Galactic Views (37)

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SPACE WATCH

A New View of the Tarantula Nebula
NASA – To celebrate its 22nd anniversary in orbit, the Hubble Space Telescope released a dramatic new image of the star-forming region 30 Doradus, also known as the Tarantula Nebula because its glowing filaments resemble spider legs. A new image from all three of NASA’s Great Observatories–Chandra, Hubble, and Spitzer–has also been created to mark the event.

The nebula is located in the neighboring galaxy called the Large Magellanic Cloud, and is one of the largest star-forming regions located close to the Milky Way. At the center of 30 Doradus, thousands of massive stars are blowing off material and producing intense radiation along with powerful winds. The Chandra X-ray Observatory detects gas that has been heated to millions of degrees by these stellar winds and also by supernova explosions. These X-rays, colored blue in this composite image, come from shock fronts–similar to sonic booms–formed by this high-energy stellar activity.

The Hubble data in the composite image, colored green, reveals the light from these massive stars along with different stages of star birth, including embryonic stars a few thousand years old still wrapped in cocoons of dark gas. Infrared emission data from Spitzer, seen in red, shows cooler gas and dust that have giant bubbles carved into them. These bubbles are sculpted by the same searing radiation and strong winds that comes from the massive stars at the center of 30 Doradus. Image Credits: X-ray: NASA/CXC/PSU/L.Townsley et al.; Optical: NASA/STScI; Infrared: NASA/JPL/PSU/L.Townsley et al.

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Iceland court charges ex-PM for 2008 financial meltdown

Reuters – An Icelandic court on Monday (Apr 23, 2012) ruled that former Prime Minister Geir Haarde was guilty on one charge related to the nation’s 2008 financial collapse, but no punishment was handed down. He is the only world leader to be tried over the financial crisis.

“It is absurd,” Haarde told reporters after the verdict.

“It is obvious that the majority of the judges have found themselves pressed to come up with a guilty verdict on one point, however minor, to save the neck of the parliamentarians who instigated this,” he added.

Iceland’s biggest banks were all taken over by the state in
late 2008 after the credit crunch sparked by the collapse of
Lehman Brothers froze their access to funds. Iceland ring-fenced the banks’ domestic operations, letting their international operations go bankrupt. more> http://is.gd/s8yxzy

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• Iceland ex-PM Geir Haarde found guilty of banking crash failure (guardian.co.uk)
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• Iceland’s ex-PM guilty on one financial crisis charge, Rupert Neate, irishtimes.com
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• Bloomberg: “Money, Power & Wall Street” “Takes No Prisoners”, Azmat Khan, FRONTLINE/PBS

The Next and More Serious Phase of the European Crisis

By Desmond Lachman – Two upcoming political events could usher in a new, worse phase of the European debt crisis.

The first is the French presidential election, the first round of which was scheduled for last Sunday, and the second round for two weeks later. The second is the Greek parliamentary election on May 6, which could result in the formation of the weakest of Greek governments. more> http://is.gd/VuSTCE

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What Does Trust Have To Do With Anything?

By Christine Crandell - Why can’t companies function more like Cirque de Soleil performances? Keep a keen eye on the interaction between the performers and the stage hands, the level of trust is deep and obvious. From the little eye and movement clues the pole climbers give each other before they begin to the subtle but serious equipment checks each of the costumed stage hands do during the course of an act.

Why is culture so important to social business?

If you are going to tear down your company walls and foster open, constructive collaboration between all types of employees, partners and customers it is imperative that you trust your employees.  Their true feeling about the company and customers will become apparent in their tweets, microblogs and collaborations no matter how carefully worded.  If you cringe at the thought of your employees openly dialoging with partners, suppliers and customers then you need to take a hard look at the state of trust in your organization. more> http://is.gd/XOMLSD

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Opposition grows to CISPA ‘Big Brother’ cybersecurity bill

By Declan McCullagh – Last-minute opposition to the CISPA, which has been criticized as a “Big Brother” cybersecurity bill, is growing as the U.S. House of Representatives prepares for a vote this week.

Rep. Ron Paul, the Texas Republican and presidential candidate, warned in a statement and YouTube video today that CISPA (PDF) represents the “latest assault on Internet freedom.” Paul warned that “CISPA is Big Brother writ large,” and said that he hopes that “the public responds to CISPA as it did to SOPA back in January.” more> http://is.gd/f2TV9c

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