Galactic Views (45)

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SPACE WATCH

Hubble Sees a Celestial Swan and Butterfly
NASA – This image from the Hubble Space Telescope shows planetary nebula NGC 7026. Located just beyond the tip of the tail of the constellation of Cygnus (The Swan), this butterfly-shaped cloud of glowing gas and dust is the wreckage of a star similar to the sun.

Planetary nebulae, despite their name, have nothing to do with planets. They are, in fact, a relatively short-lived phenomenon that occurs at the end of the life of mid-sized stars. As a star’s nuclear fuel runs out, its outer layers are puffed out, leaving only the hot core of the star behind. As the gaseous envelope heats up, the atoms in it are excited, and it lights up like a fluorescent sign.

Fluorescent lights on Earth get their bright colors from the gases with which they are filled. Neon signs, famously, produce a bright red color, while ultraviolet lights (black lights) typically contain mercury. The same is true for nebulae: their vivid colors are produced by the mix of gases present in them.

This image was produced by the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 aboard the Hubble Space Telescope. A version of it was entered into the Hubble’s Hidden Treasures Competition by contestant Linda Morgan-O’Connor. Hidden Treasures is an initiative to invite astronomy enthusiasts to search the Hubble archive for stunning images that have never been seen by the general public. Image Credit: ESA/NASA

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Understanding cyberspace is key to defending against digital attacks

BOOK REVIEW

Neuromancer, Author: William Gibson

By Robert O’Harrow Jr. – Not too long ago, “cyberspace” was pure fiction. The word appeared in “Neuromancer,” a 1984 novel that described a digital realm in which people, properly jacked in, could navigate with their minds. Author William Gibson described it as a “consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions of legitimate operators.”

“The truth is that the cyber-universe is complex well beyond anyone’s understanding and exhibits behavior that no one predicted, and sometimes can’t even be explained well,” concluded JASON, an independent advisory group of the nation’s top scientists, in a November 2010 report to the Pentagon.

Charlie Miller attributes that fragility to companies that place sales and novel applications over computer security.

“Companies want to make money,” he said. “They don’t want to sit around and make their software perfect.” more> http://tinyurl.com/cr7297e

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Can the Eurozone Survive?

By Mortimer B. Zuckerman – The facts of the eurozone showdown are brutally simple. Growth is stalled, even in the most successful member, Germany, and in many countries it is contracting. Unemployment is high and soaring; today Spain’s unemployment rate is some 24 percent. Banks are collapsing, and over-indebted governments are running out of both money and credit.

Germany wants Greece to stay in the eurozone but it seeks to enforce an internal devaluation through reductions in Greek wages and benefits. But this is difficult for democratically elected leaders. For example, labor costs in Spain are still rising although almost one in four workers do not have jobs. How deep would unemployment have to be for wages to start to fall?

It would amount to a cut in the average Greek family’s standard of living by 20 percent or more. That severe a shock is probably beyond the democratic limits as to how far any individual government can go without a political upheaval of unpredictable consequences. more> http://tinyurl.com/cdsu52k

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Verizon Offers Buyouts to 1,700 Union Land-Line Employees

Verizon Building, New York City
(Photo credit: marketingfacts)

By Scott Moritz – Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ), the second-largest U.S. phone company, offered exit packages to 1,700 technicians and call-center workers, a move that may lead to hundreds of job cuts if enough employees don’t volunteer.

“Layoffs are a tool of absolute last resort,” Rich Young, a spokesman for New York-based Verizon. “The reality is, the business has changed and we are adjusting our head count to meet those changes.” more> http://tinyurl.com/cgc9lsc

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Narrowing the Widening American Skills Gap

By Braden Kelley – Education comes through study. Skills come through practice.

We have a skills gap because our educational system is too focused on education and doesn’t focus enough on skills development. We need to focus more attention on teaching children that learning is an important and lifelong pursuit, and then teach them how to learn so they can easily acquire whatever skills they need through practice. more> http://tinyurl.com/ckvhpbq

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