Blue

A second full moon in a calendar month is often called a "blue moon." But Becky and Don Gansauer of Baltimore note that while Spaceweather.com calls tonight's full moon blue, "the calendar on my wall says a full moon will happen on June 1, with another on June 30, making IT the blue moon. Which is correct?" Depends on your time zone. The moon is fully "full" today at 9:04 p.m. EDT. But that's 1:04 a.m. tomorrow in Coordinated Universal (or Greenwich Mean) Time.

Barbara Marks of Ellicott City asks: "Has there ever been a blue moon in February?" Depends on your definition. The modern "blue moon" is the second full moon in any month. But since the lunar cycle takes at least 29.2 days, not even a leap year February has room for two. In 1999, February had no full moon at all. An older definition is the third full moon in a season with four. That occurs in seven out of 19 years, always in February, May, August or November.

Separated by 600 miles - not to mention diametrically opposed philosophies - throngs of Ravens and Colts fans gathered yesterday for dueling pep rallies, raising to a fever pitch the fan frenzy leading up to today's playoff game. Of the events in the Baltimore area, the most raucous was perhaps the noon rally in Bel Air, where purple was draped over downtown storefronts and an energetic crowd of about 2,000 assembled at a municipal parking lot on Main Street. Grown-ups, children and even pets sported purple hair, paint-on Ravens symbols and their favorite players' jerseys.

Dr. M. Larrie Blue, a retired Baltimore pediatrician whose career spanned more than 40 years, died Monday of pancreatic cancer at Sinai Hospital. He was 77 and had lived in Stevenson. "It was fitting that he died at Sinai Hospital, where he spent most of his professional career," said his wife of eight years, the former Sima Rosenthal. Dr. Blue was born in Baltimore and raised in the city's Pimlico neighborhood. He was a 1948 graduate of City College and earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Maryland in 1952.

A homeless woman who police say abducted a 3-year-old girl yesterday may have wanted to use the toddler to generate sympathy while panhandling in downtown Baltimore, city police said.Police said the woman was with a male friend who was supposed to be watching the child, identified as Patrice Barr. When the man stopped in a store on Fayette Street, the woman ran off with Patrice, according Baltimore Police Agent Ragina L. Cooper.Investigators said Anita Davis, 29, of Baltimore was charged in a warrant with abduction.

Maryland's commercial watermen hauled in 33.7 million pounds of blue crabs between April and November, according to preliminary reports from the Maryland's Department of Natural Resources.The catch was an improvement over the 26.2 million pounds caught during the 1998 season, the worst in nearly two decades. The harvest remained below the 38 million pound average of the past eight years.The figures are about what DNR biologists expected after their winter dredge survey in January, said Eric Schwaab, head of the fisheries division.

Third Eye BlindBlue (Elektra 62415)Rock and roll -- at least, the classic kind Danny & the Juniors assured us would never die -- is no longer at the top of the pop music pantheon. In recent years, it has been shouldered aside by more vibrant rhythms, streetwise attitudes and powerful technology. Hip-hop, techno and countless fusion sounds have displaced four-on-the-floor rock in our most popular music.There is one area where rock's primal power remains undiminished, however, and that's in the punchy, powerchord vocabulary of guitar rock.

''I have had a lifelong love affair with blue and white in its many variations," writes British decorative-arts expert Stephanie Hoppen in her new book, "Blue & White Living" (Clarkson Potter, $35).The book's reverential text and more than 250 eye-catching pictures -- including rooms, artwork, collectibles and furniture -- underscore Hoppen's belief that blue and white is one color combination that will never go out of style.Hoppen, who lives with and collects blue-and-white wares, includes these nuggets of blue-and-white wisdom in the book:* Be they wide or narrow, blue and white stripes always look crisp and fresh.

BAN them -- or eat them?A recent investigation by Sun reporter Michael Dresser detailed what many folks had noticed: Asian swimming blue crabs displacing Atlantic blue crabs in restaurants and supermarkets.The crab cake you eat tonight may have been swimming in the Visayan Sea (in the Philippines) not long ago.Imports from Asia are cutting into the Chesapeake crab market and threatening the livelihood of some 3,200 watermen as well as pickers and picking houses. A state that regulates oystering to preserve an obsolete but picturesque technology recoils from advocating federal trade barriers to protect the same watermen.

Despite not having one champion in the finals, unranked Eastern Tech scored a 12 1/2-point victory over No. 10 Chesapeake of Anne Arundel County to win the fifth annual Dundalk Wrestling Tournament at Dundalk High School last night. Thirteenth-ranked Boys' Latin was third."The best part [of the victory] was that we didn't have a champion," said Mavericks coach Joe Gast. "It was a total team effort and I think it shows a lot of determination on our part."The most exciting final of the day was the first, at 103 pounds.

OCEAN CITY - Fishing records are as permanent as an ice cube on a city sidewalk in August. In a blink of an eye, marks that once seemed unreachable are gathered in and tossed away. That's not the case in other sports. Sometimes, it takes a plugger like baseball's Pete Rose years to grind out the hits to pass Ty Cobb's long-standing benchmark of 4,191. And challengers to Ted Williams' .406 season average (the last such mark above .400) and Joe DiMaggio's record hitting streak of 56 games - both set in 1941 - learn every year just how formidable those numbers are. Mother Nature has a lot to do with fishing records.

It has happened to most of us: You get lost in the warmth of a summer day - at the beach, playing softball, biking or even just working in the garden - and before you know it you have a bad sunburn. A new device, the UVSunSense wristband, should eliminate the problem. The wristband, used in conjunction with a reliable sunscreen, lets the wearer know when that sunscreen is no longer doing its job. The wristband stands up to water - fresh, salt or chlorinated - and helps the wearer gauge how much UV radiation he or she has soaked up. The technology behind the wristband is similar to that used in the monitoring devices that nuclear plant workers wear to measure levels of radiation exposure.

Blue was everywhere but in the moods of the guests at "Rhapsody in Blue: A Salute to the Gershwin Era," the Concert Artists of Baltimore gala. You had huge blue back-lit cutouts of skyscrapers around the edges of the Belvedere ballroom. Tables were draped in blue. And so were some of the guests. "I bought my blue gown just for this," said Towson University student Andy Berman, in a gorgeous navy one-shoulder number. Event chair Barbara Cox - decked out in a black-and-blue brocade jacket - also pointed out the evening's gift bags were made of blue velvet.

The University of Kentucky Basketball Museum in Lexington has closed its doors, according to local media reports. And all I can wonder is, how does this happen? There suddenly isn't enough interest in the Wildcats? I find that hard to believe, considering how fans are known to color their faces and chests blue - with tattoo ink. These people live and breathe the sport. The first words spoken by most infants are "Adolph Rupp." Parents are more likely to remember Kyle Macy's career stats than their anniversaries.

Moves Hockey BLUE JACKETS -- Placed C Kris Beech on IR.

Ask baseball players about the change in attitudes among some umpires, and they'll recoil as if they've just been brushed back by a 98-mph fastball. And they're hesitant to step back in the box. Nobody wants to carry an umpire's grudges into spring training. Their hands are full with all their gear. But it has become a hot topic in clubhouses, dugouts and closed-door offices around the majors. Orioles manager Dave Trembley received a three-game suspension this month for a tirade that concluded with him mimicking a gesture of throwing out umpire Paul Emmel.

Today, Blue Jays 7:05 p.m., MASN Tomorrow, Yankees 7:05 p.m., MASN Saturday, Yankees 7:05 p.m., MASN Sunday, Yankees 1:35 p.m., MASN (End of season)

Dr. M. Larrie Blue, a retired Baltimore pediatrician whose career spanned more than 40 years, died Monday of pancreatic cancer at Sinai Hospital. He was 77 and had lived in Stevenson. "It was fitting that he died at Sinai Hospital, where he spent most of his professional career," said his wife of eight years, the former Sima Rosenthal. Dr. Blue was born in Baltimore and raised in the city's Pimlico neighborhood. He was a 1948 graduate of City College and earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Maryland in 1952.

Today, @Rangers 8:05 p.m., MASN2 Tomorrow, @Rangers 8:05 p.m., MASN2 Sunday, @Rangers 3:05 p.m., MASN2 Monday, Royals 7:05 p.m., MASN2 Tuesday, Blue Jays 7:05 p.m., MASN2

Art is a very subjective thing, so it is best to keep your gallery comments ambiguous, yet relevant. Wine people are experts at this sort of patter, which is why so many art openings feature wine-and-cheese receptions. The fact is, many things that can be said about wine can be said about art. For example, if you are standing in front of one of those ubiquitous vase-with-flowers paintings, you could murmur, "What a fine bouquet!" Whether you were talking about the wine in your glass or the painting on the wall, you would be entirely appropriate.