Amy and I are back in Manhattan. We missed a hailstorm, the first tornado in 42 years, but we didn’t miss Salmonella in tomatoes.

We left Quebec City at 9 a.m. last Friday. National Public Radio Science Friday wanted me as a guest, and so did CNN. By 3:30 pm, we were in nowhere southwestern Ontario and I had to call the NPR studio — and they insisted on a landline.

So, after several pay phones didn’t work out, we found a lakeside motel. I hastily pleaded with the innkeeper for her phone. She said, "What’s it worth to you?"

I gave her $20.

That’s me doing my live interview on NPR (above, not exactly as shown; left, exactly as shown).

A couple of hours later we arrived at a TV studio in Toronto for a CNN interview. They said I was too late for Friday’s show, but they wanted the footage anyway and maybe they’d use it Monday.

They didn’t.

I’ve done dozens of radio interviews, and find myself defending public health types — why is it taking so long to find the source of Salmonella in tomatoes? What tomatoes should be avoided? I explain, but even through radio, can sense the listeners eyes glazing over. Public health has always been a largely thankless job  — whether local, state or federal.

So a big thank you to Elizabeth Weise of USA Today, whose story in this morning’s paper is an outstanding exposé of how the Salmonella in tomato case was cracked. It has become required reading in any of my courses.

To all the armchair quarterbacks that fill talk radio and Internet blogs, stop bitching and start producing. And move out of your parents’ basement.