The Atlantic has a short article on estimating the cost to the US economy of the popular angry birds game available on most smartphones.  Their estimate?  $1.5 billion dollars a year.

"Every March, it is a requirement that every newspaper and website in every town in the United States run a story about how much money American companies lose because people watch the NCAA basketball tournament instead of working. Challenger, Gray, and Christmas, the consulting firm that makes such estimates, has tried their hand at other games recently, too. A couple years ago, they gave a number for fantasy football, saying the hobby costs companies $10.5 billion in lost wages. So, when I heard today that people play 200 million minutes of Angry Birds a day, I wanted to know if the company had ever looked into lost productivity resulting from those dastardly pigs and their winged assassins. Sadly and inexplicably, they haven't. So, after looking at their methodology, I came up with my own estimate. Here it is."

You can read the full article here.

The Atlantic has a short article on estimating the cost to the US economy of the popular angry birds game available on most smartphones.  Their estimate?  $1.5 billion dollars a year.

"Every March, it is a requirement that every newspaper and website in every town in the United States run a story about how much money American companies lose because people watch the NCAA basketball tournament instead of working. Challenger, Gray, and Christmas, the consulting firm that makes such estimates, has tried their hand at other games recently, too. A couple years ago, they gave a number for fantasy football, saying the hobby costs companies $10.5 billion in lost wages. So, when I heard today that people play 200 million minutes of Angry Birds a day, I wanted to know if the company had ever looked into lost productivity resulting from those dastardly pigs and their winged assassins. Sadly and inexplicably, they haven't. So, after looking at their methodology, I came up with my own estimate. Here it is."

You can read the full article here.

Luke 15:8-10

“Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

Reflection:

In today’s passage, there is obvious sharing of joy and celebration from the woman in the passage who values all of her silver coins. We can also infer that things are on hold until the search and recovery is over and successful in finding the lost coin. This also shows true faithfulness and concern. Our Father also searches diligently and does not rest until He finds what is the most valuable to Him – us. Because we are valuable in the eyes of our Father, the search for the lost ones will go on, and for everyone that is ‘found’ we rejoice together with the angels in heaven.

Response:

Each of us has our own story of the relief and comfort that comes when we find anything that is valuable to us that we have once lost. We go through this experience even for the most mundane of things – how much more if we take part in God’s ‘search party’ to bring back souls to him? Let’s pray today for willing hearts to receive the Father’s heart to do whatever it takes in order to take an active part in His kingdom work.

Twenty-five new and returning women in engineering and IT majors attended the 2nd annual CWIT Affiliates Retreat on Saturday, September 10th. The event included two sessions designed and facilitated by CWIT Scholars and Affiliates. Attendees got to know each other and gained great advice from students in their majors and professionals from Constellation Energy and Northrop Grumman. After these sessions, 65 CWIT Scholars and Affiliates had lunch and then participated in the annual C-What? Day, hosted by the CWIT Student Council. C-WHAT day included Minute to Win IT games, Family Feud, and a design contest to create this year's CWIT t-shirt. Pictures from the retreat are on the CWIT website.

From UMBC Magazine Fall 2011: How to Grow Your Big Idea.  Featuring Dean Bill LaCourse, Vivian Armour, and Gib Mason. Video by Jenny O’Grady.