p12, v4.38 — The World Around You

The World Around You

Mountain Views News Saturday, September 25, 2010

THE WORLD AROUND YOU

MountainViews-News Saturday, September 25, 2010

Breaking Waves In The Stellar Lagoon

THE NASA/ESA HUBBLE SPACE
TELESCOPE, launched into orbit two decades
ago in 1990, continues to delight our sense of
beauty as well as challenging our intellect. A case
in point is a spectacular new Hubble image that
reveals the heart of the Lagoon Nebula (Messier
8), located 4000–5000 light-years away in the
constellation of Sagittarius, the Archer.

The placid name of this deep-sky object—seen
in the telescope as a massive cloud of glowing dust
and gas that is being bombarded by the energetic
radiation of new stars—hides a dramatic reality.
The space telescope’s Advanced Camera for
Surveys has captured a stunning view of gas and
dust sculpted by intense ultraviolet radiation from
hot young stars in the Lagoon Nebula’s heart.

This object is named for the wide, lagoon-
shaped dust lane that crosses the glowing gas of
the nebula. That dust-lane structure is prominent
in wide-field images, but cannot be seen in the
Hubble telescope’s close-up. However, the
strange billowing shapes and sandy texture visible
in this image make the Lagoon Nebula’s watery
name eerily appropriate from this viewpoint too.

This nebula is actually a huge region of star
birth that stretches across one hundred light-
years. The image shows clouds of hydrogen gas
slowly collapsing to form new stars, whose bright
ultraviolet rays then light up the surrounding gas
in a distinctive shade of red.

The wispy tendrils and beach-like features of
the nebula are not caused by the ebb and flow of
tides, but rather by ultraviolet radiation’s ability
to erode and disperse the gas and dust into the
distinctive shapes that we see.

In recent years, astronomers probing the
secrets of the Lagoon Nebula have found the
first unambiguous proof that star formation by
the accretion (growth or enlargement by gradual
buildup) of matter from the gas cloud is ongoing
in this region.

Young stars that are still surrounded by an
“accretion disc” of in-falling gas and dust
occasionally shoot out long tendrils of matter
from their poles. Several examples of these
jets, known as “Herbig-Haro objects,” have
been found in this nebula in the last five years,
providing strong support for astronomers’
theories about the formation of new stars in
such hydrogen-rich regions.

The Lagoon Nebula is faintly visible to
the naked eye from a dark-sky location on
summer nights as a small patch of grey in the
heart of the southern Milky Way. Even in a
moderate-sized telescope, the nebula looks
underwhelming, partly because human eyes
are unable to distinguish clearly between
colors at low light levels.

The 18th century French astronomer Charles
Messier (1730–1876) observed this nebula
and included it in his famous astronomical
catalogue of 103 “Messier Objects” (deep-sky
objects other than stars, such as nebulae and
star clusters), from which the nebula’s alternative
name comes. But Messier’s relatively small
refracting telescope would only have hinted at
the dramatic structures and colors now visible—
thanks to our venerable Hubble Space Telescope.

You can contact Bob Eklund at: b.eklund@
MtnViewsNews.com.

Waves breaking in the stellar lagoon.

Ask jai……

A frequent topic of computer
security headlines is the so-
called “Zero-Day exploit”. A
Zero-Day exploit is defined
as the taking advantage of
vulnerability the same day as
the vulnerability is generally
known. There are typically
“zero days” between the
discovery of the exploit and
the attack, hence the name.
In most cases when a vulnerability is found
in computer code, the discoverer will notify
the company responsible for creating and
publishing the software (and sometimes the
computing community at large) so that a fix
can be found and implemented before any
real damage is done. Even if hackers happen
to learn about the exploit at the same time as
the software publisher, they may not be able
to take advantage of the vulnerability before
it is fixed. When the hacker happens to be the
discoverer of the exploit and the vulnerability
wasn’t generally known in advance, there may
be no effective way to guard against an attack
using this new vector. For these instances,
security software companies have devised
programs (and sub-routines) that look for
specific, suspicious activity (such as requests
to format drives that do not originate from
the console) and disallow such actions.

The name “Zero-Day exploit” itself is a
bit misleading because in many instances
the vulnerabilities that are taken advantage
of have been know to either the software
company or hackers themselves for quite
some time before “something bad” happens.
Many of the larger software manufactures
have entire well-financed sections of their
operations devoted to identifying, tracking
and repairing security holes in their products.
Sometimes there are differing opinions as
to what constitutes a vulnerability needing
immediate attention and a bug to be fixed in
the next scheduled software update.

The best thing you can do to protect against
zero-day exploits is to follow good security
policies in the first place. By installing and
keeping your anti-virus software up to date,
blocking file attachments to emails which
may be harmful and keeping your system
patched against the vulnerabilities of which
you are already aware, you can secure your
system or network against 99% of what is out
there.

One of the best measures for protecting
against currently unknown threats is to
employ a hardware or software (or both)
firewall. You can also enable heuristic
scanning (a technology used to attempt
to block viruses or worms that are not yet
known about) in your anti-virus software. By
blocking unnecessary traffic in the first place
with a hardware firewall, blocking access to
system resources and services with a software
firewall or using your anti- virus software to
help detect anomalous behavior, you can
better protect yourself against the dreaded
zero-day exploit.

Ask jai is a weekly column that will strive to honestly answer your job search
questions relating to job searching techniques, networking skills, resume
writing and interviewing. The employment situation is getting better, however,
it is still a challenge finding were the jobs are located and how to get pass the
“gate-keepers”. As an Executive Recruiter I was privy to working directly
with Corporate Recruiters and understanding their process in selecting which
candidates to interview and hire. I will candidly answer your questions,
possibly bluntly answering you questions, but I will be totally honest. My
objective is to help you achieve your employment goal.

“ZERO-DAY”

Q: What is the proper protocol regarding thank you notes and how soon after an interview should
I send one to the employer? Mr. Etiquette

Dear Mr. Etiquette:

It is always a “good thing” to send a thank you note. I know candidates who were not hired
because they did not send a thank you note to a prospective employer. Job seekers should include
thank you notes or letters as key components in the interviewing process. There are employers
who believe that receiving a thank you note from a candidate is the ultimate “closer” to making a
hiring decision. Sending a thank you note to the employer or interviewer demonstrates that you
can follow-through, and would be a considerate employee. Your thank you note should be short
and to the point, addressed to the person, include the date or day you interviewed, the position you
interviewed for, the reason why you are interested in the position and the company. End the note
with a strong closing statement (i.e., I am looking forward to joining your team) and offer to come
for another interview or to contact you for further information. Be sure to sign with your complete
name, include your telephone number and an e-mail address.

You should send a thank you note with in 24 hours after an in-person or telephone interview. Yes,
send a thank you note even after a telephone interview. Always request or get the name and contact
information of the interviewer or interviewers and send them a thank you note. A majority of job
seekers usually send e-mail thank you notes, and this is immediate and appropriate. However, if you
want to distinguish yourself from the other candidates, send a handwritten thank you note.

A hand-written thank you note implies that you have taken the time to send a personalized
message. Select a professional style note card or paper that reflects your personality. Do not choose
quirky note cards or flamboyant paper. Thank you notes or cards should always be handwritten.
Thank you letters are usually lengthier; computer generated, written on high quality paper and
includes your signature. I suggest that you send a thank you note to anyone that assisted you in the
interview process, this would include: receptionists, assistants, and everyone who interviewed you
at the company. You never know who is included in making the hiring decision. Do not write the
same message on each thank you note. Individualize and personalize every thank you note, card,
letter or e-mail. Do not forget to send your referrals and references a handwritten or e-mail thank
you note everything you complete an interview. This will keep them on board and continue to give
you excellent recommendations. It is always appropriate to send thank notes and people really
appreciate receiving them.

KATIE Tse ..........This and That

RICH Johnson

Women: Do Not Read This Column

REUNITED

Yea!! I got my wheels back! Accidents are something all
Angelinos can relate to, since a day without accidents in this city
is as rare as a day without sunshine. My turn came recently and
rendered me car-less for a couple of weeks. What began as a placid
morning ended with my front bumper lying like a decapitated head
on a quiet residential street.

I always
knew my little
car was made
of lightweight
plastic, but I
was surprised
to see chunks of
Styrofoam broken off from between the
fender and the body! I hadn’t realized my
car was literally held together by spit and a
prayer. (I often pray while driving. I find
it reduces my cursing in traffic.) The other
driver was in an ironclad pickup truck, and after a few moments of inspection, we found a
dent on his flank roughly the size of a nickel. I took pictures to memorialize the event.

I called my friend to swing by, since I was on my way to visit her on that fateful trip. We
started to unload the stuff from my car into hers –my registration and other vitals, forgotten
books and magazines, receipts from 2008, and the numerous bags of recyclable bottles and
cans that seem to multiply in my back seat.

The hardest blow came when the tow truck driver arrived, interrupting our labors to say
that, considering the damage and the car’s advanced age, my insurance company would
probably count it as a total loss. But it’s just the front bumper! I thought as he hoisted up
my car like a fallen solider onto a stretcher. I waited in desperate anticipation for a decision
from my claims assessor, meanwhile scouring the listings for the cheapest certified pre-
owned vehicles, if worse should come to worse.

I nearly squealed for joy when my insurance rep said the car was fixable. After a week
filled with many humbling journeys on foot, my car was ready to be picked up. The repair
shop washed it, a duty I’m guilty of neglecting, and it sat like a glistening jewel in the parking
lot. I had gotten so used to the tinkling of bottles and cans behind me that the drive back
was eerily quiet. I resolved to not let them pile up like that again as I drove my baby home
–very slowly.

Male Relationship Survival Skills

As a public service I am passing along relationship communication
survival tips. The following suggestions were penned by a woman who
chooses to remain anonymous. She suggests you cut out this handy guide
to communicating effectively with women and put it in someplace close
to your heart. Or possibly in your wallet.

DANGEROUS: What’s for dinner?

SAFER: Can I help you with dinner?

SAFEST: Where would you like to go for dinner?