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Yet another episodes about the origins of SARS-CoV-2: new assessment by the CIA, Jeffrey Sachs bombshell. Plus a brief, uninformative, movie review. NY Times story about CIA assessment Nature article (blaming raccoon dogs, without evidence, yet again) Jeffrey Sachs interview with Current Affairs Clip in episode taken from here

Season 2 Episode 2! A short episode about viewing old things with new eyes.

Picking up exactly where I left off: rambling. Remembering the "Spy Balloon" saga, forest fires, NATO militarism, embarrassing Canadian moments, the ongoing genocide in Gaza, and the never-ending SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and the research that might have brought it upon us. Music: "Titanium" by Alisia from Pixabay Music: "ROCKY" by Josep Monter Martinez from Pixabay

100% SARS-CoV-2 episode! A (relatively) sombre return to my favourite topic, talking about the US Department of Energy's assessment regarding the origins of the virus, how Racoon Dogs became a hot topic in early March 2023, and the recently released report "Post-COVID-19 Condition in Canada: What we know, what we don’t know, and a framework for action" Music: "Racoon Balloon" by The Night Owl + Welcome Wizard, from the album Rabies Split Music: "Covid Blues" by Derek Clegg, from the album Man on the Run Episode art: "Canis Procyonoides (Gray) Racoon Faced Dog" by Thomas Hardwicke, Illustrations of Indian Zoology, Vol. 2, pg 11

Zombies reign supreme in this episode. I discuss The Last of Us (TV series and videogame), The Walking Dead (the walking lame, if we're honest about things), Dawn of the Dead (the good one and the remake), and cult classic Chopper Chicks in Zombietown. Music: "Zombie (feat. Emilio Rojas)" by Hi-Rez, from the album Product of My Environment Music: "Zombie" by Anastasia Vronski, from the album Estrangements (volume 1)

All about the new Substack article by award winning veteran journalist Seymour Hersh on the blowing up of the NordStream pipelines by the Americans. I cover the basics of the story, some of the more interesting criticisms, various interviews that Hersh has done since, including with Radio War Nerd, Russell Brand, Jacobin, and the New Left Review. Plus I give a little update on the balloon saga covered in the last episode. Music: "surfing the pipeline" by the Bobby Fuller Five, from the album microSong Entries, 2017 Music: "Pipeline" by Stanislav Bobrytskyy, from the album WHNZ​:64​:MFBL Episode art: Wybrzeże by Małgorzata Miłaszewska, CC BY-SA 3.0

All about the Chinese alleged spy balloon incident and all the other balloons caught in the fray. I talk about the movies The Red Balloon (1956) and Red Dawn (1984), read an excerpt from an essay by Walter Kirn, and give a preview of potential future episodes. Music: "Dream Sequence - Part III" by Red Dawn, from the album We Have Arrived Music: "Red" by Onda bidón, from the album La Ligne Bidon

After being thrown out of the country and vilified for refusing covid vaccines, Novak Djokovic returns to Melbourne to claim his record tying 22nd Grand Slam title, helping me celebrate the 50th episode of Sound Digressions with a bang. I also talk about various Predator movies, including Prey (2022) and Alien vs. Predator (2004). As usual, I sprinkle talk about SARS-CoV-2 here and there. You should check out Tara Moriarty led Covid 19 Hazard Index. Music: "Revenge" by Herr Doktor, from the album 199X Music: "Revenge" by HoliznaPATREON, from the album Pretty Witches Episode art: "Justice and Divine Vengeance Pursuing Crime" by Pierre-Paul Prud'hon, 1808

A little talk about Rolling Stone magazine omitting Celine Dion from their 200 Greatest Singers list, various musing about January 6 protests, a brief update on XBB.1.5 and current Covid hospitalizations in Quebec, plus another look at the Twitter Files and what they've revealed. Summery of publications about Twitter Files can be found on Matt Taibbi's Substack. Music: "My Heart Will Go On" by Ergo Phizmiz, from the album Emotional Freedom, 2014 Music: "My Saw Heart Will Go On" by Ergo Phizmiz, from the album Ergo's Disco Van, 2011 Episode art: "Untergang der Titanic" by Willy Stöwer - Magazine Die Gartenlaube, en:Die Gartenlaube and de:Die Gartenlaube, Public Domain

I give you an update on my running injuries, talk about the evolving situation in Peru, pandemic developments in China, and a brief mention of the Twitter Files (which you can find more about through this story by Lee Fang at The Intercept). Music: "Reverie of the Watchers" by The Aurora Principle, from the album Things Unseen, 2018 Music: "Hammer on Glass (Real Neat Mix)" by U Can Unlearn Guitar, from the album Glassworked, 2011 Episode art image by: “Melancolia I” by Albrecht Dürer

A foray into one of my least favourite topics: celebrity squabbles. Billionarie Musk bans billionaire Ye from Twitter, showing that his alleged commitment to "free speech absolutism" was never as strongly as stated and that the platform will experience, at most, marginal changes under his ownership. You can find Glen Greenwald's more elaborate take on this here. I also talk about a rather alarming report of a case of outdoor SARS-CoV-19 transmission in China from the Chinese CDC. Music: "Never Change for the Fame Instrumental {Wildabeast}Fame" by 6th Sense, from the album It's A 6th Sense Beat Yo!! (2009) Music: "Change" by Isaac Chambers, from the album Planet Fruition (2017) Episode art image by: Markus Röncke - Of Flames and Shadows, Public Domain

A full (ish) recap of my most recent marathon running experience, a plunge into the (minor) abyss of anxiety the week leading up to it was, and a quick recap of a fantastic marathon race I watched in Portuguese because I couldn't find an English broadcast on the Youtube. Episode art image by: Patrick M. Lozeau, Alexandre Albert (Wikipedia  Takes Montreal participant) — Uploaded from Wikipedia Takes Montreal, CC  BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16353598 Music: "Sprint! 100 meter" by BaKer vs Casamento, from microSong Entries, 2017 Music: "The Elevator Bossa Nova" from Bensound Music: "Intro / SP / DDB / X-Visitations / Gamelan" by the Psychic Paramount, Live at WFMU on Brian Turner's Show on August 9, 2011

This episode begins and ends with me rambling about my upcoming attempt to run 42.2kms. In between, I talk about SARS-CoV-2, of course, lament the lack of attention Cuban vaccines have gotten, and very reluctantly talk for a bit about Elon Musk and Twitter. You can find Katherine Eban's latest story on the origins of Covid at Vanity Fair. Here is an article by William Haseltine on the next generation of vaccines, and a second. I briefly mention a new article on how the DHS seeks to control social media platforms.  Episode art image by: Patrick M. Lozeau, Alexandre Albert (Wikipedia Takes Montreal participant) — Uploaded from Wikipedia Takes Montreal, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16353598 Music: "Run Away" by Mastermind XS from the album Freedom of Choice Music: "I Prefer to Run" by Los Llamarada from the album Only Silence

An episode on why Jeffrey Sachs has been making the news recently. The head of the recently completed report "The Lancet Commission on lessons for the future from the COVID-19 pandemic" has raised eyebrows in the last couple of months by simply voicing his findings, calling out wilful obfuscations by the NIH and others, and reaching conclusions about events in Europe, such as the sabotaging of the Nordstream pipelines, that should be obvious but as disappointingly lacking in mainstream media outlets. You can hear him talk at length on Steve Hsu's Manifold podcast. Music: "Stop Believing" by Hi Tiger, from the album Bad Panda #29, used thanks to a CC license. Music: "Yedao" by Imperial Tiger Orchestra, from the album Ethio Event #1, used thanks to a CC license. Episode art background: Surpris! ou Tigre dans une tempête tropicale by Henri Rousseau

Have running on my mind recently. I talk about two marathons that took place on the weekend, Montreal and Berlin. You also get a preview of a potential future episode about the nearly forgotten now p(l)andemic. Cover art photo credit: By Isma250 - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=101481000 Music: "Intro / SP / DDB / X-Visitations / Gamelan" by The Psychic Paramount