Page 604 - Asterisk™: The Future of Telephony

Jared is active in his community, donating Asterisk services to local schools and serving
in his church. The greatest joy in Jared’s life comes from spending time with his chil-
dren, Caleb and Sydney Jo, and his wife, Jenny.

Colophon

The animals on the cover of Asterisk: The Future of Telephony are starfish. Starfish are
classified as Asteroidea. They are a group of echinoderms, spiny-skinned invertebrates
found only in the sea. Most starfish have fivefold symmetry (arms or rays in multiples
of five), though some species can have four or nine arms. But all starfish are radially
symmetrical: they have arms or rays branching out from a central body disc. There are
over 1,500 species of starfish.
Starfish live on the floor of the sea and in tidal pools, clinging to rocks and moving
(slowly) using a water-based vascular system to manipulate their hundreds of tiny, tube-
like legs, called podia. A small bulb or ampulla at the top of the tube contracts, expelling
water and expanding the starfish’s leg. The ampulla relaxes, and the leg retracts. Starfish
use muscles to bend their legs, but it is the flow of water pressure that keeps the feet
moving. At the tip of each leg, starfish have suction cups that allow them to pry open
clam, oyster, or mussel shells. Many starfish can push their stomachs out through their
mouths in order to digest their prey in its shell. Starfish are carnivores; they eat coral,
fish, and snails, as well as bivalves.
Starfish can flex and rearrange their arms to fit into small places as they move over the
ocean floor. At the end of each arm, they have eyespots, primitive sensors that detect
light and help the starfish determine direction. Starfish also have the ability to regen-
erate a missing limb. Some species can even regrow a complete, new starfish from a
severed arm.
The cover image is from the Dover Pictorial Archive. The cover font is Adobe ITC
Garamond. The text font is Linotype Birka; the heading font is Adobe Myriad Con-
densed; and the code font is LucasFont’s TheSans Mono Condense.