Nannobots? Like in the movies? They’re really here.

Mitt Romney is a new man, a look at the man who makes the candidate look new.

Republican Speaker Boehner is a socialist? His primary challenger seems to think so.

Everyone has that friend who seems to say the worst things at the wrong moment.

The Republican party has a friend like that, her name is Michele Bachmann. The presidential candidate who has become infamous for her gaffs.

Most recently, at the Republican debate last week Bachmann boldly asserted that the government shouldn’t push a vaccine for the human papillomavirus on young girls. HPV is a sexually transmitted virus that can cause cervical cancer.

She called the vaccine dangerous. Her rebuttal was directed at Gov. Rick Perry who has a policy mandating the vaccination to young women in his home state of Texas.

Candidates are certainly free to stand up and give their opinions. In this case, Bachmann’s comments may have done serious damage. Implying a vaccine is dangerous is a bold statement that would scare any concerned parent.

The New York Times reports that parent’s fears can set back vaccination rates by as much as three years. With Bachmann making wildly inaccurate and unverified statements about the vaccine’s “danger” she may have succeeded in doing just that.

Vaccination rates for diseases like measles tend to climb quickly when parents think their children are in danger. However, with HPV it is hard to assess any danger. The cancer caused by HPV does not usually manifest for years 20 years after infection.

Who would have thought talking points in a presidential debate could actually affect people?

Mark 1:16-20 (NIV 2011)

16 As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 17 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” 18 At once they left their nets and followed him.

19 When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. 20 Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.

Reflection:

The band U2 wrote the song “Walk On” in one of their acclaimed albums and the line, “All that you can’t leave behind” celebrates a certain “freedom” of thought. With an even greater literary force, the Bible displays this amazing turn for anyone who is called by Jesus. First Simon and his brother Andrew are called, and they leave all of their lives behind to follow Jesus. Then James and John do the same. Why the repetition? Perhaps to show that this was not a one-time fluke but rather a regular occurrence; this is the norm of God’s kingdom. Leaving it all behind to follow Christ is much more than just an intellectual ascent, but it’s a true, real life freedom.

Response:

Jesus continues to call us each day by name. “Come, follow me.” It is an incredible privilege to hear the call. In our hearts, let us “leave it all behind” and follow Him. Let’s pray that we would not hold on to the temporary things of this world but we would instead abandon everything else in faith so we may find and live in true freedom.

Undergraduate and graduate students who participate in the following NSF programs are invited to submit abstracts for the 2012 Emerging Researchers National (ERN) Conference in STEM:

Key dates related to abstract submission and travel
*** The deadline for poster and oral abstract submissions is October 21, 2011.
*** Notification of abstract acceptance will be sent by December 2, 2011.
*** The deadline to submit travel award applications is October 21, 2011.
*** Travel awards will be announced on or before December 2, 2011.

For questions regarding the online abstract submission process, please contact Donna Behar at dbehar@aaas.org.

Sincerely,
Yolanda S. George, Deputy Director
AAAS Directorate for Education &
Human Resources Programs

Cybersecurity Lecture

Modern Threat Environment and the Impact of Technology Shifts

Neal Ziring
Information Assurance Technical Director
National Security Agency

6-7pm Tuesday 20 September 2011 in ITE 102 (LH 8)

Neal Ziring will give a special guest lecture in CYBR620 (Introduction to Cybersecurity) on the modern threat environment and the impact of shifts in technology, such as the move from IPv4 to IPv6 and the security of systems and networks topics.

Mr. Neal Ziring is currently a technical director in the Information Assurance Directorate (IAD), at NSA. The IAD provides cryptographic, network, and operational security products and services to protect and defend national security systems. Prior to his role at the IAD level, Neal with a technical director for the Vulnerability Analysis and Operations Group, which provides technology evaluations, defensive operations, and secure configuration guidance for the DoD and the IC. During that time, Neal also served as security architect for two major NSA mission systems programs, collaborated with NIST on the Security Content Automation Protocol (S-CAP) specifications, and lead analysis efforts for Cloud Computing technology and IPv6. Neal has degrees in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering from Washington University. Before coming to NSA in 1989, he worked at AT&T Bell Labs.

(Above, Bill Shewbridge and Lynn Casabon receive a proclamation from Sam Moxley, representing the county executive. Photo by Vin Grabill.)

In celebration of the new Arbutus Branch of the Baltimore County Public Library, UMBC faculty and students worked with members of the surrounding community to display historic railroad photographs and create a series of digital stories about the area through residents’ eyes.

Lynn Cazabon, associate chair and associate professor of art, worked with students to create a series of mural-sized prints from historical photographs of the railroad in the Arbutus area, which are on permanent display in the new Arbutus Branch.

Intercultural Video Communication students, led by Bill Shewbridge, director of the New Media Studio, collaborated with community residents to combine photos, images and oral history for a series of short films. In “Arbutus Stories,” residents reflect on the community, share experiences and describe their hometown.

The digital stories are available on the Baltimore County Public Library and UMBC New Media Studio websites.

Below is an overview of the project:

Below is the digital story, “38 and a Half Years”:

Professor of the Practice of English Christopher Corbett will speak at the Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum on Saturday, October 8, at 1 p.m.

Corbett’s talk will commemorate the 150th anniversary of the end of the Pony Express. Corbett is the author of “Orphans Preferred: The Twisted Truth & Lasting Legend of the Pony Express.” A book signing and opportunity to tour the “Pony Express: Romance vs. Reality” exhibit will follow.

This program is free. For more information, contact the National Postal Museum at 202-633-5533 or NPMprograms@si.edu.

Ellen Handler Spitz, honors college professor of visual arts, was mentioned in a September 18 New York Times Sunday Book Review essay entitled “The Children’s Authors Who Broke the Rules.”

Among the authors mentioned in the essay is Shel Silverstein, who wrote “The Giving Tree.” “[‘The Giving Tree’] was embraced by Christians as a parable of selflessness and has been denounced by feminists as a patriarchal fantasy in morality-tale clothing,” writes essayist Pamela Paul. “Ellen Handler Spitz, the author of the classic study ‘Inside Picture Books,’ wrote that the story ‘perpetuates the myth of the selfless, all-giving mother who exists only to be used and the image of a male child who can offer no reciprocity, express no gratitude, feel no empathy—an insatiable creature who encounters no limits for his demands.'”