With the increasing democratization of the workplace, dress codes may not seem to matter a great deal, especially in case of jobs which do not have a formal uniform. However, it makes good career sense not to stick out in the office environment on the very first day of work. Here are some tips on deciding what to wear as you start on a new job.

It is a good idea to arrive early for the interview so that you can have a feel of the office environment – how are the employees dressed and whether the interaction is formal or casual. Once you get the job, ask your mentor or someone who has been around for a while about the general do’s and don’ts of the place. It is always safe to inquire about informal rules governing behavior instead of assuming something and then being sorry.

On the first day it is prudent to dress in a simple but elegant manner. One can always elaborate on makeup, shoes or dress in future or on special occasions at the office. Again, wear something can be modified according to the work ethos. For instance, women might dress the first day in a skirt and jacket with a simple top so that if the jacket seems too dressy, it can be taken off later. Likewise men can dress in a two-piece suit and the jacket discarded if the environment is more casual.

The idea is to respect an established work ethos in the first few days and express one’s individuality only when one has been fully integrated into the workplace.

-Kalyani Mookherji

E-mails published on Sunday revealed that the Connecticut Social Services Commissioner had advised the Governor’s chief of staff against rushing ahead with the Charter Oak medical plan as early as June 4. The low cost medical plan which covers uninsured adults has come under some criticism of failing to garner an adequate network of providers.

The Charter Oak health insurance program has been designed by the state of Connecticut and seeks to provide affordable medical insurance to uninsured from low income families. The program started to accept applications from July 1, but records show that till now only one hospital from Connecticut has signed up. In the meantime, three private insurance companies which plan to provide coverage under Charter Oak plan have taken active measures to sign up more doctors and hospitals in an attempt to fill out the network of providers.

Even though state officials declared that over time around 19,000 medical providers are expected to sign up for the Charter Oak plan, reservations have been expressed in certain quarters. Some hospitals are hesitant to sign up as they fear the low reimbursement rates will lead to losses if they treat patients covered under the Charter Oak plan.

-Kalyani Mookherji

New legislation will give sweeping powers to border patrols in the US to seize laptops, i-Pods in case of suspicion of illegally obtained media. The Department of Homeland Security claims that such regulations will make it easier to prevent terrorist activities. However civil rights groups have expressed reservations, saying that the laws will lead to violation of privacy and undue harassment.

The new legislation will form part of the Anti Counterfeiting Trade Agreement and is expected to be in place by the end of 2008. The laws under this international agreement will allow random search and seizures of electronics like laptops which are suspected to engage in illegal file-sharing or other forms of copyright infringement. The enforcement agencies will also be authorized to destroy such illegal material at their discretion or share them with other agencies for reasons like data decryption and language translation.

On July 16, two agencies of the DHS, the US Customs and Border Protection as well as US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, had been allowed to exercise many of these provisions. However, the ACTA agreement will give a more formal framework to the new laws. Here it may be mentioned that while the policy makes has to safeguard confidential information relating business interests and client-attorney material, they do not provide any protection of personal data like medical records or financial information.

-Kalyani Mookherji

For the third straight weekend, the latest Batman film, The Dark Knight continued to top the box office numbers, earning Warner Brother another $43.8 million. In the three weeks of its release, the movie has already raked in $394.9 million and the over the next few days, the studio hopes the film will reach the $400 million mark.

The weekend earnings of The Dark Knight got some competition from the opening weekend sales of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor which earned around $42.5 million. If it reaches the $400 million milestone, The Dark Knight will be poised to take on the original Star Wars which at present holds the second position in overall box office earnings with $461 million. However The Dark Knight will still remain one place behind Titanic which continues to be the top grosser of all times in US and Canada with revenues of $601 million.

The Dark Knight is the latest movie in the Batman series which stars Christian Bale in the role of the troubled, caped crusader. However it is not so much the heroics of Batman which have propelled the movie to the first place but the antics of Batman’s manic adversary, the Joker, played by Heath Ledger in his last and most popular role before a sudden death. The film has already broken records for the fastest movie to cross the $200 million and $300 million milestones and for earning the highest revenues in its opening and second weekends.

-Kalyani Mookherji

The threat of labor strikes at Verizon Communications Inc was avoided as the US telecommunications company and two of its unions agreed to continue with negotiations. The two workers’ unions which are pushing issues related to wages, health care coverage as well as wider union representation, represent around 65,000 of Verizon’s employees.

Company officials at Verizon Communications Inc announced on Sunday evening that even as talks were set to continue, the workers would report to work as usual on Monday morning. The two agitating unions are the Communications Workers of America which represents some 50,000 workers at Verizon and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. The unions are demanding increased health coverage for present as well as retired workers, higher wages and union representation in the newly expanding sectors of the company.

The negotiating unions mainly represent the telephone side of Verizon’s business which is in a crucial phase as it is about to expand its optical fiber network in New York City. However, the company’s major growth driver is Verizon Wireless whose workers have limited representation in the unions.

At the height of the Internet boom in 2000, Verizon had 87,000 union employees which came down to 78000 three years later. At present the union workers at Verizon number 65000 while it has total employee strength of 228,600.

-Kalyani Mookherji

Trade imbalance between the US and China has led to the former losing out on as much as 2.3 million jobs, a study by the Economic Policy Institute has revealed. As China steadily shifts from churning out low-skill goods to manufacturing and exporting high-end products, the US seems likely to bear the brunt of increased Chinese imports.

The EPI study notes that the trade deficit with China has not only lead to job losses but also forced workers in the US to move from better-paying jobs to lower-paying positions. The range of industries hit by the trade imbalance extends from the technology to the manufacturing sectors – the latter being the worst-hit with around two-thirds of the total job losses. The situation becomes graver when considering that it is the manufacturing sector which has traditionally paid better wages and benefits to its employees.

The report brought out by the Economic Policy Institute has shattered the stereotype of low-margin and mass-produced goods being exported by China into the developed nations. Rather China is fast expanding its export base in high-tech products like computers, electronics, machinery, auto parts and even aircrafts. With this trend, China joins the league of other Asian countries like Japan and South Korea who have transformed from low-skill producers to creators of global technology brands in the last century.

-Kalyani Mookherji

On Saturday night, a privately developed rocket by SpaceX failed to complete its launch process from a remote Central Pacific destination. This was the third launch failure suffered by the rocket which is being funded and designed by Internet millionaire Elon Musk in an attempt to offer private space transportation at a competitive cost.

A couple of minutes after the initial launch, the Falcon 1 rocket failed to separate its two stages, eventually leading to an abandonment of its launch attempt. The rocket is being developed by Space Exploration Technologies which is better known as SpaceX. The Falcon rocket was supposed to have been transporting three satellites for the Department of Defense and NASA.

The most recent launch failure of the Falcon rocket system is the third in a span of two years. The first time that the rocket suffered a failure was in March 2006 when a fuel leak caused it to be abandoned soon after its launch into the orbit. A year later, the rocket was successfully sent to space but began spinning after five minutes and was eventually lost.

Space Exploration Technologies co-founder and CEO, Elon Musk announced the launch failure in a company blog and revealed that the cause would be investigated. With SpaceX rockets, Musk eventually plans to deliver payloads like satellites into space at reduced cost and with greater reliability.

-Kalyani Mookherji

With crude oil prices shooting to $140 a barrel and regular grade gasoline at $4.20 a gallon in the US, a heated debate has started over the most productive ways to reduce dependence on foreign fuel.. This being an election year, the issue is proving to be an emotional rallying point for each side of the political divide.

Traditionally the Democrats – with strong backing from the environment lobby – are in favor of greater exploration of clean, renewable sources of energy. They wish to encourage electricity generation from wind, solar and other alternate sources besides developing energy-efficient technologies. Recently, millionaire and oil entrepreneur, T. Boone Pickens has made a strong case for the promotion of wind-generated electricity and has appealed to the Congress to approve the setting up of corridors for wind turbines and grant subsidies to this technology.

However not everybody is impressed with Boone’s proposals. According to policy adviser Paul Driessen, the costs of setting up the huge wind turbines together with various related costs would reach $1.2 trillion. The traditional Republican position has been to encourage wider on and off-shore drilling in the country to increase domestic production of gas and oil with continued emphasis on coal-based and nuclear sources of energy.

-Kalyani Mookherji