JPL's history is described at this site.

The International Association of Scientologists (IAS) held its 22nd aniversary event last week. What is Scientology? Here is where you can find out.

NASA's long-lived Mars Exploration Rover Spirit will finish its 1,000th Martian day Thursday, continuing a successful mission originally planned for 90 Martian days. A color 360-degree panorama released today -- produced from the most detailed imaging yet completed by either Spirit or its twin, Opportunity -- shows rugged terrain of the robot's current location amid a range of hills. The vista, dubbed the "McMurdo Panorama," comes from Spirit's panoramic camera and is available online at http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mer/images/20061025.html .

The ability to understand and retain data, to actually be able to learn, is vital for a successful career in any field of technology. Average learning skills will only produce average career success. Here is a method for learning that could give you above average skills and success.

Video: The Rocketmen.
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory is a pioneer in America's Space Age. Hear from one of the original 'rocketmen' as he describes the first experiments that led to the making of JPL. This is the 70th anniversary of the founding of JPL.

Now Playing: Cassini at Saturn
This is an update on a recent flyby of the moon Titan. The flyby captured great images, including one of a lake. Here is the link.

How do you know if you are hiring an effective person? There are techniques for evaluating people that protect your interests, and lead to a team loaded with highly effective people. Some of these techniques are in the book, Science of Survival.

Free Cassini mission posters can be down loaded from this site.

NASA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) scientists report this year's ozone hole in the polar region of the Southern Hemisphere has broken records for area and depth. The ozone layer acts to protect life on Earth by blocking harmful ultraviolet rays from the sun. The "ozone hole" is a severe depletion of the ozone layer high above Antarctica. It is primarily caused by human-produced compounds that release chlorine and bromine gases in the stratosphere. More details are available at this web site.

Your mental processes can be affected by the pesticides, radiation, drugs and other environmental toxins that can accumulate in your body over time. These things damage not just your health, but your personality and your ability to think clearly. Clear Body, Clear Mind-The Effective Purification Program, by L. Ron Hubbard, details his groundbreaking discoveries in this field. There is a way to eliminate drug and toxic residues lodged in the fatty tissues of your body.
I have seen people who were intellectually vigorous in their seventies, and I have seen people (especially those who took a lot of drugs and medications) who lost a lot of their intellectual vigor long before they retired. I would recommend the Purification Program to anyone who feels the need to recover some of their ability to do highly skilled and creative work.
Bob

Nearly forgotten history of space: Pioneer 3 and 4 were early satellites designed to be lofted toward Earth's Moon. They were equipped with Geiger counters to measure radiation in space.
Pioneer 3 was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on December 6, 1958. Because of a slight error in the satellite's velocity and angle after burnout of the Juno II rocket, it did not reach the Moon; instead it achieved a peak altitude of 102,320 kilometers (63,580 miles). The satellite did, however, discover a second radiation belt around Earth during its flight. Pioneer 3 reentered Earth's atmosphere over equatorial Africa a day after launch.
Pioneer 4 was launched March 3, 1959, and successfully passed within 60,000 kilometers (37,300 miles) of the Moon the following day. The satellite was tracked for 82 hours to a distance of 655,000 kilometers (407,000 miles) from Earth, a record at that time. Pioneer 4 is now orbiting the Sun, the first U.S. spacecraft placed in solar orbit.

Seven steps to reduce stress are provided at this website. Stress on the job can rob you of your concentration, leading to errors and other difficulties. If you feel stressed out, these seven steps are an easy way to do something about it.
Bob

A Mars Rover has been found by a Mars orbital satellite. The Mars Reconnaisance Orbiter used its " HiRISE" camera to see the rover Opportunity near the rim of Victoria Crater in Meridiani Planum. You can also see its shadow on the Martian surface and wheel tracks in the Martian soil behind it. The HiRISE image also reveals eroded segments of the crater rim and other landscape features in great detail. Here's the story .

Career success for an engineer or an IT professional involves more than just technical knowledge. To do really well you must be able to: (1) become expert and remain expert in your field; (2) successfully get jobs that are being offered; (3)understand what is really needed and wanted to get ahead where you are working; (4) plan your work so that it can get done; (5) manage your work so that it actually gets done; and (6) let people know about what you have done and what you could do in the future. This last point is often not done properly by engineers. The book described at this site gives you the basics.

Strange weather coming? Over the past several weeks, NASA's Aqua and Jason satellites have observed a general warming of ocean temperatures and a rise in sea surface heights in the central and eastern Pacific along the equator, both indicators of El Niño development. "The present conditions indicate that the intensity of this El Niño is too weak to have a major influence on current weather patterns," said Bill Patzert, oceanographer and climatologist at the NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "But, if the ocean waters continue to warm and spread eastward, this event would likely strengthen, perhaps bringing much-needed rainfall to the southwestern and southeastern United States this winter."

Webcast tomorrow: Advanced Technology for Life Detection and Biology . Click here on Thursday at 7 p.m. PST for the webcast. The search for life, along with the precursors and residues of life, is a key theme for science and technology activities at JPL. To prepare for future planetary missions to Mars, Europa and Titan, researchers at JPL are engaged in a broad set of science investigations here on Earth, and numerous advanced technology efforts to develop novel devices to detect life's signatures.

Problems at work? In The Problems of Work, L Ron Hubbard isolates the problems encountered on the job – whether on the assembly line or in the CEO’s office. He offers solutions to frayed tempers and the common feeling that one cannot possibly accomplish all there is to do. This book uncovers the way to handle the confusions that surround a job and opens the doors to efficiency. In fact, within these pages one will find the keys to success

A Unique image of the Andromeda galaxy
Here is a new composite image from NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer and the Spitzer Space Telescope. The wide, ultraviolet eyes of Galaxy Evolution Explorer reveal Andromeda's "fiery" nature -- hotter regions brimming with young and old stars. In contrast, Spitzer's super-sensitive infrared eyes show Andromeda's relatively "cool" side, which includes embryonic stars hidden in their dusty cocoons.

More on career success #5: the importance of acknowledgement. One of the really important things that you will do for people who work for you and for other people whom you work with is to provide appropriate acknowledgements.

I had a guy working on a small task for me several years ago. He did a good job. I sent an email to him and to his regular boss, thanking him for doing a good job. Some years later, he showed up at my door, and he indicated that the acknowledgement he got from me was the only acknowledgement that he remembered receiving over all those years. He wanted to know if there was anything else he could do to support any job that I might be doing.

You really motivate people when you acknowledge properly. Relationships at work and at home are much better when acknowledgement is effective.

There is a drill on how to acknowledge someone so that they really feel acknowledged in the Success Through Communication course. I highly recommend this training. For more information on this course, click here. Here is a partial quote: "What skill has the most to do with success in life? It’s your ability to communicate. Not just talk, but really communicate. There are definite aspects to truly skilled communication..."