From slashdot earlier today:

“Numerous Stuxnet related stories continue to flow through my bin today, so brace yourself: Unsurprisingly, Iran blames Stuxnet on a plot set up by the west designed to infect its nuclear facilities. A Symantec researcher analyzed the code and put forth attack scenarios. A threatpost researcher writes about the sophistication of the worm. Finally, Dutch multinationals have revealed that the worm is also attacking them. We may never know what this thing was really all about.”

The other day  my throat was feeling a tad bit scratchy so I made sure to stuff my backpack with my favorite throat soothing teas.

I headed over to Au Bon Pain in the Commons and took advantage of their hot water to make myself a cup of tea.

After I was done, I was walking back to my table when, not one but two Commons staff members asked if I was going to pay for my drink. ( Don’t worry, now I make sure I let a staff member know that I have my own tea bag)

I suppose it is uncommon to carry around your own tea bags, but it does save money!

During the fall/ winter season I drink green tea every morning. Sometimes even twice a day when I am feeling a bit under the weather.

Green tea contains epigallocatechin gallate EGCG a powerful anti-oxidant that helps strengthen the immune system! It also has less caffeine than green tea!

Let’s hope my green tea habit helps me stay cold free this seasons and stays off my criminal record!

Will you be going Green this fall/ winter season?

It's that time of the year again, the Leadership Consultants are hosting our
    3rd annual L.A.T.T.E retreat.  It is during this retreat that leaders on
    campus have the opportunity to sharpen their leadership skills and network
    with other fellow colleagues. The Leadership Consultants would like to
    invite you to apply for the retreat. The on-line application is due by 5pm
    on Thursday, October 14 and is available at: www.umbc.edu/lc

Here's what past participants said about LATTE:
 
"For me, as a new officer to my organization, this was exactly
    what I needed." 

"I feel so much more prepared to be a strong leader in my
    group" 

"Through this event, my circle of good friends has grown, I
    have become an even stronger leader, and I now feel incredibly prepared and
    excited to move into the next stage of my life"

Sincerely,
    
    The UMBC Leadership Consultants
    
    

Slashdot highlights another mystery today — what’s the meaning of the binary sequence along the bottom of the personal coat of arms of David Johnston, Canada’s new Governor-General.

“As de facto head of state and the Queen’s representative in Canada he is required to design a personal coat of arms. One modern detail has attracted particular attention – a 33-digit palindromic binary stream at the base. Efforts to decode the meaning of the number using ASCII, Morse, grouping by 3/11 and other theories has so far come up empty (right now it’s a toss up between random, the phone number 683-077-0643 and Morse code for ‘send help – trapped in a coat of arms factory.’) Is 110010111001001010100100111010011 the combination to his luggage, or just a random stream of digits?”

Here’s a theory that I hope might be true. As an educator and former president of a university known for its strength in computer science, maybe he is trying to interest Canadian children in mathematics and computer science by giving them a an intriguing puzzle to work on.