Era

Navy Lt. Mark Tedrow has no problem reconciling an air show with a commemoration of the War of 1812, an era that precedes flight by almost a century. The Blue Angels pilot said he looks forward to flying over the Inner Harbor, Middle River and Fort McHenry - birthplace of the national anthem - during a bicentennial celebration in June. "It will be outstanding to perform multiple maneuvers over Fort McHenry," he said. "It will show just how far we have come. " Tedrow and his co-pilot flew into Martin State Airport in Middle River on Thursday to give a small preview of what the Navy's renowned flight team will do for the bicentennial maritime and air festival that kicks off June 13. "Stake out your places on the waterfront so you don't miss a thing," said Lt. Cmdr.

If all goes as planned, sometime this morning a spacecraft will blast off from its launchpad in Cape Canaveral, Fla., and ride a fiery plume of contrails upward through the pre-dawn darkness to begin a two-week journey to the International Space Station and back. But the flight won't be just another NASA resupply mission. Instead, the Falcon 9 rocket and its unmanned Dragon cargo capsule built by Space Exploration Technologies Corporation - SpaceX for short - will be the first commercially owned and operated vehicle ever to rendezvous with the station's orbiting astronauts.

If all goes as planned, sometime this morning a spacecraft will blast off from its launchpad in Cape Canaveral, Fla., and ride a fiery plume of contrails upward through the pre-dawn darkness to begin a two-week journey to the International Space Station and back. But the flight won't be just another NASA resupply mission. Instead, the Falcon 9 rocket and its unmanned Dragon cargo capsule built by Space Exploration Technologies Corporation - SpaceX for short - will be the first commercially owned and operated vehicle ever to rendezvous with the station's orbiting astronauts.

The Orioles fast start has been pretty simple: The starters have pitched well, going deep into games and keeping the Orioles in most contests. Strong starting pitching has allowed the bullpen to stay fresh - and be effective. And the offense, which is solid, has been able to mount rallies, partially because the games are rarely out of reach. Even shoddy defense has been somewhat negated by the way the starters have pitched. Sure, there are more complex answers, but simply put, the Orioles rotation has done well, and so have the Orioles.

On January 14, 2007, ERA ANNIE TUNKINS. On Friday, Mrs. Tunkins will lie in state at New Shiloh Baptist Church, 2100 N. Monroe Street, where the family will receive friends from 10 to 11 A.M., with services to follow. Inquiries to (410) 233-2400.

WASHINGTON -- "Poets," noted G.K. Chesterton, "have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese." His point was that this was not mysterious: Cheese is not the sort of subject that summons poetic thoughts.Presidents have hitherto been mysteriously silent about child-safety seats. However, last Saturday President Clinton's radio address concerned an improved fastening mechanism for such seats in automobiles. This was the third time this president has used a Saturday address to talk about child-safety seats.

BOSTON -- And you thought the Equal Rights Amendment was dead. We all did. The amendment flat-lined in 1982, just three states short of the 38 needed for ratification. I even wrote an obit. Back then, feminists shifted their sights to politics, saying if we can't change the state legislators' minds, we'll change their faces. A baby girl born in 1982 will cast her first vote in 2000 without being equal under the law. But what's this I hear out of Missouri? Can it be the faint sound of a pulse?

WASHINGTON -- The Equal Rights Amendment lingers on, its pulse faint but its supporters determined. Their slender hopes arise from recent disrespect for the amending process.First introduced in Congress in 1923, the ERA says: "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex."In 1971, the year before Title IX prohibited sexual discrimination in education, the Supreme Court for the first time cited the Equal Protection clause of the 14th Amendment to invalidate a law on the grounds that it involved discrimination on the basis of sex.Despite this evidence that the ERA might be a legal redundancy (ERA supporters said it was needed to "put women into the Constitution")

A historic era -- often stormy, occasionally tumultuous, frequently productive -- ended at midnight Monday and next to no one rose to the occasion.The best that could be said for the lifeless ceremony marking the final leave-taking between Gov. William Donald Schaefer and the General Assembly was that nobody faked it, at least not much.After eight years, barring a special session, the legislature and the governor have seen the last of each other. Mr. Schaefer cannot succeed himself.The ceremonial highlights of the informal joint session after adjournment included short speeches by the governor, House Speaker Casper R. Taylor Jr. and Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr.All three made game but lame efforts to capture the moment.

Prodded by signs of hope from Iowa to California, the campaign for a national Equal Rights Amendment is stirring from a decade of slumber, and the right combination of Election Day victories could set off a new 10-year push for ratification.The hopeful signs include a likely win for a state ERA referendum in once-resistant Iowa, a surge in female candidacies at all levels ofgovernment, and the prospect that a Democrat sympathetic to the ERA will win the presidency.But the most intriguing indicator may be signs of ideological retreat among the ERA's staunchest opponents on the Christian Right.

The Orioles have designated Brad Bergesen for assignment, according to a source. The move has not been made official, but the club needs to make a move by tonight because infielder/outfielder Bill Hall has been called up from Triple-A Norfolk. The 26-year-old Bergesen, a former fourth-rounder in 2004 by the Orioles, is 17-24 with a 4.68 ERA in 83 games, 59 starts, for the Orioles in his career. He did not make the team out of spring and has been in Norfolk, where he is 1-2 with a 5.13 ERA in eight games (six starts)

It's time to brush up on your Prohibition-era swagger, Baltimore. 1920s-era everything has made a comeback in recent years, from fashion to TV and now the Baltimore bar scene. The Fork & Wrench, new to Canton, is high on speakeasy style. Picture lush tapestry-lined bar tables, intimate, low lights and swing and blues wailing from the speakers. The cocktail menu is reflective of the age of jazz: flirty, rich, smooth and daring. But if you're looking for an extensive drink list, go elsewhere.

A new era began on tonight's Raw. With Team John Lauriniatis' victory at WrestleMania , Laurinaitis officially launched his reign of control in WWE. His first orders of business? Rewarding the men who helped land him his position of power. Jack Swagger and Dolph Ziggler were granted shots at Santino Marella's United States Championship; Mark Henry was awarded a chance to dethrone CM Punk as WWE Champion; and The Miz was placed in the main event against Zack Ryder. The members of Team Johnny found a mixed degree of success.

Ben Walsh doesn't have a lot of time to play games these days. As CEO and president of the Baltimore-based Pure Bang Games, Walsh spends his waking hours leading a team of nine developers aiming to release a new social game every few months.  The irony, of course, is that Walsh is a lifelong gamer who, if he ever took a vacation, "would sit down and do nothing but play" all the games he's been missing out on since starting Pure Bang in...

The Orioles have signed left-hander Dontrelle Willis to a minor-league contract, according to an industry source. It is a split contract, which would pay him $700,000 if he remains in the major leagues all season. He is scheduled to report to Sarasota on Wednesday, the source said. Willis, 30, was released by the Phillies last week. He had signed a one-year, $1 million deal with Philadelphia in December. He was auditioning for a bullpen spot this spring, allowing five runs in 2 2/3 innings and recording a 16.87 ERA in three appearances, walking four and striking out none before being released on Friday.

In 1797, the Shaw of Persia received a set of Encyclopedia Britannica to celebrate his elevation. He read it in its entirety - it was shorter then - and in celebration of this accomplishment, he added "Most Formidable Lord and Master of the Encyclopedia Britannica" to his list of titles. I know this because I read it in Wikipedia. It was included in the entry about the Britannica, which had, of course, just been updated to reflect the fact that it would no longer be available in printed form after 244 years and would complete its migration to the Internet.

It doesn't look like a good year for Babe Ruth. Baseball commissioner Fay Vincent has erased his name from the record book by purging the asterisk next to the name of Roger Maris.And any day (week, month, year?) now, The Babe's hometown, for the second time, is expected to snub a campaign to name a stadium after its legendary baseball hero. A lot of people forget, but there was a strong effort to name Memorial Stadium after Ruth, but with the memory of the Korean conflict and World War II so vivid there was even less chance then than now.By all accounts, The Bambino was baseball's greatest player -- and most likely its most flamboyant personality.

WE expect eras to end with a big noise in presidential politics: with the sound of a cannon, as in 1861, when the Democrats lost everything; with the collapse of a boom into outright depression, as in 1933, when the Republicans' world fell apart.We aren't trained to expect cataclysmic change from an election year as petty and mundane as this one has been.But an era is ending and in the weeks to come we should finally begin to see this clearly. It was an era in which presidential elections, for all their seeming complexity, were decided more than anything else on one issue -- the belief of the middle class that the Democratic Party intended to take their money away and give it to a disorderly, undeserving and often violent minority.

In the past 30 years we have seen such an incredible change in the WWE. If you were alive to witness it, or if you went through the archives, you'll notice how unique and diverse each era has been, especially those eras of prosperity. With recent claims that WrestleMania 28 will become the most financially successful WrestleMania of all time, it seems that we are firmly entrenched in another upswing in WWE. The two previous eras of major upswing in WWE were the “Rock N' Wrestling” Era (roughly 1984-1991)

After he graduated from the old Sollers Point Junior-Senior High School in 1953, Ed "Eddie" Bartee went to work forBethlehem Steel Corp.in Sparrows Point, where he became a representative for the steelworkers' union and was responsible for a $2 million budget. "That was a lot of money for a poor boy with a high school education," Bartee recalled Saturday. "I owe it all to my teachers. ... There's no question that the training I got carried me a long way. I'm thankful. I'm blessed.