Internet Privacy, Swap Burger for Bugs, Refugee Story
Trump Rolls Back Internet Privacy Guest: Phil Windley, Enterprise Architect, Adjunct Professor of Computer Science, BYU The week after Congress failed to repeal and replace Obamacare, it did manage to come up with the votes to repeal another set of rules put in place by President Obama at the end of his tenure. The rules would have prohibited internet service providers from selling information about your online behavior to advertisers without your consent. The rules hadn’t yet taken effect. Congress and President Trump have seen to it that they won’t. Calculating More Efficient School Bus Routes Guest: Ali Haghani, PhD, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Maryland A busy soccer mom will tell you that the key to keeping the afterschool carpool hours sane is efficiency: Drop off Joey on the way to pick up Jane, and pick up milk on your way back to get Joey. The same principles apply to getting the masses of elementary, middle, and high school students to school and back every day. In fact, even small efficiencies—or inefficiencies—can have a big impact on a school district’s bottom line, according to University of Maryland Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering Ali Haghani. He and his team have been working with the Howard County Public School System in Maryland to improve the efficiency of its bus routes. Swap Your Burger for Bugs? Guest: Mohammed Ashour, CEO and co-founder of Aspire Food Group Two billion people around world commonly consume insects as part of their diet. However, most of them live outside of the US. Although insects like crickets are far healthier than most traditional snack foods, most Americans can't get past their gag reflex. But a Texas food company has taken on the challenge. Their goal: to make insect-eating normal. To get your own crickets click here. Use the promo code BYU for a discount! Apple Seed Guest: Sam Payne, Host of BYUradio’s “The Apple Seed” Sam Payne joins us in the studio to share tales of tellers and stories. A Refugee’s Story Guest: Karak Miakol, Women’s Rights Activist, Refuge Karak Miakol is a refugee activist from South Sudan who has dedicated her life to helping women in her country, and she has paid a terrible price for the good she has done there. She founded two organizations to teach literacy, farming, and business skills to women in South Sudan, northern Uganda and Western Kenya. But working as a human rights advocate, she found herself in imminent danger from government forces, so she fled to the United States two years ago. Now settled in Colorado, she’s struggling to bring over the six children she was forced to leave behind. For more information on Women Who Grow click here. To donate to Miakol's family click here. Public Companies Have Difficulties Assuming Social Responsibility Guest: Andrew Wu, PhD, Assistant Professor of Technology and Operations and Finance, University of Michigan, Ross School of Business A quick case study to illustrate our next topic. Kraft Heinz – you know, cheese and ketchup? – tried to buy the consumer goods giant Unilever earlier this year. And failed. Smarting from that public rejection – and probably looking for a way to boost its stock price - Kraft Heinz came out a few weeks ago with a splashy announcement designed to gin up some goodwill. It pledged to spend $200 million on socially-responsible things like reducing the company’s environmental impact and donating a billion nutritious meals to fight world hunger. The announcement didn't not help the Kraft Heinz stock price. Shareholders aren't typically keen to see companies they invest in spending money on anything except boosting profits. But let’s be generous and assume the expanded commitment to social responsibility at Kraft Heinz is not just a PR ploy. Does society really benefit when companies make these pledges? Pizza or Salad Bar? Guest: Lori Spruance, Health Sciences Professor, BYU The "Let's Move Salad Bars to Schools" initiative has brought sald bars to 4,800 public schools in the US. This means half of all high school students in the country now have access to salad bars in school cafeterias. But critics question just how many students are willing to choose leafy greens over a slice of pizza. A study by one BYU health sciences professor suggests that it depends on how well the school markets healthy lunch alternatives.