Fermilab Today Friday, January 12, 2007
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Fri., January 12
1:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m. Meson Test Beam Open House (See "Announcements")
3:30 p.m. Director's Coffee Break - 2nd floor crossover
4:00 Joint Experimental Theoretical Physics Seminar - 1 West
Speaker: A. de Roeck, CERN
Title: The LHC: The First Few Years
5:00 p.m.-7:00p.m. Art Opening for D.L. Brown
8:00 p.m. Fermilab International Film Society - Auditorium
Tickets: Adults $5
Title: Whisky Galore! (Tight Little Island)

Mon., January 15
Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday

Click here for NALCAL,
a weekly calendar with links to additional information.

Weather

WeatherChance of Drizzle 25°/30°

Extended Forecast
Weather at Fermilab

Current Security Status

Secon Level 3

Wilson Hall Cafe
Friday, January 12
-Beef Pepper Pot
-Buffalo Chicken Wings
-Cajun Breaded Catfish
-Sweet and Sour Pork over Rice
-Honey Mustard Ham and Swiss Panini
-Assorted Slice Pizza
-Carved Turkey

Wilson Hall Cafe Menu

Chez Leon

Wednesday, January 17
Lunch
Mid-January Winter Blues
Dessert Luncheon

Thursday, January 18
Dinner
Steamed Mussels in White Wine and Thyme
Marinated Leg of Lamb
Ratatouille
Pear and Cranberry Strudel

Chez Leon Menu
Call x4598 to make your reservation.

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Fermilab Today is online at:
www.fnal.gov/today/

Send comments and suggestions to:
today@fnal.gov

Feature Story

The Christmas Fowl


Participants in the 2006 Christmas Bird Count documented 13 Great Blue Herons on Fermilab grounds, an all-time record for the site.

On December 16, when most of us were busily planning for the holidays and looking forward to vacation time, the Accelerator Division's Peter Kasper and an assemblage of bird enthusiasts were out in the woods at 4:30 a.m., playing recordings to attract owls.

Each year, avid birders gather in late December and early January for the Christmas Bird Count (CBC). Over 50,000 people are estimated to have participated in over 1800 counts throughout the western hemisphere during the Audubon Society's 107th annual event. About 80 people comprising 10 different teams made up the Fermilab/Batavia count circle, which centers on the north boundary of Fermilab and extends 15 miles in diameter.

The teams sighted 74 species of birds and 39,824 individuals in the area, including 53 species and 6593 individuals on Fermilab grounds. A female ring-necked duck was the lone representative of her species, and the only one ever seen within the Fermilab site. "They're normally a migrant, but with a mild winter, the probability of them showing up increases," said Kasper. Other waterfowl, including the Hooded Merganser, Gadwall, Pie-billed Grebe, and Great Blue Heron were also counted in record numbers this year on site. Conspicuously absent from this year's count was the Ring-necked Pheasant, which has been observed every year since the local CBC started in 1976. "That's probably because of coyotes," Kasper said, who also added that the pheasants are in fact not a native species, but introduced from Asia.

At the end of the long day, many of the birders gathered at one birder's home in Batavia, where they warmed up their bodies while tallying the results. "Only the hard-core birders stay all day," said Kasper. "Then we have chili, drinks and various good food."
--Christine Buckley

A complete database of survey results since 1976 can be found at Peter Kasper's Christmas Bird Count website.

Photo of the Day


Diamond sandpaper to the rescue: AD's Doug Moehs sent this picture of sparks on the I-minus pre-accelerator. Sparks damage the smooth surface of the internal electrodes used to accelerate particles. The metal blasted away from the electrodes builds up on the column's ceramic inner-wall, creating current paths that lead to additional sparks and poor operation of the accelerating column. "We are currently cleaning the ceramic with diamond-grit sandpaper and polishing the electrodes to reduce rough surfaces," said Moehs. "The whole process should take about 3-4 weeks."

The image was captured from video with the help of Jim Shultz of Visual Media Services, Doug Moehs, Brian Stanzil and Ken Hartman.

In the News

Daily Herald,
January 12, 2007:

Why Fermilab might shut down for a month

A congressional budget holdup could temporarily close Fermilab, endanger a bid to house a multibillion-dollar international project at the facility and force layoffs at Argonne.

Staffs at both facilities are making contingency plans and holding out hope that Congress corrects the funding snafu by Feb. 15, when the current budget freeze resolution expires.

Both the Batavia and Darien laboratories look to lose 8 percent budget increases amounting to between $21 million and $38 million if Congress does not pass its fiscal year 2007 budgets.

The U.S. Department of Energy, which funds both labs, was one of nine budgets not passed last year.

Read More

ILC NewsLine

Gearing up for LCWS 07


All these drivers will have to find new places to park their cars when a big tent is pitched in the parking lot at DESY for the Linear Collider Workshop.

"The most important skill of any secretary is to know the experts. You don't have to be able to do everything yourself, but you have to know who to ask!" Ramona Matthes is a secretary at DESY and together with two colleagues and a couple of scientists, she forms the core of the local organizing committee for the Linear Collider Workshop and GDE meeting that will take place at DESY from 30 May to 4 June 2007. In physicists' terms it is far too early to even think about this meeting, but in administrative terms the organizing team did well to start in August last year--organizing a meeting for up to 800 people isn't done in a couple of weeks, and there are many major and minor things that all have to work once the hordes of participants arrive. With three GDE meetings each year and many others at the side, every region of the ILC has learnt this, sometimes the hard way.

Read More
Readers Write

Hometown artist

Dear FT:

It really is a small world! In an article yesterday, you featured a painting by D. L. Brown called "Wilson's Window." The store is in Arlington, Tennessee, across the street from my husband's family home, which his grandmother operated as a hotel.

Jackie Coleman,
Directorate

Announcements

DOE Program Impacts Under a
One-year Continuing Resolution

The Department of Energy has summarized the impact that a year-long Continuing Resolution would have on all DOE programs. Read the DOE report here.

Postcard Email Scam
Two lab computers were recently compromised by an email message that contains a link to a "postcard." The so-called postcard is actually a link to an infected file that compromises the machine when the user tries to open it. To avoid this and other scams, remember:

  • Treat email from an unknown source with a high level of suspicion.
  • Never open a file unless you are confident about the identity and integrity of the source.
  • Have your desktop admin configure your system to run an antivirus check on all files on your system and on files prior to opening.

Weekly Time Sheets are Due Today
With the upcoming Martin Luther King holiday, weekly time sheets are due in Payroll by 10 a.m. on Friday, January 12.

Meson Test Beam Open House Today
The newly renovated Meson Test Beam Facility will be open to Fermilab employees for touring today from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Visitors will get to see the beamline as well as various small detectors. Just stop by the west entrance of the Meson Detector Building during the open house. The facility manager, Erik Ramberg, will give tours.

Register now for Country Line Dancing
The recreation office is forming a country line dancing class for beginners and intermediate level dancers. The class runs from January 18 to February 22 on Thursday nights from 6-7 p.m. in the Kuhn Barn. The registration deadline is January 16, the class costs $30 and a Fermilab Recreation membership is not required. More Information

New Computer Programming Courses
The first in a series of new computer programming courses will be given on January 16. Presented in a single two-hour session, the first offering is "To Copy or Not to Copy: A Deeper Look at Values in C++." It is aimed at programmers with C++ experience, and will deal in depth with issues related to copying values in C++ programs. Attendees will learn to identify and take advantage of opportunities for improved performance, and will be prepared for related new techniques that will become available in the next C++ standard. There is no cost to attend, and TRAIN credit will be awarded to participants. Course registration is now open. Click here for course syllabus.

Classifieds
New classified ads have been posted on Fermilab Today.

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