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The AIH Transcript for December 22, 2020

Hosts: Helen Mann and Samira Mohyeddin

Prologue

HELEN MANN: Hello. I'm Helen Mann, sitting in for Carol off.

SAMIRA MOHYEDDIN: Good evening. I'm Samira Mohyeddin, sitting in for Chris Howden. This is As It Happens.

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SM: Tonight:

HM: Shipping and transmitting. An advocate says Ontario's new COVID-19 lockdown doesn't help one of the province's worst hit groups: the people who work in warehouses, sending out all our holiday packages.

SM: Seasonal affective distractor. We bring you another classic holiday reading, Alistar MacLeod's To Everything There Is A Season -- about a Cape Breton boy who yearns for his older brother to come home so Christmas can truly begin.

HM: Armed and dangerous. A researcher tells us he was excited to find he'd captured an odd octopus behaviour on video, even though the behaviour in question makes his favourite cephalopod seem a bit slimy.

SM: Oiled again. A young climate activist in Norway says he's feeling angry after his country's top court ruled in favour of oil exploration in the Arctic.

HM: It's music to your skiers. When they couldn't reach home an old piano from their lodge, a B.C. ski club, got to thinking, well, why not screw on some skis and send it out on the trails.

SM: And (sings) smooth calculator. A teen on TikTok is racking up fans for his ability to accurately guess a person's height, using only a few photos and lots of equations. As It Happens. The Tuesday Edition. Radio that chalks this one up to mass hysteria.

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Part 1: Ontario lockdown doesn't do anything to help warehouse workers, says advocate

Ontario COVID workplaces

Guest: Gagandeep Kaur

SM: Ontario is still in the grips of COVID with both case numbers and virus related hospitalisations high, and stubbornly refusing to come down. And while the premier has announced a new province wide shutdown, the restrictions don't start for another four days. And according to a growing chorus of critics, the restrictions don't do much to address one of the sector's driving transmission in Ontario: large industrial workspaces. Warehouses, food processing plants, manufacturing facilities and the like are largely exempt from the new orders, despite accounting for about one quarter of active outbreaks in the province. Gagandeep Kaur is a Canadian Union of Postal Workers organiser and member of the Warehouse Workers Centre in Brampton, Ontario. We reached her today in Mississauga.

HM: Ms. Kaur, what will these lockdown measures coming into effect on Saturday mean for the workers who you represent?

GAGANDEEP KAUR: Not much has changed for the fate of these essential workers, because the industries that they are working in, they are essential -- not just for our region, actually for the inside Canada. You know, the warehouses from here, the supplies, the food, the other essential products to all over Canada. So all these workers, they will be at work. They will be working under the similar conditions. And this lockdown measure will not make much of a difference in their lives.

HM: What are you hearing about those conditions? What are the workers tell you about what they're seeing and experiencing in those warehouses?

GK: So as you know, we are in this pandemic and people have been isolating at home and a lot of people they are working from home these days. So what that has caused is the reliance and demand of online services is quite high. What workers have told us that because of the increase in the demand, these employers have hired even more workers, making it really impossible for workers inside to maintain that safe social distance at all time. The other thing is some of the employers, their main priority is production at the time. So if a worker wants to follow proper safety protocols, they cannot because then they can face penalties from the employers for working too slow.

HM: Of the cases that have been reported more than 400 have been reportedly have occurred at Amazon warehouses in Ontario. And a spokesperson for Amazon in Canada has told us that the company has a robust social distancing programme in place at its warehouses. Do you feel the company is doing what it can to to address those concerns?

GK: No, I don't think so. And what I've heard from the workers is that the concept of social distancing, they are only at the entrance. As soon as you enter inside these facilities, it is a totally different world. And I understand that, you know, it's kind of like a fascinating concept where we can just with a few clicks, you know, order anything from a box of chocolates to big screen TV. But if we look at the other end of the bargain and what, you know, workers are put through to make things happen, to make our dreams become a reality, I would say that it all comes down at the cost of their health and safety.

HM: Amazon says that its measures for safety include taped markings on floors, signage, they've spread out chairs and tables. They staggered the shift start times and workstations. They have handwashing stations, more janitorial staff. What more would you like to see them do?

GK: So, I mean, I understand and I agree there have been certain changes that have been brought up in these warehouses. But what I would want Amazon is rather than congesting the same place with more people and more work, it would have made more sense if they would have maybe, you know, leased out another property and, you know, shifted some of the work there. And also, like I mentioned earlier, the productivity has always been the main priority for the company, not the safety. There are definitely markings and there are staggered lunch times. They are staggered start times and end time. But then when they are working in, let's say, you know, different aisles and when they are manually walking from one side to the other, and if there are few people in the aisles and if they just want to stand and wait until that aisle is cleared, they don't have that time because they have certain rates that they need to fulfil.

HM: One of the key messages that we've had since the beginning of this pandemic from all levels of government is if you have any kind of symptoms, even if it seems like it's next to nothing like a cold symptom, anything, that you should stay home until you ensure that you are not carrying COVID-19. Do the workers that you're speaking with feel that they can do that, that they can stay home?

GK: No, definitely not, because the majority of the warehouse workers, they are the temporary workforce. They do not have access to the paid sick leave that the employed might be offering them. So basically what we are telling them at that stage is that they will have to pick between their life and the livelihood, right? So all these things, they discourage people from staying home, even if they are feeling sick.

HM: Amazon disputes that. You know, they say that if someone has a confirmed case of COVID-19 or who is required to isolate because they may have been exposed to COVID-19, that those people get up to 14 days of paid leave. That does not constitute paid sick leave?

GK: So what workers have told us that the paid leave for 14 days that Amazon has instituted is only for workers who are tested positive. So if they are deciding to stay home or they are experiencing some symptoms, they don't get paid for that time that they have missed. But in case of positive cases, then, yes, definitely they do get paid.

HM: The Ontario Minister of Labour or the Ministry of Labour, rather, says that it is hiring an additional 100 inspectors. What else would you like to see from the province in terms of ensuring worker safety?

GK: I think more on-site inspections should be in place and there should be tougher penalties for the employers who violate these health and safety protocols. Just recently, there was an article out where the Ministry of Labour conducted almost 31,500 on-site inspections, and it was just one employer that faced a financial penalty. So I think the employers who fail to follow or fail to provide workers the safe work environment, they should face stricter penalties that, you know, pushes them to strengthen worker safety.

HM: What do you want consumers to think about, given how many of us are ordering more and more goods online?

GK: So, you know, whenever we sit down, you know, on a computer or a device and we make that order, I just want consumers to be considerate that, you know, there is a person who will be processing that order, there is a person who will be packing that order, there is a person who will be delivering that item to their doorstep. So be considerate of their safety. I mean, I don't want to stress on that 'do not order,' you know, because it varies from consumer to consumer. What is essential for one might not be essential for the others. But I believe that the health and safety of the workers should be made as a priority. And the workers -- these changes because Peel Region was already in lockdown, they are not very much positive about these. You know, they still feel that they are the ones who are being left out.

HM: Ms. Kaur thank you very much for sharing your thoughts on all of this with us. I appreciate it.

GK: Okay. Thanks.

SM: Gagandeep Kaur is with the Warehouse Workers Centre in Brampton, Ontario. For more on this story, visit our website: cbc.ca/aih.

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Greenpeace lost case

Guest: Simon Balsnes

SM: They challenged their government's right to drill for oil and gas, and they lost. Young environmental activists in Norway, including Simon Balsnes, argued their government was violating their rights. But today, the top court in the country ruled in favour of a government decision to issue oil and gas exploration licences in the Arctic. Greenpeace, along with Mr. Balsnes's organisation called Nature and Youth, had gone to court. Mr. Balsnes is a central board member for Nature and Youth in Norway. We reached him in Kristiansen.

HM: Simon Balsnes, what are you feeling right now after losing this case?

SIMON BALSNES: Well, I have to admit that I'm feeling a great deal of disappointment and sadness and definitely anger losing in this way. It's not a good feeling.

HM: What did your side argue in the courts about why these licences should be invalidated?

SB: Basically, our argument is that the world only has a limited carbon budget left before we do irreparable harm to the climate. And these goals are stated in the Paris Agreement, the two degree goal and so forth. And the world has already found more fossil fuels than we can burn and meet these goals, and looking for more oil and gas in an area that's in addition very vulnerable with rich biodiversity is not in accordance with the Norwegian constitution, which gives every citizen, both current and future citizens, the right to a healthy and liveable environment.

HM: As simply as you can explain to us why the courts did not rule in your favour.

SB: It's difficult to answer. I think that probably the courts are afraid to overrule the parliament and are afraid if they kind of gave us this rights and strengthened the Paragraph 112 of the Constitution, they'd be afraid of a whole load of climate lawsuits directed towards Norway and its oil production.

HM: That sounds like a pretty damning indictment of your courts from you.

SB: That's certainly true. From what I understand and from the expertise that we have with us, this verdict is much stricter than most of the other climate verdicts that we have seen from around the world this last couple of years. And it is really baffling that the Supreme Court of Norway have chosen to take this stance.

HM: Earlier this year, your prime minister said, I'm going to quote here, "If we lose the growth potential of this industry, we will also lose much of the momentum in Norway's transformation." The country's economy is flourishing, largely due to the oil and gas sector primarily. So how do you respond to that?

SB: It's certainly true that Norway has benefited largely from oil production. But the question is whether or not it will do so in the future. We know that the world is going into a transition where the demand hopefully for fossil fuels, especially oil, coal and gas, will disappear. And Norway and many other countries has committed to being fossil or net zero emitters by 2050 and betting so heavily on this one industry, that's probably or hopefully won't be a demand for it in the future, it's gambling with the future of Norway's economy. Certainly for this oil licences in the far far north, up in the Arctic ice, is very questionable whether or not these projects will be profitable even for the Norwegian state.

HM: Let me just be clear here. Are you trying to obliterate the oil industry in Norway or do you just want to stop drilling in the Arctic with the suit?

SB: Well, we believe that in the long run, Norway has to transition away from oil production totally. There's really no other way to go forward with the climate issues that we're standing up against. Obliterate is a strong word and can be scary, especially for the hundreds of thousands of people working in this industry. And that's why we're also campaigning for our government to put into motion a specific plan of transitioning, a just transition plan, away from this industry where the workers of this industry are also taken care of and retrained into new and green jobs.

HM: You know, the government has said it's selective about the oil company it invests in. It has said it won't deal with ones that pose a particularly large risk to the environment. It also says it's mitigating the effects of oil and gas by investing in other green areas of the economy. Is that not a sign that they're at least taking this seriously?

SB: To that I would say that normally when they think about measures, they're only calculating in the CO2 emissions from the production of the oil itself, not the CO2 emissions that is produced when at the end user points. And therefore, most of the action that the Norwegian government is taking pales in comparison to the contribution from the oil that we produce and sell to other countries.

HM: It would seem to be a paradox that Norway has this reputation of being a green country, is making these verbal commitments, but is also this massive oil producer. How do Norwegians deal with that paradox?

SB: I think it's a paradox that more and more people is aware of, and that's why minds and hearts are changing on this issue. And I think that probably one of the reasons why the oil industry especially has seen such a positive reputation in Norway is the wealth that it has brought to us in earlier decades. But now this view is changing and more and more people are seeing that this industry is not sustainable. It's not good for the environment, it's not good for people, and it's not good for our economy in the long run.

HM: You are 22 years old. When you chat with your friends, how worried are they about their future when a lost in the courts like this one occurs?

SB: Well, many people are hopeful that there are other ways of combating the climate change and the oil industry, but I won't lie -- many people have taken this this verdict very very hard. It is really a big step backwards for young people and future generations in Norway.

HM: Simon, it's good to speak with you. Thank you very much for talking to us.

SB: Thank you as well.

SM: Simon Balsnes is a central board member with the group Nature and Youth Norway. We reached him in Kristiansen.

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TikTok height guesser

Guest: Kenyon Lee

VOICE 1: [SOUNDCLIP: What is the tag for that guy who figures out people's height?

VOICE 2: This was my most highly requested video with over a thousand mentions in a night. So once again, I'm going to prove that I can find a height using a hand size. To do that, I'm going to be using this photo of her holding Ramen. The cup held 2.25 ounces of ramen. So I found a cup with similar dimensions. So we can set the handle...]

SM: That's 18 year old Kenyon Lee using nothing but maths and the power of the Internet to guess strangers' height and his guesses are usually pretty darn good. Mr. Lee is an engineering technology student at the University of Memphis by day, but he has gone viral on TikTok, racking up millions of views of his videos from around the world since posting his first height-guessing video a month ago, we reached him in Memphis, Tennessee.

HM: Hi Kenyon. How many requests are you getting every day to guess people's heights?

KENYON LEE: 5,000 to 10,000. I used to get 10,000 to 20,000, but it kind of cooled off a little bit.

HM: So how did this all start?

KL: So it started with me just being on the app TikTok. I realised I was spending a lot of time on there and I figured if I was spending so much time, I might as well just start uploading some stuff myself. So I came across a process to guess my height, and I figured it would be pretty interesting content if I was to, like, show my process in doing this. And the video by the next night, it ended up going viral to a degree, one million views. And I experimented with some other content, but every time I did a guess-my-height video, it just kept going up and up to the point where I did one video, it got 17 million (views) in like two or three days. I was like, okay, I need to just adopt this, it's kind of my thing.

HM: So what is your process and how do you show it?

KL: Okay. My main process is just like the research and evidence behind how I do my measurements. What I typically do is I try and find somebody's wingspans, which follows closely a one to one ratio with someone's height. And so typically, I just find posts where people have like random objects in their pictures and I use that to find their wingspan.

HM: So you base the arm length on, say, a coffee cup, for example, they might be holding.

KL: Yeah. So your hand and your forearm typically follow a ratio of one to one point six point eight ratio.

HM: And if I had a coffee cup, let's say a Starbucks cup, you'd have to know what size it was.

KL: Yeah. So, yeah, I do a lot of research like that, just finding random dimension standards.

HM: How long does it take you to calculate?

KL: As of recent, I would say four to eight hours and then another one to two to put the video together.

HM: And when you said earlier you like to show your method, like there's a point here in showing your maths skills, right?

KL: Yeah, definitely. And creativity, a little bit of both.

HM: And how accurate has your method been?

KL: I would say 90 percent. But of my past, like, three to five videos have been like right on the dot.

HM: It's pretty impressive. What are you hearing from experts? I mean, are mathematicians weighing in?

KL: Yeah, I talked to a lot of different influential figures in STEM -- math. They verify my stuff. I mean, it's pretty cool. In the comment sometimes they confirm my method and sort of people who are kind of sceptical -- I know it's like some big conspiracy going around on me. Yes, it's been confirmed.

HM: Have you ever been completely stumped by one particular person's challenge?

KL: Earlier on when I was just kind of like formulating my theory -- I was two inches off. Once I started to pull all that information together and got more data, ever since then, I've pretty much been consistently right.

HM: You'd think it'd be kind of more simple ways of guessing someone's height than, you know, glancing at this photograph. Why go into so much detail on the math?

KL: So really, it's just to express that creative thought. Like, I'm just trying to, like, reignite what might have been lost, the way to think about problem solving. I feel like there's been like a disconnect with the way people think about that. And yeah, there's more practical methods and I'm aware of them all, like people always trying to tell me to comment "Oh you can just gauge it based off this person's height or just something like that." But what I do is, I think way more entertaining for the viewer, and eye-opening for some of my younger crowd -- it kind of motivates them to try and look at problems in a different way and actually try and hone their maths skills.

HM: And why do you think it's captured so many people's imaginations?

KL: So I think it brought something new and unique to the table. People have told me that, you know, the delivery is everything with these kind of videos. The way I just go about, the flow of the video, the vibe. I definitely think it's just something that's just unique and people just like it for that reason. They haven't seen anything like it.

HM: You know, your detective work sounds pretty impressive. Have you thought of putting it to use these skills in some other way?

KL: Yeah, I've actually been looking at new career options. I've been looking into digital forensics. So that's been changing my outlook personally from growing from this.

HM: So it's opened your eyes to new stuff too?

KL: Yeah.

HM: Have you ever thought of kind of monetising this in some way? I mean, are advertisers trying to get in on this?

KL: Definitely all the time. And I need to start because, you know, I can't really make money from this on TikTok. I've been trying to move my platform a little bit like just kind of branch out a bit. You know, I got to pay for school to an extent. And so I have been thinking about ways I can do it, but mostly just trying to keep my content just about me. So it's just kind of hard to align with some kind of a promotion that closely aligns with my content.

HM: So you're still having fun with this?

KL: Yeah, in my head, it's still like a hobby. But, you know, other people just see this as just like really crazy. Like I'm just some big celebrity. But now it's just like a hobby still to me.

HM: Anybody who is like a math celebrity, that's very cool with me. [Laughter] Congratulations on your success.

KL: Thank you.

SM: Kenyon Lee guesses people's height on TikTok. He was in Memphis, Tennessee. You can find more on our website: cbc.ca/aih.

[Music]

The Ski-ano

SM: Admittedly, it's a drag, but a pretty delightful one. Every week or so, staff at the Caledonian Nordic Ski Club in Prince George B.C. hook up a skidoo to an old upright piano and move it to a new location ready to be discovered and played by unsuspecting skiers. The task is made somewhat easier by the four pairs of skis they attach to the bottom of the piano first. Angela LeFebvre is one of the trailblazers behind the, wait for it, "The Ski-ano." She spoke to CBC's Daybreak North.

ANGELA LEFEBVRE: We had a piano up in the upper lodge, and because this year we're not operating as usual with indoor space, we're encouraging people to be outdoors as much as possible. We decided to take this piano and put it out where the people are. And if you'll notice on top of it, we do have a hand sanitiser bottle so that people can sanitise before and after they play the piano. We were trying to re-home it so that it would bring joy into someone's home. Unfortunately, we weren't successful there, so we thought, how else can we repurpose it? It's got multiple skis on it so it can be transported around on our trails into different locations. And it's for something for someone to find, and then they can play on it and bring music onto our trails. In a year that has caused a lot of stress and strain on people, and we're seeing, you know, when you're out, you're seeing people who are under duress -- when we're out here, we're not seeing that. We're seeing a lot of happy faces and we're getting excited people. This is the place you can come to escape the pressures that we're experiencing right now.

SM: Angela LeFebvre, inventor of The Ski-ano. She spoke with the CBC's Andrew Kurjata.

[Music]

Part 2: Reading: To Every Thing There is a Season

Old Egyptian wood

Guest:

SM: This time of year usually marks the season of gathering. This year, of course, things are different. In fact, gathering is not a thing at all, which is why this next story feels even more nostalgic than usual. Tonight, our holiday reading takes us to Cape Breton. An 11 year old boy is anxiously awaiting his older brother's arrival so that Christmas can truly begin. Here is Canadian actor Les Carlson reading Alistair MacLeod's "To Everything There Is A Season."

LES CARLSON: I am speaking here of a time when I was eleven and lived with my family on our small farm on the west coast of Cape Breton. My family had been there for a long, long time and so it seemed had I. And much of that time seems like the proverbial yesterday. Yet when I speak on this Christmas 1977, 1 am not sure how much I speak with the voice of that time or how much in the voice of what I have since become. And I am not sure how many liberties I may be taking with the boy I think I was. For Christmas is a time of both past and present and often the two are imperfectly blended. As we step into its nowness we often look behind.

We have been waiting now, it seems, forever. Actually, it has been most intense since Halloween when the first snow fell upon us as we moved like muffled mummers upon darkened country roads. The large flakes were soft and new then and almost generous and the earth to which they fell was still warm and as yet unfrozen. They fell in silence into the puddles and into the sea where they disappeared at the moment of contact. They disappeared, too, upon touching the heated redness of our necks and hands or the faces of those who did not wear masks. We carried our pillowcases from house to house, knocking on doors to become silhouettes in the light thrown out from kitchens (white pillowcases held out by whitened forms). The snow fell between us and the doors and was transformed in shimmering golden beams. When we turned to leave, it fell upon our footprints and as the night wore on obliterated them and all the records of our movements. In the morning everything was soft and still and November had come upon us.

My brother Kenneth, who is two and a half, is unsure of his last Christmas. It is Halloween that looms largest in his memory as an exceptional time of being up late in magic darkness and falling snow. “Who are you going to dress up as at Christmas?” he asks. “I think I’ll be a snowman.” All of us laugh at him and tell him Santa Claus will find him if he is good and that he need not dress up at all. We go about our appointed tasks waiting for it to happen.

I am troubled myself about the nature of Santa Claus and I am trying to hang on to him in any way that I can. It is true that at my age I no longer really believe in him yet I have hoped in all his possibilities as fiercely as I can; much in the same way, I think, that the drowning man waves desperately to the lights of the passing ship on the high sea’s darkness. For without him, as without the man’s ship, it seems our fragile lives would be so much more desperate.

To everything there is a season — from Ecclesiastes 3:1, “To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under the heaven.”

My mother has been fairly tolerant of my attempted perpetuation. Perhaps because she has encountered it before. Once I overheard her speaking about my sister Anne to one of her neighbours. “I thought Anne would believe forever,” she said. “I practically had to tell her.” I have somehow always wished I had not heard her say that as I seek sanctuary and reinforcement even in an ignorance I know I dare not trust.

Kenneth, however, believes with an unadulterated fervour, and so do Bruce and Barry who are six-year-old twins. Beyond me there is Anne who is thirteen and Mary who is fifteen, both of whom seem to be leaving childhood at an alarming rate. My mother has told us that she was already married when she was seventeen, which is only two years older than Mary is now. That too seems strange to contemplate and perhaps childhood is shorter for some than it is for others. I think of this sometimes in the evenings when we have finished our chores and the supper dishes have been cleared away and we are supposed to be doing our homework. I glance sideways at my mother, who is always knitting or mending, and at my father who mostly sits by the stove coughing quietly with his handkerchief at his mouth. He has “not been well” for two years and has difficulty breathing whenever he moves at more than the slowest pace. He is most sympathetic of all concerning my extended hopes and says we should hang on to the good things in our lives as long as we are able. As I look at him out of the corner of my eye, it does not seem that he has many of them left. He is old, we think, at forty-two.

Yet Christmas, in spite of all the doubts of our different ages, is a fine and splendid time, and now as we pass the mid-point of December our expectations are heightened by the increasing coldness that has settled down upon us. The ocean is flat and calm and along the coast, in the scooped-out coves, has turned to an icy slush. The brook that flows past our house is almost totally frozen and there is only a small channel of rushing water that flows openly at its very centre. When we let the cattle out to drink, we chop holes with the axe at the brook’s edge so that they can drink without venturing onto the ice.

The sheep move in and out of their lean-to shelter restlessly stamping their feet or huddling together in tightly packed groups. A conspiracy of wool against the cold. The hens perch high on their roosts with their feathers fluffed out about them, hardly feeling it worthwhile to descend to the floor for their few scant kernels of grain. The pig, who has little time before his butchering, squeals his displeasure to the cold and with his snout tosses his wooden trough high in the icy air. The splendid young horse paws the planking of his stall and gnaws the wooden cribwork of his manger.

We have put a protective barricade of spruce boughs about our kitchen door and banked our house with additional boughs and billows of eel grass. Still, the pail of water we leave standing in the porch is solid in the morning and has to be broken with the hammer. The clothes my mother hangs on the line are frozen almost instantly and sway and creak from their suspending clothespins like sections of dismantled robots: the stiff-legged rasping trousers and the shirts and sweaters with unyielding arms outstretched. In the morning we race from our so frigid upstairs bedrooms to finish dressing around the kitchen stove. We would extend our coldness half a continent away to the Great Lakes of Ontario so that it might hasten the Christmas coming of my oldest brother, Neil. He is nineteen and employed on the “lake boats,” the long flat carriers of grain and iron ore whose season ends any day after December 10, depending on the ice conditions. We wish it to be cold, cold on the Great Lakes of Ontario, so that he may come home to us as soon as possible. Already his cartons have arrived. They come from different places: Cobourg, Toronto, St. Catharines, Welland, Windsor, Sarnia, Sault Ste. Marie. Places that we, with the exception of my father, have never been. We locate them excitedly on the map, tracing their outlines with eager fingers. The cartons bear the lettering of Canada Steamship Lines, and are bound with rope knotted intricately in the fashion of sailors. My mother says they contain his “clothes” and we are not allowed to open them. For us it is impossible to know the time or manner of his coming. If the lakes freeze early, he may come by train because it is cheaper. If the lakes stay open until December 20, he will have to fly because his time will be more precious than his money. He will hitchhike the last hundred or hundred and fifty kilometres from either station or airport. On our part, we can do nothing but listen with straining ears to radio reports of distant ice formations. His coming seems to depend on so many factors which are out there far beyond us and over which we lack control. The days go by in fevered slowness until finally on the morning of December 23 the strange car rolls into our yard. My mother touches her hand to her lips and whispers “Thank God.” My father gets up unsteadily from his chair to look through the window. Their longed-for son and our golden older brother is here at last. He is here with his reddish hair and beard and we can hear his hearty laugh. He will be happy and strong and confident for us all. There are three other young men with him who look much the same as he. They too are from the boats and are trying to get home to Newfoundland. They must still drive a hundred and sixty kilometres to reach the ferry at North Sydney.

The car seems very old. They purchased it in Thorold for two hundred dollars because they were too late to make any reservations, and they have driven steadily since they began. In northern New Brunswick their windshield wipers failed but instead of stopping they tied lengths of cord to the wipers’ arms and passed them through the front window vents. Since that time, in whatever precipitation, one of them has pulled the words back and forth to make the wipers function. This information falls tiredly but excitedly from their lips and we greedily gather it in. My father pours them drinks of rum and my mother takes out her mincemeat and the fruitcakes she has been carefully hoarding. We lean on the furniture or look from the safety of sheltered doorways. We would like to hug our brother but are too shy with strangers present. In the kitchen’s warmth, the young men begin to nod and doze, their heads dropping suddenly to their chests. They nudge each other with their feet in an attempt to keep awake. They will not stay and rest because they have come so far and tomorrow is Christmas Eve and stretches of mountains and water still lie between them and those they love. After they leave we pounce on our brother physically and verbally. He laughs and shouts and lifts us over his head and swings us in his muscular arms. Yet in spite of his happiness he seems surprised at the appearance of his father whom he has not seen since March. My father merely smiles at him while my mother bites her lip.

Now that he is here there is a great flurry of activity. We have left everything we could until the time he might be with us. Eagerly I show him the fir tree on the hill which I have been watching for months and marvel at how easily he fells it and carries it down the hill. We fall over one another in the excitement of decoration.

He promises that on Christmas Eve he will take us to church in the sleigh behind the splendid horse that until his coming we are all afraid to handle. And on the afternoon of Christmas Eve he shoes the horse, lifting each hoof and rasping it fine and hammering the cherry-red horseshoes into shape upon the anvil. Later he drops them hissingly into the steaming tub of water. My father sits beside him on an overturned pail and tells him what to do. Sometimes we argue with our father, but our brother does everything he says.

That night, bundled in hay and in voluminous coats, and with heated stones at our feet, we start upon our journey. Our parents and Kenneth remain at home but all the rest of us go. Before we leave we feed the cattle and sheep and even the pig all that they can possibly eat so that they will be contented on Christmas Eve. Our parents wave to us from the doorway. We go six kilometres across the mountain road. It is a primitive logging trail and there will be no cars or other vehicles upon it. At first the horse is wild with excitement and lack of exercise and my brother has to stand at the front of the sleigh and lean backwards on the reins. Later he settles down to a trot and still later to a walk as the mountain rises before him. We sing all the Christmas songs we know and watch for rabbits and foxes scudding across the open patches of snow and listen to the drumming of partridge wings. We are never cold.

When we descend to the country church we tie the horse in a grove of trees where he will be sheltered and not frightened by the many cars. We put a blanket over him and give him oats. At the church door the neighbours shake hands with my brother. “Hello, Neil,” they say. “How is your father?” “Oh,” he says, just “Oh.”

The church is very beautiful at night with its festooned branches and glowing candles and the booming, joyous sounds that come from the choir loft. We go through the service as if we are mesmerized.

On the way home, although the stones have cooled, we remain happy and warm. We listen to the creak of leather harness and the hiss of runners on the snow and begin to think of the potentiality of presents. When we are about a kilometre from home the horse senses his destination and breaks into a trot and then a confident lope. My brother lets him go and we move across the winter landscape like figures freed from a Christmas card. The snow from the horse’s hooves falls about our heads like the whiteness of the stars.

After we have stabled the horse we talk with our parents and eat the meal our mother has prepared. And then I am sleepy and it is time for the younger children to be in bed. But tonight my father says to me, “We would like you to stay up with us a while,” and so I stay quietly with the older members of the family. When all is silent upstairs Neil brings in the cartons that contain his “clothes” and begins to open them. He unties the intricate knots quickly, their whorls falling away before his agile fingers. The boxes are filled with gifts neatly wrapped and bearing tags. The ones for my younger brothers say “from Santa Claus” but mine are not among them anymore, as I know with certainty they will never be again. Yet I am not so much surprised as touched by a pang of loss at being here on the adult side of the world. It is as if I have suddenly moved into another room and heard a door click lastingly behind me. I am jabbed by my own small wound.

But then I look at those before me. I look at my parents drawn together before the Christmas tree. My mother has her hand upon my father’s shoulder and he is holding his ever present handkerchief. I look at my sisters who have crossed this threshold ahead of me and now each day journey farther from the lives they knew as girls. I look at my magic older brother who has come to us this Christmas from half a continent away, bringing everything he has and is. All of them are captured in the tableau of their care.

“Every man moves on,” says my father quietly, and I think he speaks of Santa Claus, “but there is no need to grieve. He leaves good things behind.”

SM: Les Carlson reading Alistair MacLeod's "To Everything There Is A Season." And we'll have more holiday readings this week, including The Gift of the Magi tomorrow. And The Shepherd on Thursday, December 24th.

[Music]

Octopus punches fish

Guest: Eduardo Sampaio

SM: So much of what happens beneath the surface of the water that covers huge swaths of our planet is a mystery. Maybe there are shrimp that dance with seahorses or eels that do complex mathematical equations or octopuses that sometimes [makes pop sound] punch fish. University of Lisbon, Ph.D. student Eduardo Sampaio has witnessed that last one. His research was published this month in the journal Ecology. We reached him in Lisbon.

HM: Mr. Sampaio, did you ever expect to see an octopus lash out like this?

EDUARDO SAMPAIO: So before starting our work, we have been told that these events were happening. However, we started diving for 15 days, and we didn't see any punching or anything like that. And finally at the 15th day, we finally saw it and I just laughed out loud, enjoyed and almost choked on my regulator. [Laughter]

HM: Well, you managed to actually captured on video as well. Can you describe what we see on that video?

ES: So what you see on the video is the octopus performing directed movement. It's clear that it is to a specific fish and it's an explosive motion with one arm, specifically one arm. And he seems to flex a little bit on the tip. So not to hit it with the tip, but with the broadest part of the arm as well.

HM: And it actually makes contact with the fish?

ES: Oh yeah, it does.

HM: What type of octopus did you catch doing this?

ES: So these octopuses were Octopus Cyanea, which is the big blue octopus or the day octopus as well. They've been known to engage in collaborative hunting in Australia and around the Red Sea.

HM: And when you say collaborative hunting, not just with other octopuses, but with fish?

ES: So, yeah, octopus in general, especially the coastal ones, are solitary. So their social environment is basically zero. It's only limited to the mating season and after their mating season, they die. So most of their life, it's solitary, which is why this system is so cool, because it basically provides a social environment to the octopus, although it's specific, it's a social environment where the octopus has different fish that act differently and with whom he has to interact differently as well. So, for example, we've seen collaborative behaviour and it's pretty well described with the Goliath Grouper -- where the grouper makes the referential gesture to signal where the location is. And then the octopus follows the grouper there and they both attack at the same time in a coordinated manner. And in our study, we've also seen this with [inaudible] fishing. There's one video where they jump like 20 metres and through jetting they reach the location -- the yellow fishes open a crater around the octopus and the octopus just envelops everything around and the yellow fish will go crazy around it to try to find the escaping prey. So with some fish, they have this interaction and with others they seem to take advantage of these groups and join in as well on the hunt.

HM: So just to be clear, both the fish and the octopus benefits, they both get a meal out of this?

ES: Yes, exactly. So that's the main thing to understand here, is that although I am saying this is collaborative, it doesn't mean it's altruistic or anything. It's based on self-interest.

HM: Why is the octopus hitting this creature, punching this creature that's helping it?

ES: Being based on self-interest, the animals will always try to maximise their payoff in regards to the other one. So if the grouper sees that the prey is going to the crab, for example, it will still try to get it. You know, he's not going to leave it to the octopus willingly. And in these cases, the octopus can also develop a partner control mechanism, which is pretty much punch the grouper or to displace the grouper and take the prey for himself. And in these cases, we say that there is a sanction in the collaborative behaviour in the sense that the grouper did not behave collaboratively because they tried to get the prey and the octopus punished the grouper. But in doing so, he's also benefiting because he's getting the prey afterwards. So it's a system of direct negative to the reciprocity, which is called sanctions in the literature of animal behaviour.

HM: You saw this multiple times with different octopuses?

ES: Yes, exactly. So we recorded for one month in Israel and then two months in Egypt. I think I saw, I don't know, like five or six octopuses doing this. And this was also what cued into to the sense of importance that this mechanism can have in these multi-partner collaborative groups. Like if we just saw one octopus doing, we would just write it off as a [inaudible]. But since this is such a widespread event, it has to play a role in this specific interaction.

HM: Mr. Sampaio, the video is very entertaining. It's actually good, though, to hear the science behind it too. Thank you very much.

ES: I'm glad you liked it. And thank you for having me on your show.

SM: Eduardo Sampaio is a PhD student at the University of Lisbon and the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behaviour. He's in Lisbon.

[Music]

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December 22, 2020 Episode Transcript

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