Governor Jerry Brown pays a visit to the Vatican this week, where he’ll meet with Pope Francis and others during a symposium on climate change. Also, the group claiming to have hacked cheaters' website Ashley Madison for personal information of millions of adulterers allege the company failed to secure users' data. Then, proposed bike lanes going through Westwood Village on Westwood Boulevard are being discussed.
What Governor Brown’s Vatican visit means for California
Spirituality and climate change appear to be the two biggest items on the agenda as Governor Jerry Brown pays a visit to the Vatican this week, where he’ll meet with Pope Francis and others during a symposium on climate change.
Governor Brown joins five U.S. mayors, including San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo and San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, for the visit, which comes a month after the Pontiff put out an encyclical, calling on the scientific and religious communities to work together to fight man-made climate change.
The Governor’s connection to Catholicism is well-documented. Before pursuing his political inclinations, Governor Brown dropped out of Santa Clara University in 1956 to attend the Jesuit novice house Sacred Heart Novitiate, with the intent of becoming a Catholic priest. After three years of study, he left Sacred Heart and enrolled at UC-Berkeley to study Classics. He also spent time in Calcutta, India during the 1980s working with Mother Teresa at one of her hospices to help the dying and destitute.
He and Pope Francis come from similar Jesuit backgrounds and are separated in age by only a year, and many feel that these similarities will help the two connect on an even deeper level.
What are the implications of this meeting for California as a state with high pollution levels? What are the most important things for Governor Brown to emphasize during his meeting with Pope Francis?
Guest:
, reporter for the Sacramento Bee covering Governor Brown and state politics. He joins us from Rome, near the Vatican, where he’s covering the Governor’s meeting with Pope Francis. Follow him on Twitter
for live tweets, photos, and stories about the Governor’s trip.
Ashley Madison site hackers claim ethical intentions
The group claiming to have hacked cheaters' website Ashley Madison for personal information of millions of adulterers allege the company failed to secure users' data.
The so-called Impact Team hackers highlight that Ashley Madison advertises a $19 service fee to members cancelling accounts who want assurances all data will be deleted, but the hackers call that "a complete lie." The group is demanding the site used by "cheating dirtbags" be shut-down or it will release all customer records because they “deserve no discretion.”
What do you think is the real motivation of the hackers? Did Ashley Madison fail to protect user data by linking accounts with payment information? Is it unethical, or a straightforward business cost, for websites to charge a premium to scrub user accounts?
Guests:
Mary Anne Franks, Associate Professor of Law, University of Miami School of Law; Legislative & Tech Policy Director of the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative (that advocates on behalf of victims of nonconsensual porn); Her research research and teaching interests include cyberlaw and privacy
Paul F. Roberts, Editor in Chief, The Security Ledger, a publication covering all things cyber security in Boston; "Parent Firm of Ashley Madison Faces Extinction Level Hack "
Sex, education experts discuss the ‘when’ and ‘how’ of sex ed
Parents often question when the right time or what the right way is to teach their kids about sexuality, and while the reality is that the answer varies based on the individual, there is still the question of when schools should start teaching sex ed, what they’re teaching, and a new question that may arise if a rewrite of No Child Left Behind is signed into law: How much are schools telling us about how they teach our kids?
Last Thursday, the U.S. Senate quietly passed a revamp of the controversial education law, and included in the 600-page rewrite of the bill is a measure that would force high schools to report the way they teach kids about relationships. It would also mean reporting how they teach kids about what consent is and how to avoid being coerced. Sex education has always been a touchy topic for public school systems, and while experts say the K-12 years are the perfect time to begin sex education, parents others worry that teaching about ways to properly condone sex is impossible without implying that casual sex is acceptable.
How early is too early to begin sex education? Should kids also be learning the right way to consent to sex, and what it means have a consensual encounter? Does teaching safe ways to say yes imply that casual sex is OK?
Guests:
Jonathan Zimmerman, professor of history of education and Director of the History of Education Program at New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. His latest book is “Too Hot To Handle: A Global History of Sex Education” (Princeton University Press, 2015).
Elizabeth Schroeder, international sex education expert and founder of Elizabeth Schroeder Consulting, which helps adults teach young people about sexuality.
Proposed bike lanes on Westwood Boulevard
Proposed bike lanes for going through Westwood Village on Westwood Boulevard are being discussed.
The stretch would run from Le Conte Ave. which borders the UCLA campus to Wellworth, just one block south of Wilshire. Those in favor of the lanes see them as providing safety to cyclists, and a greener, more agile way to travel. Those against the lanes predict the lanes causing more traffic, less parking, and impacting business in the village negatively.
Westwood Boulevard is a thoroughfare loaded with cars, cyclists and pedestrians. Over 3,000 students, faculty and staff use the Blvd to bike to campus.
Supporters of the bike lanes say there have been a significant number of accidents, involving motorists, and many cyclists nearly missed by vehicles. Critics say the safety of cyclists will be impaired.
Why? Is there a way to install bike lanes so that cyclists and business can be satisfied with the result? Is it all or nothing?
Guests:
Eric Bruins, Planning and Policy Director at the LA County Bicycle Coalition
Barbara Broide, President of the Westwood South of Santa Monica Blvd. Homeowners Association
The dysfunction of Human Resources
It seems almost everyone has a negative story about how their workplace’s human resources department failed to support them when it comes to the “human” part of workplace antics like, conflict-resolution with colleagues, bosses, or subordinates, career tips, or interpersonal strategy.
Human Resource departments tend to focus on all the critical administrative tasks necessary to keep the company business flowing. But, in an article written by John Boudreau and Steven Rice, published by the Harvard Business Review, Human Resource departments need a dramatic shaking up.
What has been your experience with HR? Helpful? A hindrance? Would you rather ask a close friend or business associate for advice?
Guest:
John Boudreau, Professor of Management and Organization at the Marshall School of Business at USC
Looking for E.T. -- Russian philanthropist throws down $100M on search for aliens
The money from Russian internet entrepreneur Yuri Milner goes toward the creation of a new program that uses the latest scientific methods and technology to jumpstart efforts at finding extraterrestrial life in space.
The “Breakthrough Initiatives” project also has the backing of British cosmologist Stephen Hawking. It will be part of the SETI Research Center at UC Berkeley and include researchers from the Northern California school, as well as Cambridge, and NASA.
Innovative technology the project will use includes signal scanning equipment that comb through so-called quiet zone for the existence of extraterrestrial life.
The half-a-century search for intelligent life in space has thus far yielded little results, but scientists believe that the money put up by Milner would lead to meaningful breakthroughs in the field.
Guests:
Seth Shostak, Senior Astronomer and Director of the Center for Study Research at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California