We discuss Gov. Jerry Brown's State of the State address earlier this morning; the California Medical Association has issued guidance for doctors asked to prescribe lethal narcotics to terminally ill patients and what you need to know about the Zika virus in Latin America.
State of the State takeaways from lawmaker, finance expert
Governor Jerry Brown delivered his State of the State address earlier this morning and the budget and infrastructure were a couple of the highlights the fourth-term Governor addressed.
He urged fiscal responsibility in an unknown economic future, and echoed his budget proposal in suggesting a big rainy day fund be created.
He also wants to see movement on infrastructure projects like high speed rail and road repairs.
You can read more analysis on the State of the State and the full text of the speech here.
Guests:
Donald Wagner (R-Irvine), State Assembly Member representing California’s 68th Assembly District, which includes Irvine, Orange, and Anaheim
Steven Bliss, director of strategic communications with the California Budget & Policy Center, a nonpartisan public policy research group
Calif. doctors readying for assisted suicide law
The assisted suicide law in California will soon take effect, so the California Medical Association has issued guidance for doctors asked to prescribe lethal narcotics to terminally ill patients.
The guidance explains the complicated legal and medical steps that physicians must take before they can authorize lethal drugs.
The new law does not obligate physicians to assist, advise, nor counsel a patient with suicide if they are opposed for reasons of conscience, morality or ethics.
How will doctors decide whether to provide this new legal option to patients?
Guests:
Francisco Silva, General Counsel, California Medical Association
Dr. Daniel Sulmasy, MD, Kilbride-Clinton Professor of Medicine and Ethics, The University of Chicago
Procrastination vs. pre-crastination: When ‘getting it done’ right away goes wrong
Procrastination has gotten a bad rap.
The belief that we shouldn’t wait until the last minute is regarded as more practical way to be productive, but pre-crastination, or the impulsive need to complete tasks ASAP, could be counter-intuitive to the quality of our work.
In one study from Pennsylvania State University, results showed that pre-crastinators may be prone to doing tasks incorrectly, such as responding to an email without taking extra time to include the right information or check for misspelled words. They may also perform the hardest version of physical duties, such as taking all the grocery bags inside at once, instead of making less strenuous multiple trips.
A New York Times article recently cited procrastination as a way to promote creativity. Bill Clinton, Steve Jobs, and Frank Lloyd Wright are all notorious procrastinators, as well as Aaron Sorkin, who prefers the term “thinking” to the “p” word.
David Rosenbaum co-authored the study on pre-crastination at Penn State. He talks with Larry Mantle today about the pros and cons of pre-crastination and why we may want spend more time getting things done.
Guest:
David Rosenbaum, distinguished professor of psychology at Pennsylvania State University and co-author of the study, “Pre-Crastination: Hastening Subgoal Completion at the Expense of Extra Physical Effort”
A Zika primer: What you need to know about the virus spreading in Latin America
The suspected number of cases of microcephaly, a rare brain defect in babies, continues to rise in Brazil, reaching 3,893 since authorities began investigating the surge in October, Health Ministry officials said Wednesday.
Fewer than 150 cases of microcephaly were seen in the country in all of 2014. Brazil's health officials say they're convinced the jump is linked to a sudden outbreak of the Zika virus, a mosquito-borne disease similar to dengue, though the mechanics of how the virus might affect babies remain murky.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week advised pregnant women to avoid traveling to Brazil and several other countries in the Americas where Zika outbreaks have occurred. The warning comes months ahead of the Aug. 5-21 Olympic Games, which Rio de Janeiro is hosting, and some tourism professionals have voiced concern that it could scare visitors away.
Two days ago, health officials say a baby born in a Hawaii hospital is the first in the U.S. with a birth defect linked to the Zika virus, and a traveler in the Houston area has been identified with the virus.
How worried should Americans be?
With AP files
Guests:
Camilla Costa, reporter for BBC Brazil who’s been covering the story. She tweets from
Dr. Amesh Adalja, MD, a Senior Associate at the Center for Health Security at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, where he specializes in studying and preventing the epidemics and infectious diseases. He tweets from
Food historian sheds light on the psychology of how we learn to eat
We come into the world with milk as our only meal option, but how do we form our food choices once we’re weaned?
The answer depends on our parents, culture, gender and emotions, which means our palates may not always gravitate toward leafy greens and quinoa. The secret to reprogramming ourselves to reject unhealthy choices may mean learning what makes us go for the fast-food option in the first place.
Bee Wilson, author “
,” talks to Larry Mantle today about our food habits and how we shape them. In her book, she delves into the hidden reasons behind our tastes and how to uncover what we learned to take those first bites, so we know how to improve our next ones.
Guest:
Bee Wilson, author of “
,” (Basic Books, 2015), and a food journalist. She tweets from
X-Files creator on show’s original run, pop culture significance, and 2016 revival
In 1992, Chris Carter was working for Twentieth Century Fox Television when he came up with an idea for a show called ‘X-Files,’ which would focus on two detectives who investigate unsolved cases involving the paranormal and otherworldly.
Unorthodox, though it was at the time, Fox jumped at the chance, and a cult classic was born. It premiered in 1993 and spanned nine seasons, ultimately ending in 2002.
The show launched the acting careers of stars David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson and became an iconic part of American pop culture.
Fast forward 14 years, and X-Files is coming back to TV. Fox announced it would be reviving the show as a miniseries, with Duchovny and Anderson returning to reprise their roles as Fox Mulder and Dana Scully.
The first episode premieres Sunday, January 24th at 7p PT.
Today, X-Files creator Chris Carter joins Larry on AirTalk to look back on the show as a body of work and ahead to its revival in 2016.
Guest:
Chris Carter, writer, executive producer, and creator of the X-Files