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Lamont Weekly Report – September 26, 2003

OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR
P.O. Box 1000, 61 Route 9W Palisades, New York 10964

<> REPORT SUMMARY <>

– Administration Updates –
– SPAM –
– X-Windows client for Windows –
– Letter from the Director –
____________________________________

<> ADMINISTRATION UPDATES

As a first reminder, the Benefits Fair for LDEO employees will be held on Friday, October 24, 9:30 am to 12:30 pm (currently scheduled for the Monell Lobby). One of the additional benefits for LDEO families is the availability of a quality childcare facility on our site operated by the number one provider of corporate work site childcare, Bright Horizons Family Solutions. Currently, there is still some availability in the 3-5 year old program.

Additionally (and this is NEW!) Bright Horizon's will be available on a limited basis to provide emergency back-up service for daily daycare on days when your alternate provider may be unavailable. This is on a limited basis so it is best to call as soon as you know this may be the case. You can call Melanie Melo at (845) 680-4893.

<> SPAM

The quantity of unsolicited bulk e-mail, commonly called "spam", has recently increased to extraordinary new levels. Over a year ago, we implemented a very popular and open source mail filtering system that identifies spam and tags it appropriately. The spammers have now learned how to craft messages that don't trigger our system. We are in the process of upgrading our email filtering programs to incorporate the latest anti-spam technology. Look for announcements and instructions over the next few weeks.


<> X-WINDOWS CLIENT FOR WINDOWS

We have extended the CU license for X-Win32 to cover the LDEO campus network. X-Win32 is an X terminal application for Windows computers, including Windows 95, 98, ME, NT4.0 and Windows 2000. X-Win32 allows Windows users to connect to Linux/Unix servers on a local network or via the Internet. The X applications can run right alongside MS Windows applications and you can copy and paste data between the X terminal and MS Windows applications.

If interested, please send email to 'request' to obtain the license key required to download the software.


<> LETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR

The week began with our annual lunch to celebrate ten year veterans of CU employment. Suzanne Carbotte, Jessie Lamarque, George Papa, Dan Quoidbach, Bruce Shaw, Chris Small, Lex van Geen reached this milestone in their careers here and received, in addition to handsome plaques, and valuable lapel pins, rare and meticulously assembled plastic table flags bearing the Columbia crown. But seriously, as I stressed to all attending, it is the people that make this place great, and motivation for these small lunch events is occasionally to remind folks about that essential fact.

Speaking of the importance of people, I do not do a good job of meeting new members of our staff - just too many meetings I fear. I was glad to meet with Mingfang Ting on Tuesday (even though her arrival was several weeks ago), and welcome her formally to the Observatory. Mingfang significantly strengthens our climate modeling group in the Ocean and Climate Division. She joins us from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as the newest member of our Senior Staff and has the good fortune (?) to occupy an office between Rich Seager and Yochanan Kushnir in the Oceanography building.

The most recent new addition to our Research Staff is Jim Gaherty, a Seismologist from Georgia Tech who has joined the Seismology, Geology and Tectonophysics Division and will add substantially to our efforts to improve understanding of deep earth structure using seismic methods. Jim has been with us in an adjunct capacity for some months, but I am very pleased that he is now on our permanent staff as a Doherty Associate Research Scientist.
Thursday was a day devoted to the hosting of visiting dignitaries. Mary Glackin, who is NOAA Director Connie Lautenbacher's lead for the design and construction of a 'new NOAA', visited on Thursday, along with a substantial entourage including the redoubtable Mike Hall. Following an informative lunch she spent most of the afternoon with John Mutter and Steve Zebiak visiting the IRI. Also on Thursday we were very pleased to host Nick Lemann, the brand new Dean of the School of Journalism, who spent several hours here, learning about what we do and, with Kim Kasten's help, finding out about the Environmental Science and Journalism program, that was established, and is led, by Kim.

Following the highly successful visit by Program Managers from all three of NSF Geoscience Research Divisions, we are trying to organize a similarly productive activity with the NSF Office of Polar Programs. For those of you with high latitude interests, please mark your calendars for November 13th - this is the tentative (repeat tentative) date for a visit of 4-6 section heads and program officers from both the Arctic and Antarctic programs of NSF's OPP. As plans become established I will keep you informed.

EWING will be coming into Bergen, Norway this weekend, and then dead-heading down to Barbados - a significant latitudinal adjustment (but hopefully not in the Jimmy Buffet sense of the word.)

Have a great weekend,

– Mike
____________________________________

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