Daily Archives: June 7, 2012

Views from the Solar System (44)


SPACE WATCH

Transiting the Sun
NASAEarth’s planetary neighbor Venus passes across the face of the sun on June 5, 2012, seen here from the International Space Station. Expedition 31 crew members aboard the orbital outpost had cameras set up in several locations to record the rare event.

Dwarfed by the Sun
Earth’s planetary neighbor Venus passes across the face of the sun on June 5, 2012, seen here from the International Space Station. Expedition 31 crew members aboard the orbital outpost had cameras set up in several locations to record the rare event.

Venus Transit From the Space Station
This image of the 2012 Venus Transit was taken by NASA Astronaut Don Pettit from aboard the International Space Station on June 5, 2012. Pettit, who had the foresight to bring a solar filter for his camera, captured several images of the June 5 transit, downloading them in almost real-time. He photographed the image through the European Space Agency-built “cupola”, removing the scratch panes to get crisp, clear images.

SDO’s High Def View of 2012 Venus Transit
On June 5-6 2012, SDO is collecting images of one of the rarest predictable solar events: the transit of Venus across the face of the sun. This event happens in pairs eight years apart that are separated from each other by 105 or 121 years. The last transit was in 2004 and the next will not happen until 2117.

This NASA image was captured on June 5, 2012. Image Credit: NASA/SDO, AIA

Path of the 2012 Venus Transit
On June 5-6 2012, NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO, collected images of one of the rarest predictable solar events: the transit of Venus across the face of the sun. This event happens in pairs eight years apart that are separated from each other by 105 or 121 years. The last transit was in 2004 and the next will not happen until 2117. Image Credit: NASA/SDO, AIA

NASA’s SDO Captures 2012 Venus Transit Approach
This image from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory shows Venus as it nears the disk of the sun on June 5, 2012. Venus’s 2012 transit will be the last such event until 2117. Credit: NASA/SDO, AIA

Coronal Hole on the Sun
This image of a coronal hole on the sun bears a remarkable resemblance to the ‘Sesame Street’ character Big Bird. Coronal holes are regions where the sun’s corona is dark. These features were discovered when X-ray telescopes were first flown above the Earth’s atmosphere to reveal the structure of the corona across the solar disc. Coronal holes are associated with ‘open’ magnetic field lines and are often found at the sun’s poles. The high-speed solar wind is known to originate in coronal holes. The solar wind escaping from this hole will reach Earth around June 5-7, 2012. Image Credit: NASA/AIA

100 years on – Low wages continue to impoverish many


US Minimum wage laws, from Image:Blank_US_Map.svg

US Minimum wage laws, from Image:Blank_US_Map.svg (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

By Christine Owens – Low-wage work is nothing new — but, as we arrive on the 100 year anniversary of the first minimum wage law passed in the United States, we must recognize an even more dispiriting fact about the low-wage workforce: It could have been a thing of the past.

The first minimum wage law in the United States was established on June 4, 1912 in Massachusetts. More than a dozen states would follow over the subsequent 10 years, and by 1933 the new U.S. Secretary of Labor, Frances Perkins, wrote an essay to make the case for a federal minimum wage.

There was nothing inevitable about the low-wage economy that we find in the U.S. today. What decades of experience tell us, however, is that unless we seriously acknowledge our responsibility to maintain the value of the minimum wage, we have little reason to expect anything different in the century ahead. more> http://tinyurl.com/c3gtkwu

How the FDIC can curb banks’ reckless speculation


By Barry Ritholtz – Let’s be blunt: Banking has devolved into an unruly mess.

After years of deregulation, it has become all but impossible to re-regulate modern banking. There was a brief window during the credit crisis, but that has passed. Today, profits trump soundness. Safety and security are secondary to risk-taking and speculation.

I have been wondering what we, as a democratic nation, are going to do about this. Are we going to rule banks, or are bankers going to rule us? more> http://tinyurl.com/cbeyqa4

T.Italia open to broadband cooperation with CDP


English: Videotelefono Telecom Italia

English: Videotelefono Telecom Italia
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Reuters – Italy‘s largest telecoms group Telecom Italia is open to working with state-owned financial agency Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP) to progressively roll out an ultra broadband network in Italy, its chief executive said on Wednesday.

“Whenever there is room for a public-private cooperation or with bodies like the CDP, we are extremely open,” Telecom Italia’s CEO Marco Patuano said on the margins of a conference. more> http://tinyurl.com/7vt7j3e

IT staff, engineers among top 10 toughest jobs to fill in US


By Michael Cooney – Forty-nine percent of US companies are having a hard time filling what workforce management firm ManpowerGroup calls mission-critical positions within their organizations with IT staff, engineers and “skilled trades” among the toughest spots to fill.

Across the globe, employers having the most difficulty finding the right people to fill jobs are located in

Talent shortages are least problematic in Ireland and the Netherlands, ManpowerGroup found. more> http://tinyurl.com/cq36epx