Are you confused about the Stop Online Piracy Act ? Join the club.

The issue first caught our eye the last Wednesday when sights like Wikipedia went dark for a day.

The bill seems to have it’s heart in the right place. Piracy and copyright infringement on the web is a legitimate problem.

However, there is more to SOPA that meets the eye. We have found an informational video we think sums up the pros and cons nicely. Check it out and let us know what you think.

Image courtesy of New York Times.

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, wait. It’s definitely a bird. A lot of birds, to be precise.

Bird-watchers across the country are recording an unusually high number of snowy owl sightings. There appears to be both an increase in population as well as an increase in the territory the birds have been seen in.

While they are normally rare in Kansas and Missouri, they have been sighted as far south as Hawaii. The birds, which live in the Arctic for most of the year are traveling south in an infrequent irruption.  That’s irruption, not eruption. The owls, colored blinding white with yellow eyes, are the same species as Hedwig, the fictional companion of Harry Potter.

Denver Holt, director of the Owl Research Institute, was not clear on what, exactly, caused the rise in numbers.

“We do know they had a really good breeding year, and there was plenty of food last year. Instead of no chicks, or one or two, a single nest will produce five, six, seven or more fledglings in a good breeding year.”

We’re not sure where all the owls are coming from, but would like to helpfully reiterate that we are still waiting on our Hogwarts letters.

Hebrews 4:14-16 (NIV)

Jesus the Great High Priest

14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Reflection:

Confidence is that feeling of certainty that something is going to happen. Some people have lots of confidence, while some have seemingly little. We tend to base our confidence on our capability, understanding, or right living. Many times, we approach God with that kind of confidence. But will that kind of prayer be accepted? We are to approach God humbly (because He is God) and we are to approach God based on confidence in Jesus Christ. He is our high priest who prays for us. He has experienced human weakness and understands what we are going through; however, the major difference being that He did not sin in that weakness. Jesus is the only true confidence, so let’s rely on Him!

Responding to the Transmission:

What are we hoping for as we pray? Let us realize that what we need is mercy for ourselves and grace to help us in our time of need. As we are thinking about different topics we pray for, let us pray for mercy (not treating us as our sins deserve) and grace (undeserved favor). And let us place our confidence in our Lord Jesus Christ, holding firmly to the faith that we profess.

UMBC is a host for the 2012 Global Game Jam which takes place this coming weekend, January 27-29. This is a 48 hour event, where teams from around the world work to develop a complete game over one weekend. The first year had 54 sites in 23 countries. The second year had 124 sites in 34 countries. Last year was up to 169 sites. The UMBC site is open to participants at all skill levels and affiliations. Thanks to generous sponsorship by Next Century, there's no registration fee and food will be provided all weekend. However, you DO need to sign up in advance, just log into globalgamejam.org and select UMBC as your site.

The jam will start at 3:00pm on Friday, January 27th in the UMBC GAIM lab, room 005 in the ECS building with presentations by Microsoft about developing for the Windows Phone.  There will be some spiffy giveaways at the end of the weekend for teams that choose make a Windows Phone game.  The main event starts at 5:00pm with video keynote talks by Will Wright, Baiyon, Gonzalo Frasca, Brenda Garno Brathwaite and John Romero.  After these presentations, the theme for this year’s games will be announced, and participants will brainstorm game ideas and form into teams. For the rest of the weekend, each team will work to build a brand new computer game around the theme. At 3:00pm on Sunday, the final games must be uploaded and from 3-5, the group will review what was accomplished over the weekend.

For more information on the jam and how to participate, see the UMBC GAIM site.