Curve

When Santi White, aka Santigold, released her debut album in 2008, she earned comparisons to another forward-thinking sonic provocateur: M.I.A. Four years and a second album (last month's "Master of My Make-Believe") later, Santigold has eclipsed any similarities to ... well, anyone. Her blending of sounds - driving beats intersect with ska, reggae and punk touchstones, all delivered in a slick, danceable package - has made her brand of jittery pop wholly her own. Santigold, who performs Tuesday at Rams Head Live , spoke recently about beating trends, building a brand and her friendship with the late Adam "MCA" Yauch of the Beastie Boys.

BOWIE -- Orioles pitching prospect Kevin Gausman has hit some rough patches through the first few weeks of his first full professional season while pitching at Double-A Bowie, but the 22-year-old right-hander's steady development continues to be more important than any pitching line. Gausman, who is ranked the No. 2 prospect in the Orioles' organization and No. 26 in all of baseball by Baseball America, will enter his fifth start of the season on Sunday against Harrisburg with a 1-2 record and a 4.74 ERA and has allowed four or more earned runs in two of his four starts.

Globetrotting swimwear designer Anne Cole has just come back from a trip around the United States, and is simply glowing with good feelings about American women and fashion."

One might assume that even the most discriminating big sedan buyer could find satisfaction from one of the nine versions of BMW's flagship 7-series. One would be incorrect. For that ultra-discerning person, there's the BMW Alpina B7: more power, more athletic handling, more exterior styling, more cabin cosseting and, with only 2,000 produced per year, more exclusivity.  Alpina, a limited vehicle production company in its own right, has been partnering with BMW for 40 years to make already exceptional vehicles even better.

Michael Winegrad of I. Michael Interior Design adde excitement to the mundane architecture of a standard development house in Pikesville with this half-round master bedroom addition.The addition, which satisfied his clients' craving for the unusual, dramatically alters the look of the house from the back. Rather than attempting to camouflage its shape by matching the materials with the rest of the house, the clients and designer opted to highlight the difference by selecting pale cedar siding as a statement of contrast.

A Westminster man was injured early yesterday when his car went out of control on an icy curve, struck a utility pole and overturned on Hook Road, state police said.Joseph M. Thomas, 19, of the 1000 block of Hook Road was airlifted to Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, where he was treated and released, a hospital spokeswoman said yesterday.Thomas told troopers he was traveling at the speed limit, 40 mph, when he "hit a patch of black ice" at 12: 23 a.m., police said.The investigation is continuing.

James Benton of Southern said the emergence of a consistent curve has made him a more complete pitcher -- something Poly found out yesterday.Benton kept Poly off-balance most of the game with his curve, and the junior capped his two-hitter by retiring the final 11 batters to lift Southern to a 5-0 victory over the host Engineers.Poly (4-3) struggled with Benton, a junior, the entire game. The pitcher from Southern (5-3) faced only two batters over the minimum and had little trouble with the Engineers, throwing a total of 77 pitches.

IT'S BEEN NEARLY TWO years since your wheelster highlighted the woes of a tres dangerous curve on Bellona Avenue just off North Charles Street where most drivers make the steep descent into the belly of Ruxton.Here is a two-lane road that holds a pair of sharp curves that make driving a white-knuckle experience. When it rains, that experience takes on religious proportions as vehicles begin to slip and slide everywhere.In early 1997, Intrepid interviewed Kate Chittenden, a neighbor of this danger zone, who warned the curve is a magnet for accidents -- and State Highway Administration statistics showing 22 reported wrecks there since 1995 back her up.Recently, though, fate caught up with Kate.

Talk about a no-brainer. You want to build a house with a curved wall. The traditional way involves cutting wood into little pieces, forming the pieces into a curve, and then bending a sheet of drywall around them. Complicated, eh? Structurally sound? Not really. What about taking U-shaped pieces of sheet metal to make the curve - one at the top, another at the bottom, and then fitting wood or metal studs into the channels? That's what Flex-C Trac framing is all about. The product, invented by Frank Wheeler of Flex-Ability Concepts in Edmond, Okla.

VERO BEACH, Fla. -- Orioles pitcher Scott Kamieniecki is giving hitters something else to think about this spring: his curveball.At this point last year, Kamieniecki was keeping the pitch under wraps, not wanting to put too much strain on a right elbow fresh off surgery. He used the curve sparingly in the first half of the season, relying mostly on his fastball and change, but still managed to tie his career high with 10 victories and earn a two-year, $6.2 million contract to go with assurances that he would remain the club's fourth starter.

It's a matter no one gives a, well let's say hoot, about until there's a problem. When there is a problem with it, everyone affected will be angry enough to call city hall and give the poor soul who answers a blast of, let's just call it hot air. The matter at hand is sewage disposal and treatment, and it appears Aberdeen is at the forefront of making sure no one gets any stink on them from being cavalier about modernization. The city council voted last week to spend up to $96,000 on equipment that will make possible sewer line replacement using a technique called pipe-bursting.

If you witnessed the thunderstorms that hit the area Friday, June 29, you might have thought that they seemed more intense than normal. What was soon evident was this was no average thunderstorm. High winds peaked at 70 mph, downing limbs and uprooting trees. This storm ripped a swath of damage across multiple states and left millions without power, including 564,000 BGE customers in eight counties and Baltimore City. The "derecho" storm, as it has been categorized, left no time for usual preparation.

When Santi White, aka Santigold, released her debut album in 2008, she earned comparisons to another forward-thinking sonic provocateur: M.I.A. Four years and a second album (last month's "Master of My Make-Believe") later, Santigold has eclipsed any similarities to ... well, anyone. Her blending of sounds - driving beats intersect with ska, reggae and punk touchstones, all delivered in a slick, danceable package - has made her brand of jittery pop wholly her own. Santigold, who performs Tuesday at Rams Head Live , spoke recently about beating trends, building a brand and her friendship with the late Adam "MCA" Yauch of the Beastie Boys.

To Phoenix-area residents, it's simply "dead man's curve" - a twisting section of Jarrettsville Pike that lies at the bottom of a steep hill near a meandering stream, where mature trees block the line of sight in both directions. Four yellow signs warn of dangers: the sharp curve, the steep grade, crossing deer and an upcoming school bus stop. But drivers often ignore the signs and speed down the hill, say those who live and work in the area. "If it was on flat ground, it wouldn't be an issue, but because of that hill, people have some speed and they just don't know what's coming," said Bob Thompson, who co-owns Lothorian Pools at the bottom of the hill, just beyond the curve.

Curves of Parkton will celebrate NationalWomen's HealthWeek by offering free 30-day memberships to non-members who visit the club during the week of May 13 to 19. The Parkton Curves will also hold a weeklong Open House to encourage women to check out the club, pick up free health information and get a free fitness assessment. Visitors may also sign up to attend a program on National Curves Day, May 17. It features messages from health experts and activities designed to raise awareness of small, practical steps women can take to get healthy.

No. 1 Calvert Hall's coaches say their junior pitcher Ben Deaver has "tremendous upside. " The 6-foot-3, 195-pound right-hander has good repetition in his delivery, movement on his fastball, a confidence-destroying slider and a curve ball that assistant coach Brooks Kerr says is almost a guaranteed out. "When he has two strikes on a batter, you can expect the curve and it's a done deal," Kerr said of Deaver, who has received interest from...

NEW YORK -- The Major League Baseball Players Association has decided to strike sooner rather than later, setting Aug. 12 as the deadline for a work stoppage that could wipe out the last 52 days of the season and baseball's newly expanded postseason tournament.Union director Donald Fehr made the announcement late yesterday afternoon at the Intercontinental Hotel, where union and management negotiators had concluded a contentious meeting Wednesday without making progress toward a new labor agreement.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Rather than sit around his house and watch television footage of pitchers and catchers reporting to spring training, Steve Trachsel decided to start making some weekend plans that didn't include baseball. He told this story yesterday during a conference call before boarding a late flight for Fort Lauderdale, where he'll begin playing baseball. Funny how this game shoves a man aside and then pulls him back. Ignored much of the winter, Trachsel drew quick interest from the Orioles on Monday after they learned Kris Benson likely would miss the entire season because of a partially torn rotator cuff.

The big spring training story of the past few days comes not from the Orioles' winter home in Sarasota, Fla., but from down the road in Fort Myers, where news that the Boston Red Soxhave banned beer in the clubhouse seems to have everyone in a tizzy. Pundits are pontificating about it, new manager Bobby Valentine is explaining it and the Red Sox players have been asked about it endlessly. (A personal favorite quote from veteran slugger David Ortiz: "We're not here to drink.

"Time heals all wounds," as they, the cliched voices, say. That is seemingly the same philosophy they - as in the designers, planners and leaders of the Maryland Transportation Authority - have taken toward a bit of goofiness in the recently completed highway intersections of Routes 24 and 924, I-95 and Tollgate Road in Abingdon. The "confusion" is the confluence of motorists trying to drive south on 24 as they get on the highway from 924 or Tollgate. Many drivers have been experiencing the confusion regularly since the much-anticipated project opened in October.