Image from http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/02/virginia-gov-a-vp-hopeful-alters-abortion-ultrasound-stance/

While most of us associate wands with Harry Potter, the fairy tale term has taken on a shocking new meaning this week.

This is thanks to politicians in Virginia who, in a fit of Pro-life fervor decided to go pro-wand.

The wand in question is a device utilized for internal ultrasounds may often be described as “wand-like,” it’s far from magical.

This wand was part of one of the three anti-abortion laws that have been moving through the Virginia General Assembly.  The ultrasound legislation has received the most volatile response from the public.

In its original form, the bill required any woman getting an abortion to undergo a highly invasive, transvaginal ultrasound using, you guessed it, the dreaded wand.

This provoked a huge response from opponents, who gathered about 33,000 petition signatures opposing the measure. It didn’t take very long for Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell  to alter recent legislation regarding ultrasounds for women seeking abortions.

As he explains:

“No person should be directed to undergo an invasive procedure by the state, without their consent, as a precondition to another medical procedure.”

The House set about quickly amending the bill after Gov. McDonnell’s statement. Thus, the legislation that passed the Virginia House of Delegates today by a 65-32 vote still mandates an ultrasound, but the procedure will be done externally, on the woman’s abdomen.

Though a few aspects of the bill may have been mitigated, the debate still rages on.

Should a woman be forced to get an ultrasound, however noninvasive it may be? How much more will it cost to perform one? Will women have to bear the brunt of the ultrasound’s cost when the original procedure they sought was an abortion?

It appears it might take a real magic wand to resolve this issue once and for all.

Stripe, a San Francisco startup with an online-payment system, is hosting a simple online cybersecurity capture the flag (CTF) challenge. See their blog post for the details.

“The hardest part of writing secure code is learning to think like an attacker. For example, every programmer is told to watch out for SQL injections, but it’s hard to appreciate just how exploitable they are until you’ve written a SQL injection of your own.

We built Stripe Capture the Flag, a security wargame inspired by SmashTheStack’s IO, to help the community (as well our team!) practice identifying and exploiting common security problems.

After completing our CTF, you should have a greatly improved understanding of how attackers will try to break your code (and hopefully will have fun in the process!).”

If you can crack their system, they’ll send you a t-shirt. Since security is important to their business, maybe they will also talk to you about a job.

He’s Back. 

(seb) is excited to announce that tickets are on sale at the CIC for our first Big Screen Throwback… Jaws! That’s right, we rented out a theater and are bringing Jaws back to the big screen. Tickets are just $3 and include shuttle service from campus.

More info Here!

Joel 2:28-32

28 “And afterward,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your old men will dream dreams,
your young men will see visions.
29 Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days.
30 I will show wonders in the heavens
and on the earth,
blood and fire and billows of smoke.
31 The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.
32 And everyone who calls
on the name of the LORD will be saved;
for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem
there will be deliverance,
as the LORD has said,
even among the survivors
whom the LORD calls.

Reflection
Prophesy!  Visions!  Dreams!  It is hard to believe at times that we are to prophesy, see visions and dream dreams, but it’s true! God is pouring out His Spirit on ALL of His people in this age.  He has created His church in order to fill us with His Spirit to prophesy, dream, and have visions.  We are part of this church and this is the right response to the filling of the Spirit.  Have you prophesied lately?  Then be filled with the Spirit and prophesy.  Let’s see visions and dream dreams for our missional groups and our campuses as we experience God’s outpouring of His Spirit on us, His church.  Our God is an awesome and powerful God who saves and delivers us when we call on His name.

Response
Let’s pray that we will receive the Spirit fully in our lives today.  As we experience the outpouring of the Spirit, we will prophesy, we will see visions and we will dream dreams for His glory in our generation.

Associate Professor of English Piotr Gwiazda will read from his new book, Messages: Poems & Interview, at the Walters Art Museum on March 10.

Also reading will be Campbell McGrath, the author of ten books of poetry, including Spring Comes to Chicago, Florida Poems, Seven Notebooks, and most recently In the Kingdom of the Sea Monkeys (Ecco Press, 2012).

The reading will take place at the The Walters Art Museum, 600 N Charles St., Baltimore, MD 21201, at 2 p.m. on March 10.  It is free to the public.