Latinos and Racism in the US (0:32)

Guest: Laura E. Gomez, Professor of Law, Sociology and Chicana/Chicano studies,  University of California Los Angeles, author of “Inventing Latinos: A New Story of American Racism”

This week marks one year since a Texas man opened fire on a Walmart near the US/Mexico border in El Paso, killing 23 people. A manifesto attributed to the shooter said he was responding “to the Hispanic invasion of Texas.” The murders were condemned as xenophobic and Hispanophobic. Could they also just be called racist? Is Latino a race or an ethnic group? And does that even matter?

 

Clingy Pets Might Cause Problems as Pandemic Lockdowns Relax (26:16)

Guest: Karen Sueda, Animal Behavior Specialist, VCA West Los Angeles Animal Hospital

Pets have been getting a lot more time with their owners during the pandemic. When people start going back to work, how will pets respond? There’s the potential for separation anxiety and acting up when humans in the household are suddenly no longer around all day like they have been.

 

Private Investigators Surveilling Work-From-Home Employees (41:51)

Guest: Dorian Bond, Private Investigator and Owner, Bond Investigations

Apparently with so many people working from home–and that remote work likely to continue indefinitely in some cases–private investigators have been getting more calls by companies to check up on employees they think might be slacking off. There’s also been a jump in demand for software that tracks employee activity online during the workday.

 

Appleseed (51:17)

Guest: Sam Payne, Host, BYUradio's The Apple Seed

Certain songs bring back great summer memories.  Sam and I discuss some of our favorites.

 

Plato was Right! The Earth is Made of Cubes (1:05:47)

Guest: Douglas Jerolmack, Geophysicist, University of Pennsylvania

Perfect cubes are rarely found in nature–when was the last time you picked up a rock with exactly six equal sides? That’d really be something. But some geologists and physicists did a bunch oftheoretical modelling and decided that, in fact, the Earth is entirely made up of cubes. Which makes no sense to me, because then we’d be walking around in a game of Minecraft.

 

What Does it Take to Do the Right Thing? (1:22:09)

Guest: Thomas Cooper, Professor of Ethics, Emerson College, Author of "Doing the Right Thing: Twelve Portraits in Moral Courage"

What do you do when you’re faced with a decision that’s not a clear matter of good and bad? Maybe it’s two bad choices. Or maybe it’s unclear whether your options or good or bad–they’re just uncertain. Personally, I’m not always sure I can trust my gut when faced with an ethical dilemma like that.