Bad Weather

The most serious threat to your computer and other electronics today might not be a virus or spyware attack. It's a summer thunderstorm - or more precisely, the sudden blackouts and power surges that lightning can cause. If you haven't done anything to protect your equipment against this threat, it's time. And if you haven't checked the protective devices you bought a couple of years ago, it's time for that, too.

KYAIKTAW, Myanmar -- U Maung Saw and his family are in a race against the rain. Cyclone Nargis pounded their house as flat as the mud where the broken pieces now lie. A 5-foot wave, driven by a storm surge that rolled 20 miles upriver from the Andaman Sea, crashed onto his doorstep. It washed away almost everything the family of seven owned - even the fish they were farming in a nearby pond. The flooding and torrential rain May 4 also ruined a fifth of the unmilled rice they had stockpiled since harvesting the paddy from the rich soil of the Irrawaddy River delta, Myanmar's rice bowl, in late March.

CHICAGO -- The Orioles will not only have to make a decision on who will start Tuesday in place of injured Adam Loewen, they will also have to find a starter for Wednesday. Yesterday's doubleheader will force manager Dave Trembley to either bring back Brian Burres or Steve Trachsel, the starters of the two games yesterday, on three days' rest Wednesday against the Tampa Bay Rays or find a starter from the bullpen or minor leagues. Trembley, who gave Matt Albers a spot start rather than bring somebody back on three days' rest after a doubleheader earlier this month, said he would be willing to allow Burres or Trachsel to come back a day early, but a lot depended on how they pitched yesterday.

Some came because they believe Andy MacPhail is a man with a plan. Some came hoping to see Adam Jones' first step to greatness. Some came because they love baseball and Opening Day is just a habit. For those and many other reasons, an announced crowd of 46,807 ignored a chilly drizzle and even chillier predictions for the Orioles' season to watch yesterday's opening 6-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays. Though few fans predicted even a .500 season, they arrived at Camden Yards in Nick Markakis jerseys with baseballs painted on their faces and hope in their hearts.

The Cheesecake Factory Inc. Shares lost $1.80, closing at $19.07. Soft traffic and bad weather in parts of the United States caused the casual restaurant dining operator to post a 35 percent lower fourth-quarter profit.

LANDOVER -- When the weather wasn't stopping the game last night, the Ravens were stopping themselves. For the second straight preseason game, the Ravens were their own worst enemies in a penalty-marred 13-7 loss to the Washington Redskins at rain-soaked FedEx Field. RAVENS @FALCONS Preseason finale, Friday, 7:30 p.m., Georgia Dome, Atlanta, Ch. 45, MASN, 1090 AM, 97.9 FM

Thousands of passengers were stuck in airports around the country last weekend -- many of them here in Florida -- after bad weather in the Midwest and Northeast forced flight cancellations and delays. I'm thinking of using the same excuse when it's time to return to Baltimore next week. Or maybe not. Lest anyone turn green with envy over the sunny weather here, a storm dumped several inches of rain on Fort Lauderdale yesterday. I guess with the first day of spring just ahead, Mother Nature was just being counterintuitive.

Two things happened to Harry C. Bowie III this week. He celebrated his 60th birthday Sunday and brought his more than three-decade career as a locomotive engineer with an unblemished record officially to a close yesterday in a late-morning ceremony at Penn Station attended by fellow railroaders, family and friends. On Thursday evening, the amiable and soft-spoken Bowie was about to begin his last run at the throttle of electric locomotive No. 4915 on the MARC Penn Line train No. 538. During its 75-mile run, it delivered weary homeward-bound commuters to New Carrollton, Seabrook, Bowie State, Odenton, BWI Rail Station, West Baltimore, Penn Station, Martin Airport, Edgewood, Aberdeen and Perryville, its final stop.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- With thunderheads pressing in on the launch site in central Florida, NASA managers canceled yesterday's liftoff of the space shuttle Discovery. The launch has been rescheduled for today at 3:26 p.m. "This is a dynamic day. I think we're playing it too close here," said Steve Stich, the flight director at Johnson Space Center in Houston. Launch Director Mike Leinbach at the Kennedy Space Center told shuttle commander Steve Lindsey, "Well, Steve, sorry to break your string."

White's Ferry is the only vehicle to ferry vehicles across the Potomac River. The 24-car vessel, operating about six miles west of Poolesville in Montgomery County, is the sole survivor of about 100 ferries that crossed the river in the 19th century. The business began about 1828 at a site known as Conrad's Ferry. According to a history of the ferry on Poolesville's Web site, Earnest Conrad charged 6 1/4 cents per man, horse or mule; 3 cents per head of cattle; and 6 1/4 cents a wheel for riding carriages on a one-way trip across the narrow passage.