Tonight:

History in the unmaking. The National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina survived catastrophes and conflicts for more than a century -- but now it's falling victim to politics.

Violence on a new scale. Today's blasts in Aleppo, Syria, are of an entirely new and terrifying magnitude.

The daily grind. The man who represents workers at the meat-processing plant at the centre of the e. coli outbreak says speed is taking precedence over safety.

Hard lessons. As of this month, teachers in Nunavut and the Northwest Territories will be teaching students about the history of Canada's residential schools.

Who's in the Wright? Well, nobody -- and no one ever will be, if the planned demolition of a Frank Lloyd Wright house goes ahead as planned.

And...good neighbours make good fences. Unless they just decide to keep the laptop they stole from your house -- which, as one Sarnia woman will tell us, kind of makes things awkward.

As It Happens, the Wednesday edition. Radio that figures ours is not to reason Wi-Fi.

In March of this year, Carol was in Sarajevo for our special coverage of the anniversary of the start of the Bosnian War. And during that trip, she spoke with a former director of the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Enver Imamovic. Here's part of their conversation.

Well, that was nearly seven months ago, and things were bad then.

Now they're worse. In fact, the museum is closing.

Over its hundred-and-twenty-five year history, Bosnia's National Museum survived two World Wars and one of the most violent civil wars in modern times. But tomorrow, visitors will find the doors locked.

Marica Filipovic is the deputy director of the museum. She is in Sarajevo.

In case there was any doubt left, it's now clear -- beef is political.

Today, Gerry Ritz, the federal Agriculture Minister, visited the XL Food processing plant in Brooks, Alberta. And then he spoke to the media, arguing that the Canadian inspection system is working -- despite what's now one of the country's largest recalls of meat.

Last night, we heard from the head of the food inspectors' union, Bob Kingston, who said Ottawa is not doing as much as it says it is to bolster food safety.

Here is what Mr. Ritz answering a reporter's question about that issue, for the record.

Later at that same press conference, the president of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, George Da Pont, spoke about the lag time between the first indications that some meat from XL was contaminated and the start of the recall.

Here is some of what he had to say. You'll also hear Minister Ritz's communications manager, Meagan Murdoch, at the start and end.

Tom Hesse has some insight into what goes on inside the XL Foods plant in Brooks. He represents the workers on the factory floor. We reached him in Calgary.

Here's a message for all of you Luddites out there: you know that "locate your device" program in your laptop?

Use it.

Ask Lorna Wong. Or rather, Carol will ask her.

We reached Ms. Wong in Sarnia.

After months of fighting, the Syrian city of Aleppo is well-accustomed to the sounds of war. But the explosions that shook the city this morning were something horribly new.

The series of massive blasts completely levelled buildings in the city centre ,and killed at least thirty-four people.

The bombs -- some of them reportedly suicide attacks -- appear to have been aimed at a military officers' club and a hotel being used by the Syrian military.

Issa Touma is a Syrian photographer living in Aleppo. We reached him at home.

Charles Roach was a leader in Toronto's black community. He even helped found the city's Caribana festival. But he fought for the rights of Canadians and immigrants right across the country.

Charles Roach died of brain cancer yesterday. He was seventy-nine.

Mr. Roach was born in Trinidad and Tobago, and moved to Canada as a student in 1955. During the civil rights movement, he was inspired to become a lawyer. He opened a law office in Toronto in 1968, and among his clients were members of the Black Panthers, who were in Canada seeking refuge from prosecution in the United States.

His lifelong dream was to become a Canadian citizen. But he objected to having to pledge allegiance to the Queen, something he fought for years in court. And unfortunately, he died without having obtained his Canadian citizenship.

Regardless, Mr. Roach will likely be best remembered for his work defending the rights of immigrants and refugees in this country. In 1974, he spoke with former "As it Happens" host Harry Brown about Haitian illegal immigrants living in Quebec. Most were escaping the dictatorial regime of "Baby Doc" Duvalier. Here's part of that conversation, from our archives.

And now, Quote/Unquote.Liberal MP Marc Garneau was the first Canadian in space. He completed three -- count 'em -- three shuttle missions. That's three more than everyone else in Parliament combined. He knows it. And he knows we know it. That's one of the cool things about doing the coolest job around: you pretty much never have to prove anything to anyone ever again.

Pretty much.

This afternoon, Mr. Garneau was asked to comment on Justin Trudeau's entry into the race for the Liberal leadership. It's a job Mr Garneau once sought -- and may seek again. But Mr. Trudeau has that name, not to mention that hair. Isn't Mr. Garneau intimidated?

He's not. As he put it, quote:

"Someone who is ready to sit on a rocket that's going to unleash seven million pounds of thrust is not really easily intimidated."

Unquote.

It's an unusual house designed by America's most famous architect. But after tomorrow, it may be a pile of rubble.

A house built by Frank Lloyd Wright for his son in Phoenix, Arizona, is scheduled for demolition, as the current owner aims to redevelop the property.

And that's not sitting well with a lot of people who believe the architect's buildings should be protected as heritage sites.

Chief among them is Neil Levine. He's the Emmet Blakeney Gleason Professor of the History of Art and Architecture at Harvard University. And he's heading the campaign to protect the unusual building.

We reached Professor Levine in Paris.

To bean or not to bean. That is the question.

Earlier this week, we told you that -- for the first time -- the World Chili Championship will feature a category for bean-optional chili. Which has apparently incensed purists who believe chili has no beans, period, end of story, forever, stamped it, no erasing.

Naturally, this sparked a larger debate as to the role of beans in chili. Or at least, I assume the debate is raging somewhere else. Your emails were pretty much unanimous.

Denise McKay wrote: "To each his own, but to me, chili sans beans is a lot more like a stew." Joe Caruso in St. Catharines, Ontario emailed to say: "Chili without kidney beans is like pea soup without peas. Beans make chili complete." And then, we thought David Hart Dyke of Stoney Creek, Ontario had provided a poetic conclusion to the yea-saying with this chili-related haiku:

"I stand self-exiled,

Contemplate white porcelain.

My spoon chose the beans."

Don't think too long about that one.

And then, Dianna Medea from Regina presented a whole other variable in the debate. She wrote:

"Boy, is my face red -- I thought chili always had beans. Obviously, I'm not a purist because I also use a ground beef substitute. The funny thing is, I lived in Houston for seven years and don't think I ever ate chili -- but then why would I when I could have barbecue ribs?"

Ground beef substitute? Oh, Dianna. Still, thanks for writing.

And thanks for all your emails. If you'd like to spice up any of our debates here at "As It Happens", call Talkback, toll-free, at 1-866-481-5718 -- or email us at aih@cbc.ca.

There's another 'R' to add to the three R's of education: residential.

Starting this month, all high school students in Nunavut and the Northwest Territories will be taught about the history of Canada's residential schools. The new curriculum is mandatory.

Today, teachers are in Yellowknife learning about the coursework they'll be teaching.

Cathy McGregor is the Executive Director of Curriculum and School Services for Nunavut Department of Education. And she helped develop the residential schools curriculum. We reached Ms. McGregor in Yellowknife.

And now, Quote/Unquote.The billboards are all over Los Angeles. On the bottom right corner are the words "Childrens Hospital". Above that is an image of a man in doctors' scrubs with a stethoscope around his neck. The man is wearing make-up on his face -- luridly creepy, nightmare-inducing clown make-up.

That's because these aren't ads for a health care facility. They're for a TV show called "Childrens Hospital". The clown-faced doctor is supposed to be funny.

Not everyone is laughing.

The Los Angeles Children's Hospital is a real hospital that treats real kids. Most of those children are nervous already. And horror-movie harlequins don't exactly calm their nerves.

So, Hospital Vice President DeAnn Marshall has sent a memo to her staff. She asks them to reassure the community that the hospital has nothing to do with the billboards. Then she clarifies an important hospital governance issue. Quote:

"We observe a no-clown policy becase they can be scary."

Unquote.

She got a thoughtless, rude private message from an anonymous person -- and gave an unexpectedly public response.

Jennifer Livingston is a television anchorwoman in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Like many TV personalities, she receives a lot of email from viewers. And one email in particular was extremely nasty.

The writer criticized Ms. Livingston's weight, saying, quote, "obesity is one of the worst choices a person can make, and one of the most dangerous habits to maintain." The viewer's email then urged the anchorwoman to, quote, "reconsider her responsability as a local public personality to present and promote a healthy lifestyle."

Now, Ms. Livingston describes herself as overweight. Even fat, or obese. And in the past, she never paid much attention to personal attacks from strangers. But this time, she decided to take action. She answered the email live on WKBT-TV, and called the author of the email a bully.

Here's some of what she had to say.

This just in: Barack Obama is going to win the U.S. Election.

Easily.

That's according to a different way of predicting the outcomes of elections -- a way that takes considerably more into account than the moods of select voters on a given day. Which is what polls typically do.

Jim Giles writes about the intersection of science, technology and society, and yesterday he published an editorial in the New Scientist magazine arguing that political "forecasting" is far more accurate than plain old "polling".

We reached Mr. Giles in San Francisco.

It's not unusual for celebrities and actors in the United States to throw their support behind a political candidate, especially this close to an election. Although those celebrity endorsements can be divisive -- and right now I'm thinking of a guy talking to a chair.

But last month when Samuel L. Jackson urged voters to "Wake the eff up" in a pro-Obama video laced with equal parts urgency and obscenity, he took it the whole controversial-celebrity-endorsement thing to another level.

Just to clarify: he does not say "eff".

The three-and-a-half minute video sponsored by The Jewish Council for Education and Research features Mr. Jackson as a narrator, who also kind of terrorizes a suburban community. He and a little girl talk to members of her family about why they have to -- I'm sorry -- wake the eff up and vote for Barack Obama.

In case you missed that video, here is part of it, and just a warning -- we've bleeped the cursing, but there's no mistaking what the bleeps are covering up.

Right.

But obviously, the people behind that video knew it wasn't exactly "Double Rainbow"; it was going to make people upset.

And along with those who object to the language, there are those who object to the content -- in particular, the video's rose-tinted view of President Obama's record in the White House.

So a libertarian news site called Reason TV produced an equally impassioned and obscenity laced rebuttal. Here's what it sounds like.

Sure, there were rumours when they split up that they all hated each other -- or at least, that three of them hated their singer. And yes, the drummer and the bassist sued the guitarist and the singer for a greater share of the band profits, and won. After which the singer wrote a song that included the lyrics, "A man who slits throats / Has time on his hands / And I'm gonna get you / So don't close your eyes..."

But still -- despite reams of evidence that none of these guys would ever even want to be in the same city at the same time, let alone onstage together -- fans of The Smiths continued to believe the band might reunite.

All four of them -- bassist Andy Rourke, drummer Mike Joyce, guitarist Johnny Marr, and singer Morrissey -- are still alive, and reasonably healthy. So there has always been speculation that a reunion was possible. And that speculation, no matter how groundless, has kept fans' hopes alive.

Most recently, a gossip website claimed the four original members would come together, for the first time since 1987, to play four shows in 2013 -- including the prestigious Glastonbury Festival. At which point, Smiths fans got so excited they threw their Oscar Wilde books in the air and spilled tea on their cardigans.

But now they've returned to their natural state of wistful moroseness -- after a statement from Morrissey's publicist. In response to the rumours, the nameless publicist said the following. Quote:

" The Smiths are never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever going to reunite."

And then he or she added, "Ever." Unquote.

So there you have it -- no Smiths reunion will ever take place. Or will it?

We'll tell you when the next implausible rumour starts. In the meantime, here are The Smiths, with "Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before".