Coca

Editor's Note: Today Jerdine Nolen goes back to the basics and discusses why it's so important for parents to pass on the love of reading to their children. With everything that is going on in the world, now more than ever, reading and becoming a proficient reader are so very important for our children. Children who are read to and who read on their own generally do better in school. Reading allows them to open up to new subjects or ideas, which makes learning easier. Reading expands the mind and the imagination.

For weeks, my inbox, Twitter timeline and ears have burned. Readers and colleagues can't stop talking about WC Harlan, a new bar in Remington. The praise has been gushing and unanimous. To them, WC Harlan is a wonder. But there was something else: The bar's owners - Matt Pierce of the local band Big in Japan and writer Lane Harlan - are not interested in publicity and would prefer we not list its address. During a time when bars hire public relations teams to generate buzz via social media and other outlets, WC Harlan would rather find success through solid execution and word-of-mouth marketing.

You can learn a lot working at a movie theater. How much soda the human bladder can comfortably contain. Why children don't order Coca-Cola. How people like their popcorn. (A clue: wet.) When people like to see scary movies - and when they don't. How to calm an angry customer. (Two words: free passes.) And if you work at the Muvico Egyptian 24 at Arundel Mills Mall, which for two years running has sold more tickets than any other movie theater in the country, you will also learn a little mythology.

MEXICO CITY -- In yet another stunning turnaround, Mexico's ruling party helped elect an opposition-party member as interim governor of Guanajuato, a key central state torn by election fraud.The election by the state legislature late Saturday opens the way for the center-right National Action Party (PAN) to capture the governorship in a special election next year. If the PAN captures the governorship, it would be only the second time an opposition party has occupied a state house since 1929.

Recently, one of my colleagues, a pediatric gastroenterologist, told me about a teenage boy who had come to see him because of severe stomach pain he'd had for about two months. The boy had been referred by his primary care doctor, who had evaluated him for several possible causes, including infections and ulcers. That doctor had also recommended or prescribed a variety of medications to relieve the pain, but to no avail. The specialist performed an endoscopy, in which a camera is inserted into a patient's esophagus and down into the stomach and upper part of the small intestine.

Dorothy Charron from St. Augustine, Fla., was looking for recipe from many years ago for a moist chocolate cake that had coca cola as an ingredient. Theodora Capezio from Monkton sent in a recipe for making a Coca-Cola Cake that she said she cut from a newspaper a long time ago. She said her young family, with six sons, always enjoyed this cake. Her original recipe called for the use of oleo, which was what margarine was called when it was first introduced. That gives some idea of what era this recipe dates from.

Howard County officials will have plenty to crow about if reports are true that Coca-Cola has signed a letter of intent to buy 120 acres and build a regional headquarters and bottling plant in the county. Such an occurence would bring millions in needed tax revenues and create hundreds of jobs.Of no less importance, Coca-Cola's presence would raise the county's stature for major corporations looking to establish themselves strategically in the Baltimore-Washington corridor.But don't pop any corks yet -- or flip the tops on soda cans.

This time of year, people have weight loss on their minds. According to a 2012 survey published in the University of Scranton's Journal of Clinical Psychology, losing weight is the No. 1 New Year's resolution. For some Baltimore residents, working toward that goal by eating healthfully has gotten easier over the past year, thanks to the introduction of healthy snacks in their office or school vending machines. In December, Howard County Executive Ken Ulman signed an executive order banning the sale of high-sugar drinks in county buildings and at county-sponsored events; Baltimore City is exploring similar initiatives.

Howard County has proposed reopening its Deep Run wastewater treatment plant to handle waste from Coca-Cola Enterprise's new syrup production and bottling plant in Dorsey.The treatment facility off Race Road in Elkridge has been closed since the mid-1980s. It has the capacity to treat 1 million gallons of effluent daily.Maryland Environmental Services, a quasi-state agency that oversees wastewater treatment plants, would have to approve opening the plant.County officials have made the proposal to Coca-Cola Enterprises, which plans to build a $150 million bottling and syrup plant in the Parkway Corporate Center.