and crucially, the demand that these banks maintain mortgage lending and small-business lending at 2007 levels, levels of last year.

turn 3 : The British government has set important conditions in exchange for bank bailouts.

How many important conditions has the British government set for bank bailouts?

Answer: 3


So crack down on the doctors, but make sure there's a support system ready for their patients.

Absolutely. And the thing is - and this is so beautiful - is that when you get to watch lives change. For myself, you know, I used to get up every single morning thinking, you know, where am I going to get my pills?And that occupied my entire day. Now, keep in mind, I was a practicing physician. So I had some other things to do. And that's what people who are, you know, who are addicted are facing every single day.

And now, you know, providing them with quality help and watching them change their lives is one of the most fun things that I've ever been involved with. We need to make that opportunity more widespread. We need to decrease the stigma around stepping out and ask for help. And also, Sacha, we need to make evidence-based treatment available without the stigma that goes along with it.

That's Dr.  Steven Loyd. He's based in Nashville, Tenn. Thanks for talking with us.

turn 1 :  "And the thing is - and this is so beautiful - is that when you get to watch lives change...And that occupied my entire day."  The implied meaning of this turn is that the speaker has overcome addiction and now enjoys helping others in a similar position, which is incredibly fulfilling. They used to be preoccupied with obtaining drugs, but now their focus has shifted to improving the lives of others.

Which emotion is conveyed by the speaker about watching lives change?

Answer: Fun


What about the new government in Kiev. They issued a statement which is, as you described - at least through the translation - sounds like fighting words. What's their reaction been?

Well, there's not been more reaction than that except to say that earlier today, the Ukrainian president, the acting Ukrainian president accused Russia of trying to provoke a military conflict. This was before the vote in the Russian Parliament. And he referred to Russia's action in the past in other former Soviet regions with large Russian populations and said that Moscow's approach in Crimea is very similar to what Russia did before invading in other former Soviets areas.

So, a great sense of concern, a great sense of uncertainty of what will come next. It's not clear whether this is a still a political game or this is military brinksmanship.

And we're told, for example, that the U. N.  had I guess special representative Robert Sery was in Russia. He was supposed to head to the Crimea. Anything you've heard about negotiations to talk this thing through?

turn 2 : (3) The implied meaning is that there is a great sense of uncertainty and concern about what will happen next, and it's not clear whether the situation is still a political game or has escalated to military brinksmanship. The literal meaning is consistent with this implied meaning.

What is the situation in Ukraine characterized by?

Answer: Situation


How much did you pay for that last box of Girl Scout cookies you bought?Five bucks, six maybe, maybe more?How about $15 billion?That's the price of a single box if - if it were turned into graphine. Researchers at Rice University in Houston have discovered a way to turn anything with carbon into graphine, the super-strong wonder material that can be worth over two million times the price of gold. You heard that right, two million times.

Forget alchemy, that's for chumps. This is graphene, worth a lot more in its weight of gold. Marc Abrahams, editor and founder of the Annals of Improbable Research is here to tell us why graphene is so pricey and what this invention could mean for nanotechnology. Welcome back to SCIENCE FRIDAY.

Thanks, Ira, nice to be back.

So what is this thing about turning Girl Scout cookies into graphene?

turn 2 : nice to be back means its nice that I am here again

Answer: Nice


But in those years these kids were acting, and only acting, and just acting. And they did have school, and lot of them had tutors, and do have, you know, a decent amount of education, but they don't have the kind of education that you get in a school, the kind of specialized education - they have a specialized education rather than a general one.

So I think that a lot of them don't really know what to do. And so it's hard to blame them for wanting to seize on this. I didn't want to do that. I didn't want to be a former child actor for the rest of my life, although in some ways I suppose I am. I am going to be that.

And all I can do is, you know, embrace it for what it was. I did have some wonderful experiences. Learn from the things that weren't so great and just try to get on from there.

We're talking with Mara Wilson, the recovering child actor, she describes herself, known for "Matilda," "Mrs.  Doubtfire" and "Miracle on 34th Street" - now a writer in New York. You're listening to TALK OF THE NATION from NPR News.

And yes, child actors are in a separate category but so are baseball players and ballet artists and violinists. There are all kinds of kids who specialize in certain things, become prodigies at it and later in life have to go on - well, there's this sort of career death.

turn 2 : All they can do is accept what happened to them before.

How did Mara Wilson learn from the things that weren't so great?

Answer: Learn


Well, you know, that's another thing. So sometimes what happens to, you know, big scientists, you know, scientist that really have been enormously successful, is that as they grow older they don't feel as if they can continue, you know, with kind of mainstream incremental science after they have done something really big in the past. And as a result they adopt something that is completely outside of mainstream because they think, a-ha, maybe I'll make yet another huge contribution.

And that has happened to Pauling with Vitamin C.  And it happens to others too, you know, that at old age they suddenly pick up on something. Yes, it happened to Hoyle, Fred Hoyle, who is another person that I discuss on the concept of how did life evolve, you know, and so on. It's not a topic I discuss much in the book, but he started saying that probably all of life on Earth came from outer space and things like that and so on. So it happens.

Mm-hmm. This is SCIENCE FRIDAY from NPR. I'm Ira Flatow talking with Mario Livio, author of "Brilliant Blunders: From Darwin to Einstein," talking about great blunders that happened. Speaking about those kinds of blunders late in life, Bill Shockley, who was one of the inventors of the transistor, also got into trouble about views about racism late. . .

Yeah. Unfortunately it is more common than we would like.

turn 0 : Some successful scientists adopt unconventional approaches after achieving something significant.

How do some successful scientists approach science after achieving something significant?

Answer: Unconventional


What are you going to do when your internet connection goes down?

We have actually, so far, been able - we have reporters who are also out of town that we're in touch with. We're determined that we're going to keep reports on this storm on the internet, no matter how we do it. We've got a lot of backup for that at www. dailycomet. com and at Houmatoday. com.

We're determined that we're going to keep reports on this storm on the internet, no matter how we do it. We've got a lot of backup for that at www. dailycomet. com and at Houmatoday. com. We didn't stop yet and we don't plan to stop.

You have reporters out trying to cover this story all over where this hurricane is going. There must be some point where you say and where the reporters say to you "Hey, I got to stop for a while because there's a hurricane coming. "

turn 2 : They will continue reporting on the storm via the internet no matter what.

What is PersonA's determination regarding reporting on the storm?

Answer: Commitment


Absolutely.

. . . Didn't prevent a lethal incident, like in the Laquan McDonald case in Chicago. I mean, even though an investigative journalist had to go and demand the footage, it did result in a conviction, didn't it?I mean, it didn't prevent. . .

Absolutely.

. . . A lethal incident, but it did bring accountability after the fact. So. . .

turn 2 : The speaker in (1) is agreeing with the speaker in (2). However, in (3), the speaker is emphasizing their agreement with the previous speaker. The speaker in (4) is continuing the conversation by summarizing what has been said before.

What is the incident referred to in the Laquan McDonald case?

Answer: Laquan-McDonald


The videos of the embryos. He does sort of time lapse of human development, and it was really fascinating to watch, going from this sort of little hard to, you know, nondescript ball to what you would recognize. . .

As an embryo.

. . . as an embryo or a fetus.

This is SCIENCE FRIDAY from NPR. I'm Ira Flatow talking with Flora Lichtman about our Video Pick of the Week, and it's a - videos of embryos, all different kinds of embryos. So you got the film, the footage. . .

turn 0 : This is a figurative expression that describes the appearance of an early-stage embryo.

How would you describe the appearance of an early-stage embryo?

Answer: Damaged


1-800-989-8255 is our number, talking with Annalee Newitz, author of "Scatter, Adapt, and Remember: How Humans Will Survive a Mass Extinction. "Of course you could have a sudden mass extinction like that asteroid that hit us, you know, and wiped out all that life, or something slower that could take a lot longer time to develop. Are there two different strategies for that, surviving that?

Actually, the idea that there is such a thing as a rapid mass extinction is kind of a misnomer. We have - we've all heard about, you know, the dramatic end that the dinosaurs met when an asteroid crashed into the planet. And also now it turns out that there were mega-volcanoes going off at the same time in India. So there was this kind of horrible one-two punch with volcanoes and. . .

The perfect extinction.

Yeah, great Michael Bay movie material, if he were ever to actually make a film that was scientifically accurate.

turn 3 : No one nis literally expecting this scenario to be in a Michael Bay movie. The implication is that it involves a huge, damaging scenario that sounds unrealistic.

What scenario involving a Michael Bay movie is being referred to in the dialogue?

Answer: Stimulus


Hudson is confident that Broadway Federal Bank won't be harmed by the recent spate of bankruptcies and bailouts. Though the bank specializes in real estate and caters to minority investors, it never got caught up in the subprime mortgage game that has become the downfall of other banks.

In order to play in that game, you had to have large volumes and small margins, which has made mortgages like commodities. So the Countrywides, the WAMUs, the big mortgage companies, you would lose your shirt trying to compete with it. So, really, the small banks had to stand on the sidelines while a lot of money was being made by churning these loans and fees, and people were making huge amounts of money, banks were very profitable, and we weren't able to participate. But now, you know, the kind of like slow and steady feels very good right now.

Now, Hudson says he's starting to get a lot more calls from people who want to put their money in Broadway Federal.

Here's what used to happen in the old days. People would only put 100,000 dollars in Broadway because they knew that was the maximum FDIC insurance. They put a million dollars in Bank of America. They figured, well, I only - because Bank of America only has the same insurance as we do, only a 100,000. So they left 900,000 dollars uninsured because they said, well, that's Bank of America. I'm only worried about Broadway. I'm not worried about Bank of America.

turn 2 : There is an increasing interest in investing money in Broadway Federal Bank.

Answer: Increasing


Didn't Elon Musk know all this before he sent out that memorable tweet on August 7?

Well, a lot of people think he should have. Let's go back to that August 7 when he sent out that tweet and said I'm considering taking the company private, funding secured at $420 a share. And analysts immediately were very dubious that Musk could pull this off. Where would he get the 10 billions of dollars to take the company private?Did he really have the funding secured as he claimed?And that is something that the Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating, according to multiple reports. And Musk said at the time - or Musk said that two-thirds of the investors would stick with Tesla if it went private, but he really had no way of knowing that.

And why did he want to take the company private in any case?

Well, he's always chafed at the demands of Wall Street - the quarterly earnings reports, the pesky questions from analysts. He famously called one analyst's question boring and boneheaded on an earnings call earlier this year. But perhaps even more than all this, Musk. . .

turn 1 : Elon Musk may not have had the funding secured for taking Tesla private

Which company was Elon Musk considering taking private?

Answer: Tesla


I just wonder if we could close by you just telling me a few things about Jason, what you remember most fondly about him.

When I think about Jason, I think about his smile. He was a beautiful child. And the worst thing about this whole situation is I know in my heart he shouldn't be dead. It is horrible that we lose the soldiers that we have to; it's a tragedy when we lose a soldier that we shouldn't have, and Jason shouldn't be dead.

Chris Scheuerman, talking about his son Jason, who committed suicide in Iraq in 2005. In the 13 months since we first talked, Chris has continued to advocate for suicide prevention in the military. He testified on Capitol Hill and recently spoke at a Department of Defense conference on suicide prevention. We asked the Army for a comment on Jason Scheuerman's case when we first aired this story, and this is the written statement they sent.

(Reading) The loss of any member of the Army family is a tragedy, and suicide prevention is a top priority for the U. S.  Army. The 2005 death of Private First Class Jason Scheuerman was investigated thoroughly by his unit and by the U. S.  Army Criminal Investigation Command. In fact, the Associated Press's story about his 2005 death is based on the Army's comprehensive investigations. We continue to work with and assist his family. We are continuously improving and adapting our training, intervention and support programs. The Army recognizes the importance of suicide prevention and is taking many steps to decrease those risks that may contribute to suicidal behavior. Our prevention efforts do help soldiers and their families deal with the wartime challenges they face every day.

turn 3 : the literal meaning is that the Army is making ongoing efforts to improve its suicide prevention programs. However, the actual meaning is that the Army is acknowledging the problem of suicide in the military and attempting to address it, but it may not have been successful in preventing all cases of suicide.

How does the Army view the suicide prevention programs?

Answer: acknowledging


Thanks for having me.

What new details did we learn with this filing?

So the new filing focuses on five extramarital affairs that Duncan Hunter had when he was in Congress, the first one starting just four months after he was elected and took office in April 2009. So he took office in January.

The longest feature in the filing is about an individual identified as Individual 14, who was a lobbyist. And they spent campaign money on things like a ski trip together, a thousand-dollar hotel tab. They went to concerts together. And they also went on a double date with another congressperson to Virginia Beach, but that congressperson has not been identified.

turn 3 : Duncan Hunter spent campaign money on personal expenses

How did Duncan Hunter use campaign money?

Answer: Personal


There's no simple answer to that. What will happen, some of our experiments will be back up and running within two or three weeks. Some of the most complex genetic processes will probably take over a year to get back together. And, you know, disruptions like this push us to think hard about what we want to do and where we want to go.

So I think even though I wouldn't have chosen this - and it really is tremendously sad to have lost our partners in these mice - it's going to push us to think about some new directions which we might not have tried had this not happened. So there is a bit of a silver lining to that.

I wonder if your colleagues are as cheery about this, or at least as optimistic about it as you are.

You know, I've really been impressed and really hardened by the way everyone around me at NYU and people all over the world - I was talking to Ben Crowley(ph) of the New York Times, and I mentioned that I had gotten some 40-odd emails. That's doubled since then. And these are individuals who are offering to give me my own lines back, give me their own lines, to help me with space and resources, to literally take over my experiments until we get back on our feet.

turn 1 : The loss of their partners in mice experiments can lead to new research directions

Which experiments will take over a year to get back together?

Answer: Genetic


That's the most egregious part of this scandal - is that she and her boyfriend Sunny Balwani, who was the No. 2 of the company, knew as they were rolling out the blood-testing services in Walgreens stores in California and Arizona that the blood tests were faulty. And yet they still went ahead with the rollout. And there were - I came across personally in my reporting more than a dozen patients who had health scares because they received bad results from Theranos.

How could so many smart people be fooled?

Well, I think she capitalized on this in part - it's not the only answer. But she capitalizes on this yearning there was in Silicon Valley and beyond to see a woman breakthrough in this man's world in Silicon Valley. If you look back over the past 30 years, all these tech founders that have gone on to be billionaires and icons are all men. Elizabeth Holmes was going to be that first tech founder who became a billionaire.

John Carreyrou - his book "Bad Blood" - thanks so much for being with us.

turn 2 : Elizabeth Holmes was able to attract attention and investment by presenting herself as a woman who could succeed in a male-dominated industry.

Which industry did Elizabeth Holmes present herself as a successful woman in?

Answer: SiliconValley


The Negro National League's last innings came in 1940s, after Jackie Robinson headed for the big leagues. Kadir Nelson's new book, "We Are the Ship" captures black-American baseball at the top of its game. Kadir is an award-winning children's book illustrator. He's collaborated with Will Smith, Spike Lee and Debbie Allen. For "We Are the Ship," he did all of the writing and all of the artwork, and his rich, detailed paintings show Negro-league superstars as if they're posing for the camera or deep in a game of hard ball.

Kadir Nelson joins me now. How are you?

I'm great. Thanks for having me.

So you have done playful children's books. You've illustrated books for young people about historic figures. Tell me about Buck O'Neil.

turn 1 : joins me now implies to be a part of program or activity and not referring to get attached together

How does Kadir Nelson's joining indicate his involvement in the program?

Answer: Damage


You also call this the start of a new era in America's modern history - in what way?

Well, the Clean Air Act really changed, in many ways, the conception of government's role and gave to the federal government both the power and the responsibility to protect Americans' health. One of the most revolutionary pieces of this very innovatively designed law was a provision which elevated public health as a priority above all others in the setting of air quality standards for the entire country. It put public health over and above corporate profit and cost in determining what amounts of pollution would be allowed in Americans' air.

But that hasn't stopped it from being challenged, right?How has it weathered those challenges?

Well, it's been up and down over the years. And I think what we're seeing right now is a really sort of unprecedented assault on the Clean Air Act and the enforcement of the Clean Air Act by the Trump administration. Obviously, I think, we've all become familiar over the last few years with the idea of climate change denial. But I think what we're now seeing in the Trump years is actually air pollution denial.

turn 3 : "unprecedented assault on the Clean Air Act" - This turn has a figurative meaning, as it refers to the Trump administration's efforts to weaken or dismantle the Clean Air Act, which is seen as an attack on the law itself and its purpose.

What has the Trump administration's approach to the Clean Air Act been described as?

Answer: assault


Well, I'm glad to have a job. I'll put it that way.

You know, that's a good thing.

Businesses and institutions have now shed jobs for the last 13 months in a row. Last month alone, we lost nearly 600,000 jobs. Nissan is the latest to announce big cuts. President Obama, Dr.  Malveaux, has warned of double digit unemployment rates. It seems like everytime I have you on the show we ask the same question. How high is unemployment going to go?

Well, the rate we're going it can get to double digit. The last time we've seen anything like that was in 1981 in the early Reagan years. And double digit unemployment is no joke, but Tony, many people believe that we have really already crossed the line. If you look at the most recent report from the Bureau of Labor statistics, they come up with these alternative measures. So, we know that the unemployment rate is 7. 6 percent. But then if you add people who are marginally attached, that's like people who are working part time, but want to work full time and people who are discouraged workers and have dropped out of the labor force, we get up to a number that's more like 14 percent, 13. 9 percent. So when we look at all the hidden unemployment, we're already well firmly into that double digit area.

turn 0 : A lot of people are out of work and jobs are getting harder to find.

How many months in a row have businesses and institutions shed jobs?

Answer: 13


I wouldn't say a list of specific charges but some general charges. So the one that is the most specific is the claim that in 1996 she went on a spy mission to China to Guangxi province and, you know, spied for the FBI. And, I mean, there's a number of issues with that. I mean, one of them is that I have all kinds of evidence that Sandy did not go to China in 1996. I have the evidence of her passport. I have the evidence of her paystubs.

I mean, she was a full-time employee of the Houston Police Department as a secretary, a clerk typist, when she allegedly was doing the spy work. The paystubs show that she'd taken 11 hours off during the time in question. I've also got a newspaper article that she appeared in. So, I mean, we have a fair amount of evidence that shows that she was not in China in 1996.

Why would the Chinese government be interested in putting your wife in prison if there wasn't something that made them suspicious?

So this is not the police that investigate regular crimes. This is the, you know, China Ministry of State Security. This is a bunch of spies. They don't trust anybody. And in point of fact, I mean, they look at people involved in nonprofit work like my wife with a great deal of suspicion. And the fact of the matter is the state security has sent a number of people to the U. S.  to spy, and the FBI has been catching these people. And I am sure that the Ministry of State Security is just not very happy about that.

turn 3 : In turn (4), the implied meaning is that the Chinese Ministry of State Security is trying to take revenge for the U.S. FBI catching their spies in the U.S.

Which organization does turn (4) suggest is trying to seek revenge?

Answer: FBI


It was an amazing list. This started around 1910. There was a long list of books, and, at the start, they were things that sound pretty ordinary now, the things you mentioned, titles of things like "Tom Swift and His Airship," "Tom Swift and His Wireless Message. "My favorite is "Tom Swift and His Photo Telephone. "If you read "Tom Swift and His Photo Telephone," which is written in 1914, it sounds like you're hearing the description of Skype or Google Hangout.

The boy inventor invented this in 1914 fictionally, but the details are surprisingly similar.

Are people still reading those books, the Tom Swift books?

That's a good question. There were two big series. The first series started in 1910, went up to about 1940. They updated it in the 1950s and '60s with things like "Tom Swift and His Rocket Ship," "Tom Swift and His Giant Robot" and on and on. Those petered out. And they started up a few later, but the later ones just got off into sort of fantasy.

turn 1 : The details in the Tom Swift books are surprisingly accurate.

How are the details in the Tom Swift books?

Answer: Surprisingly


So - but they did these kits, which also are - each one of them is a box that contain a lot of evidence that could be tested. And so yes, we have a problem in this country with rape culture. You see that going on right now. It's never been more evident than it is now - rape culture, sexual harassment culture, all of that.

And so training was also needed. Back then, when we first started, we had found police reports in some files that we pulled where police officers were writing very disparaging things about our victims - not believing them, dismissing their cases, not bothering to work on them. And so that was a part of it as well - not just the neglect, not just no money but just active rape culture in play, where they just did not care.

Based on your expertise, this is happening in a number of cities and counties. Isn't it?

Yeah. There are estimated to be over 400,000 untested abandoned rape kits in this country. And I don't know if you're familiar with Michigan Stadium right here in our state. It seats over 100,000 people. When I tell people that the amount of untested kits in this country that they're estimated to be - you can fill up the biggest college or national football stadium in the country four times. And that's if each kit represents a victim - which it does - and you think of game day at Michigan Stadium four times over, that's how many we have in this country. And that's probably a conservative estimate. It is absolutely horrible. And hopefully, it is changing, albeit very slowly.

turn 3 : There is a significant backlog of untested rape kits in the country.

Which stadium size can be filled four times with untested rape kits if each kit represents a victim, according to the speaker in the dialogue?

Answer: Michigan


And so the lament is that it's not a beacon for environmentalism, it's not a beacon for greater labor standards or labor protections, but it's something else?

Yeah. I mean, it has turned into this dystopian vision of tech, where, you know, a few people prosper, and everyone else gets kind of poverty wages. Users of the service get pretty good service but kind of at the cost of all of these drivers getting very little from the service, getting very little equity. I think it is a betrayal of what Silicon Valley, you know, said that it stood for, which is creating new ideas that are good for the world at large, not just, you know, a few hundred people on the West Coast.

You know, many would herald Uber as a great American success story, a testament to what capitalism can create - right?- jobs for millions of people in the U. S.  and around the world. And its IPO will make a handful of people millionaires and even billionaires. Isn't that a good thing?

I mean, it's perhaps better than not having it, but I don't think it's fundamentally or sort of objectively a good thing. What would be better is if Uber was a smaller and less valuable company but that less value was sort of more equitably distributed.

turn 3 : It would be better if the wealth created by Uber was distributed more equitably.

Which company should distribute wealth more equitably?

Answer: Uber


Well, assess how they're looking at the move by the Treasury department, the moves really, of last week and of over the weekend, and of today. What is the world thinking?

The world has its fingers crossed. I mean, I don't know how else to put it. The world is basically saying this has to work. I mean, that's why you saw last week for instance, not just the Fed put up a whole bunch of capital, inject liquidity into the system. You saw all the other European and many of the Asian central banks do likewise. The world is terrified. They need this to work.

Well, what about the Democrats who are saying look, hold on, we need to do this right and not rush into it. Is that?

Well, first of all they are going to rush into it, one way or the other. And so what the Democrats have done - have said, look you have your pet things that you care about, here are our pet things that we care about. We're not going to let you do this without, you know, helping home owners more than you have, without doing something about renting an executive pay for all these executives who were involved in this mess. You know, that's a legitimate thing for them to say. It's still going to get rushed into, because this things going to be passed by the end of the week, is my guess because everybody wants to go home and run for re-election and also because the country really needs it to pass.

turn 1 : The world is desperate for the Treasury Department's moves to succeed in stabilizing the economy.

Which department's moves are the world desperate for?

Answer: Incorporating


So I'm saying - it's not - that's not the - relevant. I'm saying that - people say this, that your argument is driven by concerns about being majority minority. I'm saying that decision's already made. The question for us is how do we make a success of this?And on present policy, we are in real danger of not making a success of it.

Let me give you a very, very concrete point of where we're going. So the peak decade for illegal immigration was the 1990s. Of the 45 million or so foreign-born people in the United States, about 11 million are here illegally. And most of them are probably, right now, under 45, but very soon, they're going to be reaching 65. The majority of the illegal immigrant population has been here for more than a decade. They're not going home.

So when they turn 65, what happens to them?Do they get a pension?Do they get health care?Or do we write them off?Making Americans of them is going to be a huge challenge. Otherwise, we're going to have a lot of old, sick poor people living amongst us with no agreement as to what their status is.

David Frum - his recent piece is on the cover of the April edition of The Atlantic magazine. David, thank you so much.

turn 2 : To "write something off" means to ignore or otherwise pay no mind to the subject in question. It doesn't speak of actually writing. In this case, it means give no help to elderly illegals and leave them to fend for themselves without the benefits citizens would get.

How does the speaker define "write something off" in this context?

Answer: Ignore


And so when two clumps of free protons and electrons hit each other, they will slow each other down. But dark matter has no charge. That's why we can't see it because the only reason you and I could see anything, it's because there's charges that are being accelerated. That's what light is. But if something has no charge, it doesn't give off light.

So yeah, so in the Bullet Cluster, dark matter and galaxies stayed together just as they should, and in Abell 520, they do not, and that is a mystery as to why exactly that is. There isn't a comfortable explanation that can be readily arrived at.

Is there a theory about what may be happening, or just - you have to just think about it some more?

Well, so there's a number of things that could be happening. All of them are slightly disturbing.

turn 2 : (3) The speaker is asking if there is a theory about what may be happening with regards to the behavior of dark matter.

Which turn asks if there is a theory about what may be happening with regards to the behavior of dark matter?

Answer: Turn2


Yeah. I know Chicken Street. But tell us what you saw at the site of the bombing.

When I heard it, I came out from the store, and I immediately saw people running from the direction of (unintelligible) the smoke billowing into the air. So I walked in the opposite direction towards the smoke. And the closer I got, the more damage there was - obviously, broken windows further away from it - and then closer to it, you know, cars on fire and completely crushed by the force of the explosion.

And then at the ground zero of the site, you know, a number of bodies that was in the immediate vicinity - I saw probably 12 to 15, all, you know, really just mangled and - you know, almost as if they were melted together. It was just a pile of bodies - you know, most of them dead, some of them still alive. I even told one man who was trying to make a phone call, you know, in this morass of bodies.

And then all around, there was, you know, the usual chaos that infuse these attacks - security forces running around with their weapons drawn, general chaos, smoke and noise, car alarms, and, you know, small explosions of oxygen tanks and petrol tanks exploding. And, you know, within a few minutes, you have these - I guess you'd call them first responders - rushing in to take the injured and the dead away.

turn 2 : "a number of bodies that was in the immediate vicinity - I saw probably 12 to 15, all, you know, really just mangled and - you know, almost as if they were melted together.It was just a pile of bodies" - the speaker uses figurative language to describe the state of the bodies they saw, which were not literally melted together, but were instead severely damaged.

What was the PersonA's description of the bodies?

Answer: Mangled


I think we're all thinking about it and working on it, but I just wonder if, you know, do you think that the defendants who've come in to your courtroom have a sufficient social network so that they see other people doing better or improving their lives so that they can even have anything to pattern it on?

Absolutely. And I think that's a huge part of the problem. And what I would do, in my court, I had a program for men and a program for women because, even if I spark something in you with what I say, you're going to go back into an environment where everybody's telling you something else. And I don't have the ability, that constant contact.

So, what I think is, at least, a part of the solution is, when we do something, to take a small group and to stay with them. I stayed with a group of girls for a year at a time for over a decade, and I did see two or three people who called me a couple of years later, Judge, I just want to tell you how well I am doing.

It's not a great answer. It's not the answer everybody wants to hear because it's not a panacea, and it's work intensive while the success rate is low, but I think it's what has to be done.

turn 1 : It implies that no matter the impact of the program the society will still change those impacts.

What is the main issue with defendants' social network according to PersonB in the dialogue?

Answer: Insufficient


It depends on who you ask. For the South Koreans who have been really eager to have a successful Olympics and for the president, Moon Jae-in's administration, who has really pushed for better ties to North Korea, this will be a big success for them in terms of getting the North Koreans to participate, to march under the joint flag and to mitigate any potential North Korean provocations that could have happened during the Olympics and ruin the whole atmosphere. But in terms of applying maximum pressure on North Korea and getting them to denuclearize, this is just a minor blip on the radar.

And what do we make of the military parade in North Korea just before?Is that a way of saying we don't mean it, or what?

Absolutely. I think - you know, I've been likening the North Korean participation in the Olympics as kind of like "The Wedding Crashers," where they just storm in, guzzle everybody's champagne, other people's food and then they're going to leave a mess behind. And nothing they've said since Kim Jong Un's New Year's address has suggested that they're going to be talking about their nuclear weapons program at all. In fact, they've not had any pressure from South Korea or anybody in terms of talking about nuclear weapons.

Well - and that brings up a question. And I feel the need to ask it every now and then - why does North Korea want nuclear weapons?What's their overall strategic goal?

turn 1 : The literal meaning of (2) is asking for an opinion about the military parade. The implicated meaning is whether the North Korean participation in the Olympics was genuine or not.

How does turn 2 compare the North Korean participation in the Olympics to "The Wedding Crashers"?

Answer: Analogy


I've also been impressed by what Germany has done to address their history. And I notice in some spots in Germany, you will have plaques that remember the lives and the death of individual German soldiers. Is there room for that?

There's a room for a commemorating individual soldiers. There's a room for, I think, monument on battlefields. I mean, Gettysburg - people have asked me, what about Gettysburg?Well, you know, people fought and died there. So, yes, I think to the extent that these things are done in places that are not meant to send a message of domination, sure that's appropriate.

If it were up to you, what should be done with a lot of Confederate statues?

I think the Confederate statues should be removed. The notion that removing them means we're getting rid of history or changing history is not true. We will always write about Robert E.  Lee, Grant, the war, but that's - doesn't have to be commemorated, I think, in statues.

turn 0 : I've also been impressed by what Germany has done to address their history.And I notice in some spots in Germany, you will have plaques that remember the lives and the death of individual German soldiers.Is there room for that?  Actual Meaning: Is it acceptable to honor and remember the individual German soldiers who died in the war?

What did PersonA say about the Confederate statues?

Answer: Removed


And actually, when I used to go home at about midday to sleep, everyone was in work still, so it was very quiet. So I liked the fact that I was almost like a bat - you know, vampire bat - coming out purely at night and disappearing when the sun came up.

One of the important qualities in baking that you talk about in this book is the importance of touch.

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, in this world of health and safety, I remember - there's a lot of, you know, they try and encourage the bakers to wear gloves - rubber gloves when you're kneading bread. I mean, what?

I mean, this is one of the oldest traditions in the world. And to get bakers to wrap up their hands so they can't feel the dough - it's that touch, which you cannot teach - it's something you have to practice, practice, practice and get used to. And once you have that touch, you can make anything because it's all about consistency - baking - whether it's consistency in a sponge, in a great pastry or, indeed, a good bread.

turn 0 : The implied meaning of this turn is that the speaker enjoyed the solitude of working at night, as it made them feel like a vampire who only came out when it was dark and disappeared again when the sun rose.

How did the speaker feel when they worked at midday?

Answer: Quiet


Happens to be benched. What do you make of this?I think Vince's issues I think are quite different from Tarvaris. I think there was a lot of pressure on Vince from the time he came out of Texas to kind of be the black Johnny Unitas, and he's going to - they'll both have an opportunity to sit and watch, and hopefully come back with a vengeance.

One really quick other black quarterback not in the league at the moment, in Atlanta, Michael Vick. Is Matt Ryan, the replacement, making Atlanta Falcon fans forget Michael Vick?

I wouldn't say that. Maybe that first week he did, but there will only be one Michael Vick. Remember, Tony, Michael Vick was the most exciting quarterback in the NFL, and there's still talk and anticipation of him playing when he gets out.

All right. Let's move on to baseball because we're moving into the time of the year, at least for me, when baseball really becomes interesting. This year we had a couple of blockbuster trades involving Manny Ramirez going from Boston to the Dodgers, and we also had C. C. Sabathia going from the Cleveland Indians to the Milwaukee Brewers, and they turned their respective teams around. So, the question is, are they - should they be considered as MVP candidates even though they've only been there a short time?

turn 0 : Vince's issues are related to the pressure he faced due to expectations of being the next great black quarterback.

Which quarterback's pressure is related to being the next great black quarterback?

Answer: Vince


Obviously there's some niche that the starfish occupy. Should we be worried if - what we might do to the ecosystem if we get rid of these starfish?

You know, I think it would only be in the dreams of a few people that they might possibly be able to get rid of all of them. What they're trying to do is cut back on the numbers. So they're going to remove as many as they can, but you're still going to have some out there.

And these sea stars are out there on a lot of reefs in the Pacific in low numbers. You can see little trails of white, dead corals that they've left behind as they've gone along feeding, and that will continue to happen. They're not going to get rid of every last one of them.

But the increase in numbers, I mean, you're talking about going onto reefs and having hundreds to thousands times as many starfish on a reef as you normally would see, and that's a big difference.

turn 3 : The significant increase in the number of starfish is a cause for concern

How is the increase in starfish numbers seen?

Answer: Big


Yeah.

So trains stopped running. Water supplies were disrupted. Gas stations couldn't pump gas, so there were long lines at those stations that could. Phones and the Internet were disrupted. It happened on a day in Argentina - in parts of Argentina, where there were gubernatorial elections. These actually still went ahead, but people had to use their cellphones. . .

Wow.

. . . To give themselves enough light to vote by. And it also happened on Father's Day, when people were hoping to go out for Sunday lunch but had to cancel because, you know, restaurants and businesses were shut. It took all day to get the lights completely back on; they are now back on. But people have a lot of questions about what precisely happened and what's going on in the region.

turn 1 : The power outage caused chaos and inconvenience to people's lives.

How were people affected by the power outage?

Answer: Disrupted


I don't know what you make of a recent letter some ICE special agents sent to Homeland Security Secretary Nielsen asking that the branch of ICE that deals with counterterrorism and drug trafficking, not deportations, be split off from the agency because of all the ill will.

Yeah. I have seen that. That was - that's an interesting consequence of another change that was made at the time that DHS was formed. In addition to splitting up the immigration entities, they also blended in the customs function. And so ICE is Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The same is true at the border. And that was a little bit of a shotgun marriage between the customs folks and the immigration folks that has not fully worked itself out. The customs people think that they have these - you know, they've got a separate set of responsibilities that are impeded by the immigration function.

Former INS general counsel Bo Cooper, thanks so much for coming in and joining us, sir.

Thank you very much.

turn 1 : "...a little bit of a shotgun marriage between the customs folks and the immigration folks that has not fully worked itself out." This turn is an example of a figurative expression. "Shotgun marriage" is not referring to an actual marriage involving a shotgun; instead, it is a metaphorical way of describing a forced or hasty union between two parties.

How would you describe the union between customs and immigration?

Answer: Forced


Right. And it's because of a change in the law post-9/11 that made - that gave the State Department the ability to designate specific terrorist groups. And once that group was designated, they fell under the Patriot Act. And we could investigate - the FBI could investigate specifically individuals both in the United States and overseas that were involved in any kind of transactional or transnational terrorism events with more - a greater ability, I guess, to utilize the techniques available to us.

So what can be done?I mean, are there changes that can be made in the law that might help prevent an attack like the one we saw in El Paso?

Well, there are a lot of laws that apply right now to domestic terrorism, but most of them are state laws. They're not federal laws. There is no federal murder statute, for example, unless you are a federal official of some sort and you are murdered or there's an attempted murder on you. So the El Paso case, for example, is probably going to be prosecuted as a local homicide case of 20 counts of homicide, 22, however many victims we have, by the local DA. It's not a federal case. At this point, the FBI is kind of peripherally assisting that investigation. But they're not specifically involved in or going to be involved in the prosecution. Now. . .

Could the law change?I mean, could Congress pass a law that says that an act like this, when you kill this many people, is a federal crime?

turn 0 : Designation of terrorist groups under the Patriot Act helped FBI investigate terrorists more effectively

What law aided the FBI in investigating terrorists?

Answer: Patriot


You edited "Confessions of a Video Vixen" by Karrine Steffans. We've had her on show. And it's a memoir about her life as a video dancer for artists like JZ, R.  Kelly, LL Cool J. It talks about hip hop, sex, sexuality, family. Tell me about the process of getting her story to press.

Well it's interesting. I'd heard quite a lot about Corrine via reading a magazine article about her and then hearing about her repeatedly on radio. And so when I reached out to her, I didn't really have a lot of expectations other than this might be interesting. And so I had a very long conversation with her and you know, upon talking to her I was very impressed with her being very - her candor was amazing first of all and then secondly the fact that she was unapologetic about her life. She wasn't proud of it necessarily but she wasn't apologetic either.

And so one of the things that we did, our editorial director, who is amazing, went out to LA and said, I just want to experience this woman for myself and so she spent an evening with her in a popular Hollywood watering hole. And she knew after that evening that Corrine was who she said she was, just based on how people, particularly men, responded to her just from her walking into the room.

Well that's one way of looking at things. But the publisher obviously went a lot further to turn…

turn 2 : watering hole implies that the location was a bar or a place to get drinks

Which location was described as a popular spot in Hollywood?

Answer: Watering


Look. The president attaches himself personally to stories. In terms of numbers, he touts a lot of numbers there. We tend to forget that even under Obama, three American hostages were returned from North Korea. Hostages from Iran returned. There were a lot of them. Except that never before had the president personalized it.

That's Mickey Bergman, vice president of the Richardson Center for Global Engagement. He was kind enough to join us here in our studios in Washington, D. C.

Mr.  Bergman, thank you for joining us.

Thank you very much.

turn 0 : The President is taking credit for returning hostages, despite it not being solely his doing.

What is the President's action in relation to the return of hostages?

Answer: Taking


Well, I think - you know, I think there's always a push and pull between the White House and the State Department. But this was a little bit different because I certainly had not seen situations in which State - because it was being so very gutted and because we didn't have many senior officials - was getting left out of so much that was being attempted.

Have you seen a shift within the State Department since Mike Pompeo has come onboard?Obviously, Rex Tillerson oversaw a reduction of staff. We saw 60 percent of high-level, career State Department diplomats leave the service, you among them. Has that trend reversed itself under Mike Pompeo?

There are very encouraging signs in terms of Secretary Pompeo's attention to management issues, lifting hiring freezes, trying to move forward. Those are relatively narrow in scope of what he's trying to do right now. And I think in terms of policy changes, it's impossible to tell whether those will make a difference in terms of either retention of people or attraction of new people, et cetera. So my view right now is, you know, sort of we'll see. But it is always better for the State Department to have in place a secretary who has the president's ear and has a good relationship with him. So in that respect, I think most State Department officials are pleased. But it's early days yet.

That was Roberta Jacobson, the former U. S.  ambassador to Mexico. We'll be taking WEEKEND EDITION to Mexico this coming week, where we'll get the view from our neighbor to the south ahead of their pivotal elections. That's a week from today.

turn 0 : The state department was loosing a great many employees.

How many high-level, career State Department diplomats left the service under Rex Tillerson's oversight?

Answer: 60%


Well, many of the discussions I've had with other educators is that many times, we have to have a partner - or if we are single, that our partner's income supports our teaching habits, if you will. Certified teachers with master's degrees teaching in their district for 15 years are still making around $30,000 to $35,000 within their district. To have that amount of education and that amount of experience and be paid that wage, that's not a livable wage.

Arizona is a right-to-work state, which means unions don't have much power to negotiate there. Kentucky, West Virginia, Oklahoma are, too. These are all states with Republican legislatures. And we've seen actions by teachers recently in those states, as well. Do you wish you had a union speaking for you?Would that be an answer?

The reason why I got involved was because of the teacher-led grassroots movement. We have been supported by other organizations. Arizona Education Association, which is our union - our teacher union here in the state - have been supporting us. Do I wish that a union was representing us?I'm glad that they are supporting us.

Why do you think this is happening now in places like Kentucky and West Virginia and Oklahoma and now Arizona?

turn 0 : The wage paid to certified teachers with master's degrees and 15 years of experience is not sufficient to live on.

Which group of educators is being discussed in turn 0?

Answer: Educators


I am.

How has that affected your feelings about gun registration and gun control?

And that leads you to conclude what about guns?

turn 2 : (3) A: Well, you know, I mean, I'm also a former paramedic, so I have treated lots and lots of gunshot victims and I have investigated lots and lots of gunshot victims, including homicides, obviously. So, it has a profound effect. I mean, I understand what we're really talking about in the literal sense. I've been shot at. I get the trauma of all that. This isn't an academic exercise for me.

What is the profession of the speaker mentioned in turn 2?

Answer: Paramedic


Yeah.

Well, Mayor Belangia, good luck. I hope I see Oriental someday. It sounds like a lovely place.

Please do. You will fall in love with it.

And I'll bring a loaf of bread for you.

turn 3 : The actual meaning of (4) is that B is expressing appreciation for the invitation, and that he will bring something as a gift when he visits.

Which word in PersonB's response indicates that he intends to bring a gift when he visits Oriental?

Answer: Loaf


Now what we didn't hear was a huge thunderous applause that you got from the crowd. Would you run for office again?And if so, what office?

I do - I would like to run for office. I really believe very firmly in public service. I enjoyed my years as lieutenant governor. And, you know, as a small-government Republican, really began to appreciate beyond the rhetoric of just saying, you know, I want a smaller government, but really focusing on how you make government work for people and how you make it efficient - more efficient partner in our daily lives.

And so I walked away from the office with a great appreciation for the value of public service and the importance that you can play in helping small businesses, in getting healthcare where it needs to be, and in dealing with problems of crime and the things that lead up to people to do things that create problems in their community, recidivism, and drug addiction, and things like that. So yeah, I'd like to get back to it. I'd like to run for governor of Maryland one day. And we'll see if that ever happens. But yeah, it's on the table. I don't know if it's in the cards yet, but it's at least on the table.

So you're chair of GOPAC, and it aims to elect more Republicans into office. So what are you working on specifically this time around?Are there any races or any strategies you're working on?

turn 1 : "run for office" implies to be a candidate in an election

What did PersonA walk away from the office with?

Answer: appreciation


Donald Trump questioned John McCain's war heroism. He suggested that Senator Ted Cruz's father was involved with the Kennedy assassination. He slurred Senator Cruz's wife. What do you say to colleagues who just say, I'm sorry, our nominee just shouldn't be someone who talks like that?

Well, you know, and I've heard that from a number of people. And I've said to them, look, you know what, not asking you to fall in love with him. Let's just fall in line as a party because we're facing now the greatest challenge I think we've seen, not just as a party but our country.

And I'm more concerned with a Never Hillary (laughter) than a Never Trump. And I just don't understand how an Obama, Clinton or Sanders agenda would be good for the country. And I'm just thinking right now for our country, we need to come together. For our party, we need to come together.

Republicans have called Donald Trump a demagogue and a racist - prominent Republicans - for statements on mass deportations, Mexican immigrants and barring Muslims from the United States. What do you say to them?

turn 1 :  This turn actually means that people should not expect to "love" Donald Trump as the Republican nominee, but should come together as a party to face the challenges that lie ahead.

How should people feel about Donald Trump as the Republican nominee?

Answer: Fall


We do a lunch business. We are in the central business district of Cincinnati. And then we also do some progressively busier dinner period with the theaters at night.

Yeah. So, how is the lunch crowd now?

Well, the lunch crowd is down. We do have a lot of people who used to have business expenses that do not anymore, expense accounts. And downtown Cincinnati, I guess, has experienced its own economic shortfall with businesses moving out of town and what not. So, lunch has seemed to be down a little bit. I am part of a - it's called the Greater Cincinnati Independence of Independent Restaurant Owners - which is a dying breed, anyway - but we're all pretty lamenting the lack of business and just the current climate that we're trying survive in.

So, you are in your mid-40s, I think?

turn 2 : The restaurant industry is struggling due to economic hardships.

What is the reason for the decrease in the lunch crowd at the restaurant?

Answer: Crowding


You know, between the flooding issues and river issues and then the trade war and the tariff war with China and also the renegotiation during the old NAFTA, we had a number of trade issues that were kind of tossed up in the air, and we're waiting for the puzzle pieces to fall back down in place.

I mean, I think in the Midwest and agriculture in general, you know, supported the president early on in improving trade relations with China. But unfortunately those in the livestock industry and soybean producers are taking the brunt of the hit.

Well, what would you like to see specifically from this trade deal, if they ever reach a deal?

We'd definitely like to have our full trade ratio, I guess you'd say. The amount of trade we were doing with China back a year ago - we'd love to see that back.

turn 0 : "puzzle pieces to fall back down in place" - This is a metaphorical phrase used to describe the resolution of trade issues. It means that the trade issues need to be sorted out and resolved before the situation can return to normal.

How would you describe the situation after the puzzle pieces are back in place?

Answer: Normal


It probably depends on what chapter you're reading at the time. It's probably all of those things!I don't know who decides what goes into what box or what bin or what shelf, you know. For me, it's just about finding a character, finding a story, following, I guess, my heart at what I'm working on at the moment. And it just kind of falls, you know, wherever it may out there after that, you know.

There's been a lot of attention to the whole idea of street lit. And Zane, who's an erotica writer, extremely popular, sells a ton of books. A lot of people are like, well, she just can't write, but there's a lot of sex in it. And there's also a question that some people have raised about whether or not it is good for the race to have books that are explicit about black sexuality out there. So. . .

What race?The human race?

The black race. The black race. And so I bring this up because so often when people, you know, just as you mentioned, the distinctions between the way some people will look at female sexuality and male sexuality and what it's like to have a track record and whether that makes you a bad person. You know, people also look at these distinctions by race and say, oh well, black people are oversexed. That's some people stereotyping. Are you ever afraid that by doing work like this that you're, you know, I don't know, playing into a stereotype?

turn 1 : Some people criticize Zane's work for being explicit about black sexuality.

What is the race criticized for being explicit in Zane's work?

Answer: Black


Unfortunately, we know that the homeless individuals who are unsheltered and living in the street are disproportionately burdened with behavioral health challenges, mental disease, substance abuse disorders. And so if a nurse from the government shows up with a syringe and says, hey, I'm here from the government. I'm here to help you. Take this shot - it's not so simple. We have had to spend a tremendous amount of time building trust, providing education and making the case for why receiving a vaccine is such a critical opportunity for them to protect their health.

What are the symptoms of hepatitis A?

These are symptoms that basically reflect inflammation of the liver. And the most common symptoms are basically fever, fatigue, nausea and vomiting, significant abdominal pain, the loss of appetite. And then one of the telltale things is either darkening of the urine or what's called jaundice, which is the common yellowing of the eyes and the yellow hue of the skin, indicating liver enzymes being spilled into the bloodstream. So jaundice is also a very common symptom.

Dr.  Yphnatides, if you think long term about changes you would want to see made to prevent another outbreak like this in the future, where does that take you?

turn 1 : Building trust and providing education are necessary in order to make a convincing argument for why homeless individuals should receive the vaccine.

How do you convince homeless individuals to receive the vaccine?

Answer: Trust


Everybody else in the theater did. I didn't.

Oh, yeah, right.

Every single person cried except for me.

Oh, yeah, because they were only slicing onions for you?

turn 3 : B is sarcastically suggesting that the reason A didn't cry was that they were not affected emotionally by the movie.

What was the reason behind PersonA not crying during the movie according to PersonB's sarcastic comment?

Answer: Sarcasm


General, do you have to worry about the possibility that even in, at least what so far seems to be uncontested conflict - if that's quite the term of art, I mean, in the air - that some technical problem could bring an F-22 down and then the Syrians or ISIL would have it and give it to the Chinese?

Fortunately, we have a fairly - really reliable aircraft. And so that is an event that would be exceedingly rare. However. . .

It happened to a stealth. I think we all recall that.

Yeah, but those kind of things are very rare when you look at the total number of sorties and missions that we've flown over the last, you know, 25 years.

turn 3 : . The implied meaning of (4) is that the General is downplaying the possibility of a technical problem, despite the fact that a stealth fighter did crash in the past.

Which event is the General downplaying despite the fact that a stealth fighter did crash in the past?

Answer: Technical


Flora, continue with the. . .

Well, yes. So there are two things going on here. One is there's a bone difference between owls and humans. And this is already known. Owls have the double the number of vertebrae in their necks than we do. They have 14 and we have seven, and more segments gives them more flexibility.

Right.

You imagine, like. . .

turn 2 : to give them more flexibility in this context means they are allowed to do more things

How many vertebrae do owls have in their necks?

Answer: 14


Yeah. And we owe a debt of gratitude, also, to Roger Hangarter of Indiana University, who gave us some other time-lapse of other plant motions. Because I started looking into this, and, you know, even the tulips in your vase are moving around if you speed up time. Their leaves are flopping. He told me this amazing story about sunflowers that I never knew. The reason that they are called that is that they actually orient towards the sun throughout the day. Their leaves do. So they start facing east and then end up facing west.

They have the ultimate solar panels.

That's totally right.

They figured out how to actually how to move with the sun. . .

turn 3 : Sunflowers have the ability to move with the sun.

Which flowers are mentioned in the dialogue that have a unique ability?

Answer: Sunflowers


. . . Seas and littoral regions.

So the bottom line here is Iran has now shot a U. S.  plane out of the sky. I'll put to you the same question we just put to Mara Liasson.

Sure.

Any sense of what the U. S.  response will be?

turn 1 : Iran shot down a U.S. plane and now the U.S. will respond.

How did Iran prompt a potential U.S. response?

Answer: Shot


At 18 years old, I moved from Charlotte to the mountains. And I've lived in Appalachia - in Jackson County, N. C.  - ever since. And it's the same thing here. You know, I think poverty - it's the same condition no matter where you're from. You know, I talked a little bit in that essay about that man from Baltimore saying desperation is a way of life.

This was a documentary on the BBC that was talking about poverty in Baltimore.

Yeah. I think anybody I grew up with could have said that. Anybody that I'm friends with now in Hazelwood, Haywood County, could say that. That's the reality of people who have nothing. They all know what it's like to miss a meal or to have the lights turned off or to have to decide - do I make my car payment, or do I pay my health insurance?That's a common theme that bridges the gap all across this country. And the unifying thing about that is poverty.

You also talk about addiction. The opioid crisis, as we know, is enormous right now. And you say that people just want to be listened to. What is the story that we aren't hearing?

turn 2 : In (3), the speaker is using the phrase "bridges the gap" to describe the common experience of poverty that unites people across the country. The actual meaning is that poverty is a unifying force that brings people together despite their differences in geography, culture, or background.

Which phrase does the speaker use to describe the common experience of poverty that unites people across the country in (3)?

Answer: Bridges


I was like, yeah. She's like, what do you talk about?I say, my life, our life. And she's like, so you tell them about us and they pay you.

And she's like, I've never found you entertaining enough to pay you anything.

In fact, I wish you would shut up so - so she was - and my father is even worse. I mean, he's very dry. My mom has all the personality. My father is a - he's Swiss-German, so I mean he's just a combination of. . .

Known so much for their humor.

turn 3 : B: "Known so much for their humor." - This phrase is a sarcastic remark, and its actual meaning is different from its literal meaning. The speaker is suggesting that Swiss-German people are not known for their humor, whereas the literal meaning would suggest the opposite.

What is the implied tone of PersonB's statement in turn 3?

Answer: Sarcastic


Well, when I was in Durban, I spoke to an Ethiopian shopkeeper who had lost everything. His shop was broken into and it was ransacked. There was pretty much nothing left on the shelves. And it looked that someone tried to even torch the shop. But the shop belongs to a South African landlord. He was renting the shop out to the Ethiopian man. And there are many stories like that across KwaZulu Natal, which is where you'll find Durban, on the east coast of South Africa.

But there was considerable violence, and not just to property, but also to people?

Very much so. Five people died in the last two weeks, including two South Africans, might I say, who were killed during the violence. The South African mobs and looters had gone to shop after shop, which were owned by migrants - African migrants. And they looted them and they were taunting them, telling them that they're taking their jobs and their economic opportunities, they must go back to where they come from.

Is there something that the government can do to stop this happening?Like, for example, institute something that happens in a lot of industrial countries - a minimum wage, for example?

turn 2 : (3) Implied meaning: Were South African mobs and looters targeting African migrants?

Which nationality were the majority of the shop owners targeted by the South African mobs and looters?

Answer: African


And how did this start?

Well, about 20 years ago, we were thinking about doing a literary magazine because at the time there weren't too many journals out there for new writers. There weren't many literary journals at all during that time. And so we stumbled upon an idea that we had started with one of our friends from college where he had given me a first line to start a story. And then I would write the story. And then I would send it to him. And I'd give him a first line. And he would start a story. And he would send that back to me. And we did that. And so we decided that we'd open that up to the rest of the world.

How many stories do you typically get?

We run between 300 and 450 submissions in issue.

turn 3 : (4) is the same as its literal meaning, which is stating the range of submissions received by the literary magazine.

What is the approximate number of submissions in each issue of the literary magazine?

Answer: 300


I would suggest the European Union needs to be there. I would suggest the Arabs need to be there in various configurations. So I think we need to do that. And I think we need to be much more cognizant of the fact that Syrians are really fearful of the future even more than they are of this hideous Assad regime.

And I want to make very clear, I have absolutely no sense that this guy, Assad, should, you know, lead that country in the future. I'm just saying, from the practical task of trying to enlist various factions, you might start with doing that rather than delisting various factions.

Well, it was interesting, the - I think the first effort involved the Kofi Annan effort sponsored by the United Nations. And they're broke down over the insistence by Mr.  Assad and his backers, including Russia, that he be part of the transition.

Yeah. Well, there's no question that Assad made Kofi's job almost impossible. But, you know, we're now well over a year after that, and I think if there are better coordination with whoever the envoy is, if it's another Kofi, if it's Secretary Kerry or some former senate colleague, say, of Secretary Kerry, I think you could kind of work with the Russians to say, OK, we're going to propose this. Assad won't like it. But Russians, do you agree with what we're doing?If you do, we'd like you to put a little heat on Assad to get him at least not to explicitly oppose it.

turn 3 : Putting a little heat on actually means to make trouble for  and pressure Assad.

What does "putting a little heat on" mean?

Answer: Pressure


Well, one last question about this because there is speculation that this weather may be due to the loss of ice during the summertime at the polar region. Is there any evidence for that being the trigger?

No, that has a lot of other dramatic effects on our climate, but for stratospheric warming events, what we're looking at are very large systems, such as the one that was off of the northeast coast of Japan. Also it's been correlated to sunspot activity. So that's kind of a factor that doesn't affect the troposphere so much, but it does involve some (unintelligible) content action in the stratosphere. So we're seeing a correlation between a solar activity and then these big, very unstable systems late in the season like we saw off the northeast coast of Japan.

All right, well, people always blame stuff on sunspots, so. . .

That's right, it's hard to prove them wrong.

turn 0 : a trigger in this context means something causing something else

What is the speculation about the weather?

Answer: NOT


So he infected more than his share, and then there was the other fellow at the hotel who infected more than his share.

It really - your book really made me feel a huge debt of gratitude to people who work in the health care industry because it can be really heroic work, and it seems like they put their life on the line in some cases.

Oh absolutely yeah. Some of the people I spent time with, I document, I describe, I tell stories of their field work. I went with some of them to places like a rooftop in Bangladesh in the middle of the night, the roof of a warehouse where a wonderful scientist named Jon Epstein who works for EcoHealth Alliance, was trapping, again, giant fruit bats to look for a disease, a virus called Nipah.

Now this is not the same NEPA that your previous guest referred to, not the National Environmental Policy Act. This is N-I-P-A-H, named after a village in peninsular Malaysia where this virus was first identified. So Jon Epstein is on the roof of a warehouse in Bangladesh in the middle of the night wearing goggles and welder's gloves and a respirator mask, handling these giant fruit bats that he's catching in a mist net, taking them into a provisional lab, drawing blood samples from them, knowing that the virus is probably there somewhere and that it's a very lethal virus.

turn 3 : The virus Nipah is lethal and can be transmitted from fruit bats to humans.

What virus was Jon Epstein looking for on the rooftop in Bangladesh?

Answer: Nipah