Latest news with #Erickson
Boston Globe
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Brown student and ‘Survivor' contestant Eva Erickson says RFK Jr. is wrong about autism: ‘He can kick rocks'
Erickson said, 'He can kick rocks. That is absolutely wrong on so many fronts, and I think my life is just one of the many, many examples of how wrong he is about Advertisement Erickson also delivered that message in an Instagram post that showed her graduating from college, playing hockey, competing on 'Survivor,' and dating. Get Rhode Island News Alerts Sign up to get breaking news and interesting stories from Rhode Island in your inbox each weekday. Enter Email Sign Up 'The number one biggest thing that I can say about autism is: There's not something wrong with you,' Erickson said on the podcast. 'There's so many misconceptions being thrown around these days about what autism is, what it means for a person in their life, and I am very proud to have gotten to go on national television and show what my life looks like as someone who's on the autism spectrum.' At one point in 'Survivor' Season 48, which came out earlier this year, Erickson becomes frustrated while practicing for a fire-starting competition. She explained that she hadn't succeeded in some other competitions and she ended up having the kind of 'episode' that can come with autism. Advertisement 'My head was spiraling,' Erickson said. 'I got overstimulated and I was out of control, and it was much worse than what they showed on the show.' She said she was 'screaming and scratching myself, stimming (repetitive behaviors) on the ground.' And she did not calm down right away when another contestant, Joe Hunter, came to help her. But Erickson said, 'I kind of wished that more had been shown so other people who have autism could see that that was my lowest point in the game and it was the hardest.' She said she had to 'battle through' that mindset, and she ended up beating Kamilla Karthigesu in the fire-starting challenge, propelling her into the final three. 'I'm very proud that I was able to get through that and then ultimately build the fire,' Erickson said. She said she views autism as her 'biggest strength and my greatest weakness.' One on hand, she can become overwhelmed at times. But, she said, 'It gives me so many great things in my life, like the aptitude for math.' Erickson is now pursuing a PhD in engineering and fluid and thermal science at Brown. She said her engineering background helped her compete in puzzle challenges on 'Survivor.' But she said she tried to hide a 'more intellectual side' during the competition, and would sometimes add numbers incorrectly on purpose. 'I wanted people to underestimate me because I do come in being a very physical threat,' Erickson said. 'I can't hide that. I can't hide my muscles.' A Minnesota native, she became the first and only woman to play on the men's ice hockey club team as an undergraduate at Georgia Tech, and she is now the captain of the men's club team at Brown. Advertisement Eva Erickson is captain of the men's club hockey team at Brown University. Handout Erickson only revealed her academic credentials at the final 'tribal council.' In a compelling final speech, she said, 'We've been saying this season that 48 is an unprecedented season,' and 'You have never seen a player like me.' The 'Survivor' competition took place on an island in Fiji, and Erickson said the hardest part of being on the island was the crabs. 'The crabs were attacking me in my sleep,' she said. 'Only me. Nobody else had problems with the crabs. Other people were freaked out by the bugs and stuff. But I'm fine with bugs. I worked with centipedes as an undergrad, but I would get these crabs biting me in my sleep and it was kind of spooky.' On the podcast, she said there are similarities between competing on 'Survivor' and pursuing a PhD — aside from a lack of sleep. Eva Erickson is pursuing a doctoral degree in engineering and fluid and thermal science at Brown University. Handout 'Every day on 'Survivor,' it's about you go do a challenge and there's the actual competitive challenges as well as the challenge of not sleeping, of not eating,' she said. 'With my PhD, it's the same thing. It's constantly challenges. I do an experiment, it doesn't work, something breaks — OK, what am I going to change?' Perseverance is the key in both situations, she said. Erickson has two years to go before she gets her PhD. She said she would like to work in the sports equipment industry after graduation. She has a passion for hockey and has been studying vibrations and physics. So, she said, 'It'd be really cool to work on vibration suppression in sports equipment.' Advertisement Edward Fitzpatrick can be reached at
Eater
2 days ago
- Business
- Eater
Workers at Seattle's Most Prestigious Restaurant Group Have Unionized
In December 2024, the employees at the Sea Creatures restaurant group were called into a meeting. Sea Creatures, founded by acclaimed chef Renee Erickson, runs some of Seattle's most celebrated restaurants, including oyster bar the Walrus and the Carpenter, innovative steakhouse Bateau, and the Whale Wins, which earned Erickson a James Beard Award in 2016. At the meeting, ownership announced there would be changes coming. After years of accepting tips, Sea Creatures restaurants would be switching to a service charge model. Starting in January, every guest check would explain that 22 percent of the bill (about what the average customer tipped) would be added to the total. This 'is retained entirely by the house,' the checks would say. 'Revenue from this service charge is used to pay operating expenses, including labor.' At the meeting, employees learned that what this meant in practice was that about half of the service charge would be paid out to hourly workers, who, before this change, all shared in the tip pool. (Back of house employees, including dishwashers, were part of the tip pool.) The hourly rate would go up to a base rate of $25 an hour. While in theory it might appear roughly equivalent to the pre-service charge take home, workers say that in practice it spelled a sharp reduction in income from tips. It was 'a huge pay cut for all of us,' says Jeff Kelley, who was a front-of-house worker at the time. 'They said, you either hear what we're saying and decide to continue to work here, or you quit and you go somewhere else... We immediately were like, 'No, there's a third option.'' They could form a union. In the months that followed, Sea Creatures employees won union elections at the Walrus and the Carpenter and Bateau — Sea Creatures' biggest and most famous restaurants — as well as the doughnut shop chain General Porpoise. United Creatures of the Sea is an unusual union for several reasons. It's not affiliated with any larger union, doesn't collect dues from workers, and really only has one issue it's arguing with management about: the service charge. 'We needed a way to force Renee Erickson to listen to her employees,' says Ford Nickel, a former server at Sea Creatures. The union says hourly workers across the board have seen pay cuts as a result of the new service charge. Unionized employees at Walrus made a combined $140,000 less so far this year than they would have under the old tipping model, according to the union's calculations. Jeremy Price, a Sea Creatures co-owner, disputes this — some workers have made less under the new system, but some have made more, he writes in an email. 'We're seeing that back-of-house workers at less busy restaurants are generally making a little more now, including dishwashers. Servers, especially at our busier restaurants, are making a little less now.' At Walrus specifically, hourly workers make between $28.14 and $56.81 per hour, Price writes. 'We believe these wages, along with the benefits we can fund through the service charge, are among the most competitive in the industry.' United Creatures of the Sea is now negotiating a contract with Sea Creatures. The union is represented at the bargaining table by Kelley and Nickel, both of whom no longer work for the restaurant group and volunteer their time to the union. (The union also has pro bono legal counsel.) They're hoping to get management to reduce the service charge to 10 percent or lower and encourage customers to leave tips once again. To make the math work for Sea Creatures, union employees are willing to reduce their hourly rate. 'We just want to work for our tips' — Jeff kelley In part, this conflict reflects the shifting, complicated debate over tipping in American restaurants. Some in the industry feel that tipping is inherently inequitable, which has led to a shift to service charges, with some restaurants spelling out on receipts which portion of the service charge goes directly to workers. But in Seattle, several restaurant groups have been sued for not distributing this money precisely as promised; today many restaurants, including Sea Creatures, say the house retains the entirety of the service charge, which according to the Seattle Met shields them from lawsuits. This makes the whole process opaque from the customers' perspective. Ford and Nickel argue that a tip pool, where all hourly workers share in tips earned during their shift, is a more fair and transparent way of working. 'We just want to work for our tips,' is how Kelley puts it. 'I don't want restaurants to be able to operate this way. It's deceptive.' Nickel and Kelley have also been frustrated by the recently announced temporary closure of Bateau and its attached General Porpoise. Price said the steakhouse is closing so it can 'refresh and retool,' and United Creatures of the Sea doesn't believe the decision was motivated by the unionization of the restaurant. Still, the closure harms the union by cutting its membership in half. If Bateau reopens as a brand-new restaurant the union might have to hold a whole new election. Nickel and Kelley say that Sea Creatures is required by the National Labor Relations Act to negotiate with the union over the terms of the layoff, including which employees would be rehired once Bateau reopens. If they don't reach an agreement, they say they will file a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board. They say management's reticence to engage with them about that issue — and the slowness of the overall negotiation process — is what motivated them to reach out to local media. Price says that management has been 'emailing back and forth all the time,' adding that they had just increased the frequency of meetings and were 'bargaining in good faith' when it came to layoffs at Bateau. 'We believe everyone is working in good faith and with the best interest of staff and the businesses in mind.' In a statement, Erickson said, 'We have a lot of pride in the restaurants that we operate, and that starts with having great staff. The well-being of employees at every location is a real focus for us. We are supportive of our union locations and will continue to collaborate with and listen to them.' The union thinks that this listening process has been disappointingly slow. 'I was hoping that if I'm the owner of a restaurant and all my employees think that what I'm doing is wrong,' says Kelley, 'I would maybe listen.' See More:
Newsweek
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Newsweek
Woman Films Her Sleep—Not Ready for What Her Dog Does at Night
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. A night-cam video has gone viral, showcasing the hilarious antics of an Australian shepherd dog as it attempts to get comfortable in bed with its owner. In a TikTok post, the owner shared the footage to the amusement of over 6.1 million viewers, over 820,000 of whom liked the video. The clip shows the pup jumping into bed with its owner and trying out a variety of positions—including across her head—trying to get comfortable. The black-and-white footage shows the dog laying directly on her head, then her torso, and in what seems to be every imaginable direction. The canine eventually settles with its head lovingly tucked under its owners. File photo: A woman and her dog sleep together in her bed. File photo: A woman and her dog sleep together in her bed. EyeEmThe relatable struggle sparked a wave of amused comments from fellow dog owners on TikTok. "I slept with my husky in the bed once … the midnight zoomies, head paws, howls, awooos and nose nibbles killed me for days after," one person wrote. The affectionate end position melted another viewer's heart: "The last [position] would melt me into a pile of slop." A third captured the dog's inner monologue with humor: "He's like, 'Hi, excuse me, is there room in your skin?'" The sheer size of some canine cuddlers also drew comments, with one owner saying that their Bernese mountain dog, at 100 pounds in weight, is similar: "I swear one day he will accidentally smother me," the viewer wrote. Should Dogs Sleep in Your Bed? The decision of whether to let a pet sleep in bed is a personal one, with various factors influencing owners' choices. Khris Erickson, a certified professional dog trainer based in Wisconsin, previously told Newsweek that "there's no universal answer" to this question. "Some people don't want their dog in bed because it disrupts their sleep, triggers allergies, or they just prefer their own space," Erickson said. She also highlighted potential behavioral issues: "Some dogs may start to resource-guard the bed, growling or snapping when their owner moves, when someone enters the room, or if another person approaches. If that's the case, bed privileges should be revoked." However, for owners comfortable sharing their space and whose dogs behave appropriately, co-sleeping can be highly beneficial. Erickson said it can strengthen the bond between pup and owner—and also makes it easier to be aware if the canine needs to go outside during the night. For those considering transitioning their pet out of the bed, Erickson advised setting clear rules early. "It's much easier to set a 'no-bed' rule from the start than to try and change it later. Before bringing home a dog or puppy, the whole family should agree on the furniture rules—and everyone needs to stick to them," Erickson said. "If the dog never gets a taste of sleeping on the bed, they're far less likely to want to." Newsweek reached out to @rockypasderepit for comment via TikTok.
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
While Wisconsin sees a decline in dairy farms, Chippewa Valley production is up
EAU CLAIRE COUNTY, Wis. (WLAX/WEUX) – The cows at the Messerschmidt Dairy are having breakfast with busloads of their neighbors. Felicia Erickson and her husband, Dave Messerschmidt, hosted hundreds on the farm for a 4th year. This year's Hundreds on the Farm made Erickson and others reflect on the landscape of small dairy farms in the state. 'We milk 55 Holstein cows. And, we have young stock on the farm as well. My son just graduated from Fall Creek High School, and he was just one of two dairy farm kids in the whole school district. When my husband graduated from Fall Creek High School, there was 17 in his class alone. It's pretty scary when you think about the fact there's so few grade A dairy farms left in Eau Claire County.' Former dairy farmer Roy Borseth recognizes how much the times have changed. 'The small dairy farm today is a struggle. They have to be very efficient to make a profit. A small farm has to have a full line of machinery, and that's expensive. Being a part of America's Dairyland ain't easy. It comes with a lot of work and a little bit of sacrifice. Erickson explains, 'It's not just a job. It's your whole life. People just didn't take time off, and I think that was a little detrimental for the next generation to see that.' However, UW-Extension Educator Ryan Sterry has noticed a positive trend. 'Between the three counties (Eau Claire, Chippewa, Dunn), there's 257 grade A permitted dairy farms. That's down from about 500 about a decade ago. Despite there (being) less farms, there's actually more milk produced today in the Chippewa Valley than there was 10 years ago.' Sterry believes Wisconsin will continue to compete with the leading dairy producing the other leading dairy states. Production, as of late, has been gaining on top state, California Sterry says it's vital for farmers of all stripes to find a niche market to fill. He says there are so many factors of business that dictate how much the product is worth. It takes a lot of skill and dedication to navigate the agriculture industry effectively. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Phound Becomes First Phone Service to Bring Smart, Trusted Conversations to Everyone, All Powered by Magnum AI
LONG BEACH, Calif., June 9, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Phound, the trusted app for secure calls and messaging, features Magnum AI, the built-in assistant that quietly transforms everyday conversations into clear, trusted takeaways. From business calls and team meetings to quick chats with clients, Magnum AI automatically helps users remember what was said, who said it, and what needs to happen next. It's now available to everyone using Phound with a Premium subscription. No notes? No problem. Magnum creates a smart summary for every call, including key points, decisions, and next steps. Know what matters. Every conversation is saved as a trusted record, so you can search, share, or follow up with confidence. Your invisible teammate. Magnum AI, after being invited to the call, works in the background—no extra steps, no interruptions, just results. Phound is also the first consumer and business phone service to bring this level of conversation intelligence to general users, all powered by CarrierX's vCon platform for virtualized conversations. vCons are structured, secure digital records that organize calls and meetings into searchable, trustworthy memories. It's a new way to communicate, with built-in clarity and accountability. By leveraging CarrierX's Zero-Hop Connect to all three major U.S. mobile operators and HD audio technology, the call's audio is captured with the least delay and the highest voice quality today. "People are overwhelmed by meetings, messages, and follow-ups," said Dave Erickson, co-founder of Phound. "Magnum AI is here to change that. It doesn't just listen, it helps you move forward. And with vCons at the center of it, you always have a trusted version of what really happened." Magnum AI marks a turning point for everyday communication. It combines AI memory with verified trust, something previously only available to large enterprise systems. "Phound continues democratizing calling, providing individuals and businesses with the most modern, trusted, and most feature-rich service available that offers free calling and texting anywhere," added Erickson. Phound is now the first platform where individuals, small businesses, and teams can experience the benefits of vCons without needing IT departments or special training. See it in action:How to Use Phound's AI Assistant for Smarter, Verified Communication To try Phound, experience Magnum AI, and see how smart conversations are becoming secure, clear, and action-ready, visit About PhoundPhound is a trusted communication service that combines advanced contact management, government-backed identity verification, and AI-powered spam-blocking to transform how people connect. Designed to meet the demands of today's hybrid world, Phound empowers users with tools to manage their digital personas, protect their privacy, and build authentic relationships. By prioritizing trust and security, Phound is redefining communication for individuals and businesses alike. Visit to learn more. Contact: Phound Media RelationsAndy AbramsonEmail: 396389@ Phone: 1-213-322-1200 View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Phound
