Lucques, another LA restaurant group, is adding a 3 percent surcharge on its guests' tabs to provide health care for its employees. Also, the Supreme Court will decide this month whether to take up the case against Tarek Mehanna, a young Muslim American sentenced to 17 1/2 years in prison for translating radical Islamic texts and posting them on a pro-jihadist website he runs. Then, Americans are eating more almonds, but, is the holy grail of healthy snacks hurting more than benefiting people?
Diners to pay a 3 percent surcharge at some LA restaurants
Several restaurant owners in Los Angeles have implemented a three percent surcharge to their customers’ bills in an effort to cover healthcare services for their employees.
This tactic, which is already used in San Francisco, has been met with mixed reviews. Critics question why restaurants such as Lucques, Tavern and A.O.C. don’t add the surcharge directly to the menu items. Owners have responded, saying that the extra percentage provides a more clear explanation of where the funds go, and point out that customers can opt out of paying the fee if they wish to do so. Additionally, the restaurant owners have hinted that other local restaurants such as the Hungry Cat, Mélisse, Son of a Gun, Trois Mec among others, would be following in their footsteps.
Would you pay a three percent surcharge at any of these eateries? Should healthcare surcharges be required of all restaurants? Does the size of the restaurant or affiliation to a chain change your decision in paying extra for your meal?
Guests:
Josiah Citrin, Owner of Mélisse Restaurant in Santa Monica
Anthony Dukes, Marketing Professor at USC Marshall School of Business
Canadian job seeker buys billboard to land interview with Google
In this buyers' market, what have you done to set yourself apart when job hunting? Fred Brumwell of Ontario wants to work at a local Google office, so he rented a billboard to get the company's attention.
Man interviewing with Google after his billboard pops up by the company's Kitchener office http://t.co/seeCRvQaTY pic.twitter.com/yxtwNdVSOf
— Metro Kitchener (@MetroKW)
Man interviewing with Google after his billboard pops up by the company's Kitchener office http://t.co/seeCRvQaTY pic.twitter.com/yxtwNdVSOf
— Metro Kitchener (@MetroKW) September 4, 2014
According to CBC News, he wants to send a message that he would go above and beyond working for Google. "It was more than 500 bucks, but it was worth every penny," Brumwell said because he has landed an interview. Another inspiring example was mocked up by job seeker Matthew Hirsch of Michigan. The marketing and design professional created "Hirschy's" chocolate bars with labels featuring his skills.
These hard-to-ignore extreme job hunting tactics might work for some companies, but what if you want to work at a bank? How far can you go without turning off hiring managers? What about adding photographs to a CV or sending a fruit basket?
Guest:
Cathleen Snyder, Director of Client Relations, at strategic HR, inc. - a human resource management firm in Cincinnati, Ohio
Is translating jihadist texts a crime? SCOTUS might take up case this term
The Supreme Court will decide this month whether to take up the case against Tarek Mehanna, a young Muslim American sentenced to 17 1/2 years in prison for translating radical Islamic texts and posting them on a pro-jihadist website he runs.
Mehanna and a friend had traveled to Yemen in 2004 to join a terrorist training camp but was turned away. After his return, he began translating pro-Al Qaeda and Arab-language materials into English.
At issue is whether what he did was protected under the 1st amendment, and whether his translation and dissemination of these texts constituted an incitement of violence. Mehanna was convicted for conspiring to provide material support to terrorists, among other charges, in 2011. His conviction was upheld by by a federal appeals court in Boston in 2013.
Guests:
Rachel VanLandingham, Associate Professor of Law, Southwestern Law School. She is a military law expert and 20-year veteran of the U.S. Air Force
Sahar Aziz, associate professor at Texas A&M School of Law in Fort Worth, Texas where she teaches national security, Middle East, and civil rights law. She is the author of "Policing Terrorists in the Community," which was published in the Harvard National Security Journal
Almonds: The double-edged health snack
On paper, almonds seem to be the ultimate health food. They help aid weight loss, lower the chances of heart disease and even help prevent diabetes. Americans eat 10 times more almonds than they did in 1965, and their consumption is still growing. But, is the holy grail of healthy snacks hurting more than it is benefiting people?
It takes nearly 1.1 gallons of water to grow each almond. Despite being in an extreme drought, California is the only state in the country that grows almonds. In fact, 82 percent of all commercial almonds are grown in the sunny state. 1.4 million honey bees are also required for California’s almond industry, as farmers rely solely on the bees to pollinate trees. A large number of bees die each year due to the exposure to pesticides.
Should California continue farming such a large percentage of almonds in the state? Are the effects of almond farming more detrimental to the environment than the health benefits they provide for people?
Guests:
Patrick Cavanaugh, owner of the California Ag Today radio network and editor of numerous agricultural publications
Claire O’Connor, Agricultural Water Policy Analyst at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)
Suspicious Minds: How Culture Shapes Madness
What if you woke up with the alarming suspicion that you were being watched? The premise for “Suspicious Minds: How Culture Shapes Madness,” written by psychiatrist Dr. Joel Gold and his brother Ian Gold, a philosopher and psychologist, is rooted in a newly-common psychological issue they call the Truman Show Delusion.
The nickname for the delusion is based on “The Truman Show,” a film starring Jim Carrey as the titular character -- a man who was unknowingly raised as the subject of a television show, living amongst actors, his whole world controlled by the show’s creator. In recent years, many people have experienced delusions revolving around a similar idea: that the patient is the subject of a reality TV show, that everyone around them is watching them, that their lives are controlled by producers.
Delusions and hallucinations have changed over time. People with schizophrenia and other mental illnesses that cause delusions and hallucinations have, over the decades, recounted feeling as if they were being controlled by Japanese radio waves, Soviet satellites, and CIA microchips. The Golds argue that delusions are the product of interactions between the human brain and sociocultural influences.
How have delusions changed over time? What does the Truman Show Delusion say about our culture?
Guest:
Joel Gold, M.D., co-author of “Suspicious Minds: How Culture Shapes Madness,” (Simon & Schuster, 2014), clinical associate professor of psychiatry at New York University School of Medicine and was an attending psychiatrist in the department of psychiatry at Bellevue Hospital Center
Remembering Joan Rivers
Joan Rivers, comedian and talk show host, has died at age 81 in New York, her daughter confirms. Rivers was hospitalized after going into cardiac arrest during a routine procedure.
Melissa Rivers said that her mother died surrounded by family and friends. "My mother's greatest joy in life was to make people laugh," she said, "Although that is difficult to do right now, I know her final wish would be that we return to laughing soon."
Joan Rivers' sharp-tongued comedy broke barriers for women in a heavily male-dominated industry.
We'll remember Joan Rivers and her comedic legacy. Weigh in with your memories below and listen to AirTalk's 2008 interview with Rivers in the sidebar. How do you remember Joan Rivers?
Guest:
Jamie Masada, founder and CEO of The Laugh Factory comedy club in Los Angeles