Posted on 12/01/2013 7:37:42 AM PST by SunkenCiv
Explanation: After failing to appear for Sun staring spacecraft at perihelion, its harrowing closest approach to the Sun, sungrazing Comet ISON was presumed lost. But ISON surprised observers yesterday as material still traveling along the comet's trajectory became visible and even developed an extensive fan-shaped dust tail. Edited and processed to HD format, this video (vimeo, youtube) is composed of frames from the SOHO spacecraft's coronographs. It follows the comet in view of the wide (blue tint) and narrow (red tint) field cameras in the hours both before and after perihelion passage. In both fields, overwhelming sunlight is blocked by a central occulting disk. A white circle indicates the Sun's positon and scale. With questions to be answered and the tantalizing possibility that a small cometary nucleus has survived in whole or part, surprising comet ISON will be rising before dawn in planet Earth's skies in the coming days.
(Excerpt) Read more at 129.164.179.22 ...
[Credit: NASA, ESA, SOHO; Video Editing: Babak Tafreshi (TWAN)]
So the comet is still visible, but it just isn’t what it used to be. Aren’t we all.....aren’t we all.
Nahh, I’m utterly invisible to the Captains of Industry and Congress.
I must be, no matter how many resumes I send out, no matter how many cold calls I make they still can’t find any American engineers to fill their openings.
They implore Congress to raise the H-1B ceiling.
Congress enthusiastically does.
Changes forever, and probably for the better...
I know I’ve said this before, but I wanted again to thank you for posting APOD along with your other stuff.
It’s a wonderful diversion from the more pedestrian matters of politics and something most of us just don’t think to do on our own.
It’s good to take a step back and behold he mysteries of God’s creation shown in the wonders of His universe.
I'm in the process of retiring after 45 years as an Engineering Technician and had to work with many H-1Bs. One thing I won't miss is trying to understand some of these guys. A couple of them were so bad I had to tell them to send me an E-mail because I couldn't understand what they wanted.
Are you getting interviews? If not, look at your resume. Are you getting interviews, but no offers? Have a friend play a boss and record your interview. Be brutally honest as you review the tape. Make contacts. Most hiring comes from hiring somebody the boss already knows. Engineers can be too focused on their technical abilities. The organization is hiring you....not just your skills. Be SOMEBODY they want to hire not just some skills they might need.
I was thinking the same thing, “a blessing from the Oort cloud.”
Hope you are not one of those types who thinks that it is whom you know and not what you know that really matters.
I am one of those types that thinks how you perform is most important. I think most organizations do a horrible job of selecting people to work for them. What in the world are you going to know about someone after a 60 minute interview? The best predictor of future performance is past performance, and that depends a great deal upon what the candidate knows. Unfortunately, hiring decisions are made by people and people are just bags of emotions walking around. We live in reality and reality dictates that people making hiring decisions will behave like people.
Few, very few. I’ve reworked my resume a number of times, had it professionally re-done, have done extensive re-writes specifically targeting the requirements of individual openings.
Last company interviewed me for 6-1/2 hours, with multiple interviewers. The interview went VERY well, I liked them they all seemed to like me, I’m intimately familiar with their exact needs, having done essentially the same work elsewhere, know the equipment they are planning on using, know the process. They were going to check references and get back to me in 2-3 weeks. Two of my three references reported back that they had been contacted and gave glowing reports, they couldn’t reach the 3rd, and I arranged a 4th, and had the third call them as well.
Then nothing.
Finally was able to get a hold of the hiring manager. The story is they’d had a chronic need to fill another position and an ideal candidate showed up who was a perfect match for that position, but they only had room to add one body to their headcount, so they were checking his references to determine if they would create a req for him and close mine.
I suggested that I could set up their process as a consultant in the interim. He though that might be a good idea and said he would consider it.
A week later, he hadn’t bothered to mention it to anyone else.
*sigh*
If they are interviewing you for six hours, then you are close. I know that sounds somewhat trite. Organizations will always need talent. I think you are about ready to get an offer.
The interview was first week of October. The hiring manager was Luke warm at best when we last talked, I’m not very hopeful at this point.
Forget them if they don’t know talent. Somebody else is looking for talent.
Plenty of engineering jobs in Texas and the Midwest. Oil & gas, even some aerospace.
A few years back I had a wonderful interview in Houston. It was a company that bought and moved a company I had worked for years before (back when I was married to a woman who to move to "UGH! Texas *spit*").
I eventually got smart and divorced her sorry butt.
Another day long interview, they loved me, I loved them, I knew their product inside and out, sideways, upside down and backwards, having developed most of the processes and having had significant design input.
Spent a few days there scoping out places to live, shopping, talking to cops and mayors, and generally getting a feel for the place, which I loved as well, determined I'd like to live in Meadows Place found a couple excellent restaurants and was ready to go on a hair trigger.
Then nothing.
Eh? Oh, well, ummmmm, our 90% of our business customer bounced last month's check, and has blandly informed us they will have no more business for us for at least a year.
They folded.
*sigh*
II enjoyed the NatGeo-NASA special last week re the Comet Encounter ....
Getting the job well done is the objective. Kids out of the university have no past work to draw from. But yeah, agreed!
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