Mountain Views News          Saturday, September 10, 2011

15

THE WORLD AROUND US

 Mountain Views News Saturday, September 10, 2011 


Venerable Mars Rover Begins Study of Brand-New Site

The Mars rover Opportunity may be a senior 
citizen, but it’s still as spry as ever, and as it peers 
over the rim of the giant impact crater called 
Endeavour, it’s embarking on what could be called 
a new mission, say its NASA guides.

“You’re coming along with us to a brand new 
geologic field site,” said Steve Squyres, Cornell 
astronomy professor and principal investigator of 
the Mars Exploration Rover mission.

The rover arrived Aug. 9 at Cape York, on the 
rim of Endeavour, after a three-year journey of 
about 13 miles as it detoured to avoid numerous 
hazards along the way.

Endeavour, an impact crater 14 miles in diameter, 
offers tantalizing clues about the Red Planet’s early 
formative process. Squyres described Tisdale 2, 
the first rock Opportunity has examined at the rim 
of Endeavour, as a breccia—composed of chunks 
of fragmented rock. It has the scientists excited 
because it’s unlike any rock they’ve explored so far 
on Mars.

Tisdale 2 is a basaltic rock that has a composition 
similar to some volcanic rocks, but most striking 
so far is the large amount of zinc in its chemical 
makeup, Squyres said. For rocks on Earth, zinc 
is an element typically found in a place with 
hydrothermal (hot water) activity.

“This is a clue that we may be dealing with a 
hydrothermal system here,” Squyres said. “We 
may have a situation where water has percolated or 
flowed or somehow moved through these rocks—
maybe as vapor or maybe as liquid. We don’t know 
yet.”

It is too early to tell whether the rock’s 
composition indicates evidence of water on Mars, 
Squyres said, but the initial observations point to 
what he expects will be a “long and interesting 
story about these rocks.”

Opportunity will next drive northeast to 
search for bedrock along Cape York. Questions 
to be answered, according to Squyres: Does the 
zinc composition vary from place to place? Is it 
concentrated along fractures where water can 
move easily? Does the zinc correlate with other 
elements also associated with moving water?

The twin Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity 
landed on the Red Planet in 2003 for what was 
expected to be a 90-day mission. Spirit stopped 
communicating in March 2010, and scientists 
are cautiously optimistic about Opportunity’s 
scientific future, even after more than seven years 
of wear and tear.

The science team selected Endeavour as 
Opportunity’s long-term destination after the 
rover climbed out of Victoria crater three years 
ago. The mission had spent two years studying 
Victoria, which is about one twenty-fifth as wide as 
Endeavour. Layers of bedrock exposed at Victoria 
and other locations Opportunity has visited share 
a sulfate-rich composition linked to an ancient era 
when acidic water was present. Opportunity drove 
about 13 miles from Victoria to reach Endeavour. 
It has driven 20.8 miles since landing on Mars.

“We have a very senior rover in good health 
for having already worked 30 times longer than 
planned,” said John Callas, project manager for 
Opportunity at JPL. “However, at any time, we 
could lose a critical component on an essential 
rover system, and the mission would be over. Or, 
we might still be using this rover’s capabilities 
beneficially for years. There are miles of exciting 
geology to explore at Endeavour crater.”

NASA will launch its next-generation Mars 
rover, Curiosity, between Nov. 25 and Dec. 18, 
2011. It will land on Mars in August 2012.

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


Ask jai……


A Matter of Trust

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 your questions, but I will be totally honest. My objective is to help you achieve 
your employment goal.

In computer news this week the 
name that was a topic of discussion for 
many was DigiNotar. DigiNotar is a 
Dutch company whose main activity is 
(was) being a Certificate Authority. The 
company is (was) known officially as a 
“Trusted Third Party” for the issuance 
of digital certificates which are used in 
computing and on the internet to verify 
the identity of companies and users. A 
digital certificate works with a Public 
Key Infrastructure (PKI), which uses 
Public Key Cryptography, in order to 
secure communications between two 
computers which to trust each other 
by encrypting their communications 
so that only the parties involved can 
read the messages sent between them. 
Websites also use the certificates in 
order to provide secure communications 
for web applications such as email and 
e-commerce. In short, digital certificates 
allow the internet as we know it to 
function in the way that we’ve come to 
know and expect. They make a place 
that’s unsafe a little safer. 

This leads us back to the business of 
DigiNotar. As far as trusted certificate 
authorities go, DigiNotar is (was) a big 
one until this week. The trouble started 
when a certificate issued by the company 
was used in a hacking attack. Use of the 
cracked certificate was widespread and 
eventually the company was hacked and 
hundreds of certificates were stolen for 
illicit use on the internet. The company 
initially admitted that only a few dozen 
certificates had been affected but just 
recently it has come to light that the 
depth of the breach was much more 
significant than originally reported. The 
situation is so serious that Microsoft has 
already issued an update that revokes 
all certificates issued by DigiNotar for 
users of Internet Explorer and other 
browser manufacturers have followed 
suit. Industry experts are wondering 
when and if Apple will take measures 
to automatically reject the fraudulent 
certificates. Mac OS users must now use 
the Keychain utility to manually remove 
the certificates. In addition to the 
risk posed to computers, Smartphone 
users are also affected as the OS on 
the phone uses a version of the same 
browsers to surf the web and they also 
use digital certificates to secure their 
communications. 

This entire episode in internet (in)
security goes to show just how serious the 
breaches can be and just how devastating 
the damage can be. In this case the 
damage just may include the shuttering 
of a once thriving company. DigiNotar 
had included the Dutch government as 
one of its main customers and was the 
issuer-of-trust for all of its departments. 
It also shows just how quickly damage 
to the security underpinnings of the 
internet can spread if left unchecked. 

I have over 15 years experience in marketing and worked for 3 employers. I do not 
feel that a one page resume tells my story. What is the right number of pages for a resume? Perplexed.

Dear Perplexed,

The appropriate number of pages for a resume depends on your work history and experience. Rule of thumb 
is no more than two pages. I would suggest one page if you have less than five years experience and two pages 
if you have more than five years experience. Be sure that you include all the necessary information to get the 
employer’s attention to respond to your interest in their position: Summary of Experience, Work History with 
accomplishment statements, Computer and Software skills, Industry skills and Education.

I received a call from an employer who said she was reviewing resumes and wanted to ask me only one 
question: “what type of salary did I want?” I wasn’t sure what to say. I was afraid that I would give her an 
answer that would be to high or low and not be considered for the job. The answer I finally gave her was 
the salary that I made at my last position. I was really underpaid at my last job. What should I have said? 
Underpaid.

Dear Underpaid,

Employers typically conduct a “candidate screening call”. It sounds like this was a screening call and not a 
telephone interview. In this scenario there is only one person who does not know what the salary is. That is you. 
You should always prepare yourself to answer this question during a screening call, telephone interview or office 
interview. 

If you have no idea what the salary for the position is you have all the right in the world to ask the employer. 
Knowing the salary should also become part of your employment screening process. A possible response could 
have been “I did not notice a listing for the salary. Could you tell me what the range is?” At this point you 
should be prepared to respond if you are, or are not, comfortable with the range. If the employer does not give 
you a salary range and pushes you for a response, again, be prepared with a salary response. I would suggest 
that you give the employer a $5,000 - $10,000 range around the salary you actually want. Be very careful with 
your response because an employer will usually hold you to what ever salary or salary range you give. Research 
salaries in your area by checking out the following websites: www.PayScale.com or www.Salary.com. 

Everything you ever wanted to know about how to get a job but did not know who to ask. ASK Jai. Send your 
questions to jai@resumeandcareerservices.com or visit website www.resumeandcareerservices.com. 


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


STUCK IN A TIME WARP

Happy Tails

by Chris Leclerc.

Canyon Canine Dog 

Walking & Pet Sitting Services

HUG’EM AT HOME, 

BELT’EM IN THE CAR

You know them --the people who go through life seemingly 
without the traces of age. Often they’re not people you know 
well. They’re people you see sporadically at work, church, or 
your gym. Maybe you worked with them for a short time 15 
years ago. But now you watch them from across a crowded 
room and whisper to your spouse, “That’s Jim from accounting! He hasn’t 
aged one day since 1985!” Perhaps if you 
lived with them you might notice the faint 
wrinkle or the stray gray hair, but to all other 
casual observers, they will never be a day 
over forty.

To say that someone’s stuck in a time warp 
doesn’t necessarily mean they look young. 
There are some old ladies from my early 
childhood who still look like the same old 
ladies they were back then. One thing these 
people have in common, (at least the ones 
I “know”), is that they’re not overweight. 
They’re not all particularly skinny, but I can’t think of one that’s very fat. A 
great example is my mom’s former classroom aide. “Former” in that my 
mom retired (Yay!), not that the aide quit. We’ll call her Patty. “Patty hasn’t 
aged a day since I met her,” my mom marvels. “She can hop onto the shelves 
to put up bulletin boards like a gazelle. And you know she must be at least 
70!” “What is Patty’s secret?” you may ask. Turns out that back when China 
opened up in the 70’s, Patty planned a trip there. But in order to survive 
the tours, she would need to be able to walk a lot. So from that time since, 
Patty has walked daily around her neighborhood. Of course exercise doesn’t 
guarantee you’ll discover the fountain of youth. I’ve watched some very fit 
peoples’ appearance succumb to the passage of time, despite their adherence 
to healthy living. But you’re definitely more likely to look and feel younger by 
walking daily than by eating Haagen Daz during the news each night.

Which brings us to the other category of people stuck in a time warp, the 
ones who accomplish it cosmetically. (Again these people aren’t fat, but they’re 
not pumping metal, either.) They are usually women who’ve dedicated hours 
to moisturizing and exfoliating routines since junior high. They’re the ones 
who have to get up two hours earlier than the rest of us to construct their face, 
and start getting ready for bed at six o’clock to take it all down. Apparently 
creams, lotions and make up can make you look younger, but only if you start 
at a young age.

Some people think I’m in a time warp. I agree with them to a certain 
degree, not because I think I’m ageless, but because people from my distant 
past will recognize me while I have trouble picturing them. Perhaps this just 
shows poor observational skills, or, more likely, a failing memory. If I am in 
a time warp, it’s certainly not because I’m a whiz with makeup. One of my 
friends said she wanted something from Sephora for Christmas and I thought 
maybe it was a clothing line. First, I am WAY too cheap to invest in that stuff. 
And second, I am WAY too lazy to devote more than fifteen minutes, max, to 
my face and hair. One of my youthful fifty-five year-old friends and I agree 
that if we had to spend an hour or two working on our physical selves, we’d 
rather spend it running or swimming than painting and plucking in front of 
a mirror.

At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter so much what others think of your 
looks as how you feel and think of yourself. And we can take comfort in 1 
Samuel 16:7, “But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance... 
People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

Like most dogs, my canine 
companion “Tatertotts” loves to 
go for a ride in the car. In fact she 
enjoys riding along and playing 
the part of the passenger more 
than just about anything else 
in the world. For Tater, a cruise 
around town with the top down is 
a little bit of heaven. She seems to 
enjoy tagging along while I run my 
errands even more than chasing 
squirrels in the back yard, howling 
happily at Frank the mailman, 
or harassing the landscape 
maintenance men working in 
the yard next door! Although 
she can be a bit of a handful, and 
quite a challenge when it comes to 
socializing in public, I do my best 
to accommodate Tater’s desire to 
go for a drive so she can hang her 
head over, let her enormous ears 
flap in the wind, and bay from the 
bottom of her heart at other dogs 
passing by.

Before I adopted Tater, I had 
another dog named “Lady” who 
also loved to tag along every time 
I went for a drive. I will never 
forget the day, about 25 years ago, 
when I had Lady in the passenger 
seat with the windows down. She 
was hanging out with her front 
paws bent over the top of the 
window opening when I stopped 
at a red light on the corner of PCH 
and Catalina. We were waiting 
for the light to change, when she 
suddenly jumped out the window 
and started running randomly, 
chasing a bird through a park that 
happened to be located on the 
corner. If you are at all familiar 
with that area, you know it is a 
very busy, 5-point intersection 
with lots of fast moving traffic 
coming from all directions. 
It is most certainly not a safe 
place for a dog to roam free, so I 
immediately put my car in “park”, 
left it where it was, and ran after 
Lady, yelling for her to get back in 
the car. Fortunately, I did succeed 
in catching up with her and soon 
we were back in our seats (with 
the windows up), continuing on 
our journey. Of course I was upset, 
but I had no right to be angry with 
my dog because it was my fault. I 
had to resist the urge to reprimand 
her for doing what came natural 
- taking chase after a flying bird 
in the park. Then I spent the rest 
of the day beating myself up for 
having been so neglectful about 
properly protecting my beloved 
“daughter“ dog. It was a lesson 
well-learned and I was grateful 
that Lady was not harmed during 
the ordeal. The experience made 
me much more aware of the risks 
involved with having a dog loose 
in a motor vehicle.

These days I drive a convertible, 
which presents an even higher 
safety risk for an unrestrained 
dog. Not only is it a safety hazard, 
but now it is also against the law to 
transport a dog in an open vehicle 
without a safety restraint. (See: 
LA County Vehicle Code Sec. 
23117 - Dogs In Open Vehicles). 
Several years ago, before the pet 
restraint law had been passed, I 
went shopping for a device I could 
use to “bungee” Tater down while 
traveling in the car, but there 
was no such thing on the market 
at the time, so I got creative. I 
purchased a heavy duty harness 
and used a leash to loop through 
the top strap. I then wrapped the 
leash around the back of the car 
seat, leaving just enough wiggle 
room for comfort but not enough 
to allow Tater’s head to touch the 
windshield. It works wonders! At 
first she was a little tentative about 
wearing the harness, but within a 
few days she became much more 
confident in the car with her 
“safety belt” on, in fact now she 
refuses to ride without it!

A much higher level of pet safety 
awareness and new legislation to 
regulate the safe transportation 
of animals in motor vehicles has 
apparently inspired pet supply 
manufacturers to come up with 
some excellent ideas for pet safety 
belts, leaving no excuse for a 
caring, conscientious pet owner 
to take their dog for a ride without 
a restraint. One pet supply 
company, “Pet Buckle” came up 
with an excellent product concept 
designed to connect to “Latch 
Bars” that are installed in the back 
seat of many vehicles. The primary 
purpose for latch bars, which have 
become somewhat standard in 
new vehicles, is for use in securing 
child and infant car seats, but 
the creative crew at “Pet Buckle” 
realized it was a perfect resolution 
to the problem of connecting a 
dog restraint in a way that would 
be both comfortable and secure. 
There are a number of other 
products available in today’s 
market, offering something for 
everyone, regardless of weight, 
size or shape, so the next time you 
take your precious pup out for a 
cruise around town, make sure he 
is restrained safely and securely 
in a doggy seat belt. It could help 
save your pet’s life, as well as your 
own in the case of an accident.