EDWARD O.  WILSON: Always a pleasure to be with you, Ira.

Thank you very, very much. This is almost like advice to the lovelorn sort of book, it's advice to would-be scientists. Why did you write this?

Well, 42 years of teaching at Harvard qualified me, and I had learned lot about what brings students into science, whether as professionals or as part of their general education program, and what drives them away. And I saw a lot of the brightest young people, the most qualified, potentially, to be in science and technology turned away because at an early stage in their career at Harvard they were just afraid of mathematics, and they were afraid of the kind of rigors that one experiences in the usual portrayal of scientists as white coat people standing at the blackboard explaining complex equations and other ideas to rapt audiences.

Because you talk about your career and about your work with such passion in your book that I few people would know that a scientist could be as passionate and as successful about their work. And it seems like it's a necessary - or it's something like, almost like continuing to have a childlike curiosity about the world for your whole life.

turn 1 : It seems like a book that gives advice that helps people get with the one they love, in this case, what they love.

How would you describe the book mentioned in turn 1? (answer: "science" or "scientific")

Answer: scientific


Yeah, and you love short stories, too. I love short stories, I appreciate that about you. You seem to be - enjoy writing short stories.

Yeah, they're tough as hell, and, you know, as a sort of a practice, people in the publishing world discourage them. They're like oh, don't do it. But I can't help but root for the underdog. As a form, you know, the short stories and the linked short story collections is an underdog, and people don't think of it as serious. So I don't mind wading in there. It feels like a really good battle.

Do you see yourself sort of at some point - you haven't really played that much with the novel form, but, you know, a lot of different writers are experimenting with the novel form, you know, Zadie Smith just did with her book, new book "NW. "Do you see yourself playing with that form?

Well, sure. I mean, again it's probably the arrogance, you know, the narcissistic arrogance of an artist, but I feel that so far I've written one book, one novel, and it's a very strange - at a formulistic level, I think it's - it took a lot of risks. Now will I keep doing that?Hard to say. It's like sort of saying will I continue to be X, Y or Z. You hope so. You hope so, but you never know.

turn 1 : Short stories are an underdog and not taken seriously

What is the form of writing that people don't take seriously according to A?

Answer: Short-stories


I don't think they picked Deming necessarily. You know, we just happen to be a big border patrol station as well as our neighboring county. They're dropping off here as well - the Hidalgo County drops here as well.

How are these people - the asylum-seekers being housed in an airport hangar - how are they handling things?

You'd be surprised. I think they're - you know, they're a little - you know, I guess they're a little worried when they first show up. But then, I think, it's actually better than most places they've been, and that's what they tell us. So they have more room and more freedom than most places they've been, so they're actually really happy.

And how is the community of Deming handling this influx of new people?

turn 0 : The reason for choosing Deming is not necessarily related to its location or qualities.

Answer: Unrelated


Hi Farai. Great to be with you.

Always. So we've been following this situation in Zimbabwe and the situation includes a tainted election and economic collapse. Now the U. S.  has imposed new sanctions, accusing President Robert Mugabe of heading an illegitimate government that sponsors violence. Last week, the president - President Bush - signed an executive order that adds new financial restrictions against individuals and organizations linked to Mugabe's government. So South Africa criticized those new sanctions, saying they could actually obstruct these power sharing talks. What do you think?

Well I think the international community has to use everything in its tool kit to kind of acknowledge what has happened in Zimbabwe and to put pressure for change. I mean, what has happened is just unacceptable. You have had not only the flawed elections of March 29th, but again failed electoral process in June and you know, right now there is this critical period of negotiations, political negotiations that need real pressure and real support. So I think it is important that the international community does everything that it can to say that it is time for a change in Zimbabwe.

Clearly South Africa has had a lot at stake. The quiet diplomacy that we talk about with Mbeki. The quiet diplomacy has, well, brought some results, but not the results needed. And I think the African Union, the Southern African Development Community all have said that more is needed to bring really a chance for peace and also for justice in Zimbabwe.

turn 0 : following refer to or implies being interested in a situation or information

Which word implies being interested in a situation or information in turn 1?

Answer: interested


So you had the U. K.  negotiating bilateral agreements with, like, Australia and Canada and India, right?And then I read you also had Germany forming its own bloc with members, countries that it had relationships with. And the U. S.  did something similar.

That's right. The origins of the British trading bloc really go back to World War I. And a lot of the considerations are of a military nature, a geostrategic nature. They were bottlenecked in some supplies, especially for the military, and that's why the British government was thinking more about how to secure its supplies. And that happened on the German side as well. Germany was preparing for war. They were gearing up for war, so they needed to make sure they had the right supplies, especially for the military.

Now, you write that if similar patterns play out today, we could see a, quote, "reorientation of world trade around China- and U. S. -centric trade blocs. "How likely do you think that is?

Well, it depends on the politics. The White House wants to have a more bilateral approach where the U. S.  deals with one individual country, as opposed to a group. And China now wants to create a system of its own. So that does include establishing a sphere of influence in Asia. And each of them will want to build up their own realm where they have the power in the region.

What do you think is at stake here?If this approach continues, what are your main concerns?

turn 0 : The countries formed their own blocs due to military and strategic considerations, not just trade.

What is the reason behind the formation of blocs by the countries mentioned in the dialogue?

Answer: Considerations


But the important part for the corals is that these things are wonderful eating machines. They move slowly across the reef. They actually invert their stomach onto the corals and dissolve the coral tissue, you know, digesting it as they go. And they leave (technical difficulties) white behind them as they move forward.

So they're like little bulldozers.

Yeah, it's sort of like bulldozers. It's almost more like having a wave of people with flamethrowers going through the brush. You know, the coral physically is left behind, but it's all dead.

Do they have any natural enemies that might, you know, come out and eat them?

turn 0 : eating machines implies to eat too much and hardly get satisfied or filled

How would you describe the behavior of the eating machines mentioned in turn 0?

Answer: bulldozers


It has. It was seized at one point by British commandos off Gibraltar. It was held in Gibraltar for several weeks. A court then finally said that it had to be released after the Iranians guaranteed that it wouldn't breach EU sanctions. The Americans tried to get Gibraltar to hand it over. And Gibraltar said no.

So this is the latest attempt by the Americans to try and get control of the ship. And so they directly offered the captain, Mr.  Kumar, several million dollars to bring the ship to a country that had apparently agreed to impound it and hand it over to the U. S.

Now, if you've got this email - and you say you obtained the email - the first question, I guess, would be - is this really from Brian Hook, really from a senior State Department official?But you have a quote from Brian Hook in your story.

It is definitely from Brian Hook, and I have confirmed that with Brian Hook himself. You know, he said that this is the - an attempt by the Americans to ramp up the maximum pressure campaign on Iran. The next stage is to increase the enforcement of the many sanctions that the U. S.  has put on Iran already. And this is a kind of a new novel approach to try and get ship captains and their crew both to be scared about working for Iran in the future and, second, to offer them a carrot, which is to say that if you come and help us, you'll be rewarded for life. And some of the language used in the email is quite colorful.

turn 0 : "it was seized" means that something was taken away.

What was the reason for the court to release the ship?

Answer: Guarantee.


Absolutely. And, you know, so I asked this about luck too. And he said, yes, well, we have to take what we can get, but it turns out that Comet Ison is headed towards the sun in November. So they're hoping for another batch of data coming up this fall, something to keep an eye out for, he said, because it's going to look really full too, even for us.

For us. That's supposed to be a super comet we'll see with the naked eye up in the sky.

Yeah.

So this comet actually was not gobbled up by the sun. It was - it's made its journey and went back out again.

turn 3 : Gobbled up is not literal. The comet would not be eaten by the sun, but would be burnt up by the sun's heat.

Which term describes what would happen to the comet if it gets too close to the sun?

Answer: Burnt


I never had an apartment before, so just finally having my own place. And it was magical. It was gorgeous - beautiful tub. I never could use the tub because I was afraid of the roaches.

So unfortunately there's always like pros and cons to that, but it was mine. And I loved it like it was my baby. And I still miss that apartment even though there is bug issues. I miss it.

Well, it made me wonder why there aren't more songs like that in R&B. I mean, R&B is very dominated by relationships - right?- sex, relationships songs. But it does - it did make me wonder, why aren't there more songs about other milestones in R&B?Like, why is that?

Well, first of all, I'm thankful that people love new apartments so much because I always feel like my comfort zone is writing about romance and sex. But I think there's this narrative that the world just wants to hear about simple things and - or just extreme, like, sadness. I've just been broken up with or something like that.

turn 1 : Despite the bug issues, A loved the apartment.

What did PersonA miss even though there were bug issues?

Answer: Place.


Michael was 23. He was the son of Nelson, who was the governor of New York at the time. As you said, his father had opened the Museum of Primitive Art. So he was collecting primitive art from the Asmat, who were incredible, beautiful carvers. And he was on a makeshift catamaran in a lot of rough, turbulent water, and they got into trouble. And they ended up drifting. . .

Like, capsized.

. . . a day. And. . .

. . . capsized on this catamaran. He's there with this guy called Rene Wassing, the Dutch anthropologist, and his last words are: I think I can make it.

turn 3 : In this turn, the speaker uses the phrase "I think I can make it" in an ironic or sarcastic manner. The actual meaning is that the person's last words were probably expressing optimism or confidence, but the speaker implies that it was unrealistic given the dire circumstances.

Which word did the speaker use to imply sarcasm in turn 3?

Answer: sarcastic


Oh no. I think the debate is a crucial - the presidential race, even if you look at state by state. The key battleground states going in to November - Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida, Michigan, all those states, very, very close. We saw in 1980 a very close race between Carter and Reagan. Once Reagan did really well on that debate, it boosted him and gave him a landslide victory. People are - even though there's three debate plus a vice presidential debate, people are expecting that the presidential race will be won or loss in these debates.

I saw CNN running a poll of expectations a little earlier today. People thinking that Senator Obama might do much better than Senator McCain in these debates. So, how will you know who's won?

Well, because I will tell you, you'll hear me on NPR. No. But I think the real reason is look, a lot of people thought that Al Gore would wipe the floor with George W.  Bush in 2000 and then somehow the media focused on Al Gore's sighs. Not a size, but sighs. His audible sighs during it. So, it's very interesting how we decide to focus on what's important and what's not important, which is unfortunate many times. But I think, it won't be after one debate you'll have three debates and then everybody will sit back and decide what happens.

Ken, I'll be guided by your wisdom tonight. NPR political editor, Ken Rudin. Thanks, Ken.

turn 1 : wipe the floor with George Bush implies a lot of people though Al Gore would win by a wide margin

Which candidate was expected to do better than the other in the debates according to the poll mentioned by B?

Answer: Senator-Obama


Well, it's about four, five, six percent. But we also asked questions about whether or not people would change their minds. You can add an additional about 20 percent of voters who are picking a candidate in the month of September, but are still saying they might change their mind how they're going to vote. When you add those two numbers together, you get almost to a quarter of the electorate in Ohio that could change its mind between now and Election Day.

And the number one issue, as it is in many places in the country, the economy?

The economy is the number one issue. And one of the things that makes it very difficult for a candidate to campaign in Ohio is that when they come to Ohio to talk about the economy, they can't just talk about a single aspect. When you talk to folks in the northern part of the state, northeast Ohio which includes Cleveland, and northwest Ohio which includes Toledo, when you're talking about the economy there, oftentimes the discussion is about trade.

When you talk about the economy in southwest Ohio, which is the Cincinnati area, there's much less talk about trade, and more discussion about wages and the salaries that people are making. The southeast area of the state, which is also known in part because of the Appalachian history of that part of the state, has high unemployment. A number of counties in southeast Ohio have double-digit unemployment. Many people in that region are talking about and focused on unemployment, solely as their economic concern.

turn 0 : "could change its mind" - actual meaning: might change their opinion or decision

What is the percentage of voters who might change their minds in Ohio?

Answer: 20


Now, the Russian government doesn't get many chances in this context internationally, on the global stage, to do the right thing. I have been criticizing the Russian government while I am here. What more can I do to satisfy you or any of these critics who hold these positions?The reality is there is nothing that will satisfy them because it is their suspicion, it is their skepticism, it is their distrust of the Russian government as an institution which is motivating this.

I mean, do I have to detail for you the ways in which the Putin government has earned (laughter) some suspicion?

No, no. Absolutely not. Again, I agree with you. This (laughter) - look, look; this is why I have been criticizing the Russian government. There's no distance between us on that. I'm not saying Vladimir Putin is an angel. I'm not even saying Vladimir Putin is a decent guy. What I'm saying is you have to understand there doesn't need to be a quid pro quo here for it to make sense.

Edward Snowden. Elsewhere in the program, he talks about his work at the NSA before he leaked classified information and tells us what's keeping him from returning to the U. S.  to face trial.

turn 2 : He is not saying that Putin never does anything wrong and is very nice.

What is PersonA's stance on Vladimir Putin?

Answer: Critical


Yeah, absolutely.

Robo-fish and friends.

It's a great little video up there on our website at sciencefriday. com. It's our video pick of the week and. . .

And you can see this following, the milling about of the robots. One thing that he said that was really interesting to me is, you know, not every fish will follow. And so his next installment - so stay tuned, this could be number three in a few years - is to figure out how personality drives sort of the differences between the fish. It seems that the bolder fish are less apt to follow the robotic fish.

turn 3 :  "Stay tuned" - This phrase implies that there is more to come in the future, likely related to the robotic fish and its interactions with real-life fish.

Which phrase suggests that there might be additional information about the robotic fish and its interactions with real-life fish in the future?

Answer: tuned


Hobbes wrote about the challenges his generation faces in a December article for Highline, which is put out by the Huffington Post. Its headline, "Millennials Are Screwed," caught our attention this week. And we asked Hobbes to explain his pessimistic prediction.

Healthcare, housing and education are more than five times more expensive than they were for our parents. There are fewer steady jobs. Wages have stagnated since the 1970s. I mean, I can go on and on and on. And so its weird that we're constantly talking about how millennials should do this differently, and millennials should do that differently. But we dont talk that much about - hey, the country around us can do some things differently, too.

So you obviously believe that the baby boomers messed up your life?How did they do that?

Well, I've gotten a lot of emails since the article came out from boomers that are saying, we've fallen off the ladder, too. And if you're 55 years old, there's a lot of discrimination for getting back into the workforce. But what we're seeing is that those impacts are concentrated on the young. So I think there's really three paradigm shifts. The first one is work has become much lower quality, basically - that there's fewer decent jobs now. Many of the jobs that are available are contingent work or sort of have been farmed out to contractors. Many fewer jobs provide things like pension, benefits or health care these days.

turn 1 : Millennials are not solely responsible for their situation, and other factors such as the country's policies play a role in it.

How are millennials impacted by the shift in work quality?

Answer: Quality


Thanks for having me.

So why have all these Democrats decided just to go ahead and run for president and not even bother with trying to win a Senate seat?

(Laughter) I do think that there is quite a lot of enthusiasm in the party about the idea of taking on Donald Trump. But I do think that, you know, the Senate is always an appealing option. And as we've seen in past cycles that have hotly contested presidential races - 2016 being the most recent example - you know, you do have Senate candidates that get into the race, like Marco Rubio in 2016, right up until the last minute. I think you're going to see a lot of really smart, good candidates running up and down the ticket next year.

There were a number of Republican and Democratic senators over the past couple of years who've declined to run for reelection and on their way out the door said, look; it's just not the job it used to be. It's intensely partisan. And we haven't gotten a lot accomplished. Wouldn't that have the effect of also discouraging people for running for that job?

turn 1 : run for president means to campaign for presidency

Which political position is the focus of PersonB's question?

Answer: Senate


Well, I mean, on the one hand, you had - the Manafort indictment does not mention Trump. And - but the guilty plea that was unsealed involving this other campaign adviser, George Papadopoulos, does mention Trump. And the greater sort of uncertainty surrounds that guilty plea at this moment because it is a signal that they already have testimony from this person, already have emails and other records showing the extensive contacts of this person with others in the Trump administration. They're basically saying we know more than you guys think we do.

George Papadopoulos - has he been wearing a wire?

That's a good question. I mean, I think it's fair to assume that Trump's lawyers are looking at that question very carefully.

Carter Page and Hope Hicks, according to reports, are going to be questioned. Carter Page has a history with and in Russia, doesn't he?

turn 3 : (4) - "Carter Page and Hope Hicks, according to reports, are going to be questioned" - This implies that they will be called to testify in front of a grand jury or similar proceeding, rather than just being asked questions in an informal setting.

Which proceeding are Carter Page and Hope Hicks expected to be questioned in?

Answer: Grand


But you say there is a glimmer of hope in that if we do collectively work together, some of these problems can be fixed. What are some of the most important changes you would like to see in terms of public policy?

We have to stop the rollback of EPA policies. Under the Obama administration and earlier administrations, we were starting to make real progress. When the current administration took office, there were only four chlor-alkali plants left. The others had been closed. These spew a great deal of mercury into the atmosphere. They were slated to close. But the EPA under Trump decided not to close these plants. A few days ago, the EPA under Trump decided to stop surprise inspections, which is going to, of course, diminish their effectiveness. So we're rolling back the progress that we had made.

Then we have to re-evaluate the way we test chemicals. In the European Union, you have to test a chemical that's going to be used in or near humans for its effect on human health before you can market it. In this country, we market the chemicals and only began testing after complaints that people have been harmed. And one of the things corporations tend to say is that it's so expensive to do these tests. There are things more important than money. Right now, 23 million IQ points are lost every year in children from exposure to lead. And how do you put a price on that?

That's Harriet Washington, author of the new book "A Terrible Thing To Waste: Environmental Racism And Its Assault On The American Mind. "

turn 0 : a glimmer of hope means that there is a small amount of hope left

What is one of the problems that the EPPersonA under Trump has decided not to fix, according to PersonA in the dialogue?

Answer: Closure


So over the years, we've had competitions on piano, bass, drums, trumpet, saxophone, hand drums, vocals and have launched a number of careers. Marcus Roberts won our very first competition and Joshua Redman won the competition on sax in 1991. And there are many others from Jackie Terrason to Jay Manhide(ph) and others. And so, this year is the saxophone. We have a great panel of judges - the great Wayne Shorter, Jimmy Heath, Jane Ira Bloom, David Sanchez and Greg Osby are all coming out to judge this group of students.

They will be of young people. They must be under the age of 30, and they've been guaranteed a recording contract by the Concord Music Group. So the first place winner walks away with a recording contract along with a $20,000 scholarship. The second place has a $10,000 scholarship, and the third is five.

All right, I actually want to talk about someone. You've talked about a bunch of people who have been involved with this competition. But one of them is Lionel Loueke, a guitarist from Benin. And he thought that you were Herbie Hancock after he had auditioned for the Monk Institute. He's gone on to record a debut album for Blue Note, and let's listen to a little bit of him playing live in the NPR Studios in New York.

So, what do you hear when you hear his music?

turn 1 : He is implying that the first place winner will get the prize.

Which prize will the first place winner receive?

Answer: Recording


Yeah. Let me ask, I would think, Sana, that - you've already mentioned that you were surprised that a number of these people were not angry or did not harbor bitterness about having been born to parents who were slaves. But what else was it about them, if there was a thread that seemed to tie them together?

Their parents raised them with hope, the idea that I want your life to be better than mine. And though things aren't the way we were promised, right, with emancipation. Things aren't the way they were promised, that one day they will be, and you'll be ready for it.

You also described them in the book as having immigrant-like expectations. Explain what you meant.

There was this genuine commitment to want to believe in the future, which is phenomenal to think about. There was this belief that everything that happened to me is over. The worst is behind after the Civil War, and I am going to go out and seek a new life in freedom, right?So everything, all of my hopes and dreams, I am going to give that back to the country. There was a genuine commitment to reinvest in the building of what was to be a new America.

Was it a patriotism?

turn 2 : The Conditional. As we noted in chapter 1, there are sentences of a natural language, like English, that are not atomic sentences. Our examples included.

How did the author describe the sentences in chapter 1?

Answer: Atomic


Well, we've been calling the local hospitals. We've been following social media, posting missing persons ads. I think my cousin and I are going to be trying to head up there in about a week if we haven't found him and post missing persons on our car and just sort of drive around the areas up there in hopes that maybe we'll get some word.

What's he look like?What should we know about him?

He's a private man. He's lived in Paradise for over 40 years. He's very friendly. He's kind. Long hair, full beard. I guess he's about 5'10". Thin, maybe 160 to 170 - I would guess somewhere around there.

Yeah. And how are your parents doing?

turn 3 : he must be a stranger and this situation some one is missing

How would you describe the situation in the dialogue?

Answer: Incorporating


Well, I think on the third CD you definitely want to show some level of growth. I think your first album is your introduction. Your second album needs to show consistency. And your third album has to show growth in order for you to have a fourth album.

(Singing) You are a star, and you are perfect just the way you are. Keep on dreaming, keep on shining. . .

So, "Keep On Dreaming," one of your songs, folds in the loop from Suzanne Vega's "Tom's Diner. "And you have echoes of songs by other artists throughout the CD, but not samples per se. Why did you choose that approach?

You know, I think people want to be able to hear something familiar while hearing something new. It kind of ties it all together, like the "Tom's Diner" sample, it's just, it's like, she managed to be able to convey a certain feeling just off a melody that she had. She didn't really even say anything, but "duh duh da da, duh duh da da. "You know what I'm saying?And I think that's something that I wanted to mimic in this song. It's not a lot of words, but it's really just a feeling that I was trying to convey.

turn 3 : The artist prioritizes conveying emotion over lyrics in their music

Which aspect of a song is more important to the artist than its lyrics?

Answer: Emotion


Why, over really a period of 25 years or so, have there been so many misadventures?How do you explain, for example, Iraq?How do you explain the lack of progress after so many years in Afghanistan?Why was the Libyan intervention unsuccessful?And I think the conclusion is is that the United States has focused more since the end of the Cold War not so much on defending against external threats but focusing more on the internal governance of foreign countries and trying to change it.

So rather than maintaining a strong defense in protecting our national interests, we've tended to promote democracy in other countries, we've engaged in nation-building exercises, we've engaged in regime change. And in most of those cases, we've been unsuccessful.

You were the U. S.  ambassador to Germany. Does the United States have - and you know the history - does the United States have no interest in preventing genocide and mass slaughter around the world?

I think genocide is probably the one case where we do have a responsibility. I mean, if it's real genocide and people are - there is mass murder, then I think we have a moral duty to intervene. But the problem is is that how you define that moral duty when it's not clearly genocide, when there's injustice, when there's discrimination, when, for instance, the young girls in Afghanistan can't go to school, that is not genocide.

turn 0 : The US has failed to protect its national interests by instead pursuing nation-building activities and regime changes in foreign countries.

How has the US focused more since the end of the Cold War?

Answer: Internal


Let me follow up on a couple of things. Attorney General Sessions and the Justice Department announced the change on affirmative action and a big vow a crack down on leaks, following the leak of White House - of transcripts from White House conversations between President Trump and prime minister of Australia and the president of Mexico.

Yes. Now, Jeff Sessions, despite his very public dispute with the president, who has been unhappy with him publicly, continues to be quite busy at the Department of Justice. The affirmative action issue is not quite clear. The Department of Justice claims there was less to that story than was originally claimed, that, in fact, they're merely looking at a single lawsuit, not looking to overhaul American policy to attack affirmative action broadly across the country.

On Friday, Attorney General Sessions announced this wide-ranging effort to root out leaks, which have been very rampant in the - under this administration to the great displeasure of the president and those in his orbit, announcing that he will re-evaluate the Department of Justice's guidelines on how they deal with leaks and potentially seek to target journalists more than is already done.

And we should note, to be fair, the Obama administration targeted at least one journalist, James Rosen, who was - phone calls from. . .

turn 2 :  (3), the implied meaning is that the Department of Justice is taking a strong stance on leaks and may be targeting journalists more aggressively than they have in the past, which could have implications for press freedom.

What is the Department of Justice potentially seeking to target more aggressively?

Answer: strong


And now to another story we'll hear more about this week. It starts with a number - $90 billion. That's about how much Uber is expected to be worth when it goes public - that despite the fact the company has never actually turned a profit. It's made plenty of money but never more than it spends. Its move to go public and consolidate power comes at a time when Americans are questioning the power of Silicon Valley and leading politicians are calling for the breakup of tech giants. New York Times opinion columnist Farhad Manjoo recently called the Uber IPO a moral stain on Silicon Valley. He admitted his once-bright-eyed take on the startup has dimmed dramatically. He's here to talk with us about why. And he joins us from Mountain View, Calif. Welcome.

Hi. Good to be here.

You say you used to be a naive baby tech pundit who bought into the Uber hype, fanboy of sorts. These are your words. But this past week in your column, you lamented, what's become of Uber?What exactly are you lamenting?

Yeah, I mean, I once thought that Uber could be a win for everyone. You know, we used to - in cities, we used to sort of have these taxi cartels which limited supply and didn't really offer a great service. And Uber seemed like a better version of the taxi. And it also kind of offered these environmental promises. We'd have, you know, people using cars more efficiently. Like, Uber promised that it could get us - you know, more people in cars, get fewer cars on the road.

turn 3 : Uber promised to make transportation more efficient and eco-friendly by getting more people in fewer cars on the road, but this promise has not been fully realized.

How did Uber promise to make transportation more eco-friendly?

Answer: Efficiently


Then on top of that, last year, there was this thing called the beast from the east, which was a deep freeze coming across Italy and Greece, and that destroyed a lot of trees. Olive trees are very hardy, but they can't take extreme cold. If it's below 10 degrees Fahrenheit for just a matter of hours, it can kill the tree. So Italian farmers these days are thinking they can't catch a break. This is a confluence of factors, which has led to an overall production of around 185,000 tons this season, which is not very good.

Is it really possible that Italy could run out of olive oil next month?

Well, you know, Italy is not as big, for example, a producer as Spain, you know, and we see a lot of headlines right now that says Italy will be forced to be an olive oil importer. Well, Italy is the largest olive oil importer in the world and always has been, but it has just a limited amount of its own production to go around. So what - I think it's really more a matter of Italy running out of stock, running out of stocks of its own olive oil. And all of the bottling that goes on there and the exporting that goes on in Italy will be using oils from other origins.

We have to ask in this day and age, is climate change affecting the Italian olive oil production industry?

turn 0 : Extreme cold can kill hardy olive trees in just a few hours.

How can extreme cold impact olive trees?

Answer: Cold


Do you have any concern, Mr.  Levin, that if some of these alternatives you're talking about are used more frequently that you might have a situation where - and I'll be apocryphal here - a white college kid with access to means and a good lawyer can get a very light sentence and a kid from the inner city that lacks both will still have the book thrown at him.

Well, you know, that is an interesting question because this decision by the attorney general was one based on discretion. The public has as very low opinion of elected officials and so it's certainly the case is if you don't think much of Congress, you wouldn't want Congress' judgment to be substituted for your own if you're on the jury, especially given that it's the jury that has access to the specific facts of the case.

And certainly, though, as you mentioned, race should absolutely not be considered and we need to make sure every offender has quality representation for those who have appointed counsel. Ideally, they could have some say in choosing their own counsel with some type of voucher or something so we can make sure they get vigorous representation in court, that evidence that may exonerate them is presented.

Marc Levin is director of the Texas Public Policy Foundation Center for Effective Justice speaking with us from Austin. Thanks so much.

turn 1 : The speaker is expressing concern that the justice system might be unfairly biased against certain individuals based on their race and access to resources.

How is the justice system potentially biased?

Answer: discretion


Did you think twice?

I said - well, I didn't think - well, I said, sure, and I held it to the ground. And then I thought, this is not exactly what I signed up for, but, you know, you need to pitch in a little bit in these circumstances.

For a disease, a virus to spill over, is it just a matter of coming in contact with the right animal?Is it just chance, or does there have to be something special about the virus itself to be able to infect multiple species?

Well, some kinds of virus, yes, are better at this than others. And the scientists who watch the world for the next spillover are particularly vigilant about single-stranded RNA viruses, as distinct from DNA viruses that carry their genomes on the good old, stable double helix. RNA viruses, when they replicate, mutate more frequently. Therefore, there's more change. There's more genetic variation in the populations of those viruses. They replicate very abundantly, so their populations are large.

turn 1 : A agreed to do something but later realized it wasn't what they wanted

Which action did PersonA take that they later regretted?

Answer: Held


No, that didn't happen until after the article came out.

Really?

Yeah. I didn't get a ton of responses on Craigslist. I think people probably just saw it and thought it was a weird curiosity. And, you know, I didn't want it to be - I'm going, you know, I'm putting on my anthropologist hat and I'm going into black America and I'm going tell you what black America's like, because it really wasn't about that. It was more about - there are lots of different, you know, cultural bubbles that we live in and the Venn diagrams often don't overlap, and for some reason we don't seem to care about that anymore.

Almost every day, I see some newspaper article that has sent some reporter to some place where someone is having a racial moment. You know, whether it's. . .

turn 2 : THe person isn't putting on an anthropologist hat. It means the person is thinking. This person is also learning about Black America, nit getting into black America.

Answer: Anthropologist


This is Day to Day. I'm Alex Cohen, and I am not ashamed to admit, this holiday season, some of my dear friends and family members will receive gifts which I previously received from someone else. It's called regifting. And with more on the topic, here's independent producer Vanessa Romo.

Chances are, opening presents around the Christmas tree tomorrow, you'll be surrounded by two types of people, regifters and those who believe regifters should be carted off to an igloo colony. I know which parka-wearing camp I'm in. But what about the rest of the world?Or rather, what about a random sample of coffee shop goers and gym worker outers.

Unidentified Woman #1: I teach etiquette to children and young adults. And regifting is one of my favorite topics.

Unidentified Man #1: Am I a regifter?Well, until five minutes ago, I imagined regifting was regiving a gift, but I wasn't too sure.

turn 3 : to imagine something in this context means to think that something was right, but they might be wrong

What did the man think regifting was before five minutes ago?

Answer: Wrong


Thank you. Thanks for having me.

Now, the books were released on inauguration day. I don't know if that was significant or not. Tell us if it was and what inspired these collections?

Well, these collections I have been thinking about for a long time. I've been talking about it with my agent for sometime about doing something like this. The big fear was that, no publisher would be that interested in it because they wouldn't think the collection could be sustained over a period of time doing it every year. But Bantam believed it and so Bantam, we ultimately made a deal with Bantam to do it. The date wasn't really significant. I mean, the date turned out to be significant but we had set the date a long time before and we were just hoping that Obama would win so the date would really have some significance but it was all an accident. It turned out well though.

Now, you're going to - we've had anthologies before obviously. But the new thing about this anthology is that you're going to try to publish it annually. How difficult do you think that is likely to be?

turn 1 : Tell us if it was and what inspired these collections?" is not actually asking for information about whether the release date was significant or not. The interviewer is using this as a prompt to ask the author about the inspiration behind the book collections.

Which date turned out to be significant for the release of the book collections?

Answer: Inauguration


And how much do we know at this moment in time, this early in the day, about what the damage is up there?

You know, we saw reports. As we were doing live coverage, we saw reports of damage start to trickle in. But, really, right after an earthquake, it is, like, fog of war. No one knows what's going on. Emergency responders are just going out trying to survey the damage. We did hear reports of fires.

We got some calls into our - into KPCC of people telling us that they had fallen. One woman said that she thought maybe she broke her wrist. And there were a lot of people who were just afraid to go back into their houses, which is another big thing with big earthquakes - is that it disrupts people's lives not just for that one moment, but continuously, especially after aftershock after aftershock after aftershock keeps hitting.

All right. Well, we'll be getting updates throughout the morning. And thanks very much for joining us. KPCC's Jacob Margolis, science reporter and host of a podcast called "The Big One: Your Survival Guide. "Thank you, Jacob.

turn 2 : Repeating the word "aftershock" implies aftershocks were coming frequently and multiple times.

How does the earthquake disrupt people's lives continuously?

Answer: Aftershocks


You know, you're helping a lot of people, Mr.  Mayor.

Well, I hope I am. I don't see it, and that's what scares me most of all. We care about everybody. We have to reach out for all of them and try to be successful for them to help them be that support deal for them. It's not a positive day every day, but you have to make it into one.

The mayor of Fulton, Texas, Jimmy Kendrick - thanks so much for being with us, Mr.  Mayor. Good luck to you.

Well, I appreciate it. And just keep us in your prayers. It's always nice to have a prayer given for us.

turn 3 :  The mayor is thanking the interviewer for their support and asking them to keep them in their prayers, which goes beyond the literal meaning of his words.

Answer: Support


So let's start with the broad lay of the land. How much money do big donors pour into races generally, and how influential are they?

Big donors can give hundreds of millions of dollars. They can really get into just huge sums of money. And so this year, when you're talking about a mid-term congressional election instead of a presidential election, that money is going to play out across 50 states. It's going to play out across hot Senate races. And it's going to play out in little, mini, pitched battles across House races. And so it has a very different impact than it does in the presidential.

How so?An outsize impact?

In some congressional districts, it can. You know, it takes a lot less money to saturate a House district with ads than it does to tip something in the presidential.

turn 1 : Big donors can influence elections across all levels of government.

Which elections can big donors influence?

Answer: Elections


We get the impression from the reporting of our colleague Adrian Florido in Puerto Rico that this was - the protests that drove out the governor, they were a protest against the governor but really against the whole political system. And the descriptions you've just given of the various positions would seem to back that up. Does anybody have credibility to take the job?

I think there are people that do have the credibility and that have the experience. But I - it's not clear to me that political leadership has heard the message that has been delivered loud and clearly by the thousands, in some cases hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans that took to the street to let, you know, their distaste and their indignation known.

What do you mean they haven't heard the message - meaning that the political leadership doesn't understand how angry people are?

I think that that could be the case, and it is demonstrated by the fact that there are reports of backroom dealing over who could be that next secretary of state that could take over the governor's position.

turn 0 : drove out in this context means to scare someone away

Which colleague of PersonB reported about the protests that drove out the governor?

Answer: Adrian


In Iran, state media are reporting the seizure of another tanker in the Persian Gulf. The ship was reportedly taken by Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, and seven crew members were detained. It would mark the third seizure of a foreign ship by Iran in the past two weeks. NPR's Peter Kenyon is following the story from Istanbul, and he joins us now.

Morning.

Hi, Lulu.

What do we know so far about this latest seizure?

turn 0 : i can take care my self for sure

What gives indication that the speaker is confident and self-reliant?

Answer: B


An impression, that's an interesting question there. And certainly, you talked about that room I was in, it was certainly interesting for me to be standing in there quite literally in the middle of this room surrounded by all these heads of state from around Africa. But I quite literally - I mean, the journalist in you kicks in - I'm there certainly covering it, but it kicks in and I made a beeline, I absolutely did, when I laid eyes on him. I went right over to him and certainly was curious to get an impression of him. But as soon as he determined and as soon as he understood who I was and what I was probably going to be asking him, his whole demeanor kind of changed.

He was there - and certainly, the Leo Sullivan Foundation and the Sullivan Summit is something you - it's not supposed to necessarily be political. And a lot of these heads of state agree to participate because - they are, they're looking for the betterment of that particular country that they're in. And it's all really something we're all supposed to get together and celebrate and try to help, and not supposed to really be a political undertone to any of it. So, I wasn't trying to create that, but still the journalist in me wanted to ask him some questions about what has been happening in Sudan, and certainly the Darfur region. But I never got that opportunity.

Sounds like he shut it down a little bit.

He shut it down like you wouldn't believe.

turn 0 : "the journalist in you kicks in" - This is an idiom that means the person's journalistic instincts or tendencies took over, rather than a literal physical action of someone kicking.

How did the journalist react to seeing him?

Answer: Curious


One person called them old guard reactionaries who are grabbling for crumbs from the table. Another called them seat warmer saying they have nothing new to offer. And that led to a larger conversation about Obama's support among blacks where black folks stand on the Democratic Party.

And we are in good old Black History Month now. Of course, we are black 365 days a year.

That's right.

turn 3 : : But from what I've read on our blog, not everybody thinks the black history month is a good idea. (The literal meaning is that there are people who don't believe in celebrating Black History Month. The actual meaning is that there is debate and differing opinions within the black community about the significance and effectiveness of Black History Month.)

Which event is being discussed in the dialogue?

Answer: BlackHistoryMonth


Phil Simms was quarterback for the New York Giants.

(Laughter) Yeah.

This is NPR, Dan. We have to fill in the blanks sometimes.

(Laughter) I understand. Well, Bill Parcell is one of the legendary coaches in NFL history. I called Bill and, you know, 'cause saw in the press guides that Ernie was his pro player personnel director for a couple of years in the 1980s. And Bill could not remember anything about him. He says, I don't know the guy. I said, Bill, it says on the press guide that he was your director of pro personnel for two seasons when you were head coach. And he says, well, I don't remember the guy. So they're all either being very careful about it or Ernie just does not leave a personal mark with them.

turn 2 : The speaker is not providing information about how to complete a blank, but rather communicating to his interlocutor that they need to be careful about what they say since they are on NPR.

Which organization is the speaker referencing in turn 2?

Answer: NPR


The children of Jamal Khashoggi have begun receiving compensation. Khashoggi was the journalist from Saudi Arabia who vanished last year. After initial denials, Saudi authorities now acknowledge he was killed after he walked into a Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. The newspaper that once published Khashoggi's columns, The Washington Post, now reports on apparent early moves toward paying blood money to Khashoggi's relations.

Greg Miller reported this story for The Post. Good morning, sir.

Good morning.

What have the children been paid?

turn 0 : Jamal Khashoggi was killed by Saudi authorities after he walked into a Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.

What was the location of the Saudi Consulate where Khashoggi walked into?

Answer: Istanbul


Now, the big moment has come for Andy Murray and, of course, the hopes of all Britain are riding on him. He plays Novak Djokovic. What do you think's going to happen?

Well, I picked Novak Djokovic to win but these two, there's really very little to separate them. The pressure on Andy Murray, the pressure on this entire country to finally break the curse of not having a men's major champion at Wimbledon - the last champion to win here was Fred Perry in 1936. The women a little bit better; Virginia Wade in 1977. But the hopes and dreams of this country - it's so personal here - is to finally have a champion. And Andy Murray lost last year to Roger Federer. This year he's got a chance, but he's going up against the best player in the world. It's not going to be easy. He's going to have the entire crowd supporting him but at the same time, he's got a huge task in going up against Novak Djokovic, who's played in eight of the last - I'm sorry, now nine of the last 12 major championships. He's the best player going. Andy Murray has a huge, huge task in front of him.

Thanks very much, Howard.

No, my pleasure. I could watch tennis all day. It's the best.

Howard Bryant of ESPN. com and ESPN the Magazine, on the line from Wimbledon.

turn 1 : Implied meaning: The speaker may be conveying a hidden message or agenda that requires further exploration or analysis to fully understand.

How does the PersonA's statement in turn 1 contribute to the overall tone of the conversation?

Answer: Damage


And we simply took surgical samples of the sinus lining from patients with chronic sinusitis and healthy individuals who didn't have sinus disease but were in for surgery for different indications. And we simply compared those samples and asked the question, what's different between patients with chronic sinusitis and healthy individuals?And we show that the sinusitis patients had this incredible collapse of the microbial community in their sinus cavity.

And they were characterized by having kind of an outgrowth or an enrichment of this one bacterium called corynebacterium tuberculostearicum - it's quite a mouthful - and we know very little about it. And as it turns out, this organism typically lives on the skin and really doesn't do anything harmful there. But in the context of a loss of the microbial diversity and this organism there in very high numbers, this is what characterized the patients.

So we moved on to look at this in mice and to really see if something that we consider to be not very harmful in one context could, under this depletion of the microbiome, cause hallmarks of disease. And that's indeed what we found in our murine studies, in our mouse studies.

So if you had a healthy population to offset the bad bacteria, that kept you feeling better and not. . .

turn 1 : Corynebacterium tuberculostearicum is not harmful on the skin but is harmful in the sinus cavity with loss of microbial diversity

Which bacterium is harmless on the skin but harmful in the sinus cavity?

Answer: Corynebacterium


So we really need to do research and try to pin that down. Another thing that's critical is - so what is the long-term prospect for our cities and our ports?How much is the sea level going to rise?What are our coast lines going to look like?Well, that depends upon how fast Greenland and parts of the West Antarctic ice sheet melt. That's a big unknown.

There was a piece appearing in the New York Times this week that described new research that basically found even if we curb emissions now, climate change will likely continue until at least the year 3000. Do you feel like there is any solution?Can we ever go back?

We should not think about the fact that we're going to be pristine and back what we were like before the industrial revolution. I think we have to have a different notion. We have used the industrial revolution to get rich. We've improved our quality of life. Now, those very techniques are reducing the quality of life through environmental side effects. Let's try to prevent it from getting a lot worse.

So while we can't stop a few degrees of warming on top of where we already are, we can stop the 10 degrees. My notion is do as much as you can, as fast as you can, as fairly as you can, and as cost effectively as you can, and don't get hung up on the numbers because three degrees is a lot better than six, and 10 degrees is dramatically worse than any other numbers.

turn 0 : pin that down implies to solve the problem or get something done rather than to put a pin on something

How does "pin that down" differ from putting a pin on something?

Answer: Solve


This is Day to Day from NPR News. I'm Alex Cohen. One of the world's most celebrated playwrights, Harold Pinter, has died. Pinter was a mainstay on the London theater scene since the 1950s. His works include "The Birthday Party," "The Homecoming," "The Celebration," just to name a few. Harold Pinter won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2005. Here he is accepting that award.

There are no hard distinctions between what is real and what is unreal, nor between what is true and what is false. I think it's not necessarily either true or false. It can be both true and false.

The obscurity of those words is Pinter in a nutshell. His plays were light on plot, often taking place in a single room. Pinter offered no easy explanations for why characters acted the way they did. His dialogue was known mostly for. . .  pregnant pauses. In fact, the word people have come to use to describe that sort of tension in silence is Pinteresque. Here's Pinter in an interview with Charlie Rose, joking about the way some people reacted to his work.

When I went to see a production of my play, "No Man's Land. "I went into the bar in the interval. And a man and a woman - I couldn't escape, you know. They stand - stood in dead silence for a while. And then the man said, Oh, well, not as boring as the usual Pinteresque.

turn 2 : In a nutshell is a small space, so implies that these words describe Pinter in a short manner.

How would you describe Pinter in a short manner?

Answer: Short


But what is likely to happen if the men succeed and these lawsuits gain class-action status?I mean, could it upend how these cases are treated?

I mean, if they did gain class-action status, which I personally think is pretty steep thing for them to get, I think that it could result in a lot of these either being kicked back to the school and these students and the survivors having to go through all of this again, and it also has a wider reaching impact as far as what students who are going through these circumstances see and think as far as reporting. And that's one of the things that I see as a concern.

Yeah. What message does it send to the victims?

Right. What message does it send to the victims who have already been a minority of people who report, and because the school didn't do it the right way, that their situation is not validated. And I do think that it can have a real chilling impact on other survivors reporting and coming forward and saying, as we have said in recent years, #MeToo because they think it just may come back and not matter.

turn 3 :  I think that it could result in a lot of these either being kicked back to the school and these students

How might the lawsuits be affected if the men succeed?

Answer: Kicked


And Border Patrol agents are making a lot of trips to the hospital with sick children up and down the Southwest border - nearly 70 kids a day since December, they say. But immigration officials say it's just hard to keep up with the sheer numbers here. It's putting a huge strain on resources, and they're asking Congress for billions of additional dollars to deal with it.

In the meantime, what more have you learned in your reporting about the death of Carlos Hernandez Vasquez?

Well, a couple of things. One thing that really stands out is that Carlos Hernandez Vasquez died in a Border Patrol station. The previous migrant children who died were taken to the hospital first; Hernandez Vasquez was not even though immigration authorities clearly knew that he was sick. He was diagnosed with the flu by a nurse practitioner.

On the same day, Customs and Border Protection moved him to a different Border Patrol station where they could separate him from the other migrants to stop the spread of the flu. Even Health and Human Services officials were concerned about how ill he was. This is the agency that's responsible for long-term care of unaccompanied children. And HHS decided that Hernandez Vasquez could not be flown to a shelter in Florida because of his illness. So in retrospect, critics say it's hard to see why they did not take him to the hospital.

turn 3 : It was negligent of immigration authorities to not take Carlos Hernandez Vasquez to the hospital

How was Carlos Hernandez Vasquez treated for his illness?

Answer: Hospital


The way I coped with these disasters was seeing myself as the hero of my own story and thinking oh, okay, in the story, the guy survives. He doesn't kill himself. He doesn't commit himself to a mental hospital. He actually survives and thrives and overcomes these obstacles.

And in addition to that, you've also had kidney problems, and you talk really frankly about just how much strength it took you to do really basic things because you were constantly dealing with your body rebelling against you.

Yeah, I'm going through that right now. I'm on the top of the list for a transplant now, and I don't really want a transplant right now because I'm doing all right. So at this point, I'm kind of bring it on. I'm just, you know, I can take it.

What about the good stuff?There are many good things in your life, and two of them are Eva and Chet(ph), your kids. What are they like?

turn 1 :  "body rebelling against you" is a metaphorical expression meaning to refer to the speaker's body reacting negatively to their kidney problems.

Which expression is used to refer to the PersonA's body reacting negatively to their kidney problems?

Answer: Body


We are. . .

We are - yeah.

There's something - does that bother you or that we're experimenting on ourselves?

Oh, a little bit, I guess, you know?

turn 1 : "We are - yeah." Here, the literal meaning would be that the speaker is simply repeating what the other person said and adding an affirmation. However, the actual meaning could be interpreted as the speaker expressing uncertainty or hesitation.

Which word might indicate uncertainty or hesitation in turn 1?

Answer: Uncertainty


Yeah.
And then it. . .
Very briefly.
. . . couldn't start.

turn 2 : A did not want to talk about the topic for too long

Which word describes how PersonA wanted to talk about the topic?

Answer: Briefly


He hasn't always fallen right in line with Trump by any means. He hasn't always fallen right in line with Trump by any means. He's been critical of Putin over some gas projects that he's been involved in. He's been critical of Putin over some gas projects that he's been involved in. But generally, he has held the Trump line. But generally, he has held the Trump line. So I think this is going to be interesting to go in. So I think this is going to be interesting to go in. He did have that one key moment in the text chain where he came in and clearly stated this was not quid pro quo but then suggested they get offline. He did have that one key moment in the text chain where he came in and clearly stated this was not quid pro quo but then suggested they get offline. So. . . So. . .

Right. Right.

So we'll see what happens once he jumps in there. So we'll see what happens once he jumps in there.

Are people following this in Portland?Are people following this in Portland?I mean, how are they reacting?I mean, how are they reacting?

turn 2 : "once he jumps in there" implies once he gets involved.

Answer: Involvement


He was very cordial. He shook my hand. He gave me the Klan handshake. He didn't know that I knew it was the Klan handshake, but he did give it to me. If you shake a person's hand and you extend your index and middle finger along their wrist - and as you pumping their hand, you start pressing your fingers in their wrist area. It's the Klan handshake.

The question that you wind up wrestling with, I think at the end of the book, is - well, let me put it this way - that the Klan and David Duke specifically are hateful and jerks is beyond dispute. You don't wind up with a lot of regard for their intelligence, which raises the question, how dangerous are they?

Very. When I say they are not the brightest, they were not the brightest light bulbs in the socket. The people I was dealing with were not. David Duke, in spite of his having - at that time, he had a master's degree in political science from Louisiana State University. I merely had a high school education and about 12 hours of college credit. So the very fact that he was being conned by somebody with a lower degree of education than him, I'll admit, I got a particular thrill out of that. But let nobody who reads my book think that these people because they weren't the brightest light bulbs in the socket were not and are not dangerous. They were very serious.

What do you think you learned about the KKK and racism and bigotry during those months?

turn 2 : The KKK is dangerous despite not being intelligent.

What was the level of education of the person who conned David Duke?

Answer: Lower


Because there's going to be this glass chamber, people can follow along.

Right. It looks absolutely beautiful.

Oh, it does?

Yeah, it looks absolutely beautiful.

turn 0 : People are likely to follow through a given idea or course since it is end is clear as a glass chamber.

What is going to be inside the glass chamber?

Answer: idea


Give us a call, our number 1-800-989-8255. You can also tweet us @scifri. Gerald Crabtree is the David Korn Professor of Pathology and Developmental Biology at Stanford School of Medicine. He's also an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Welcome to SCIENCE FRIDAY.

Good morning, Ira.

Good morning to you. What evidence do you cite?What evidence is there that human intelligence is slowly declining?

Well, you know, there are a few things I'd like to say I guess at the onset, and you referred to them in your introduction, and that is any genetically based decay in intelligence is extremely slow. And so we should never be able to detect it by comparisons to people within generations existing right now on the Earth.

turn 2 : "What evidence do you cite? What evidence is there that human intelligence is slowly declining?"

Which professor was introduced as an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute?

Answer: Gerald


It's definitely been a massive industry for Georgia in the last 10 years because about a decade ago is when they instituted these new, very generous, lucrative tax incentives which gives productions up to 30% back depending on how much they spend and whether they're willing to put a Georgia peach logo in their credits and that sort of thing. But it's really significant money back for these major studios in Hollywood.

And what has it gotten back?

There was a record 455 films and television productions that were shot in Georgia in the last fiscal year. And they represented a $2. 7, you know, billion in direct spending, which they estimate brings in $9. 5 billion in total economic impact. So these numbers are really huge. And they have been a huge destination for feature films, and not just any sort of feature films, expensive blockbusters, the biggest of those being Marvel's "Avengers" movies, which shot at Pinewood Studios in Atlanta, which is a big production facility.

As we mentioned, studios and media companies have sent some warning signals. How likely, though, is an actual boycott?

turn 2 : Georgia's film industry has had a massive economic impact.

What has been the impact of Georgia's film industry?

Answer: Economic


The way I coped with these disasters was seeing myself as the hero of my own story and thinking oh, okay, in the story, the guy survives. He doesn't kill himself. He doesn't commit himself to a mental hospital. He actually survives and thrives and overcomes these obstacles.

And in addition to that, you've also had kidney problems, and you talk really frankly about just how much strength it took you to do really basic things because you were constantly dealing with your body rebelling against you.

Yeah, I'm going through that right now. I'm on the top of the list for a transplant now, and I don't really want a transplant right now because I'm doing all right. So at this point, I'm kind of bring it on. I'm just, you know, I can take it.

What about the good stuff?There are many good things in your life, and two of them are Eva and Chet(ph), your kids. What are they like?

turn 2 : "bring it on" is an idiomatic expression meaning to welcome or accept a challenge, even if it is difficult.

How would you describe the PersonA's attitude towards getting a transplant?

Answer: Acceptance


Oh yeah.

You know, it's - just, you know, it's that thing, good and evil.

Oh, I've got you. I got you. Now, you just sang the title song from the new CD. One reviewer says about that, the lyrics are inconsequential, what matters is the soul and funk. I don't know if I agree with that. You agree with that?

You know what, I feel like I may have been taken out of context because I said that about one song on this record, called "Emotions. "I said on that song, you know, I mean, you don't really need the lyrics. But for - to put that on a whole album, no, I don't agree with that. I put a lot of time into it (laughing).

Now, you actually - you played with a lot of different folks. You were with Fishbone. You were a member of Miles Davis's band. When was that?

turn 2 : What matters is how the song makes a person feels and how it sounds.

Which aspect of the song is emphasized in the statement?

Answer: Soul


Oh, yeah. The kids who were studied were in the one-and-a-half years to five-year range. In each case, it was only one parent deployed. They all lived on the same Marine base, which was actually Portsmouth, Virginia. They were all enrolled in a base-supplied childcare program, which allowed them to be studied more closely.

There was one atypical thing, by the way, which is that the deployments were shorter than one would expect. The average was only three and a half months, and we know that many deployments are a year or a year-and-a-half or even longer than that.

And still, even though it was a short deployment, the researchers still saw negative consequences.

Yes, yeah. The whole question of behavioral change was studied by having both parents and teachers fill out questionnaires about the child's behavior. And these kids were compared with other kids on the same base. The only difference is, the comparison kids didn't have a parent deployed to a combat zone.

And what were they measuring, what kinds of behavior?

turn 1 : Short deployments had negative consequences, contrary to expectations.

Answer: Short


Now, the foreign minister of Iran is describing this as blackmail. It does sound like bribery. Whether it's legal or not, I don't know. But how does the U. S.  view this particular tactic?

Well, the U. S.  has had a program for more than 30 years called Rewards for Justice that they've used to pay money to people who provide information that helps disrupt terror networks. They used it with the son of Osama bin Laden, for example - or tried to use it. So they announced a program yesterday where they will pay up to $15 million to people for information that would help disrupt Iranian illicit networks. And this is - the offer to Kumar, the captain of the Adrian Darya ship, is actually the first time they've used this program in the case of Iran and the maximum pressure campaign.

So this is open - it appears to be on the surface, at least - within U. S.  law. There's a law to cover it. If anybody were to accept the offer of this money, would we ever know about it?

Well, I think we probably would because the State Department has been actually very kind of forward in terms of publishing - publicizing a lot of things they're doing because they want ship captains around the world to know that this is available to entice them to take up these offers. So if they don't publicize it, there's no kind of marketing campaign as such.

turn 2 : "On the surface" doesn't refer to physical being on a surface. Here, it implies that the program appears to be legal, but a deeper evaluation may show that it is not.

Which word in turn 2 explains the meaning of "on the surface"?

Answer: implies


Very often that's the case, certainly in surface sediments if they come from a lake or from the sea. They're the waste product. We can test them by looking at various isotopes. So there are different isotopes of sulfur, and there's a specific pattern of the isotopes of sulfur that's characteristic for this particular pathway.

And we were able to find that, and not only that but in some examples of the material we looked at we could see little sort of bean-shaped cells, not much more, again, than a micron or a thousandth of a millimeter across, which were sitting on the tissue on the cells of material that was itself being consumed.

So we hypothesize anyway that these may be the creatures caught in the act of eating other creatures.

And so the world was filled at that time with these microscopic creatures, right?

turn 1 : "Sitting n" doesn't seem literal. These tiny cells don't have rear-ends and cannot really sit that way, but it means they are positioned on top of other material.

Which word is used in turn 1 to describe the shape of the cells?

Answer: Cells


It has. It was seized at one point by British commandos off Gibraltar. It was held in Gibraltar for several weeks. A court then finally said that it had to be released after the Iranians guaranteed that it wouldn't breach EU sanctions. The Americans tried to get Gibraltar to hand it over. And Gibraltar said no.

So this is the latest attempt by the Americans to try and get control of the ship. And so they directly offered the captain, Mr.  Kumar, several million dollars to bring the ship to a country that had apparently agreed to impound it and hand it over to the U. S.

Now, if you've got this email - and you say you obtained the email - the first question, I guess, would be - is this really from Brian Hook, really from a senior State Department official?But you have a quote from Brian Hook in your story.

It is definitely from Brian Hook, and I have confirmed that with Brian Hook himself. You know, he said that this is the - an attempt by the Americans to ramp up the maximum pressure campaign on Iran. The next stage is to increase the enforcement of the many sanctions that the U. S.  has put on Iran already. And this is a kind of a new novel approach to try and get ship captains and their crew both to be scared about working for Iran in the future and, second, to offer them a carrot, which is to say that if you come and help us, you'll be rewarded for life. And some of the language used in the email is quite colorful.

turn 0 : "it was seized" means that something was taken away.

Answer: Seized.


We argued that six months was way, way too short. You're talking about trying to go into archives, documents, find materials. Unfortunately, this was what was included in the legislation. And we've urged the Polish government to open that deadline - indeed, to open the program to people who never filed claims or for whom no claim - buildings for which no claims were filed.

But the Polish government didn't agree.

Unfortunately not. We're hoping that the Polish government will look again at this issue and make this process easier not only in terms of the deadline but also what documentation is required. Make sure that archives are open and material is accessible because if you have a right and legislation but not the means to enforce it - and particularly for many of the Holocaust survivors and their families, virtually all of whom live outside of Poland, it's very difficult. They don't speak the language. They don't live in the country. To address even the administrative issues is extremely difficult.

We're facing a situation where, in the next few years, we will be living in a world where there won't be Holocaust survivors. It's a population, obviously, that's very elderly, very sick and passing away very rapidly. So we think it's a matter of justice and morality to address and to conclude this issue before that last of that generation disappears.

turn 3 : And what makes this important, so many years after the terrible events we're talking about - after the crimes we're talking about?  The implied meaning of B's statement is that they are questioning the significance or relevance of the discussed matter after so many years have passed since the terrible events and crimes mentioned. They seek to understand the current importance or urgency of addressing the issue.

Which event is PersonB questioning the relevance of?

Answer: Generation


How was that?

Well, it was astonishing. I think that the grown-ups around us were much too confused themselves to be able to sort of sit down and tell us that when they said that television sets belong to Satan, maybe they hadn't been right. Suddenly, we've got a television set in our house. Suddenly, we've got a radio. . .

Oh, boy.

. . . (Laughter) In our house. And suddenly, we're being taken to go and see "Gone With The Wind" in the cinema.

turn 3 : Implied meaning: Amused disbelief at the sudden change in the status quo.

How did PersonA react to the sudden change in the status quo?

Answer: Surprised


And just before he died, he recorded what would be his biggest song.

Then comes April of 1968 in Memphis. The sanitation workers are on strike. That brought Martin Luther King, Jr.  to town to speak and to show support, and that was when he was murdered at the Lorraine Motel. It hit people at Stax especially hard.

Yes, because the Lorraine, they had a swimming pool and they had a restaurant that would serve an integrated table, and all the Stax visiting artists would stay at the Lorraine. That was their hangout. So, this horrible event at their second home not far from their own building, it was devastating, just absolutely devastating. Isaac Hayes told me he couldn't write for a year.

I want to talk about a song recorded by the Staple Singers that spoke to the issue of black empowerment.

You consider it one of the most important songs the label ever produced - "Respect Yourself. "

It's a great, catchy pop song with a really deep message - Mavis Staples singing lead and Pops' guitar sound. It sounds like an organ.

turn 5 : (6) - "It sounds like an organ." implies that the guitar sound in the song resembles the sound of an organ, rather than actually being an organ.

How does the guitar sound in the song "Respect Yourself" sound like?

Answer: Organ


Yes, I do. And one of the ways it could be would be to have more women in the House and in the Senate. We saw back in the early 1990s after the Justice Clarence Thomas controversy, Anita Hill's allegations - led a lot of women to say, why weren't there more women on that committee passing judgment on Anita Hill's accusations?- because there was not a single one. They were all men. And why can't we have more representation for our gender when we are, after all, half the population?

That led to the so-called Year of the Woman - 1992 - in which a record number of senators who were women were elected and a large new number in the House. And that we have seen somewhat rise and continue to rise. And the number of women who are in the Senate today is the highest it's ever been, but it's still a minor fraction. And it's still a minor fraction in the House. And as women become more politically active, they become more politically attuned - they are seeing these things, and they are realizing that they need to be represented in Congress to have full power and full equality in this society.

NPR's Ron Elving, thanks so much.

Thank you, Scott.

turn 1 : And as women become more politically active, they become more politically attuned - they are seeing these things, and they are realizing that they need to be represented in Congress to have full power and full equality in this society."  In these turns, the speakers are implying that there is a need for increased representation of women in Congress in order to achieve gender equality and address the underrepresentation of women in positions of power. The literal meanings of the statements may focus on the numbers or demographics, but the implied meaning goes beyond that to highlight the importance of equal representation and the pursuit of gender equality.

Which group of people need to be represented in Congress for full power and full equality in this society?

Answer: Women


Hi.

Why are these talks in Norway so significant?

So he's been concentrating on his campaign to oust Maduro. Step by step, you know, he unified the opposition. He mobilized sometimes huge crowds. He secured that recognition internationally. And the U. S.  backed him up with sanctions that have been really - have really hit the Maduro government hard.

turn 2 : Well, for a long time, Juan Guaido has been saying that he's not interested in talking to Maduro. He doesn't recognize Maduro as Venezuela's legitimate president, arguing that the election that returned Maduro to a second term last year was a fraud.  The literal meaning of this turn is straightforward - Juan Guaido has publicly stated his unwillingness to hold talks with Maduro and does not consider him to be the legitimate president of Venezuela. However, the implied meaning of this turn is more complex and includes the political context of the situation, such as the ongoing power struggle in Venezuela and the efforts of Guaido and his supporters to remove Maduro from power.

What is Juan Guaido's stance on talking to Maduro?

Answer: refusing


NPR's Tovia Smith has been following the story from Boston and joins us now. Tovia, let's begin with what you saw in court today.

Well, Felicity Huffman actually broke down in tears in court as she explained to the judge that her daughter knew nothing about the scam and that her daughter's accommodation for extra time on tests was legit. But she then pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud, admitting that she paid $15,000 to get her daughter's SAT scores boosted by having someone correct the answers after the daughter took the test.

And we know Huffman is among the most high-profile of defendants, along with the other Hollywood star Lori Loughlin, but another parent also pleaded guilty in court today, and that is LA businessman Devin Sloane, who was involved in a different angle of this scam. He paid bribes to get his son recruited to the USC water polo team even though the son was never a competitive player. And the dad went so far as to get someone to photoshop pictures of his son to look like he was. And he paid $250,000 in bribes that were disguised as charitable donations.

Sloane and Huffman are among 20 parents, coaches, others to plead guilty. What are they hoping for?

turn 1 : "broke down in tears" - Literal meaning: Felicity Huffman physically collapsed into tears. Actual meaning: Felicity Huffman became emotional and started crying.

Which Hollywood star was among the most high-profile of defendants?

Answer: Huffman


And Border Patrol agents are making a lot of trips to the hospital with sick children up and down the Southwest border - nearly 70 kids a day since December, they say. But immigration officials say it's just hard to keep up with the sheer numbers here. It's putting a huge strain on resources, and they're asking Congress for billions of additional dollars to deal with it.

In the meantime, what more have you learned in your reporting about the death of Carlos Hernandez Vasquez?

Well, a couple of things. One thing that really stands out is that Carlos Hernandez Vasquez died in a Border Patrol station. The previous migrant children who died were taken to the hospital first; Hernandez Vasquez was not even though immigration authorities clearly knew that he was sick. He was diagnosed with the flu by a nurse practitioner.

On the same day, Customs and Border Protection moved him to a different Border Patrol station where they could separate him from the other migrants to stop the spread of the flu. Even Health and Human Services officials were concerned about how ill he was. This is the agency that's responsible for long-term care of unaccompanied children. And HHS decided that Hernandez Vasquez could not be flown to a shelter in Florida because of his illness. So in retrospect, critics say it's hard to see why they did not take him to the hospital.

turn 3 : There was a failure to provide appropriate medical care for Carlos Hernandez Vasquez.

How was Carlos Hernandez Vasquez's illness diagnosed?

Answer: Flu


I can do it either way.

There are two different puzzles. You know, they are the dominant forms of matter and energy in the universe. Roughly speaking, dark matter accounts for about 25 percent of the universe, and dark energy 70 percent with the stuff you and I are made of, weighing in at 4. 5 percent. And, you know, dark matter holds things together. Dark matter holds together our galaxy, and it's the dark energy that's causing the expansion of the universe to speed up. So they're doing very different things. But as you alluded to, they're both big mysteries and who knows?They might be related.

We think that in terms of the puzzles that were at different stages, as long as we're talking about the LHC, one of cosmology's big hopes is that the LHC stands for dark matter factory. Let's see, I guess those letters don't quite work. Maybe in some language they do. But we're hoping that the LHC, after it finds the Higgs, will actually find the dark matter particle so that this mystery that started some 70 years ago with Fritz Zwicky will be finished off and that we will have identified the dark matter. The dark energy is one of those puzzles where, who knows, it could get solved this decade, but my hunch is it will be another 30 years or maybe even longer.

Are you saying that the Large Hadron Collider can actually make dark matter?

turn 2 : In turn (3), the speaker is using the phrase "LHC stands for dark matter factory" figuratively, as the LHC is not literally a factory that produces dark matter particles. The speaker is expressing hope that the LHC will be able to detect or produce dark matter particles, which would help solve the mystery of dark matter.

How is the LHC hoping to contribute to solving the mystery of dark matter?

Answer: Detect


And, of course, this comes just a few hours after the president announced a new acting chief of staff. And I emphasize the word acting because that's unusual.

Yeah. So Mick Mulvaney is the head of the Office of Management and Budget. Until recently, he was also the acting head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau but - which he wanted to destroy. But then a permanent head of that agency was confirmed. And so then he only had one job. Now he has two once again. He will be the acting chief of staff. According to the White House, he will do - he will only focus on chief of staff work. He will not do budget work. His deputy there will do that. But he will continue to be in that job - or both jobs. And presumably, the president will be looking for a more long-term chief of staff, though long term is all relative, especially in this administration.

NPR White House correspondent Tamara Keith, thanks so much.

You're welcome.

turn 1 : All ideas are different between all human beings.

How can we describe the new acting chief of staff?

Answer: acting


Well, let's talk about the walk back because we had seen vague reports that China was reneging on something it had agreed to but not a ton of detail. What exactly did China say, ah, we don't want to do?

Well, there's a tactical side to this, and there's something of a cultural side. The tactical side is that China, not unlike the Trump administration, is trying to get the best possible deal that it can to do as little as possible to please Trump. So it's not unusual that they would try to walk back some of their agreements at the last minute.

But the real issue is that they had agreed to make some structural changes - difficult structural changes to the Chinese economy. And this involves things like decreasing subsidies to state-owned enterprises, more guarantees of openness to American companies, protections for intellectual property. They did not like having those promises committed to paper in this 150-page agreement. Those had to be made public. And it looks like a concession to the Chinese people.

OK. So they didn't want to go as far as the Trump administration wanted them to go - at least not in writing.

turn 2 : China did not want to commit to difficult structural changes in their economy in writing because it would look like a concession to the Chinese people.

How did China feel about making promises committed to paper in the agreement?

Answer: Commit


Mm-hmm. I'm Ira Flatow. This is SCIENCE FRIDAY from NPR, talking with Anthony Leiserowitz of the - he's the director of the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication at Yale. How can you follow up with this?Can you keep coming up with new polls so we can follow this?

Oh, absolutely. We'll be doing this at least twice a year and, of course, we have lots of other colleagues around the country that are also surveying on this exact same topics.

And will we know if this does move into the - more into the political discourse as well as the public discourse?

Well, I think we'll see it. I mean, first of all, you can see it in the amount of - number of times that the president talks about this, that candidate Mitt Romney talks about this, as well as across the board. I mean, remember, it's not just the presidential election. There are some Senate races and congressional races all over this country. And what we're seeing is that a lot of people are beginning to ask the question about climate change.

turn 0 : "How can you follow up with this?" - This is a literal question about how the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication can continue to conduct new polls on the topic.

Which organization is conducting polls on climate change communication?

Answer: Yale


Well, that would be an interesting question. Right now, we make a decision. We say we're going to harden particular targets to make them difficult for terrorists to attack. So yes, terrorists do act rationally and choose another target - they choose a less hardened target. The question is whether it could respond very rapidly to changing information.

And what do you say to those people who say - my God, this is hideous?It's blood money.

It is hideous in a sense. It is. There's no question. I share the revulsion of people who say - but people shouldn't profit from this. On the other hand, if allowing people to profit from this, from making these predictions, improved our ability to predict, then it might be something worth trying because of the lives it would save on the other side.

turn 1 : (2) A: Large terror attacks take a lot of work and a lot of planning. And if the market predicted a high probability of an attack in a particular place, it's not as though it's a trivial matter for a terror group to suddenly switch all of its resources to another place. I'm not suggesting this would work. It would be a tool that would be used alongside other tools. And I'm just suggesting an experiment to see if it can improve the accuracy of intelligence forecast.

How would the market prediction affect the terror groups' plan?

Answer: Not


I remember one moment where you're asking, when do you think about race?And someone said, right now.

Like, you know, this is a hey, we're on the spot. At certain points, people are accused, people in the media, of overemphasizing our differences. Were they afraid of being misrepresented?

Some were and some weren't. There was a lawyer who participated in some of the discussions. He is a registered Republican. And when the local paper did a story about our series of conversations, they identified him as a white Republican, and he said when he saw that in the paper, it was jarring for him, because he never thought of himself being described in that way. He said, I've never thought of myself having a label affixed to my name, and it was really uncomfortable for me. And when he was saying this, there were several people in the coloring room who were nodding their heads saying, well, welcome to our world.

Speaking of welcome to our world, one thing I've noticed is that, you know, we talk about black folks, we talk about white folks. There's no question that you have to talk about blackness. But you've also included people who were not black and not white. So how do you think Latinos and Asians in particular are faring in this election in terms of feeling represented or sought out or given their say?

turn 1 : at certain points refers to periods in time

How does PersonB describe the situation when people are accused of overemphasizing differences?

Answer: overemphasizing


. . . We figured out that if all of these things operate as they have historically and retire according to their normal lifetimes, we'd have another maybe 650 billion tons of CO2 emitted to the atmosphere.

That sounds pretty ugly.

Yeah, that's a very large number because we can compare that to sort of the budget we have that the United Nations has identified as being safe targets; 1 1/2 degrees Celsius of warming relative to the preindustrial is considered the safe operating space right now. And this would put us in jeopardy of being beyond that.

I mean, I guess we're assuming that nothing will change, but couldn't there be big technological breakthroughs that could prevent temperatures from rising far beyond 1. 5 degrees Celsius?

turn 1 : I don't like it so it sounds bad, or sounds ugly.

How did PersonB react to PersonA's statement?

Answer: Disapprovingly


So we really need to do research and try to pin that down. Another thing that's critical is - so what is the long-term prospect for our cities and our ports?How much is the sea level going to rise?What are our coast lines going to look like?Well, that depends upon how fast Greenland and parts of the West Antarctic ice sheet melt. That's a big unknown.

There was a piece appearing in the New York Times this week that described new research that basically found even if we curb emissions now, climate change will likely continue until at least the year 3000. Do you feel like there is any solution?Can we ever go back?

We should not think about the fact that we're going to be pristine and back what we were like before the industrial revolution. I think we have to have a different notion. We have used the industrial revolution to get rich. We've improved our quality of life. Now, those very techniques are reducing the quality of life through environmental side effects. Let's try to prevent it from getting a lot worse.

So while we can't stop a few degrees of warming on top of where we already are, we can stop the 10 degrees. My notion is do as much as you can, as fast as you can, as fairly as you can, and as cost effectively as you can, and don't get hung up on the numbers because three degrees is a lot better than six, and 10 degrees is dramatically worse than any other numbers.

turn 0 : They need to do research and find out the answer that they are looking for.

Answer: What


They are, yes, they're getting longer. Yeah, the Earth's spinning down. And this actually goes back to George Darwin's original idea that the Earth could have been spinning really fast because being the son of Charles Darwin, he was familiar with the fossil record, and there were these puzzles when you looked at certain fossils that should have little layers accreted on the - you know, I think it was corals every day.

You know, go deep back into the fossil record, and you start to see 400 layers accreted per year instead of 365. And so there was this evidence that there were more days per year, which indicates that the days were shorter. And so our days are lengthening, the months are lengthening. There's nothing you can do about it.

I think that's a great place to call it. Thank you, Dr.  Asphaug, for coming and joining us on the show.

Oh, you're most welcome, thank you.

turn 0 : The Earth's days are getting longer due to the planet spinning slower and there were more days per year in the past based on fossil record evidence.

What was George Darwin's original idea related to the Earth's spin?

Answer: Spinning


Most Americans agree Congress should do something to try to end gun violence. There is wide support for a range of ideas, including keeping tabs on or limiting who can get a gun and making it easier for police and family members to temporarily take guns away from people who may hurt themselves or others - what's known as red flag laws. There's more division on other proposals. We all - we know all of this because of a new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll.

NPR senior political editor and correspondent Domenico Montanaro has dug into the numbers. He joins us now. Hey, Domenico.

Hey, Ailsa.

OK. So I want to start where there is some agreement. Let's just start positive for now. What does this poll tell us?

turn 3 : Let's focus on the areas of agreement before discussing divisive issues.

How does PersonB suggest to approach the discussion on gun violence?

Answer: Focus


Yes, they are in re-settlement areas. For example, in Mozambique you have 258,000 people, 90,000 of whom have been displaced over the past month or so. In Malawi you already have 700 cholera cases that have been reported. You have about 152,000 people who have been affected. So they are moving away from their home areas into re-settlement camps.

Let's move to Kenya in the east of Africa. The talks between President Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga continue today outside of Nairobi and the negotiations are being mediated by former U. N.  Secretary General Kofi Annan. Since the post-election violence began in late December, more than 1,000 people have been killed and hundreds of thousands have been displaced. There are also reports of a wave of sexual violence against women who've been displaced by this turmoil. So Cassandra, what's going on here?

Since the violence after the disputed elections on December 27th, we're seeing that this situation has put women and girls at great risk of sexual assault. We know that always in situations of conflict women and girls are in danger. And in Kenya it is no different. We are hearing reports from Nairobi, from the Nairobi general hospital, that there may be as many as double the number of cases of rape within the days following the eruption of the violence.

And what we know is that for every case that is being treated or is being reported, there are many more victims who fail to seek help.

turn 3 : "many more victims who fail to seek help" is a figurative expression, meaning that there are many more victims who do not report or seek help for their situation, and not a literal reference to victims physically failing to seek help.

How is the expression "many more victims who fail to seek help" being used in turn 3?

Answer: Report


We have frozen nonessential travel. We've frozen nonessential hiring. And we've also given all of our staff - 2,500 of them across the state - a 60-day notice of a furlough - that is unpaid leave time - to be taken sometime during the fiscal year.

You have asked state legislators to intervene. Have they, and are you optimistic it might make a difference?

It's going to be a very heavy lift in that overriding the veto requires three quarters of the legislature in combined session. So 45 of Alaska's 60 legislators need to override the veto.

The governor's argument is that these cuts are, A, necessary for the budget and, B, that they would allow the University of Alaska to be - and I'll quote him - "smaller, leaner but still very, very positive and a productive university. "If I'm hearing you right, you are not in agreement.

turn 0 : The travel has not been frozen in the sense of encased in ice - it has just been suspended, metaphorically.

What has been frozen in a metaphorical sense?

Answer: Travel


Hackahmackahdolohrollocolamockahdackahmolahhackahdohkah.

(Laughter).

And yeah.

turn 0 : "About six lengths off the lead followed by Homeroom Jester and the trailer is Dolarolarorrarockadockamolahholah." This is an example of horse racing jargon, where "lengths" refers to a unit of measurement used to describe the distance between horses during a race. The names following "the trailer is" are the names of other horses in the race.

What is the unit of measurement used to describe the distance between horses during a race?

Answer: Lengths