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The AIH Transcript for October 10, 2017

Hosts: Carol Off and Jeff Douglas

STORIES FROM THIS EPISODE

Prologue

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CAROL OFF: Hello I'm Carol off.

JEFF DOUGLAS: Good evening, I'm Jeff Douglas. This is As It Happens.

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JD: Tonight:

CO: Maybe take a few cold ones. In the run-up to tomorrow's meeting with Prime Minister Trudeau, U.S. President Trump threatens to throw NAFTA on the fire -- but the head of the Canadian-American Business Council says Canada should keep its cool.

JD: Still a going concern. The president of Catalonia says he'll put independence on hold in order to talk with the Spanish government -- but our guest says we shouldn't confuse conciliation with reconciliation.

CO: In the line of fire. As Brad Sherwood's family slept, a wildfire barreled towards their home in Santa Rosa, California -- and after escaping with minutes to spare, they're heading back to see what's left of their neighbourhood.

JD: Remains to be seen. Germany is launching a two-year study to determine the origins of more than 1,000 human skulls that were brought to Europe during the colonial era for scientific research.

CO: Too much of a gourd thing. In the case of one Rhode Island farmer's record-breaking giant fruit, "squash" isn't just a noun, it's a verb as well -- and tonight, Jim Jutras explains how he created a monster.

JD: And...champion of breakfasts. The winner of Scotland's Golden Spurtle competition is usually a Scot, but this year's oatmeal master hails from Sweden -- and Ellinor Persson tells us the key to perfect porridge is patience. As It Happens, the Tuesday edition. Radio that guesses she's not the only one feeling her oats.

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Part 1: Trump/Trudeau NAFTA meeting, California fires, porridge champion

Trump/Trudeau NAFTA meeting

Guest: Scotty Greenwood

JD: Prime Minister Trudeau is in Washington D.C. tonight, in advance of tomorrow's big NAFTA talks with President Trump. He may do a little bit of tossing and turning overnight though. Because this morning, the United States top business lobby warned that the trillion-dollar trade agreement faces a, quote, “existential threat” from the Trump administration. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce argued that some of the demands being made by Mr. Trump's negotiators amount to “poison pills” that could kill the talks. Scotty Greenwood is the CEO of the Canadian American Business Council. We reached her in Washington.

CO: Ms. Greenwood, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce believes that Donald Trump's negotiating position poses an existential threat to the NAFTA talks. What do you think?

SCOTTY GREENWOOD: Well, I understand their concerns. The president's rhetoric certainly is hotter than we would expect — almost as hot as the weather here today in D.C. And they are hoping, as we at the Canadian-American Business Council hope, that cooler heads will prevail at the negotiating table.

CO: But they went further. They're not just putting out that existential threat; they're saying that they believe that there actually are poison pills on the table that the Americans have put there that are destined to end the talks. One of the most important is the dispute resolution mechanism that's very important to Canada, but also content rules etc. Do you see that? Do you think that there are things that are actually there that are designed to have these talks end in failure?

SG: Yeah you know I wouldn't characterize it as a poison pill. I don't think that is the intent. I think it's an extreme negotiating position from which you move back. You know all three countries have their holy grail if you will. Canada a couple of weeks ago said that it wanted the U.S. states to get rid of the right to work laws for the labour movement. That was a nonstarter. So the difference between a nonstarter and a poison pill, I'm not sure. But the point is, it's really important to preserve the economic integration, and make sure that we do not go backwards by ripping up NAFTA or making it worse.

CO: And do you think we're on course to accomplish that?

SG: Very difficult to say. This round will be will be pretty telling, but there are several more rounds to go. So I think it's too early to declare defeat or victory. I think we're just now getting down to line-by-line text review, and what's not helping is the hot rhetoric. And I think that's why you see groups like the U.S. Chamber suggesting to the president that he tone it down.

CO: But often it's said that this kind of hot rhetoric is what's needed. That this is what lights fires under people — that these kinds of threats that people focus on getting things done. What do you say to that?

SG: You know the interesting thing, to me, is actually an unintended benefit. When the president said that he was going to rip up NAFTA — that it was the worst deal in the world — you know what happened here in the United States? People for the first time suddenly said — people meaning members of Congress and members of his own cabinet and business groups — said you know what? We actually think NAFTA is good. And you didn't have that kind of political support and defense of NAFTA before the president said he would rip it up. You have it in Canada. In Canada it's a settled political question, right? Everybody is for a trade. In the United States not so much. And so between the threat of getting rid of it and the Prime Minister's charm offensive going out throughout the United States that is having an effect at least on the elites. You know I think it would be a stretch to say that the average person in the United States is focused on NAFTA. But certainly the business leadership and the congressional leadership governors are very focused on it.

CO: But isn't that the non-elites to whom Donald Trump is trying to address these remarks.

SG: Yes he is. And therein lays the conundrum for his negotiators, right? I mean the good news you look at Secretary Sonny Perdue, he's the former governor of Georgia. He's the secretary of agriculture. He is one of the key people that said to President Trump when the last time or one of the times the president threatened to rip up NAFTA. You had Secretary Perdue saying wait a minute, farmers — American farmers — rely a great deal on exporting to our NAFTA partners and to the world. So do not hurt the farmers. And you saw Trump climb down from his rhetoric.

CO: So if Donald Trump's rhetoric is hot what advice would you give to Prime Minister Trudeau, who is about to meet with U.S. president tomorrow?

SG: You know the prime minister so far has been pitch-perfect. You know he's stuck to the basic message of economic integration. He hasn't engaged in the heated rhetoric, and I think he just needs to keep going.

CO: But again, even if it's a successful meeting it doesn't mean that tables don't get turned over the next day for some other reason.

SG: Yeah, you're right.

CO: You can take ground and then you lose it almost immediately for something unrelated. So is that not hugely frustrating?

SG: It is hugely frustrating and you know we have to remember that this is a negotiation unlike previous negotiations. This is a president unlike any of his predecessors. And it's you know nobody expected him to be in this position. So he's kind of making it up as he goes and the partners are having to do the same thing. So is it frustrating? Absolutely, and the president is all over the place on this. But that having been said, it's important for the negotiators to stick to their knitting — to sit down and go line-by-line through text and figure out where their points of agreement and where their points of negotiation. We have a long way to go, believe it or not, till the end of the year. I hope nobody flips the table tomorrow. That would be counterproductive from any one of the three countries.

CO: See no one flips the table, but the people who are at the table, who are doing these negotiations is one thing. How much of the success of this depends on the relationship between Donald Trump and Justin Trudeau?

SG: There's definitely an element of that, Carol, for sure, and that's true of any international relationship. The relations between the leaders matters. You know the Canadian-American Business Council last week in Montreal, hosted Bill Clinton and John Chretien, who talked a lot about the trust they had in each other and personal rapport they built outside of the formal meetings and how that really mattered. And so that is definitely important. And President Trump doesn't make that easy on anybody. But so far, the prime minister has been patient. He's been workman-like. And you know his cabinet has been engaging in all sorts of levels.

CO: We heard Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, who is in Washington today. She was on the panel and she said that we are living in the most uncertain moment in international relations since the end of World War II. What would you say to that?

SG: This moment meaning the presidency of Donald Trump? Is that what she is referring to?

CO: Someone tried to get her to be more specific, but we're guessing that that's what she meant.

SG: Well, I didn't I didn't hear the comment, so it'd be tough for me to react except to say it is true that there is a lot of uncertainty. I don't know if it's the most in history? But this president seems to thrive on being unpredictable.

CO: But he's a businessman. I mean didn't people at your business counsel and another business councils think that that was going to be good for business?

SG: It's really difficult to do to draw a big conclusion about what's good for business or bad for business in the first few months of the administration. Because the truth is, if we can get regulatory cohesion between the United States, Canada and Mexico out of this NAFTA negotiation, something that we at the Canadian-American Business Council have been working on hard, that would be a huge bonus. And that's something that was actually started by President Obama and Prime Minister Harper. And if Prime Minister Trudeau and President Trump further it would be a terrific thing for business. So I'm not willing to paint everything with a broad brush and say it's all a disaster or it's all good. The details are a lot more sort of case-by-case dependent. Regulatory cohesion, as one example, would be terrific.

CO: We will leave it there and we will be watching this. Ms. Greenwood, thank you.

SG: Thank you so much, great to be with you.

JD: Scotty Greenwood served as a U.S. diplomat in Canada. She is now the CEO of the Canadian-American Business Council. And we reached her in Washington D.C.

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California fires

Guest: Brad Sherwood

JD: The wildfires in northern California are some of the worst the area has ever seen. Intense wind and months of dry weather combined to create massive fires that have devastated the Napa Valley and Sonoma County. 15 people have died since Sunday night; more than 150 people are still missing. More than 20,000 people have been evacuated. Brad Sherwood’s Sunday began picture-perfectly. His young family enjoyed the beautiful fall day at a pumpkin patch and played with their new puppy Henry. But by the early hours of Monday morning, Mr. Sherwood and his family were running for their lives. Their home in Santa Rosa, one of the worst hit areas, was completely destroyed by the fire. We reached Mr. Sherwood earlier today as he was returning to Santa Rosa.

CO: Brad, how are you doing?

BRAD SHERWOOD: We're here and that's the most important thing. The family is safe and we are with family and friends. But I'd be lying to say if we were not in a state of denial. My wife and I woke up this morning crying. I think it's totally taken effect on what exactly happened in the last 24 hours.

CO: When you woke up this morning, where were you?

BS: We were at my parents’ house in Elk Grove, California, which is just south of Sacramento.

CO: Can you take us back to Sunday, which was a lovely day. Everything was going well. At what point did you know that there was trouble?

BS: It was about 10:30 at night — Sunday night — and our new puppy, Henry, was scratching at our bedroom door to go out. And it's when I let him outside that I smelt the smoke. I saw a little bit of white ash coming down into the backyard. That's when I noticed that there was something definitely different going on because I had never seen a white ash coming down before.

CO: But you knew that there were fires around. This is your first indication it was close?

BS: Not at that time I did not. I did not know that there were fires. And when I went online on my iPhone, there was no indication that there were fires. The only thing that I saw at that moment was a Facebook thread from my neighbours, and everyone was saying Geez! Do you smell the smoke? Boy, look at the moon, it's blood red. And then that's when they started blinking information to the Napa fires.

CO: At what point did you realize you had to get out?

BS: It was after I got in my Jeep and started surveying our area and I saw nothing — just smoke. Got back home, and one of my neighbors, who's a deputy sheriff for the county, ran out of his house, jumped in his police car and said get out, it's coming over the hill. We immediately just started yelling fire and get out. That's when we knew it was serious. It was moments after that that we got the mandatory evacuation phone call.

CO: Brad, you're saying that before your neighbuor came out and said get out, it's coming over the hill. There was no other warning. And then you've got this automated reverse 911, but no other indication from the authorities or news or anything that you're going to be in this trouble.

BS: That is correct. I actually was even standing next to several law enforcement officers and heard nothing about our neighborhood being evacuated. As a matter of fact, a group of folks came down off the hill. They were staff from Safari West, which is a wildlife refuge. And it was in talking with them and hearing their stories about how fast the fire was going that's when I decided to go back to my house. We started to get everyone out.

CO: And who's everyone? This is one in the morning, who are you getting into the car?

BS: Everyone we could reach in the time we had. The scary part there was as soon as I had made as many notifications of my neighbors as possible, I knew I had to get back to my house and get my family to safety.

CO: How old are your kids?

BS: My son Grant is seven, and my daughter June is five.

CO: And you got them up and bundled them into the car?

BS: Yup. And that was about the point it was right after we had gotten the kids in the car that the power went out. And then you heard the popping of propane tanks blowing up right up the street from us. And then it was only moments after that that we looked up and what was just black smoke turned into this deep, dark orange glow.

CO: Leaving Santa Rosa, what was it like? What did you see as you were departing?

BS: I saw a lot of care. People were honking the horns, yelling get out. At one point, I tried to go on a freeway to get through town and literally the fire just jumped right in front of us and we had to turn around and go the wrong way on a freeway just to get off.

CO: How are your kids dealing with all this?

BS: They get a good night's sleep. You know they’re asking about their chickens. They're asking about the turtle that we had to leave. They were super quiet yesterday. The car ride scared them to death. And today has been the hardest day of them all. I think it's everything's coming to reality. It's surreal.

CO: But now you're heading back into Santa Rosa to see what's left.

BS: And to help our community out. You know my priority was family first. I got to get my kids to safety. They’re at safety now and I'm heading back to help the community.

CO: What do you think is left of your house?

BS: The chimney… that's it. Our whole community is gone — flattened. I'm not expecting to find anything. And we had a beautiful 85-year-old walnut tree in the front of our house. And if anything, I hope that it made it because it really was kind of a rallying point for the whole neighborhood. Everyone loved that tree. And I'll tell you what, if that tree didn't make it, I'm going to plant another walnut tree right where it stood because we've got to rebuild this community. Our kids deserve it.

CO: Brad, thank you so much. And I hope everything is as good as you can hope at this point. Thank you.

BS: Thank you, I appreciate that. Thank you.

JD: Brad Sherwood's home and neighborhood in Santa Rosa, California were destroyed by a wildfire on Monday morning. We reached him in Santa Rosa.

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Porridge champion

Guest: Ellinor Persson

JD: If there was any doubt the Scots rule the Golden Spurtle competition, which honors the greatest porridge makers on earth, take a peek at the winners of years past: Richie, Hilditch, MacLeod, Cruickshank, Brockie. After all, making porridge is a wholly Scottish affair. So imagine the faces of stunned spectators over the weekend to learn that a Swede had been crowned the Golden Spurtle champion. Her name is Ellinor Persson. We reached her in Helsingborg, Sweden.

CO: Ellinor, congratulations.

ELLINOR PERSSON: Thank you very much for that.

CO: You are now the porridge champion of the world.

EP: Yeah, I am actually. It’s surprising beating all the Scottish men that I've been having this tile for many years before that is fantastic.

CO: Well and how are those Scottish men feeling about a Swede coming into their country and taking the golden Spurtle? I mean that must hurt?

EP: That hurts a little bit, but I think they are enjoying it also. We had a great time there and I’m pretty sure I want to take it back there next year.

CO: Now porridge, I mean what are we talking about here? What are your magic ingredients?

EP: Actually, you are just allowed to use three traditional ingredients in this competition: water, salt and steel-cut oats.

CO: But Ellinor, how many variations can there be on water, oats and salt?

EP: That is amazing how hard can it be? Actually, I tasted all the porridge in the final and everyone’s tasted so different. I don't know? It is maybe the quality of the ingredients that you bring with you and how you taste it. I taste my porridge very much when I cook it, so maybe that is that. Because I think the other ones, they measure the water, the temperature and the salt very perfect. I'm just doing it by feeling.

CO: You mentioned steel-cut oats, which is, of course, in Scotland they like steel-cut outs, don't they? The other kind is the rolled oats — the old fashioned ones. That's quite common in Canada and the States.

EP: In Sweden also.

CO: Aha! So did you have to learn how to cook with steel-cut oats in order to get into this competition?

EP: We have one company in Sweden that has these kinds of oats. So that is the one you should use in this competition. And you need to cook it for 25-30 minutes. So it takes some time.

CO: How closely do you have to watch that with your spoon?

EP: You have to look at it the whole time.

CO: OK, so it's pretty tricky.

EP: It’s pretty tricky, but everyone can make this, of course, because it's so difficult. But you have to have that right taste in your mouth to make the perfect porridge.

CO: That's what I'm thinking. Anyone should be able to do this. But I guess not everyone does it right. I mean lots of people make lumpy porridge or burnt porridge or porridge too thick. There's porridge that’s too thin and porridge that’s just right I guess.

EP: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, there’s a lot of differences between it. And the judges they don't know what porridge they taste, it’s a blind test. Mine is a little bit crunchy, so this year they like the crunchy bits of it.

CO: OK. Now how did you get to be so good at making porridge?

EP: I really, really don't know because I have not been cooking porridge for so many years. I was in the Swedish competition the first time three years ago, it was not so good results there. Last year, I won the Swedish competition and also this year. I have been in Scotland for two years. I don't know. I just have it in my body maybe?

CO: Is this the first time that someone from outside of Scotland has won the porridge competition?

EP: Let's see now… Last year, an American…

CO: An American won the best porridge?

EP: So it went all over to your place almost.

CO: Not quite, but you won for the best ordinary like plain porridge. But another Swede won the other big porridge competition. What did he do?

EP: So there is two: the original and the specialty. In the specialty, you have to have one-third of these steel-cut oats, and then you can mix whatever you want. Maybe to make it like a dessert or like a hot meal? He made us like a wonderful dessert, it was so tasty and so nice.

CO: And what was in his dessert?

EP: Oh my god, it was blueberries, caramel, vanilla and then he you know… burned it on the top…

CO: And then he put whip cream on it too, right?

EP: Exactly, exactly.

CO: Now this is a kind of porridge that I imagine a lot of children would be willing to eat.

EP: Yes. But my daughter has my porridge and she's just eating the porridge. She don't want to have jam or milk or something on it. Just the porridge, so yeah, it's good also.

CO: Ellinor, it's good to talk to you. Thank you.

EP: Thank you. Bye bye.

CO: Bye bye.

JD: Ellinor Persson is this year's World Porridge Making Champion. We reached her in Helsingborg, Sweden.

[Music: TV show music]

Berlusconi Duvet

JD: Boy, when you decide to buy someone a duvet cover as a gift, you're gambling a bent. You know there's a simple considerations: size, double, queen, king — you’ve got to know the size of the bed, fabric choice, thread count. And then there are the more complicated considerations. You got to match the cover to the rest of the boudoir décor. And, of course, you got to know the taste of the recipient. Well fortunately, Silvio Berlusconi, the disgraced former prime minister of Italy, knows his pal Vladimir Putin, the Russian president who rules with an iron fist and with at least one queen sized bed. This past Saturday, was Mr. Putin's 65th birthday. And Mr. Berlusconi just loves that guy. They both enjoy a few yucks and a good prank and abusing their power. But 65! That's a big one, so what to get?

JD: Well, among other things, Mr. Berlusconi decided a custom-made duvet cover — one that sidesteps that whole issue of matching Mr. Putin's bedroom decor by matching it to Mr. Putin himself. So dominating this vague cover is a giant photograph of the two men that Silvio Berlusconi of Vladimir Putin respect most in the whole world: Silvio Berlusconi and Vladimir Putin. The company that made this one-of-a-kind product posted a photograph of it on Instagram with hashtags including #HappyBirthday, #BestFriends and #Dream. #Nightmare is conspicuous by its absence.

JD: But, of course, for Mr. Berlusconi, this is a refreshing change because for once, he's made someone else's bed and he doesn't have to lie in it. Although, of course, he will, when he's visiting Vlad. Thinking about it… and definitely looking at it, it seems like kind of an odd gift. But I guess it's fitting because both men enjoy getting and controlling blanket coverage.

Back To Top »

Part 2: Catalonia declaration, Rhode Island farmer squash record

Catalonia declaration

Guest: Alfred Bosch

JD: Many Catalans were hoping that this would be their independence day. The regents president, Carles Puigdemont, was expected to stand up in parliament today and declare Catalonia separate from Spain, after a contested and contentious referendum 10 days ago. But Mr. Puigdemont stopped short. He confirmed the Catalonia had won the right to independence, but suspended the official declaration for a few weeks to allow for negotiation with Spain. Alfred Bosch is the leader of the pro-separatist Republican Left Party in Barcelona's city council. We reached him in Barcelona.

CO: Mr. Bosch, you have just watched Carles Puigdemont’s speech. What's your reaction to that?

ALFRED BOSCH: Well, things are going as scheduled. There was a declaration of independence, following the vote in the first of October referendum. The only news significant, of course, is that there is a suspension of several weeks waiting for what might come out of national and international negotiations. So the door is left open.

CO: OK, the door is left open, but I mean how could you actually say that there has been a declaration of independence, but at the same time, immediately that declaration is suspended for a couple of weeks? So people are saying that Charles Puigdemont is just fudging this. He's just trying to find a way to not disrupt things right now. What do you say to that?

AB: Well yeah, that might be an opinion. The fact is that, of course, you can declare something and then say let's keep it frozen for the sake of peace, coexistence and the sake of agreement and talks. So what we're actually doing is saying we're not going to miss the chance of having and holding further talks. We're not going to do that. We are in favour of dialogue. We, obviously, have to listen to the people and we have to deliver on the vote. So both things are being set.

CO: You’ve heard the Spanish government has made it clear they are not going to negotiate with Catalonia. So after this two week period what are you saying happens? They just OK move along with independence.

AB: Yes. Well, that depends now on the Spanish government. So they have they have this on their roof, and they have to react to this. If they say no way, we're not going to talk. Then after waiting a few weeks we will push on with independence because the declaration has been done.

CO: You have big companies leaving Catalonia or threatening to leave, including banks. You have the Spanish Navy in the port of Barcelona. And you have hundreds of thousands of people who took to the streets of Barcelona just to support staying within Spain. So do you think that maybe Mr. Puigdemont is the one who is trying to find a way to back down a bit?

AB: I don't know because you also had people voting who were beaten out and who think that they should be listened to, especially after holding the vote on Sunday, October the 1st. You also had like huge demonstrations with millions of people in the streets for independence during the last seven years. And what counts ultimately in a democracy is the ballot box. That's where problems should be solved. And the ballot box says that like 90 per cent for independence and 10 per cent against.

CO: 90 per cent of those who cast a ballot. But here are some issues that have been brought to our attention: First of all, large numbers of people boycotted the vote because they thought it was illegal. They considered it illegitimate. A lot of people feared the police and the violence that was in the streets. And we're told that a lot of people were able to vote more than once, and so that would make the vote illegitimate as well. So you say it's 90 per cent, but how confident are you — how confident are people in Catalonia — that that was a free and fair and democratic vote?

AB: Well, I'm sure that the arguments you gave are more like the arguments of the Spanish government than of Radio-Canada officially…

CO: Can I just tell you where I got those arguments from? I got them from an interview we did yesterday with a student, who lives in Catalonia, who is against the Catalan Independence Movement. He's against it. So I didn't get it from the Spanish government. I got it from a Catalan student.

AB: Well, that's good. That's good. I'm sure he has a lot of authority on this subject. But, anyway, those are the arguments of the Spanish government — they’re Identical. And what we're saying is look, let's not blame or punish the victim. And who's the victim here? Millions of people who voted with the Spanish police, who tried to disrupt the vote and still they held. And they were beating up elderly people and whole families, but they still held the voting stations and people turned out in the millions to vote. Let's not punish the people. So if anything, police violence doesn't diminish the value of the vote. It rather enhances the value of the vote.

CO: And it's been widely condemned, and you point out how that vote was conducted. People, even the student we spoke to, but many others say that it was just so offensive and disgusting the way the reaction on the part of the Spanish authorities. And people, many who don't are not in favour of independence, still believe that the status quo can't remain — that there has to be a new negotiation between Catalonia and Spain. So does this perhaps set the stage for that?

AB: Well, I understand that the president of Catalonia, Mr. Puigdemont, is stretching out his hand and saying exactly that: let's give the Spanish government a last chance. We're not going to be blamed for this. We are conducting things in a very responsible and very peaceful and democratic manner. What we will not do is just wait forever with our arms folded when millions of people turned out to vote and were beaten up and people have being persecuted. People have been detained, but still, we're stretching out a hand and we're saying we can talk. Let's talk! Let's see who can make things better and we can agree on a democratic path.

CO: OK, just very quickly, to make it clear, so you are you are leaving the door open to some new relationship that would not involve independence?

AB: We’re leaving the door open to talks. And there's a red line there, which says democracy. We're not going to cross and retreat on that line. We cannot deceive the people to that extent. So the vote has to be taken into account.

CO: Mr. Bosch, I appreciate speaking with you. Thank you.

AB: Thank you. Thank you so much.

CO: Good night.

JD: Alfred Bosch is the leader of the pro-separation Republican Left Party in Barcelona’s city council. And we reached him in Barcelona.

[Music: Ambient]

Weinstein accuser

JD: Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow, Rosanna Arquette — just a few of the women who came forward today, to be added to the list of those accusing Hollywood mega-producer Harvey Weinstein of sexual harassment. And the allegations against Mr. Weinstein now range from inappropriate requests for massages, to groping, to — as reported by the New Yorker — rape. And today, one more accuser came forward in a press conference, alongside the lawyer Gloria Allred. Ms. Allred is also representing 33 women who have been who have accused Bill Cosby of sexual assault. Louisette Geiss is a screenwriter and a former actress. From the press conference earlier today, here is Ms. Geiss, describing her alleged encounter with Mr. Weinstein at the Sundance Film Festival in 2008.

SOUNDCLIP

LOUISETTE GEISS: After the premiere, he asked me about my music company and the script that I had written and was pitching at the festival. We agreed to meet at the hotel restaurant where we both were staying. When we arrived, we were asked to leave shortly after at the restaurant as they were closing. Harvey then offered to reconvene the meeting in his office, which was adjacent to his hotel room. Obviously, I was hesitant. I had heard some stories previously about Harvey's behavior with women. So there was a hotel security camera right above us and I said to him I will take this meeting with you if you will shake my hand that you will not touch me. And he shook my hand and kind of laughed it off. We went to his office and we had a great conversation about his current film and the film that I was pitching. He seemed genuinely interested and I was excited. After about 30 minutes, he asked to excuse himself and go to the bathroom. He returned in nothing but a robe, with the front open and he was buck-naked. He told me to keep talking about my film and that he was going to hop into his hot tub that was adjacent to the room, just steps away. When I finished my pitch, I was obviously nervous. And he just kept asking me to watch him masturbate. I told him I was leaving. He quickly got out of the tub and grabbed my forearm as I was trying to grab my purse. And he led me to his bathroom, pleading that I just watch him masturbate. My heart was racing and I was very scared. I pulled my arm away, finally, and headed to the door. He started following me and telling me that he could introduce me to Bob Weinstein, and I could get a three picture deal and that green light my script, but I had to watch him masturbate. I was on the verge of tears, but I pulled it together and quickly exited.

JD: That was Louisette Geiss, at a press conference earlier today. She was with the high-profile attorney Gloria Allred, who says she is urging Harvey Weinstein to enter into confidential arbitration with his accusers. In a statement on Tuesday, Mr. Weinstein's spokesperson said, quote, “Any allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr. Weinstein. Mr. Weinstein has further confirmed that there were never any acts of retaliation against any women for refusing his advances. He will not be available for further comments, as he is taking the time to focus on his family, on getting counseling and rebuilding his life.” Unquote.

[Music: Somber xylophone and violin]

Rhode Island farmer

Guest: Joe Jutras

JD: Joe Jutras used to work as a cabinet maker. He is now retired from that, and spending more time focusing on his hobby. Mr. Jutras no longer builds things. He encourages things to build themselves — giant things. And this weekend, at a competition, he broke another record with one of those carefully-nurtured, giant things. We reached Joe Jutras at his home in Scituate, Rhode Island.

CO: Joe, big congratulations.

JOE JUTRAS: Thank you very much, Carol.

CO: What's the record that you broke this weekend?

JJ: I grew a green squash. It was a green squash record that we broke.

CO: And how big was your squash?

JJ: This one that we weighed in this week was 2,118 pounds.

CO: That's a ton!

JJ: A ton and 118 pounds to boot.

CO: How big is this?

JJ: It's actually so big that you can't put him in the bed of a pickup truck any longer. We have to put him in a trailer. And the trailer is going to be wider than six feet wide. So we've got a six-and-a-half-foot by eight-foot trailer bed that we haul these in now. The circumference of the fruit — like if you were to get a tape and go around it — it's like 18-feet around. So it's quite a large fruit. Side-to-side, front-to-back is like 125 inches, so it's definitely a good size fruit.

CO: It's big! So when you wheeled in this squash, how did people react?

JJ: Well, everybody was saying gee, I hope that gourds heavy for you because you never really know, Carol, until you put it on the scale whether or not it's going to go to chart. And what that means is you have a circumference side-to-side and front-to-back measurement and it ends up calculating how many cubic inches you have. And then you have a chart to compare that to. And the chart on my fruit at 461 inches was 2,009 pounds. So for me to go 2118, I was 5 per cent over the chart, which is fantastic. So everybody hopes the pumpkin goes to chart. To go over the chart is like an extra bonus. And I was very fortunate to do that.

CO: And when that was announced, what did people do?

JJ: Oh, everybody was going crazy, especially me; I was jumping up and down.

CO: What's interesting, of course, I mean it's great to have grown the largest squash, but this isn't your first record, is it?

JJ: No, I've previously, in 2006, had a world-record long gourd that was 126.5 inches. The following year, I was lucky enough to have a world-record pumpkin at 1689.

CO: OK, so your long gourd was 126 inches — more than three feet.

JJ: I don’t know how may millimeters.

CO: More than three meters — three and a bit meters against your long gourd. And then your pumpkin weighed in at 1,689 pounds you say?

JJ: That's correct.

CO: These are big things you grow.

JJ: And that was in 2007. That was really large for that time. Now, you know we're 2624, so it's come a long way in the last 10 years.

CO: Your records have been surpassed since you broke them in 2006.

JJ: Oh yes, the records are made to be broken.

CO: OK. But what's really, really extraordinary here is that you now have the trifecta of food titles, right?

JJ: Yes.

CO: You the three biggies and you have the biggest of the biggies.

JJ: That's correct. That was something I've been aiming for. It has been a goal of mine since you know 2007. The largest pumpkin is probably the hardest one to get — I'm sure it is now. So since I had the largest one and I had the world-record long gourd the year before that it just felt right that I should try to really you know focus my efforts on the green squash.

CO: OK. Well I know people who are listening to this, of course, they're waiting for me to ask the most important question, which is how do you do it?

JJ: How do you do it? Well, you have to have good soil, good weather and good luck. You know and there's always luck involved when you're growing outdoors. You have to have the weather on your side. You can't have too much rain. Actually, we would prefer a no rain because we can always add the amount of water you want. So water is not really a problem. It's the sunshine, hail and frost is a tough one, cold weather is tough. So you have to be blessed with good weather.

CO: OK, lots of people have good soil, good weather and fair of luck. So there must be something you're feeding the soil — something that others don't know. What is that? Come on, Joe! Tell us.

JJ: It takes a lot of time, you know? You have to put your time in. We probably put three or four hours a day in on these plants. Pruning is very important. Your fertilizing is very important. Most important of all is putting enough insecticide down and fungicide down. you not only have to spray your plants with insecticide on fungicide, but you also have to what they call drench with a fungicide, so that you can get that fungicide into the fruit, so the fruit doesn’t rot from the inside out. This fruit was 102-days-old. You have to have a very healthy fruit. And you have to do that by giving it what it needs to live that long.

CO: I presume you're not planning on eating these fruit?

JJ: No, I don't think you’d want to eat this fruit because I fertilized the thing every day.

CO: I was just going to say, all that fungicide. I'm not sure about that.

CO: Now, does your wife help you with your hobby?

JJ: No, she doesn't. She's got her own hobby; she grows orchids.

CO: Does she win prizes for her orchids?

JJ: Oh yes,

CO: You people.

JJ: Yeah, I know. It’s something.

CO: I know there are secrets you're not telling me, especially in the fertilizer.

JJ: It's called getting up early and working till dark.

CO: All right, that's the advice. So just before we go, what do you get? Do you get any prize money? Do you get a trophy for this?

JJ: The biggest trophy we get for the green squash is what they call “The Green Jacket” and this Green Jacket is you know something that if you've been aiming for a long time, it's really sacred in your heart to get this Green Jacket. This year, it's going to be in Portland, Oregon. So we'll have to take a flight out there at the end of February to get this Green Jacket.

CO: Well, I hope that the wearing — the putting on of the Green Jacket — is really special for you, Joe. It's fun to talk to you. Thank you.

JJ: OK. Thank you.

CO: Take care. Bye.

JJ: Bye bye now.

JD: We reached Joe Jutras in Scituate, Rhode Island.

[Music: Bluegrass]

Kidney soup donation

JD: Today’s soup du jour is kidney — aged to imperfection in a corroded can. And a quick note, The “jour” is not this “jour”, but a “jour” that passed nearly half a century ago. The Cardiff, Wales food bank has tweeted a photograph of this indelicacy. It's a photograph of a recently donated can of Heinz Kidney Soup. The label reads “Ready to Serve”, but there are a few visual indications that bring that claim into question. First, the can is not in great shape. The lid is suspiciously dark and appears rusted. Second, the price tag reads 10-d, which refers to a currency known as the pre-decimal penny, which hasn't been used in the UK since 1971. And third, Heinz itself has revealed that its kidney soup was discontinued… more than 35 years ago. So apparently someone really went to the back of the pantry to donate this can, which all these clues indicate is at least 46 years old, which makes it a fascinating antique. Like one of those old phones where you hold the receiver in one hand to your ear and click the little clicky thing and talk into the mouthpiece. Unfortunately, you would probably be better off trying to eat the phone. Speaking of the ancient kidney soup, Helen Bull of the Cardiff Food Bank told the BBC, quote, “It will probably still be in date. That's the funny thing.” Unquote. Meaning, I guess, that it might not just be a can of botulism and evil spirits. Although she did hastily add, “But will I eat it? Absolutely not.” So if it looks like it belongs in a museum, do not give it to a food bank. Because just look at our planet: primordial Soup can cause a lot of trouble in the long run.

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Part 3: Corker Trump comments, Germany skulls

Unlock phone mother

JD: For three years, Maureen Henry has been trying to piece together what happened. In 2014, Ms. Henry's eldest son, Dovi Henry, was found dead in Lake Ontario. The University of Toronto student went missing shortly after his 23rd birthday. And since his death, Ms. Henry has been searching for clues as to where he was before he died. The Ottawa mother of three thinks that his social media accounts may provide some answers to her questions. This morning, Ms. Henry spoke to Matt Galloway, host of CBC Toronto's “Metro morning”, about a court order she hopes will force Apple, Google, Facebook and Bell to provide her son's passwords.

SOUNDCLIP

MAUREEN HENRY: We all feel his loss and we feel kind of there's just like a sense that we're still in shock, and we don't have what they call closure. So once we find out what happens to Dovi, then we can kind of just process the grief. It's always with you, but you can carry it in a gentler way.

MATT GALLOWAY: Those companies, one of the reasons why they are reluctant to give out the social media passwords to the family members of somebody who may have died is because of matters of privacy. Do you understand those concerns?

MH: I understand those concerns, but I think in cases like this that it's necessary to work with the families, to provide them with that information.

MG: You're not concerned about what you might find? I mean we say things through social media as a society. We might say things to our friends through social media that we wouldn't say publicly to friends or family. Are you concerned about what you might find in there?

MH: Not at this point. I mean ideally, my son would be alive, right? So at this point, when I'm trying to find out what happened to him, I'm not going to worry about when I'm going to find there. I just want to know what happened to him and who was involved and which of his friends know.

MG: You mentioned this idea of closure. What would you get out of this? In knowing more of those details?

MH: Just a sense of peace because not knowing your mind is constantly focused on that, right? So it's like what happened to Dovi? What happened to Dovi? And then sometimes I'll go out and I'll see some tall, black boy. And I'll look, and I'm looking for Dovi, and it's not Dovi. And my mother said the same thing happened to her. She went out on a train and she saw some boys. And she was looking at them and one of them came up and asked her what was wrong? And she said no, I thought you were my grandson. And that wasn't her grandson — and the same for Dovi’s sister and his brother. So we just need just the sense of what happened? And then, as I said, we can carry it just with more ease.

JD: That was Maureen Henry on CBC Toronto's “Metro Morning” today. She's speaking with host Matt Galloway about her son Dovi Henry, who was found dead along Toronto's waterfront in 2014. Today, Ms. Henry's request for a court order to access her son's social media accounts was approved. So far, it is unknown whether Apple, Google, Facebook and Bell will comply with the order and release her son's passwords.

[Music: Ambient]

Corker Trump comments

Guest: Tom Davis

JD: It was the kind of assessment that most politicians would only offer up in private. But in a 25-minute phone call to the New York Times, Senator Bob Corker volunteered a stunning rebuke of U.S. President Donald Trump. The Senator said that the President treated his office like an episode of “The Apprentice”, and that his staff needs to do daily damage control and that he was setting the U.S. on the path towards World War Three. No prominent Republicans have echoed the Senator's comments, and many are now asking Senator Corker and President Trump to turn down the temperature. Tom Davis is a former Republican congressman for Virginia. We reached him in Washington, D.C.

CO: Mr. Davis, I'm sure you saw the New York Times interview with Bob Corker where he says that he believes the president is dangerously erratic. He treats the office like a reality show. Has to be contained by his staff and is reckless enough to put the country on the path to World War Three. What did you think when you read those remarks?

TOM DAVIS: Well, I thought the president picked the wrong fight because Bob Corker right now is a lame-duck senator with nothing to lose. He doesn't have to worry about any political repercussions of anything he says. And, of course, this isn't helpful for getting the program through or anything else. And Republicans in general suffer from this kind of thing because it makes it harder to get the agenda and it just becomes a sideshow.

CO: But there are those who are saying that Bob Corker said in public what many Republican colleagues say in private, is that true?

TD: Look, you hear a lot of different things about the president from a lot of different people. I’m not in a position to observe the president every day to know this. But I think it's safe to say that President Trump has a unique style in terms of the way he has dealt with the presidency, the way he deals with people and that has led to a lot of conversation you know in Washington. It's just not helpful when somebody with Bob Corker's level of respectability in the town says something like that.

CO: What does it mean to the legislative agenda that Senator Corker has made these comments and President Trump has responded by calling him “little Bob Corker”. And he says Senator Corker begged me to endorse him for re-election. What is the effect on any ability to get laws passed?

TD: Well, you’ve got to remember, U.S. senators they've all had to run a tough, statewide campaigns. They're independent agents. You can't bully these type of people. And when they see their colleagues you know that are called out like that kind of thing. It doesn't engender the kind of loyalty the president needs to move his agenda ahead on the one hand. On the other hand, I don't think Bob Corker or anybody else is going to vote against the president's agenda just to get to the president. But you know a lot of Washington is relationships in terms of being able to cajole to coax people into doing things, and these conversations are never helpful.

CO: Can you see any particular pieces of legislation that are in jeopardy because of this tit-for-tat with Senator Corker?

TD: Well, it looks to me like the underlying issue here is that Bob Corker was expressing his concern about the deficit. And tax reform, I think, if you make it deficit neutral is probably a nonstarter in this environment because what's involved with offsets and the like. So I think that probably engendered the president to go after him a little bit. But Bob Corker is not running for re-election. He has nothing to fear at this point. He needs Bob Corker's votes he needs other member’s votes. He can only lose two Republican and be able to get his tax program through. In theory, he could work with the Democrats. But they also pay a price for working with this president. He's very unpopular with many segments of the Democratic Party. So they're ante in terms of what tax reform is very high and probably something that's unacceptable to most Republicans. So he needs every vote he can get. And again, these conversations aren't helpful. I hope at some point they can sit down and work this out because basically the midterm elections are going to be a referendum on how this Congress and the president can perform. And if they can't perform, and they can't produce the kind of things they promised their voters, it's going to be a tough mid-year.

CO: There are some Republican senators who are siding with Mr. Trump on this, Senator David Purdue from Georgia says people are very upset that Republican senators are not backing the agenda of the president — meaning the public isn't — and that we've heard from Vice President Pence's chief of staff talking about a purge of Republicans who are not loyal to Mr. Trump, is that true?

TD: Talking about a purge of Republicans who aren't loyal to Mr. Trump that has never worked. Franklin Roosevelt tried to purge members — it backfired. I think the independence is valued in these races. And it's certainly not the way that you hold 50 senators you need now to pass tax reform. They ought to focus on holding the glue together. That takes a lot of team work. It takes a whole lot of cajoling. It takes a lot of personal relationships. And anytime you have a one-off with any U.S. senator in your party, it's difficult given the alignments you have right now and the closeness of the alignments of the Senate. But I would say this as somebody who chaired the campaign committee two cycles, if the Republicans are not able to produce on tax reform, when they can't produce on health care. Their base gets very dispirited, quits giving money and quits showing up and volunteering and showing up on election day. And that makes for a disastrous mid-term, particularly at a time when the Democratic base appears very intense. If the Republicans can't produce on their promises, there's going to be punished at the polls. I mean history shows that.

CO: So what do you think of what Senator Bob Corker did then? Do you approve of how he went after Mr. Trump?

TD: Well, I never like to see that kind of thing in Washington, either on the part of the president or the senator. You know it's a pretty genteel town. Bob Corker is a pretty genteel guy. But I think he's made it clear at this point that he's going to be singled out and there's nothing the president can do. I guess the worst he can do is try to bust him to precinct captain. But Bob Corker doesn't need this at this point. He's a self-made billionaire, he's very successful, a well-respected legislator and he doesn't have to take it. The best thing is for somehow these two to try to get together and get on the same page and try to get the agenda done. And this stuff becomes forgotten pretty quickly. I'm not sure the president will be able to let this alone and to move on. I think that's the difficulty.

CO: And so does Mr. Trump bear some responsibility for digging his own hole here?

TD: Oh, I think he’s had a lot of self-inflicted wounds, absolutely. Look, the president is new to Washington. He's still learning the way that it works. And working in Washington is different than doing development work in New York. So yeah, I think there's some on-the-job training that we're undergoing now. But you know speaking as a Republican, you want these folks to work this out and get this together not play on the front pages with insults back and forth.

CO: Mr. Davis, I appreciate your time. Thank you.

TD: My pleasure. Thank you.

JD: Tom Davis is a former Republican congressman from Virginia. We reached him in Washington, D.C.

[Music: Rock]

Newfoundland moose hunter

JD: Rodney Buffett of Fortune, Newfoundland, was out moose hunting this weekend, when he became the target of one of the animals he was targeting. Here's Mr. Buffett speaking to Jamie Fitzpatrick on CBC's “Corner Brook Morning Show”.

SOUNDCLIP

RODNEY BUFFET: So I’ve got a hoof print on my forehead, bruises where he tread on my head a couple of times.

JAMIE FITZPATRICK: You have a hoof print on your forehead because he stepped on your head?

RB: Yeah, he stepped on my head three times.

JF: Let's back it up then and go back to Saturday's hunting trip. So first, you spotted a moose and took a shot, right?

RB: Yeah, I took maybe two shots and he went down and I thought he was dead so I didn't bother. I laid the gun down and looked back toward my fiancé. And when I turned around and again, he was up. He stood back up and charged me. He flipped me up into the air, drove me into the ground and he stomped on me a couple of times and flipped me over a few times. I held onto his antlers, trying to steer him away. It seemed like forever, but it was a five minutes we figure. My fiancé was up on the hill watching with binoculars. She watched it all happen.

JF: She must have been terrified?

RB: She was, yes.

JF: How big a moose was it?

RB: Oh, I figured he was 800 pounds stood up like he was.

JF: How did you finally get away?

RB: He just let me go and he took off running.

JF: Were you able to get up and walk away?

RB: No, no. I couldn't move after that.

JF: Were you diagnosed with a concussion or anything like that?

RB: No, no. They did CAT scans and all kinds of scans and X-rays and there's no broken bones. I’m just badly bruised.

JD That was Rodney Buffett of Fortune, Newfoundland, in conversation with Jamie Fitzpatrick on the CBC “Corner Brook Morning Show”.

[Music: Rock]

Germany skulls

Guest: Bernhard Heeb

JD: Somewhere in Germany, sitting in storage, are more than 1,000 human skulls. It has been over a century since they were shipped from East Africa. They have survived two world wars, and frequent movement from one institution to the next. And now, the crumbling human remains are being re-examined to determine where exactly they came from? Leading the researcher is Bernhard Heeb. He is the curator at the Museum of Prehistory and Early History in Germany. We reached Mr. Heeb in Berlin.

CO: Mr. Heeb, how did your museum first hear about these skulls?

BERNHARD HEEB: Oh, we heard about the skulls some years ago when we were offered by the old owner of the collection if we could take care about them? And that's when we get knowledge about the collection. It was 2010-2011, around then.

CO: And so they were in this Berlin hospital, and how were they being stored? And what condition were they in?

BH: Oh, they were stored in a small, old house so to say in very humid circumstances. And it was not at all appropriate. So in small boxes and they were, more or less, only stuffed in some small rooms.

CO: Why were the ones collected during colonial times? Why were they brought to Germany?

BH: Oh, there were a lot of researchers in Germany who were interested in material from all over the world that did craniometry — that means they measure the skulls. And so they wanted to let's say to get an idea about the development of mankind because they wanted to compare skulls from Africa with skulls from Asia, for example, and so the aim was to collect as many skulls as possible to get as much data as possible.

CO: So how come these skulls are there and in that condition? Who should have been in taking responsibility for them?

BH: They moved from a lot of institutions and a lot of collections. First of all, they were part of the museum in Berlin, and then it was given to another institution because to collector died. And then there was the Second World War, where everything was in chaos. And from 1984 they were stored in the eastern part of Berlin. Nobody was really interested in this collection because nobody had the time and we didn't have the researchers. There wasn't really interest to work with them, and so they started to be forgotten.

CO: But how were they collected though? I mean how did they manage to get the remains of people — these are these are human beings, they were human beings — they had families. They were possibly buried by their families. How would they have collected these remains to bring them to Germany?

BH: This is also a question we want to answer because for the case of Rwanda, it's very unclear where they are coming from. It seems that they are coming from the necropolises in some parts. But in this time, you had not necropolis you know from European cultures and also from your state. So we don't know exactly where they are from? Some were found somewhere else, and some were given as a gift from a ruler — an Iranian local ruler to the German, so it’s very different circumstances and backgrounds and that's what we want to clarify.

CO: And the Germans who took them to Europe, do you believe that there was permission from the families of the people who died?

BH: I think the problem is that they even didn't know how old the skulls are. Maybe they're 500-years-old, and they were buried already for 500 years. So the connection is not very clear to the people who are still living there and their connection to this maybe cemeteries or necropolises, so that's also what we're going to clarify. Maybe there was nobody to ask for? And I don't know if they would have asked if they would have known that? That's the question we wanted to clarify. We know that some skulls were brought by the locals to the Germans to be sold to them. We have 1,000 skulls and I think we have 500 stories behind that maybe.

CO: There's also a previous case skulls that were found in Germany that came from Southwest Africa — from Namibia — and have been sent back. In Namibia, we know there was a genocide. The Herero people were murdered there and slaughtered. And there were scientific experiments conducted on people held in concentration camps there. Is it possible that that is how these remains ended up in the hands of Germans? These are people who were taken away?

BH: No, Namibia is a completely another story. It was, first of all, a genocide. But also, the skulls in Germany from Namibia were not all part of the genocide, some were much older and from another area. So not all the skulls from Namibia were linked to this genocide, but in today’s Rawanda, Tanzania or Burundi we have another story. There was no genocide. We had some uprising and some wars, but the skulls we have from Rwanda were not in this area or where, for example, the Maji Maji uprising was.

CO: And so how will you go about returning the skulls to Rwanda? Or are you going to?

BH: That's a question we have to discuss with the Rwandan people and the ambassador. We are in close contact with the institutions in Rwanda. And the research will not only be done by Germans, it will be done in cooperation with African colleagues from Rwanda, and also from Tanzania. But the main point is the 1000 skulls from Rawanda. So we will research together and after we have the results, we will discuss together what could happen to them. It's not even clear if Rwanda wants to have them back.

CO: As you well know, Rwanda is a deeply traumatized country from his own genocide. They have numbers of places where there are human remains, bones, skulls of those 80,0000 who had been slaughtered that are there. How did Rwandans react when they learned that you had these remains in this collection.

BH: They were very surprised about that because as most of the countries, which were former colonies, they don't know they don't know a lot about the history — the common history. So it was a surprise the Germans took 1,000 skulls from their home country to Germany for scientific purposes. It was a big surprise. I wouldn't say a shock, but they didn't expect that because nobody told them so far. And in the memory for Rwanda, it seems that it's not really present anymore.

CO: All right, quite disturbing. Mr. Heeb, I appreciate speaking with you. Thank you.

BH: OK. Thank you very much.

JD: Bernhard Heeb is the curator at the Museum of Prehistory and Early History in Germany. We reached him in Berlin.

From Our Archives: Tamagotchi cemetery

If you were a kid in the 'nineties, the word "Tamagotchi" might mean everything to you. For the rest of us, a Tamagotchi is shaped like an egg. It's on a keychain. And in the middle, there's a screen. That's where owners can watch and take care of their digital pet. Technically, it's a "toy". For many, it was lifestyle. Next month, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the toy's launch, the company is releasing a smaller, limited-edition Tamagotchi — which works much like the original version. In 1998, As It Happens spoke with Terry Squires, a cemetery owner in the UK who was organizing funerals for people whose Tamagotchi pets had died. He described the concept to host Mary Lou Finlay. Here's a clip, from our archives.

SOUNDCLIP

TERRY SQUIRES: All the local children seem to be running around with them. And then we saw in the paper that the children are really grieving them when the pets passed away. And one morning, I woke up at half-past-three and I thought it was a good idea to have a cemetery because we already got a cemetery anyway. We’ve got a pet cemetery and a human cemetery already. So I thought it would be nice to have this one as well for the kids. It’s all kids anyway — teenagers, girls.

MARY LOU FINLAY: teenagers, all girls?

TS: All teenage girls.

MLF: So you offered to bury them — the dead tamagotchis?

TS: Yes.

MLF: And what kind of service are you offering?

TS: If they post them to us in that little envelope, we put them in a nice, wooden coffin about 30 centimeters by 25 or something like that. And then we burry them in an individual grave and we put a marker on it about 30 centimeters with the pet’s name. We write the pet’s name and the owner's name in the book of remembrance. And then we take photographs of it and send about three photographs back to the person who sent it.

MLF: You dig these graves with a spoon?

TS: No, we get a grave about 30 centimeters deep. A nice spade full.

MLF: OK. And do the local ones sometimes attend the burial?

TS: The local ones come, they attend the burial. And, of course, we get them from all around really. Some from Switzerland, some from France, Germany, all around.

JD: From our archives, that was former As It Happens host Mary Lou Finlay, in conversation with U.K. cemetery owner Terry Squires. That interview from January 1998.

[Music: Carnival music]

Dateline: Anxiety box

JD: Dateline: Vancouver.

[Music: Dateline theme]

JD: Social anxiety (agoraphobia) can be excruciating and crippling. Parties, work, events, just stepping out in public can cause panic and even physical pain. So imagine the excitement at the International Conference on intelligent robots in Vancouver recently, when attendees heard that an anxiety-fighting robot was on the scene. Then imagine their disappointment when they realized that instead of getting an R2 unit, anxiety sufferers were being subjected to their own private HAL. The robot in question is called MPS. It is the work of researchers at Japan's Gifu University. It aims to help people who are feeling ill at ease at a social gathering, by enclosing them in a solid black box. Then, as if that weren't terrifying enough, internees are prevented from escaping by sensors that send the box rolling with them wherever they go. And in case you were thinking they could just scream for help, those sensors make that difficult too. They turn the person's voice and facial expressions into an anime character that is projected onto the boxes outside screens. In Vancouver, the researchers described the psychological results thus far as, quote, “not good”. They did manage to find hope however, in the number of utterances that anxiety sufferers made while locked inside MPS. They made nearly twice as many utterances, but I'm betting a fair bit of the language they used could also be described as, quote, “not good”.

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October 10,2017 episode transcript

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