Calf

Have you ever turned over in the middle of the night and suddenly felt a painful cramp in your leg?Night cramps can strike almost anyone; particularly susceptible are those who have spent the day exercising strenuously or those who have engaged in some unusual outdoor activity such as hiking or cycling.Their most common cause is an exaggeration of a normal body reflex. When you turn during sleep, the tendons attached to your muscles stretch. Then the muscle contracts. If it stays contracted, you'll have a painful cramp.

The amphitheater at the National Aquarium in Baltimore will be closed at least until mid-week so Nani, a 21-year-old dolphin, and her new calf -- born at 5:25 p.m. yesterday -- can have some quiet, get-acquainted time.The Atlantic bottlenose dolphin mother and calf appear to be all right, said Vicki Aversa, spokeswoman for the National Aquarium.Nani was in labor for about an hour, considered average for a dolphin bearing its third calf.The calf's sex will not be known for many months, said Ms. Aversa.

THIS has been the year of money. The greatest peace-time economy the world has ever seen has given rise to whispers of e-dynasties as millions make a killing in the stock market.Young men and women wake in the morning as ordinary citizens only to go to bed as millionaires, thanks to wildfire IPOs and day trading run amok. CNN fairly trips over itself to bring instant market updates to viewers throughout the day who are, presumably, at work, but not too busy to watch their money grow.If the Dow loses 300 points in one day, network news producers now deem it so important they're likely to interrupt regularly scheduled programming to report it. This represents a somewhat subtle but telling shift in the public's perception of what the stock market is and how it functions.

There's a new dolphin calf at the National Aquarium in Baltimore. An Atlantic bottlenose dolphin named Jade gave birth to the calf Wednesday night. The newborn dolphin was about 30 pounds and 2 to 3 feet long at birth. Aquarium staff haven't been able to determine the sex of the calf yet. But they say the calf appears to be healthy. It has started to nurse and has been swimming alongside Jade and another female dolphin. The aquarium notes that even with a successful birth and an experienced mother, about one-third of dolphin calves don't survive their first year of life -- either in the wild or in captivity.

An 11-day-old dolphin calf born at the National Aquarium in Baltimore died Sunday morning, shortly after staff first noticed it was breathing irregularly. The cause of death has not been determined for the 30-pound, 2- to 3-foot-long calf that was born March 10 to an Atlantic bottlenose dolphin named Jade. A necropsy was performed at the Johns Hopkins University's comparative pathology lab by National Aquarium veterinarians and Hopkins staff. Aquarium officials were awaiting test results from cultures, which could take one to two weeks, according to a statement from the aquarium.

City kids -- from Shanghai and Beijing -- came to the country yesterday, visiting the Carroll County 4-H Fair and a local orchard, sampling homemade ice cream and gushing in Chinese over farm animals.For the first time, the People's Republic of China has allowed children of its diplomatic corps to visit the United States.Embassy staff in Washington traditionally leave their children with relatives in China during tours of duty."This is really enjoyment for the children, their first holiday spent in the U.S.," said Jing Hua Cao, embassy staff member and translator.

"Liver and onions - the poor man's gourmet delight. " - Stevens Bunker, retired Baltimore sea dog The taste sensation of beef liver is like licking a piece of smooth, shiny metal. To the bite, the texture is akin to corduroy - wide wale and brown - and leaves a subtle film across your tongue and the roof of your mouth. Liver and onions - a staple of working-class communities with strong German heritage, and therefore an old favorite in old Baltimore - endures here as a savory snapshot of the way our grandparents ate. "It reminds me of shopping with my Nonnie, my Italian grandmother," said Kathleen Birrane of Dulaney Valley of adventures some 40 years ago at the Pantry Pride in Mount Washington.

Mary Paige McGuirk, the mother of 15 children who nurtured others while running a dairy operation, died of heart failure Saturday at her Bel Air farm. She was 88. Mary Paige was born in Bellport, N.Y., and raised in New York City. She was a 1938 Brearley School graduate and attended Bryn Mawr College in suburban Philadelphia. In 1941, she married William E. McGuirk. In 1954, she, her husband and their expanding family moved to Marylea Farm in Bel Air. Mrs. McGuirk raised not only her own 15 children, but also many others.

Health officials have confirmed a case of rabies in a 6-week-old Jersey calf at an educational center in Prince George's County where elementary and middle school students learned about farming and natural resources in the Potomac River watershed. Officials with the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene have made it a priority to assess about 70 children who recently visited the Hard Bargain Farm in Accokeek. In particular, they are investigating whether any children participated in bottle feeding the calf whose mother died in an accident, said Katherine Feldman, a state public health veterinarian.