Google employees exposed to pornography sue the company

Google employees exposed to pornography sue the companyGoogle employees exposed to pornography sue the companyUpdate On March 21, only a few days after the waivers existence came to light, Google has now decided to drop the requirement for employees to sign it, according to The Information.A Google manager quietly filed a lawsuit against the company in December, complaining about two major things the companys internal spying program on employees as well as formal agreements that prohibit employees from suing for sexual harassment if they see porn at work.According to a lawsuit, Google employees must waive their right to sue for sexual harassment at work,according to The Information.It all comes down to pornography.Years of case law that supports the rights of workers to sue companies if they are exposed to pornography, under sexual harassment laws. Many Google employees are exposed to porn, as a fact of life at a search engine company.Googles solution to force all employeesto sign a waiver forgoingtheir right to sue the company for sexual harassment - despite the fact that the vast majority of those 72,000 employees may have no reason to look at pornography at work.As a result, three current and former employees are suing the company in California state court because they believe several of Googles rules have infringed upon labor law,according to The Information.The waiver reportedlycovers all workers who workfor Google, its parent company, Alphabet, and its other subsidiaries.The waiver came to light because of the lawsuit filed by an anonymous Google manager, who was later joined by two other workers.This weeks court filing in the lawsuit says that the company requires new workers to sign an Adult Content Liability Release, according to The Information. The employeesreportedlysay that the adult images waiver is illegal because companies cannot make employees give up their rights as a condition of employment.Google gaveLadders a statement.We have employees who may be exposed to offensive material as part of their jobs, such as those who protect our users by fighting web spam or reviewing flagged videos. Like other companies, we have policies and practices - updated regularly - surrounding such roles. Of course, these policies have never had anything to do with inappropriate content that employees may be exposed to outside their job responsibilities, and have never altered or detracted in any way from Googles policies prohibiting harassment. We believe any claim challenging Googles policies on this point will fail, the statement said.Ive never heard of this before in my lifeIts overly broad, its overly controlling, its interfering with peoples constitutional rights, attorney KellyArmstrong told The Information.Exposure to porn and violent images has been a controversial employment issue among big Silicon Valley companies.In January, Microsoft also came under fire when two former employees and their families sued because they said theywe re suffering post-traumatic stress disorder afterbeing exposed to and reporting things like child pornography and abuse, bestiality and murder while at work. Thetwo employees said they didnt know they would be exposed to that content and that Microsoft failed to provide psychological support.This work is difficult, but critically important to a safer and more trusted internet, GeekWire said Microsoft responded in a statement.In another instance, a Google contractor told BuzzFeed news in 2012 that he spent nine months scanning the web for sensitive content, including looking at 15,000 images of child porn a day.Content moderation at Facebook, Twitter, Google and other major websites could employ a shadow workforce of as many as 100,000 people whose job is purely to scan the internet for inappropriate content, according to Wired.

Harnessing the Vortex

Harnessing the Vortex Harnessing the Vortex Harnessing the VortexBird killer. Eye sore. Noisy. Uneconomical. These are the big objections leveled at wind turbines and what keep the technology from peppering the countryside with greater density. But if each of these problems could be sufficiently defanged, wind would likely blossom into the cheap, sustainable, plentiful source of power it has often been touted to be.The trick may be as simple as removing the blades.Thats what the brains behind the Vortex Bladeless wind generator are banking on. Their single stalk turbine looks like a giant baseball bat balanced on a tee. Where the horizontal movement wind across the earth is what powers a conventional wind turbine, the Vortex Bladeless pulls its energy from vortices in that wind.The idea first came to David J. Yez Villarreal, the inventor, and the founder and co-CEO of the company, while watching a video of the collapse of the Tacoma Narrows bridge. While some might see in the clip di saster and destruction, Yez saw something else. The bridge welches able to harvest the energy, he says. Why not try to develop a new tool to harvest energy based on this?Installing a prototype of the turbine. Image Vortex BladelessThats just what he did. After officially starting the company in 2010, they now have a product ready to exploit the breeze. The simplicity of the technology is what makes it effective and affordable. The bat-like part of the turbinewhat they call the mastis light, hollow, rigid, and made of the same materials as a conventional turbine carbon fiber and glass fiber. When eddies hit it, the mast rocks back and forth, perpendicular to the direction of the wind, whatever that direction might be.Changing wind directions, though, was a tiny problem compared to changing wind speeds. This was probably the fruchtwein difficult technical endeavor, says Yez. Part of the solution comes from two concentric magnetic rings at the base of the turbine. We are able to harves t energy at different velocities, but we have to transfer it efficiently. This is a technical point we are working on today, he says.They also operate as a frictionless bearing, requiring no oil and no maintenance. Obviating the need for BASE-jumper repairmen helps to keep costs low even after the anfangsbuchstabe outlay.The systems efficiency also depends on the shape of the mast. Yez and his team tried dozens of models both real and virtual. They have a wind tunnel in their lab made of 80 fans blowing in the same direction. If wind in the real world were similarly unidirectional, the mast would have been more cylindrical at the top, that, is, more like a baseball bat. But with the potential for a change in direction thrown into the mix, a more conical top proved most efficient. As it stands, the Vortex Bladeless can harvest some 30 percent of the energy available in any gust, and Yez hopes to bump that number up by five points or so soon.The company hasnt been around long enough t o put a real number on the lifespan of their turbine. But after some formulations, computations, and simulations, they estimate that a Bladeless will oscillate effectively for 19 to 35 years. That puts it in the general ballpark of conventional wind turbines.But even if the new turbine proves a little less efficient and a little less durable than its pinwheeled counterparts, it certainly wins when it comes to the main complaints. It operates in near silence, mars a smaller portion of any pastoral vista, and its pretty hard to imagine how it could take out a bird. And, most important, it will cost about half as much as todays wind turbines.Thanks to a successful crowd-funding campaign, Yez and his crew will erect a 10-foot high pilot study in India. It will produce 100 watts and cost a mere $250. Whats likely to be the standard generator modelavailable in a year or sowill stand 41 feet high and produce four kilowatts. Two of them could power a home. Should Bladeless research continue apace, the team hopes to produce a 490-foot, megawatt version in 2018.Everything is going very well, says Yez, but we have a lot of work to do.Michael Abrams is an independent writer.Learn more about the latest energy technologies at ASMEs Power and Energy Conference. For Further DiscussionWe are able to harvest energy at different velocities, but we have to transfer it efficiently- this is a technical point we are working on today.David J. Yez Villarreal, founder and co-CEO, Vortex Bladeless

Why You Should Keep Your Resume Honest

Why You Should Keep Your Resume HonestWhy You Should Keep Your Resume HonestIf youve been job searching for a long time and elend getting many offers, you might be tempted tolie on your resume. This is always a bad idea. Theres never a good reason not to be honest when youre writing your resume. Maybe you wont get caught, but what if you are? Not only is stretching the truth on your resume the wrong thing to do, but its likely to come back to bite you. In the worst-case scenario, youll get caught, eitherimmediately, during abackground check,or years down the road, and youlllose the offer or the job. Its not unlikely history is full of cases of successful people whose careers were undone because of a falsified education credential or an invented job title on theirresume. Theres a lot to lose and nothing to gain by embellishing your resume to get chosen for an interview. But even if you never get caught, lying on your resume can destroy your career by inches. For one thing, youd have t o spend the rest of your time at that job hoping that no one ever finds out. Plus, youll have secured the job under false pretenses, which means that you might not be qualified to do the work and succeed. Get the Facts Straight Even if you take a leap and decide its worth fudging the truth and taking a chance on getting caught, be sure you know what you put on your resume. Ive interviewed candidates who either had a really bad memory when it came to their employment history or who had fudged more than a few details. Unfortunately for them, it only took a quickreference checkto confirm that their resume wasnt accurate. Its also important to get the facts straight. When you list results- goals youve met, sales numbers youve made, anything quantifiable- be sure thatwhat you tell the interviewer matches whats on your resume. Again, if youre not honest, its going to be an issue for potential employers. Even if you are honest, its important to be clear and accurate about your work his tory and achievements and to remember what youve put down on your application materials. Its possible to be totally forthright and factually correct and leise make a mistake about your dates of employment or a job title from ten years ago. If youre not certain about the details of youremployment history, do some digging before you send out your resume and cover letter. Verify dates with the Social Security Administration, Internal Revenue Service, and old employers so that you can be 100 percent sure that youre presenting the correct information. Many employers conduct some sort ofemployment history verification you dont want to look asthough youre lying when youre telling the truth. For the same reason, its equally important to go over the details of your history and achievements with former colleagues and bosses who writereferencesand/orrecommendations. Dont trust that their memories are the same as yours. How to be Honest on Your Resume and Get the Job The good news is that y ou dont have to lie to make a good impression. With a little honest finessing, your actualexperience and skills can help you get the job. David Adams, Vice President of Learning and Development of Adecco Group North America, offers these tips Be honest.When it comes to resumes, potential employers are on the lookout for exaggerated skills or results. Grossly overstating your accomplishments can send up a red flag that may come back to haunt you during an interview- or eliminate your chances of securing an interview in the first place. So, be honest even if your embellishments make it past a recruiter or potential employer, youre umgebung yourself up for failure by misrepresenting yourself and your abilities. Quantify your results.Wherever possible, include dollar amounts. If you managed a sizable budget or inked a big deal, be sure to mention this.Employers want to see what youve done, andnumbers are a great way to show them. Know the numbers.Likewise, if the number of people you ma naged or thenumberofprograms you developed was significant, focus on that information. Showing that youve made good use of your time at another job helps employers visualize what you can do for them. Dont bury the lead.With hundreds of resumes to go through, hiring managers canonlyspend a limited amount of time skimming each one. You need to get your message across right away and convince them thatyour skills and experience are what theyre seeking. Make sure that key information is either listed first or presented in a manner that makes it stand out. Mention off-the-job experience.Be sure to highlight any skills, education, community/volunteer work, and additional schooling that pertain to your particular job area or that a potential employer might view as an asset. Include any accomplishmentsandnotable professional awardsor recognition you have earned. Professionalism is key.Including photographs, hobbies unrelated to the job, or personal information is unnecessary.