Photo courtesy www.retrieverweekly.com

Left: Computer Engineering Alumnus Delali Dzirasa speaks with a student during the Raymond V. Haysbert, Sr. Entrepreneurship Lecture back in March.

The Retriever Weekly talked to UMBC alumnus Delali Dzirasa (CE, '04) about what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur. Dzirasa, the founder of Fearless Solutions, LLC–a team of software engineers and web developers that help clients solve problems through Data Visualization, Web Application Development, Software Engineering, and Rapid Prototyping–knows from experience. Here's what he had to say:

" Dzirasa of Fearless Solutions told stories of how he used to run a barbershop when he lived on the UMBC campus to make money.

"I am a serial starter of things," he said. "My advice for you is to believe in yourself… Never give up and hold onto your vision." "

Check out the full article HERE.

This year’s QuadMania is shaping up to be a great place to try some awesome food! With a ton of help from Stefanie Mavronis, I’ve put together the Official QuadMania 2012 Eating Guide for the Casual UMBC Foodie. Or as I like to call, the OQM2012EGFTCUMBCF. These vendors will be supplying the main source of sustenance throughout the day. Bring some cash for these guys.

Baltimore Polytechnical Institute Smoothie Booth

Come try a freshly blended smoothie made right in front of you with your choice of ingredients. This booth will be using funds collected at QuadMania to help put together the 10 year high school reunion for the 2003 graduation class. Your support would be greatly appreciated!

Carnivore BBQ

This BBQ truck features locally sourced and made-from-scratch food. They will be serving up pulled pork and beef brisket along with some homemade BBQ sauces.

Tweet @carnbbq

Dangerously Delicious Pies

While on the road with The Glenmont Popes, founder Rodney slung slices and hocked pies at his merchandise table, in shows’ parking lots, and traded pie for lodging so the band could tour, and thus, PIE AND ROCK AND ROLL was born! Each pie is handmade from scratch with no additives or preservatives. Dangerously Delicious offers a full line of sweet and savory pies.

Tweet @dangerouspies

 Grids Waffles

Hailing from Washington DC, Grids Waffles offers delicious savory and sweet wrapped waffles. Try the best-selling Nutella waffle (“Nitty Griddy”) or the delicious pizza waffle! Another tasty-sounding concoction is the Grids S’mores Waffle which features chocolate chips, marshmallows, graham cracker crumbs, and whipped cream. You haven’t had your favorite breakfast entree like this yet!

Tweet @GridsWaffles

Top Dog Truck

This big orange truck uses high-end and locally sourced ingredients to transform the familiar hot dog into a Top Dog. Top Dog specializes in two types of dogs: The Sonoran, hailing from Tucson, Arizona, a bacon-wrapped all beef dog served on a buttery brioche bun with great toppings; The Boss, a Hungarian debreziner sausage – a caraway seed, red pepper, pork artisan sausage – served on a brioche bun; and finally some love to the vegetarians – the Not Dog.

Tweet @topdogtruck

Be sure to try all of these options at QuadMania on Saturday, April 21^st on the Quad from 12noon – 10pm. I’d like to give a huge shout out to Stefanie Mavronis for co-writing this post!

Courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter

This summer’s Hot Hollywood hype is starting early.

First of the action flicks is the new Rian Johnson sci-fi action thriller Looper. This films stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a hitman in a futuristic society where time travel sends him back to take out his employer’s enemies before they have a chance to cause them any trouble.

The thriller part comes in when JGL finds his next assignment is his older self, played by Bruce Willis, who he is determined to hunt down despite the obvious consequences. Check out the trailer below.

Rian Johnson’s previous efforts were the indie films Brick and The Brothers Bloom (we recommend both), and he really doesn’t have much name recognition to the average audience but the studio is doing their best to get the word out.

They released three brief featurette interviews: a sneak peek, a little commentary about the futuristic world, and a background look at the makeup transformation to make JGL resemble Willis. You can also watch the trailer with the director’s commentary.

With action blockbusters dominating summer such as The Avengers or The Dark Knight Rises smaller films like Looper do their best to create a buzz to raise their profile with audiences.

Do these tactics get you interested in a little-known film? Based on what you see here do you plan to see Looper?

Ephesians 3:14-21 (NLT)

14 When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, 15 the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth.16 I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. 17 Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. 18 And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. 19 May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.
20 Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. 21 Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.

Reflection:
Paul bows down in worship before God because of His great love. In Paul’s excited prayer, he thanks God and is not afraid to ask God for big and small things because God gives from His “glorious, unlimited resources.” God loves to give generously to His children!

Response:
Let’s ask God to open our eyes to see just how much God loves to give to us and to help us believe that God truly wants to bless and lavish us with answered prayer all the time. May God enable us to believe and experience receiving all He has for each of us.

So what do the Secret Service staff do during their free time?

Well…we’re not really sure if we should answer that.

A few days ago, 11 Secret Service agents and officers were accused of bringing back at least one prositute to their hotel.

The alleged scandal took place before Obama arrived for a Summit of Americas conference in Cartagena, Colombia.

The president is demanding an investigation, stating that

We’re representing the people of the United States and when we travel to another county I expect us to observe the highest standards,” said Obama. “Obviously what’s been reported doesn’t match up with those standards.”

Although nothing has been confirmed yet, Americans are outraged by the behavior of their government employees.

If the allegations are true, what should the consequences be for the Secret Service agents? And, how will it reflect on the American government?

To vote for next year’s officers, please visit http://colacadstink.getmyip.com:800/voting.php.  If you have any issues voting please contact me (phone number at top of server).  Voting closes Wednesday at 12:01AM.

There were some concerns about vote anonymity.  Due to wanting to be able to perform a recount and confirm vote accuracy, I will be storing the server’s internal user ID with the votes in the database.  The only way to access the voting information is by logging into the server as root, which only I have the password for.  Also, looking at the votes as they appear in the database, it is not at all apparent who voted for who, since these IDs are only used inside the server.  In theory I could determine who this person is by looking them up, but that would require me to actually want to do this.  As an elected official I promise to not abuse my power for things like that, and frankly, I don’t give a damn who voted for who – it’s a free country, vote for who you want.  If I want to know who you voted for I’ll ask, promise.

Ben Harris