Remember Them
Virginia Tech is an engineering college and the tragedy strikes us close to home when we realize
that among the 32 victims were at least three engineering professors known around the world for their work.
Among the victims identified so far were three Virginia Tech engineering professors:
| G.V. Loganathan, 53, was an award-winning professor of civil and environmental engineering. Loganathan, of Tamil Nadu, India, lived with his wife and children on Virginia Tech's campus, according to the Times of India. Liviu Librescu, 76, a Holocaust survivor who lived in Israel. Librescu taught at Virginia Tech for 20 years, and was an internationally known lecturer on aeronautical engineering. Kevin Granata was a professor of engineering science and mechanics. Granata specialized in biomechanics and robotics. University officials said Norris Hall would be closed for the remainder of the semester. Police said 32 students and professors were killed in the campus shootings, the worst shooting rampage in modern U.S. history. A list of confirmed victims can be is available here. |
We leave the rehashing of analysis to others as we remember the victims.
Nestle buys Gerber baby foods
Today it was
announced that Nestle, the chocolate company will buy Gerber foods, from Novartis.
There were no baby steps in this deal, as Nestle SA said it will pay $5.5 billion to pick up U.S. baby-food giant Gerber from Novartis AG.
Nestle said as a result of today’s deal, its nutrition division will now have annual sales of $8.21 billion.
Gerber, which has been making baby food since 1928, should bring in $1.95 billion in sales this year.
Nestle said its goal was to expand Gerber operations globally.
“This is like an iceberg where you only see the tip of it,” Richard Laube, head of the nutrition division, said in a conference call.
Nestle has lacked a baby food brand in the U.S. and has been eager to buy Gerber for more than a decade.
Nestle just bought Swiss-based Novartis’s medical nutrition business for $2.5 billion.
“The acquisition of Gerber is the perfect complementary fit. It not only gives Nestle the leadership position in baby food, but it also constitutes a decisive step to establish Nestle Nutrition as the undisputed global leader in the nutrition field … covering all important sectors: infant formula, baby food, medical nutrition, weight management, and performance nutrition,” said Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, Nestle chairman and chief executive.
Novartis, the world’s fourth-biggest pharmaceuticals company, said this deal solidifies the company to a pure healthcare group.
After the sale, Novartis will generate all its revenue from healthcare as compared to 1996 when the segment accounted for 45% of its revenue.
While Nestle intends on bringing the Gerber product to a international market. It is interesting to note that it also brings Gerber in as an American owned company again.
H-1b Visa Applications Max Out in One day.
H-1B Visas that are sought by employers to bring skilled or technically trained workers into the U.S. The government started accepting applications for these visas on April 1st this year. In that one day the
quota was filled.
Thinking about applying for an H-1B visa? Don't. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said it's already reached its quota for the year — just a day after it began accepting applications. It took about two months to reach that point last year. By late Monday afternoon, USCIS had already been flooded with 150,000 H-1B petitions. It can only accept 65,000. Many of those workers will go to tech companies, such as Microsoft Corp., Oracle Corp., and Intel Corp.
Those lucky enough to get in before the door closed will have to cross their fingers and hope that they survive the next round. To be fair, USCIS said it will randomly select the winners of H-1Bs from among the entire pool.
Unfortunately for the applicants, that won't happen for several weeks, which is about how long it will take for USCIS to input all the data.
Any petitions received on Wednesday will be rejected, USCIS said in a statement.
The process favors the bigger hi-tech companys over the smaller engineering houses. In a tightning labor market the feds have decreased the available visas by 40,000
H-1B visas have long been controversial in the IT industry. Some argue that it takes jobs away from US workers or gives employers an option to hire people willing to work for less. Proponents believe that the foreign workers help fill a shortage in certain skills. In response to heavy lobbying by companies, the cap was temporarily raised to 195,000 in fiscal years 2001-2003.
A long-running debate has also focused on foreign students who earn graduate degrees in the US and then are shipped home, where they may boost the brain power of companies that will compete with US firms. Currently, the H-1B visa program exempts the first 20,000 H-1B petitions from foreign students with US-earned masters' or PhD degrees.
A Terminal Case
While helping out at a startup last week one of the transmitter vendors stopped by to setup and program the new Hart protocol transmitter. He was using one of the Panasonic Toughbooks the rugged laptops to program several level meters. These things are not only built tough, but the batteries last all day long!
Using a laptop in an operating plant can be a trial. Concerns of safety, battery life, and an environment unfriendly to most computers and electronics can make laptop usage difficult. The tough books with their 8 hour battery life, is safe. Certified UL1604 Class I Division II, they won't emit dangerous sparks in hazardous work environments, so you can focus on the work at hand. Also, they are built like a tank, with a rugged magnesium water/dust resistant case. For a portable terminal or field instrument calibrations these PC's have a place for many of us.
