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The AIH Transcript For March 17, 2022

[hosts]Gillian Findlay, Chris Howden[/hosts]

GILLIAN FINDLAY: Hello, I'm Gillian Findlay.

CHRIS HOWDEN: Good evening, I'm Chris Howden, this is As It Happens.

[Music: Theme]

Prologue

CH: Tonight:

GF: Going all out to get them all out. A Ukrainian politician tells us about her efforts to help evacuate the occupied city of Bucha -- and how those efforts have been thwarted by Russian troops.

CH: Heliocentric. His work revolved around the Sun -- and with the discovery of solar wind, the late astrophysicist Eugene Parker became a central figure in his field.

GF: Unready, unwilling and unable. The chief of a first nation in Manitoba says the province may be dropping its COVID restrictions, but it's too soon for her community to do the same.

CH: It's clover before you know it. In one Alberta town, it's a long-standing tradition to hold an extremely short lived event -- and the mayor of Carmangay gives us a brief rundown of the world's briefest St. Patrick's Day parade.

GF: Taking things to the next level. When an asteroid burns up over Iceland, the Daily Mail goes to great lengths to give us an idea of its magnitude -- by describing it as half the size of a giraffe.

CH: And… crash and get burned. Our guest fell asleep in the Airbnb he'd booked. But in the morning, he had a rude awakening in the form of a polite awakening by the owner of the house, which was not an Airbnb at all.

CH: As It Happens, the Thursday edition. Radio that warns this story is disturbing, rental discretion is advised.

[Music: Theme]

Part 1: Bucha Evacuation, First Nation COVID Protections, Miami Wrong Airbnb

Bucha Evacuation

Guest: Mykhailyna Skoryk

CH: As the fighting continues across Ukraine, one of the country's greatest feats has been keeping Russian troops out of Kyiv. But while the capital has mostly succeeded so far, its suburbs have not fared as well. Bucha, a small city northwest of Kyiv, is largely occupied by Russian troops. And while the local government has tried to evacuate its citizens, those efforts have been thwarted. Mykhailyna Skoryk is an advisor to the mayor of Bucha and the local deputy in nearby Irpin. She escaped with her kids earlier this month but continues her work online. We reached her in Linz, Austria.

GF: Ms. Skoryk, as far as you know, what is the situation in Bucha today?

MYKHAILYNA SKORYK: The situation is Bucha is very hard. And till today, there was no possibility to drive in the city any food supplies because it's completely surrounded by Russians. And they have no gas or have no electricity. The water lines are broken, so they leave like in medieval ages. Just cooking food by using wooden materials and cooking food they kept in their houses.

GF: And how many people are we talking about?

MS: We didn't know exactly the number of the people because lots of them were walking out from the city by their own risks. But we think from 5,000 to 10,000 people. And we know that there are lots of families with kids and very big amount of elderly people who can't walk out themselves.

GF: Right. So you said that the Russians have surrounded the town. Are they actually inside as well?

MS: Yes. So they drive in on tanks. And if you look at the photos and the videos from the people who stayed, you will see tanks in private houses. So they occupied private houses and live there like in their own homes. They occupied big apartments with flats. They parked their tanks between the houses, and they live there like they are in their own home.

GF: Is there resistance going on?

MS: I'm afraid that, like, the civilians, they can't fight with the tanks. But every day, we see the Ukrainian Army report that they are trying to move Russians out of the city.

GF: So the Ukrainian Army is at least attempting to push the Russians back. But… but so far, not with a lot of success?

MS: Yes, Bucha now is like the battlefield inside. Almost every day, there are lots of battles in different parts of the city.

GF: You have been part of the efforts to try to evacuate people. What are the challenges that you're running into?

MS: At the beginning, there was only one way to evacuate, just encourage people to walk on their own risk because that was not possible to drive because Russians shoot at everybody who tried to do that. But after these Ukrainian-Russian negotiations on the state level, they allowed us to do like now five corridors at the moment, and four of them were for evacuated people inside the school buses. Evacuation is being done on school buses. Can you imagine that?

GF: So… so for the moment, the Russians are obeying the… the humanitarian corridors and allowing people to leave as far as you know?

MS: Yes, but even these corridors, they are not safe enough. We are supporting the negotiations. We heard that it's safe to drive these buses. But the previous time when the citizens did that, they shot at the lady and injured her husband and also one of the drivers of the buses. So today, we have problems with drivers. Nobody was risky enough to drive in, but we solved this problem.

GF: Right. What was it like for you when you left with your family?

MS: I am happy to be with my family, partly because my husband, of course, stayed in Ukraine. And I am happy that my kids are in a safe place. But at the same time, it's a very big pain because when I see that ruins of our city, which was very beautiful, modern with lots of new buildings and with a very beautiful park, and we had lots of plans how to develop for the city and the community, that's very painful because I understand very well how… how many money we should invest to rebuild all that after the occupation when the city will be de-occupied. But at the same time, I understand that Bucha is very close to Kyiv, and the fights inside the city, that's really the fight for Kyiv. Russians want to move inside the capital of Ukraine, and we are stopping them for more than 10 days.

GF: Do you think you can continue, the Ukrainian fighters can continue, to… to keep the Russians out of Kyiv?

MS: I am sure they will. Ukrainians will fight for sure.

GF: Yesterday, U.S. President Joe Biden referred to Vladimir Putin as a war criminal. Is that what you would call him?

MS: That's like the, I think, the most kind of way we could call him because most of Ukrainians hate him and wish him, like, to be dead as quick as possible.

GF: You mentioned your… your husband stayed behind. Is he fighting?

MS: He was mobilized. Like, he's part of the armed forces of Ukraine.

GF: You must be very worried.

MS: Yes, that's true because we know that Russia is bigger and has more people. But I hope that the world, the other countries will support Ukraine, that we will win this big fight.

GF: You and your son are safe for now. You're out of the country. Do you wonder whether you will ever be able to return home?

MS: I hope I will. I've learnt the history very well, and I know for sure that all the wars finished in our past. I hope that this war will finish as well. But, at the same time, I understand that even in Western Europe, my family might be not safe enough because I see that if Ukraine would not stop Putin now, I am almost sure that his plans might be not only Ukraine, but also all the former Soviet Union controlled Eastern Europe countries.

GF: Ms. Skoryk, I so appreciate you talking to us today. Thank you so much, and… and be safe.

MS: Thank you, Gillian.

GF: Bye-bye.

MS: Bye.

CH: Mykhailyna Skoryk is an advisor to the Mayor of Bucha. She has left that Ukrainian city, and we reached her in Linz, Austria. And you can find more on this story on our webpage at: www.cbc.ca/aih.

[Music: Ambient]

First Nation COVID Protections

Guest: Chief Trina Halkett

CH: The COVID-19 pandemic isn't over. But increasingly, public health measures to mitigate it are. Today, Canada announced it will end its pre-entry COVID-19 testing requirement for fully vaccinated travellers by the end of this month. And across the country, the days of mask mandates and capacity limits are numbered. Manitoba dispensed with both on Tuesday. But a number of First Nations communities across the province did not. And Trina Halkett says there's a good reason for that. She's the Chief of Barren Lands First Nation -- about 900 kilometres north of Winnipeg.

GF: Chief Halkett, I understand you can go pretty much anywhere in Manitoba today without wearing a mask and without physical distancing, but would that be the case if I were to visit you in your First Nation?

CHIEF TRINA HALKETT: No. We had implemented safety measurements as to continue wearing a mask in public places, the social distancing; we are a 50 percent open capacity within the facilities.

GF: And do you require visitors to… to show evidence of a negative COVID test?

CTH: Yes, we do require, we continue to request for that, for the safety of the community.

GF: Well, tell me about the situation in your community. What's happening now?

CTH: Right now, we are dealing with positive cases. We have 25 cases in the community. We have five that are isolating out of the community.

GF: Mm-hmm. And this is --

CTH: And the home that's in isolation is 15.

GF: And this is in a community of how many people?

CTH: I would say about 500 people.

GF: Okay. So it's still significant then. You're still dealing with… with COVID in a real way.

CTH: Yes.

GF: And how bad has it been in the past?

CTH: Well, we… back in December, we… we had a… that's when we had our first actual outbreak. The numbers were really quite high at that time. So this would probably be our third round of positive cases. Like, it would settle down, and we would put our restrictions… a little less restrictions on it. Like, for visiting. It depends all on the… the cases within the community. As for the school, it's open to 50 per cent capacity as well. We still continue the mask and hygiene and the social distancing as we're in an isolated community and as we don't know how the variant can impact an individual due to their health condition. Also, it affects on the medevac. Like, we can wait hours for it, and we're limited with health-care within the community member.

GF: Right. Have you lost people to COVID?

CTH: Not within the community level, but we did lose members that were living in the urban area.

GF: Mm-hmm. So these… these restrictions have… have actually proven quite effective then?

CTH: Yes, they have.

GF: So what did you think when the province announced it was going to do away with most of the restrictions in other parts of Manitoba?

CTH: I believe for myself, living in the First Nation community that's isolated, our concerns… like, I think we should be more… be informed of what steps to do. They should have done more of what we are doing as a percentage of capacity. I think they should have kind of slowly opened up the restrictions. It was… it impacts the northern communities as we were limited with resources and services at the community level.

GF: Mm-hmm. Is this something that everybody in the community agrees with? Or there's some divisions?

CTH: Some division. I would say about maybe 50 per cent of the members would… would want to get back to a normal life without their mask, without the social distancing. So it's like a 50-50 within our community level. And the thing… the reason why the leadership on both parties is the community mayor and council and the reserve side of Barren Lands Reserve is the leadership of chief in council, along with the Public Health local nursing station in charge with other organizations involved. We do have a meeting, and we review the restrictions and the cases, and we proceed to discuss on how to move forward.

GF: Right.

CTH: As we would like to slowly implement to remove a few restrictions.

GF: But you say 50 per cent of the community wants to… to move forward more quickly. Was it a difficult decision for you to make to make to say, no, we're going to… we're going to slow things down here a bit?

CTH: Well, not every household was, like, done. They did a day and a half, and they reached out to maybe, I'd say like 100 members. So we did a percentage rate of who they had contacted, who answered or volunteered to do the survey. So we kind of like we have to kind of workaround for both, okay, we're going to put it into a 50 per cent capacity. So we're going to be looking forward, maybe, like with this coming weekend on Sunday, we're going to be having our meeting, our conference call, and this is the next step of implementing less restrictions.

GF: Yeah.

CTH: If we do have less cases by then, and I'm sure we will.

GF: What is your threshold? What would it take for the Barren Lands First Nation to… to decide that you'll join the rest of the province and get rid of all of the mandates?

CTH: Oh, that's… that's going to be hard to say because we know, like, our members still continue advising that they will continue using the mask, as for the safety for themselves and their safety for their other family members or their children that cannot have the vaccine, that are under four. So, they still, like, kind of want to follow the restrictions.

GF: Yeah. All right. Well, good luck. I hope you… you get to that point. Thanks for telling us about it today, Chief Halkett.

CTH: You're welcome. Thank you.

CH: Trina Halkett is the Chief of Barren Lands First Nation in Northern Manitoba. That's where we reached her.

[Music: Folk]

Miami Wrong Airbnb

Guest: Paul Drecksler

CH: Paul Drecksler recently woke up to what could have been a nightmare. Last week, Mr. Drecksler went to Miami, Florida, for his friend's wedding. It was a long day of travel, so when he arrived at the place he'd booked, he promptly fell asleep. Only to be woken up in the morning by the confused owner of his Airbnb -- which was not actually his Airbnb at all. We reached Paul Drecksler in Waynesville, North Carolina.

GF: Paul, I think to really understand this story, we need to have a sense of the frame of mind you were in when you arrived at that Airbnb very early in the morning. It had been a long day, right?

PAUL DRECKSLER: If I could use a word, I would say exhausted. I think anybody who's travelled between countries can probably relate to that feeling of finally arriving at your destination, or so what you think is your destination, and having one mindset, which is just to get to bed.

GF: And how many hours have you been travelling at that point?

PD: Probably about 20. I'd started very early in the morning at a city called Cuenca, Ecuador. I was actually at it at a previous wedding a few days earlier, took a bus to Guayaquil, took a plane from Guayaquil to Panama City, caught another plane from Panama City to Miami Airport. And by the time I made it through customs and was leaving the airport, it was about 1:30 in the morning. And when I caught the Uber, I had arrived at what I thought was the Airbnb around 2:00 in the morning. So it was definitely a long day of travel.

GF: So… so then take me to that moment. You arrive at 2:00 in the morning; you're exhausted. What did you do?

PD: So, at this point, it's dark. The Uber driver and I are trying to see the numbers on the house, on the front of the house. And he goes, oh, here it is. And I checked the Uber app. And yup, that's the house. That's got the same matching number here. But what had happened is at some point going from the Airbnb app, I believe they gave me G.P.S. coordinates into Google Maps and then into Uber. All these jumping from map app to map app. I had wound up with the address of the house next door.

GF: But you didn't know that at the time, right? You… you arrived, and you thought this was the house.

PD: I'm just happy to have made it to the Airbnb at this point, so. [chuckling] And this is where it gets really funny. This is where it becomes just the perfect storm of following directions at 2:00 in the morning and into the wrong house. The host told me there's a gate at the end of the driveway. We left it unlocked for you. So simply let yourself in. So I see the gate at the end of the driveway. It's unlocked. I let myself in. Then she says, we have a dog. It's going to be in the backyard. Please shut the gate behind you so that the dog doesn't escape. Okay, no problem. There's the dog. I love dogs. Hey, pup! [both chuckle] I shut behind me, so I don't let the dog out. And then I see the guest house. The light was on. Now this is a detached guest house, so I wasn't like walking into the primary residence of whoever lived there. This is one reason why they didn't really notice that I was there. The light was on, the door was unlocked, and so I simply let myself in.

GF: And it looked like an Airbnb when you walked through the door?

PD: My first impression was that this place looks a little bit lived-in, a little bit messy. It was clean, but it was messy. But even that didn't throw me for a loop, but I did actually pull up the listing and compare the photos just to think that I wasn't crazy. And it was the same setup. There was the bedroom, a separate living room, a very small table with two seats. [chuckling] So I remember looking at the photos and being like, no, this is it. Looks a little bit different, but this is it.

GF: [chuckling] And so, you're exhausted, and what do you do?

PD: [chuckling] Well, what would you have done in that situation?

GF: I would have gone to bed, and I'm guessing that's what you did too?

PD: Absolutely. I went straight to bed. And honestly, the thing that I'll say pushed me over the edge into confirming in my exhausted brain that this was the right place is that when I went into the bedroom, the bed was made, and there were two clean folded towels waiting for me at the edge of the bed.

GF: Right.

PD: And so, I said, okay, perfect! Goodnight, world.

GF: And then there was what, a knock at the door?

PD: Knock on the door, which in hindsight, I'm surprised that the homeowner, the gentleman, even knocked on his own bedroom door, but he did not barge in. He entered the guest house, saw that the bedroom door was closed. I gave it a nice knock, and I said, yeah, and he opened it. And at this point, I'm confused. I'm like, who is bothering me at, you know, 8:30 in the morning in this Airbnb? I thought it was the host. What does this host want? And the guy says, hey, man, can I help you? This is my house. [GF chuckles] And I said, you know, rubbing my eyes, waking up, this is an Airbnb that I rented. And really calmly, he says, no, this is my house.

GF: [both chuckle] What went through your mind?

PD: Oh, I was in shock. I was embarrassed. I was a little bit nervous, didn't know… you know, I'm just waking up, so your… your brain is… my brain was both trying to wake up and also dealing with this precarious situation. But he was such a nice guy about it. I realized… we realized what happened quickly. And he said, I think you're probably trying to rent the neighbour's house and blah, blah, blah. And I apologized profusely. And then he goes, look, I've got to go meet the nanny. He had a baby. He goes, so let yourself out and didn't even… wasn't even in a hurry for me to leave. [GF chuckles] Just really calmly let yourself out. And, you know, honest mistake. Don't worry about it.

GF: [chuckling] Well, okay, sure, this is funny, and certainly in the telling and the aftermath, I'm sure you're dining out on this story. But it might not have ended so happily, huh?

PD: No. Obviously, in hindsight, everything worked out as best as it possibly could. This was the best possible outcome to the story. But in the moment, like I said, I was in shock. I was embarrassed. The whole situation is a bit terrifying because, you know, we're all not ignorant to what could have happened that day. We have… we have gun laws here that protect gun owners. He could have come in in the worst possible scenario and started shooting. I could have been woken up by police that morning. Perhaps a combination of both those two worlds. But I definitely could have been woken up by a very angry homeowner. And I'm certainly thankful that that was not the case.

GF: Have you been in touch with the homeowner since you left?

PD: I have not. I did not want to disturb him by knocking on his door later, but I do have his address, obviously, and I do plan on sending him a thank you gift at some point.

GF: All right. Well, I'm glad it all ended well, Paul. Thanks for telling us the story today.

PD: My pleasure. Thank you.

GF: Bye-bye.

PD: Bye-bye.

CH: Paul Drecksler recently spent the night in a stranger's Miami guest house by accident. We reached him in Waynesville, North Carolina. And you can find more on this story on our webpage: www.cbc.ca/aih.

[Music: Saloon piano]

Asteroid The Size Of Half A Giraffe

CH: When you saw the headlines, you were shocked. The New York Post: "Asteroid discovered only two hours before Earth impact". New Scientist: "Small asteroid hits Earth just hours after astronomers detect it." Space-dot-com: "Asteroid spotted just before hitting Earth's atmosphere wows astronomers". It was hard to believe. An astronomer catches sight of a space rock hurtling towards our planet, right before it burned up in the atmosphere. But none of these so-called "journalists" could give you a clear idea of how big it was! It was described as "small", "around the size of an average step ladder", and "around 2 metres across". How were any of these measurements supposed to help? What does "small" mean? Who has time to measure all the step ladders and calculate their average size? [scoff] And how are we supposed to know how big "2 metres" is? And then, at last, you saw the headline in the Daily Mail, and it all became crystal-clear: "Asteroid half the size of a giraffe strikes Earth off the coast of Iceland". Finally, an outlet that understands how the average reader thinks about the sizes of things: in terms of giraffes. Everyone from a child who's 18.4 per cent of a giraffe's height to an average-sized adult woman who's -- well, say it with me, 29.7 per cent as tall as a giraffe -- knows that. So thanks, Daily Mail. Everyone else got all technical on us -- but you were willing to meet us giraffe-way.

[Music: Ambient]

Part 2: Eugene Parker Obit, Smallest St. Paddy’s Day Parade

Eugene Parker Obit

Guest: Nicky Fox

CH: You may not immediately recognize the name Eugene Parker. But in the world of astrophysics, he was a huge star -- because of his brilliant insights into a huge star. In the late 1950s, Mr. Parker developed a mathematical theory that predicted what's known in astronomy as "solar wind". Which was immediately dismissed as nothing more than a gust of hot air. He told an interviewer, "The first reviewer on the paper said, 'Well I would suggest that Parker go to the library and read up on the subject before he tries to write a paper about it because this is utter nonsense." But just four years later, a NASA spacecraft detected solar wind -- which proved to be hugely influential throughout the solar system. And which made Mr. Parker hugely influential here on Earth. Eugene Parker died on Tuesday. He was 94. Nicky Fox was a friend of Eugene Parker. She's the director of NASA's Heliophysics Division. We reached her in Washington DC.

GF: Nicky, first of all, I'm sorry for your loss.

NICKY FOX: Thank you so much. It's a big loss for the whole science community, really. Gene was such a visionary and a pioneer.

GF: How are you remembering him today?

NF: [chuckling] Oh, I'm actually working on Parker Solar Probe and looking at some of our latest images that have come in and just thinking, you know, how excited he would have been to see them. The last time I actually saw him, he wanted to know about what was going on in Parker Solar Probe. And every time I showed him even a data plot or particularly an image, you know, his eyes would just light up, and he would be so excited about what… what he was seeing.

GF: Now, this is the spacecraft that was actually named after him, right?

NF: That is correct. Yes, yes.

GF: And what is it doing?

NF: So, Parker Solar Probe is… is, like Gene, is a pioneer and is travelling for the very first time right up into the atmosphere of the Sun. So into the atmosphere of our closest star, getting at very, very close distances and studying all of the… the mysteries that were predicted by Gene's paper back in 1958.

GF: Right. Now, is this the paper that at the time was… was dismissed, I understand?

NF: Yes, it was. And… and Gene used to like to joke about it. I mean, he would say to me, you know, golly, I got the reviewers. One of them said, if you're going to publish in this arena, you should go to the library first. And then he looked at me kind of whimsically and said, that was a nice review. [both chuckle] But fortunately, I mean, he knew he was right. He said, I just did some… I solved some equations. I… I didn't make a mistake. I knew I was right. And fortunately, the… the editor said, you know, I… I think his quote was something like, I think this is a ridiculous idea, but I don't want to see it killed, so I'll publish it. And that was how his paper got published.

GF: And the rest is history, literally.

NF: And the rest is history, absolutely. Just four years later, the Mariner Two mission confirmed exactly what he had predicted with his paper.

GF: As I understand it, this… the prediction was actually about this phenomenon known as solar wind?

NF: Yes.

GF: So, can you tell us what that is?

NF: Yes, absolutely. So you know when you see a beautiful total solar eclipse, and you see that sort of hazy atmosphere around the Sun? And so, you're actually looking at the corona, but you're also looking at the birth of the solar wind. And so, the… you know, most scientists at the time thought that that hazy atmosphere was very static. You know, it was just sitting there in space, not moving, not… not leaving the star. And what Gene predicted was that not only was this atmosphere not static, but it was actually highly dynamic. And that there were like millions of degrees of temperature there. And, you know, the whole… the whole flow would sort of start coming out and would flow away from… from the star. And he wanted he called it the solar wind. And actually, that atmosphere expands all the way out to the edge of our solar system. You know, it… it kind of creates a cavity that we actually live in. So we, the Solar System, as we are orbiting around the Milky Way, are protected by the solar wind. We're protected from the vagaries of interstellar space. So, you know, not only did he predict what was going on close to the star, but he then predicted what was going on throughout the whole solar system.

GF: And why was that such an important discovery at the time?

NF: At the time, it was very important because it actually explains why we have space weather here at Earth. Why if there is a big event on the Sun, and it happens to be sort of facing the Earth at the time, that plasma comes towards us here at Earth and actually interacts with our magnetic fields here and can cause beautiful aurora that you know you see much more often in Canada than… than I do down here in Washington, DC. But, you know, it powers the aurora, but it also can cause a lot of problems for technology. And so that was really the first full explanation of how we were connected so closely to what was happening on the Sun because we're genuinely living in the atmosphere of the Sun.

GF: In the obituaries today, former colleagues and friends have… have compared him to the likes of Stephen Hawking in many ways, but also in what they describe as… as his humility. Tell me about that.

NF: Yes, I mean, he… he was just very humble about everything that was being done, particularly when we were renaming it was called Solar Probe Plus, and we renamed it to Parker Solar Probe to honour Gene. And it was wonderful just to see him just so humble about it. You know, I think he described it as... as actually my boss, Thomas Zurbuchen, who led the… the initiative to... to rename it, called him up and said, hey, Gene, you know, how would you feel if we named this mission after you? And Gene just said, yeah, I wouldn't be too sore about it, you know? [both chuckle] And… and when… when I actually I had the privilege of taking him into the clean room at the applied physics lab where we were building spacecraft, and it was it was pretty much complete at the time, and he came to see it. And I actually got to say, you know, a really cheesy line, but Parker meet Parker. [GF chuckles] And… and he was just very choked up about, you know, all the engineers and all the scientists and all the people that were working on this highly complex piece of… of technology that was going to go and essentially do his research for him. I mean, go into the atmosphere of this of the star and do that research. And he actually said to me, you know, all I did was write a paper. And I said… I said, yeah, it's a pretty good paper, though, Gene. And he goes, yeah, but, you know, if it turns out my paper is wrong, I'll just write another paper. [GF laughs] But he said, you know, you guys, if it turns out your calculations are wrong with this machine, you know, it's… it's a very, very different game that you guys are playing. And he was… he was almost worried about making sure that everybody got credit for the mission. And it wasn't just like down to him. And, you know, it was a very important thing to him. And at the launch, and even again when I visited him for like the first birthday of the spacecraft, he got very teary about, you know, we'd sent this spacecraft off into space, and it wasn't going to come back, you know? And… and we all feel like that when we work on a mission. I mean, the spacecraft itself becomes part of your team. It's the one that's actually going on the voyage to do the research, but it's really a fundamental part of your team. And so we all get major separation anxiety whenever we launch a mission into space because, you know, you miss… you miss your friend. It's like they're not there anymore. And… and it was just amazing to see how Gene really just got that immediately as well. And so, you know, he was just excited about everything that we were doing, and he wanted to know more. And he always wanted to… to hear what was going on with the mission. And just took great pride in the work that all the scientists were doing.

GF: Niky, thank you so much for telling us about him today.

NF: Oh, it was a pleasure. Thank you so much.

GF: Bye-bye.

CH: Nicky Fox is the director of NASA's Heliophysics Division. She was a friend of the enormously influential astrophysicist Eugene Parker, who has died at age 94.

[Music: Ambient]

Russian TV Producer Broadcast Hijack

CH: Now that Marina Ovsyannikova is speaking out, she appears to be hard to stop. Ms. Ovsyannikova is the Moscow TV producer who interrupted a state-controlled news broadcast this week by walking onto the set and holding up a sign reading, "No war". She also posted a video denouncing misinformation about the Russian invasion. She says she was subsequently detained and questioned without a lawyer for 14 hours before she admitted to organizing an unlicensed public event. She's been ordered to pay a fine -- and the official investigation into her behaviour is still underway. But that didn't stop Marina Ovsyannikova from telling her story to the BBC.

MARINA OVSYANNIKOVA: [Speaking Russian]

TRANSLATOR: There are lots of conspiracy theories building up about me. That this was a fake, that it was said by the FSB or that it’s a project from Western special forces. That's why I had to explain to the world what really happened, the fact that I'm just a normal Russian woman. But I couldn't remain indifferent to the Russian way to Ukraine. I knew that if I went to protest in Central Square, I would be arrested like everyone else and thrown into a police van and be put on trial. Half the poster was in Russian; half the poster was in English. I really wanted to show the Western audience that some Russians are against war. As to the Russians, I wanted to show them you’re zombified by this Kremlin propaganda. Stop believing it.

CARRIE DAVIS: You worked at state media for years. Do you have a sense of guilt about that?

MO: [Speaking Russian]

TRANSLATOR: I feel, of course, some responsibility lying on me. I was not very involved in the propaganda machine. Until the very last moment, I didn't think about it too much. I was happy with my life. But discontent was piling up. But of course, I feel responsibility.

CD: Tell me a bit about what happened after the protest.?

MO: [Speaking Russian]

TRANSLATOR: The main interrogation went on for about 13-14 hours. Nobody believed it was my personal decision. They were coming up with different versions. They suggested it could be conflict work. Relatives who are really angry about Ukraine. Or that I was doing it for Western special services. They couldn't believe that I had so many objections to the government that I couldn't stay silent.

CD: What do you think your future now holds for you and for your children here in Russia?

MO: [Speaking Russian]

TRANSLATOR: It's a hard question because my eldest son said that I have ruined the life of the whole family. Probably he doesn't understand now, but I hope in the future my children will understand this sacrifice is not for nothing.

CH: That was the Russian TV news producer Marina Ovsyannikova speaking to the BBC's Carrie Davis in Moscow.

[Music: Indie rock]

Smallest St. Paddy’s Day Parade

Guest: Kym Nichols

CH: Generally speaking, cities and towns tend to boast about having the biggest things. The largest landmarks. Tallest towers. Longest roads. That kind of stuff. But on this day every year, one Alberta community showcases an event that it brags is the smallest. In fact, if you blink, you just might miss Carmangay's St. Patrick's Day Parade. And according to mayor Kym Nichols, that's the whole point. We reached Mayor Nichols in Carmangay, Alberta.

GF: Mayor Nichols, Carmangay St. Paddy's Parade has come and gone. How long did it take?

KYM NICHOLS: It took roughly three minutes from start to the last person crossing the line.

GF: Three whole minutes?!

KN: Yep!

GF: And how many people were in the parade?

KN: There were, I would say, close to 100 in the parade.

GF: Oh!

KN: And then, there were lots of people on the sides watching.

GF: So 100 people marching for three minutes. How long is it?

KN: It's from one end of the block to the other, so roughly about 600 feet.

GF: Six hundred feet. So obviously, there's a story behind how your town came to have the shortest St. Patrick's Day parade. Where did it start?

KN: So back in the 80s, there was the original… or the hotel owner at the time, Jim O'Connor, he was an Irish man, and he went to get his mail one day at the other end of the block. And on his way there, he met up with George Johnson, another local, and he said, how about you follow me back to The Grange for a beer, and we'll call it a parade? And it was born.

GF: [chuckling] So… and was that on St. Patrick's Day?

KN: Yes, it was. Yeah.

GF: So The Grange is the name of the hotel, but I understand the hotel doesn't exist anymore?

KN: That's correct. Last year, on March 28th, our hotel burnt down. And so, it's just a vacant lot now.

GF: What happened?

KN: There was a fire on the one end of the hotel. And it was, the hotel was over 100 years old, so it didn't stand a chance.

GF: So… so what are you marching to today, then? If you don't have the hotel as the landmark?

KN: So, we started out with the same tradition: the Paddy Wagon, which is the only float in the parade. And so the green Paddy Wagon drove to the site of the old Grange, and we all gathered there. And there was a gentleman that made a birdhouse. And so, it was sitting on the site. And we had music, and yeah, everybody walked to the old site.

GF: [chuckling] So, the Paddy Wagon is the only float?

KN: Yeah, it's an old truck. It's a green and yellow painted truck with stock racks in the back.

GF: Uh-huh.

KN: And it says "Paddy Wagon" on the side.

GF: And that's the float. And do people dress up?

KN: Oh yes, everybody gets dressed up in their fine greenery and their garland and their necklaces and gets their best Irish on. And then after the parade, they have… the village council puts on a stew lunch, and then there's green beer served.

GF: Well, there has to be green beer. You must all be pretty thirsty after marching for three whole minutes.

KN: Yeah, you know, it whets the appetite.

GF: [laughing] I bet it does. Now, you're very proud of this record of having the… the "Shortest St. Patrick's Day Parade". But but how do you know, it's the shortest?

KN: A number of years ago, the Irish Embassy recognized us as being the shortest parade, the "Shortest St. Patrick's Day Parade".

GF: This is the Irish Embassy in Canada?

KN: Yeah, yeah.

GF: Because I know that there's a couple of other places, Hot Springs, Arkansas, and another in Conklin, Michigan, that also claim the title of "The Shortest St. Patrick's Day Parade". Did you know that?

KN: Ah! I did not know that.

GF: You didn't? Aha. So you don't know whether… whether you are actually shorter or not?

KN: Yeah. If we're a world record… Guinness Book of World Record holder, I'm not sure.

GF: [chuckling] If it turned out that they were shorter, would you get into competition and shorten your route even more?

KN: Oh no, we're too steeped in tradition now. [both laughing]

GF: You'd forgo… forgo the honour of being the world's shortest?

KN: Yeah, yes.

GF: So… so how many people are there in Carmangay?

KN: There's about 269.

GF: So how many of them showed up today, did you say?

KN: Well, there were well over 100 people there, so. But we had people come from all over. So like, we have a group of ladies that come from the city of Lethbridge, which is about 70 kilometres away, and they come every year.

GF: Uh-huh.

KN: And they were… they were so happy to come back. They said it's been two years since they've been here and were so excited to come back.

GF: You didn't have one for the last two years because of COVID, I gather?

KN: They still had a volunteer one that kind of went. There were a couple of hard, but nothing that we could promote.

GF: Right. So, what… what… why… why do you take such pride in having the world's shortest parade?

KN: It just… it shows what a great community spirit we have. And I don't know. It kind of breaks up the monotony of winter and gets everybody excited for spring, and everybody becomes Irish for a day. It's a great day to celebrate.

GF: All right, Kym, thanks so much for telling us about it today.

KN: Thank you for interviewing me.

GF: Bye-bye.

KN: Bye.

CH: Kym Nichols is the mayor of Carmangay, Alberta -- which celebrated what may or may not be the world's shortest St. Patrick's Day Parade earlier today.

[Music: Folk jig]

Carlton Place Ontario Squirrels

CH: In a town about 45 kilometres west of downtown Ottawa, there's a beast on the loose. It's small, but it's relentless. And it's all the more menacing because it's actually pretty cute. But Jeff Samler isn't fooled -- not anymore. As you'll hear, Mr. Samler isn't necessarily emphatic about his town. But he knows firsthand about the squirrels.

SOUNDCLIP

JEFF SAMLER: We're here in Carlton Place. We like to call it other things, but no, good little town, except for the squirrels. [laughing] Yeah, it was just a normal Sunday afternoon, so I come out to move my truck around, empty out the back and all of a sudden, here's a squirrel. And all of a sudden, he just ran on my leg and ran around my head. I tried to get him off. As you can see, I got long hair. I think he got tangled up in there a little bit. And I guess I got a little too close thinking I was going to keep him thinking I was going to grab him, and he bit me through my glove. I went to the hospital to check it out see what I should do. And apparently, I wasn't the only person going to the hospital. I was about maybe fifth or sixth person. And what was really funny was the attending nurse said her son was attacked by a squirrel. They just gave me a tetanus shot and sent me on my merry way. But I wasn't the only person that got attacked by a squirrel. [laughing] It's a strong word to use, attacked, but it was weird cause most squirrels see a human, and they take off. And apparently, what the doctor said to us, he says he thinks somebody has been feeding it by hand. And so he has no fear. So he just comes running up, and he don't care who you are. He's just looking for food. Apparently, we were… somebody; I don't know what neighbour or whatever, inquired with the town to see what they could do about it or what can be done? And one… one group said, try and catch it. Well, okay. Well, live-trap it or what? But you know you could wind up with 20 different squirrels.

CH: That was Carleton Place resident Jeff Samler speaking with CBC Ottawa reporter Matthew Kupfer about a squirrel -- or squirrels -- that is or are biting people in town.

[Music: Folk jig]

Part 3: Mohawk Tiny House Project, Curling Rocks Study

Mohawk Tiny House Project

Guest: Tammy McGuire

CH: For women fleeing abusive relationships, two tiny homes on Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory are meant to be a place to get back on their feet. And for the women who built them, it's a way to give back to their community while learning a new skill. The all-women team is part of a government-funded program that trains women in carpentry skills. And on Tuesday, they unveiled their first two tiny homes. Tammy McGuire was a part of the project. We reached her in Tyendinaga, Ontario.

GF: Tammy, what was it like to finally show the world these little homes that you and others have been working so hard to build?

TAMMY MCGUIRE: It's been heartwarming. It's a lot of pride. I was so proud of our young women doing this job. To know that we knew nothing about the trade and to start these houses from the ground up finishing them it's a great, great feeling of accomplishment.

GF: Now, I've seen some pictures of these, but for those who haven't, describe what they look like?

TM: They're beautiful houses. They're tiny homes. As you walk… as you walk down the driveway into… into the house, there's stamped concrete with our cedar posts. Cedar posts that we took off the lot, off the land and we stripped them down and varnished them and prepped them, got them all ready to put on the veranda. Very beautiful. So you walk into an open concept, and you have a kitchen with everything, a fridge, a stove. Then you walk down the hallway, and there's a bathroom, full tub, shower and a little storage in there. And the master bedroom and a room for the children, and a maintenance room that has a washer and dryer.

GF: Yeah, so it sounds pretty comfortable.

TM: The houses are fully-furnished. They're all ready for a family to move right into.

GF: And these are going… these are meant to be transition homes for women leaving abusive relationships.

TM: Yes, yeah.

GF: How… how much is that needed in your community?

TM: It's very much needed. The listing for the housing is so long to get into, and you can only stay in a women's shelter for so long before you have to get out on your feet and find a place. So this will give those women a chance to get their family sorted out and, you know, get themselves in a situation where they can be on their own and move… move on and make memories.

GF: And housing is very difficult. Otherwise, without these houses, it would be very difficult for these women, would it?

TM: Yes, it would be very difficult. It's a sense of pride, and you want your privacy. You don't… you don't want to be… be a burden on… on other families. It's nice to have your own place, right?

GF: Yeah. So tell me a bit about the team that built it? You said that you had no experience in building before this?

TM: No, none. None of us.

GF: None at all?!

TM: None of us. No, no, none of us had experience in building these houses. We had some training on getting us prepped and all ready to go onto the job site. We had our supervisors that were guiding us and training and teaching us. It was a very hands-on learning experience.

GF: So, what were the skills that you learned?

TM: How to put a wall together and get it to stand up without falling down.

GF: [laughing] That's kind of important, yeah.

TM: Yeah. We started from the ground. We… we raked, we shovelled, we wheelbarrowed gravel and poured the concrete and did the in-floor heating and built our walls, and then we put a roof on the house. And putting that first wall up was pretty amazing.

GF: Yeah? Why was that?

TM: Because it's like all our hard work is starting to show now. Once you get that first wall up and standing up, it's like, wow, it is going to be a house!

GF: It seems real all of a sudden, doesn't it?

TM: Yeah, yeah.

GF: Yeah. And you did… you did the landscaping too, I understand?

TM: Yeah, yeah, we did. We poured stamped concrete on the front of the house and behind the house. Off the kitchen and the dining room, there's a patio door, and you walk out to a nice patio with we put some large rocks there for sitting on, and we put a fire pit out there and some Muskoka chairs so they can sit around and feel like they are at home.

GF: Mm-hmm. What did your family make of all of this?

TM: Oh, they're so proud of me. If it wasn't for my family, I don't know if I would have been able to do this. They're my inspiration. They gave me the push, and they said, Mom, you can do anything.

GF: Did you not think you could?

TM: Um, as being an older female young woman, I thought… I thought I would find it challenging, but I surprised myself, and I was able to keep up with those younger children, those younger kids out there.

GF: [chuckling] So do you know who the women are who are going to be moving into these… these two homes?

TM: No.

GF: You don't know them yet?

TM: No.

GF: So what do you hope that they will experience in the home that you've built for them?

TM: I would hope they would feel, like, pretty… that I'm proud and happy that we're, like, women helping women. That not to be alone, that there is help for them and just knowing that they have a roof over their head, a place to make a meal with their family and have memories. I guess just knowing that they're safe.

GF: Yeah. Do you think you'll be building more?

TM: Yes. They're planning on doing more tiny homes. And I hope to be… to be part of that project.

GF: Have you found yourself a new career?

TM: I think… um, I think so. It's a nice feeling. Like, it's a sense of pride. I can… I can drive around our reserve and say hey to my grandchildren. Like I can say, look, this is what Grandma did. You can do this too someday. You don't have… you don't have to work in a factory now. You can… you can grab a hammer and build something if you would like, something that anybody can do. A little training and you'd be surprised what you can do.

GF: All right. Well, congratulations, Tammy.

TM: Thank you.

GF: To you and your crew. Thanks for telling us about it.

TM: You're welcome.

GF: Bye-bye.

TM: Bye-bye.

CH: Tammy McGuire was a part of the Heels to Workboots apprenticeship program. She was in Tyendinaga, Ontario.

[Music: Vocalization]

FOA: Lawrence Schimel Ruling

CH: When we first spoke with writer Lawrence Schimel, his two children's books depicting LGBTQ families were under fire in Hungary. Elected officials had condemned the titles in the National Assembly. And a chain of bookstores was fined for selling them without an accompanying warning that they contained, quote, "content that deviates from the norm." Now, a Hungarian court has ruled that that fine was illegal. And Mr. Schimel is celebrating the verdict as a, quote, "victory over anti-LGBT censorship!" It's one of many things to celebrate about Bedtime, Not Playtime! and Early One Morning, which were released in Canada by Orca Book Publishers last September. At the time, Lawrence Schimel told us they were an important win for LGBTQ representation -- without really being about queer issues at all.

SOUNDCLIP

LS: We thought that there was a need for books that weren't about overcoming homophobia or anything like that, that were just fun, playful books that happened to be taking place in same-sex families. So that was what we set out to do. The books are basically, Early One Morning is a morning book, and Bedtime, Not Playtime! is obviously a goodnight book. So they're sort of everyday domestic adventure is about kids and their pets that just happen to have two moms in one case and two dads in the other.

CO: Right, so Early One Morning is a story of a boy who has two moms. And the Bedtime, Not Playtime! is a girl with two dads, right?

LS: Exactly. Although more important than the moms or the dads, in Early One Morning, the boy wakes up early, and his moms and his sister are still asleep. The only one who's awake is the cat. So they have adventures together. And in Bedtime, Not Playtime!, a girl is getting ready for bed, and her dog wants to play. And so when her two dads are reading a bedtime story, the dog gets jealous, jumps on the bed, steals the bear, and then adventures ensue as everyone tries to get the bear back.

CO: Right. So the books are not about having same-sex parents. There just happens to be same-sex parents in the lives of these two children?

LS: Exactly. That was our... you know, we wanted to do books that showed or depicted queer families, but we're not about that. That's not the... the motivator of the plot. It's not... you know, it's... it's irrelevant in some levels, although it's not irrelevant in others, you know what I mean? There's a lack of those kinds of books. Almost all the books that we know in many different languages that feature LGBT characters for kids are about, you know, that LGBT angle is the purpose of the book. And we felt that there was a need for books that had more incidental representation. So that was important to us. But it's not important to the plot.

CO: You originally wrote these board books in Spanish. They have now been translated into other languages, other places, including two very controversial countries. And I want to begin by... by asking you about what happened in Hungary when it first became clear to you that these books were going to generate a lot of pushback. Can you tell us what happened?

LS: So in Hungary, the two books were published in a single volume under the title of Micsoda Család, which is What a Family. And what happened... so in Hungary, they had... maybe a few weeks after these books had been published, they were published by a Rainbow Family organization in Hungary, and all of the Hungarian press reviewed them both positive and negative. You know, a lot of the state-controlled press was very negative. There was actually a 40-minute television program about the books. And I'm like, OK, there are 16 rhymes. I don't know how they got 40 minutes [laughing] out of attacking these poor little books. And so one of the things that happened after that, though, is that the government attacked a bookstore for having sold the books without warning customers that the books contained, quote/unquote, families that were not traditional. And so there was a fine of 250,000 Forints.

CO: And this... the county commissioner who levied that fine said it was, as you said, how the books, he said it was how the books were shelved and just how they were displayed. And this is the quote, there is no way…. or the translation, there is no way of knowing that this book is about a family that is different than a normal family. What went through your mind when you heard that?

LS: I mean, anger. [chuckling] You know, our lives are not things that need to be hidden from children. In the case of the reaction of the laws and the sort of pushback against it, that is many people who otherwise might have been indifferent... I mean, certainly the case in Hungary, the law that has been made against these books, and especially there was a new update to that law that just went into effect on Sunday. So these books cannot be shown in a bookstore window. They must be wrapped in plastic. They cannot be sold within 200 metres of a school or a church as if they were drugs or something like that. It's trying to associate this material with, you know, dangerous, forbidden, illegal substances. So... but so many people in Hungary who might have otherwise been indifferent because of the government's homophobia have gone out of their way to fight against this.

CH: Lawrence Schimel is the author of Bedtime, Not Playtime! and Early One Morning. He spoke with Carol last September, after a Hungarian bookseller was fined for stocking the titles. And now, a court has ruled that fine to be illegal. For more on that story, you can visit our website at: www.cbc.ca/aih. Which reminds us we… [sigh] and we assume you are still coming to terms with Carol's departure from As It Happens at the end of last month. I keep waiting for her to walk back into the studio. And not just because I hid a bunch of her stuff in here. But we've been lucky to have Gillian with us for the past couple of weeks. She'll be with us for a couple more. And we'll have guest hosts over the coming months as we search for a new permanent host. We will, of course, keep you posted as we proceed. And, Carol, I have no idea how your driver's licence wound up under the carpet in here? But you know, just come by and pick it up any time.

[Music: Hip-hop beat]

Curling Rocks Study

Guest: Derek Leung

CH: They're global superstars that move with surprising grace. They're always so smooth. And sometimes they come up a bit short -- but when they hit their marks, it's truly breathtaking. I'm obviously referring to curling rocks. And it turns out the ones used in major international competitions are made exclusively from granite found in just two places in the world. But a new study has taken a closer look at how special those rocks truly are. Derek Leung is a researcher at Laurentian University. We reached him in Sudbury, Ontario.

GF: Derek, before we get to your study, what made you want to look at curling stones in the first place?

DEREK LEUNG: I like to tell people that I'm married to the rocks because I've spent most of my life either collecting or throwing rocks. So I've been interested in minerals since probably about kindergarten, and I've also been a curler since, you know, Grade f5. So about when I was 10. So, it's been a very good experience, and it's quite natural for me to do a project on curling stones.

GF: Uh-huh. Well, it's a combination of things, isn't it? So, take me back first to… to this… sort of this mythology, I guess, around stones from these two particular quarries. Why only those two quarries for international curling stones?

DL: Right. So international curling stones only come from two places in the world. There's Ailsa Craig in the Firth of Clyde of Scotland and Trevor on the Llŷn Peninsula of North Wales. And so because they only come from two places, there's sort of this lore, right, as you say, that curling stones are special because they only come from those two places. And I think in part, it has to do a bit with history and also tradition. And also, empirically, we're finding it very difficult to find other sources that have been working for curling stones.

GF: And you've visited both of these places, I understand?

DL: That's correct. So, I actually got the chance to do a master's thesis in Edinburgh, and since I was in Edinburgh, I was only a stone's throw away from Ailsa Craig and Trevor.

GF: As it were! [both laughing]

DL: So, I mean, I had to visit, right? It's almost a pilgrimage for me.

GF: And so what was it like?

DL: It was pretty impressive, you know? Like, it's amazing getting to actually go to these places. It was pretty cool. And then, I got to take back a few rocks. I took about three curling stones worth of weight of rocks back on the train.

GF: That's quite a bit of… that was quite a bit of weight, isn't it?

DL: Yeah. I mean, so I had a suitcase, like a duffel bag and also a backpack. So I put one rock in each. And so one of the conductors on the train actually helped me, you know, move my… my luggage up. And he asked me, what's in this… what's in the suitcase? And I was like, curling stones, and he just had a great laugh. [both have a great laugh] So that was a good experience.

GF: Okay, so let's get to the study. So you have these stones, you know, the… the lore behind these stones. But what did you set out to study?

DL: There are really three main parts of what I wanted to study. So the first is that there's actually four different curling stone types, so two from Ailsa Craig and two from Trevor. And so, what I wanted to see was, what are the commonalities between these four curling stone types? So if we understand the commonalities, then we can understand what kind of properties might be suitable for curling stones, for the manufacture of curling stones. The second part was that there's actually two different components. The bottoms of the stones, they're called, they're running surfaces, and that's what actually rests on the ice.

GF: Mm-hmm.

DL: The other aspect is the… the striking bands, so the sides of the stones, and those are where curling stones collide into each other during a game. And so, those parts of the rocks will actually accumulate damage over the lifetimes. So I was really trying to understand the differences in the properties and the functions between those two different aspects.

GF: And did you find out that the stones from these two quarries were so special after all?

DL: So what we found was that these curling stones, they have some commonalities. And then, the third aspect, which I hadn't really talked about earlier, was that quartz is a mineralogic component that tends to be very common in curling stones. And the problem with quartz is that we commonly think of quartz as like glass. So it's like silica, right? And when you think of glass, you think that, oh, it's going to break. And so, the idea traditionally was that quartz is bad for curling stone. And what we found was that we actually find a decent amount of quartz, about 15 to 25 per cent.

GF: But Derek, what does all this research mean for your average curler?

DL: Right. So I think it's really important for us to understand what a curling stone is because curling stones are quite expensive, right? So one curling stone costs about $800. And so, for a whole facility that has eight sheets, that would cost upwards of $100,000. So it's a huge investment for the curling community, and we should appreciate what these rocks are. Appreciate what they're made of. And that will help us to maintain them and take care of them for future generations.

GF: Right.

DL: I think the big thing to say is that as a scientist, even though there are some features that are sort of common to curling stones that may not be common to all rocks in the world, there's a lot of granite toys all around Earth, right? Even in Canada, we've got, you know, Cambridge Shield. We've got different mountains, mountain ranges. We've got a lot of rocks in Canada. And so, as a scientist, it's very difficult to say that these rocks are unique just based on their properties alone.

GF: Right. So you mentioned earlier, you know, you're not just a researcher. You are also a competitive curler yourself, about to head off to… to a competition this afternoon.

DL: That's right. So we're… the Laurentian University Voyageurs curling team, we're actually heading to our Ontario University Athletics. So that's a provincial championship.

GF: Right. And so, is all of your insight that you've gathered from this research, does that give you a leg up on the competition?

DL: So it's great because I've had so many different opportunities to look at curling from different perspectives. When I get to the curling club, I usually just take a look, oh, this is such and such rock, and then I don't think too much about it.

GF: You just worry about the game?

DL: Yeah, exactly. It's really about how the rocks perform when… when we're in the game. That's… that's really important.

GF: All right, Derek. Well, good luck.

DL: Thank you. And thanks for having me.

GF: Bye-bye.

CH: Derek Leung is a researcher at Laurentian University who's just published a study on curling stones in The Canadian Mineralogist. We reached Mr. Leung in Sudbury, Ontario.

[Music: World]

Trans Canada Highway Driver Obit

CH: She was supposed to be celebrating her second anniversary. But earlier this month, 38-year-old Laura Tennant was killed on the Trans Canada Highway -- when a boulder fell on her Jeep. The mother of two was driving through the Kicking Horse Canyon in B.C. with her wife and children when the rock fell. The stretch of highway has been under construction to improve driving conditions -- but it's stayed open to the public. Alan Tennant is Laura's father-in-law. He believes her death could have been prevented.

SOUNDCLIP

ALAN TENNANT: It came right through the roof of their vehicle and struck Laura. And their two kids were in the backseat in their car seats, of course. And fortunately, the rock came to rest between… between them on the seat and destroyed the back seat. So, Laura had no chance. There was no warning whatsoever. She was the passenger, so they were heading west, so she was on the mountainside. And yeah, it's… it's very tragic.

DAVID GRAY: I think most people who have driven that section know there’s an awful lot of construction going on in that area. We reached out to the B.C. Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure about this. They told us this rockfall is unrelated to the construction underway. It happened where no work has started. And that rockfall protection in place in that area predates the current project. What do you make of all that?

AT: I… I think it's interesting that you know, they're putting a lot of emphasis on… on the fencing system. We've heard comments from people that spend a lot of time in that area that, in fact, they've seen rocks come over the fence, through the fence. One news report said that this particular boulder came through the fence. We don't know. It... it's interesting, too. I think that statement also references the recent rockfall occurred adjacent to existing fencing. Adjacent tells me that there is no fencing at that point. And our daughter, Lisa, had the wherewithal to not stop immediately. She felt rocks, hitting the vehicle and kept rolling, sort of glanced and saw a piece of fencing coming up. So she rolled behind the fence. And a member of the construction staff complimented her and us later on on the fact that she had this amazing sense to make sure her family was safe. So, you know, this is not a perfect scenario. The fencing that's there, I think, has probably served a purpose over time. But let's face it, there's changing environments around us. I think the release also referenced, you know, this catastrophe was related to the freeze-thaw conditions that so-called occur frequently this time of year. Well, we did not know that this was, you know, an increased risk at this time. And I think this information could have been shared in advance. And by the way, it's it's pretty horrific experience to go through with no cell coverage. It seems like a modern concern, but the reality is we all rely on our… our communications to keep us safe and to call out for help. And you know, it was extremely frustrating to have no cell coverage through great periods there. And I think this is something I hope that B.C. Highways and Infrastructure has a look at.

CH: Alan Tennant is the late Laura Tennant's father-in-law. He spoke to David Gray, host of CBC's The Calgary Eyeopener.

[Music: Instrumental]

Frito Less

CH: The question may have crossed your mind before. Usually, you're on the couch, watching a documentary about pre-Raphaelite art, or, I suppose maybe The Bachelor? By the way: Clayton is the worst. Anyway: you reach for some Doritos and realize you're already at the bottom of the bag. You turn to your cat in disbelief and ask: "Is it just me, or are there fewer chips in the bag these days?" I'm not speaking from personal experience about the chips or The Bachelor. But during the pandemic, there may be a kernel of truth to corn chip-counting conspiracies. Doritos' parent company Frito-Lay just admitted it's cut an average of five chips per bag. A spokesperson told Quartz: "Inflation is hitting everyone. We just took a little bit out of the bag so we can give you the same price and you can keep enjoying your chips." There's nothing cool, ranch or otherwise, about that decision. But to be fair, Doritos isn't the only brand adjusting to so-called "shrinkflation". Brands like Gatorade, Charmin, and Quaker Oats have also started selling smaller sizes as inflation soars. But I'm sorry. We need Doritos now more than ever. I mean, no offence, Quaker. But I'm not going to drown my sorrows in a bag of oats. Doritos, if you're listening, I understand you're trying to chip away at the problem. But please remember: no one can kick back with a bag of chips, relax, and take five -- if you already did.

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March 17, 2022 Episode Transcript

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