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 2 : "talk about a single aspect" - actual meaning: talk about a single element or component

Which phrase describes the difficulty a candidate faces when campaigning in Ohio?

Answer: single


The cease-fire that was supposed to halt fighting between Russian separatists and the Ukrainian government has not taken hold. Really, it never seems to have started. Shelling and dying has continued this week with both sides insisting the other had violated the cease-fire agreement. Separatist rebels have taken control of the city of Debaltseve, which serves as a key rail hub in Ukraine. Ivo Daalder is the president of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and the former NATO ambassador. He joins us now. Thanks very much for being with us, Mr. Ambassador.

Oh, it's great to be here.

Do you think a cease-fire is even practical?

Well, I think the only way you're going to get a cease-fire is if one side stops shooting because clearly the Russians and the Russian-backed separatists are bent on continuing to fight. They were never interested in the cease-fire in the first place. We saw that in the Minsk negotiations more than a week ago when they refused to have an immediate cease-fire. They wanted to have a delay. So they could take this city of Debaltseve, but we now also see continued fighting in the south near Mariupol and in other parts of the region.

turn 3 : A: "Well, I think the only way you're going to get a cease-fire is if one side stops shooting because clearly the Russians and the Russian-backed separatists are bent on continuing to fight." - This turn uses the idiom "bent on" to mean "determined to" or "committed to," rather than a literal meaning of being physically bent over something.

How were the Russians and the Russian-backed separatists described in turn 3?

Answer: fighting


Well, the size of this scandal involving the Brazilian state-run oil company Petrobras is sometimes hard for outsiders to understand. Petrobras is a company that, through the company and its suppliers, encompasses about 10 percent of Brazil's economy.

Yeah, it's huge.

And so what happened was you had these prosecutors who found - almost stumbled into these clues. And they started pulling on this string and saw very quickly that this scandal was connected to almost everything and everyone.

And everybody, yeah.

turn 2 : Turn (3) describes the discovery of clues that led to the unraveling of the scandal, which is consistent with its literal meaning.

Which turn describes the connection of the scandal to almost everything and everyone?

Answer: two


. . . in the most efficient way.

Right. So the ones in the back may get an advantage by swimming behind the fish, but they, you know, pay the cost of not getting to food first. They also are safer because they don't get eaten first if a predator is coming right at them. So it's a complicated issue, and he's just looking at this one little piece, but. . .

It's fascinating. The video is - I call it the Pied Piper fish.

Yeah, absolutely.

turn 2 : The literal meaning of B's turn is that the video is fascinating and is like the Pied Piper fish. However, the implied meaning is that the video is about the Pied Piper fish and thus the fish in the video are like the Pied Piper fish.

Answer: Pied-Piper


Absolutely.

But still, I would beg still to point to the affinity between wanting to bake and the significance of bread and grain and its significance as something that supports life as a kind of basic food. And, of course, Christians use unleavened bread - some Christians, at least, in the Western Christian tradition tend to use unleavened bread for every Eucharistic celebration. And that in itself is understood to be an echo of that last supper. So Christians are sort of using a form of matzah throughout the year and celebrating a little Passover every Sunday, in one sense.

What about the journey from slavery to freedom which is part of the Passover celebration?The way that Christians celebrate the journey from death to life which is part of the resurrection of Christ - I mean, are those all parallels that we should pay attention to?

Well, the Easter Vigil itself is really a kind of mini Passover for Christians, I think. Much of its symbolism is specifically about mapping Jesus' narrative - the story of Jesus' connection and his movement from death to life - as a kind of image that parallels that of the Exodus experience so that Jesus becomes Israel itself and his passage from death to life is like the passage through the Red Sea.

turn 3 : Well, the Easter Vigil itself is really a kind of mini Passover for Christians, I think.Much of its symbolism is specifically about mapping Jesus' narrative - the story of Jesus' connection and his movement from death to life - as a kind of image that parallels that of the Exodus experience so that Jesus becomes Israel itself and his passage from death to life is like the passage through the Red Sea.

How is Jesus' narrative mapped in the Easter Vigil?

Answer: parallels


Oh, we anticipate that to be the case. We've demonstrated this with antibodies, monoclonal antibodies. I mentioned enzymes already. And so we anticipate quite a range of potential utility for therapeutics.

So you think this a game-changer for storing drugs?

Well, we are very optimistic, yes. I think it could certainly have a major impact.

I want to thank you very much for taking time to be with us today, and good luck to you. It's very fascinating.

turn 1 : The antibodies and enzymes have potential for therapeutic use.

What is anticipated from the antibodies and enzymes?

Answer: Potential


What do you think she'd think of what you've done?

I think she would be amazed. (Laughter) I have had nothing to do with the fashion world, and I don't think I'm known particularly for being fashionable. But in fact, Inga was my mother's name. But it's only afterwards that I realized looking it up that it actually means a hero's daughter. And that's very much how we feel - that this concept is in honor of the heroes in our life. And I hope it brings a great deal of comfort and dignity to others and just break this vicious cycle that patients often find themselves in.

Nikla Lancksweert is the co-founder of the clothing company INGA Wellbeing. Thank you so much for being with us.

Thank you.

turn 1 : A: "I think she would be amazed." - The literal meaning suggests that the person being referred to would be surprised or astonished. However, the actual meaning here implies that the speaker believes the person mentioned would be proud or impressed by what they have accomplished.

What feeling would the person being referred to have towards what PersonA has accomplished?

Answer: Impressed


Well, they basically came to myself, and from what I found out tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of small businesses, and cut our credit limits down to bare bones. We had had a - what they call guidance of $165,000, which they tell you you have no credit limit, but you really do. They cut it to $5,000 which was laughable. We're a company with sales into eight figures and profits into seven figures, never have had a lost, been in business 27 years, and we called to question it. We were treated very poorly. The woman was actually nasty on the phone.

So we thought we don't need American Express, we have Capital One, Visa cards, and MasterCard, and everything else, and so we just closed our American Express account. I personally went from a Platinum card to a Green card just to have in case of an emergency. So I've not spent a penny with American Express in over a year, so I knew why I got the letter.

Well, tell me why they made that decision to cut your credit line from - you said $165,000 to $5,000?

Mm hmm. Yes. They seemed to have just gone into a panic last January, and I've seen comments all over the Web from other small businesses owners who had the same thing happened to them. They did it without warning. They actually refused charges we had made even though we weren't above our credit limit, we weren't delinquent.

turn 0 : bare bones refers to their credit being SIGNIFICANTLY reduced

How much was the credit limit reduced by American Express?

Answer: $5,000


Yes, yes, in fact three weeks ago, General Electric came here because they now realize that this is coming with a vehemence and changing - that all the lighting is going to be this. And of course they've got a lot of pride in this, and they could use it for their purposes.

So they came here and filmed one morning. I was pretty rough on them, in a sense, because I said I'm not going to do anything special for you guys. I believe in you, I've worked with you and all that, but just come in here with your stuff and film. And so it's in my drawer here.

It's going to be - you're not giving it to the Smithsonian or anybody like. . .

Hey, Ira, it's a tiny little crystal, and it's hard to believe that a tiny little crystal, you tickle it with a current, and wham, it'll blind you. In other words - I don't really don't know what ought to be done. You know, John Bardeen didn't give his first transistor box to the Smithsonian. It's here in a museum, and I don't know. That's an interesting question: Where should things like that go?

turn 1 : A is not willing to do anything special for General Electric's filming

How did PersonA respond to General Electric's request for filming?

Answer: Rough


Well, it's - the prosecutors are saying that, essentially, they've got easier access to Julian Assange. He's no longer holed up in the Ecuadorian Embassy. He's in custody in the U. K. , so it's more feasible. I mean, they haven't proven him to be guilty or innocent, but the evidence hasn't changed. It wasn't due to a lack of evidence that they decided not to question him. It was pure logistics.

As we mentioned, the U. S.  is trying to extradite him, as is Sweden. Is there a chance that there could be competing claims against him here?

Yeah. The big question is who's going to get the chance to speak to him first?And Swedish prosecutors at their press conference - they basically said, we're going to let the U. K.  decide, but it could well be that it's down to the home secretary in the U. K. , the interior minister, to decide which of the countries he thinks has a more pressing case. Should it be the rape charges, or should it be the hacking classified military secrets in the U. S. ?

And there are also time considerations here. Tell us about the statute of limitations.

Yeah. In Sweden, there's a certain time limit for different kinds of crimes. And for rape, it's 10 years. So there's about a year to go before that statute of limitation limit is reached, which means there really is a time squeeze on authorities.

turn 0 : "He's no longer holed up" implies that he is no longer staying in the Ecuadorian Embassy, not that he was in an actual hole.

Which place was Julian Assange no longer staying in?

Answer: A


Michael Ben-Ari is his name. He has had links to the outlawed Kahane movement, which calls for expelling Palestinians. And the Supreme Court disqualified him from running in elections because of his racist statements against Arabs. His far-right party is called the Jewish Strength or the Jewish Power party, and it is still running in elections.

Oh. So this one candidate is gone, but that party is still there. Now, how does that affect Benjamin Netanyahu who you wouldn't describe necessarily as far-right but he is absolutely on the right side of the spectrum?

This actually could help Netanyahu in the polls. He has been seen as legitimizing this far-right party. He recently brokered a deal to merge the party with others on the right wing to consolidate votes and to help him win elections. His base is very fired up about the fact that this far-right candidate has been disqualified but that an Arab party is being allowed to run.

Oh, well let's talk about that very briefly, if we can, because we've heard some headlines to that effect - people on the right saying if you elect this center-left coalition, it's going to bring Arabs to power. In what way, if at all, is that true?

turn 3 : Implied meaning: The speaker is hinting at a deeper or hidden motive or intention behind their actions or words.

Answer: Indirectly


What did it sound like?

(Imitating plane noise) A lot of, you know, you got hundreds of planes, one right after the other. It was very moving and exciting. You know, you wonder what's going to happen. And 'course, then we fly over the channel. You can look out the window and see the silhouettes of the ships. We know it's going to happen now.

That is Les Cruise. He's 95 years old, and he's one of the last surviving veterans of that D-Day mission. These days, he lives outside of Philadelphia. I went to visit him earlier this week.

I'm Noel. It's nice to meet you.

turn 1 : Exciting experience of flying over the channel during the D-Day mission

How was the view from the window during the D-Day mission?

Answer: silhouettes


Yeah. I think many of us were. But now to North Korea, which is slightly less joyful, as I said. We're seeing, suddenly, a list of demands from the North before this summit takes place - a halting of military exercises between South Korea and the U. S. They want the return of North Korean female restaurant workers in South Korea who the North claims were kidnapped. It seems we're having to negotiate before the negotiations.

You know, this is part of an old pattern of behavior. You know, the North Korea problem is a wicked problem, a deeply impacted, entangled problem. It's frustrated at least two American presidents - President Clinton and President George W.  Bush. And that's for a reason. And the reason is that nuclear weapons have actually been North Korea's business. They've been in the business of developing nuclear weapons, threatening the world with them and then shaking down the world for different forms of aid for them to either, you know, supposedly give up or mute or, you know, diminish their nuclear stockpile. And so it's just so hard for anyone to imagine that, having behaved that way for so many years, now they're about to give them up.

So is President Trump being played?You know, what does the Trump administration want out of the summit on June 12?

Well, you know, part of my reaction to it is - you know, Kim Jong Un, 35 years old - Donald Trump, 71 years old - alone in a room, negotiating nuclear weapons. What could go wrong?

turn 1 : The problem is extremely hard and difficult to understand as well as constantly changing.

Which word describes the North Korea problem?

Answer: Wicked


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

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

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

You're welcome.

turn 0 : People who usually would vote for the Republican candidate are considering voting for Hillary Clinton instead.

How are some Republicans considering voting in the upcoming election?

Answer: Considering


. . . About 30 seconds left.

OK.

Do you think the administration perceives ISIS as a greater threat than the Assad regime in Syria and is making that choice in so many words?

Scott, that's the problem. The Iraq strategy is clear, but the Syria strategy is a muttle (ph) because there's a desire to the defeat ISIL. And we've had some success with the Kurds in the north, but there hasn't been a clear strategy vis-a-vis Assad. These are two problems that are connected, and you can't have a strategy that's just about one. We're hoping for a, you know, a strong outcome to these discussions in Geneva, the restart of a peace discussion about Syria. But we've been pursuing a strategy in Syria that's kind of a half strategy without having a strategy on Assad and the refugee crisis and so many other (unintelligible) for that.

turn 3 :  (4) implies that the US is trying to reach a political solution to the conflict in Syria, but without a strategy to deal with Assad and the refugee crisis.

Which crisis is PersonA referring to in turn 3?

Answer: refugee


Yeah. It's a slam dunk. Yeah. I think that's kind of universal.

What's Krosno like?

Krosno is great. It's really small. It's about 50,000 people. It's kind of a young town, too - lots of high school students. But they get excited about basketball. So that's good.

I'm going to guess you're pretty well-known in town already.

turn 0 : 1).  In this context, "slam dunk" is not referring to a basketball move, but rather an expression meaning that something is certain or easy. The speaker is using it to convey their confidence in their statement.

What did PersonB mean by saying "slam dunk"?

Answer: Certain


No, I didn't think they were racially motivated. They were just wrong. The president actually was referring to my opposition to the war in Iraq and suggesting somehow that I have not consistently opposed the war in Iraq.

Everybody who's looked at my track record knows that from 2002, when I made a speech in front of 3,000 people saying the war in Iraq was a mistake. Until today, I have consistently been opposed to this war.

And so the president, I think, was massaging the truth a little bit, and that's part of sort of standard Washington politics. But I think, at this point, you know, we're - we just want to move forward and make sure that we are talking about the issues that people are struggling with and particularly in economy right now that is teetering on the edge of recession.

That was Illinois Senator Barack Obama.

turn 0 : Turn (1) has an implicated meaning that is different from its literal meaning. Although the speaker denies that the remarks were racially motivated, the implication is that the speaker believes they were in fact racially motivated, and is trying to downplay or avoid addressing that implication.

How was the PersonA's opposition to the war in Iraq?

Answer: Consistently


They are of course big spenders, but at the same time there are so many different kinds of collections as there are collections. Some collectors are happy, some are tormented. Some buy very little, while others can't help themselves. Why do people collect?Well, I once interviewed the great art historian Kenneth Clark and he once said that it's like asking why we fall in love. The reasons are quite so different. And it's very true.

Forgive a couple of stereotypes but are there a lot of Saudi princes or Russian billionaires on this list?

I haven't counted them all. One of my favorites is not Saudi and not a Russian prince. Let's call him Mr.  D.  He collects impressionist paintings and a good friend of mine was at his mansion not too long ago and the collector said before you look at them I just have to switch something on. And when he was exactly about five feet away from the Monet the sound system was activated and the room was abruptly flooded with Debussy.

Debussy?

turn 0 : A: "Why do people collect? Well, I once interviewed the great art historian Kenneth Clark and he once said that it's like asking why we fall in love." - The speaker is suggesting that the reasons why people collect things are complex and varied, and cannot be easily explained or generalized.

How did Kenneth Clark compare collecting things to falling in love?

Answer: Comparison


Hi, Tony. How are you?

Listen, people define hate groups in different ways. So two things for you, how does the Southern Poverty Law Center determine if an organization deserves this classification, and what kinds of groups are we talking about here?

Basically, our definition of a hate group is a group which in its platform statements or in the speeches or writings of its leader says that an entire group of other people by virtue of their group characteristics is somehow less. So in other words, a group that says, you know, all black people are criminals, all white people are blue-eyed devils, all the Jews are whatever, is a hate group by our definition.

Are we talking then about the Klan, Nazi skinheads, something different and new perhaps?

turn 2 : "Blue-eyed devils" isn't literal. something people might say to indicate they think white people are evil. But they don't have to have blue eyes or be literal devils.

How does the term "blue-eyed devils" relate to the concept of hate groups?

Answer: Definition


Absolutely not. In fact, the people of my state should know we are doing everything in our power to defend them. If it comes to a legal fight with the Trump administration, we're prepared to have it. I've had some experience with taking on the Trump administration litigation. We have yet to lose a case yet, and I don't plan on starting with this issue.

Attorney General Bob Ferguson of Washington state, thanks so much.

Oh, thank you, Scott. Have a great day.

And we contacted the Department of Justice for comment on Mr.  Ferguson's remarks about Attorney General Sessions. We have yet to receive a response.

turn 1 : (2) The literal meaning of turn (2) is the speaker thanking the person who introduced him, but the implied meaning is just a polite expression to acknowledge the introduction. (3) The literal meaning of turn (3) is the speaker thanking the other person, but the implied meaning is just a polite expression to end the conversation.

What was the response of the Department of Justice on Mr. Ferguson's remarks about Attorney General Sessions?

Answer: None


Do the crime, do the time, that's the old line, right?But convicted perpetrators are still afforded basic human rights while serving out their debt to society. The Southern Center for Human Rights recently filed suit on behalf of a group of prisoners in Decatur, Alabama. The presiding judge describes the county jail as, quote, "A Slave Ship. "There, the sheriff is accused of starving his prisoners so he could pocket the profits off a lean kitchen budget. Joining us is Lisa Kung, the executive director of the Southern Center for Human Rights. Hi, Lisa.

Hi, how are you?

I'm good. So this case has just stunned people across the world. I couldn't believe it myself when I read about it. But I understand that there is a Depression-era law on the books that made this kind of profiteering legal. Tell us about the law and the details of the case.

Sure. That's right. Alabama has this arrangement where the state pays $1. 75 a day to the sheriffs - directly to the sheriffs for every person they have in his or her jail. Now, you and I know it's hard enough to come up with three meals a day for $1. 75, and what makes Alabama special is that it allows these sheriffs to take any of the money that they don't spend on food and put it straight into their own pocket.

turn 2 : The profiteering of sheriffs from prisoners' budget is a legal but shocking reality in Alabama

Which state allows sheriffs to take leftover money from prisoners' food budget as their own profit?

Answer: Alabama


Finally, Mike, the Super Bowl is usually one huge party. But given the current economy, do you think it'll be as big of a celebration?

Officially, they give figures that are absolutely impossible to check about how much the Super Bowl adds to the economy. $300 million is one of the official totals. But I've read different economists saying the impact on a local economy is very small. And I have informally talked to some limo drivers and talked to some people who work in hotels. And they said, you know, a year ago, if you told them the Super Bowl was going to be here, they would've thought they'd all be booked up by now. But you can still get a limo maybe on Friday and Saturday, maybe not Sunday going to the game.

So it does - and another indication is that there used to be two huge parties sponsored by Playboy and Maxim, and Playboy is not having its party. So that's the economic indicator of this Super Bowl, that Playboy is not having its party.

NPR's Mike Pesca in Tampa, Florida for this weekend's Super Bowl. Thanks Mike.

turn 1 :  economy is not literally hit by the super bowl, but affected by it; booked up does not mean surrounded by books, but there are no hotel rooms available

Which party is not having its event as an economic indicator of this Super Bowl?

Answer: Playboy


Science and magic are supposed to be opposites. Science is real, and it's hard, and it's facts-driven. Magic is illusion, and it's make-believe. Two separate worlds. But not for Teller, half of the famous magic duo Penn & Teller. He recently wrote an article for Smithsonian magazine, outlining the secrets that magicians use to manipulate the human mind and how those tricks may be put to use by scientists. At the core of every trick, he wrote, is a cold, cognitive experiment in perception. Does the trick fool the audience?

Well, in this portion of the program, we would like to hear from the magicians out there. What is the trick that proved most difficult for you to master?And if you want to share its secret, what was its secret?Our number is 800-989-8255. Our email address is talk@npr. org. And you can join the conversation on our website. Go to npr. org, and click on TALK OF THE NATION. Teller joins us from NPR member station KNPR in Las Vegas. Teller, thanks very much for joining us.

Happy to be here.

So psychologists talk about the artistic intuition that magicians have, this innate ability honed over time, a lot, a lot of time to grab a person's attention and control it and manipulate it. Are they right about that?Are psychologists on to something in this assessment of what you magicians are really up to?

turn 1 :  "What is the trick that proved most difficult for you to master?" Here, the word "trick" is used to refer to a specific magic performance or illusion. The literal meaning of "trick" is a cunning or deceitful act, but in the context of magicians, it represents a skillful and entertaining performance.

Which word in the dialogue refers to a skillful and entertaining magic performance?

Answer: Grab


Well, yeah. But you see what I mean?Because it is about perception and how we need to be - to understand what we're seeing before we can really see it, that's really key to understanding this whole issue of climate change and why we see or don't see what's right in front of us.

What drew you to monarchs in the first place?

I had really wanted to write about the subject for a long time. I live in southern Appalachia. I am surrounded by neighbors and friends - people I respect very much - who don't really understand climate change or believe in it, even though, as farmers, they're getting socked by it. We've had unprecedented, disastrous weather time and again. So it's such a strange contradiction that the people in our continent who are first to feel the harm of a changing climate are the last to be able to talk about it.

That was such a conundrum and such rich territory for a novel to tread, that I was just looking for the right way to get into the subject. And one morning, I just woke up with this vision in my eyes of millions of butterflies covering the forest behind my house. I just - I mean, I didn't actually see it. I imagined it. I woke up and there it was, and I knew that was it.

turn 2 : Farmers in southern Appalachia feel the harm of a changing climate but are the last to talk about it.

Which group of people are experiencing the consequences of a changing climate in southern Appalachia?

Answer: Farmers


Well, he's a remarkable individual. He has transformed Indian politics. He has led his party from a very low level in parliament to an enormous majority. He has a party that is the largest single party in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian Parliament. He is seen as a transformative figure. He's also seen as a divisive figure because of his past, but he has promised - and some of the early indications are - that he's not allowing that extreme element within his party a powerful say in government.

You have come out with a study at the Atlantic Council that demonstrates some of the economic costs of the arms race, which includes not just the cost of the arms and the cost of maintaining the vast military structures, but the deficits that have been created - lost opportunities for tourism and other industries. Try and sketch that out for us, if you could.

Yes, the current trade is only $2 billion. Economics 101 dictates that you trade with your neighbors. It makes no sense for them to have trade with distant countries. But, if they were to go back to the level of trade that they had at the time of independence in 1947, you could have between $40 and $100 billion worth of trade between the two countries. And more important - if they open their borders to each other, you would have tourism trade. You would have religious tourism from both sides and you would have trade with Central Asia through Afghanistan.

And if India is going to become the major power that it wants to be in the region and on the global stage, it will need every ounce of energy.

turn 3 : "it will need every ounce of energy" - The literal meaning is that India will need every unit of energy. The actual meaning is that India will need to put in a lot of effort to become a major power in the region and on the global stage.

Which figure is seen as both transformative and divisive?

Answer: Modi


The government sets the interest rates and so the banks can make a lot money. And if you're a Chinese person, you can't really get much of your capital out of the country. So where else are you going to put it?

One of the problems with the banks is that they tend to invest in state-owned enterprises. It's kind of part of their job, and it's less risky. But most of the jobs in China are really produced by private enterprise, as they are here in the United States. And it's much harder for them to get capital. So people are, in many ways, feelings that the economy is out of whack in a number ways and that there need to be some serious changes. The government knows this, but there are now very strong vested interests in state-owned enterprises and the banks. And so getting that done is not going to be easy politically.

And even some of those big industries who are in the, I guess, the equivalent of a China's Pittsburgh, the Steel City, and a couple of vast enterprises there, well, they've gone under.

The over-capacity in the steel is extraordinary, and the debt now is over $400 billion. It's actually owned by steel companies largely to Chinese banks. And it's going to take years to work through that over-capacity.

turn 0 : Chinese people face restrictions on moving their capital out of the country

Which nationality is facing difficulties in moving their capital out of the country?

Answer: Chinese


And a few facts to guard those younger than you and me. Britain seized the Falklands in 1833, illegal then and illegal now, according to Argentina, which calls them the Malvinas. Every Argentine school child learns Islas Malvinas son Argentinas, but the roughly 3,200 residents adamantly insist they and the Falklands are and will always be British. But Jackson Diehl, none of that has changed since the end of the war three decades ago. Why has this dispute reemerge now?

I think it has to do with Argentine politics more than anything else. The reason the Argentine junta in 1982, military generals in charge at the time, invaded the Falklands, was they were desperate to distract popular attention from the fact that the economy was tanking and that they were losing their legitimacy. Now we have a civilian government in power, which, to its credit, doesn't want to invade the Falklands, but it has the same difficult economic problems again and it has the same problems with potentially losing legitimacy at home. And this is a very easy way to distract people.

This time, though, there is no hint of military action.

There isn't. And I think the interesting thing about this government is they have cut the Argentine military budget so severely in the last few years that even if Argentina wanted to invade the Falklands, they would be incapable of doing so. So that's one good thing.

turn 1 : Implied meaning: The speaker may be expressing a subtle hint or suggestion, rather than stating something directly.

How is the speaker expressing their message in turn 1?

Answer: Subtle


Mm hmm.

Interracial relationships, though, may still be controversial to some degree. How do you see the difference if you see one between interracial relationships today and the way they were when you were doing Society's Child?

You know, it's a huge difference from my viewpoint. There will always be those people who are just backward and ignorant. There will always be those people. They need somebody to feel superior to. For my point of view, I live in Nashville, Tennessee, there's no way I could have lived in Nashville at 16 in 1966, '67. There's no way that Nashville would have had room for somebody like me then. I see interracial couples all the time in Nashville. I'm a Jew in Nashville. I'm a gay person in Nashville. It's a non-issue in most of the time. That's a huge leap forward.

(Singing) You come to my door, baby, Your face is clean and shinning, black as night. My momma went to answer, You know, that you looked so kind. Now, I could understand the tears and the shame, She called you, boy, instead of your name, When she wouldn't let you inside, When she turned and said, "But, honey, he's not our kind. "She says I can't see you anymore, baby, I can't see you anymore.

turn 1 : she says I can't see you anymore, baby, I can't see you anymore.

What does the mother call the person at the door in the song?

Answer: Boy


Well, first, they obviously don't enjoy broad support among the population. They do have a core group of support, but if forced to stand in election, they would lose. Which is why they have avoided that, or attempted to manipulate or manufacture the results of elections. Secondly, they are dependent, for their long-term viability, on their relationship with the Venezuelan armed forces, which is what the Trump administration and others have focused on at this point.

When you talk about the dependence on the armed forces, I'm reminded of that old saying, that one definition of the government is they have a monopoly on the use of force.

Correct.

When all else fails, they have that.

Correct.

turn 1 : The government's reliance on armed forces is a defining characteristic of their power.

Which characteristic of the government is highlighted in the dialogue?

Answer: reliance


Exactly so. Dopamine, the opiates, these are the chemicals of pleasure and addiction.

So, some people have questioned whether or not there really can be something like technology addiction. What makes you so sure that there is?

Well, there are certain signs and symptoms. All addictions have certain patterns. They - it really involves somebody being able to feel high from engaging in the activity, beginning to lose control over that, and find themselves really behaving in a compulsive way with it, and going into withdrawal when they are not able to engage in that, and then engaging in the behavior in spite of negative consequences. So, that general pattern holds for all addictions, and it holds very much so for these high-tech addictions as well.

Let's talk about the whole idea of withdrawal, because if you have a chemical addiction, withdrawal, you know, for example, from heroin can include things like sweats and, you know, body aches and all sorts of physical symptoms, but what do you really mean by withdrawal from technology?

turn 0 : Certain chemicals in the brain are associated with pleasure and addiction.

What are the chemicals associated with addiction?

Answer: Dopamine


We can say she grew up. She had a daughter of her own who became curious about family secrets kept from both her and her mother for decades. That daughter is Laura Cumming, and she's the author of "Five Days Gone. "She joins me now from London.

Laura Cumming, welcome.

Thank you.

Start with the kidnapping, which is absolutely central to the book you've written. It was not central to your mother's life. She was only 3. She had no memory of it. And she didn't even learn of it until she was well into middle age. Is that right?

turn 3 : The phrase "central to the book you've written" in this context does not literally mean that the book is physically located in the center, but rather that the kidnapping plays a major and important role in the narrative of the book. Similarly, the phrase "well into middle age" does not refer to a specific age range or point in time, but rather a general time period when someone is considered to be middle-aged.

What does the phrase "central" mean in the context of the book?

Answer: a


Shawn Zahir. I want to share one quick story. I have many stories. The surgeon said to me - and this was one we still didn't know his name - he said, listen, you're very lucky and your daughter's very lucky because she got the liver of a good man. I've done this surgery many times. Most people when they wake up they say, when can I get back to work?When can I play sports?The first question that he asked was, when can I donate blood again?

Yeah. Nusayba was all set up for an initial transplant, but these things are unpredictable - didn't work out.

Gut punch at the last second. The donor, who was an acquaintance of mine, who had never met Nusayba - and I can finally reveal her name because the text just came through, Scott, that she gave me permission - Megan Black was willing to donate a piece of her liver. Her entire family was on board. And at the last second, the lead doctor, Dr.  Fishbein, who's been doing this for 30 years, saw a complication, called it off. Megan was crying. Her family was crying. She apologized. But if it wasn't for Megan stepping up and for this bad news, we wouldn't have done the call out. And we wouldn't have gotten Shawn. So we also owe Megan a huge gratitude. Thank you, Megan.

Boy. Nusaybe, you've been able to - she's been able to talk to you and Sarah.

turn 0 : She got the liver of a man that cares about others more than himself.

How would you describe the character of the liver donor?

Answer: Cares


Hopelessness and uncertainty.

Are people trying to leave, and is that something you've considered?

Many people have no choice. And they think - the only thing - I can leave the country. But how can they do that with the huge amount of limitations on Iranians' travelings (ph) and economical limits?They cannot do that. It is very, very difficult for them. And now we see a lot of Iranians who are abroad the country who are evacuating. They cannot do it anymore because of the higher dollar prices. They have to return to the country. It is very difficult situation for them.

Well, thank you so much for speaking with us and sharing your story.

turn 1 : Asking if the person has considered leaving the country due to the difficult situation.

What is the reason for people leaving the country?

Answer: difficulties


I should remind Americans that, in Britain, the prime minister normally controls the agenda in Parliament. He was blocked yesterday. What was it like to be on the floor for yesterday's vote?

Well, it was exciting. I mean, the chamber the House of Commons - I often take Americans around it. It's very different from Congress or the Senate. It's very confrontational. There are seats facing opposite each other, so you get to shout at each other. But, of course, in this instance, the fight was between people sitting on the same benches. So you kind of shout across at each other. It's also a very small chamber, a very intimate chamber. So in that sense, it adds to the drama.

Well, Prime Minister Johnson said he would expel you rebels from the Conservative Party. Did that happen overnight?Are you no longer a member of the Conservative Party?

Yeah. He's been true to his word. I have lost what we call the whip. So we're not members of the Conservative Parliamentary Party, we're independent MPs, which has been forced on us rather than a choice made by us.

turn 3 : Being expelled from the Conservative Party was not their choice

Answer: Forced


You offered to do this for nothing. Is that offer still out there?

Of course.

You manage, well, you did manage $720 billion in assets. I'm not sure your portfolio's still worth 720. A month ago, it was.

Well, it's worth more now because we've grown and taken in additional assets, not because our assets have miraculously gone up in price.

turn 3 : A's portfolio has grown due to additional assets, not increased prices.

What has been the reason for growth in PersonA's portfolio?

Answer: Growth


He ended up in a small town in Alabama where he did have an encounter with a local police officer. At that point, he told police he had had a canoeing accident. They led him to a local motel. He checked in, paid cash. The police came back later to try to locate him. And by that time, he'd wandered off into the woods.

Why might Mr.  Schrenker want people to believe he was dead?

Well, it turns out he faces just a host of financial problems, also some personal problems, I might add. The Indiana Securities Division, the Indiana Insurance Commissioner are both looking into very serious allegations of misappropriated money from his financial company.

And do you think, even given these problems, he might have had enough assets to help him flee the country?

turn 0 : He did not have a canoeing accident, he was running away from something.

How did Mr. Schrenker end up in Alabama?

Answer: Wandered


Absolutely. I played hockey starting when I was 3, 4 years old, loved to go see the Canucks here in my hometown and, you know, certainly not only saw a lot of fights but kind of internalized the message that they were inherently good and valuable to the game of hockey.

And what happened that changed your view of the fighting?

So I went to a junior hockey game here in Vancouver. And it was just a regular night out with the boys, Friday night, drinking some beers, sat down in my seventh row seat. And it was one of those games where the gloves beat the puck to the ice. So there's a fight before the game even starts. And the crowd rises up around me. There's this guttural thunder. You hear it. And usually I would have been right there kind of cheering it along or not really paying it much mind.

But for some reason in that moment, I really zoned in on the two players' faces, and in that moment realized they're just children, and had to ask myself in that moment, what are we doing?We're 10,000 adults in a big room cheering for two kids to pulverize each other's faces. And I looked at the program, indeed - 16 and 17 years old. I've never been able to look at fighting the same since. But it would be a lie to say that there aren't a lot of people who are hockey fans who sincerely love this practice and this tradition.

turn 2 : It was a game where the players fought with each other more than played the game.

Answer: great


Yeah, Scott, well it began with - you know, it was a warm night last night, and people were out - it was a Friday night - sitting at a restaurant out at a cafe. And that's how it started. The attackers drove by with Kalashnikovs and just fired into everyone at that outdoor cafe. And there was also an attack on the stadium - the national stadium - where Francois Hollande was watching a game - a friendly game - match between France and Germany - a soccer match. And two assailants blew themselves up with - they were suicide bombers outside the stadium. And everyone ran to the grass to take cover. There was complete chaos. It had to be evacuated. The thing authorities are saying that's so striking is that they were perfectly coordinated.

To occur at the same time. . .

Exactly.

. . . Which, of course, would deplete the emergency resources the city could bring to it. In the. . .

turn 2 : The speaker is agreeing with the previous speaker's statement about the attacks being coordinated, and the use of the word "exactly" suggests a shared understanding between the two speakers. This also implies that there may be more to the story than what has been reported so far, and that further investigation may be necessary to fully understand the nature and motives of the attackers.

Which word suggests a shared understanding between the two speakers about the coordinated attacks?

Answer: Shared


The so-called Energy Climate Czar, I think people are calling it. I suppose if we have a car czar, we have to have a climate czar. This is supposedly going to be Carol Browner, who was the head of EPA in both Clinton administrations, actually, I think probably the longest serving EPA director.

She's a lawyer. She used to work with Al Gore in the Senate. She has earned herself quite a reputation when she was working for President Clinton as a tough regulator, someone who defended the Clean Air Act vigorously against lawsuits brought by industry questioning some of the scope of the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act. So she comes with, again, quite a lot of green credentials and reputation for being very savvy on how Washington works.

And finally, Chris, can you tell us a bit about who is going to head up Mr.  Obama's EPA?

Again, the name that's being bandied about quite a bit about is a woman named Lisa Jackson. She is a chemical engineer, and she is working currently as the environment - she started working as the environment head for the state of New Jersey in 2006. And again, she also worked at EPA during the Clinton years, so we've got a couple of people here who were Clinton executives and environmental movers and shakers during the Clinton administration.

turn 0 : The term 'Czar' is used to refer to the head of a certain field, although it does not hold any official title or position in the government.

Which word is used to refer to the head of a certain field, although it does not hold any official title or position in the government?

Answer: Czar


The MIT Media Lab has been under fire for the past several weeks for its financial links to deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The lab's director, Joi Ito, initially said he had accepted $525,000 and more for his own private tech investment funds from Epstein, and he apologized. Now The New Yorker has detailed the lengths to which the MIT lab went to conceal its acceptance of millions of dollars more in gifts arranged by Epstein. Today, Ito formally resigned, writing, quote, "after giving the matter a great deal of thought over the past several days and weeks, I think that it is best that I resign as director of the media lab and as a professor and employee of the institute, effective immediately" - unquote. Joining us to talk about this is NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik from New York.

David, welcome back. Thanks for joining us.

My pleasure.

Could you just walk us through the scale of this?How far did MIT go to conceal their ties with Jeffrey Epstein?

turn 0 : Joi Ito received money from Jeffrey Epstein, leading to his resignation from the Media Lab.

How much money did Joi Ito accept from Jeffrey Epstein?

Answer: $525,000


Oh, there are lots of modern blunders but not all of them are brilliant.

To be brilliant, it has to be truly an epic blunder, is what you're saying.

Well, it has to be something that in one way or another leads to a real breakthrough. You know, this is how I define, you know, a brilliant blunder and not just something that is a big mistake. I mean there are lots of huge mistakes.

While I was writing this book, when people would ask me what is your book about, I said, you know, it's about brilliant blunders and it's not an autobiography.

turn 1 : To be truly brilliant, a blunder must lead to a real breakthrough.

What does a blunder have to lead to in order to be truly brilliant, according to A?

Answer: Breakthrough


Well, surprisingly there really aren't many regulations for consumer drones. There are some important rules that you have to stick to. You can't fly within five miles of an airport without special permission. You're not allowed to fly in heavily populated areas or over sports stadiums. You can only fight at altitudes of 400 feet or less. And you can't fly in D. C.  because someone crashed a drone on the White House lawn, so. . .

So all of D. C.  is out.

All of D. C.  is out, yes.

You know, I understand, or at least I saw on "Law & Order" years ago, that ignorance of the law is no defense. But I'd venture to say a lot of people are a little foggy on exactly how far they are from the airport.

turn 3 : a little foggy implies that the people do not have exact information

What does "a little foggy" imply about people's knowledge of their proximity to the airport?

Answer: Inexact


Yes.

That's a lot.

It's a small fraction of what could have been if there hadn't been steps taken to move animals from flood-prone areas before the storm. Certainly, it's tragic, but agriculture is a leaky system. It's prone to all sorts of weather-related perils and that's just unfortunately the way it is.

Mark Rice, who's director of the Animal and Poultry Waste Management Center at North Carolina State, thanks so much for being with us.

turn 2 : The turn that has a figurative meaning is (3) "agriculture is a leaky system". This is a metaphorical way of saying that the agricultural industry is vulnerable to various external factors, such as weather-related disasters, which can cause significant damage.  The other turns do not have any apparent figurative meaning and can be interpreted literally.

How is the agricultural industry described in turn 2?

Answer: leaky


(Laughter) Well, punctuation cooking may be a bit different, but I call it a great deal of those dishes where people have little bottle and they do little dots and the little comma and question mark all around.

(Laughter).

And basically, there (laughter) is no sauce to dip your bread in. You don't really know what those things have to do with the food. When I cook, I like people to be able to identify the food. I like people to feel comfortable. I want people to look at my food and start salivating and starting thinking of a marriage of that food with a certain type of wine and so forth. But in molecular cuisine, this is fine. I mean, up to a certain extent - a meal or two this way, but after a while, I just want to go out and have a taco and a beer (laughter).

(Laughter) As I was reading your book, you know, Julia Child - your friend and co-conspirator of many years - was famous for telling us, remember, nobody sees you in the kitchen.

turn 0 : (1) In turn (1), the speaker is talking about a type of cooking where punctuation marks are used to decorate dishes. The implied meaning is that this type of cooking is different from traditional cooking methods, and it may not be appealing to everyone.

How does the speaker describe the cooking method mentioned in turn 1?

Answer: Decorative


Before there was "Gangnam Style," the dress or the ice bucket challenge, there were other stories that raced around the country. In the 19th century, newspapers throughout the U. S.  were kind of early aggregators. They just helped themselves to each other's stories, so if something juicy turned up in Boston, it would soon find its way into print in Chicago or Kansas City. That's the finding of researchers at Northeastern University. They used computers to search through those old publications for stories that went - sorry, can't avoid saying it - viral. Ryan Cordell is one of those researchers. He joins from the studios of WBUR in Boston. Thanks for being with us.

I'm glad to be here.

What is the 19th century equivalent of a cat perching on the toilet?

Well, we found quite a few of them; a lot of household hints and stories. One of my favorites is a story that purports to be a young man in church who is wooing a young lady by circling passages in the Bible and handing them to her and that they're married a year later as the story says at the end.

turn 2 :  "cat perching on the toilet" - refers to a popular internet meme, but in this context, it's asking for an equivalent popular phenomenon in the 19th century, so the literal meaning of a cat perching on a toilet is not intended.

How does the interviewer ask for a popular phenomenon in the 19th century equivalent to the "cat perching on the toilet" meme?

Answer: Confrontational


In 2013, a professor there, Ethan Zuckerman, had said, look - this is a guy who's a sex offender. He's done these crimes against children, solicited procurement of prostitution of minors. He shouldn't be involved in the institute. So two years later, when Ito was making sure that he could come to the offices to look around, they essentially said, we've got to box Zuckerman out so that he won't be able to see that Epstein is on campus.

So have there been any ramifications to this other than Ito's resignation?

Well, sure. Zuckerman resigned. A couple other people have resigned affiliations with the lab. I think there's real questions focusing on the university - why this resignation didn't come sooner, why it wasn't forced. You don't need an MIT Ph. D.  to be able to read the writing on the wall that's in letters that big. And they should have had some accountability and responsibility. The initial statements didn't, you know, seem to allow the precise nature of the interactions, the precise figures involved to be obscured to the public. That's not the kind of accountability you want from a place like MIT.

Can you just talk a little bit more about what you think the bigger-picture consequences are of this?I mean, what does this lab do, and why do you think that it's important that people focus on something like this?

turn 2 : MIT should have taken responsibility and acted sooner to address the issue.

What did the initial statements fail to provide?

Answer: Accountability


This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. European leaders meet in Brussels to discuss further sanctions against Russia. That's after Russia's military incursion this week in eastern Ukraine. Those Russian troops and their military equipment are widely believed to be helping separatist fighters and their new offensive in southeastern Ukraine. The rebels were able to capture a strategic town on Thursday. And NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson is there. Soraya, thanks very much for being with us. Tell us about this town that was captured.

The town is called Novoazovsk, and it's a resort town on the seaside here - the sea of Azov. There about 13,000 people live here, although it looks very vacant at the moment. But what happened is, earlier this week, separatist forces came in. They fought with Ukrainians, who - and the separatists claim they fled fairly quickly. But the fighting was pretty intense for three days according to the residents that we spoke to.

And at this point, it's under the control of the pro-separatist forces. Now we actually saw somebody who looked - I mean, he sounded Russian. He had a Russian gun. There seems to be a mix of people here. Definitely not locals who are here. But the separatists claim that they do not have any Russians among them. That these are Ukrainian fighters who are here that are creating the new Russia and that all the weapons and tanks that we're seeing - and we've seen at least three tanks here. They claim that these are confiscated from Ukrainians.

Is the takeover popular?

turn 3 :  The implied meaning of this question is to ask whether the people of Novoazovsk are in favour of the takeover by pro-separatist forces.

What is the purpose of the question asked by PersonB in turn 3?

Answer: Perception


Four-fifty a month, sorry, I think I missed it. But that would translate to, like, 15 hours a day.

Yeah, yeah.

You're saying yeah, like it's no big deal. I mean, but where does - what drives you?That seems like a lot of time.

It is a lot of time, but, I mean, at the end of the day, why does anyone do anything?It makes me feel alive, and it makes me feel excited about the world, I guess.

There's no ads on Brainpickings, either. Why did you make that decision?

turn 4 : The narrator said there's no ads as in interruptions from A's mind. He wants an explanation to why he took the job.

How did the narrator describe the ads on Brainpickings?

Answer: No


If Beijing could have its way, David, what do you think they would want to do with Hong Kong?What would they want from Hong Kong?

Well, we know they would like Hong Kong to basically focus on money and making money and not worry about politics at all. That was the model. I mean, it's a comparison that Beijing would hate. But the truth is they basically treat it like a colony. It used to be a British colony. It's now a colony of China. And like any well-behaved colony, you're meant to focus on getting rich, making money and not worry about politics.

And David, just briefly, what happens in 2047, 50 years after Britain hands Hong Kong back to China?What happens then?

Well, then the promise of one country, two systems falls away, but the truth is they're going to try and chip away as in all kinds of small and subtle ways before then. We're also going to see probably more mainland immigration into Hong Kong - would be one way of diluting Hong Kong's kind of will to resist. But let's not underestimate an amazing thing that happened. There is a piece of China that gets free press, that knows what's happening, that is allowed to protest - not allowed where I'm sitting in Beijing - and they said, no, and the government backed off. And that's an absolutely extraordinary thing that can only happen in Hong Kong.

turn 0 : China wants Hong Kong to focus on making money and ignore politics

Which model does Beijing want Hong Kong to follow?

Answer: Colony


After he infected you?

Yeah, yeah.

So, let me get this straight. He infected you. You went back to him, and then he didn't want to be associated with you because other people knew about you?

Right. And he was scared his own status would be revealed. They would, you know, he was scared people would think, oh, she got it from him, and things like that.

What was it that you think made you go back to him when many other people would say I'm so angry I want to smack this guy up the head, or worse?

turn 4 : smack implies giving the person a quick blow or slap

Which word describes the kind of blow that "smack" implies in turn 4?

Answer: quick


The federal investigations looming over the Trump administration kicked into high gear this past week, yielding legal consequences for not one but four of his associates. Former campaign Chairman Paul Manafort was convicted on eight counts in federal court while, at virtually the same time, Trump's personal lawyer Michael Cohen pleaded guilty and implicated the president. Add to that news that prosecutors reached immunity deals with two Trump allies - David Pecker, the publisher of the National Enquirer, and Allen Weisselberg, chief financial officer of The Trump Organization. To sort through what all this means, I'm joined by Anne Milgram, a former state and federal prosecutor and former attorney general of New Jersey. Welcome to the program.

Thanks for having me.

And let's talk about that immunity. Prosecutors have worked out deals to get cooperation from at least these two men that we know about. What's the upshot of that?

So the upshot with Pecker, I think, could be enormous for the government in terms of getting evidence about Donald Trump. We understand that he had - he's friends with Trump for 20 years or more and that they've had a long relationship. What I think is one of the most interesting questions here is not just that he's cooperated related to the Cohen piece but also what other evidence he may have. Were there other deals made?Were there other stories that they caught and killed, as they say in the business, where they pay people to not actually publish a story and not have it go public?So that, I think, is particularly interesting.

turn 3 : "Caught and killed" is not literal. It refers to newspaper stories being not being published due to interference from the subject of those stories.

How does "caught and killed" refer to newspaper stories?

Answer: Interference


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 : The books were released on inauguration day may have been significant

What was the date of the release of the books?

Answer: Inauguration


And why do you think Mr.  Mueller should be fired?

Well, I think there have been a number of instances when bias has been demonstrated within the Mueller probe; also, the manner in which the team has been put together, the relationship between Mr.  Mueller and Mr.  Comey; and then finally, some of the details of the intelligence memo that we hope is made public this week would seem to indicate that no prosecution could ever be brought from the Mueller probe. And thus, its utility has been outlived.

Could you cite a single example of bias?

Sure. Andrew Weissman, the No. 2 member of the Mueller probe, attended the Hillary Clinton election night party. You would think with all the talented prosecutors to be asked throughout the federal system, we could likely assemble a team without having to pick the people who were engaged in the 2016 election to the extent that they would be at one of the candidates' election night parties.

turn 3 : The selection of Mueller's team members may not have been impartial

How was bias demonstrated in the selection of Mueller's team members?

Answer: Impartiality


I think that teenagers - I mean, some were very passionately involved in this. And, you know, teachers do feel things very passionately. It's why they're such a great audience to write for. But others are getting a little bit fed up because these controversies within YA, especially, are dominated by adults, and they're led by adults. So the teens are starting to kind of push back a little bit and saying, you know, this community is supposed to be for us, and you guys are messing it up.

(Laughter) As adults often do mess up things, don't we?

It's true. We ruin everything.

Kat Rosenfield, her article "The Toxic Drama On YA Twitter" is on Vulture. com. Thanks so much for being with us.

Thank you for having me.

turn 2 : Suggesting that adults are often responsible for causing problems.

Which turn suggests that adults are often the cause of problems?

Answer: Turn2


Well, Katie Couric is set to interview Sarah Palin, so we're taking folks' questions. We want to know what they think Katie Couric should ask. We've got video interviews with singer Eric Benet and Glynn Turman who won an Emmy over the weekend.

He did.

Yeah, we're going to revisit that video. And we have more video interviews coming up with the cast of Spike Lee's "Miracle at St. Anna. "

Oh, sounds like some good stuff.

turn 0 : People are being asked to suggest questions for Katie Couric's interview with Sarah Palin.

How are viewers participating in Katie Couric's interview with Sarah Palin?

Answer: Suggest


The problem is 90 percent of space in our military is in the Air Force. So what we're basically going to be doing is taking the current infrastructure - for example, Space Command in Colorado Springs will become the headquarters for the Space Corps. We're talking about taking the people that we need to take that deal with space and segregating them into a culture that appreciates them.

The Air Force has pushed back on this. The Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson said, quote, "the Pentagon is complicated enough. This will make it more complex, add more boxes to the organization chart and cost more money. "Is she wrong?

She's absolutely wrong. The bureaucracy is always going to fight reform - always, especially the Pentagon. They're fighting this because they don't want Congress meddling. You know, what I've told her is, in 16 years, the Air Force has not changed a thing. And they've got us in this situation now where Russia and China have become near peers. They're close to surpassing us. What we're proposing would change that.

I think what some people would say is that we are cooperating with the Russians on the International Space Station. Should space be the new frontier of warfare, or should it actually be a place where, indeed, these cooperations flourish?After all, we are all on one planet.

turn 3 : "Should space be the new frontier of warfare, or should it actually be a place where, indeed, these cooperations flourish?" - This phrase implies that there is a debate over whether space should be viewed as a potential battlefield, or as a place where nations can work together peacefully and collaboratively on scientific and exploratory projects.

What is the debate mentioned in turn 3 of the dialogue about?

Answer: Debate


First of all, Ford says it doesn't need the money right now. It needs a line of credit in case. And they believe that they can make it, that they can make it through these hard times. So, there is one big difference. They don't have to go to the extremes that, say, GM does, who say they need money right now.

Jean, I'd like to go back to GM for a moment, and I know you mentioned Larry Burns is a friend. If you were to point out one thing that you think that they're not doing that they should be doing at General Motors, what would that be?

You know, they have been just slow, very slow. They have brought out many, many vehicles in the past - and he is absolutely correct when he says, you know, nine of the last 10 vehicles that have come out have been great vehicles. Two of the next 24 will be what Congress is asking them to do.

So, they're addressing the issues. They have the Chevy Cruise. They have the Malibu, which was an Automobile Magazine All-Star last year, its first year out. We called it better than a Camry. They have a Malibu hybrid. They have the Cadillac line, CTS, CTSV. They have Volt. They have very good vehicles coming out. They have been perhaps slow to ax the ones that are not so good.

Jean Jennings is the editor of Automobile magazine. Thanks, Jean.

turn 3 : THEIR VARITIES OF VEHICLES EXPLAINS THE CONDITION

Answer: Varieties


Those are the main parts. So they're saying that when the mandate penalty goes away next January, the protections for preexisting conditions should go away as well. That's not exactly what the attorneys general were arguing, but that's what the Justice Department position is.

How might this change how individual people are covered and treated in this country?

Well, immediately, of course, it wouldn't. The Justice Department isn't asking for anything immediately. Obviously, this is a lawsuit, and it could take months or even years to work its way through the courts. But it does certainly raise the prospect of a court decision that would say there could be no more protections for people with preexisting conditions. That's one of the most popular parts of the health law.

We've been getting reports from all over the country about how health care premiums are going up. Why is that happening?Do you expect it to keep happening?

turn 0 : The Justice Department position is that preexisting conditions should not be protected

What is the Justice Department's position on preexisting conditions?

Answer: shouldnot


But Barack Obama blew right straight through half a million, a million. He's now approaching a million and a half donors. And of course they are not all giving the maximum amount of money, most of them are just giving 100 dollars or less, or 200 dollars or less. Nonetheless, the size, the base of that fundraising operation means that he can raise all the money that he needs, including, very possibly, money that would go to help retire Hillary Clinton's campaign debt after she does drop out, assuming some day she does.

Well Ron, thanks so much.

Thank you, Farai.

That was NPR's senior Washington editor Ron Elving, and he joined me at NPR headquarters in Washington, D. C.

turn 0 : "blow right straight through" - This is an idiomatic expression that means to exceed a goal or a limit with great force or speed. It does not mean that Barack Obama physically blew through anything.

Which expression is an idiom that means to exceed a goal or a limit with great force or speed?

Answer: Blow


Yeah, I think so. I think it's sort of like - the way I've been thinking about it, whereas Neanderthals - they were kind of an archaeological group that was in search of genomics and genetic elucidation, so we had all these bones from individuals we knew were Neanderthals because we've studied their archaeology and the tools they made so well, and so we wanted to compare that archaeology, the people who carried those - made those tools to present-day humans, see how they were related.

But in the case of the Denisovans, we started with the DNA, and we know there must have been a population, and really interesting to see what they were like. The West Eurasian, the European archaeological record and the archaeological record of the Middle East, is really, really well-studied and characterized by European and Western researchers. But the archaeological record of the eastern parts of Eurasia is more poorly studied or not studied at least within the same framework.

And it's a vast region of the world, which we know had humans in it when modern humans exploded out of Africa 40 or 50 thousand years ago. And so it's really exciting, and the data, the DNA tells you it's exciting, to try to figure out who those humans were. They were not exactly Neanderthals.

Hmm. In fact, isn't it true that when this bone was first discovered, people just thought it was a human bone?

turn 3 : This bone turned out to be a bone of a different species than humans

Answer: different


Well, so what I got really interested in was that when the coat showed up, it showed up in a black plastic package from China Post. So I thought I was buying a coat from some brand that represented itself as kind of this modern gentleman. You know, I was expecting it to have its headquarters, you know, in New York or San Francisco or Los Angeles or something. And this thing is shipped direct from a technology park in China.

So I kind of started thinking like, well, what is this brand?And I started diving into this new class of online retailer that use a tool called Shopify, which allows anyone to kind of spin up a retail store in five minutes; sucks products in from a service called AliExpress, which is sort of like Amazon but in China, and it's dedicated to kind of the export market for Chinese and other Asian manufacturers; and allows - basically - consumers in the U. S.  to take a different route into this manufacturing ecosystem, which makes so many clothes, which makes so many consumer goods, in Asia.

When you ordered this coat, were you genuinely surprised to be able to trace this stuff back, or was that the whole idea?

Well, no. I was genuinely surprised. I was literally - I had been tagged in the Facebook advertising system, which Instagram also uses, as someone who likes to buy clothes. And what I came to find was that this is a pretty widespread phenomenon.

turn 1 :  "Spin up a retail store" is used figuratively to describe the process of quickly creating a new retail store, rather than a literal spinning motion.

Answer: Process


. . . Or the Weinstein sexual scandals or, you know, the shooting in Texas. I mean, it's just, like - it's a continual thing of these events that are just rocking people's lives. And I used to just be a viewer. And I used to just kind of go from one event to another. And now I'm stuck in one of those events because I could list all the things that we've done as a family and all the things - I mean, just like soccer practices. And I haven't missed a day of work. And booster meetings. And we've gone to our dentist appointments and our doctor's appointments. But I still feel like it's day one.

Investigators, as we speak, still haven't come up with anything resembling a motive that we know about.

What bothers me more than the motive or lack of motive is lack of information. Whenever we get a little tidbit of something, we just jump on it because we just have a desire to know. Like, the first week after it happened, I was obsessed with, like, my escape route. Like, I was just looking at Google images, pictures of the event. Like, where did I go?And then my next thing was, I want to know where the shooter went, where he came from. I wanted to see him walking into the hotel, walking out of the hotel. And they haven't released any of that.

Why do you want to see that?

turn 3 : The speaker is not asking why the person wants to see the shooter walking into and out of the hotel, but instead is asking why the person is so interested in getting information about the event in general.

What is the speaker questioning in turn 3?

Answer: Interest


Thank you. I - so each morning in my newsletter, I include the schedules for all of the 2020 presidential candidates. And so I'm kind of, you know, kind of scouring the Web to make sure that I can keep on top of all of them. And on Wednesday night, I stumbled upon a Facebook post from a county party in Iowa announcing that de Blasio would be coming there for the first stop on his presidential announcement tour. And that rings alarm bells since he hadn't announced yet. And so I tweeted out and was able to kind of pre-empt his announcement.

That is a huge scoop. And it's great sleuthing. I mean, it's amazing attention to detail. And you also put out your news on the same day you were taking a four-hour Advanced Placement exam, which is extraordinary. That must have been a lot of work.

It was. It was a big day, for sure.

You have been writing this newsletter since you were 9 years old. I mean, you've clearly been a journalism junkie for a long time.

turn 0 : Scouring means to be reading the internet.  Stumbled upon simply means it was an accident to find the information.  Alarm bells did not ring but the person did get alerted to the information.

What did the person do after stumbling upon the Facebook post about de Blasio's presidential announcement tour?

Answer: Tweeted


In a word, Ari - schadenfreude. I think at this moment, whether you look at politics or society in general, there is a lot of concern about fraud, about misrepresentation, people not being who they say they are, not to mention a lot of resentment of wealth and privilege and all the trappings that come with it. And the way this story has unfolded, the fact that these families really seem to believe that the rules should not apply to them - that's been galling to many people.

And then look at the setting, right?So elite colleges are the source of such cultural fascination. Some would say obsession. Highly selective colleges - you know, they only enroll about 1 percent of all college students. So they're very, very small. But then again, they have these brands that are known all over the world. And they're supposed to stand for merit, for hard work, for the best and the brightest.

And so when you look at something like this or, even bigger, the legacy admissions or the fact that some wealthy donors can write a check and get their kid into college that way supposedly, it - all of this is really going to undermine the idea of having institutions in our society that represent hard work and being kind of excellent.

So where do these cases go from here?

turn 2 :  Implied meaning: These cases may lead to a general mistrust of institutions that are supposed to represent hard work and excellence

How may the college admission scandal affect society's view on institutions?

Answer: Institutions


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

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

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

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

turn 0 : (1) The speaker is explaining why dark matter cannot be seen because it has no charge and therefore does not emit light.

Answer: Doesn't


Has this ever been done before, I mean, even with other types of energy like oil and gas for example?

That's not how we have historically done oil and gas use or exploration. Again, we're talking on public land. It's not been how we've done it. It is the way we've tried in recent years to think about the Endangered Species Act. Instead of looking at each little place when a question comes up and say is this an endangered habitat, is this a problem, look at large areas, ecosystems, chunks that make sense together.

Try to highlight what the problems are in that area so that subsequent development proposals are not - don't start from ground zero. Information's been gathered and looked at in a more systematic way. I mean, programmatic environmental impact assessments have been allowed ever since NEPA passed back in the 1970s.

It hasn't been used very often. I think that the Interior Department should get a lot of credit for using it this time.

turn 1 : Historically, oil and gas exploration has not been done on public lands in the same way as proposed here for Endangered Species Act. Instead of looking at each habitat, they will examine larger ecosystems systematically.

What will be examined systematically instead of each habitat?

Answer: Ecosystems


It was really expensive. It was the most expensive substance on Earth at the time. We're talking about equivalent of 2. 2 million dollars for a single gram.

Wow. And in 1917, of course, with World War I cranking up, there was huge military demand for watches that you could see in the dark and dials that you could see in the - in the dark.

That's right. And as you said, this is when the book opens, so shortly before America joined the First World War. And once they did, of course, join that global conflict, there was this huge boom to the radium industry. Soldiers needed watches, and people needed it for the planes and the trucks and so on. And so the dial painters, who were the radium girls - they were employed to paint all these dials with luminous radium paint. And they were taught to lip point, so to put their brushes between their lips to make a fine point for the detailed handiwork.

To actually put the brush with the radium paint into their mouth.

turn 3 : In (4), the speaker expands on the earlier point by explicitly stating that the workers put the brushes with radium paint into their mouths to make a fine point. The implied meaning here is that the workers were not aware of the dangers of radium and were not provided with proper safety equipment, leading to their exposure to dangerous levels of radiation.

Which dangerous substance did the workers handle?

Answer: Radium


And some - I'm trying to blend. I'm trying to be a weevil.

I got you. You know, you talked about singing to your children. Do you suggest singing to pregnant mothers, too?(unintelligible)

Absolutely. Absolutely. They can hear - babies can hear from about six months gestation. This is the way language development begins. This is the way we teach. This is the way we connect, nurture, and love our young. And although we have many devices, many toys that bleep and beep and sing and all of that, it's really important to have that human element. So speaking to, reading to, singing to your very young child is extremely important.

Nnenna Freelon, you are a fantastic talent. We appreciate you coming on News & Notes. Thank you very much.

turn 2 : Speaking, reading, and singing to young children is important for their growth and development

What is the way to begin language development and connect, nurture, and love young children?

Answer: Speaking


We are ecstatic about all the attention we're getting. I mean, we're actually accustomed of making I guess the decision of nominating the first, you know, woman candidate for president or African-American candidate for president, and - or even on the Republican side, nominating that person; who is going to get the nomination for the Republican side. That's all I bring here first. And so we're just really elated to have all that kind of attention and really basking in their joy, you know, right now.

Tell us about what political party you like and what's important to you?

I'm non-partisan. I'm an independent voter. I'm a conservative businessman, I mean, I own my own business. And my leanings are towards whatever politician's going to address a lot of my issues, which is, you know, health care, education, especially I have three teenagers and those type of issues. But again, I'm just so happy to be able to be choosing between a woman and an African-American and a white guy…

…for president.

turn 2 : e turn in (3) implies that the speaker does not have a strong allegiance to any particular political party and is more concerned with the issues that affect them personally.

What issues does the speaker prioritize?

Answer: Healthcare,Education


Thanks very much for inviting me along.

Could you tell us about these horses and their riders?

Absolutely. These four horses, they're all based on the foreshore of the River Thames, just next to Vauxhall Bridge in central London. And it depicts four large-scale horses, based on the London working horse or the Shire horse. And each one of them has a rider on top and also is a kind of hybrid structure. So it's half horse and half oil pump. And they're also in a very tidal zone, so depending on what time of day you visit them, sometimes they're almost concealed and sometimes they're, you know, completely revealed by the water.

turn 3 : The turn that has an actual meaning different from its literal meaning is (4): "How do you cast sculptures in what amounts to an underwater gallery, not just this installation in the Thames, obviously, but some that you've done all over the world?"

How does PersonB describe the sculpture installation locations created by A?

Answer: Oil


Human smugglers prey on the desperation of people who flee war and oppression. Human traffickers have made millions moving people across borders, without regard to safety. Thousands of people have died, locked in packed trucks or trapped in sinking ships. Remember the so-called ghost ships, crowded with Syrian refugees, set on a course to crash into the Italian coast.

Italian prosecutors are trying to track and arrest smugglers, arguing that organized criminal gangs who run these smuggling rings are mobsters and ought to be prosecuted like the Mafia. Using survivor testimony and wiretaps, six alleged traffickers are now on trial in connection with a shipwreck in which more than 300 asylum-seekers drowned. Gery Ferrara is part of an elite prosecution team in Italy, and he joins us from Palermo. Thanks very much for being with us.

Thank you for inviting me.

How do you trace these smuggling networks because I'm - I would guess they take some pains to disguise themselves?

turn 1 : Italian officials are attempting to punish traffickers harshly, similar to how they would treat members of organized crime syndicates.

Which officials are attempting to punish traffickers harshly, similar to how they would treat members of organized crime syndicates?

Answer: They-are-mobsters


Donald Trump came to the mics and said, you know, he thought it was great that they were taking their country back again, obviously echoing his own campaign slogan of make America great again and saying that it might just be good for the Brits to have their currency dropped to a 30-year low in its value because it will make their products cheaper and will bring more tourists into the country. And then he talked a little bit about how some. . .

To his golf course, I believe he specifically said.

Some of those tourists might want to play golf in Scotland. And he happened to be talking about his own golf course there in Scotland and spoke about the virtues of that attraction.

The U. S.  Supreme Court, of course, had a decision this week which blocked the Obama administration's plans for immigration programs. Does that decision, and for that matter, do the results in the United Kingdom suggest something about the potency of immigration as a political issue?

turn 1 : as it is the only turn with an implied meaning different from its literal meaning.

Which turn has an implied meaning that echoes a political campaign slogan?

Answer: Great


I stopped the clocks because, A - my contract was running out, and, yes, I am eligible for retirement 'cause I'm 72 now. But the hand-wound ones, they're big cast iron weights. If the weights, when they run out, fell over, it would take three men to reconnect all the wires going through the pulleys and things, so it was on a safety grounds that I stopped them.

Why did you stop both hands at 12?

Well, I stopped them at 12 o'clock because every time I get a clock on my working license, and my father-in-law before me, people seem to think, oh, that clock is at 12 o'clock. And they look at their watch or something, and they'll say, oh, it's stopped. Whereas if I left it at any time, they don't seem to pick it up quick enough.

Well, Mr.  Mitchell, may I ask, are there a lot of other people doing a job like yours or is that number dwindling these days?

turn 3 : "are there a lot of other people doing a job like yours or is that number dwindling these days?" The literal meaning of "doing a job like yours" is performing a similar occupation. However, the actual meaning is whether there are still many people employed as clock repairers or if the profession is declining.

How can the profession of clock repair be described in terms of its growth or decline?

Answer: Declining


Thank you. I know that you've been recently honored with the Outstanding Contribution to Television and Film Award at this year's BAFTA Awards in Scotland. Congratulations.

Well, thank you very much. It took me by surprise.

Really?They took you by surprise and took you all the way there?

Yeah. (Unintelligible) I'm in a very strange position because I'm almost 70 and I - people are giving me sort of good attendance prizes. . .

Well, that's what I call them. Good contribution prizes or something they call them, I don't know, you know, for your outstanding achievement over the years. I think it really means you're getting old, go away.

turn 3 : Receiving good attendance prizes means that you are getting old and should retire

What is the reason for receiving good attendance prizes according to the speaker in turn 4?

Answer: Retire


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

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

What race?The human race?

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

turn 1 : Some people criticize Zane's writing for being too sexual and question whether it perpetuates negative stereotypes about black people.

Answer: Sexuality


Given the scale of what's happened in terms of tens of thousands killed, given the escalating partisan-sectarian nature of this conflict, do you hold out much hope that diplomacy can play a constructive role?

Well, diplomacy doesn't always work. And believe me, I could testify to that. I dealt with the North Koreans for four years. And even the Serb/Kosovo issue didn't actually end with a diplomatic agreement, although we would not have gotten the Europeans on board for NATO action, had we not gone through the diplomatic process. But I would say the hope of getting a diplomatic agreement in Syria is certainly probably greater than getting a military victory of one side or the other.

Plus, even if you get a military victory, you still have the same problems of what this thing is going to look like after someone claims victory. So I think we do need to give this our best shot, get everyone who wants to see a solution in Syria together. And if the net result of this has been to somehow improve U. S. -Russian ties, which could use a couple of upticks, so be it.

I mean, that was certainly the upshot of the - of our North Korean negotiations. We didn't dissuade them from nuclear programs. But we sure as heck got the U. S.  and China on the same page. And, you know, sometimes things take a lot time in diplomacy. But I think we're seeing some of the benefits of that now several years later.

Ambassador Hill, thanks very much.

turn 2 : We need to give it our best attempt and relations with Russia could use some help to get better.

Which country does the turn in statement 2 mention?

Answer: Russia


I think it is a serious threat. I don't see strong evidence that it has increased as of late. Iran has the ability to act via proxy organizations towards United States troops, diplomats, other assets that might be in the region. It also has the mechanisms to act against our partners and against our allies either directly or through the proxy organizations that it has a relationship with.

And paint me a little bit of a picture of what that map looks like when you describe Iran's proxy organizations in the Middle East.

So Iran's strongest relationship is with Lebanese Hezbollah. That allows them to have a measure of influence both to act in Lebanon, to act towards Israel from Lebanon but increasingly to act in other countries where Iran has essentially deployed Lebanese Hezbollah troops to, including Syria.

It has also been improving its relationship with Houthi rebels in Yemen, though its ability to direct or control the Houthis is still very limited. And it has long-established relationships with Iraqi militias.

Does Iran have control over its proxies?

turn 2 : Iran uses Lebanese Hezbollah troops to expand its influence in the region

Which organization does Iran have its strongest relationship with?

Answer: Hezbollah


Oh, I'm glad to be here.

So what's wrong with the research that said he had a special brain?

A couple of things. One is what we call confirmation bias, and that's basically saying what we all know - that if you really want to find something, if you look for it long enough, you will. So, for example, in the papers that claim the external shape of Einstein's brain was different. They start out with a fairly vague notion of what his cognitive specialties were and then go poking around in his brain until they find something - anything that sort of conforms to their previous expectations.

Was part of the problem that they knew it was Einstein's brain, and therefore they were predisposed to see things?

Exactly right, exactly right. It's rather like seeing faces or shapes in clouds. Those shapes really aren't in the clouds. They're in your mind.

Forgive me - what amounts to a philosophical question - why have we been fascinated by Einstein's brain matter over the years?

turn 2 : "Those shapes really aren't in the clouds. They're in your mind." - The literal meaning is that the shapes seen in clouds are not physically present in them but are perceived by the viewer's mind. The actual meaning is that people may project their own interpretations onto ambiguous stimuli, such as cloud formations, and see patterns or images that are not objectively there.

What is the meaning of the statement "Those shapes really aren't in the clouds. They're in your mind."?

Answer: Projection


Oh, we anticipate that to be the case. We've demonstrated this with antibodies, monoclonal antibodies. I mentioned enzymes already. And so we anticipate quite a range of potential utility for therapeutics.

So you think this a game-changer for storing drugs?

Well, we are very optimistic, yes. I think it could certainly have a major impact.

I want to thank you very much for taking time to be with us today, and good luck to you. It's very fascinating.

turn 2 : The development could have a significant impact on drug storage.

Which development could have a significant impact?

Answer: Development


Yeah. They're like, oh, my God. Make that face again. That's so funny. But it's not like that. And the reason I talked about it and shared when I did was because there started to be all these compilations of my tics that were made by the fans, which they just thought it was, like, goofy Billie is making a bunch of faces. And they're funny. Let's make a video about it, which is, of course, out of love. And they think that's funny. And they didn't - they don't know, you know?

O'CONNELL: Especially if they think you're doing them on purpose, then it's totally out of love.

They think I'm doing it on purpose. But I felt almost, like, attacked in a way, which was kind of stupid. But it's something like I've lived with my whole life and, like, not been open about because I didn't want it to label me, you know?

Sure, you don't want the whole - that to be the second sentence of every every paragraph about you.

turn 1 : "Especially if they think you're doing them on purpose, then it's totally out of love." - The implied meaning here is that the fans' intentions are good, and they are not trying to harm Billie by making videos of her tics.

How are the fans making compilations of Billie's tics?

Answer: Compilations