I was in this group of corporate staff from our Genesis HealthCare office that put together a Trailer Park Trash Shotgun Wedding theme for Halloween. We won one of the prizes at the office party.
Friday, November 3, 2006
Friday, September 8, 2006
Words for Katie Couric
This week saw the debut of Katie Couric on the CBS Evening News… And she has asked the public for help in developing a signature sign-off for the broadcast, so I thought I’d make a suggestion:
Thank you for joining me for my 30 minutes at CBS. So long, America. We’ll be back again in less than 48 Hours, always ahead of Prime Time, with our own 20/20 eye focused clearly on the World News every night. So after another Late Show and the familiar sun rises, and you’ve finished watching the Morning, I hope you’ll agree $60 million says The Price is Right for me to come back into your homes another evening, either from here on my glittery new set, showing off my Young & Restless legs, or from yet another Viacom Dateline around the world. Peace. Courage. Fortitude, Y’all. Tomorrow’s a new day… but I’ll be here. I’m Katie Couric. Good Night, Mrs. Kalabash, Katie Holmes and everyone in TV Land, wherever you are.
Thank you for joining me for my 30 minutes at CBS. So long, America. We’ll be back again in less than 48 Hours, always ahead of Prime Time, with our own 20/20 eye focused clearly on the World News every night. So after another Late Show and the familiar sun rises, and you’ve finished watching the Morning, I hope you’ll agree $60 million says The Price is Right for me to come back into your homes another evening, either from here on my glittery new set, showing off my Young & Restless legs, or from yet another Viacom Dateline around the world. Peace. Courage. Fortitude, Y’all. Tomorrow’s a new day… but I’ll be here. I’m Katie Couric. Good Night, Mrs. Kalabash, Katie Holmes and everyone in TV Land, wherever you are.
Sunday, August 6, 2006
The Comfort of Rolling Rock
I just heard the news today that Anheuser-Busch purchased the Rolling Rock beer brand. This happened in May, and the last bottles were shipped from the original plant at the end of July. Oddly enough, I had already decided to visit my folks today at the house where I grew up in Pimlico and where I first tasted Rolling Rock.Back then, in the late 60s, it was just me, my mother, grandmother and her second husband James Clark. He was the grandfather who let me taste Rolling Rock and Colt 45, which he usually drank. He shouldn't have been drinking that much himself, as he had diabetes, and often ate his chicken boiled. But he liked to buy me things that I liked or thought I did. TV commercials had inspired me to ask for TAB, and it was radio commericlas that inspired me to ask for Rolling Rock. There was the sound of rolling spring water, proof that it was natural and pure enough for a 7-year-old to taste. Plus it came in those 7 oz. little bottles that were just made for a child's hand... And it was made by people in Pennsylvania. You know? The pure and innocent Pennsylvania Dutch, Amish, very religious people in buggies.
In the end, I don't remember how much beer I actually sipped from those few bottles of Rolling Rock before I decided that it really didn't taste that much like spring water, even if it was made from it. Then again, I had sipped Colt 45 and a bull never came to tip over my table. (Remember that WB Doner ad?) I think back then I may have tasted National Boh too, while listening to Orioles baseball while sitting on the front porch.
Anyway, when Grandpa James decided to move away, my source of alcohol was gone, and I didn't have another beer for about 10 or more years. I think it was still a while after that before I had a Rolling Rock again. My tastes now run the gamit from Ireland (Guinness) to Mexico (Corona) and every little microbrew in between. However, it was always a comfort to get a green bottle of Rolling Rock in my hand, remembering the sound of the water flowing, and thinking of the nice, pure Pennsylvania people who made it and somehow got it into my hands.
Sadly, Anheuser-Busch has closed the original, once-family-owned brewery in Latrobe, PA, in favor of switching operations to, of all places, New Jersey... No images of babbling brooks there!
It's also sad that today, stopping in Alonso's, after coming back from visiting my folks, that I opted for a draft... a Bass draft. But it was still a comfort that once I did look into their glass cases, there was a row of Rolling Rock bottles on a shelf below the Natty Boh.
It's all about comfort, anyway you can get it, isn't it?
Monday, July 31, 2006
Artscape 2006
Fireworks celebrated the 25th anniversary of Artscape this year. I saw them after running into friends Mark and Reg. More pics are in my Mobile Media Files. [For some reason it took over a week for this to arrive through T*Mobile. Scary. Oh, well... so much for on-the-spot coverage of live events. ]
Monday, July 3, 2006
Remembering Stanford White: 100 Years Later
A major anniversary passed, mostly unnoticed, at the end of June… One hundred years ago, on Sunday, June 25, 1906, the triangle between architect Stanford White, his lover Evelyn Nesbit and her husband Harry K. Thaw came to a tragic end when Thaw shot and killed the famous architect. The incident took place in the second Madison Square Garden in New York City, designed by White and completed in 1890.
Stanford White was part of the architectural firm McKim, Mead and White, responsible for a number of notable Victorian-era buildings. New York City’s Municipal Building is among the survivors. However, many have been lost. In fact, the Madison Square Garden building where White was killed was demolished (in 1925), as was the original Pennsylvania Station (demolished in 1964), which sat where the current Madison Square Garden now stands. The later act, of course, causing such ire among preservationists that New York City’s Landmarks Commission was created, and the entire national historic preservation movement that we know today was born. [In recent years I have become fascinated with the old Penn Station and its sad story, and I just bought the books The Late, Great Pennsylvania Station and The Destruction of Penn Station. And I'm trying to find a copy of the History Channel documentary about the station, produced as part of the Trains Unlimited series.]
In Baltimore, White’s notable buildings survive and include the Garrett-Jacobs Mansion, home of The Engineer’s Club, where I once worked, as well as Lovely Lane Church and nearby buildings associated with part of the original Goucher College campus in lower Charles Village, close to where I have lived for most of my adult life... To give you some idea of the age difference between White and Nesbit, she was born in 1884, the same year the well-established White was hired to work on the Garrett home in Baltimore.
The shooting of White by Thaw helped to inspire literature, film and a stage production too… There’s the book and 1955 movie The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing, of which Evelyn Nesbit actually served as an advisor, and the novel, movie and musical Ragtime.
Friday, June 23, 2006
Warming Up to Global Warming
The most conclusive scientific assessment ever done on the subject of global warming has revealed that temperatures are indeed the highest they've been in at least 400 years…
Man, I thought yesterday was hot, but this is something else.
I hear the Bush White House has a counterattack on this issue. Previously announced plans to have NASA return to the moon will include the installation of a giant electric fan, pointed on the Earth... Details to come.
Man, I thought yesterday was hot, but this is something else.
I hear the Bush White House has a counterattack on this issue. Previously announced plans to have NASA return to the moon will include the installation of a giant electric fan, pointed on the Earth... Details to come.
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Update on Phil Merrill
For the latest news about publisher Phil Merrill's death and links to The Washingtonian's site and blog, go to the BDL Newsroom.
BTW... I should take this time to mention that there is another famous Phil Merrill in town, with whom I also have a connection. Philip J. Merrill, whom I first met at Loyola College, is an author and an Antiques Roadshow appraiser. He is an authority on African American historical research and alive and well here in Baltimore.
BTW... I should take this time to mention that there is another famous Phil Merrill in town, with whom I also have a connection. Philip J. Merrill, whom I first met at Loyola College, is an author and an Antiques Roadshow appraiser. He is an authority on African American historical research and alive and well here in Baltimore.
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Phil Merrill and B-Mag
News of publisher Philip Merrill’s disappearance and presumed death recalls one of the most interesting chapters of my career.
Phil and his wife Ellie owned Baltimore Magazine for most of the time I worked there from 1987 to 1992. To many of us staffers, B-Mag always seemed to be the ugly stepchild of Merrill’s publishing empire. The venerable Maryland Gazette and Annapolis Capital, not to mention the Washingtonian have images that reflect their more prestigious regions. Think of Annapolis and you think sailboats, colonial architecture and politicians. Think of Washington and you think federal government, power and society. Baltimore, on the other hand, was always a bit more gritty – a bit more real. Nicknames like Mobtown or Pigtown have never helped. Back then, people used to think of Baltimore as only a place for crabs, beer, industry and sports.
One of the first Baltimore Magazine covers that I remember, from the 1970s, focused on Pigtown, that Southwest Baltimore neighborhood once known for slaughterhouses and rolling hogsheads filled with tobacco toward “Rolling” Road. That issue, as I recall, featured a pig’s face on the cover below a bright green “Baltimore” logo. But things were about to change. Phil Merrill and his team acquired the gritty but earnest magazine at a timely moment. It was, and still is, the oldest city magazine. And, just as old Baltimore was experiencing a revitalization in the mid-70s and into the 80s, so did its namesake magazine. This was celebrated in 1985 with a special issue “The Magnificent Decade.” By then, Phil had transformed it into a glossy city-regional magazine that catered to the suburban elite and, more importantly, the advertisers that courted them.
On occasion, Phil would have his driver venture to Baltimore and the B-Mag offices. Of course, I remember seeing more of his driver, as Phil would be behind doors with then editor Stan Heuisler. They had a long history. Rumor has it that they backpacked together in Afghanistan. Later, when B-Mag was sold, Stan still had a job with Phil, while the rest of us did not.
Nevertheless, my name is in the masthead of 60 issues, including the 80th anniversary issue, and several times Phil and Ellie had a direct effect on me… On one of his visits to our offices, he became so confused by the phone system that he wanted us to have the same system as in all of his other companies. Money was no problem for Phil, so B-Mag’s 30 employees got the benefits of AT&T’s System 75 and console, capable of handling 1,000 extensions, and I was one of the people required to take a two-day class to administer it… Then there are the t-shirts that an advertising director ordered, mainly for the office’s softball team, complete with the magazine’s logo, only to learn that Ellie especially didn’t like logo-covered t-shirts and trinkets. Most of the shirts stayed hidden in an office closet, but many of us got to take some home. I still have a few… I also happen to have a photocopy of what could be the only B-Mag cover that Phil virtually had pulled off the presses. Stan was away, so the art director had to fax the cover directly to Phil for approval. He did this a bit late in the process, and when Phil saw the model wearing a suit that a Baltimore Magazine reader “would never wear” there was a problem, and the picture from the on-location shoot was scrapped in favor of a stock photo of a plate of food… And of course, when Phil sold B-Mag, I eventually decided to quit because, well... let’s just say that incoming owner Susan Obrecht was no Phil Merrill. Her reign at B-Mag lasted very briefly before selling to current owner Steve Geppi.
I’d like to think Phil Merrill, as a former diplomat, is really on a covert mission to Afghanistan, looking for Bin Laden. However, as time passes and the reality of this news settles in, my sympathies go to Ellie, Stan, other former colleagues at the Washingtonian and Capital-Gazette Communications, and anyone else ever touched by this memorable head of Maryland’s second-largest, and most venerable publishing company.
Phil and his wife Ellie owned Baltimore Magazine for most of the time I worked there from 1987 to 1992. To many of us staffers, B-Mag always seemed to be the ugly stepchild of Merrill’s publishing empire. The venerable Maryland Gazette and Annapolis Capital, not to mention the Washingtonian have images that reflect their more prestigious regions. Think of Annapolis and you think sailboats, colonial architecture and politicians. Think of Washington and you think federal government, power and society. Baltimore, on the other hand, was always a bit more gritty – a bit more real. Nicknames like Mobtown or Pigtown have never helped. Back then, people used to think of Baltimore as only a place for crabs, beer, industry and sports.
One of the first Baltimore Magazine covers that I remember, from the 1970s, focused on Pigtown, that Southwest Baltimore neighborhood once known for slaughterhouses and rolling hogsheads filled with tobacco toward “Rolling” Road. That issue, as I recall, featured a pig’s face on the cover below a bright green “Baltimore” logo. But things were about to change. Phil Merrill and his team acquired the gritty but earnest magazine at a timely moment. It was, and still is, the oldest city magazine. And, just as old Baltimore was experiencing a revitalization in the mid-70s and into the 80s, so did its namesake magazine. This was celebrated in 1985 with a special issue “The Magnificent Decade.” By then, Phil had transformed it into a glossy city-regional magazine that catered to the suburban elite and, more importantly, the advertisers that courted them.
On occasion, Phil would have his driver venture to Baltimore and the B-Mag offices. Of course, I remember seeing more of his driver, as Phil would be behind doors with then editor Stan Heuisler. They had a long history. Rumor has it that they backpacked together in Afghanistan. Later, when B-Mag was sold, Stan still had a job with Phil, while the rest of us did not.
Nevertheless, my name is in the masthead of 60 issues, including the 80th anniversary issue, and several times Phil and Ellie had a direct effect on me… On one of his visits to our offices, he became so confused by the phone system that he wanted us to have the same system as in all of his other companies. Money was no problem for Phil, so B-Mag’s 30 employees got the benefits of AT&T’s System 75 and console, capable of handling 1,000 extensions, and I was one of the people required to take a two-day class to administer it… Then there are the t-shirts that an advertising director ordered, mainly for the office’s softball team, complete with the magazine’s logo, only to learn that Ellie especially didn’t like logo-covered t-shirts and trinkets. Most of the shirts stayed hidden in an office closet, but many of us got to take some home. I still have a few… I also happen to have a photocopy of what could be the only B-Mag cover that Phil virtually had pulled off the presses. Stan was away, so the art director had to fax the cover directly to Phil for approval. He did this a bit late in the process, and when Phil saw the model wearing a suit that a Baltimore Magazine reader “would never wear” there was a problem, and the picture from the on-location shoot was scrapped in favor of a stock photo of a plate of food… And of course, when Phil sold B-Mag, I eventually decided to quit because, well... let’s just say that incoming owner Susan Obrecht was no Phil Merrill. Her reign at B-Mag lasted very briefly before selling to current owner Steve Geppi.
I’d like to think Phil Merrill, as a former diplomat, is really on a covert mission to Afghanistan, looking for Bin Laden. However, as time passes and the reality of this news settles in, my sympathies go to Ellie, Stan, other former colleagues at the Washingtonian and Capital-Gazette Communications, and anyone else ever touched by this memorable head of Maryland’s second-largest, and most venerable publishing company.
Saturday, June 3, 2006
Saturday, May 20, 2006
Upgrades to My Camera Phone Media
I've made the final adjustment to my camera phone connection, and I can now upload photos directly to either the BDL Blog here, the BDL Newsroom - my official photojournalism site, or the Mobile Media Files page. These files will look a bit different, as it is now the actual album hosted by T-Mobile, where you can find a series of miscellaneous pics and video clips.
Friday, May 12, 2006
Revisiting Gilman
This Saturday is Family Day at Gilman School, and this year I'll be visiting as the old Upper School building, now known as Carey Hall, is preparing to undergo an extensive renovation. It's a $35 million improvement plan for this part of the campus that also includes a new student center, replacing and expanding a 1970's addition. Since I graduated back in 1980, the campus has already replaced the Middle and Lower School buildings, among other construction projects, but the campus' original building has remained the same (unairconditioned) piece of living history. It was built in 1910 for 175 students and 12 faculty members, but today it holds 400 students and 64 faculty.
Just a few months ago, fellow grad Reggie Harris ('78) and I had lunch with more living history from Gilman School - former faculty members A. J. Downs and Carey Woodward.
Just a few months ago, fellow grad Reggie Harris ('78) and I had lunch with more living history from Gilman School - former faculty members A. J. Downs and Carey Woodward.
Monday, May 8, 2006
Saturday, May 6, 2006
Friday, May 5, 2006
Thursday, May 4, 2006
My First Oxygen Bar
Yes. It's me, hooked up to oxygen. But it's not what you think. I'm seen here experiencing my first oxygen bar, at the Genesis HealthCare Leadership Conference at the Westfields Marriott in Chantilly, Virginia. For those of you who don't know, an oxygen bar is a form of in-your-nose aromatherapy... You hook yourself up to any of the scents available. "Sex on the Beach" was one of the more popular scents with this group yesterday.
Today I opted for the winery trip to two Virginia vineyards: Piedmont and Swedenburg. Other group activities were a golf outing, a trip to the Manassas civil war battlefield, and a tour of the National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center (which was a very close second on my list!) By the way, we also has some business sessions too, including a presentation by Christopher Jennings, Senior Health Policy Advisor to President Clinton, and Dr. David Gifford, Director of the Rhode Island Department of Health. About 150 senior leaders from the Northeast, Central and Southern regions of Genesis are here in attendance.
Today I opted for the winery trip to two Virginia vineyards: Piedmont and Swedenburg. Other group activities were a golf outing, a trip to the Manassas civil war battlefield, and a tour of the National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center (which was a very close second on my list!) By the way, we also has some business sessions too, including a presentation by Christopher Jennings, Senior Health Policy Advisor to President Clinton, and Dr. David Gifford, Director of the Rhode Island Department of Health. About 150 senior leaders from the Northeast, Central and Southern regions of Genesis are here in attendance.
Sunday, April 30, 2006
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
Watching Charles Center
The statue of the mayor who began its construction has a good view of its redevelopment.
Saturday, April 15, 2006
Easter Weekend at Sherwood Gardens
Perfect spring weather arrived just in time for this Easter weekend, and Sherwood Gardens was a great place to see life in bloom.
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
Battling Gay Asians
If I did not have a prior commitment, choosing between social activities tonight would be very difficult.
I already knew that George Takei (a.k.a. Mr. Sulu from Star Trek) was appearing at Johns Hopkins University at 7:30. Then I learned that B.D. Wong (FBI psychiatrist on Law & Order: Special Victim’s Unit and sensitive young priest on HBO’s Oz) would be speaking at Loyola College at 6. They are both “out” now, speaking on their careers and lives as gay Asian actors. The two campuses are close enough that it is possible to make both events, but who would have known that so many people in Baltimore would have this dilemma? Choosing between which gay Asian man to spend part of the night with… cute little urban psychiatrist /priest or swashbuckling Star Fleet lieutenant with a smile as big as a galaxy?
[Wayne, who YOU pick?]
I already knew that George Takei (a.k.a. Mr. Sulu from Star Trek) was appearing at Johns Hopkins University at 7:30. Then I learned that B.D. Wong (FBI psychiatrist on Law & Order: Special Victim’s Unit and sensitive young priest on HBO’s Oz) would be speaking at Loyola College at 6. They are both “out” now, speaking on their careers and lives as gay Asian actors. The two campuses are close enough that it is possible to make both events, but who would have known that so many people in Baltimore would have this dilemma? Choosing between which gay Asian man to spend part of the night with… cute little urban psychiatrist /priest or swashbuckling Star Fleet lieutenant with a smile as big as a galaxy?
[Wayne, who YOU pick?]
Sunday, April 9, 2006
Remembering Allie
Today I'm reporting the recent passing of Alicia Peabody Pennywhiskers Lyles, known to those of us who knew her best as Allie.
Born in Baltimore, she was less than a year old when she followed Tom to the old apartment on St. Paul Street, near Preston Street, in Mount Vernon. She had followed him from an alley two blocks away, looking for a home... And she found one. That was, as I remember, back in 1989, which means that Allie was about 17 years old when she died, pretty old (about 76) in cat years. She moved with us to Charles Village in the 90s, and with me and Paul to Tuscany - Canterbury at the turn of the new century, but when I decided to take the job in Arizona Allie went to live with my grandmother at the ancestral estate in Pimlico. These two grand old ladies took care of each other. And there, from May 2003 until this past March 30th, Allie spent her last years, only in failing health during the past year.
I'll always remember finding her sleeping in Christmas tree, climbing kitchen cabinets, watching birds, hiding under the bed, lying on my stomach, surviving a fire, making an appearance at Nupur's wedding, and being the first victim when I got my video camera... among many other memories. (The photo here is taken from the last video I made of her about a year ago on my parent's sofa.)
Thank You, Allie - for memories and more.
Hopkins Highrise
The new Charles Commons building, with a big new Barnes & Noble bookstore, taking shape at JHU.
Tuesday, April 4, 2006
Sunday, April 2, 2006
Village Lofts Update
Work has progressed since my last photo, which can be found in the newsroom section.
Saturday, April 1, 2006
Friday, March 31, 2006
Welcome to the Latest Technology
Today is the offical beginning of a new page to the BDL Web sites -- literally! This new "Mobile Media Files" page will act as the window for new photos and breaking news, on both my personal and newsroom blogs. By linking my new cell phone camera to my Web sites, I can now provide immediate updates, here on this special page.
Stay tuned for more multimedia advances in coming months!
Friday, March 3, 2006
Approval for Bush
A recent poll has announced that the approval rating of the George W. Bush presidency has slipped to a new low. Only 38% of Americans think President Bush is doing a good job. At the same time, Vice President Dick Cheney’s popularity slipped from 23% to 18% following his shooting mishap. Maybe the numbers for both Bush and Cheney would be better if Dick had taken aim at George, instead of his hunting buddy. [OK. And that same poll also said that everyone’s heard enough about the shooting incident, so this will be my last comment on that subject.]
One factor in the new disapproval of the Bush administration is confusion about the Dubai Ports World takeover of the company that manages several U.S. ports, including the Port of Baltimore. While the announcement of the deal was yet another blunder by Bush “public relations” team, if there really is one, I have to voice my approval of the Bush White House on this one.
Sadly, the facts of this news are still not being clearly spelled out... We live in a global shipping community where the United States is not a leader in the management of ports. These ports are already owned by a foreign entity – Great Britain. Dubai and the United Arab Emirates are good allies, despite the fact that some terrorists may have come from there or kept money in a bank account there. If this is the case, then why not eject Florida from the union because they were the ones who taught some of the terrorists how to fly commercial airliners?!
We can’t just run and hide from all of the Arabs or Muslims in the world, especially if they happen to like us, and if we happen to like them enough not to invade their country or shoot and bomb their homes. The U.S. is strong in some areas of the global economic community, but until Ronald McDonald or Colonel Sanders learn how to manage shipping ports, or we start producing more high school graduates that can make change without looking at the screen on a cash register or can actually speak and write English properly, let alone a second language, then we’d better keep our mouths shut.
One factor in the new disapproval of the Bush administration is confusion about the Dubai Ports World takeover of the company that manages several U.S. ports, including the Port of Baltimore. While the announcement of the deal was yet another blunder by Bush “public relations” team, if there really is one, I have to voice my approval of the Bush White House on this one.
Sadly, the facts of this news are still not being clearly spelled out... We live in a global shipping community where the United States is not a leader in the management of ports. These ports are already owned by a foreign entity – Great Britain. Dubai and the United Arab Emirates are good allies, despite the fact that some terrorists may have come from there or kept money in a bank account there. If this is the case, then why not eject Florida from the union because they were the ones who taught some of the terrorists how to fly commercial airliners?!
We can’t just run and hide from all of the Arabs or Muslims in the world, especially if they happen to like us, and if we happen to like them enough not to invade their country or shoot and bomb their homes. The U.S. is strong in some areas of the global economic community, but until Ronald McDonald or Colonel Sanders learn how to manage shipping ports, or we start producing more high school graduates that can make change without looking at the screen on a cash register or can actually speak and write English properly, let alone a second language, then we’d better keep our mouths shut.
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Cheney: America's Most Wanted
Special Report from John Walsh
Officials are looking for answers concerning one 78-year-old Richard B. Cheney. While on a hunting trip during the weekend of February 10, 2006, Richard Cheney suddenly turned on a friend, cold-bloodedly shooting the man in the face. He claims he was actually shooting at either a bird or enemy terrorist aircraft, but there is more to this story.
Dick, as Cheney has always been called by his friends, and now by his enemies as well, was once a successful business man, a former oil mogul with many questionable yet influential interests all over the world. However, he suddenly changed his career several years ago, and he has spent much of the last six years hobnobbing with Federal politicians in the Washington, DC region. In fact, it is known that he was indeed in the DC area during the infamous sniper incidents in 2001, but we are told, he was never considered a suspect…. Shockingly, it has also been learned that Cheney is a frequent visitor to the Capitol and the White House, but the exact level of his influence and connection to the President, other politicians and lobbyists has never been publicly revealed.
After Sunday’s incident, Richard Cheney should now be considered armed and dangerous. He reportedly has a serious heart condition, but this has not stopped him before. And his enemies will say that he has no heart at all and may not even be a member of the human race. This would explain his awkward, fake-looking grin that may actually be part of a disguise. Rumors indicate that Cheney may devour his young and may have actually nibbled on the face of the alleged “shooting” victim. Or he may have tried to remove the face for himself, to replace his own aging human mask. This rumor is immediately denied by officials, but if it is indeed true, we could be facing a sinister alien threat that could endanger our entire section of the universe.
In addition to the shooting and possible intergalactic crimes, he is also wanted for questioning about renewing a $7 permit fee.
Everyone should be on alert. Due to his government connections, Cheney has special access to Federal Reserve cash, Fort Knox gold and special presidential airplanes that could take him anywhere in the world. If you suspect him to be in your area, do not attempt to apprehend him or to make contact on your own, especially if you want to keep your face. Call America’s Most Wanted at 1-800-CRIME-TV.
Thursday, February 9, 2006
10 Things We’ve Learned from the Continental Press Homework Assignment
(Written in response to a Baltimore mother’s protest, as reported by WBAL-TV, about a school book, produced by Continental Press, with a 4th Grade homework assignment that asks students to imagine that the four jacks in a deck of cards are about to rob a house. The reading assignment even includes dialogue encouraging an escape from the police.)
- Our worse fears are true… Crime IS being sanctioned and taught in the public school system!
- Someone in Baltimore City Public Schools has either an inappropriate sense of humor or some very low morals.
- At least one parent in Baltimore is showing an interest in their child’s homework.
- Distributing a coaching book to parents to help them understand the assignment was not enough.
- The fact that four “jacks” instead of “queens” are the subject of the assignment could be an argument for gender or transgender discrimination.
- Book burning may not be such a bad idea.
- We should be worried that the Grand Theft Auto video game is being used in driver education class.
- The people at Continental Press like card games.
- Because robbery is already being taught in 4th Grade, kids will be better prepared for murder and rape assignments in high school, followed by global terrorism in college.
- Dick and Jane are dead and gone.
Thursday, February 2, 2006
A Painter, a Bottle Cap and a Close Shave
On this day, back in 1892, Baltimore’s William Painter patented the Crown Cork (US patent 468,258), the first bottle cap. This fact brings back memories…
No, I am not old enough to remember 1892, but I am old enough to remember when all soda bottles, not just beer, sported a cork-lined crown of metal. I also remember walking along streets in West Baltimore that were “decorated” with many of these discarded bottle caps, embedded in the surface of my childhood black asphalt jungle. I remember the tall, elegantly thin glass bottles of soda of the time, and I remember visiting Mexico, years later, and going to a soda shop in Guadalajara that served sodas in similar glass bottles. (Of course, because of returning bottles for deposits and recycling, maybe some of these were even some of the same bottles.) Later, I remember my time at the Baltimore Museum of Industry as its Development / Marketing Director. At the museum, the Crown Cork & Seal Company (renamed from the Bottle Seal Company, due to the success of the new crown cork) was featured prominently on the museum’s Maryland Milestones wall of fame. The company, no longer based in Baltimore, is now known as Crown Holdings, but I do remember them as a contributor to the museum. And, reportedly, it was the crown cork, the first popular disposable product, that actually inspired a salesman for the company, King C. Gillette, to invent an equally successful throwaway product – the disposable razor.
No, I am not old enough to remember 1892, but I am old enough to remember when all soda bottles, not just beer, sported a cork-lined crown of metal. I also remember walking along streets in West Baltimore that were “decorated” with many of these discarded bottle caps, embedded in the surface of my childhood black asphalt jungle. I remember the tall, elegantly thin glass bottles of soda of the time, and I remember visiting Mexico, years later, and going to a soda shop in Guadalajara that served sodas in similar glass bottles. (Of course, because of returning bottles for deposits and recycling, maybe some of these were even some of the same bottles.) Later, I remember my time at the Baltimore Museum of Industry as its Development / Marketing Director. At the museum, the Crown Cork & Seal Company (renamed from the Bottle Seal Company, due to the success of the new crown cork) was featured prominently on the museum’s Maryland Milestones wall of fame. The company, no longer based in Baltimore, is now known as Crown Holdings, but I do remember them as a contributor to the museum. And, reportedly, it was the crown cork, the first popular disposable product, that actually inspired a salesman for the company, King C. Gillette, to invent an equally successful throwaway product – the disposable razor.
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Plantations and Chocolate
What did New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin mean when he said the rebuilt city will be “chocolate?”
Maybe he meant just what he said. The 2000 census recorded 484,674 people in New Orleans. Of that number, 325,947 (over 67%) were black or African-American. Only 135,956 classified themselves as white, making New Orleans a city populated by a majority of people we should certainly not call “vanilla.” Too bad some of us never noticed this city’s black population and other “minorities” until they washed up on our TV screens in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Now they're just waiting to come home.
What did New York’s Senator Hillary Clinton mean when she said the House of Representatives was run “like a plantation?”
Let’s see… A big white building below the Mason-Dixon line, sitting on a hill, filled with a majority of well-to-do white men, exchanging money for favors, and making rules for people who, at the very least, feel they are disenfranchised…. Hmmmm… All of Congress is like a plantation, when you think about it.
No matter how you look at it, too many of us are still waiting for our 40 acres and a mule while other people get rich.
Maybe he meant just what he said. The 2000 census recorded 484,674 people in New Orleans. Of that number, 325,947 (over 67%) were black or African-American. Only 135,956 classified themselves as white, making New Orleans a city populated by a majority of people we should certainly not call “vanilla.” Too bad some of us never noticed this city’s black population and other “minorities” until they washed up on our TV screens in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Now they're just waiting to come home.
What did New York’s Senator Hillary Clinton mean when she said the House of Representatives was run “like a plantation?”
Let’s see… A big white building below the Mason-Dixon line, sitting on a hill, filled with a majority of well-to-do white men, exchanging money for favors, and making rules for people who, at the very least, feel they are disenfranchised…. Hmmmm… All of Congress is like a plantation, when you think about it.
No matter how you look at it, too many of us are still waiting for our 40 acres and a mule while other people get rich.
Thursday, January 12, 2006
About the Wal-Mart Bill
Poor Governor Ehrlich. When asked yesterday on CNBC whether he had received support from Wal-Mart, first he denied it, then he said “I suspect I have.” Ultimately, he said “I can’t tell you whether I have or not.” Did this man really go to Gilman? Or did he just forget our alma mater’s honor code?
It took a spokesperson for the Governor to clear things up... Of course, they simply said that he may have misspoken….
May have misspoken?!?! Did this spokesperson see and hear ALL of his answers?
I guess I should be glad that we live in a country where an elected official has the freedom to answer a question several different ways in one interview.
I am also glad we live in a land where we can openly debate the issue of whether companies should provide affordable health care for its employees, especially if those companies help sponsor $1,000 per person events for an elected official who will help them keep more of their money in their own pockets instead of paying for lower cost medical care for their employees. After all, we’re still allowed to debate whether the government should provide adequate health care, public transportation or civil rights to its citizens, so why not this?
Do they forget these lower to middle income workers are the same people upon whose aching backs their huge company is built?
The so-called “Wal-Mart” bill in Annapolis would require companies that employ at least 10,000 Marylanders to spend at least 8 percent of payroll on health care, or pay the difference to the state Medicaid program. Wal-Mart is currently the only company to fall into this category, and Wal-Mart reportedly has annual profits of about $10 billion. Gov. Bob Ehrlich had vetoed the bill, but it is up for debate and a possible override in the current legislative session in Annapolis.
I admit that I have shopped at Wal-Mart. They have good prices. But I have noticed that, at least at the Wal-Mart I frequent, the clerks who work there don’t seem to be as happy as I remember. One was downright unhelpful and abrupt with me recently at the checkout counter when I questioned a price. And they all certainly don’t seem as friendly or as animated as the ones in the commercial or those anthropomorphic characters… Then there is that stigma from a few years ago of being accused of using illegal workers… And the VCR/DVD unit I bought at a Wal-Mart just a few years back is now malfunctioning. It’s as if it is mocking me now, constantly jutting its DVD door in and out like a spitting tongue.
Support for business here in Maryland, or anywhere, is one thing…. However, when such support potentially endangers the health and happiness of 10,000 fellow residents something is askew.
It took a spokesperson for the Governor to clear things up... Of course, they simply said that he may have misspoken….
May have misspoken?!?! Did this spokesperson see and hear ALL of his answers?
I guess I should be glad that we live in a country where an elected official has the freedom to answer a question several different ways in one interview.
I am also glad we live in a land where we can openly debate the issue of whether companies should provide affordable health care for its employees, especially if those companies help sponsor $1,000 per person events for an elected official who will help them keep more of their money in their own pockets instead of paying for lower cost medical care for their employees. After all, we’re still allowed to debate whether the government should provide adequate health care, public transportation or civil rights to its citizens, so why not this?
Do they forget these lower to middle income workers are the same people upon whose aching backs their huge company is built?
The so-called “Wal-Mart” bill in Annapolis would require companies that employ at least 10,000 Marylanders to spend at least 8 percent of payroll on health care, or pay the difference to the state Medicaid program. Wal-Mart is currently the only company to fall into this category, and Wal-Mart reportedly has annual profits of about $10 billion. Gov. Bob Ehrlich had vetoed the bill, but it is up for debate and a possible override in the current legislative session in Annapolis.
I admit that I have shopped at Wal-Mart. They have good prices. But I have noticed that, at least at the Wal-Mart I frequent, the clerks who work there don’t seem to be as happy as I remember. One was downright unhelpful and abrupt with me recently at the checkout counter when I questioned a price. And they all certainly don’t seem as friendly or as animated as the ones in the commercial or those anthropomorphic characters… Then there is that stigma from a few years ago of being accused of using illegal workers… And the VCR/DVD unit I bought at a Wal-Mart just a few years back is now malfunctioning. It’s as if it is mocking me now, constantly jutting its DVD door in and out like a spitting tongue.
Support for business here in Maryland, or anywhere, is one thing…. However, when such support potentially endangers the health and happiness of 10,000 fellow residents something is askew.
Wednesday, January 4, 2006
On This Day
On This Day will now appear in the BDL Newsroom. It can be found in a link above the Media Headlines in the right column.
Provided by Reference.com, On This Day is a great source of facts and information about people and events that you, if you're a news junkie or frustrated librarian like me, will find both fun and informative. It's also another way to get you to visit my blogs every day. Ha! Ha! Ha! Yes, my New Year's resolution is world domination of the internet!!! (Just wait 'til you see what I'm working on next... More details to come.)
Provided by Reference.com, On This Day is a great source of facts and information about people and events that you, if you're a news junkie or frustrated librarian like me, will find both fun and informative. It's also another way to get you to visit my blogs every day. Ha! Ha! Ha! Yes, my New Year's resolution is world domination of the internet!!! (Just wait 'til you see what I'm working on next... More details to come.)
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