Fermilab Today

Friday, November 30, 2007

Subscribe | Contact Fermilab Today | Archive | Classifieds

Friday, Nov. 30
3:30 p.m.
DIRECTOR'S COFFEE BREAK - 2nd Flr X-Over
4 p.m.
Joint Experimental-Theoretical Physics Seminar - One West
Speaker: R. Yoshida, Argonne National Laboratory
Title: Recent Results from ZEUS and HERA

Monday, Dec. 3
2:30 p.m.
Particle Astrophysics Seminar - Curia II
Speaker: I. Stairs, University of British Columbia
Title: Relativistic Binary Pulsars
3:30 p.m.
DIRECTOR'S COFFEE BREAK - 2nd Flr X-Over
4 p.m.
All Experimenters' Meeting - Curia II
Special Topic: CMS's CSA07 Data Challenge

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

Partly sunny 37°/18°

Extended Forecast
Weather at Fermilab

Secon Level 3

Friday, Nov. 30
- New England clam chowder
- Black & blue cheese burger
- Mardi gras jambalaya
- Swedish meatballs
- Bistro chicken & provolone panini
- Assorted pizza slices
- *Carved top round of beef

Wilson Hall Cafe Menu

Wednesday, Dec. 5
Lunch
- Seafood cannelloni
- Caesar salad
- Chocolate espresso parfait

Thursday, Dec. 6
Dinner
- Pasta carbonnada
- Veal saltimbocca
- Sautéed spinach and pine nuts w/lemon zest
- Hazelnut & pear soufflé

Chez Leon Menu
Call x4598 to make your reservation.

Fermilab Today
Result of the Week
Safety Tip of the Week
ILC NewsLine

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

Send comments and suggestions to:
today@fnal.gov

Fermilab education has a fresh new face

The Education Department's new Web site is now easy to navigate and constantly updated.

The Education Office has a fresh new face online, and that face is friendlier than ever.

"We've taken the information we have and made it easier to find," said Education's Spencer Pasero. "We've streamlined the navigation to help people find things they couldn't before."

The old Web site, which dated from the late 1990s,was a hodgepodge of information, Pasero said. "The page evolved out of the need for information quickly," he said.

Education's Liz Quigg, who handled the site's technical side, said that she wanted a site that was fresh, clean and easy to navigate. The site began to take shape in the spring of 2006, with the input of education office members, Marge Bardeen, Susan Dahl, Spencer Pasero and Waylon Meadors, and the indispensable help of Web design company Xeno Media. "Kevin Munday and his team really helped us focus and develop the look we wanted" said Quigg. She added that Laura Mengel of the Computing Division provided technical assistance.

Besides being user friendly, the new site has a crisp feel and is visually striking. The welcome page separates information into topics by user type. A visitor can tab through the topics, visit the constantly updated calendar or use the site's Quick Links.

"There are a lot of different topics on the page, but we don't have a lot of information coming at you at once. The pages allow you to continue to delve," said Quigg. Much of the content comes from databases, hidden from the user.

Among Quigg's concerns with the old site was the inability to search more than one Web site. The Education Office has multiple associated sites, including the QuarkNet Web site. The new site contains a new Google search tool, serendipitously launched simultaneously with the new page design, that allows the user to search multiple sites at once.

"I wanted to have a dynamic page, to have content that looked like it was changing and not static, that took advantage of the new web technologies." said Quigg.

-- Rhianna Wisniewski

The harvest sun also rises

ES&H's Joe Leo took this photo earlier this month from Eola Rd with the buffalo barn in the foreground. The photo was taken about about 15 minutes before sundown.

The geekiest show on TV

From Wired, Nov. 27, 2007

In the new Futurama DVD Bender's Big Score, the characters encounter Al Gore driving a taxi - a hybrid taxi, naturally. Some viewers may chuckle when they notice that the license plate on the former Vice President's cab reads NOCO2. But very few will realize that the the badge number on another cab, 87539319, is also a joke.

Math geeks, however, will find that number hilarious because of something that happened about a century ago. The British mathematician G.H. Hardy was paying a call on the Indian mathematician Srinivisa Ramanujan. "I had ridden in taxi cab number 1729 and remarked that the number seemed to me rather a dull one," Hardy later recalled. Ramanujan disagreed. "It is a very interesting number," he insisted. "It is the smallest number expressible as the sum of two cubes in two different ways."

Podcasting the ILC

(Left to right) Taisei Tanaka, Satoru Yamashita and Erika Yamada record the ILC podcast.

Blogs, Social Network Services, Podcasting, Social Bookmarks -- these types of social media have become influential sources of information. Some might say that they have as much influential power as the conventional media. Scientists working on the International Linear Collider are catching on too and realise that podcasting is another way to promote the proposed project to a non-scientific audience.

Taisei Tanaka, a young entrepreneur with a background in law who runs a company that commercialises R&D from Tokyo University, was one of the first people in Japan to hit on the idea of podcasting the ILC. "I think people tend to think of scientists as non-friendly, square people who wear lab coats," said Tanaka. "I had never heard about the ILC until I worked with Dr. Yamashita. It was such fun talking to him, and it gave me the idea of podcasting the ILC. I want to share my experience."

Read more

-- Rika Takahashi

Have a safe day!

Ticket sales in the Recreation Office
Blackhawks at the United Center - Nov. 30, Jan. 11, Jan. 16 and Jan. 24. Save up to 50 percent.
Harlem Globetrotters at the Allstate Arena and Vlaparaiso Athletics Center - Jan. 11, 12 & 13. Save $7.00 per ticket.
Chicago Bulls at the United Center, December 14. Half price on the $60.00 tickets.
All tickets are ordered direct. More information and registration forms can be found in the Recreation Office or online.
AMC movie tickets make great gifts and stocking stuffers. Tickets are $6.50 each (some restrictions) and have no expiration date. Keep a few on hand. Tickets available in the Recreation Office.

English country dancing Dec. 2
English country dancing will meet this Sunday, Dec. 2, at Kuhn Barn, starting earlier than usual, at 1 p.m., and running until 4 p.m. with no potluck supper afterwards. The next meeting will be Sunday, Jan. 6, 2008, back at the usual starting time of 2 p.m. and with a potluck following. Dances will continue on the first Sunday afternoon of the month through the winter and spring. For more information please e-mail or call (630) 584-0825 or (630) 840-8194.

NALWO holiday Chicago trip Dec. 1
Join NALWO on Saturday, Dec. 1, on a trip to Chicago to see colorful decorations and enjoy shopping, music and entertainment at the German/American holiday festival, the "Christkindlmarket" at Daley Plaza. Shop at the State Street department stores, see Macy's animated windows or try your skills at the Ice Skating Rink at Millennium Park. The bus will leave from the Lederman Science Center at 10 a.m. and will return by 4:30 p.m. There is a $5 charge for adults and $2 for kids age 3 to 14. To register or for further information, please contact Selitha Raja at (630) 305-7769.

Employee art show this spring
Another inspiring art exhibition by Fermilab employees and immediate family members will take place this spring. "Hidden Talents: Fermilab Employee Art Show" will be on display, March 19, 2008, - May 14, 2008. More information will follow.

Blood Drive Dec. 18, 19
Mark your calendars. Heartland Blood Centers will be here for the Fermilab Blood Drive on Dec. 18 and 19, from 8 a.m to 2 p.m. in the Wilson Hall Ground Floor NE Training Room. Appointments can be scheduled on the Web or by calling Diana at x3771 or Margie at x5680. More information can be found here.

Classifieds
New classified ads have been posted on Fermilab Today.

Additional Activities