Galactic Views (8)

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SPACE WATCH

Carina Nebula: 14,000+ Stars
NASA – The Carina Nebula is a star-forming region in the Sagittarius-Carina arm of the Milky Way that is 7,500 light years from Earth and the Chandra X-Ray Observatory has detected more than 14,000 stars in the region.

Chandra’s X-ray vision provides strong evidence that massive stars have self-destructed in this nearby star-forming region. Firstly, there is an observed deficit of bright X-ray sources in the area known as Trumpler 15, suggesting that some of the massive stars in this cluster were already destroyed in supernova explosions. Trumpler 15 is located in the northern part of the image and is one of ten star clusters in the Carina complex.

The detection of six possible neutron stars, the dense cores often left behind after stars explode in supernovas, provides additional evidence that supernova activity is increasing up in Carina. Previous observations had only detected one neutron star in Carina. Image Credit: NASA/CXC/Penn State/L. Townsley et al.

Wall Street sit-in goes global Saturday

SLIDE SHOW
By Alastair Macdonald – For an October revolution, dress warm. That’s the word going out – politely – on the Web to rally street protests on Saturday around the globe from New Zealand to Alaska via London, Frankfurt, Washington and, of course, New York, where the past month’s Occupy Wall Street movement has inspired a worldwide yell of anger at banks and financiers.

Concrete demands are few from those who proclaim “We are the 99 percent,” other than a general sense that the other 1 percent – the “greedy and corrupt” rich, and especially banks – should pay more, and that elected governments are not listening. more> http://is.gd/6H6UdI

Related articles

• On George Soros, Occupy Wall Street, and Reuters, Felix Salmon, Reuters
• Occupy Wall Street protests reveal liberal tensions, Peter Wallsten, Washington Post
• Occupy Wall Street roundup, Day 27 (dailykos.com)
• Protesters To Occupy London, Rome, Madrid Saturday (huffingtonpost.com)
• Occupy Wall Street: Top 10 Protester Signs (thehollywoodgossip.com)
• Occupy Wall Street’s Wild Morning in Pictures and Video (theawl.com)

New Horizons for RFID

By Charles Murray – For the past decade, the business world has anxiously awaited the day when radio frequency identification (RFID) would step up to the throne and replace the venerable barcode on billions of everyday products.

While the world has been waiting, however, RFID has taken a detour. Today, RFID tags are popping up in places where no one ever dreamed of using barcodes. Take, for example, Coca-Cola’s new Freestyle drink vending machine. Freestyle uses RFID to identify drink cartridges, help with inventory, and manage its huge number of flavor variations. more> http://is.gd/CLhdA4

Related articles

• Tag it, track it: how RFID works (holykaw.alltop.com)
• Texas Emergency Tracking Network & Radiant RFID Receive Global and National Emergency Management Awards (prweb.com)
• Ascendent ID Unveils New Long Range RFID SensorTag Options (prweb.com)
• In Canada, RFID warning system to aid child safety on farms (springwise.com)

A good ol’ American kick in the pants

Image via Wikipedia

By Scott Wagers – As an American living in Belgium I have noticed many differences between the American and European approach to work. Americans are very goal oriented, we’ll work through the night to meet a deadline or to solve a vexing problem. In general, Europeans will leave precisely at 5 PM regardless that something is not finished. They have a very thick skin for tolerating the criticism that comes with not meeting deadlines.

Other things I have noticed is that if call a company and you make a request and the person who usually does that request is on vacation (usually 6 weeks) you are told to wait until they return. One company that I tried in vain to call in July, just let their phone ring, not even an answering machine to say they were closed for vacation…

Bringing my A game I am working on all three..

Europe should relish in the collision of cultures and learn from it while teaching the Americans something as well. more> http://is.gd/VWDejf

Should tech pros get an MBA?

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By Ann Bednarz – Michael Morris with a decade of networking and communications experience says, “The best thing the MBA gives me from a skills standpoint is the ability to really look at business decisions, quantify them from a financial perspective, apply certain principles, and derive an ROI from any type of activity. That’s key, because there aren’t a lot of IT people who can really do that.”

Having an MBA in the IT field doesn’t command an automatic pay increase like it might in a business management position, where there’s immediate value associated with an MBA degree. “If you’re looking to capitalize on a higher-paid position in a technical field because of the MBA, you’re not going to get it on the entry point,” says Jack Cullen, president of IT staffing provider Modis. more> http://is.gd/2lSCwX