Image from Talking Points Memo

The state of Wisconsin has been political mud-wrestling match in recent months.

You might recall earlier this year, the Republican Governor Scott Walker was propelled into the national limelight when he spearheaded legislation to limit union rights in his state.

There naturally has been bitter opposition to the law by union supporters. There also was a fair amount of support for the governor’s proposal in this deeply divided battleground state.

Now the Walker’s foes are nearing what they hope will be the final battle with the Governor.

They are mounting a formidable recall effort against the Wisconsin leader.

Last week, the groups claimed to have 507,533 of the needed 540,208 signatures.

But now legal obstacles for Democrats and unions supporting the movement have started to trickle in.

Walker himself is leading a challenge to the authenticity of the signers.

If people want to sign it — and they have every right to in this state — it should be enforced that they can sign it once and they actually have to sign it with a real name related to a real voting location in this state.”

The governor is also supporting a law that would require his opposition to pay to protest.

As judges and lawyers get involved, the process will likely get messier… like the giant political mud-wrestling match Wisconsin is…

If you’re at loose ends for the semester break and want to sharpen your programming slils, you might try competing in the ACM Queue Magazine online programming competition. You will program a player that will compete with others in the game of Coercion. The competition opens January 15 and closes at midnight GMT on February 12.

“The game of Coercion takes place on a square field that is divided into regions, which vary by height and slope of the field. Each player controls three movable playing pieces called pushers, using them to push little doughnut-shaped markers around. Players use the markers to claim new territory on the playing field. The player with the most territory at the end of the match wins. The game rules will describe how to control your team, score points, and win. A double elimination tournament follows the coding phase, to determine the top four places.”

You can create your entry in in C++, C#, Java, Python or JavaScript. Preliminary matches will take place during the one-month coding phase will that will let you know how well your player is doing. A final double-elimination competition among all the submitted players will decide whose player is best.

Queue is the ACM’s magazine for practicing software engineers. Written by engineers for engineers, it focuses on the technical problems and challenges that loom ahead, helping readers to sharpen their own thinking and pursue innovative solutions.

Tyler Campbell, Nick Ducq, Ryan King, Andrew Nguyen and Tim Spillman walked out of the Baltimore Convention Center elated. Their team, the Sherwood Cyber Warriors, had just won the high school division of the inaugural Maryland Cyber Challenge. Their success netted them each a $5,000 scholarship from the National Security Agency.

The entire experience was rewarding for both the students and their parents, says Steve Weiss, one of the team’s advisers. “Winning first place was the icing on the cake.”

In a conference with over 800 attendees, the excitement over the cyber competition was palpable. With scoreboards changing in real time, onlookers crowded around to see who was in the lead.

Following the competition, held October 21 and 22, eight teams from each division — professional, college and high school — walked away with scholarships and cash prizes. The scholarships for students, put up by the National Security Agency (NSA), totaled more than $84,000.

Members of first place high school and college teams took home $5,000 scholarships each. Members of second place high school and college teams took home $2,000 scholarships. Each member of the first place professional teams won $2,000 and each second place member won $1,000.

First place winners in the college and high school categories were from, respectively, the University of Maryland, College Park and Sherwood High School. Second place winners were Towson University and Poolesville High School. In the professional category Team ICF came in first, with Team Pr3tty coming in second.

The Sherwood Cyber Warriors, four seniors and a junior, are mostly undecided in their future careers, although one does plan to work cybersecurity. Jim Kirk, the team’s senior advisor, says that regardless of the their ultimate career choices, the students learned valuable skills from the competition — such as how to communicate effectively and work as a team.

The Cyber Warriors began practicing for the competition in May, often meeting twice a week. The team developed strategies to pick the low hanging fruit — what hackers go for first. That, says Kirk, includes developing strong passwords and removing unnecessary software from servers.

The challenge for the high school teams, says Rick Forno, Director of UMBC's Graduate Cybersecurity Program and an organizer of the Cyber Challenge, was purely defensive. “They were being attacked and their job was to keep services open.”

The challenge was run using CyberNEXS, a software system developed by SAIC for cybersecurity training and exercises.The system is self-contained and runs both Windows and UNIX systems.

But, more than just the chance to compete, the event gave college and high school students a taste of what cybersecurity work is like. And that, involves more than technical skills say professionals in the field.

“The cyber challenge is especially interesting to me, since all the students participating are passionate about cyber security and the teams will only excel if every member is doing their job,” says Neil Furukawa, vice president of CyberPoint International. “We’re looking for people who can lead, but who can also roll up their sleeves and get the work done.”

Phyllis Villani, Director of Talent acquisition at Northrop Grumman says that to get a job, “networking is key.” Besides honing “soft skills” like communication, Furukawa says, people should never stop their education because cybersecurity is a rapidly evolving field.

Fittingly, education is what the Maryland Cyber Challenge is all about.

Originally posted by Nicole Ruediger at November 18, 2011 1:02 PM

Ephesians 3:16-19 NIV

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Reflection:

Have you ever had a time when you were stuck and did not know what to pray for?  Well, Paul is giving you all the answers in this passage with plenty of incredible things that we can pray for.  Each sentence is jammed packed with powerful prayers that we can lift up for the church, for one another, and even ourselves.   As we pray, we can be confident because it is out of God’s glorious riches that we will be strengthened with power so that Christ can reside in our hearts.  If we dissect this passage, word by word, we will see that we do not lack in the things that we pray for.  Let’s dive deep into God’s Word in prayer today, and grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ for us.

Response:

What a powerful prayer that we can lift up for the church and for one another.  Let’s begin by reading through this passage several times and take in all that Paul is praying for.  Now it is our turn to pray through Ephesians 3:16-19 for our churches.  Let’s proclaim this over each church and believe that we will be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

iTunes Connect will be temporarily shut down December 22-29 for the winter holidays. During this time, access to iTunes Connect and the delivery of apps and updates will be unavailable. You should not schedule pricing changes that would take effect during the shutdown, as these changes will not be reflected in the App Store and the app will become unavailable for purchase. In addition, releases scheduled between these dates will not go live until after the shutdown.

iTunes Connect will be temporarily shut down December 22-29 for the winter holidays. During this time, access to iTunes Connect and the delivery of apps and updates will be unavailable. You should not schedule pricing changes that would take effect during the shutdown, as these changes will not be reflected in the App Store and the app will become unavailable for purchase. In addition, releases scheduled between these dates will not go live until after the shutdown.

Establishing and maintaining a positive work environment is key to any organization's long-term success. Leaders foster the work atmosphere by conducting things in a way that helps raise people's spirits. Leaders can also help counteract a negative environment by communicating honestly, respecting and supporting others, and maintaining a good attitude themselves. In this course you will learn the benefits of establishing a positive work environment, its characteristics, and some concrete steps you can take to create one. You will explore how to maintain this atmosphere by learning how to recognize the signs and impact of negativity and how to take corrective action. You will also be able to practice through a simulated scenario how to maintain a positive work environment with your employees.  This is course number lead_07_a01_bs_enus.

Visit the UMBC SkillSoft website for a Quick Start Guide, FAQ’s, and the link to log in to SkillPort. 

See the attached flyer for more information about the Business Exploration Series courseware.

To schedule a department presentation about using SkillSoft for professional development, call ext. 5-6262 or e-mail hrtraining@umbc.edu.