AirTalk discusses why nearly 20 percent of marijuana products in California have failed tests for potency and purity. We also examine a new FDA approved birth control app; attempt to answer the often awkward question, ‘Who Pays on a Date?’; and more.
The polls got it all wrong in 2016. Heading into the midterms, what is the state of polling?
We all know how wrong most political polls got the 2016 presidential election. That trend seems to be continuing with midterm primary races.
Pollsters are tremendously challenged in this era of unanswered phones. A candidate’s appeal to a select demographic also affects who turns out. How do polls project that factor?
Guests:
Dan Schnur, professor of political science at UC Berkeley and USC’s Annenberg School for Communication; founder of the USC / Los Angeles Times statewide political poll; he tweets
Douglas Rivers, professor of political science at Stanford University. He is the president and CEO of YouGov/Polimetrix, a global public opinion polling and data company
Tis the season for college rankings: comparing methodologies, efficacy and value
On Sunday, the U.S. News & World Report put out its 2019 list of college rankings and, notably for Angelenos, UCLA was ranked as the country’s top public university.
Other annual college ranking lists are put out by publications such as Forbes, Wall Street Journal and the Princeton Review, and they often highlight the same schools. What kinds of metrics and methodologies do they use? And how valuable are these rankings in helping a student decide which college to attend?
We sit down with editorial minds behind the Forbes and Princeton Review lists to compare methodologies. Plus, is the whole ranking system too flawed to be useful?
Guests:
Carter Coudriet, assistant editor at Forbes, where one of his projects is the annual Top Colleges rankings; he tweets
Robert Franek, editor-in-chief at the Princeton Review; he tweets
Cathy O'Neil, CEO and data scientist at ORCAA (O'Neil Risk Consulting and Algorithmic Auditing) in New York, an algorithmic auditing company; she is the author of “Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy”
It’s complicated: Who pays for what on dates
The Wall Street Journal recently re-posed the often awkward question, ‘Who Pays on a Date?’
As society’s rules for romantic relationships are ever-changing and gender-based traditions continue to shift, what is the modern romantic symbolism of picking up the bill? According to a 2015 study of heterosexual couples, opinions are pretty split.
Is taking care of the check a gesture of affection or demonstration of control? What are the rules in non-heterosexual relationships? And how do you broach the sometimes uncomfortable topic of paying while on a date, be it a first encounter, or a long term relationship?
Guest:
Kerry Cronin, adjunct instructor of philosophy and theology at Boston College who also lectures college students around the country about dating; you can watch some of her dating advice on her YouTube channel
Puff, puff, pass/fail: why almost 20 percent of cannabis products have failed state testing
In the just over two months since the state of California has started testing cannabis products for potency and purity, nearly one fifth of the products tested have not met state standards.
The Associated Press got its hands on data from the California Bureau of Cannabis Control, the state marijuana regulatory agency, which showed that state-licensed labs have found levels of pesticides and even bacteria like salmonella and E. coli that are not acceptable for a product to be greenlit for sale in California.
A spokesperson for the Bureau of Cannabis Control tells the AP that the mandatory testing is still in its early stages and that there will be wrinkles to iron out but that overall, they’re happy with the progress thus far. Some in the cannabis industry, however, say that the standards are too stringent or unrealistic.
They argue that the THC concentration target is too small to hit, and that products that fall negligible amounts outside the standard are being rejected. Others say the testing doesn’t go far enough, and that the state should consider other methods used in testing things like food or pharmaceuticals.
How are cannabis products tested for sale on the recreational market? What are the protocols the state requires the labs to follow? And what’s the reasoning for the 20 percent failure rate? What has California learned from other states about what does and doesn’t work in testing?
AirTalk contacted the California Bureau of Cannabis Control and requested a representative be made available for this conversation, but they were not able to accommodate our request.
Guests:
Jerred Kiloh, president of United Cannabis Business Association, a Los Angeles-based cannabis industry group representing regulated cannabis retailers in California, and owner of The Higher Path Collective, a medical and recreational cannabis dispensary in Sherman Oaks
Kristi Knoblich-Palmer, chief operating officer at Kiva Confections, a company that manufactures cannabis-infused edibles, and president of the California Cannabis Industry Association; she is also a founding member of the California Cannabis Manufacturers’ Association, where she still sits on the Board of Directors
As employees increasingly use personal devices for work, what can bosses legally access on your computer?
An ex-managing director is accusing his former investment firm, Brevet Capital Management LLC, of hacking into his home computer to read his personal emails and obtain data stored on his hard drives.
Paul Iacovacci filed a lawsuit last week in Manhattan federal court alleging that Brevet violated federal anti-hacking laws. But the company denies any hacking activity saying it was authorized to access Iacovacci’s home computer since it was their own property. The lawsuit sheds light on what constitutes a work device.
Employees increasingly use personal devices for work, which leaves a gray area in employment law, including when do employers have the authority to read personal data on a work device. Securities and Exchange Commission regulations require investment firms to monitor employees’ communications.
But where is the line drawn? Did Brevet violate federal anti-hacking laws? What can bosses legally access on your personal device? Our cybersecurity and employment lawyers weigh in
Guests:
Nicole Hong, courts and legal reporter for the Wall Street Journal, who has been following the lawsuit; she tweets at
Fred Jennings, cybersecurity lawyer at Tor Ekeland Law in New York, who specializes in digital privacy and heads the firm’s information technology program
Jon Hyman, employment lawyer, who represents businesses in labor disputes; his focus includes management-side labor, counseling and drafting employment policies and agreements; he is a partner in the Labor & Employment Group at Cleveland’s Meyers, Roman, Friedberg & Lewis; he tweets
New birth control app paves the way for a burgeoning market, but what are the regulations? And where does all that data go?
In a historical move, the FDA approved its first birth control app as a contraceptive; but doctors and privacy experts are still skeptical.
Natural Cycles is an app developed in Sweden by Elina Berglund and Raoul Scherwitzl, and the technology relies on the collection and tracking of a user’s basal body temperature in order to determine her fertility levels on a given day. The app’s website states its user numbers at over 900,000, and its effectiveness at 93%.
Though Natural Cycles is the first birth control app to be FDA approved, it is one of many “femtech” apps that are beginning to saturate the market, and experts have begun to raise concerns regarding the lack of regulations surrounding the tech. Some fertility experts believe that the contraceptive technique utilized by the app is questionable in its accuracy, and internet privacy researchers are unsure of how Natural Cycles’ user data is being handled once inputted.
With the growing interest in these apps, it’s clear that there is a market for alternative forms of birth control, but what questions should women be asking and what information should they keep in mind when trying out new technologies? We speak with experts in both the fertility and privacy fields in order to gain better insight into this emerging field.
Guests:
Jen King, director of consumer privacy at Stanford University’s Center for Internet and Society; her research focuses on public understanding of online privacy and policy implications of emerging technologies; she tweets
Marguerite Duane, adjunct professor at Georgetown University’s School of Medicine and lead author of a study on the accuracy and efficacy of birth control apps; she tweets
Clara Paik, director of gynecology at UC Davis Medical Center; she is a practicing gynecologist and trains OBGYN residents in the UC Davis program