Tuesday - April 25, 2006

This composite image of NGC 4696 shows a vast cloud of hot gas (red), surrounding high-energy bubbles 10,000 light years across (blue) on either side of the bright white area around the supermassive black hole.

KIPAC Researcher Finds Black Holes to be Green

by Megan Watzke and Peter Edmonds

Black holes are the most fuel efficient engines in the universe, according to a new study using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. By making the first direct estimate of how efficient or "green" black holes are, this work gives insight into how black holes generate energy and affect their environment.

The new Chandra finding shows that most of the energy released by matter falling toward a supermassive black hole is in the form of high-energy jets traveling at near the speed of light away from the black hole. This is an important step in understanding how such jets can be launched from magnetized disks of gas near the event horizon of a black hole.

"Just as with cars, it's critical to know the fuel efficiency of black holes," said lead author Steve Allen of the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology (KIPAC). "Without this information, we cannot figure out what is going on under the hood, so to speak, or what the engine can do." Read more...

ES&H Offers New
Web-Based Training

By Larissa Williams

Last week, ES&H Training launched a new web-based training portal.

The benefits of web-based training include:
- Convenience. You can take this
 training at anytime, at SLAC, at
 home, or almost anywhere you
 have a computer with an internet
 connection.
- Time-savings. No advanced
 scheduling is required.
- Automatic Updates. With our
 new Learning Management
 System (LMS), training records
 are entered into the training
 database automatically and
 accurately.

This new training system was developed in conjunction with SkillSoft Corporation, one of the largest providers of online training in the country. Initially, we are offering eleven important safety courses with more to be added as the program evolves (including SON, EOESH, and GERT). Some of the classes currently available are:
- Blood Borne Pathogens
- Hearing Conservation
- Lockout/Tagout
- Personal Protective Equipment
- Ladder Safety
- Slips, Trips, and Falls

To view a complete list of courses offered and to view log-in and system requirements, please see the ES&H Web-Based Training page.

Questions? Contact the ES&H Training Team.

WIS Seminar: Blogging

Bloggers Elisa Camahort and Evelyn Rodriguez

Blogging is more than a teenage past time or techie tool. It crosses age, gender and interest boundaries and represents a positive evolutionary step in communications and culture. This afternoon's WIS lecture offers the opportunity to meet two premiere bloggers.

Elisa Camahort and Evelyn Rodriguez will present the WIS lecture "Blogging: Cultural Phenomenon & Practical Communications Tool" at noon today in Panofsky Auditorium.

Elisa Camahort is the co-founder of BlogHer LLC which is now the number one guide for women bloggers, and its initiatives include a blog network, online community, annual conference and consultancy arm.

Evelyn Rodriguez has been blogging (mainly at her "Crossroads Dispatches" blog) and advising clients on participatory, customer-centric marketing strategies using networked "social, conversational media" (blogs, wikis, RSS) for marketing and innovation since 2003. She views this work as stepping into another country with its own culture, language, nuances and values quite apart from broadcast media and interactive media.

More information...

Events (see all | submit)

• April 25: (12:00 p.m.) WIS Seminar "BLOGGING: Cultural Phenomenon & Practical Communications Tool"
• April 25: (12:30 p.m.) Experimental Seminar: New D0-mixing results from BaBar using the decays D0->K+pi-pi0
• April 25: (7:30 p.m.) Public Lecture: Joanne Hewett - Space: The Hunt for Hidden Dimensions
• April 26: (1:30 p.m.) Theory Seminar - Martin Schmaltz

Access (see all)

• 4/25 - 4/28: PEP Ring Road Closure South of B750
• 4/3 - 6/1: Short Spur Road Off North Access Road Closed
• 3/31 - 4/30: Gate 17 Hours Extended During Alpine Gate Shutdown
• 3/28 - 4/30: Intermittent Narrowing of Loop Road Near Bldg. 35 and 81
• 3/27 - 4/28: Alpine Gate Temporarily Closed
• 1/01 - 5/1: Loop Road Near Kavli Building Temporarily Closed
• 1/01 - 4/30: North Gallery Road Closed at Sector 20

Announcements
(see all | submit)

 Lab Announcements

• Register for SSI today: The Next Frontier: Exploring with the LHC
• ES&H Announces New Web-Based Training

Community Bulletin Board

• Stanford Food Drive This Friday
• Beginning Japanese class starts 5/3
• Stanford Drama Department's Spring Migration Dance Concert
• Women Leaders 2006: A Symposium for Women in University Settings

News (see all | submit)

• Evidence Mounts For Sun's Companion Star  Science Daily
• State aims to accelerate funding to Fermilab  Daily Herald
• HAPPEx II reveals proton isn't very strange  Interactions.org

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What's Cookin' at the Linear Cafe (see weekly menu)

Tuesday
Breakfast Boosters	Made to Order Waffle with Mixed Berries, Whipped Cream and Bacon	$4.73
Hot	Chicken Noodle or White Bean and Swiss Chard Soup	$2.35/$2.95
Taste	Roasted Turkey Breast or Black Pepper Crusted Cross Rib Beef with Anna Potatoes	$5.65
Good Food For You	Cashew Tofu or Cashew Chicken served with Vegetable Chow Mien and Steamed Rice	$5.55
Tossed	Chinese Chicken Salad	$5.45
Panini	Sliced Salami, Ricotta and Roasted Peppers	$5.35
Sandwich Favorite	Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich	$4.99