Dust

With the arrival of a new year, it's a good time to catch up on the tasks you've been putting off.Maybe you won't really start working out regularly at the gym or get all that junk out of the garage. But at least you can clean up your personal computer.I don't mean high-tech cleaning, as in removing old and redundant files or defragmenting the hard disk into a more efficient organization. I mean old-fashioned dirt and grime.If you've owned your PC for any time at all, there is probably dust on the screen, and some fingerprints, too. There are probably smudges on the monitor case and around the disk-drive slots.

Baltimore housing officials have ordered several two-story heaps of rubble leveled after Upton neighborhood residents began complaining that dust from the debris of the recently-imploded Murphy Homes complex was making them sick.For weeks, residents say they watched while contractors wearing masks and special suits ground bricks, mortar and concrete into fine gravel. Yet those living in the community say they have no protection from the daily dust storms that blow through the area, leaving a thick layer of dust on almost everything.

THEY ARRIVE BY caravan -- four men, a truck pulling two trailers, plus an extra car or two."I thought there was a problem with the water main," said a curious neighbor attracted by the unusual entourage.Despite the "ET" suits and hooded face masks, the workers weren't plumbers or space travelers. They're specialized painters from K & K Painting and Contracting of Baltimore, and their job is to strip and repaint fire hydrants.Each crew is equipped with a blast machine, air purifier, dust collector, vacuum and paint.

TUCKAHOE CREEK -- Bill and Louise Schmotzer thought they had found the perfect place to retire, on a secluded, waterfront farm surrounded by the flat fields of the Eastern Shore.But after 15 years of bruising trips home, billowing clouds of reddish-brown dust and constant car repairs, life at the end of a dirt road has lost its charm."It's a mess. We can't even get out when the weather's bad," frets Louise Schmotzer, 78, who grew up a mile away and remembers being thrown out of her seat on the school bus."

WASHINGTON -- Astronomers say they have detected the glow of intergalactic dust heated by all the stars and galaxies that have ever shined, and found that half to two-thirds of those objects have somehow since disappeared.They may be too faint, too far away or too exotic to be seen. Or they may just be lost in the dust clouds they've warmed.Whatever the answer, the challenge for astronomers and theoreticians now is to launch new instruments to find the missing stars and galaxies, or to come up with new theories to account for what happened to them as the universe evolved.

WICHITA, Kan. -- The June 8 explosions that killed seven people at the DeBruce Grain elevator started in a tunnel when a bearing on a conveyor belt apparently locked up, according to an expert investigating the incident.That set off a chain of events that produced heat to ignite highly explosive grain dust, said Vernon Grose, one of six experts hired by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.The initial blast set off explosions that continued throughout the elevator, killing seven people dead and injuring nine.

When it comes to displaying treasured photos, think outside the frame. Kay Knabe, of Photos on Fabric, uses fabric and a heat-transfer process to turn a family photo, or even a kid's drawing, into a pillow or wall hanging. Each piece is custom-designed and meant to be used (they're washable and ironable). Knabe also does items for weddings or other celebrations, including napkins, hand towels, fans, clocks, mouse pads, T-shirts and potpourri bags. Prices range from $8 for the potpourri bags to $36 for pillow shams.

Greer Garson, the actress who epitomized a noble, wise and courageous wife in some of the most sentimental American movies of the 1940s, died yesterday at Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas. She was 92.Miss Garson had a history of heart problems.She became an instant success as a captivating young wife in the sentimental 1939 film "Goodbye, Mr. Chips." She was nominated for an Academy Award and quickly became one of the 10 most popular Hollywood stars.She received five more Oscar nominations in five years for her roles in "Blossoms in the Dust" (1941)

Closing 10 months of testimony on a proposed quarry in Jessup, opponents last night urged the Howard County Board of Appeals to reject the plan, saying the developer failed to give sufficient details about its impact on the community."

Stargazers say Comet Hyakutake is brightening nicely as it rushes toward its closest approach to Earth on Monday, making this weekend a prime viewing opportunity. Happily, Maryland's skies are expected to clear."It's visible even in the light-polluted area of Abingdon," said Larry Hubble, an amateur astronomer in Harford County. (He doesn't think he's related to famed astronomer Edwin P. Hubble, for whom the Hubble Space Telescope was named.) "I actually saw it with the naked eye a little fuzzy ball in the sky."

The Maryland Occupational Safety and Health Administration fined Domino Sugar $4,000 for allowing sugar dust to accumulate in its refinery, which is believed to have caused an explosion last year at the Key Highway plant in South Baltimore, according to a state report. The Nov. 2 explosion echoed across the harbor, and authorities said they suspected sugar dust might have ignited. Three employees suffered minor injuries, several pieces of equipment were destroyed and dozens of windows were shattered in the blast.

Rain Pryor was getting divorced and looking for change nearly two years ago, when she left LA for Baltimore, home to two good friends. "Best move I ever made," the Charles Village resident and daughter of the late comedian Richard Pryor says today. Why is Charm City such a good fit for the actress, comedian, author and singer (who, by the way, will give a jazz cabaret performance to benefit the Maryland Center for Multiple Sclerosis at the Hippodrome on Friday)? Demographics? Pryor also does a one-woman show, Fried Chicken and Latkes, that's all about being Jewish and black, and Baltimore has lots of both cultures, if not lots of double dippers.

I have seen flat-screen TVs above fire- places numerous times. The salespeople at the leading electronics stores insist that this arrangement is fine for the TV. But they sell TVs for a living. Does the heat from the fireplace harm a plasma or LCD TV? - Bob Richards Bob, I would not mount a TV above a fireplace. That doesn't mean the heat would definitely cause harm. But the possibility seems real enough for it not to make sense to take a chance. Plasma TVs already run a bit hot (LCDs run cooler)

The familiar yellow and white bags of Domino sugar are once again rolling off the conveyor belts at the Key Highway plant, one week after an explosion blew out windows and rendered the powdered sugar mill a total loss. There is more work to be done, with windows still being boarded up yesterday. But managers picked up mops and workers volunteered overtime to get production lines operating again in advance of the busy holiday baking season. "It was a spectacular effort," refinery manager Stuart FitzGibbon said at a news conference yesterday at the Museum of Industry on Key Highway.

BARTON -- When Randy Preston sees a cloud of dust headed his way, he knows what to expect - more heavy trucks on their way to or from the surface coal mine on the mountain above his home. The dust and coal ash from the trucks coat his house in Allegany County, says the 43-year-old Barton native, and the rumble of the traffic past his bedroom wakes him hours before dawn. "Beginning at 3 a.m. they start going up, and by 4 o'clock they're hauling down," he says. Disabled with medical problems, Preston contends that the dust and din of traffic to and from the mine have contributed to a nonstop headache he has had for the past two years.

What's the point? -- Certainly, you've seen "WASH ME" or other, less-printable phrases written in the dust on the back of a car or truck. Artist Scott Wade saw the layer of dust on his back windshield as an empty canvas, instead, and this site showcases his works. What to look for --Take a gander at the gallery, which shows a version of Mona Lisa, a portrait of Albert Einstein and more etched into the dirt on Wade's car. Some photos chronicle how the elements (weather, sap, his cat) changed the portraits over time.

While I vacuum some scary corner of my son's room, a strip of rubber molding peels off the nozzle attached to the household's antique Electrolux. Hooray! Finally, a legitimate excuse for ditching this infuriating contraption for something new. How could this vital attachment possibly be replaced? Until now, there has been no really good reason for sacking the 1960 Model G vac. In its prime, the Electrolux was an extravagance that must have dazzled homemakers with its aqua blue canister, art deco lettering and unmatched ability to dispatch dust bunnies.

As a piece of heavy machinery picked at rubble heaped where a block of rowhouses once stood, Robin Carter-Morton scanned the debris in search of public enemy No. 1 - dust. To hold down the dust, the debris had been soaked with water, but it was drying out under the relentless summer sun, so Carter-Morton ordered workers to hose it down again. "We're not going to get rid of all of the dust," said Carter-Morton. "But we do try to minimize it as much as possible." Carter-Morton is overseeing the demolition of more than 500 vacant houses in East Baltimore near Johns Hopkins Hospital.

SHELTERRIFIC.COM What's the point? -- Spring left us in the dust (literally), and spring cleaning never got scheduled, so we're looking at sprucing up the house these days. This site, which is run by the folks who used to work at the now-shuttered Budget Living, talks about all things home, including choosing a summer coverlet and polling people about what they do with their spare change and testing a cheesecake recipe. What to look for --The site also has a book club. This month, the title is Heat: An Amateur's Adventures as a Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany.

Excuse her dust -- again. The NAACP's desire to move its headquarters from Baltimore to the nation's capital not only surprised city officials earlier this month, but it also seized the attention of writer Dorothy Parker's admirers. Through an unlikely set of circumstances, Parker's ashes are buried in a memorial garden at the civil rights organization's Northwest Baltimore headquarters. Fans of Parker, the oft-quoted, quintessential New York writer, wondered if she would make the trip to D.C. with the civil rights group.