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(AP) ReportsSamantha Brown Hosts New PBS Travel Series 'Places to Love'
Reports Travel Channel Samantha Brown she gave birth two twins girls and Samantha Brown file for divorce too as well so sadIt’s a boy and a girl forSamantha BrownThe Travel Channel Welcomes host Samantha Brown With Ellis James, and a daughter, Elizabeth Mae, on Thursday, Jan. 17 in Brooklyn, N.Y. Ellis weighed in at 6 lbs., 10 oz. and is 19.25 inches long, while Elizabeth weighed in at 5 lbs., 12 oz. and is 19 inches long. “We are so happy with the birth of our beautiful twins,” Brown, 43,
tells PEOPLE exclusively. “I will be going back on the road as soon as
we can, so baby passports here we come!” Brown’s newest special, Trip of a Lifetime 2013, premieres Sunday, Jan. 27 at 8 p.m. on the Travel Channel.
NEW
YORK — You may know Samantha Brown from her years as a Travel Channel
host for shows like "Great Hotels," ''Green Getaways" and the "Passport"
series about Latin America, China and Europe, among others.
She's back with a new series on PBS called "Places to Love," launching Saturday with 13 weekly episodes through March.
"'Places
to Love' is about finding the experiences, the destinations, but, most
importantly, the people who really make us feel like we're part of a
place," Brown said in an interview for the AP Travel podcast "Get Outta
Here!"
Destinations
featured on the show range from Shanghai to places Brown says you might
not think of going "but should," like Huntsville, Alabama, nicknamed
Rocket City for its work with NASA and the space industry.
Brown
talked about the show's philosophy, some individual episodes and the
challenges of succeeding as a woman on television. Here are some
excerpts.
"When
you are producing a show totally based on flowers being in bloom, it is
a nail-biter. We were getting reports, updates, we had our
flower-watchers. I was following bloggers and Instagram ... I mean we
had a plan B but luckily they were in bloom and we saw the Texas
bluebonnets in all their glory."
TRIPS ANYONE CAN DO
"'Places
to Love' is all about what you can do. I am not having any experiences
that you cannot have. None of my experiences are VIP, are exclusive, are
created for the camera, which I used to do a lot in my past days. ...
Everything I do, you can do. Just about everybody I meet are people you
can meet."
Louder
Stay on top of the latest in pop and jazz with reviews, interviews, podcasts and more from The New York Times music critics.
"Even
if the men's ratings are low for a time, they will let that male host
have that show for much longer so they can slowly gain those ratings to
the point where they do have a successful show. Women are not given that
chance. That to me was a huge frustration. ... It's just sort of the
male-driven kind of world that men have adventures and women really
don't. And so of course I don't believe in that but there's a perception
there. ... I wish it would change and the way I changed it was I
decided to produce and fund my own show."
GROWING UP
"There
was nothing like getting up at three o'clock in the morning and our
parents piling us in the Pontiac station wagon with the dog, with our
baloney sandwiches and making the 10-hour trip (to visit relatives in
Pennsylvania). I loved it. Or to Canada. That was our big trip because
we were from New Hampshire so we could go there. But that's what I
brought to my experience when I first started at the Travel Channel:
There is this idea that travel is a privilege and you have to be
privileged not only with money to travel, but time and most importantly
confidence. I think it takes a lot of confidence to get on a plane and
go somewhere else especially to a foreign land. And so I always wanted
to be that person who could connect that experience with the person
sitting on the couch. If I can do it, you can do it."
FAVORITE EPISODE
"I
would say my most powerful memory I have is our first show which we
taped in Houston, Texas. There was something about starting the day:
I've got a cameraman, I've got a camerawoman, I've got a producer, a
director and of course the fixer, and I realize this is all because of
our hard work and we did it. Two years before, people said there's no
way you're going to raise the money to make a travel show and yet here I
was. We were in this wonderful city, Houston, which I totally fell in
love with. It's the most culturally diverse city in the U.S. ... We shot
that before the flood, about five months before (Hurricane) Harvey
came. It will be the first show to air on your PBS stations because we
feel so strongly about it, that this city came back from a historically
bad flood. It's because of the people."
FUTURE BUCKET LIST
"I'd
love to spend more time in Africa. I've only been to Cape Town, South
Africa. My dream is to see the aurora borealis. I'll see it anywhere —
Alaska, Finland, doesn't matter."
___
Listen
to an interview with Samantha Brown about her new show on AP Travel's
weekly podcast "Get Outta Here!" available on iTunes
http://apple.co/2s2ruHY
Think you're Samantha Brown's biggest fan? Have you watched her travel the world for the last decade? Our travel goddess shares 10 things you probably don't know about her: 1: I always bring a book of poetry with me -- usually Robert Frost or Mary Oliver. 2: I always travel with a jar of peanut butter. 3: I brown bag it even when I'm flying first-class. It's my last chance to eat something homemade. 4:. I get terrible homesickness. Usually when I first wake up in the morning but only for about an hour
5: On my resume I have under special skills "professional Blimp
photographer." A blimp crashed on my building in NYC on the 4th of July
1992. I was on the roof sunbathing and snapped one picture of it, which I
sent to the Associated Press. Time Magazine and USA Today bought the
image so I made about $300. Thereby earning me professional photog
status! 6: If I wasn't doing what I am doing, I would own a
little breakfast place where I would be on a first-name basis with all
my customers. I would wear cute aprons and go around to all my tables
with a carafe of coffee at my hip asking if they wanted "some more Joe."
7: When I was a little girl my mom would tell me the story of how I was
a bear cub she found in the woods. I would sometimes search our
backyard in New Hampshire looking for my bear mom and dad, worried that
they were missing me. If I wasn't getting along with my sisters or
parents I was certain it was because I was a bear and they were not. 8: My biggest regret is that I never did a sport in high school. I was too scared of failing. 9: I still play my favorite video game from the '80s: Galaga.
10: What I love most about travel is feeling like a fish out of water. I
love being the person in the room who looks and sounds like no one
else. The challenge of seeing where I fit in and how I can make a
connection with people who are completely different than me is
absolutely thrilling.
MORE: Spend a Day With Samantha Brown:
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A
McDonald’s restaurant in Phoenix, Arizona is employing nothing but
robots to run its daily operations and entire workforce. (AP
Photo/Dennis System)
Phoenix, AZ — After seeing a decline in earnings for the first time in nine years, McDonald’s plans to do something no other restaurant of its kind has ever done before; open a store run entirely by robots.
The store is set to open July 4th in Phoenix, Arizona once the
state-of-the-art robot remodel is complete. The restaurant will still
employ a small team to insure all of the robots are working correctly,
the food and cleaning supplies remain stocked along with removing the
money collected by the robots. Visitors to the restaurant will see these
new robots working in harmony at a speed of 50 times faster than the
average human employee, with no chance of error. If the test launch for
the store is a success, people can expect to see robots located in every
store all over the country and at restaurants around the world. The store’s new manager, Peter Gibbons, told CNN
that he has worked with the robots at a product development facility in
San Francisco for over six months now and speaks highly of the
machines. “These things are great! They get their work done in a fast and orderly manner, plus they don’t ask for cigarette breaks.” 36-year-old Paul Horner, a spokesman for McDonald’s told reporters
that because of the demand for a $15/hr minimum wage, the company has
been playing with the idea of a restaurant run entirely by robots for years and believes their “McRobots” are the answer.
“With the high demand for a wage of $15/hr and the protests getting worse every day,
this is something we had to implement. Plus with the tremendous margin
of human error, poor hygiene, lack of education, laziness, as well as
the recent advancements in artificial intelligence it just make sense to
automate our restaurants now rather than later.” Local Phoenix resident, 52-year-old Tom Downey, who has been
unemployed for the last 3 years, was excited about the opening of a
nearby McDonald’s until he heard about the robots. “Now that they hire only robots, I don’t know what I can even do. I
don’t have an education, a car, and now I’m not gonna even be able to
get a burger job. Just the thought of having to go to the state
unemployment office and stand in line with those scumbags!” With this decision, shareholders can finally expect to see their
stocks on the rise once again since employee salaries are not only cut,
but eliminated. By cutting employees, McDonald’s says it is projecting
to make a full financial turnaround and see their stock (MCD)
return to $105/share which was originally set back in 2014. In the
U.S., first quarter comparable sales decreased 2.6% as product and
promotional offers did not meet expectations. U.S. operating income for
the quarter declined 11%, reflecting weak sales and the impact of
restructuring and restaurant closing charges. 42-year-old Milton Waddams, an unemployed fast food worker, told
reporters he is extremely disappointed by the decision to employ only
robots instead of humans. “The McDonald’s had my resume, I already completed two job interviews
there and they said I was scheduled to work once the new store opened
but they never called,” Waddams said. “I need a job I said, and I was
told by Betty in HR they have my resume on file, but they never called,
and Sandra told me to talk to Bill, and then I hear of the robots
instead of regular humans and
that’s not what I asked for. And I need the job I told them, but there’s
robots, so now I’m going to have to find another place of employment.
And they were big giant robots, and I said no, no robots at McDonald’s. I
could set the building on fire.”
Former grill cook, Tom Smykowski, from the original Phoenix
McDonald’s location before it was shutdown for robot repairs and
upgrades, is still mad about losing his job. “You know there are people in this world who don’t have to put up with all this,” Smykowski told FOX News.
“You have to use your mind and come up with some really great idea. If
anyone should know this, it’s me. I’m a people person, how many times do
I have to say this? I deal with the damn customer so they don’t have to
make their own burgers. I have people skills; I am good at dealing with
people!” Horner said he is excited to pave the way to a more automated workforce, hence a more reliable and affordable one. “Robots are the future of McDonald’s in the United States and around
the world,” Horner said, “Human workers want more pay and this has
created giant protests which need our attention now before it is too
late. Robots will decrease prices, increase productivity and make for
better food.” Horner continued, “Human beings were not meant to stand
and make burgers all day, filling out useless forms and listening to
eight different bosses drone on about about mission statements. Now I’ve
had a chance to meet with some of these robots, and boy, they are just
straight shooters with upper management written all over them.” The new robot McDonald’s is located at 7th St & McDowell Rd in
downtown Phoenix. McDonald’s says that if the store is a success, 25,000
more robot-run restaurants will be built in the next year. It is still
unclear at this time what the robots look like or how customers will
complete transactions as this information is being kept under strict
confidentiality, but come July these questions will be answered. Will it
be the right or wrong decision for McDonald’s? In the end, it will come
down to what is best for the shareholders and the customers. The
potential employees hoping to make a minimum wage of $15/hr, maybe not so much. If you have any further questions about the robot-run establishment,
McDonanld’s has setup a 24-hour robot hotline at (785) 273-0325.
VIDEO: McDonald’s Run Entirely By Robots
McDonald's shuts down employee site following scrutiny over posts that told workers to avoid fast food
McDonald’s says it has shut down an employee resources website
that contained posts advising its own workers to avoid eating too much
fast food. The McResource Line website now tells visitors that it is down for maintenance and upgrades are being made. “A combination of factors has led us to re-evaluate, and we've
directed the vendor to take down the website,” Lisa McComb, a
spokeswoman for McDonalds USA, said in a statement. “Between links to
irrelevant or outdated information, along with outside groups taking
elements out of context, this created unwarranted scrutiny and
inappropriate commentary.” McDonald’s received widespread media attention earlier in the week for posts on McResource Line that bashed fast food. “While convenient and economical for a busy lifestyle, fast foods are
typically high in calories, fat, saturated fat, sugar, and salt and may
put people at risk for becoming overweight,” one post read. They
appeared to be designed by a third-party vendor. Another post showed a meal of a burger, fries and soda – McDonald’s staples – and labeled it as an “unhealthy choice.” “Eat at places that offer a variety of salads, soups and vegetables
to maintain your best health,” the site advised, next a picture of a sub
sandwich and salad that looked similar to fare offered at rival Subway.
"Although not impossible it is more of a challenge to eat healthy when
going to a fast food place. In general, avoiding items that are deep
fried are your best bet." The fast food posts were not the first time McDonalds has been questioned about the content on the site. Past posts have told employees to shed holiday debt by returning
unopened purchases and a budget guide allotted $20 a month for health
care, and none for heat, according to CNBC.
McDonalds
removes help web site after it tells employees not to eat their food
By now, many people have probably heard that McDonald’s employee
web site tripped up again. After getting caught telling its employees
not to eat the kind of food they sell to the public, the world’s
most-successful fast food outfit has just decided to stop helping its
employees via a web site. Public relations-wise, McDonald's keeps
tripping up in its attempt to help their low-wage earners, according to a
Huffington Post article on Wednesday. Reportedly, the McResource page of McDonald’s web site designed to
assist its workers in living a better and healthier life by suggested
that they not eat what the business serves. The web site encourages
people to not eat fast foods. That would be like Pizza Hut telling its
employees not to eat pizza or Levis telling people not to wear jeans. Created by a third-party vendor, the latest debacle for McDonald’s
involved a post which told its employees the negative results of eating
fast food – even specifying that the bad, unhealthy foods to eat include
cheeseburgers and French fries which, of course, is what McDonald’s
makes lots of money off of selling to the public. Though McDonald’s employees will still get help from the firm via
phone, the web site bashing the likes of McDonald’s has been removed
from the Internet. The site now has a message to its employees which says:
We’ll Be Back Soon! We are temporarily performing some
maintenance in order to provide you with the best experience possible.
Please excuse us while these upgrades are being made.
If and when it returns, odds are it will not have anything to do with
the current third vendor who has provided the helpful tips to the
McDonald's employees.
Just last month, the hamburger-selling firm was criticized – and laughed at – for advising its low-wage earners on how to tip for services one would think that persons in such economic situations
wouldn’t be able to afford, such as how much to tip personal trainers
and au pairs and swimming pool cleaners. Much like this latest post
regarding what McDonald’s-types of foods not to eat, that post was
removed very quickly as well.
Fast-food workers strike, push for $15 per hour
Demonstrators in support of fast food workers protested in
July outside a McDonald's in New York and demanded higher wages and the
right to form a union without retaliation. They are demanding a minimum
wage increase and calling for better benefits.
(AP Photo/John Minchillo)
Fast-food workers and labor organizers are set to turn out in support
of higher wages in cities across the country Thursday. Organizers say
walkouts are planned in 100 cities, with rallies set for another 100
cities, including New Orleans.
But it's not clear what the actual turnout will be and whether they'll shut down or even disrupt restaurant operations. A similar day of protests this summer had mixed results, with just a few protesters in some locations. A group of about 50 people rallied outside McDonald's in Gretna,
including striking workers and supporters from Stand with Dignity, a
project of the New Orleans Workers' Center for Racial Justice. The
actions are part of push by labor unions, worker advocacy groups and
Democrats to raise the federal minimum wage of $7.25. President Obama
says he would back a minimum wage of $10.10 an hour, and on Wednesday addressed income equality in a speech. The speech coincided with growing national and international attention to economic disparities. NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune reporter Katherine Sayre contributed to this story.
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