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The AIH Transcript for April 13, 2020

Hosts: Carol Off and Chris Howden

Prologue

CO: Is the suspicion that she does have COVID-19?

PW: Yeah, it's quite likely that she does. Though, her symptoms don't seem to be too bad, relatively speaking. They did an X-ray of her lungs, and it showed a kind of pattern they see often in COVID victims. But the test results aren't back on the official COVID test yet.

CO: What finally convinced you to get your mother out of Herron residence on Friday?

PW: Well, we'd been planning on getting her out for a while, but obviously everything that's been going on in the last couple of weeks. So, I mean, the last straw was discovering that there had been 31 bodies carried out of there in a period of three weeks. They actually tried to convince us not to take my mother out. Meanwhile, I had talked to a nurse, someone who had actually seen my mother in the residence. And I asked them point blank, I said, you know, if that was your mother in there, would you leave her there? And they said, no, take her to the hospital. So that's what we did.

CO: That's actually one of the workers said that?

PW: Yeah. I feel a lot of empathy for all these employees because, you know, these health care workers, they're certainly not in it for the money. They care about their patients. They care about the residents that they work with. For some of them, it's almost like family. And so, you know, I'm not blaming them for what's going on.

CO: As far as you know, what were the conditions in the home, in the residence, on Friday when you took your mum out? What was going on in there?

PW: Well, the staff from St. Mary's Hospital had just been brought in. So it was kind of like the cavalry had arrived. But in our experience, the calvary had first arrived two weeks earlier, on the 29th, when the Regional Health Board sent in staff after the first emergency staff shortage at Herron. We thought that was the end of the problem. We were kind of shocked that they had to send in a second wave of people to rescue the residents there. There's some confusion there about who was actually in charge. There is this fight that's going on between the owners and the health authority about who's responsible for what. So, unfortunately, there’s a lot of confusion there. That doesn't make any difference to the families. I lose my train of thought when I get horrified by the idea of what my mother was going through while all this was going on. All I know is that the lack of care was a problem that continued even after CIUSS had come in on March 29th.

CO: The lack of care was acute, wasn't it? And when they had just a few people left, they had people they found that were in their own soiled clothing and diapers unwashed. Was your mother, was she getting treated differently or better than the others were?

PW: No, she was. left alone in her bed for half a day on the 29th, when the CUISS came in. That's when we started to panic, because normally they come by and they pick her up out of her bed and put her in her wheelchair. But they didn't show up to give her breakfast, and they didn't show up to put her in her wheelchair. By the time an orderly finally came by, he explained that there was only two orderlies for the entire floor, which was about 60 rooms. And in these rooms were people who couldn't feed themselves, couldn't get out of bed. So by the time they came to see my mother, they basically said, you know, I really don't have time. You’re going to have to choose between me changing your diapers or reattaching your urine bag that's now sitting on the floor while the catheter drips on the floor. So she chose to have her diapers changed, and the urine remain on the floor for another 15 hours.

CO: Peter, who is responsible for this? I mean, the alarm should have gone up. right? Somebody should have let it be known that this is what was going on in that home. Who do you blame for the conditions getting to this point?

PW: I think the CUISS should have been aware of the conditions when they came in on the 29th. I don't understand why from the beginning, as soon as they say the owner started stonewalling, they didn’t say, okay, we're gonna get an emergency injunction and come in and get all the things that we need and bring in all the resources that we need. That's what we thought they were doing. We're shocked to find out two weeks later that they're saying that they were powerless, that they couldn't even walk from room to room and ask patients questions. That astounds me. I can't believe that the government was powerless to do anything simply because it was a private institution.

CO: Your father was there in the same, in that home, in Herron residence, until a few weeks ago. So your parents were together until close to the end.

PW: Yes.

CO: Then your father, you had him taken to another place?

PW: Yes.

CO: And then he had COVID-19 and died of it?

PW: Yeah. About two weeks after he was taken to CSSLD Lassalle, which is the long-term care, public long-term care in Lassalle.

CO: Were you able to spend any time to see your father before he died?

PW: We were towards the end. We couldn't reach him for two weeks because of the lockdown. So we finally arranged to be able to get a cell phone in. The day my brother went in to deliver the cell phone, He was told that my father was dying. And under Compassion Regulation Quebec, myself and my sister and my brother were allowed to visit with my dad in his final 48 hours. He couldn't talk, but I could tell when I was talking to him, just like the movements of his eyes and tears and stuff, that he knew what was going on. He knew what we were saying to him. And I'm so privileged and thankful for that twelve hours that I got to spend with him, and make sure I get a chance to say all the things that I needed to say to him about how much I loved him and how much I appreciated everything he had done for me in my life. And who he helped me become.

CO: Peter, I'm so sorry about your dad. I'm glad your mum's in hospital and getting good care.

PW: Yeah. Sorry, that's a lot of joy in our family right now that my mother is out of Herron and being taken care of.

CO: Take care of yourself.

PW: Thank you.

CO: Thanks, Peter. Bye-bye.

AH:Peter Wheeland’s mother, left the Herron Long-Term Care Home on Friday. His father died of COVID-19, after being moved out of the home and into another facility. The company responsible for the private care home has issued a statement saying, “We hope that the attention aroused by our situation will lift the veil on the lack of support from the West Island Regional Health Authority for long-term care homes.”0

[Music: Sad piano]

COVID rapid testing

Guest: Paul Lem

[Music: Sad piano again]

FOA: Dog eats fob

[co]

CO: Hello, is this Juliette and Kevin?

KEVIN GORMAN: Oh Yeah.

JULIETTE PIESLEY: Yeah, hello.

CO: Hello to both of you. Juliette, we have to start at the beginning here, so I'll start with you. Why did you call the Automobile Association in the first place? What was wrong with your car?

JP: Um, well, what happened, it started off in the morning, when my partner, Rob, he took the key apart to fix in a new battery for me. And when he took the key apart, something fell out. And we just thought it was a piece that had broken off from inside the key. And we just placed it on the coffee table. Well, after that moment, the car wouldn't start. So later on in the day, I called the AA out. When Kevin arrived from the AA, he asked me if when I'd taken the key apart, if anything had fell out? And I said, yes, it had. But it was just a small piece of plastic. And he said it was the immobilizer chip. And he said that we needed to find it to make the car start.

CO:Okay. So how does an immobilizer chip work?

JP: Well, it sends waves into the ignition of the car. And if the chip’s not in there, then the computer of the car doesn't recognise the key, so then won’t start.

CO: Right.

JP: So without it, you know, the car won't go. Basically, it's just for security.

CO: So Kevin figured out that was the problem then?

JP: Yeah. He asked me if something had fallen on the floor, or something had fell out? And I said yes. And when we came inside to look for it, my partner Rob said, Oh, no. He said, George ate that. [CO laughs] And because Kevin said, you really need that to start the car.

CO: Who's George?

JP: George is the dog [laughing]. George the dog ate the chip. So Kevin decided that it would be a really good idea, and for a bit of a laugh, to put the dog in the front seat of the car and see if the car then worked. So we did that. We turned the key. And the car started up [CO cuckles]. So the chip inside George was still sending messages to the computer of the car to start it. The chip had to be nearby, the key. So it all works, but only with George in the front seat. And it didn't work without George in the front seat.

CO: What kind of dog is George?

JP: George is a Hungarian Vizsla. He's a type of hunting dog, he's used to flushing out pheasants and game.

CO: Now, Kevin, how did you figure out what to do with it after you deftly figured out that George had eaten the chip?

KG: You got to get the key close to the ignition switch. So just for a laugh, more for a laugh that anything else. I thought, we’ll give it a go. We haven’t got anything to lose. And when he got sitted in, it started. I couldn’t believe it. I thought it was just a fluke. But tried it again afterwards, and the car wouldn’t start unless George was in the driving seat. [CO and KG laugh]

CO: Kevin, how long have you worked for the Automobile Association?

KG: It’ll be 24 years in November.

CO: And have you ever had a situation like this before?

KG: No, no. I’ve had children stuck in cars and things like that. But nothing quite as dramatic as a little dog eating a chip.

CO: Juliette, when did this happen that George ate the chip?

JP: He ate it yesterday, and then, today, it stopped working with him in the car. So he passed out. So I had to go through lots of nasty stuff today, and look for it. And I found it in a bag of poo [CO laughs]. So I found it. We washed it and we put it back in the key. And now it's working [CO and JP laugh]. So it’s all back now.

CO: Well, it’s a good thing you didn't have to drive out that bag of poo with you?

JP: Yeah. Yeah, well, I've done that. I brought a couple back home, you know, in the car, and it's not very nice.

CO: [interrupting herself with laughter] Were you watching for this?

JP: Yeah, I had to watch carefully? Because, you know, sometimes if he goes and you walk over, you can't find it. So I had to watch very carefully as to where he was going. And rush over with a plastic bag to pick it up. [CO and JP laughs]

CO: Now, does George have a tendency to eat things?

JP: George does. George eat lots of things. He's had about five remote controls.

[CO: [laughing] What?!

JP: And he's also eaten about four mobile phones, but he obviously doesn't eat all of the parts. He just eats the small parts, and leaves the big parts, you know, just around the house. But lots of pairs of shoes. He’s cost quite a lot of money in his short life.

CO: Oh, dear! Well, I'm glad that you have retrieved this chip, and without having to drag your dog around into more and more indelicate things, than a few bags of poo.

JP: Yes.

CO: Now, are you just going to just keep an eye on that key now, I guess?

JP: Well, I am. Yeah. Yeah. He’s not coming anywhere near keys or small pieces of plastic again. [CO and JP chuckle]

CO: All right. Thanks for speaking with us.

JP: Okay. Can I just say hello to the Williamsons, who visited us from Canada? They came over for the Williamson reunion.

CO: Say hello.

JP: Hello, the Williamsons from Canada, it's Julie and Rob, just saying hi to you all.

CO: All right. And Kevin?

KG: Yeah, hiya.

CO: I hope the job gets a bit easier.

KG: Yeah, lucky it was a pet dog, not a pet grizzly bear or something.

CO: This is true. [all laughing] All right. Thanks to you both.

KG: You’re welcome.

JP: Thanks very much.

CO: Bye-bye.

CH: From our archives, Carol talking to Juliette Piesley, owner of a dog and a car, and Kevin Gorman of the British Automobile Association, who figured out what was wrong with both. That's from 2006.

CO: Mr. Turp, Canada says it has negotiated better terms for this LAV contract with Saudi Arabia. Does that satisfy you?

DANIEL TURP: Not at all. [dry chuckling] And especially that we don't really know the terms. But when the minister announced there were amendments of the contract, he didn't really provide us with those amendments. So we don't really know what are those amendments? And the issue of transparency of a contract that has to deal with not only economic issues, but human rights issues is something that we don't really know about. So that's not satisfactory at all for me.

CO: All right. Now, we did learn something because, you know, we've had very few details about this contract for these LAVS from the very beginning. But we now know that the government says it cancelling this Light-Armoured Vehicle contract would cost 14-billion dollars, up to 14-billion dollars, in penalties. So did the Canadian government really have a choice?

DT: It had a choice. The Canadian government had a choice not to enter that deal to begin with. The Conservative government should never have entered that deal to begin with. Because it's a deal with Saudi Arabia. And Saudi Arabia is the country of the world when it comes to human rights. And the Liberals, you know, they also had a choice not to deliver those export permits that the Conservatives hadn't delivered. And if there had been penalties, and if Saudi Arabia had insisted that penalties be paid well, the government of Canada probably could have been able to get away with it. Would Saudi Arabia really have wanted Canada to pay those penalties, when it comes to human rights, when it comes to their record on human rights?

CO: There's also the Canadian government is citing this review that it made public last September, where they found apparently no credible evidence linking Canadian exports of military equipment or any controlled goods to Saudi Arabia had been contributed to Saudi Arabia and human rights violations. So does that report matter at all, figure into this?

DT: Well, you know, that report really doesn't say much about the standards that Canada applied to determine that there was no risk. And you know, what's interesting is that in other countries, you know, there have been studies suggesting that there are risks. There has even been in Belgium a case where the state council has asked the government to suspend the export of arms to Saudi Arabia because the evaluation of risk had not been made properly, according to that court. And we don't know, again, that memorandum doesn't really provide us with the information which would allow us to know if that conclusion that there is no risk. It's a valid conclusion.

CO: There are two parts to this announcement we've just heard from the federal government. One is that this LAV contract will go ahead. But also, they are lifting a moratorium on new permits for military exports to Saudi Arabia. And we'll look at them on a case-by-case basis. What do you make of the timing of this announcement?

DT: Well, it was quite startling to have an announcement just before the Easter/Passover break, you know? [stifled laughter]. It was if they wanted this not to be well-known or read it. And the idea of doing this during this coronavirus outbreak is something that is really very, very indecent, in my opinion. And there was no need to do that right now, although, you know, that those amendments apparently were adopted on March 31st. No, there's something really wrong about the way this government has handled this issue and these contracts. And now these amendments. It's quite hypocritical, you know, when it comes to what it has said about Saudi Arabia record on human rights with what has happened with Mr. Khashoggi’s murder. With what's happening with the women in Saudi Arabia. and Mr. Badawi, and he's still in Saudi Arabia in a prison. And so it's so hypocritical on the part of the government to, you know, suggest that it's really concerned by human rights when it comes to Saudi Arabia.

CO: We’re also, though, as you know, in the middle of not just a health crisis, but an economic one. With penalties of up to 14-billion dollars for cancelling the contract, jobs lost from not making those LAVS. Can this government afford to do otherwise — financially or politically?

DT: Well, the government of Canada should just decide not to pay those penalties. And it would be for Saudi Arabia to try to get Canada to pay those penalties.

CO: And what about the job losses?

DT: Well, the job losses is terrible. It would be very unfortunate, all those jobs lost. But the government should try to find a way to get those workers in London and elsewhere to find other jobs in other areas, not jobs to build LAVs that will destroy lives of children in Yemen, and other people in that war. And maybe in Saudi Arabia. So Canada should have a way to help people, not just to say, well, we can't do anything about this arms contract. And we’re even improving it.

CO: Just finally, the minister who is signing off on this, Francois Philippe Champagne, is the latest of ministers who have had this file. And it's a hot potato. If you could speak to Mr. Champagne directly, what would you say to him?

DT: Well, I’d tell him, to begin, I'm not very proud of my former student, because he's my former student in my classroom at the University of Montreal. But just like Stephane Dion before him, and other ministers, he just doesn't have the courage to put an end to this deal. And he hasn't the courage to tell Justin Trudeau and the members of the government that this should be over. And Canada should have done like many other countries have done. Suspend the export of arms to Saudi Arabia, or even end the exports to a country that is the worst country in the world when it comes to human rights.

CO: We will leave it there. But this is obviously a story we're going to continue to follow. Mr. Turp, thank you.

DT: My pleasure.

AH: Daniel Turp is a law professor and former Bloc Quebecois MP. We reached him in Montreal. And you can find more on this story on our webpage at: www. cbc.ca/aih.

[Music: Indie rock]

FOA: Apollo 13

AH: "Houston, we've had a problem here." Fifty years ago last Saturday, those words echoed in the NASA control room — as the third planned moon landing quickly turned into a rescue mission. An oxygen tank had exploded aboard Apollo 13, and there was a rush to get the spacecraft and its astronauts back to earth safely. That's where Ben Etkin and his colleagues came in. NASA contacted the University of Toronto Aerospace team for important advice about pressure in the spacecraft. And with only six hours to solve the problem — the team got it right. Back in 2010, Mr. Etkin and some of his team members received a Pioneer award at the Canadian Air and Space Museum, recognizing their role in the rescue mission. He spoke with Carol at the time. And here is part of that conversation.

AH: They're calling it the deepest production cut the international oil market has ever seen. OPEC+, the group that consists of Russia, Saudi Arabia and some oil-producing allies, announced yesterday that it will cut production by almost ten-million barrels a day. The idea is to help raise the price of oil — which has collapsed under the weight of travel bans and lockdown measures. That has the Alberta government saying it's cautiously pleased. But Peter Tertzakian suggests the emphasis should be on the caution. Mr Tertzakian is the Executive Director of the ARC Energy Research Institute. We reached him in Calgary.

CO: Peter, Saudi Arabia and Russia have announced the biggest ever cut to global oil production. So why is the Alberta government only cautiously pleased?

PETER TERTZAKIAN: Well, they're cautiously pleased for two reasons. First of all, the cut, I mean, it's not even ten-million barrels per day, remembering that the global consumption is 100-million barrels per day. And because of the pandemic, because people have stopped flying, people have stopped commuting in many parts of the world, certainly in North America. The estimates are that that 100-million barrels a day of consumption has fallen down to 65 or 70. And so ten is only really one-third of the way we really get to.

CO: So why why is this in any way good news for Alberta?

PT: Well, it is good news because something has to be done. There have to be cuts to be made. And the OPEC+ countries, which is the original organization of petroleum exporting countries, plus Russia, has, in principle, agreed to curtail their production. And Alberta and the United States have yet to do so. It's very difficult to curtail production in a free market. But regardless, any amount that the rest of the world's producers can cut is welcome news. But more is going to have to be done.

CO: For I guess, for Alberta, for the oil patch, it's been a perfect storm, hasn't it? It's been not just already things were pretty dark because of the oversupply, because of the lack of pipelines. But then pandemic and then the OPEC-Russia war, the Saudi Arabia-Russia for prices. So what is it all done? What's been the hit that Alberta has taken on this?

PT: Well, the hitch is in progress. The real hit is that the bulk of our oil is exported to the United States. The United States is our only customer because we don't have the pipeline access off the West Coast or to the eastern markets through Canada. And so the pandemic has struck the hardest, as we know, in places like New York and Chicago and Detroit. And basically that Midwest Northeast corridor, which is where the bulk of Alberta's oil goes. So estimates are that up to a third to a half of their oil consumption has been curtailed, the consumption side. So that means that the impact has to ripple all the way up to the existing pipelines, back to the oilfields, and we're going to have to shut it probably up to a third of our production.

CO: Okay. Even if that happened, what does the price have to be for a barrel of oil from the oil sands in order to be viable?

PT: Well, that's a great question that has sort of many dimensions. That number is relatively low. It varies from producer to producer. And depends what you include in the cost. But, you know, you couldn't have $30 a barrel oil. This is the West Texas grade for them to be viable. But they wouldn't grow any, nor would they be able to spend a lot of money on much else. But it is viable. In terms of being able to invest more and grow, you need substantially higher than that.

CO: And where are we at this point? How far away from a viable price does Alberta have at this point?

PT: Well, we're very far away from that. I mean, the price is far below even cash flow breakeven. In other words, there's money being lost on the production of every barrel. And you don't really want to have to shut in your production, because if you shut in your production, it takes time, obviously, to bring it back online, which is not really good for anybody in the continent.

CO: Okay. So even, let’s say post-pandemic, the economy surges, as they keep promising us it's going to, there's a lot of doubts around that. But let's say that the economy returns, does that mean that Alberta, will it be in a position to have a viable price?

PT: Oh, for sure. You know, I think we have to keep in mind that the Canadian oil and gas industry is the fourth largest in the world. Alberta's production supports almost four, four-and-a-half per cent of the world's oil consumption. All of it really going to the United States. But its viability is really not a black and white switch. It's a gradation of high-cost producers, tall the way to lower, much lower-cost producers. And so post-pandemic, what we'll probably see is that some of the highest cost producers just were not able to survive. So the industry is very likely to shrink somewhat as they go into that post-pandemic world. That, by the way, is not unique to Alberta. You can see the same thing in the United States and many other of the oil-producing countries of the world.

CO: So at this point, we have a glut of oil and a low price. What is Premier Kenney, what is Jason Kenney banking on as he doubles down on the industry and pumping tax money into pipelines? What's the calculation he's making, do you think?

PT: Well, there's a couple of calculations, but the most important of which is that we do need to diversify away from these Midwestern refineries. There's only about a handful of... Five or six refineries that take the bulk of our oil. This event is really amplified our concentration risk to not only one customer in the United States, but a very small subset of that customer. So building the Keystone XL Pipeline down to the Texas Gulf Coast helps to further diversify our markets, and our concentration, our vulnerability to these sorts of events. So it's such a large part of the calculus.

CO: And also, there was a very interesting article, New York Times on the weekend about the effect that the coronavirus is having on oil fracking in the United States, and just how close to the edge that industry was because of investors not seeing much in the way of returns. What would that do for Alberta if the oil fracking industry actually took a real dip?

PT: Well, you know, there's multiple dimensions that we have yet to understand as to what's going to happen in the next two to four weeks, the next two to four weeks are quite critical. We will understand, you know, to what extent the rest of the world's oil production is impaired. How much of Texas is potentially impaired? If it's impaired significantly, then that somewhat plays favour to Canadian oil producers. Because it eases up the bottled up nature of the North American oil supply, which was keeping our prices domestically low here. So we'll see. But you know from the grand perspective, I would say that what's happening right now to North America, Alberta and the US and the free market economy is not particularly good from a geopolitical standpoint. We are probably going to enter an era again where we are more dependent upon Middle Eastern oils and oils from abroad rather than the much more self-supplied and more independent of foreign production.

CO: All right, Peter, we're going to leave it there. And I appreciate speaking with you. Thank you.

PT: Okay. Thanks very much.

CO: Bye.

AH: Peter Tertzakian is the Executive Director of the ARC Energy Research Institute. He was in Calgary.

[Music: Hip-hop]

Tree friends

AH: If you plug it into Google translate, the headline from the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service reads that in the time of coronavirus people are encouraged to, quote, "go out into the woods and crush trees." Unquote. A translation from the English-language magazine Iceland Review is probably more accurate. It suggests Iceland's forestry service is indeed urging people to spend time in the woods right now. But not crushing trees. Rather, hugging them. This is, after all, a moment when our freedom to hug other humans has taken a hit. And while trees may not hug back, they are — at the very least — alive. Forest ranger Þór Þorfinnsson writes, quote, "When you hug a tree, you feel it first in your toes and then up your legs and into your chest and then up into your head... It's such a wonderful feeling of relaxation and then you're ready for a new day and new challenges." Unquote. Now, Mr. Þorfinnsson and his fellow forrest rangers do caution against too many folks hugging the same trees. Perhaps those who live in the same household could lay claim to a family tree. And any tree will do. After all, it's not the size of the tree that matters. It's what you do with it. Or as the ranger puts it, quote, "There are plenty of trees. It doesn't have to be big and stout." Unquote.

JG: Well, the way it works is that in ten to 20 steps, you build your machine. And at the end, it has to drop a bar of soap into someone's hands. If it works, hopefully it does. You film it in one pass, then you upload your video to YouTube, and you send us the link. And we've already started getting lots of submissions from as far away as Germany, Alaska, Hawaii, the middle of the country. We, I think, have two from Canada so far. So it's very exciting.

CO: Why have you decided to do the contest with pandemic in mind?

JG: Well, we normally, every year, we have our Rube Goldberg machine contest. And every year there's a single task. And this year's task was turn off a light, which sort of sent a message of energy conservation, et cetera. And we were all ready to go. And, you know, the most regionals are in March, and they lead up to finals in April. And this March, something else happened, COVID-19, and everything was cancelled. So I was laying in bed one morning right as this happened. And I thought, what is everyone going to do that’s at home with their kids? You know, we need to offer something that could, you know, kind of unite the family in a fun and engaging way and help pass the time. So that's how it came into being.

CO: And so your vision is that a lot of people are going to be in their homes with their kids, and they're going to try and come up with a very elaborate way to get soap into somebody's hands?

JG: Exactly. And it just seemed like the right task. Everyone has got a bar of soap somewhere in their house and Rube Goldberg Machines are made from everyday objects. So you don't have to go shopping, you don’t have to buy anything. You just have to figure out a fun, sort of interesting way to turn something you've looked at for years. Turn it upside down, and see if it has inherent kinetic properties.

CO: The machine we just heard, the voting machine, has 71 steps. I've seen a video of, I guess, the largest Rube Goldberg Machine, which turned on a Christmas tree light display that just went on and on and on. They’re really extraordinary. Like, the invention that goes into them. How difficult is it, do you think, to actually build one of these?

JG: They are so hard to do. And people ask me all the time, oh, you know, are you building one? And I'm terrible at building Rube Goldberg Machines [CO chuckles]. I know when I see a good one. And I know it goes into the best of them, but I am useless. Despite my DNA.

CO: And what does go into them that really makes it? What makes a Rube Goldberg Machine really sing?

JG: Well, again, the use of everyday objects. If it's all marble runs, or all domino runs, it's typically not really hitting the perfect pitch of a Rube Goldberg Machine. And if the steps are big enough so you can see them, that's a good thing. If it makes you smile, if it's funny, that's always good. And if they work and there's a bit of anticipation to it. So a slow step will always be more engaging than a fast step. And looking at ketchup as it goes really slowly out of a bottle sometimes, that's anticipation. So if you can make a step go slowly, that will always be engaging.

CO: It adds the drama, doesn't it?

JG: Yeah. Will it or won't it work?

CO: Now, your grandfather, Rube Goldberg, he drew these contraptions, and they would be these elaborate ways that get the attention of a waiter, or to drop a napkin in your lap, or swat a fly. But he never actually built any of these. They were just drawings, right?

JG: They were just drawings. And he was prolific as a cartoonist. They estimate that he did about 50-thousand drawings in his lifetime. But only really a small section of those are the classic invention cartoons, which are the professor Butts ones. He created this alter ego based on an old professor he had had when he was in engineering school. So the fact that this is what made him a household name, got him in the dictionary; he’s an adjective. I think he was always sort of amazed by that.

CO: What do you think, what was the philosophy behind that? The Professor Butts Machines? What was he kind of saying about mechanization?

JG: Well, he was a hapless inventor. And remember, when Rube was drawing these 100 years ago, it was the dawn of the industrial revolution in America. And all of these devices were going to make our lives much, much easier. But in the end, at least in Rube’s world, made it much more complicated.

CO: And it's interesting now that everything has become very, very simple, very reduced. You can appreciate that message about, well, you know, for all the mechanics we've got, all the electronics you got, we're just all sitting in our homes.

JG: I know. And I mean, think about it. When your phone doesn't work or your computer, I mean, we go nuts. But we really don't know how they work. So I think that's part of the enduring appeal of these machines, because you actually can look at a Rube Goldberg Machine and see how it works — from A to B to C. And it's nostalgic.

CO: All right. So the deadline for the Rube Goldberg bar of soap video challenge is…

JG: we're taking rolling submissions from now through the end of May, May 31st. And I will be announcing winners in the middle of June.

CO: All right. We will throw that challenge out to our listeners. And, hopefully, they’ll send us also the videos they're making, so we can tell people about it. Jennifer, it's great to talk to you. Thank you.

JG: Thank you so much.

CO: Bye.

JG: Take care.

AH: Jennifer George is the granddaughter of the late cartoonist Rube Goldberg, as well as being the legacy director of Rube Goldberg Inc. We reached her in New York. Inspired? Head to our webpage for more at: www.cbc.ca/aih. And as Carol mentioned, we'd love to see the Rube Goldberg Machines you create for this year's annual contest. Share your videos through Facebook or Twitter: @cbcasithappens. Or e-mail us: aih@cbc.ca.

[Music: Instrumental]

Note: The rest of the AIH episode for April 13, 2020 was not submitted to us to be transcribed. We regret that it is missing. And apologize for the inconvenience.

April 13, 2020 Episode Transcript

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