Complaints of workplace bias reach an all-time high

By Allison Linn

The government received more complaints of worker discrimination its last fiscal year than ever before, but it was only a slight increase over 2010.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said Tuesday that it received 99,947 complaints of worker discrimination during its 2011 fiscal year, which ended in September. That?s an increase of 25 complaints over the 2010 fiscal year.

Discrimination complaints surged in the 2008 fiscal year, when the agency received 95,402 complaints as the Great Recession was getting under way. They number of complaints fell somewhat in 2009, the year the recession officially ended, but they rose again in 2010 as the economy was?recovering slowly.

Justine Lisser, a spokeswoman for the EEOC, said the agency can?t?say for certain that the weak job market has caused the spike in complaints, although there may be a correlation.

The unemployment rate remains unusually high, at 8.5 percent, more than two years after the recession officially ended and the economy began?growing again.

Lisser also noted the agency has been working harder to inform employees and employers about its claims process, and?has made it easier to research claims criteria on its website.

In 2011, about 35 percent of the workers complained of race discrimination, according to the EEOC. Gender discrimination accounted for about 29 percent of the complaints, while age discrimination complaints made up about 24 percent.

About 26 percent charged employers with discriminating on the basis of a disability.

Many people charge more than one form of discrimination, so the percentages exceed 100 percent.

The government also said it resolved 112,499 complaints in fiscal year 2011. About 18 percent of those claims received a ?merit resolution,? meaning the person received some sort of settlement.

About two-thirds of those were found to have no reasonable cause for auction. Another 16 percent were closed for administrative reasons, such as that the person who charged discrimination didn?t respond to further requests from the EEOC.

Related:

Age bias complaints surge in weak economy

Do you think employee discrimination has become more commonplace since the recession began?

Source: http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/24/10225036-discrimination-complaints-reach-all-time-high

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Paul says no intention of third-party bid

(AP) ? Ron Paul says he has no intention of running for president as a third-party candidate, though he's continuing to keep the door open a crack.

The Texas congressman is stopping short of saying no -- because he says he's not an absolutist. Paul notes that he once left Congress vowing not to return, only to run again.

But Paul says he doesn't have any plans to run outside the GOP and that he might even be able to endorse rival Newt Gingrich if he's the nominee. Paul says he is happy that Gingrich keeps hinting at attacking the Federal Reserve and jokes that if he could get Gingrich to listen to him on foreign policy, as Paul puts it, "we might just be able to talk business."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-01-23-GOP-Debate-Paul-Third%20Party/id-5f6a730958ce4f7d83293db12c095890

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Beijing releases pollution data; US figures higher (AP)

BEIJING ? Caving to public pressure, Beijing environmental authorities started releasing more detailed air quality data Saturday that may better reflect how bad the Chinese capital's air pollution is. But one expert says measurements from the first day were low compared with data U.S. officials have been collecting for years.

The initial measurements were low on a day where you could see blue sky. After a week of smothering smog, the skies over the city were being cleared by a north wind.

The readings of PM2.5 ? particulate matter less than 2.5 micrometers in size or about 1/30th the average width of a human hair ? were being posted on Beijing's environmental monitoring center's website. Such small particulates can penetrate deep into the lungs, so measuring them is considered a more accurate reflection of air quality than other methods.

It is the first time Beijing has publicly revealed PM2.5 data and follows a clamor of calls by citizens on social networking sites tired of breathing in gray and yellow air. The U.S. Embassy measures PM2.5 from a device on its rooftop and releases the results, and some residents have even tested the air around their neighborhoods and posted the results online.

Beijing is releasing hourly readings of PM2.5 that are taken from one monitoring site about 4 miles (7 kilometers) west of Tiananmen Square, the monitoring center's website said Saturday. It said the data was for research purposes and the public should only use it as a reference.

The reading at noon Saturday was 0.015 milligrams per cubic meter, which would be classed as "good" for a 24-hour exposure at that level, according to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards. The U.S. Embassy reading taken from its site on the eastern edge of downtown Beijing said its noon reading was "moderate." Its readings are posted on Twitter.

Steven Andrews, an environmental consultant who has studied Beijing's pollution data since 2006, said he was "already a bit suspicious" of Beijing's PM2.5 data. Within the 24-hour period to noon Saturday, Beijing reported seven hourly figures "at the very low level" of 0.003 milligrams per cubic meter.

"In all of 2010 and 2011, the U.S. Embassy reported values at or below that level only 18 times out of over 15,000 hourly values or about 0.1 percent of the time," said Andrews. "PM2.5 concentrations vary by area so a direct comparison between sites isn't possible, but the numbers being reported during some hours seem surpisingly low."

The Beijing center had promised to release PM2.5 data by the start of the Chinese Lunar New Year on Monday. It has six sites that can test for PM2.5 and 27 that can test for the larger, coarser PM10 particles that are considered less hazardous. The center is expected to buy equipment and build more monitoring sites to enable PM2.5 testing.

Beijing wasn't expected to include PM2.5 in its daily roundups of the air quality anytime soon. Those disclosures, for example "light" or "serious," are based on the amount of PM10, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide in the air.

Beijing interprets air quality using less stringent standards than the U.S. Embassy, so often when the government says pollution is "light," the embassy terms it "hazardous."

"There has been tremendous amounts of attention in the Chinese media ? whichever newspaper you pick up, whichever radio station you listen to, channel you watch ? they are all talking about PM2.5 and how levels are so high," said Andrews.

"What has been so powerful is that people are skeptical, and I think rightly skeptical," about the government's descriptions of data, he said.

___

Online:

Beijing center's readings (in Chinese): http://zx.bjmemc.com.cn/

The U.S. Embassy's Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/beijingair

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/science/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120122/ap_on_re_as/as_china_air_quality

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New coach Philbin will try to turn around Dolphins

(AP) ? New Miami Dolphins coach Joe Philbin takes over a team that hasn't been to the Super Bowl since 1985 and missed the playoffs nine of the past 10 years.

Maybe that's why one of his predecessors, Jimmy Johnson, offered this tweet Friday: "Joe Philbin new Dolphin coach..good luck!"

The former Green Bay Packers offensive coordinator became the seventh coach in the past eight years for the Dolphins, who are coming off a third consecutive losing season, their longest such stretch since the 1960s.

The hiring was the latest turn in an emotionally wrenching month for Philbin, whose 21-year-old son recently drowned in an icy Wisconsin river.

Philbin had been with Green Bay since 2003, working as offensive coordinator since 2007. Coach Mike McCarthy called the plays, but Philbin put together the game plan for one of the NFL's most prolific offenses.

The Dolphins' top choice, Jeff Fisher, turned them down a week ago to become coach of the St. Louis Rams. Miami owner Stephen Ross and general manager Jeff Ireland then conducted a second round of interviews this week with Philbin, Denver Broncos offensive coordinator Mike McCoy and Todd Bowles, the Dolphins' interim coach at the end of the season.

"Joe has all the attributes that we were looking for when we started this process," Ross said in a statement. "Jeff Ireland and I felt Joe was the right choice to bring the Dolphins back to the success we enjoyed in the past."

Despite the Dolphins' woes of recent years, including a 6-10 record in 2011, Philbin called them "one of the premier franchises in professional sports." At 50, he's old enough to remember the 1972 Perfect Season.

"The Dolphins have a strong nucleus to build around," he said in a statement. "And working with everyone in the organization, I know that together we will return the team to its winning tradition."

Philbin, who has never been a head coach, first interviewed with Miami on Jan. 7. The body of son Michael, one of Philbin's six children, was recovered the next day in Oshkosh.

After spending a week away from the Packers, Philbin rejoined the team last Sunday for its divisional playoff loss to the New York Giants.

Ross fired Tony Sparano last month with three games to go in his fourth year as the Dolphins' coach. When the search for a new coach began, Ross said he would like to give the franchise much-needed stability by hiring "a young Don Shula."

Instead he chose Philbin, who has 28 years of coaching experience, including 19 years in college.

With Philbin's help, the Packers have ranked in the top 10 in the NFL in yardage each of the past five seasons, including third in 2011. A year ago they won the Super Bowl.

"A huge congratulations to Joe Philbin," Green Bay tight end Jermichael Finley tweeted. "No one deserves it more than this guy. The Pack will miss him!"

The hiring might give the Dolphins an edge if they decide to pursue Packers backup quarterback Matt Flynn, who becomes a free agent this offseason. Flynn set Packers records with 480 yards passing and six touchdowns in their regular-season finale. Philbin played a major role in the development of Flynn and Pro Bowl quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

Assistants becoming first-time NFL head coaches have had mixed results in recent years. The group includes the Ravens' John Harbaugh, the Saints' Sean Peyton and the Steelers' Mike Tomlin, but also three coaches recently fired ? Jim Caldwell by the Colts, Todd Haley by the Chiefs and Steve Spagnuolo by the Rams.

Before joining the Packers, Philbin was Iowa's offensive line coach for four years. The former small-college tight end has been an offensive coordinator at Harvard, Northeastern and Allegheny College.

Philbin will now begin assembling a staff. Bowles might remain as a replacement for defensive coordinator Mike Nolan, who took the same job this week with the Atlanta Falcons.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-01-21-Dolphins-Philbin/id-0dc0cd875d1d42fab8753d47252c61c8

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Prison Planet.com ? DHS' X-ray scanners could be cancer risk to ...

Declan McCullagh
CNet
January 13, 2012

Internal Homeland Security documents describing specifications for border-crossing scanners, which emit gamma or X-ray radiation to probe vehicles and their occupants, are raising new health and privacy concerns, CNET has learned.

Even though a?public outcry has prompted Homeland Security to move away from adding X-ray machines to airports?it purchased 300 body scanners last year that?used alternative technologyinstead?it appears to be embracing them at U.S.-Mexico land border crossings as an efficient way to detect drugs, currency, and explosives.

A 63-page set of specifications (PDF), heavily redacted, obtained by theElectronic Privacy Information Centerthrough the Freedom of Information Act, says the scanners must ?be based on X-Ray or gamma technology,? which use potentially dangerous ionizing radiation at high energies, and ?shall be capable of scanning?cars, SUVs, motorcycles and busses.?

?Society will pay a huge price in cancer because of this,? John Sedat, professor of biochemistry and biophysics at the University of California at San Francisco, told CNET. Sedat has?raised concernsabout the health risks of X-ray scanners, and the European Commission in November?prohibitedtheir use in European airports.

Full article here


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Source: http://www.prisonplanet.com/dhs-x-ray-scanners-could-be-cancer-risk-to-border-crossers.html

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The View from Canada: Impact Investing 2.0 - Your Money, Your ...

When you start to think about investing your money to save for retirement or to grow your net worth, you are faced with a lot of questions:?

How much do I put aside every month? Who do I trust with my money? I am a high- or low-risk investor? What do I want to invest in? Enter the financial advisor - they can help answer those questions, set up a portfolio for you and give you piece of mind. But what about when they can't offer you something you want to invest in? What happens with even Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) funds don't met your needs?

Enter impact investing. Of course it isn't a new concept (NextBillion has covered it extensively) but it is a concept that is gaining popularity in the investment community. For the uninitated, impact investing is the act of investing your money into projects that will have a positive social or environmental impact and getting a return for it. Impact investing experts credit the gain in popularity to among other things: the instability of financial markets, the creation of a common framework for reporting on impact investments and to the shift of donors lending money to causes rather than giving money to causes.

Because it is fairly new in the more traditional financial circles your financial advisor may not be aware of impact investing opportunities or educated about them enough to present them to you as an option. They may also not be telling you about them because there is no incentive for them to do so, which leads to the question ?- what could an incentive structure for impact investing look like? I'll let someone else blog about that one...

Venturing out on your own can lead to challenges. Until recently, the only way I knew how one could invest in organizations?and companies they believed in was to be an accredited investor with at least $50,000 to invest. Fortunately, there are impact investing opportunities out there for the retail-sized customer, and some of them were showcased at the "Beans and Bonds" session at this year's Social Finance Forum?hosted by the MaRS Centre for Impact Investing last month in Toronto, Canada.

In that session participants (from social enterprises, social purpose business, foundations, investors, government and others) learned about opportunities like the Centre for Social Innovation's (CSI) Community Bonds that have been oversubscribed. Give CSI $10,000 for a 5-year term and they'll give you a 4 percent return annually and it is mortgaged backed. Your investment helps to create an affordable workspace for over 400 people and projects focused on creating impact like Not Far from the Tree - a group that works with Toronto homeowners to pick the fruit they wouldn't have and split it three ways between the home owner, the volunteers and food banks.

Is $10,000 still too much? There is another option: Solar Bonds. Become a member of the TREC Renewable Energy Co-op (for $40) and invest $1,000 maximum (because that is the limit right now, due to the lack of a regulatory framework in Canada to support social enterprise, regulations the Canadian Task Force on Social Finance has called for in its 2010 report) for five years and you will receive 5 percent annually. Your money is invested in solar power projects that are backed by 20-year contracts with the Ontario Power Authority and they reduce greenhouse gas emissions and support local employment in Ontario.

Like any investment you make, you take a risk and like with any investment, you should do your homework and find out if investing in bonds or a co-op is the right fit for you. The daunting part is the lack of financial advisors who can help you make that decision and the lack of a structure that incentivizes them to want to do so as discussed earlier on.

To read more about what opportunities exist in Canada check out the Canadian Task Force on Social Finance Progess Report. While there isn't exactly a slew of opportunities for retail investing, there are more and more people who are asking the question: How can we unlock new sources of capital from retail investment to ensure impact investment opportunities aren't just for the wealthy?" as Logan Yonavjak asks in her recent post about the newly released "Impact Investing" book co-authored by Antony Bugg-Levine and Jed Emerson. Bugg-Levine was one of the speakers at the event, check out the Forbes interview below:

2011 Social Finance Forum: Investing in Good Deals from SiG @ MaRS on Vimeo.

So to all the small scale investors out there - and there are many of you - talk to your financial advisor, talk to your local representatives (provincial and federally) and tell them you want a structure in place that gives you great choice in who you invest in. It is after all your money.

Source: http://www.nextbillion.net/blog/2012/01/12/your-money-your-way-

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Live from the Engadget CES Stage: an interview with Toshiba (update: video embedded)

Toshiba's senior product manager swings by to talk about Toshiba's ever growing product line and the future of their brand. Join us live at 3:00PM ET.

Correction: The Toshiba Excite X10's correct pricing is $529.99 MSRP for 16GB and $599.99 MSRP for 32GB

Update: Interview video now embedded.

Continue reading Live from the Engadget CES Stage: an interview with Toshiba (update: video embedded)

Live from the Engadget CES Stage: an interview with Toshiba (update: video embedded) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 13 Jan 2012 16:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/13/live-from-the-engadget-ces-stage-an-interview-with-toshiba/

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This Cute Sea Snail Can Swallow a Fish Three Times Its Size and Kill Humans [Video]

Watch this nice snail. It slowly moves across the ocean floor—lah-di-lah-di-lah!—until it finds a sleeping fish three times its size. Does it say hello, Mr. Fish, sorry to wake you up? No. It just opens its giant mouth and swallows it. More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/O7b2aXYp4DU/this-cute-sea-snail-can-eat-a-fish-three-times-its-size

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Estimation of Resistance Exercise Energy Expenditure Using Triaxial Accelerometry.

Source

Department of Exercise Science, Bloomsburg University, Bloomsburg, PA.

Abstract

Recently, it was demonstrated that a uniaxial accelerometer worn at the hip could estimate resistance exercise energy expenditure. As resistance exercise takes place in more than one plane, the use of a triaxial accelerometer may be more effective in estimating resistance exercise energy expenditure. The purpose of this study was to estimate the energy cost of resistance exercise using triaxial accelerometry, and to determine the optimal location for wearing triaxial accelerometers during resistance exercise. Thirty men and women (15 M; 15 W; 21.7 ? 1.0 yr) performed a resistance exercise protocol consisting of two sets of eight exercises (10 RM loads). During the resistance exercise protocol, subjects wore triaxial accelerometers on the wrist, waist, and ankle, a heart rate monitor, and a portable metabolic system. Net energy expenditure was significantly correlated with vertical (r = 0.67, p <0.001), horizontal (r = 0.43, p = 0.02), third axis (r = 0.36, p = 0.048), and sum of three axes (r = 0.50, p = 0.005) counts at the waist, and horizontal counts at the wrist (r = -0.40, p = 0.03). Regression analysis using fat free mass, sex, and the sum of accelerometer counts at the waist as variables was used to develop an equation that explained 73% of the variance of resistance exercise energy expenditure. A triaxial accelerometer worn at the waist can be used to estimate resistance exercise energy expenditure, but appears to offer no benefit over uniaxial accelerometry. The use of accelerometers in estimating resistance exercise energy expenditure may prove useful for individuals and athletes who participate in resistance training and are focused on maintaining a tightly regulated energy balance.

Source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?tmpl=NoSidebarfile&db=PubMed&cmd=Retrieve&list_uids=22222328&dopt=Abstract

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Most Parents Tell Kids About Test Results for Breast Cancer Genes (HealthDay)

MONDAY, Jan. 9 (HealthDay News) -- Most parents who have genetic tests for breast cancer risk share the findings with their children, a new study finds.

Researchers interviewed 253 parents who underwent genetic testing for mutations in two common breast cancer-related genes (BRCA1 and BRCA2) that can be inherited. All the participants had children younger than age 25 at the time of the genetic test.

Twenty-nine percent of the parents were found to have a BRCA gene mutation associated with an increased risk of breast cancer, said Dr. Angela Bradbury, of the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, and colleagues.

Most of the parents in the study shared their test results (positive or negative) with at least one of their children. Of the 505 children, 334 (66 percent) were informed about the findings of their parents' tests.

Parents were more likely to share their test results with older children, but results were shared with about half of children ages 10 to 13, and some children who were even younger.

The researchers also found that parents were more likely to tell their children about negative test results -- meaning no breast cancer-related mutation was found -- particularly if the child was a girl.

Most children were not distressed when told about their parents' test results, but they were more likely to be upset when a mutation was detected and when they were younger than age 10, according to the report published online Jan. 9 in the journal Cancer.

"We know that adolescence is a time when children establish many important health behaviors they continue in adulthood. An understanding about children's reactions to these communications may assist parents in their decisions about whether, or when, to share their genetic test results," Bradbury said in a journal news release.

"This could also help parents begin conversations with their children that can encourage them to adopt healthy behaviors but not cause them distress," she added.

More information

The American Association for Clinical Chemistry has more about BRCA1 and BRCA2 tests.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/health/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20120109/hl_hsn/mostparentstellkidsabouttestresultsforbreastcancergenes

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