May 24, 2012
(by Bryron Acohido, USAToday.com) – Before recycling or selling your aging laptop or cellphone, you might want to consider smashing it to bits instead.
That’s especially true for older Windows XP laptops and netbooks, or Android smartphones because they can be a gold mine to identity thieves, says McAfee identity theft expert Robert Siciliano. “I would beat the thing to death.”
Apple’s iPad and iPhone and Research In Motion’s BlackBerry don’t represent the same risk, he says. But you should reset your used Apple or RIM device to the original factory settings before it leaves your possession.
Siciliano randomly purchased 30 used devices off Craigslist, and had them examined with simple forensics tools. Half the devices were thoroughly wiped clean, but 15 disgorged plenty of sensitive data, ranging from bank account and Social Security numbers to work documents and court records.
Consumers are storing more personal and work-related data on personal devices, at a time that electronics makers are enticing them to upgrade to faster, more capable smartphones, tablet PCs and e-readers.
Meanwhile, it’s not always easy to wipe older devices clean, and any data left behind could have tangible value in a cyberunderground that revolves around online exchanges in which stolen data gets quickly converted to cash, says Mary Ann Miller, financial fraud expert at Nice Actimize, a supplier of banking security systems. “Security should be a key consideration from the moment you acquire a device — and when you dispose (of) it,” she says.
Millions of Windows XP laptops, desktops and netbooks are expected to be scrapped or sold as Microsoft makes a big push later this year to roll out its Windows 8 operating system. An XP hard drive can be difficult to extract data from and tricky to wipe completely clean, Siciliano says.
Resetting Google Android smartphones to the original factory settings doesn’t always work, Siciliano says. “On iPhones and iPads, we found little to no data; BlackBerry, same thing,” Siciliano says. “Even when someone did a factory reset on an Android, we still found a tremendous amount of data.”
Google did not respond to interview requests, and Microsoft declined to comment.
Miller says device makers need to supply more guidance to consumers on how to responsibly dispose of old devices. “The potential exposure, when you count all of the computers and mobile devices out there, is in the billions,” Miller says. “Companies and consumers need to work together to come up with a remedy.”
Article published by USA Today on May 1, 2012. Reprinted here for educational purposes only. May not be reproduced on other websites without permission from USA Today. Visit the website at USAToday.com.
May 23, 2012
SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket lifts off as it heads for space carrying the company's Dragon spacecraft from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral, Florida. Opening a new era in private space flight, the US company SpaceX became the first commercial outfit to launch its own craft toward the International Space Station. (AFP Photo/Bruce Weaver)
(from NYPost.com) AP, CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Tuesday was the first time a private company has launched a vessel to the International Space Station [ISS]. That’s something only major governments have done – until now.
The SpaceX company made history as its Falcon 9 rocket [launched before] dawn, aiming [to reach] the space station in a few days. The rocket carried into orbit a capsule named Dragon that is packed with 1,000 pounds of space station provisions.
“Falcon flew perfectly!!” SpaceX’s billionaire founder, Elon Musk, said via Twitter. “Dragon in orbit … Feels like a giant weight just came off my back.” …
Launch controllers applauded when the Dragon reached orbit nine minutes into the flight, then embraced one another once the solar panels on the spacecraft popped open. Many of the SpaceX controllers wore untucked T-shirts and jeans or even shorts, a stark contrast to NASA’s old suit-and-tie shuttle team. …
“The significance of this day cannot be overstated,” said a beaming NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. “It’s a great day for America. It’s actually a great day for the world because there are people who thought that we had gone away, and today says, ‘No, we’re not going away at all.’”
The real test comes Thursday [May 24] when the Dragon reaches the vicinity of the space station. It will undergo practice maneuvers from more than a mile out. If all goes well, the docking will occur Friday. Musk will preside over the operation from the company’s Mission Control in Hawthorne, Calif., where he monitored the liftoff.
The space station was [orbiting] over the North Atlantic, just east of Newfoundland, when the Falcon took flight.
NASA is looking to the private sector to take over orbital trips in this post-shuttle period; several U.S. companies are vying for the opportunity. The goal is to get American astronauts launching again from U.S. soil. SpaceX officials say that could happen in as little as three years, possibly four.
Until their retirement last summer, NASA’s shuttles provided the bulk of space station equipment and even the occasional crew member. American astronauts are stuck riding Russian rockets to orbit until SpaceX or one of its competitors takes over the job. Russia also is making periodic cargo hauls, along with Europe and Japan.
Musk, a co-creator of PayPal, founded SpaceX a decade ago. He’s poured millions of his own money into the company, and NASA has contributed $381 million as seed money. In all, the company has spent more than $1 billion on the effort. …
The six space station astronauts were especially enthusiastic [about the launch]; the crew beamed down a picture on the eve of the launch, showing the two who will use a robot arm to snare the Dragon.
In December 2010, SpaceX became the first private company to launch a spacecraft into orbit and retrieve it. That test flight of a Dragon capsule paved the way for this mission, which also is meant to culminate with a splashdown of the capsule in the Pacific.
This newest capsule is supposed to remain at the space station for a week before bringing back experiments and equipment. None of the other types of current cargo ships can return safely; they burn up on the way down.
SpaceX and NASA officials stress this is a demonstration flight and that even if something goes wrong, much can be learned.
“Whatever happens today, we could not have done it without @NASA, but errors are ours alone and me most of all,” Musk said via Twitter right before Saturday’s launch abort. The company will try again no matter what; two more Dragon supply missions, in fact, are planned this year.
Musk, 40, is the chief executive officer and chief designer for SpaceX. He also runs Tesla Motors, his electric car company.
[The three-decade U.S. shuttle program, which ferried astronauts and cargo to the Space Station, ended in 2011, leaving Russia as the sole taxi to the ISS until private industry comes up with a replacement.] The three remaining shuttles – Discovery, Endeavour and Atlantis – are now relegated to museums. …
Reprinted here for educational purposes only. Associated Press. May not be reproduced on other websites without permission from The New York Post.
May 22, 2012
In this photo taken Wednesday, April, 18, 2012, a sign marking its 75th anniversary is shown near the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. Photo: Eric Risberg / AP
(By Sudhin Thanawala (AP), The Washington Times) – SAN FRANCISCO – The Golden Gate Bridge was heralded as an engineering marvel when it opened in 1937. It was the world’s longest suspension span and had been built across a strait that critics said was too treacherous to be bridged.
But as the iconic span approaches its 75th anniversary over Memorial Day weekend, the generations of engineers who have overseen it all these years say keeping it up and open has been something of a marvel unto itself.
Crews had to install a bracing system after high winds lashed and twisted the span in the 1950s, raising fears it would collapse. Years later, they had to replace vertical cables when they were found to have corroded in the bridge’s damp, foggy climate, potentially destabilizing the span.
The bridge, which rises majestically above a Civil War-era fort on the San Francisco side and arches across to the Marin County headlands on the north side, is currently in the midst of a seismic upgrade that has seen many of its key structures replaced or modified. A plan for a movable barrier to separate northbound and southbound traffic is also moving forward.
“When (one of the bridge’s designers) made his final speech during opening-day ceremonies in 1937, he said, ‘I present to you a bridge that will last forever,’” said Daniel Mohn, the bridge’s former chief engineer, who co-authored a book about the span. “What he should have said is, ‘I present to you a bridge that will last forever if properly maintained.’”
The idea for a bridge across the Golden Gate strait, where San Francisco Bay meets the Pacific Ocean, was championed by the engineer Joseph Strauss in the 1920s. Strauss’s original design, submitted to San Francisco city officials in 1921, called for a hybrid cantilever-suspension bridge. The idea for a full-suspension span — the design that was ultimately built — came later.
At a little more than three-fourths of a mile in length, the Golden Gate Bridge would become the world’s longest suspension span. [It would remain the longest suspension bridge until 1964.]
It had to be light enough to hang from its own cables, but still strong enough to withstand the strait’s fierce winds and the possibility of earthquakes. Some said it was impossible.
Engineers also had to calculate all the potential forces on the bridge without the help of computers.
“In those days, you had (notebooks) and a No. 2 pencil, and you wrote it out, did all the math at your desk,” said Kevin Starr, a history professor at the University of Southern California who also has written about the bridge.
Eleven men died during construction from 1933 to 1937 — 10 of them when scaffolding fell through a safety net that had been set up to protect workers.
The conditions were difficult, cold, foggy and windy, and workers who helped construct supports for the south tower had to contend with dangerous tides.
But it was the wind that would continue to vex engineers years after the bridge’s completion. In 1951, it was closed for several hours when wind gusts approached 70 mph and caused the bridge to flutter.
It was twisting so badly, Mr. Mohn recalled during a recent phone interview, that the light standards at the center of the span were striking the main cables.
“It sure almost destroyed the Golden Gate Bridge,” he said. The Tacoma Narrows Bridge in Washington state — a suspension bridge the designer of which also worked on the Golden Gate — had twisted and snapped in about 40 mph winds a little more than a decade earlier. That 1940 collapse was captured on film.
Although the Golden Gate Bridge had stiffening trusses that made it less susceptible to wind, it did sustain damage, Mr. Mohn said.
Officials decided to add lateral bracing that made the trusses more stable and reduced the chances of the bridge going into a potentially catastrophic twisting motion.
The bridge would be able to withstand winds of 70 mph today, although the goal is eventually to increase its tolerance to 100 mph, according to Ewa Bauer, the bridge’s current chief engineer.
The wind is not the only element to take its toll on the span. The damp, foggy air also has kept its painters and engineers busy.
“You couldn’t have put the bridge in a more corrosive atmosphere than in the middle of the Golden Gate with that salt fog coming in,” Mr. Mohn said.
Engineers discovered in the 1970s that the bridge’s suspender ropes — the vertical cables that connect the deck to the main cables — had corroded, some so badly that they could be picked apart with a pocket knife.
In this May 24, 1987 file photo, a crowd estimated at several hundred thousand jams the deck of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco during a walk to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the bridge. Photo: Doug Atkins / AP
The problem in part, Mr. Mohn said, was that bridge maintenance had been neglected for many years, particularly during World War II. A design flaw also hastened corrosion.
All of the cables were replaced in the mid-1970s.
There was another scare on the bridge during its 50th anniversary in 1987 when an estimated 300,000 pedestrians gathered on the span, which was closed to vehicle traffic.
The weight of the crowd flattened out the arch of the bridge deck and caused some revelers to suffer motion sickness as the bridge swayed.
Although the bridge supported its heaviest load in 50 years that day, Mr. Mohn later would conclude the weight and movement had not exceeded its design capacity.
Today, among the engineers’ most pressing concerns is the potential effect of a major earthquake.
The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, which occurred during a live broadcast of the World Series, caused two 50-foot sections of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge to collapse.
The Golden Gate Bridge was not damaged, but the quake still spurred bridge officials to undertake a massive retrofit of the span — a $660 million project that began in 1997 and is still under way.
Bridge pylons have been reinforced with steel, and towers under the bridge’s two approaches were replaced, all while keeping the bridge open and its appearance unchanged. Retrofitting the suspension span is the project’s final phase, although experts say its flexibility makes it less vulnerable in an earthquake.
“If I knew when an earthquake was coming, I’d get to the suspension span of the Bay Bridge or the Golden Gate Bridge,” said Abolhassan Astaneh-Asl, an engineering professor at the University of California at Berkeley who studied the Golden Gate Bridge after Loma Prieta. “They are safest places to be.”
The goal is to withstand an 8.1-magnitude earthquake when the retrofit is completed years from now.
The bridge, like other infrastructure, has a lifespan. But Ms. Bauer and Mr. Mohn say that with proper maintenance, the Golden Gate Bridge will endure. The retrofit project alone will buy the span another 150 years, Ms. Bauer estimated.
“I believe the bridge was built to absolute great standards of workmanship,” she said on a recent morning at a vista point overlooking the span. “What we are doing right now is repairing … and you can truly do it indefinitely.”
Reprinted from The Washington Times for educational purposes only. Visit the website at washingtontimes.com. Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
May 21, 2012
(By Julian E. Barnes, WSJ.com) – WASHINGTON — U.S. drone strikes are hardly a secret. Officials have spoken openly about them, even discussing the operations in formal speeches. But they are still classified, and unauthorized disclosures about details of individual missions could constitute a felony.
A Predator B unmanned aircraft taxis at the Naval Air Station in Corpus Christi, Texas, in November 2011.
The Obama Administration is considering policy changes which could include specifying which extremist groups associated with al Qaeda can be targeted by the Pentagon under the 2001 congressional authorization for the use of military force against perpetrators of the Sept. 11 attacks, according to U.S. officials.
The debate has been given urgency by lawsuits seeking information on drone strikes; the government must formally respond with motions stating its position and why it will deny the requests, or fill them.
But many officials also believe that it is time to re-evaluate U.S. policies on secrecy about the targeted-killing program, saying that greater openness could defuse criticism of the practice.
Unmanned aerial strikes on terrorist suspects began after the Sept. 11 attacks, at first as a rare occurrence. Under the Obama administration, drone strikes by the Central Intelligence Agency and the military have become increasingly common as a primary tool in U.S. national-security strategy.
The Pentagon has a policy of disclosing traditional military operations once they are complete. But rules for counterterrorism strikes haven’t kept up with their expanded use. Pentagon officials still routinely decline to discuss details of operations in Yemen or Somalia at news conferences as a matter of policy, while more freely discussing counterterrorism operations in Afghanistan.
The changes considered most likely to win adoption would bring about greater openness regarding the military drone program, while keeping most or all details of CIA strikes classified, U.S. officials said. CIA officials are opposed to publicly acknowledging the details of drone programs under its control, for fear of setting precedents that could affect other covert [not openly acknowledged] programs.
Two lawsuits by the American Civil Liberties Union [ACLU], in March 2010 and February 2011, sought CIA records on its program of targeted killing with drones. Separately, the New York Times sued for access to the administration’s legal justifications for the 2011 CIA drone strike that killed Anwar al-Awlaki, a U.S. citizen and top leader of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
The Obama administration is due to answer the lawsuits in New York and Washington on Monday, after winning a series of extensions. In an extension request in April, the Justice Department said the government’s response “is being deliberated at the highest level of the executive branch.”
Some U.S. officials believe they will prevail in the courts if they choose to keep the drone program secret and refuse to provide any documents sought in the lawsuits.
But others think the government should voluntarily provide at least some information in response to the case. In the administration debate, some of those who advocate greater openness say it would help counter accusations that civilians are routinely killed. Others believe it is important to show that strikes are carried out within the law. “If stories could be told, Americans and others would be persuaded these strikes are done in a careful way,” a U.S. official said.
Instead, information about strikes is inconsistent.Government officials speaking privately in many cases release more information about covert CIA drone strikes in Pakistan than defense officials are allowed to discuss about military drone strikes in Yemen.
Administration officials considered revealing more about U.S. military operations in Yemen and Somalia as part of a speech last month by John Brennan, the top White House counterterrorism adviser. The speech formally acknowledged that the U.S. uses drones to target terrorists, but officials couldn’t agree on how much more to say, administration officials said.
—Siobhan Gorman and Evan Perez contributed to this article.
Copyright 2012 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Reprinted here for educational purposes only. Visit the website at wsj.com.
May 18, 2012
Due to illness there will be no postings today. Please view “Archives” (from the drop down menu above) for articles and quizzes that you may have missed.
May 17, 2012
PART 2:
(by Guy Taylor, WashingtonTimes.com) CHIHUAHUA CITY, Mexico –
Tension over jobs
Mexican aerospace leaders understand that high-tech job creation in Mexico is a sensitive issue when U.S. unemployment rides steadily above 8 percent.
Several executives argued that growth in cities such as Chihuahua is actually sharpening the competitive edge of major U.S. companies on the world stage.
“We’re not trying to take jobs from other countries,” Jesus Mesta-Delgado [president of Index Chihuahua, the city's business group] said. “What’s happening is that things are moving in the global market. By investing in operations, jointly or directly, in Chihuahua, a company can become stronger and more competitive on the global market by producing at a lower cost.”
That is why Nordam set up in Chihuahua, Jose Luis Enriquez [of aerospace company Nordam's Mexico division] added.
“If it weren’t for this facility, we wouldn’t be able to bid competitively on the global level, and that would equate to a serious loss for U.S. jobs, not to mention the ability of the United States to embrace 21st-century thinking about business,” he said.
“Knowing that intensive labor-related jobs are already fleeing the United States, it’s either jump on the train, or you’re going to lose your competitive advantage to other countries like Brazil or China.
“If you’re going to have to go out of the United States, Mexico is a great choice.”
He said companies are still going to be able to preserve jobs in the United States, particularly in management, research and development, engineering, design, logistics support and service.
“We still have all those jobs in Oklahoma,” he said. “If [a company goes] to China, your chances are much higher of outsourcing all of that.”
U.S. analysts argue there also is something much deeper at stake than simply tapping cheaper labor south of the border.
“A full 40 percent of the content of U.S. imports from Mexico was originally made in the United States,” according to a November report by Washington-based Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
“Despite an ‘hecho en Mexico’ or ‘made in Mexico’ label, a large portion of the money U.S. consumers spend on Mexican imports actually goes to U.S. companies and workers,” the report states.
“The same cannot be said for Chinese imports, which have only 4 percent U.S. content, or for goods coming from any other country in the world, with the exception of Canada, where U.S. content is 25 percent.”
Mexico ranks as the second-largest destination for U.S. exports, which translates into an estimated 6 million U.S. jobs dependent on trade with the southern neighbor.
Some analysts noted that property rights are better respected in Mexico.
“There are very strong intellectual-property-rights agreements between Mexico and the United States, and that’s not the case with China,” said Frank Esparza, vice president of sales at Co-Production International, a San Diego-based consulting firm that helps U.S. companies open in Mexico.
“If a company moves operations to China, they don’t own anything in China. They’re basically turning over the production work to China,” he said.
“At some point, the Chinese will copy it. And two or three years down the road, you’re going to see your product on the market in the U.S. for less money.”
Other factors are driving companies to Mexico.
Apart from its location just south of the United States and its highway infrastructure for shipping, the “educational system in place here was a big factor,” Mr. Luis Enriquez said.
“The government, locally, is working very hard at helping companies like us meet our workforce need here,” he said.
Growing the future
“What is making Chihuahua so attractive is not only the $4-an-hour salaries, but also the growing number of engineers here,” said Alonso Ramos Vaca, vice president of strategic studies at Chihuahua Economic Development, a nonprofit organization.
“The local colleges and universities are developing centers that specialize in engineering and aerospace technology,” he said.
“What we’re trying to build here is the whole package, not just some industrial park. It’s like an entire ecosystem of business for aerospace manufacturing that we’re trying to build.”
Mexican federal and state governments have spent roughly $20 million over the past 10 years to create vocational schools like the Cenaltec High Technology Center in Chihuahua.
Foreign companies setting up shop in Chihuahua also help pay for their workers to be trained at the schools.
“At first, there was only a small group of students. But then the companies started realizing how useful this is, especially since we adjust the training programs to meet what individual companies need,” said Alberto N. Salomon, director of operations at the center.
There is also a higher-education trend taking hold at the region’s universities, and, with the aerospace industry’s growth, new programs are increasingly competitive.
Jose Luis Rodriguez, manager of Fokker’s plant in Chihuahua, beamed when he revealed that his son was accepted recently to the newly minted aerospace program at the Autonomous University of Chihuahua.
“They only accepted 20 students out of a pool of 350 applicants,” he said.
Louis Eduardo Rodriguez, 18, stood with his father on a recent day near the Fokker plant.
“I wanted to get into aerospace because it’s a growing field, and I’ve gotten a good experience from my dad,” the younger Mr. Rodriguez said.
He added that his personal sights are set much higher than basic manufacturing.
“I’d like to work for NASA one day,” he said with a smile. “That’s my dream.”
Copyright 2012 The Washington Times, LLC. Reprinted from The Washington Times for educational purposes only. Visit the website at washingtontimes.com.
May 16, 2012
PART 1:
Instructor Hipolito Correa shows students Isabel Lugo (right) and Luisa Elizondo how to operate a lathe at Cenaltec, an aerospace-industry training center in Chihuahua City, Mexico, set up by state and federal governments in collaboration with local businesses. (Keith Dannemiller/Special to The Washington Times)
(by Guy Taylor, WashingtonTimes.com) CHIHUAHUA CITY, Mexico – When a jumbo jetliner touches down almost anywhere in the world, the last thing on the pilot’s mind is that the plane’s brakes likely were made in the capital of one of the most crime-riddled states in Mexico.
Behind the headlines of warring drug gangs and a soaring murder rate in Mexico, a fast-growing high-tech economy centered on the aerospace industry has sprung up in recent years.
In Chihuahua City alone, 36 aerospace plants have opened since 2007 as a growing number of international parts makers use the city as a base for tapping a massive airplane-production market in the United States.
“Our first objective was to get into the U.S. market and get a deal with U.S. customers,” said Nicolas Maillard, director of the French-owned Manoir Aerospace plant in Chihuahua City, 235 miles south of El Paso, Texas.
Shiny, precision-shaped steel discs produced by the plant are shipped to companies in Ohio and Kentucky, where they are added into the assembly line for brake systems on the Boeing Co.’s commercial airplanes.
With the average cost of manufacturing labor running about $6 per hour in the city, a new era of high-tech growth is taking root. [NOTE: The cost of living is much less expensive in Mexico than it is in the U.S.]
“The real advantage is the cost of labor,” Mr. Maillard said. “In France, labor would account for about 30 percent of the cost of production on an item like this. Here, it’s roughly 10 percent, and we’re [located] closer to the market we’re trying to reach.”
The sky’s the limit
Jose Luis Enriquez oversees Nordam Mexico, the Chihuahua City branch of the Tulsa, Okla.-based aerospace giant [Nordam] that specializes in making everything from airplane windows to cockpit doors.
“Right now, it might seem like we’re doing basic things. But going forward, I see aerospace in Mexico moving along a similar trend that the auto industry did 40 years ago,” Mr. Luis Enriquez said.
U.S. and European automakers have been tapping [Mexico's] cheaper labor pool since long before the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement [NAFTA]. A Ford Motor Co. plant in Chihuahua City has built 6.5 million truck engines since 1983.
“What started as parts manufacturing in the auto industry now involves design and making whole cars. This is what will happen with aerospace,” Mr. Luis Enriquez said.
“The difference is that the evolution won’t take 40 years, it will occur much, much faster because the Mexican government now knows how to develop an industry like this. It learned a thing or two from the first time around with the auto industry.”
The prediction appears close to a reality. In 2007, Mexico had 150 aerospace factories exporting roughly $2.7 billion worth of products. By last year, the number had soared to 260, with exports totaling $3.8 billion, an increase of more than 40 percent over four years.
The same period saw violence spiral in Mexico, a nation plagued by more than 47,000 drug-war killings since 2007. But the killing has done little to deter foreign companies from wanting in on the hot aerospace market.
The sector drew $1.25 billion in foreign investment in 2010 in a 25 percent increase over the previous year, and 30,000 Mexicans are employed in factories spread across 16 of Mexico’s 31 states.
The states of Baja California in the west and Queretaro in central Mexico are emerging as aerospace hubs.
And signs of growth are around almost every corner to the north in Chihuahua City, a city of roughly 900,000 people, where a visitor can’t help noticing the abundance of new housing developments.
More revealing, city planners say, are the dozen of vast and neatly demarcated open lots that surround recently opened factories east of downtown.
“You can see we have a lot of room to grow,” said Jesus Mesta-Delgado, president of Index Chihuahua, the city’s main nongovernment business group.
“Today, the world’s capacity to produce airplanes is falling about 50 percent short of demand,” he said.
“By 2030, 33,500 new airplanes will be needed. To meet that demand, there will need to be more than double the production of what’s so far been made in the history of the airplane industry.”
One-stop city
The top three commercial airplane makers in the world are the French-based Airbus, the U.S.-based Boeing and the Canadian-based Bombardier.
Business leaders in Chihuahua are pushing for the city to emerge as a go-to destination for the hundreds of smaller companies supplying parts to the giants.
“What we’re planning to do is to make Chihuahua a one-stop city,” Mr. Mesta-Delgado said. “In the U.S., you’d have to travel to seven different cities to do what we’re trying to make possible right here.”
The key, he added, rests in the region’s ability to attract what are known as original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) – brand-name companies that not only make parts, but also buy components from other firms.
Chihuahua so far has attracted four of them: Cessna, Hawker Beechcraft, Textron and Honeywell.
The Wichita, Kan.-based Hawker Beechcraft recently opened its second plant in Chihuahua, a 180,000-square-foot facility that assembles sheet-metal sections for its jets.
“That the big OEMs are now here means they’re attracting small companies, and that’s why the boom in aerospace is coming,” said Jose Luis Rodriguez, who runs Chihuahua operations at Fokker Aerostructures, a plant owned by the Netherlands-based Fokker Technologies.
A stroll across the facility’s vast production floor, which opened in January, gives one the sense of being surrounded by life-sized sections of a model airplane.
“This is the tail, and this part is where we put the rudder,” said Mr. Rodriguez, pointing to various sections of plane spread across the production floor. “Over there, those are the wings.”
Passing through the building’s spanking new corridors, meanwhile, can feel a bit like crossing the lobby of an international hotel. Dutchmen, Americans and Mexicans work side by side, with English the common language among them.
In one section of the plant, Daniel Gerardo appeared beside a half-built airplane wing to announce that he was having a “great experience” at the new plant.
Mr. Gerardo said he lived in Colorado for 10 years while growing up but later returned to his native Mexico and felt fortunate to have his current job.
“There’s a lot of work here in Mexico right now, but I feel very lucky that I got in here,” the 19-year-old said.
He explained that Fokker hired him in November and sent him through three months of training to prepare for the job of drilling and riveting wing sections together.
…See PART 2 in tomorrow’s Daily News Article at StudentNewsDaily.com…
Copyright 2012 The Washington Times, LLC. Reprinted from The Washington Times for educational purposes only. Visit the website at washingtontimes.com.
May 15, 2012
July 22, 2009: A total eclipse of the Sun was visible from within a narrow corridor that traverses half of Earth, captured by a NASA satellite. (NASA)
(FoxNews.com) – Just two weeks after the huge “supermoon” wowed skywatchers around the world, the heavens will offer up another observing treat – a solar eclipse on [Sunday] May 20 that should be visible from much of western North America.
The May 20 event is what’s known as an annular solar eclipse, in which the moon blocks out most of the sun but leaves a ring of light visible around its circumference.
It should be quite a spectacular sight for favorably placed – and appropriately careful – skywatchers throughout Asia, the Pacific region and parts of North America.
Annular solar eclipses: The basics
As the moon revolves around Earth, it passes between our planet and the sun once every 29.5 days. Most of the time, the moon zips either above or below the sun, and no eclipse occurs.
But if the moon is close to one of its orbital nodes – the points where the orbits of Earth and the moon cross – the moon will pass directly in front of the sun and block its light. If the moon is also close to apogee, the point that marks its farthest distance from the Earth, it will not completely cover the sun, and we get an annular eclipse.
“Annular” comes from the Latin word annulus (ring) and refers to the fact that a ring of sun shines all around the moon.
On May 5, we had a so-called “supermoon,” the largest and brightest full moon of 2012. The full moon was nearly at perigee – as close to Earth as it can get – and it looked huge in the sky as a result.
Two weeks later, on May 19, the moon will have traversed half its orbit and arrived at apogee. When the eclipse occurs a few hours later, the moon will be too small in the sky to cover the sun totally, resulting in an annular eclipse, or “ring of fire.”
Annular eclipses are sometimes said to be less interesting than total solar eclipses, in which the moon completely covers the sun, because we don’t get to see the sun’s prominences and corona. But they are still beautiful and awe-inspiring events, and well worth trying to observe.
The May 20 annular eclipse: How to watch
Like most solar eclipses, this one will be best observed from the narrow band on Earth’s surface where the shadow of the moon falls.
This path begins at dawn in southern China. It then sweeps across the Pacific Ocean, passing south of Alaska, and makes landfall on the Pacific coast near the California-Oregon border. It ends near Lubbock, Texas, at sunset. Partial phases of this eclipse will be visible over most of western North America.
First contact is when the edge of the moon first touches the edge of the sun. Second contact is when the disk of the moon is entirely in front of the sun and moving inward. Third contact is when the moon touches the edge of the sun as it begins to pass off the solar disk. Fourth contact is when the moon is completely off the sun. Locations in red will experience a true annular eclipse, a ring of fire; the other areas will see only a partial eclipse.
In North America, the eclipse will occur late in the day, so it’s important to observe from a site with a good western horizon. …
Safety first
Warning: Never look directly at the sun, either with the naked eye or through telescopes or binoculars without the proper filters. Doing so could result in permanent and serious eye damage, including blindness.
To safely observe the annular eclipse, you can buy special solar filters to fit over your equipment, or No. 14 welder’s glass to wear over your eyes. No. 14 is denser than the standard No. 12 available in hardware stores and can be purchased only at specialized welders’ supply stores.
You can also buy “solar shades,” special glasses widely available from telescope stores before eclipses. Do NOT use standard sunglasses or any kind of homemade sun-shading contraption.
The safest and simplest technique is perhaps to watch the eclipse indirectly with the solar projection method. Use your telescope, or one side of your binoculars, to project a magnified image of the sun’s disk onto a shaded white piece of cardboard.
The image on the cardboard will be safe to view and photograph. But make sure to cover the telescope’s finder scope or the unused half of the binoculars, and don’t let anybody look through them.
If you do get the proper filter, you can take some impressive photos of the eclipse with almost any camera through your telescope or binoculars because the sun’s image through the filter is still quite bright. A camera adapter will ensure a firm connection between camera and telescope.
What to Look For
It will be interesting to compare your own times of the four contacts with the predicted times above. First contact is usually observed a little late, because you can’t actually see the moon on the sun’s disk until the exact time of first contact is past. Fourth contact occurs when the disk of the moon finally leaves the sun. … (See a map and videos in the link under “Resources” below.)
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May 14, 2012
(by Randy McIlwain, NBCdfw.com) – Effective immediately, parents or legal guardians must accompany anyone 17 and younger in Dallas’ NorthPark Center mall after 6 p.m. Security can ask anyone not in compliance to leave the mall. Unaccompanied teenagers and children can be asked to produce an ID, such as a driver license, school ID, visa or passport.
“It’s outrageous, actually,” said 19-year-old Tatyana Mitchell.
“I think it’s crazy, and I probably wouldn’t come if I couldn’t come after 6 o’clock,” said 19-year-old Marisa Ensley.
The curfew also extends to moviegoers. Teenagers and children going to NorthPark to see a movie after 6 p.m. should go straight to the theater and leave the building after the movie, the mall said.
“We’re asking that … if they’re going without a parent, that they go directly to the movie, that they enjoy the movie and that, when the movie’s over, that they head to the parking lot,” NorthPark spokesman Mark Annick said.
Teenagers who work at the mall are exempt from the curfew.
Mall security began informing parents and minors Wednesday night about the new rules. A security guard stopped 17-year-old Grant Swenke and his 15-year-old brother on their way to buy a wallet and gave them a warning and a copy of the code of conduct.
“After today, we won’t be able to, but if you have your older brother with you, I don’t understand why you can’t go to the mall,” Grant Swenke said. “It’s kind of stupid.”
The mall’s code of conduct also said that all visitors must dress “appropriately for a family-oriented shopping center.” The dress code forbids visible undergarments, clothing that obscures the face and clothing with lewd, obscene, vulgar or offensive language or images. The rules also say that clothing must “adequately cover the body,” so shoppers wearing tank tops or short shorts that reveal too much may be asked to leave the mall.
NorthPark representatives said the code of conduct is intended to create a family-friendly environment.
“It’s a family-oriented environment, and we just think, in that environment, it’s a good idea to have common-sense rules for behavior for everybody to follow,” Annick said.
But some parents said they don’t agree with the policy. Lori Kiser said she has fond memories of dropping her teenagers off at NorthPark to shop.
“They didn’t want to be seen with me, and I didn’t want to hang out with them, either. … I knew they were safe in numbers, and they had their cellphones and could call if there were trouble,” she said.
“I definitely think that it’s going to cost the mall money, but I ultimately think it’s kind of a good change,” said Brittany Hoffman, who works at NorthPark.
NorthPark said it is the No. 1 destination spot in Dallas County for visitors living at least 50 miles outside Dallas. From its 235 stores and restaurants, it expects retail sales to exceed $1 billion this year.
The code of conduct is in keeping with a national trend of malls with teen curfews to promote a family friendly environment and cut down on loitering. NorthPark said it believes it is the first local shopping center to adopt a code of conduct.
NBC 5′s Ellen Goldberg contributed to this report.
Reprinted here for educational purposes only. May not be reproduced on other websites without permission from nbcdfw.com.
May 11, 2012
(by Tracy Jan and Matt Viser, Boston.com) WASHINGTON – President Obama became the first president Wednesday to speak out in favor of same-sex marriage, setting up a clear contrast to his Republican rival Mitt Romney on a highly charged issue over which Americans remain deeply divided.
“At a certain point I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married,’’ Obama said during a hastily arranged television interview at the White House with “Good Morning America’’ co-anchor Robin Roberts.
Obama’s support for same-sex marriage is a signature moment in an equal-rights campaign that began 12 years ago with civil unions in Vermont and won marriage rights for the first time in Massachusetts nine years ago.
Six states, mostly in the Northeast, have now approved gay marriage. [In all six states, same-sex marriage has been legalized through legislation or court ruling, not by a vote of the people.] … [Every state that has cast a ballot on the question has voted against same-sex marriage, including three socially liberal ones (California, Maine and Oregon). Many U.S. states have amendments to their state constitutions which prevent the recognition of some or all types of same-sex unions. As of May 2012, voters in 30 states had approved such amendments; this total does not include Hawaii's amendment.]
Obama said his position on same-sex marriage evolved over several years as he spoke with friends, family, and neighbors about it. He cited the influence of members of his staff “who are in incredibly committed monogamous relationships, same-sex relationships, who are raising kids together,’’ and the gay soldiers, airmen, Marines, and sailors “who are out there fighting on my behalf’’ but not allowed to marry.
ABC interrupted a regularly scheduled soap opera Wednesday afternoon to air an excerpt of the interview. An extended version [aired] Thursday on “Good Morning America.’’
Obama’s sudden declaration departs from his longstanding public statements supporting equal rights for gay couples that stopped just short of marriage. It came after advocates on both sides of the issue called on the president in recent days to clarify his stance.
It also injects into the presidential race a galvanizing social issue, significantly elevating the topic of gay marriage at a time when the economy is still struggling to gain momentum.
Mitt Romney on Wednesday reaffirmed his strong opposition to both gay marriage and civil unions, which puts the two presidential contenders on opposing sides of the issue.
Hints of a possible White House shift on gay marriage began early this week. On Sunday, Vice President Joe Biden, a Catholic, said he was “absolutely comfortable’’ with “men marrying men, women marrying women.’’
On Monday, Obama’s Education Secretary Arne Duncan said unequivocally that he believes same-sex couples should have the legal right to marry.
Some Democrats have called on Obama to include support for same-sex marriage in the party’s presidential platform*. Gay donors have provided significant funds for the president’s campaigns. [*A party platform is a list of the actions which a political party and/or individual candidate supports. This often takes the form of a list of support for, or opposition to, socially relevant, urgent, controversial, or complicated topics or issues.]
In explaining his previous stance, Obama said, “I’ve been going through an evolution on this issue.’’
“I’ve always been adamant that gays and lesbians should be treated fairly and equally,’’ he said, citing the reversal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell’’ policy that barred openly gay servicemen and women from serving in the military, and his stance that the Defense of Marriage Act* is unconstitutional. [*The Defense of Marriage act was passed by a large majority in both houses of Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1996. It is a federal law that defines marriage as the legal union of one man and one woman.]
Obama’s new position could help mobilize public opinion against the Defense of Marriage Act, which is under court challenge. Overturning the law would make same-sex couples eligible for federal benefits available to heterosexual couples.
Obama said he has “stood on the side of broader equality’’ for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community, “and I’d hesitated on gay marriage in part because I thought civil unions would be sufficient . . . and I was sensitive to the fact that for a lot of people, the word ‘marriage’ is something that evokes powerful tradition and religious beliefs.’’
Obama’s position on same-sex marriage has vacillated [wavered; changed] over the years: He endorsed gay marriage during a 1996 run for the Illinois Senate, then opposed it when he ran for US Senate in 2004 and for president in 2008.
He once said on a questionnaire that he supported gay marriage, only to later say he supported civil unions, and then said that his position was “evolving.’’ He has mostly avoided discussing the subject as president.
Staying mum on the issue, especially as key members of his administration were speaking openly about their support of gay marriage, would have made it harder for Obama to attack Romney, the presumptive GOP nominee, for one of his main vulnerabilities – that he’s seen as willing to change his own positions with the political winds.
The timing of the president’s remarks could allow Obama supporters to argue that he is willing to take firm position, even when they differ with the electorate in key states, while they contend that Romney lacks a political core.
[Massachusetts] Governor Deval Patrick, a strong supporter of same-sex marriage and close friend of Obama’s who is a cochairman of his reelection campaign, said the president’s announcement gives hope to same-sex couples across the country awaiting the right to marry. …
Romney has consistently opposed gay marriage, fighting its legalization in Massachusetts and also saying he opposes civil unions. … When Romney was campaigning for governor in 2002, he made clear that he opposed gay unions.
After the Supreme Judicial Court in Massachusetts ruled in 2003 that barring gay marriage was unconstitutional, Romney as governor sought several legislative ways to stop the state from becoming the first to legalize it. He also supported efforts, ultimately unsuccessful, to amend the state Constitution to ban gay marriage.
Romney has also said he would fight for a federal constitutional ban on gay marriage, and would preserve the Defense of Marriage Act.
During a brief press conference after a campaign appearance in Oklahoma City Wednesday, Romney reiterated his stance on what he called a “very tender and sensitive topic.’’ While each state should have the right to make decisions with regard to domestic partnership benefits such as hospital visitation rights, Romney said, “My view is that marriage itself is a relationship between a man and a woman…I have the same view that I’ve had since, well, since running for office.’’
Obama stressed in the extended interview that he continues to support the concept of states deciding the issue on their own. …
The most recent Gallup poll, published Tuesday, showed 50 percent of Americans believe same-sex couples should have the same marriage rights as heterosexual couples; 48 percent do not.
That is a dramatic shift in public opinion from 1996, when Gallup started this poll, showing 68 percent opposed gay marriage and only 27 percent supported it. …..
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