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The AIH Transcript for August 3, 2018

Hosts: Piya Chattopadhyay and Jeff Douglas

Prologue

PIYA CHATTOPADHYAY: Hi, I'm Piya Chattopadhyay.

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

[Music: Theme]

JD: Tonight…

PC: Disappearing ink. The late Rick Genest was an artist who was his own artwork. And tonight, our guest remembers the friend and collaborator she knew long before he became famous as the tattooed Zombie Boy.

JD: Failure to lunch. Because tech companies in San Francisco have their own cafeterias employees don't eat out, so the city is proposing new rules to feed the local service industry.

PC: A lot on the line. Brand new border security minister Bill Blair hands Toronto $11 million to help pay for housing asylum seekers. But he won't say how much Canada's welcome is eventually going to cost.

JD: They gave a subtle performance but still chewed the scenery. Boise, Idaho is invaded by an army of ravenous landscapers who will not stop eating people's yards. But no one is too concerned because their goats.

PC: Take me out of the ballgame. You've had your peanuts and cracker jacks in your team’s losing badly but is it safe to actually leave the baseball game? Well, our guest has calculated what inning is best to end your outing.

JD: And…Keeping his head in the game. A Chicago Cubs fan pays tribute to the hero that saved him from what could have been a terrible head injury — the empty bubble gum bucket he turned upside down and wore was a hat. As It Happens: The Friday Edition. Radio that warns, if you're worried about stuff falling on your head this interview will make you turn pale.

[Music: Theme]

Part 1: Rick Genest Obit, Bill Blair, Bucket Head Guy

Rick Genest Obit

Guest: Tamara Annis

JD: You could have spotted Rick Genest from a mile away. But if you thought you really knew him you would likely be wrong. Rick Genest, otherwise known as Zombie Boy died earlier this week at the age of 32. His tattoos were from head to toe and they made him look like a skeleton in the flesh. They also made him famous worldwide. He even became the tattooed muse to pop star Lady Gaga. But before that fame he was a homeless punk kid from Montreal. A few years back. He spoke to the Montreal Gazette about embracing the weird.

SOUNDCLIP

RICK GENEST: I’m kind of different. I think I’m very blessed to be put in this spot to tell people to accept their differences and to tolerate each other and that we make a better team together than apart. And not to judge each other for what we look like, instead, you know, the substance of our character.

JD: Before he rose to fame as Zombie Boy, Tamara Annis knew him simply as Rico. She met him in her small town of Metcalf, just south of Ottawa, and they became close friends. We reached Ms. Annis in Metcalfe, Ontario.

PC: Tamara, I'm so sorry to hear about the loss of your friend Rick.

TAMARA ANNIS: Thank you.

PC: To the world he was Zombie Boy, but to you who was Rick Genest?

TA: To me, he was one of my closest friends. He was the sweetest person you could ever, ever know. So funny, so creative a very, very gentle-natured person and very caring.

PC: How did you first come to meet him?

TA: It's an interesting turn of events really. Like I said, I live in Metcalfe, which is not a very big town. And about almost 10 years ago they filmed a movie called Carny in my town and started Lou Diamond Phillips. Rick was part of the movie but not a main character, he was about 21 years old, I think, at the time. He had just had his face done and you can imagine someone that tattooed in a small town like this how welcomed he would've been. Everybody was pretty shocked in the town. I opened up my shop for the movie and the actors and all the crew and stuff to come on and get warmed up because it was November and it was snowing. And one night I looked outside and it was snowing, sort of sleet, and there was Rick, Rico standing with no shirt on across the street under the street light. And I guess the mother in me worried and ran up to him to make sure he was okay and I gave him a cigarette and I got him into the restaurant to get some food and the whole bit. And that's how I got to know him.

PC: And what were your impressions of just tattoo kid?

TA: He was so sweet, just a sweet kid. I know he was living on the streets of Montreal at the time. He just seemed like a lost kid. You know, he was really happy to be a part of this movie. He was just very sweet. You know, once he got past the surprise of this tattooed face and body and you realize it wasn't makeup, the person was just so sweet — boy next door.

PC: And for people who have never seen what Rick's tattoos look like, he was covered head to toe, every last inch of his skin was covered in them. Describe those tattoos for us?

TA: I know he had different ones, sort of funny ones or whatever, on parts of his legs or that. But his entire body was a recreation of being a zombie. So it was all your muscles, your bones, your tendons, the whole thing — brains on the top of his head like a skeleton. The whole thing was a one piece of art really if you were to look at it. It was just an artistic expression of who he was.

PC: And so after that film shoot, after he pulled out of Metcalfe did you to stay in touch at all?

TA: We had lost contact sort of, and I worried about him and thought about him. He never left my mind, you know, and then I turn on the TV one day and I saw a Lady Gaga video and I thought ‘Oh, my god, that guy, he looks like Rico,’ and I thought it couldn't find Rico. You couldn't go from this kid standing on the street that I gave a cigarette to, to now you're starring in a Lady Gaga video. Well it was him. So at that point I was just like ‘Oh, thank god he's doing well.’ And then, you know, I followed his success, you know, a little bit here or there, you always know he's out there kind of thing. And then it was about a year and a half ago that we reconnected again. But really solidly he helped me out. I'm a vice president of a not for profit foundation. We paint the homes of survivors of domestic violence. And I reached out to Rick and I said to him “Would you do some photos for me for a hashtag campaign that I'm doing?” Well, of course he did. And he did six gorgeous pictures. And then from there we just sparked up our friendship again and pretty much spoke every single day and were planning all kinds of creative ventures and he was part of my family — and now this.

PC: You say he was part of your family. What kind of role did you play in Rick's life?

TA: Confidant, good friend. You know, I'm a bit older than Rick, I'm 49 this year, he's 33 in a few days. So I wouldn't say I was a mother figure to him but certainly someone who always had his back and didn't judge — that safe person you can come to.

PC: And he went on to become famous. As you said, he did a music video of Lady Gaga. He was doing these crazy punk sideshow art projects. How did he handle all that newfound fame?

TA: I think he handled it pretty well, although from what I had discussed, you know, at times he would get a bit frustrated or disheartened when people saw him as a muse, as sort of a commodity, not the person who he was. He didn't do this, like his famous quote, he did not do this to be famous, he did this to be himself, you know. And so I think there was a bit of exploitation going on there and he was a very creative person. He had a band and he was hoping to get his music out there. There was many things he was capable of beyond modelling.

PC: When was the last time you talked to him?

TA: Well, we were messaging, I didn't speak on the phone with him. I was messaging with him on Tuesday planning for him to spend a long weekend here.

PC: I'm so very sorry.

TA: Yeah. So that's — and we had plans, and he was looking forward to it and we were working out what we were going to do, as we always do. You know, we were getting pretty excited about it. And I was just waiting to hear back from him to tell me when he would like my husband to go get him. And I didn't hear.

PC: I think on the surface you two would seem like an unlikely friendship. And I think that's what you've been saying to me today. That on the surface we probably look like two people that didn't have a lot in common.

TA: Absolutely. And that was part of the fun of it because he always was quoted and always known for saying ‘Don't judge a book by its cover’ and people were so, so surprised — even he was surprised how close of friends we became, considering at face value you would think that I'm from a whole other way of life — and I am.

PC: I'm so glad the two of you met. Thank you for sharing your memories of your friend with us.

TA: Thank you.

PC: Take good care okay.

TA: Yes.

PC: Bye.

TA: Bye.

JD: Tamara Annis was a close friend to Rick Genest, known to the world as Zombie Boy. Mr. Genest died earlier this week. The cause of his death is still unclear. We have more on this story, including some great photographs of Rick and Tamara together on our website: www.cbc.ca/aih.

[Music: Somber Guitar]

Bill Blair

Guest: Bill Blair

JD: Today, Canada's new border security minister tried his hand at some fence mending. Bill Blair got the job after his government began taking flak for the cost of all those asylum seekers who have been walking across the border from the United States. Their arrival has swamped Toronto's already near capacity shelter system. Both the city's mayor and Ontario's new Progressive Conservative government have been demanding that the federal Liberals follow through on their words of welcome with some cold hard cash. Minister Blair came to Toronto today to announce an $11 million boost to the city's coffers with the possibility of more to come. And we reached Bill Blair in Toronto.

PC: Minister Blair, how much more are Canadians going to have to pay to help people who have walked across our border?

BILL BLAIR: Well, much of what we are spending on this world was already budgeted but we are seeing that there are some extraordinary costs incurred by certain municipalities and so we're there working with them to make sure that that those bills get paid. But we're working very hard to make sure that we manage this in a responsible way. I don't have a precise number of what this cost, but at the same time this is not the first time that Canada has experienced large influxes of people seeking asylum into this country. In 2002 over 40,000 people presented themselves seeking asylum, in 2008 it was 37,000. And so these are processes that we can and do manage. And that's exactly what we're doing and we're doing it, I think, in a very responsible way and hopefully in a cost effective way.

PC: As you said, you might not have the exact number going ahead but let's talk about the numbers as we know them so far. The Parliamentary Budget Office puts the tally so far $270 million for the past year and a half for dealing with these irregular border crossers. That's everything from the CBSA to the Immigration Department, the RCMP and the Immigration and Refugee Board. Do your numbers agree with those numbers?

BB: Yes, they do. And the thing, I think, that is very difficult for those departments to determine and we've been very clear with that with the parliamentary budget officer, is making projections into the future. What we have seen — and we've done a lot of work, for example, in working with the United States in altering some of their processes which we think we're causing some of the increase in our numbers. And we've also done a lot of work in communicating to people so that the people who consider seeking asylum in Canada understand that they are subject to the law, to due process and asylum applications is not a free pass into permanent residency in this country and if they are not eligible they’re subject to removal, which has seen some really positive effect. And all of that work, working with the Americans and doing a better job of communicating the legal reality here in Canada. We've seen significant reductions over the past four or five months of consecutive and significant reductions in the number of people presenting themselves at the border.

PC: The number, the $270 million from the Parliamentary Budget Office doesn't account for all the costs that are at play here. And you have heard concerns from the City of Toronto as well as the government of Ontario saying ‘Look we need money,’ and you've said you'll continue to talk money with the city and with the government Ontario, which insists that it's more than $200 million. How are your talks going with Premier Doug Ford?

BB: Well, I will tell you we received a letter from Minister McCleod articulating a round figure of 200 million. And in her letter she broke that down somewhat but I think, quite frankly, there needs to be more detailed analysis and discussion about those costs because there are a number of ways in which moneys flow between the federal government and the province. For example, there are federal transfer payments just as an example for various social services, and those transfer payments are calculated on the basis of population, which includes the increase as a result of people in the province as a result of seeking asylum. And so we need to break that down and to identify what I think would better be described as extraordinary costs.

PC: You and your federal colleagues have been trying to convince Canadians across this country that these irregular border crossings are not a crisis. There is an Angus Reid poll out that says Canadians seem to disagree with that. If Canadians think this is a crisis, Minister Blair, are you worried?

BB: Well, it tells me that I've got a lot of work to do to help people understand exactly how this situation is being managed. You know, a crisis is a situation that's not being managed, a crisis a situation where there are inadequate resources and we're unable to do the things we are legally obliged and morally required to do. But that's not the case here. And so clearly the survey tells me that I've got to do a better job of explaining to Canadians precisely how this is being managed. What resources are being brought to bear. You know, I've heard people express concern, as an example, that people are entering this country and that they are not subject to those very rigorous security background checks that Canadians expect — that's not true.

PC: Except I think many people would argue that if not a practical crisis, you're having a communications crisis on this file.

BB: And I acknowledge that and this is my responsibility to share information with Canadians so that they have the information that they need to make an informed decision. And, quite frankly, I've heard criticism from a number of different forums but I haven't heard anything even remotely resembling a plan or even a sensible suggestion. And a lot of the rhetoric around this is simply not consistent with Canadian law or our international obligations. And some of the things that have been suggested are so wildly impractical as to be frankly not worthy of much consideration. I think we've got to do better than that and clearly — and I’ll acknowledge this — I have to do better than that in ensuring that we keep Canadians informed of precisely what's happening, not only at their borders but in their communities.

PC: You say you don't point fingers directly, but that same poll says that Canadians trust Conservative leader Andrew Scheer to deal with the border more than they trust your boss Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. How are you going to turn that around?

BB: Well, you know, again I would simply invite Canadians to look at — Mr. Scheer has not presented anything even remotely resembling a plan to deal with this. In fact, he went down to Roxham Road himself and quite fairly he said that they were doing a very good job there and I think that's true. But some of the recommendations, the things such as turning the entire 9,000 kilometre border between the United States into a regular border crossing is wildly impractical. We'd have to station border security officers and CBSA officers at regular intervals that would require tens of thousands of additional resources. And unilaterally changing the way in which the safe third country agreement operates between our two countries is also not practical in that, you know, a bilateral agreement between two countries can only be altered as a result of negotiation and agreement between those countries. So some of the things that are being suggested, I'm hopeful that Canadians, when they have the facts, they'll see that there's not a lot of substance there and mostly just rhetoric.

PC: Minister Blair, we'll have to leave it there. Thank you.

BB: Thank you.

PC: Bye, bye.

BB: Bye.

JD: Bill Blair is the new minister of border security. We reached him in Toronto.

[Music: 90’s Rock]

Andrew Shaver Feedback

JD: Judging by the reactions online and off, people had some strong feelings about our conversation with Andrew Shaver on Wednesday evening on this program. Mr. Shaver voted for Doug Ford's PC party in Ontario this spring. He was also getting his income topped up as part of a provincial basic income pilot project. Earlier this week, the still new provincial government announced it would be winding down that pilot project well before it was originally scheduled to end. In his conversation with Piya, Mr. Shaver expressed anger over that particular decision while suggesting that he does still agree with a lot of what Premier Ford's government is doing. Eric Savoy emailed to say he sympathizes with Mr. Shaver's situation but he also said quote “I am astonished, yet again, by the political inclinations of such self-described fiscal conservatives who benefit enormously from social welfare programs, and who inevitably are bereft and angry when conservative governments eliminate those very programs that enable the working poor to live with less financial anxiety. We are all too familiar with this kind of economic irrationalism in the United States where poor white folk vote overwhelmingly for Republican candidates whose federal government, right now, is giving enormous transfers of wealth to the already rich while threatening to defund Social Security and Medicare,” unquote. Thank you for that e-mail Mr. Savoy. We also got this call to talkback.

SOUNDCLIP

KEN O’BRIEN: Ken O’Brien, Kingston, Ontario. About a guaranteed income program, I think a lot of people talking about it don't know what it entails. The program’s being widely studied, it's not the first time it’s been tried in Canada. If you actually read about it it all makes very good sense. As the gentleman who called in, it enabled him to go back to school plus get a job. Now that he’ll lose it, he'll have to change his job and not go back to school. That was something that happened to a lot of people, they were able to improve their lifestyle by furthering their education as well as their health through improved eating habits, their dental care do to improve eating habits and quality of life. I think it was wrong to cancel it. I think the people who cancelled it don't know what they're talking about. Take care. Good to listen to the show.

JD: Thank you for your call Mr. O'Brien. And thank you to everyone who wrote or called in. And if you would like to add your voice to this program call talkback: (416) 205-5687. And you can read more about that basic income story on our website: www.cbc.ca/aih.

[Music: Jazz]

Bucket Head Guy

Guest: Kyle McAleer

JD: Kyle McAleer was just trying to celebrate his 20th birthday at a Chicago Cubs baseball game. So you would assume that he would have preferred his team to be winning. But Mr. McAleer is thanking his lucky stars that the Cubs were down because if they had not been down he would not have been wearing the upside down bubble gum bucket when something struck him on the head — hard. We reached Carl McAleer in Scranton, Iowa.

PC: Kyle, how's your head doing?

KYLE MCALEER: We're doing all right. The head is doing good. I got the staples removed yesterday.

PC: Take me back. Why were you wearing a bucket, a plastic bucket, at a baseball game?

KM: It's a rally cap, basically. Like, how you see people turn their hats inside out to cheer on their team when they're when they're down by a couple runs. Instead of turning our hats inside out we just put buckets on our heads.

PC: Well, what does it look like?

KM: It is a Dubble Bubble bubblegum bucket.

PC: Okay, so take us back. You're at Wrigley Field watching your Chicago Cubs play, set the scene for us. What was happening at Wrigley just before the accident?

KM: Well, first of all, it was a beautiful day there at the ballpark and the Cubs had just given up three runs. And so I look at my dad my friend ‘I say hey let's put the buckets on and see if we can get a rally started.’ And unfortunately they grounded into a double play and I almost took the bucket off. But I'm glad I didn't cause a couple minutes later that object fell on my head.

[LAUGHTER]

PC: Well, you posted a photo on Snapchat looking pretty excited that your seat, along with your dad and your friend, you guys were under the scoreboard. Describe what happened that changed your mind that this was an amazing seat?

KM: Well, I still think right now that's an amazing seat because you can see the whole field, the whole ballpark, you could see everything from that seat. But a piece of a scoreboard fell, we speculate, probably 30-40 feet, dozens of feet and impacted me on the head wearing the bucket. And my first reaction I thought ‘Man, like someone must have smacked the top of my head or something,’ because it was really loud, my ears were ringing and I felt a little bit of pain. I was wearing glasses too and when the glasses were off my face I took the bucket off to find them. When I looked down a whole bunch of blood just came running out my head — I was bleeding pretty bad.

PC: And do you know what exactly from the score board hit you?

KM: It looked like a pipe or a peg that they use to keep the scoreboard tiles in place, about maybe six inches, six to eight inches long probably three or four pounds.

PC: It's like a brick to the head.

KM: Pretty much, yeah. Luckily that bucket was there.

PC: And what were the people around you doing?

KM: Well, it was a party of six and my dad, my mom, my uncle our friend who was also wearing a bucket and my sister, they all started doing their own thing. My dad and my uncle started trying to find this thing that fell out of sky. It bounced off my head and went somewhere in the crowd. And then my mom and my sister were barking orders and trying to find towels and napkins to try and stop the bleeding and then the rest the crowd was appalled. They were shocked. I think they were scared as well because the noise that that object made when it hit the bucket on my head it was like a drum.

PC: So there's blood streaming down your face. The bucket’s over your head, your glasses are on the ground. How badly were you injured?

KM: Well, luckily the bucket spared me from something more serious. All I got was just a two inch laceration and I got five staples put in to close it up. Other than that, that's the only injury I had from it. So I'm extraordinarily lucky.

PC: What do you think would have happened had you not been wearing this bucket on your head?

KM: It could have been very, very serious. Like this is all speculation and I'm no doctor, but if you ask me I think I think it definitely could have could have fractured my skull and caused a pretty traumatic brain injury.

PC: So since this has happened what have the Chicago Cubs said about how part of the scoreboard could effectively come loose and hit a guy in the head?

KM: Well, it's an 80-year-old scoreboard and this is the first time this has ever happened. And I have full confidence and faith that the Cubs have taken appropriate steps to secure those pegs. And they have confirmed that they have secured the pegs. It was just merely a freak accident.

PC: You had to bail on the game, how did the Cubs end up doing that night?

KM: They ended up losing unfortunately. The one thing I'm upset about the most is that I missed the seventh inning stretch because at Wrigley all 40,000 people — even the opposing fans — sing the seventh inning stretch in the crowd and that's an environment, that's a feeling that I just I crave when I go to Wrigley Field.

PC: You planning on heading back any soon?

KM: The Cubs have already invited us back. They’re going to pay for a hotel room and give us a VIP treatment.

PC: Where's the bucket now?

KM: The bucket’s on my dresser in my room. I wake up and look at it every day.

PC: And when you look at it what are you thinking?

KM: I think I'm lucky I was wearing that goofy thing.

PC: Well, whether you wear them as rally caps or for safety gear next time, I wish you the best of luck. Thanks a lot.

KM: Thank you so much. Appreciate it.

PC: Bye, bye.

KM: Bye, bye.

JD: Always wear a helmet. We reached Kylel McAleer in Scranton, Iowa. And if you would like to see a photograph of his lucky bucket head to our website: www.cbc.ca/aih.

Part 2: San Francisco Cafeteria, Ballpark Cheatsheet

San Francisco Cafeteria

Guest: Ahsha Safaí

JD: The tech sector is known for innovation, disruption and making people rich beyond their imaginations. But can its workers take the bold step of leaving the building to have lunch? Earlier this week, San Francisco legislators proposed new measures that would prohibit on-site cafeterias in new office buildings and tech campuses. They say workers eating in-house for cheap each day of the working week is starving local businesses of trade. Ahsha Safaí is one of the city supervisors who sponsored the bill. We reached him in San Francisco.

PC: Mr. Safaí, is it true you're trying to starve San Francisco's tech workers?

AHSHA SAFAI: No, absolutely not. This is not about taking away anyone's lunch. We propose our legislation, really, to think about what are the important ingredients, what are the things that make for a healthy city. The thinking is if you have people that are staying in their offices all day long, staying within their silo and not coming out and not interacting and not patronizing and not participating, the city starts in decline at its core. San Francisco is going through an amazing, amazing boom right now. I mean, it's one of the strongest economic booms in the city's history, probably only rivaled by the gold rush of the 19th century. And so in this time we're seeing a phenomenal amount of wealth pouring into the city and we want to think about how we make sure that San Francisco go doesn't become a Tale of Two Cities.

PC: Tell us about your ordinance. What new measures are you proposing?

AS: This ordinance says if you're building a new office space and you're moving into that office space you cannot have an employee an internal cafeteria that's not open to the public.

PC: This only applies to new builds not the existing ones that have cafeterias in their buildings?

AS: That's correct. But we intend, again, to have a conversation even with the existing employers that have these cafeterias because we want to have an overall conversation about how they're impacting everyday life in San Francisco.

PC: And what's the purpose of it?

AS: The purpose is to, essentially, as I said, you know, we have a strong network. We are very well known for our culinary expertise. We're known for our small retail environment and it's intended to get people out of their offices. It's to get people interacting and moving together as one city. It's not about having people in their silos and walled-off. And, by the way, this does not in any way shape or form stop employers from offering this as a perk. There's a few employers in the city that offer vouchers for their employees to go out or they give them additional cash where they can go out and spend their money and we're perfectly fine with that.

PC: I'm glad you brought up the free food because, as you say, San Francisco is a great food city, but against a cliche that every tech worker earns billions of dollars. Not all tech workers are earning big bucks, the rent your city has skyrocketed. So cafeteria eating isn't necessarily about being insular it's about being frugal. What do you say to that argument?

AS: Well, I would say that, you know, for instance we created a tax break for businesses to locate in what we're calling our mid-market area of San Francisco. And I was one of the early proponents of that and I still think that that was the right thing to do. We were in the height of a recession and thousands of employees occupy once empty buildings, buildings that have been empty for decades. And so that and part of the promise was a revitalization. If you go to those areas in San Francisco, Fifth Street all the way to 11th or 12th you see the offices occupied but you see scant life and or investment and or small business ground-floor retail. And so I think there were pieces that we missed. And so yes, it could be about being frugal, and as I say, it's not about taking away anyone's lunch. We can offer them this still as a benefit. But it's also about thinking about what other impacts you have in the decisions that you make. And so Mountain View passed an ordinance that is doing very similar to what we've proposed. So Facebook is locating and expanding hundreds of thousands of square feet on their main campus in Mountain View and they are not allowed by the ordinance in Mountain View to have one of these internal campuses because they're surrounded and bound by small businesses, restaurants, cafes and they want to see the vibrancy of that area supported by the business, not undermined by business.

PC: What are you hearing from those ground-level local businesses neighboring these office spaces? What are they telling you?

AS: They're saying that they're having a hard time and many of them were sold on the promise of having access to thousands of employees working in these buildings. And so, you know, we have the Cadillac Bar we have Perennial we have Udon Place and then all the ground-floor retail just to name a few. And they were lured to the area with the idea that thousands of employees would be there to patronize support and activate — not just about patronizing businesses but kind of activating the street life. And they have all said that they have not now that promise has not been fulfilled. One of the businesses, Corridor, has went out of their way to point out to us that every other Friday, Square, which is one of the larger employers shuts down their internal cafeteria and they say their business jumps on the days the Square shuts down it's an internal cafeteria. So, I mean, you have Square, you have Uber, you have Twitter all within a two block radius and you're talking not thousands of employees.

PC: Apart from the economic benefits that could come to local restaurants and food joints. What other changes are you hoping this ordinance might achieve?

AS: Well, as I said, this is really not just a conversation about the cafeterias per say, but it's also about, for example, a company like Salesforce saying we have the means, we have the space, we have the building, but we choose purposefully to ask our employees to go out and interact and be part of the culture, environment, society of San Francisco. That is an example of what we're trying to achieve in this ordinance. This is also about the decisions that businesses make, the way in which they interact with the citizens of San Francisco and surrounding businesses. Because one of the reasons why you want to be in an urban environment is exchange of ideas, partaking in the culture, partaking in and contributing to that culture. And so I think there's a lot of benefits to be had from getting people outside of the office and interacting with everyday life in San Francisco.

PC: Thank you for your time today.

AS: Thank you for having me.

JD: That was Ahsha Safaí, a supervisor with the city and county of San Francisco, which is where we reached him.

[Music: Guitar]

Zimbabwe Election

JD: Emmerson Mnangagwa is calling this week's election in Zimbabwe a quote “festival of freedom.” Now that may be because Mr. Mnangagwa, himself the incumbent and former minister under Robert Mugabe, won the official count by a majority of 50.8 per cent. His opponent, Nelson Chamisa, has a different view. A violent crackdown on his party supporters was followed today by a raid just as Mr. Chamisa was about to hold a press conference. When he was finally allowed to speak, here's some of what he had to say.

SOUNDCLIP

NELSON CHAMISA: This election as a presidential result is fraudulent, illegal, illegitimate and characterized by serious credibility gaps and some serious legitimacy issues that we feel must be raised. We must place it on record, without equivocation, that we won this election and that because we won this election, we’re already ready to form the next government. We are not a militia, we are not a military organization. We are a democratic organization, we do not believe in violence, we do not believe in anarchy. We do not believe in use of weapons of war against anyone. And this is why we find it very difficult that the thank you we are getting for being peaceful, the thank you we are getting for being law abiding, is the thank you of bullets, is the thank you of guns, is the thank you of bombs, is the thank you of grenades, is the thank you of tanks on the streets. Clearly indicating that our colleagues ZANU-PF have panicked because they were defeated in this election. They are not confident of the citizens. This is why they can fire live ammunition on citizens who are going about doing their own things and this is a very serious issue we have to take up, not just with ZANU-PF, but to also take up with the government and of course to take it to the international platform.

JD: That was Zimbabwean opposition leader Nelson Chamisa in Harare earlier today.

[Music: Piano]

Canada Dry Ginger

JD: Made from real ginger or not? Last night we told you about a lawsuit against Canada Dry Ginger Ale. A woman in New York State is suing the soda company over the lack of ginger in its ale. That interview prompted this e-mail from Dean P. La Boutte in Windsor, Ontario. Mr. La Boutte wrote to tell us about the good old days quote “Earlier this evening I listened to your troubling interview regarding the alleged absence of ginger in Canada Drys’ ginger ale drink. My thoughts then turned to a long-time favorite of mine from the Windsor area — Verner's ginger ale. As it happens, this soda originates just across the river from Windsor in the heart of Detroit, Michigan dating back to the early 1900s. When I was a boy in the early to mid-1950s the Verner’s ginger ale of the day made your eyes water and you would also experience a burning sensation in your nose if you drank it too quickly. From my point of view this experience was directly related to the ginger content found in this drink at that time. Unfortunately, over the decades companies change hands, original formulas are altered and what is marketed today has very little in common with the original Canada Dry or Verner’s ginger ale from years ago. FYI my wife checked the ingredients on the can of Verner’s she was having with her supper. To no great surprise ginger was not in the list of ingredients printed on the can. In closing, over the years I have searched for a ginger drink that would come close to the ginger ale from long ago. As of the writing of this note I have found a ginger drink named Jamaican Ginger Beer. It comes in a small glass bottle. Give it a try and it will introduce you to what the two aforementioned ginger ale drinks once tasted like. Keep smiling always. Dean P. La Boutte. Thank you Dean, we will give it a try. And if you missed the interview that we are referencing. Check it out on our website: www.cbc.ca/aih. And if you’ve got more stories about the golden age of soda pop, we want to hear them. E-mail us aih@cbc.ca or give us a call (416) 205-5687.

[Music: Jazz Band]

Ballpark Cheatsheet

Guest: Kaiser Fung

JD: Baseball is, as we all know, a game of nonstop action, an explosive take-no-prisoners battle from which you cannot look away for a single second. But sometimes, rarely, but sometimes, if you have been sitting in the stands for two-and-a-half hours with a score that looks settled, it seems like it might be time to pack up the peanuts and go home. The question is, when do you make that call? Luckily for all of us a statistician has figured it all out. Kaiser Fung has developed a handy ballpark cheat sheet on how early you can leave the stadium without missing out on any late inning action. We reached Kaiser Fung in Vancouver.

PC: Mr. Fung, ballpark purists are listening to this right now thinking ‘Are you kidding me? Leaving a game early is absolute sacrilege.’ What do you say to those folks?

KAISER FUNG: Well, I have actually have a few friends, they actually had the same reaction. They were pure baseball fans they really would never miss a minute of the action. However, if you were at the ballpark recently I'm sure if you look around there plenty of people who are ready to leave because they want to beat the traffic. So all I'm doing really for those people who like to leave, this is a more scientific way of determining what's the right time to leave.

PC: Now which are you? Are you the guy who bails because you want to, you know, get to the car and get there, or are you the guy who sticks around?

KF: You know, if I have better things to spend my time on than watching the manager go out to the mound for the end time of game and the game is out of hand, I might leave early. But on the other hand if it's like a real serious game, it’s a very important game, it's an exciting game, I’ll be there.

PC: Listen, anyone who walks out of a World Series game early. So how did this all start for you? Was it your own, as you say, lived experience that you're like ‘Look, sometimes I want to bail and I want to know if it's safe for me to bail.’ Where did this idea come from?

KF: Well, I'm a data scientist by trade and I'm always looking for interesting problems to solve. A lot of the problems I solve in the business world are related to what we call a sequential decision making, which is that our best data comes in you kind of have to decide whether you want to keep doing something or you want to stop doing something — that is even used in clinical trials. So if you were testing a new drug do you want to keep collecting more data or do you want it to declare the drug a success or failure. So I kind of see this problem of when do you leave the baseball park as a similar type of problem.

PC: Let's say the Jays, the Toronto Blue Jays are leading by four runs, which, I mean, it hasn't happened a lot this season, but let's imagine that for a second. At what point am I safe to leave the stadium knowing that my team likely will not get creamed?

KF: If it's four runs after the fifth or after the sixth you should leave without too much fear of missing out on anything exciting. If it's in the second inning, the third inning or the fourth inning, it's probably too early to tell.

PC: So if the Jays are up by four runs over the opposing team, you are saying statistically it is safe for me to leave before the seventh inning stretch, right at the end of the sixth and they probably will maintain that lead, but if they're four runs up in the second are third too early to bail, you can't go now.

KF: Exactly what we're saying. It's the same the opposite way. If you’re down four runs probably it's not going to change.

PC: Okay, a four-run spread in baseball is not unusual, but we often have games, you know, you'retwo runs up. So what if my team, which are the Blue Jays, let's just be very clear about that, what if they're ahead by just two runs?

KF: Yeah you pretty much have to keep staying. However, if it’s a two-run lead at the end of the eighth inning you could leave an inning early, that would be okay. There’s roughly on average a five per cent chance that you might miss out on something, but 95 per cent of the time the league is not going to be lost.

PC: So without getting too technical, and I know this is all in the paper, but how did you figure this out? Did you have to look back at thousands of baseball games going back years in the majors, the minors, little league? How did you work this all out?

KF: Yeah, we actually took five seasons — 2010 through 2015 — every single game. You know, for every inning we worked out what’s the point differential at the end of the inning and the eventual winner and compiled all of that information and that's how we came up with Cheatsheet. We applied it to the 2016 season to see what happens and the accuracy rate is about 97 per cent. So it actually works pretty well if you follow the Cheatsheet that season.

PC: You know, we've been looking at some of your feedback on Twitter that you've gotten. And there's this guy, a fan of baseball, his name is Noah, fan of the Cubs. Here's what he tweeted at you, “As a lifelong Cubs fan, the premise of your piece breaks my heart. Going to games is about showing support for your team — for better or for worse, in good times or bad. The improbable wins are the ones I've never forgotten.” Mr. Fung does Noah have a point here?

KF: The key point here is that I'm not starting any trend. If you go to any ballpark any day there are people streaming out. So it's already happening. It's just that we can apply some data analysis and get a more accurate way of determining when to leave, which would be useful for the people who are planning on leaving. I have like sort of outside the box idea, which is that it's possible if you follow the kind of math that we're doing here, it’s possible to consider calling a game early, you know, if nothing good is going to happen in them.

PC: Whoa, whoa, whoa whoa.

KF: Oh it’s an out-there proposal, but that's what we do in the clinical trials already. If a drug is proven to be extremely successful in the early going, or it started to kill people before the experiment is done, we actually have rules in place to say ‘stop the clinical trial now.’ So it it's out-there but it's a possibility.

PC: Mr. Fung, thank you for your analysis. I can assure you that I will be staying for all the innings in a baseball game. Thank you very much.

KF: Well, thank you for talking with me.

PC: Bye, bye.

JD: Kaiser Fung is a statistician who has developed a cheatsheet on when it's safe to leave the baseball park. For those impatient fans eager to use it go to our website: www.cbc.ca/aih.

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August 3, 2018 episode transcript

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