Conversations in the Book Trade: Books, art, art-books, and ... authorial movies.
Wednesday, June 30, 2021
Tuesday, June 29, 2021
Monday, June 28, 2021
Virologist Danielle Anderson
Virologist Danielle Anderson discounts the lab leak theory : « The elements known to trigger infectious outbreaks—the mixing of humans and animals, especially wildlife—were present in Wuhan, creating an environment conducive for the spillover of a new zoonotic disease. In that respect, the emergence of Covid-19 follows a familiar pattern. What’s shocking to Anderson is the way it unfurled into a global contagion.
“The pandemic is something no one could have imagined on this scale,” she said. Researchers must study Covid's calamitous path to determine what went wrong and how to stop the spread of future pathogens with pandemic potential.
“The virus was in the right place at the right time and everything lined up to cause this disaster.” »
Sunday, June 27, 2021
Saturday, June 26, 2021
Noteworthy
My Friend Dahmer by Derf Backderf, reviewed by Alex Good
« Les blues de l’épinette croche » par Jean Coulombe
Friday, June 25, 2021
Wednesday, June 23, 2021
Tuesday, June 22, 2021
Monday, June 21, 2021
Saturday, June 19, 2021
Friday, June 18, 2021
Thursday, June 17, 2021
Wednesday, June 16, 2021
Tuesday, June 15, 2021
Monday, June 14, 2021
Sunday, June 13, 2021
Saturday, June 12, 2021
Friday, June 11, 2021
Thursday, June 10, 2021
Tuesday, June 08, 2021
Monday, June 07, 2021
Sunday, June 06, 2021
Saturday, June 05, 2021
Friday, June 04, 2021
Thursday, June 03, 2021
Last Question of the Evening - opening
Fade in.
An office comprised of cubicles, all of them lined in rows, as if the aisles of an airplane had been converted into office space. In each cubicle, a worker with a headset.
"They're all liars," a voice through one headset says.
The man conducting the interview, Anders, doesn't reply. He waits for the respondent to answer the question in the survey.
"Eh?" the respondent says, his voice charged with a coercive energy. "Whaddayou think?"
"A lot of people feel the same way you do, sir."
"That's right!" the man from rural Saskatchewan says. "They all go to Ottawa, they promise you the world, and then they do nothing."
Pause. Anders glances at the supervisors' station, eager to see if his call is being monitored. He can't make out the supervisors' screens.
"Sir, if you could please answer the questions as they're phrased, we'd get through this much faster."
Saying this is a mistake; not because the respondent is offended by Anders's chastisement, but because it suddenly makes him aware of how long he's been on the phone. "Good lord, mister! Lookit the time! We've been yammerin' for half an hour!"
"We're almost done," Anders lies.
"I can't be talkin' about all this sort of political nonsense for half an hour!"
"Please, sir. Would you just bear with me for another ten minutes?"
"Ten minutes?! Listen, I don't have ten minutes. I think I told you enough."
"Is there some time I could call you back at?"
"No. I'm real busy. I said enough. You just fill in the rest."
"I can't do that, sir." Now a note of pleading has entered Anders's voice. "I'll get through the rest of this really fast. If we don't finish it, then I'll have to throw the whole thing out."
"Am I gettin' paid for this?"
"Pardon?"
"Are you sendin' me money? I give you a lot of my time, I expect something in return."
"Sorry, sir, the company I work for hardly pays me anything, I don't think they'd be generous enough to start mailing cheques to all the people we interview."
This attempt to establish a sense of camaraderie falls flat. "I'm serious, mister. I gotta go," the man says.
The line is cut.
To view the whole story at YouTube, go here: https://youtu.be/MPivPuRAyYA
Wednesday, June 02, 2021
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