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The AIH transcript for June 27, 2025

For more episodes of this podcast, please click this link.

NIL KÖKSAL: Hello, I'm Nil Köksal.

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

[theme]

CH: Tonight:

NK: In the dark. There are a lot of questions about a Canadian citizen who died in immigration custody in Florida -- and his defence lawyer says his family deserves answers.

CH: Health scare. After a shocking auditor general's report finds Newfoundland and Labrador overspent millions on agency nurses, the head of the provincial health authority tells us change is coming.

NK: Parting shots. The brand-new members of the CDC vaccine advisory committee meet for the first time since RFK Jr. fired their predecessors. A CDC vaccine expert tells us why that drove her to resign.

CH: Bursting at the themes. We remember the prolific composer Lalo Schifrin, who wrote the memorable music to all kinds of TV shows and movies -- including one piece that absolutely refuses to self-destruct.

NK: Gritty re-boot. After nearly 40 years of striking fear in the hearts of computer users, Microsoft announces the death of the Blue Screen of Death -- to be replaced by a black as cold as a pitiless void.

CH: And...ending on a scour note. Researchers discover that orcas off the coast of B.C. use seaweed to scrub each other's skin -- a technique that could have both physical and social benefits.

CH: As It Happens, the Friday Edition. Radio that gets by with a little kelp from its friends.

[theme]

Part 1: Canadian ICE Death, Vaccine Panel, Killer Whale Tool Use

Canadian ICE Death

Guest: Daniel M. Leising

CH: This week, a Canadian citizen died in ICE detention. And the Canadian government -- and his family -- would like to know exactly how that happened. On Monday, Johnny Noviello was found unresponsive at the Federal Detention Center in Miami, Florida. He died shortly thereafter. He was 49 years old. Local authorities are still investigating the cause of death. Mr. Noviello was born in Canada and moved to Florida when he was 10. For the last 30 years, he was a permanent resident of the U.S. In 2023, he was convicted on drug charges and served four months in jail. And then, this May, ICE arrested him at his probation office. He was one of several dozen Canadians in immigration-related detention in the United States. He was waiting to be removed from the country when he died. Daniel Leising was Mr. Noviello's defence lawyer. We reached him in St. Petersburg, Florida.

NK: Daniel, how did you find out that Johnny had died?

DANIEL M. LEISING: Yesterday, just after noon, I was meeting with a colleague of mine to have a cup of coffee, noticed a call coming into my phone, didn't recognize the number, obviously, but took the call, and it was a reporter from the Miami Herald who told me about what had happened.

NK: And how did you respond?

DML: I mean, I was shocked. You know, obviously, Johnny's case wasn't still active or anything like that. We had resolved it some time ago, but as recent as February this year, I'd done a little work for him to help him with community control and get that terminated. But obviously, kind of rattled me to have something like that happen so close to somebody that I'd helped and, you know, knew through my representation.

NK: Have you spoken to his family yet?

DML: I called his father very shortly after getting off the call with the reporter from Miami. Angelo is his dad. Angelo's an older man. He's 80 years old. He had already learned of the news, so that made a difficult call a little bit easier. But his father was distraught, as you can imagine, I think, in total disbelief, total shock. I can only imagine if you're 80 years old and you make it that far and you've got a son who's 49 that doesn't. Unimaginable.

NK: And you had had conversations with his father in the past. In fact, just last week, what did he tell you?

DML: Right. So the recent chronology would have been May 15th, last month, his father called me to tell me that Johnny had been detained and taken by ICE. I explained to him at that time that I don't do any of that type of work, whether it's federal work, or immigration work in general, that's not an area that I practice in, in any capacity, nor do I have any experience with. So I immediately gave him the number of an immigration lawyer in Daytona Beach. As I understand it, however, they did not retain an immigration lawyer. That's what I've learned sort of since all of this unfolded. So again, that was May 15th. And then correct, about a week or so ago, I received a call from his dad again. And it was essentially that they were unable to contact Johnny, and they had not heard from Johnny at all. Talked to Angelo, and the one thing that sticks out about that call, honestly, was just he sounded really worried, sounded really desperate.

NK: Why do you think immigration was pursuing deportation now for Johnny?

DML: You know, it's interesting. And I've thought a lot about that. My thought is this, Johnny had never been in trouble prior to this instance. That being said, the trouble that he had gotten into, those are very, very serious charges. You know, just first-degree felonies, you know, there were minimum mandatory's in play, things of that nature, so you know my thought process on that was just based on the significance of the charges. You know, that's what put him on the radar, obviously, with ICE.

NK: The cause of Johnny's death is still being investigated, as you know, but did he have any health concerns or require medications?

DML: He did. So as it relates to Johnny's, you know, the medical, what should I say, you know, medical screenings and the way that medicines and such are administered in ICE custody, I don't know anything about that. However, when we resolved Johnny's case in Daytona Beach, it was critically important to Johnny, his family, and obviously me as his lawyer to make sure that our jail, where he spent 125 days, knew that Johnny is epileptic and that he required specific medications for that that were, again, very important to prevent seizures and any of the other complications that may arise. So, when I handled his case, and I just remember this vividly, we had obtained his medication list, we had talked to his family, we made sure that jail medical knew the needs that Johnny had. And to their credit, locally here in Daytona Beach, those needs were met.

NK: Anita Anand is Canada's foreign affairs minister. She has said that her consular officials are looking for more information, as you might expect. The U.S. ambassador to Canada is saying that they're going to keep the Canadian government informed. What questions do you want answers to at this point?

DML: You know, look, I see things on the news, I read things in the paper, and it just seems that, you know, there are some very aggressive actions being taken with ICE and detaining people in this current administration's deportation policies. So I obviously would like to know how Johnny passed. You know, look, this sounds terrible to say because you don't want anybody to pass way, but I certainly hope it was natural causes, you know, not related to any of his conditions or, um, you know, anything that could be, you, arguably, you tied to the way people are being detained and such. And again, no one has any reason to believe that at this point, but I would certainly like to know what their findings are related to his death. And, um, you know, hope that that gives his family some peace and anybody else that knew Johnny as far as, you know, what's happened here.

NK: Daniel, thank you for your time. I appreciate it.

DML: You're very welcome.

CH: Daniel M. Leising was the defence lawyer for Johnny Noviello, a Canadian citizen who died earlier this week in ICE custody. We reached Mr. Leising in St. Petersburg, Florida.

[ambient]

Vaccine Panel

Guest: Fiona Havers

CH: This week, in Atlanta, the Center for Disease Control's Advisory Committee on Immunization Policy met, as it does every year. But this time, things were a little different. Because recently, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. -- the U.S. secretary of health -- fired all 17 sitting members of the panel, and replaced them with seven hand-picked appointees, many of whom share his skepticism about vaccines. For 13 years, Dr. Fiona Havers has been a senior adviser on vaccine policy and infectious diseases at the CDC. In that role she's been involved in the Center's responses to the Zika virus, bird flu, Ebola, and Covid. Last week, after the vaccine panel was summarily dismissed, she resigned in protest. We reached Dr. Havers in Atlanta, Georgia.

NK: Dr. Havers, why was that the tipping point for you?

FIONA HAVERS: The firing of the advisory committee was a tipping point for me because it really showed me that going forward, there was not going to be an evidence-based, science-based process for making vaccine recommendations in the United States. I think it represented to me, RFK Jr. just completely blowing up the whole process that we at CDC have used for decades for making evidence-based vaccine policy. And it was really the last straw.

NK: So I can imagine this is something you wrestled with?

FH: Yeah, no, it was a very difficult decision. I think at the time that it happened, it seemed very clear. But there had been a number of events that led up to it. I think, you know, on May 27, RFK Jr. had announced that he was changing the CDC recommendations on X, completely bypassing CDC and this advisory committee and the normal processes by which the CDC changes immunization recommendations officially. But I had kind of held out hope that I could stay and do some good. We had this public meeting coming up with these bona fide experts who would be reviewing the data, but when he fired that committee and I got the text from my friends saying that, I knew that I was done. And that if I continued to participate in this process for my own scientific and personal integrity, I just, I didn't feel like I could keep doing that.

NK: You know, orcas are so much a part of our sort of culture in, you know, not just scientifically now, I think maybe we've been lulled into thinking we know a lot about them, but it doesn't sound like we do.

MW: Yeah, these whales, especially these specific whales that we study, the southern residents, are some of the most well-studied mammals on the planet, let alone whales. They've been studied for nearly 50 years in all kinds of ways. And we've been observing them with drones for behaviour since 2018. We definitely feel like we know them pretty well. We know all of the individuals. We know their social structure. We have a pretty good idea about what they eat, about how they live their lives. And yet, it seems like there's so much that we're still just kind of scratching the surface about their lives.

NK: That's exciting in a lot of ways, and I'm sure especially for those doing research as you are. Were the drones kind of the game-changer here? Because, you know, you would be on boats before using different kinds of lenses or cameras, right?

MW: Yeah, the drones, that aerial perspective, is really a game-changer. And in this case, it wasn't just drones, but we had to get a new, you know, more modern drone with a zoom lens on it, essentially a really powerful zoom lens that lets us still stay very high above the whales, you know, well over 100 feet above the whales. But use the zoom lens to get these detailed videos of what they're doing. And without that new camera, you know, we were seeing this kind of contact behaviour for years, but we had never been able to see the kelp until this last summer in 2024 using that new piece of equipment.

NK: So you've observed this in the southern resident killer whales off the coast of British Columbia. Are whales in other regions doing this?

MW: Not that we know of. We do have another population of killer whales in this same region called the Biggs killer whales, or the transient killer whales, that live in the same waters but are totally separate from the southern residents. And we observed those whales using the same methods, the same equipment, and we still have not yet observed this specific behaviour in that other population. So, so far, our observations suggest it's specific to the southern resident killer whales.

NK: What's next? What else do you think these creatures are getting up to?

MW: You know, I don't even want to speculate anymore [NK chuckles] what else we're going to find, because this was not on our radar at all as something to study. I am not a tool use researcher. I study killer whale social relationships and foraging, so I was not expecting this to be the next paper I wrote, so who knows what we're gonna figure out next. For us, we're going to continue our work studying this population, trying to figure out if we can develop better strategies to conserve them, and also continue studying this specific behaviour to better understand its function and how it's learned and, um, whether or not it does occur in other populations.

NK: It is nice when life throws you pleasant surprises.

MW: Yes, absolutely. Especially with this population, where so much of our research ends up being a bit of a downer because they are so critically endangered. It was nice to be able to have a story that is about discovering something new and interesting.

NK: Thanks for sharing it with us Michael, I appreciate it.

MW: Yeah, thanks for having me.

CH: Michael Weiss is the research director at the Center for Whale Research. We reached him in Friday Harbour, Washington.

[chillhop]

Lalo Schifrin Obit

CH: I mean, there's this.

[Star Wars Theme]

CH: And, of course, there’s this.

[Lord of the Rings Theme]

CH: Which is enough to inspire a weekend Lord of the Rings marathon -- the extended editions, of course. Some composers have the power to transport you to a far away galaxy, or Middle Earth in just a few notes. And Lalo Schifrin was one of them. He came up with one of the most instantly recognizable themes in history. We'll play it for you in a minute. But as soon as I say "dum, dum, dum-dum dum, dum" [NK chuckles] or "doo-doo dooooo", you'll immediately know what I'm talking about. Lalo Schifrin -- pianist, and the Grammy- and Oscar-nominated composer who wrote the Mission: Impossible theme song -- died yesterday. He was 93. He composed that piece of music for the TV series in the '60s. And it was so essential to that series that when the show became a successful movie franchise, the theme remained. But that was just one of dozens of themes and pieces he wrote, across a prolific career that spanned decades. Mr. Schifrin also scored Cool Hand Luke, Bullitt, and later, the Rush Hour trilogy. He worked with the likes of Stan Getz and Dizzy Gillespie. He conducted orchestras around the world. On social media last night, the Academy wrote that Mr. Schifrin didn't just write music, quote, "He built tension, ignited adrenaline, and gave stories their pulse... [He] turned every beat into a thrill, and every silence into suspense." Unquote. And Lalo Schifrin knew what he was most famous for. Accepting an honorary Oscar in 2018, he said, quote: "Composing for movies has been a lifetime of joy and creativity. Receiving this honorary Oscar is the culmination of a dream. It is a mission accomplished." Unquote.

[electronic]

Part 2: NL Agency Nurse Spending Folo, Cougar Growl Guy

NL Agency Nurse Spending Folo

Guest: Pat Parfrey

CH: After a scathing report from Newfoundland and Labrador's auditor general, the province's health authority says change is underway. As we told you yesterday, Denise Hanrahan's office found that the province had spent $132 million on agency nurses in 2024 -- with each individual nurse costing the province roughly $400,000 annually. The report found the contracts resulted in unnecessary expenses, some of which could amount to billing fraud. Here's some of what the auditor general told Nil.

SOUNDCLIP

DENISE HANRAHAN: So in addition to paying hourly rates, which we found for one particular agency was up to as much as over $300 an hour, they also paid for things like per diems and vehicles and various other expenses that they either agreed to in the contract, which had very vague language. Or they paid even when the contract didn't stipulate it.

CH: Dr. Pat Parfrey is the CEO of Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services. We reached him in St. John's.

NK: Dr. Parfrey, as you heard there, the auditor general told us last night on our program, these nurses cost the province in some cases as much as $300 per hour. Why did the health authority approve those rates?

PAT PARFREY: So, Nil, I think you need to know something about the structure of Newfoundland healthcare delivery. NLHS has been blamed for this, and NLHS wasn't even in existence when these contracts were written and administered by four regional health authorities. The NLHS came into being in 2023, and then immediately developed processes that were centralized and more sophisticated to be able to create standardized contracts, conflict of interest oversight, and reconciliation of invoices, and put into effect the recommendations that the auditor general had requested in her report. Our current contracts are in effect $111 per hour, with the addition of paying for flights and per diems and accommodations.

NK: Dr. Parfrey, I wonder, I think listeners can understand what you're saying. You know, the current health minister, Krista Lynn Howell, wasn't in that position before either. But her response was, you know, that she was quite appalled by this, and that action would be taken. So I think, I wonder if you can understand that people hearing these numbers and hearing you now might think that it sounds like people are trying to brush this aside.

PP: Of course not. Of course we're not brushing it aside. I'm just making sure that people realize that in 2022 there was a COVID-19 epidemic. People were dying. We were in danger of closing Gander Hospital and Steedensville Hospital. And getting nurses was really, really important. There was competition across the four regions and there was competition with provinces to get nurses. So, the contracts were signed in a non-planned fashion. They were expensive and that bad things happened and that we need to be able to handle that. I suppose what I'm getting at though is that NLHS wasn't there then, and it definitely, definitely wants to ensure that there's appropriate management of the agency nurses.

NK: Will you change beyond what you've already said you've done, Dr. Parfrey, to decrease even further a reliance on these agencies?

PP: Right, so I think that, I'll give you an example, we will definitely will plan, but I'll just give you an example of the problem we've got. We, before the pandemic, we had 250 vacancies, particularly in central Newfoundland and western Newfoundland. At the peak of the pandemic, we had 700 vacancies. And now, we're down to 280. We're nearly back to pre-pandemic levels, but at the same time, with these vacancies occurring, frontline services need to be filled by agency nurses. We don't have our own local nurses, so we, and in particular in central Newfoundland, we've got a dependence of 105 agency nurses. And in western Newfoundland, we've got a dependence on 85 nurses. This will diminish as the year goes on. And then next year, when we get the new influx of nurses from the teaching institutions, and we get internationally educated nurses, it will become much less.

NK: The province's Registered Nurses Union has been calling for an audit on this issue since last year, as you likely know. They're concerned about the findings. Yvette Coffey is the president of that union. She spoke to our CBC News colleagues and said that one agency nurse could pay for four RNs. Here's a bit more of what she said.

SOUNDCLIP

YVETTE COFFEY: What would our healthcare system look like if we had four nurses hired, four registered nurses from our graduating class, instead of one agency nurse?

NK: What would you say, sir, to the RNs in your province and the people who rely on the system and those nurses about what's going on?

PP: So we hired 82 per cent of the nurses that graduated this year. So there is no doubt that, the fact that we spend that money is something we don't like. And the idea that we'd want to continue it is just untrue.

NK: Even if it wasn't deliberate, and I'm not sure who's saying it was deliberate, I certainly am not, but whatever contracts were signed in the past, why didn't anyone step in during and say, this is not okay.

PP: And so, I think it's not okay, for sure, but what I am saying is, though, that these contracts were entered into before NLHS came into existence. And then when it came into existence, it moved to be able to improve the way that contracts were administered, and it moved to diminish the dependents on agency nurses. So if there are nurses available in this province to be able to replace the agency nurses, we will definitely use them.

NK: The health minister says she hasn't ruled out disciplinary action at this point. The provincial PCs and NDP are calling for a full investigation as well, specifically on these questions of ineligible expenses, excuse me, concerns about billing fraud and conflict of interest. Will you make sure that an investigation does happen?

PP: For sure, we will definitely go forward with that. We need to do a deeper dive into the reconciliations that were done with these initial contracts, for sure. And if there is potential fraud, we would definitely take the appropriate measures to be able to deal with.

NK: As you as you likely know, Doctor, our CBC News Investigates colleagues in Newfoundland Labrador are reporting today five doctors at St. John's Hospital are resigning. They've obtained a letter outlining the reasons for that. And one of the reasons is the removal of the hospital's medical residency program. There are concerns that as of July 1st, there is not going to be an effective team in place to handle code blue emergencies, they report. And they're asking for immediate engagement from Health Services.

Have you spoken to these doctors?

PP: We have, of course. I think that it's very unreasonable to be negotiating occupational issues in the media, particularly when it's around remuneration. The position at the present moment is that residents were withdrawn from the hospital last month because there was inadequate supervision. So their term, their working place has been affected by not having those residents. I can confirm now that there won't be any change in the delivery of internal medicine services at St. Clair's.

NK: Doctor, I appreciate your time. Thank you for this.

PP: No problem. Thanks very much.

CH: Dr. Pat Parfrey is the CEO of Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services. We reached him in St. John's.

[ambient]

Mini-Update: Pride Puppy

CH: In one of its many rulings today, the U.S. Supreme Court said that kids must be allowed to opt out of public school lessons featuring 2SLGBTQ+-themed storybooks. The case revolved around a group of parents in Montgomery County, Maryland, who argued that having their children read those books would clash with their religious beliefs. One of those books is Pride Puppy -- an alphabet book about a puppy that gets loose at a Pride parade. In April, Canadian author Robin Stevenson told us how strange it was to hear justices repeat bizarre misinformation about her book -- and what she sees as the benefit of having it in schools.

SOUNDCLIP

ROBIN STEVENSON: I think teachers have a difficult job in that they are teaching classes full of kids from different families with different beliefs and they're working very hard to try to make sure that all those kids feel seen and supported and respected. And that's challenging. But I think that removing access to books takes away some of those age-appropriate resources that teachers actually find helpful in creating welcoming and supportive classrooms that include all kinds of kids from all kinds of families. Our kids all go to school together.

CH: Canadian author Robin Stevenson speaking with Nil in April. Today, The US Supreme Court ruled that kids must be allowed to opt out of lessons featuring her book -- Pride Puppy -- as well as any other 2SLGBTQ+ books.

[chillhop]

FOA: CT Money Guy

CH: Nowadays, loyalty programs and rewards are a dime a dozen. But long before we all started collecting points and miles from every single business, Canadians' pockets and drawers were overflowing Canadian Tire money. As of the 'sixties, people started collecting those bills emblazoned with the face of "Sandy McTire", usually for years and years, in the hopes of saving up for one big purchase at Canadian Tire. But for Corin Raymond, it only took 15 months. In 2013, the Toronto artist cashed in suitcases full of Canadian Tire money to cover the costs of his first album -- money donated by fans across Canada. In early 2012, Mr. Raymond talked to former As It Happens host Carol Off.

SOUNDCLIP

CORIN RAYMOND: I think I have $150 in cash here and it's just starting to roll in. And I think by the time I'm recording a live album in less than two weeks, and a lot of people are bringing Canadian Tire money to those shows. And I think that when those shows are over, I predict that there's going to be at least $1,500 in Canadian Tired cash.

CAROL OFF: [chuckling] And is that enough to record your album?

CR: [chuckling] It certainly isn't, but I predict that by the by the end of this adventure, wouldn't you love to see what $10,000 in Canadian Tire money looks like in one place? I don't think that's ever happened.

NK: But, of course, some of that's in 25-cent denominations.

CR: And some of it's in five-cent denominations. [CO chuckles] You should see how many nickel bills I have. They're the green ones. The red ones are the dimes. I have a lot of those.

CO: Tell us about the song that started all this. What are the lyrics to that song?

CR: The chorus says, don't spend it, honey. Not the Canadian Tire money. We saved it so long. We saved it so long. [CO chuckles] It began, when the song got written at the end of August, and I have a weekly gig at the Cameron House, and I was there with my band, and we played the song. And I think right away, the very first time I played it in public, someone walked up to the stage and gave me like 65 cents, you know, handed it up to me. And I mean, the Canadian Tire money just started coming out of the woodwork at that point. But when I played it a couple of times up in the Yukon, particularly one night in Whitehorse, played it at this beautiful event there and it just galvanized the room. And I came home from the Yukon tour with $22 in Canadian Tire money in my fist. And then, it just kind of rolled from there.

CH: From 2012, that's Corin Raymond, talking to our former host, Carol Off. And roll in the money continued to do. In 2013, Mr. Raymond covered his studio bill -- all $7,333.75 of it -- with Canadian Tire money.

SOUNDCLIP

CORIN RAYMOND: It weight eighty pounds, and, uh, it was more than, I guess more than 39,000 bills altogether. It was thing of beauty. I stuffed a suitcase! Like, in corners of the suitcase I didn't even know it had. And I got to tell you, when you're packing, like, bundles of two hundred bills a piece, you know, moving them from a box into a suitcase, that never gets old. I can tell you that right now. It was amazing. But it was good to give it up, too, because I'd been collecting it at that point for about 15 months, and it was sort of like Bilbo relinquishing the ring. You know, all of a sudden, it was like this weight off me, and I didn't have to count it and manage it and, you know, it was nice to pay the man.

CH: From Our Archives, that's Corin Raymond speaking to As It Happens in 2013. Next Tuesday, on Canada Day, we'll bring you a special edition of our archival program As It Happened -- in which we'll reflect on our show's long history of connecting to Canadians by telling stories about Canadians.

[cop music?]

Cougar Growl Guy

Guest: Andrew Burridge

CH: Andrew Burridge will be going back to Australia with quite a story to tell. Luckily -- because there were moments when it felt like he wouldn't be going back to Australia at all. Earlier this week, Mr. Burridge was hiking alone in Whistler, B.C. when he came face-to-face with a cougar. We reached him in Whistler.

NK: Andrew, given what Australia has to offer in terms of wildlife, does it strike you as odd at all that you travelled to the other side of the world only to come this close to such a terrifying predator?

ANDREW BURRIDGE: [chuckling] Well yes, I am very used to creatures that try to kill you. But normally in Australia, they're small, or they're desperately trying to get away from you. So usually, you've made a bad decision if you're in trouble in Australia. Though we do have sharks, and I have had my share of encounters in the water with those. But I feel very lucky, almost, to visit here in Canada, to be on beautiful Indigenous country, and surrounded by large apex predators that still exist. But yes, not expected to have encountered a cougar so close.

NK: If we go back, so you were hiking, you'd overnighted at a hut on Singing Pass, then you're hiking back. When did you realize something was not right?

AB: Well, I was hiking down. I was trying to beat what seemed to be worsening weather about 8 a.m. And about seven kilometres down from the hut, about two hours into my hike, I was on the trail, marked, designated, pretty well-distinguished trail. But just over the rise, I saw some movement, and I thought, okay, it's probably some bears. And I stopped immediately, but the first thing I noticed was that these moving creatures were brown and not black. And I realized very quickly that these were cougars, and the one that had stopped on the trail had made eye contacts and was sort of locked onto me.

NK: Set its eyes on you directly.

AB: [chuckling] Yeah.

NK: And more than one?

AB: I believe there were two, but I had a visual of one. [chuckling] And that one was looking directly at me.

NK: So you froze, you said. I mean, in that moment, I wonder if time feels like [chuckling] it's very slow or very fast, but are you sort of balancing fear and awe?

AB: I think that's a great way of putting it. I felt very lucky. At the time, I was sort of struck by the beauty of this creature. And I thought, wow, how lucky to see a cougar in the wild and fairly close. But thankfully, maybe 30, 50 metres at most, but close enough to realize I was probably in trouble. And so, I waited 'till the cougar left the trail, which it thankfully did after a minute or so, but that did feel like a long stand tall. And then I backtracked just slightly to try and find some small rocks, just in case as I also thought, okay, that's the next step is they're probably not going away. And then I turned to my right and on the low side of the trail there was the adult mother, I believe, standing about 10 metres away from me with its eyes directly locked onto me.

NK: It had sort of come around and snuck up on you?

AB: Exactly. It had flanked me and I was on the trail. It was below me, and I had nowhere to go at that point. And then, at that moment, it started running directly at me.

NK: At you?

AB: Yes, at me. [chuckling] And came up onto the trail, and like those terrible movies you watch, I fell over backwards onto the ground. So now, I'm out of rocks, I'm lying on the ground, and the cougar is within touching distance and has lifted its paw.

NK: With its paws on top of you, so what did you do?

AB: [chuckle] So I thought also, okay, protect my vital organs, because all I could think of was the size of its paw was very large and beautiful. I mean, I'm looking at the colour of this creature and, but I thought, okay I need to sound as scary as possible. And I did my best cougar growl impersonation. And all I could think about was, wow, that was, wow, that was embarrassing. I hope no one heard that. [laughing]

NK: Even in the life-or-death situation, we still feel embarrassed.

AB: Yeah, but it was, I mean, I thought this is it, and I'm on my own, and here it goes. And for whatever reason, [laughing] perhaps the cougar took pity on my pathetic growl, it took off. But the whole time it was that sort of, you're in fight-or-flight, but also, it was kind of beautiful. And, you know, again, I'm very aware that I was in the wrong place. And not my, it's not my home. I'm in the cougar's territory.

NK: Well, you weren't, you were on a marked trail. You weren't off-roading it, so to speak. [AB chuckles] But given that you are safe and able to laugh about it, any chance you want to, you want to show for us, or play for us, your cougar call?

AB: [chuckling] Absolutely not. [NK chuckles] I think that would just turn, your listeners would turn off immediately. [both chuckle]

NK: Well, our listeners have been subjected to a lot of animal sounds. Don't worry.

AB: I would suggest that perhaps anyone thinking about heading out for a hike, one, to pay attention to closures and think about where they're going. But two, to think about what happens if you are in that situation. Yeah, practice your cougar growls before you go out. [both chuckle]

NK: Glad we could speak, Andrew. Glad you're doing well. Please take care.

AB: Thanks very much for having me.

CH: Andrew Burridge had a very scary encounter with a cougar earlier this week. We reached him in Whistler, B.C. And if, after some practice, you would like to send us your best cougar growl -- or anything, for that matter -- but, you know, especially cougar growl, you can call Talkback at 416-205-5687, or email us at aih@cbc.ca.

[pop rock]

Blue Screen Of Death

CH: We've all felt it. The helpless panic that grips you when you're confronted with the Blue Screen of Death.

[tense, robot music]

CH: [robotic, distorted voice] An error has occurred. To continue, press “Enter” to return to Windows, or press “CTRL” “ALT” “DEL” to restart your computer. If you do this, you will lose any unsaved information in all instances.

CH: The BSOD is, of course, the error screen that pops up when there's a software problem, or a technical issue, or a curse, in Windows. It's been haunting us bluely for nearly 40 years now. But Microsoft has announced that the Blue Screen of Death is about to fade to black. I don't mean your computer will work better: I mean that warning screen will now literally be black. According to the lore, blue was initially selected most because there weren't many options at the time. So the engineer just chose the colour that was most commonly used. So, not because it was meant to represent a bottomless ocean of fear teeming with digital krakens, or the wide, indifferent sky above an unforgiving desert. But other operating systems have been using black to indicate computer doom for ages. And Microsoft says that going from merciless-sky blue to abyssal black is, quote, "really an attempt [at] clarity and providing better information..." Unquote. It may also be an attempt to make us forget about staring into the blue after the CrowdStrike cybersecurity software update went horribly awry. Regardless, your system will still shut down at the most disastrous times, erasing your crucial work. And in the face of this new black, you'll still swear until you're blue in the face.

The AIH Transcript June 27, 2025

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