Fakes

WITH CONSPICUOUS CONSUMPTION ON THE DECLINE AND ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS ON THE RISE, THERE'S NEVER BEEN A GREATER VARIETY OF FAUX FURS -- FROM FRANKLY FAKE IN BLAZING BRIGHTS TO NATURAL-LOOKING COPIES OF AUTHENTIC PELTS.

The Better Business Bureau of Greater Maryland is warning against online fraud by scammers pretending to be a legitimate business website. The BBB said that a fictitious business has been operating under the web address Overstockcloseoutstock.com, claiming to be a Salisbury company. The site, according to the BBB, fraudulently used the logo of Overstock.com. The FBI received 20 complaints around the country and consumers lost about $9,000 through the website, the BBB said. (If you plug in the web address, you will receive a notice that the site is under construction.)

A robber faked a pizza order from a vacant apartment Sunday and robbed the delivery man when he showed up with the order, Howard County police said.Wali Kahn, 37, a driver from Pizza Time in Laurel, was not injured, police said.Shortly after 7 p.m., someone phoned Pizza Time to have pizza delivered to an apartment in the 9100 block of Tumbleweed Run, an unoccupied residence the robber apparently had broken into earlier, police said.About 7: 30 p.m., when the employee showed up with the order, the robber overpowered him and took his money, police said.

Republicans like Rep. Darrell Issa and Bob Ehrlich must be getting pretty desperate trying to make a big deal about an Obama cover up on Benghazi ("Benghazi: The Obama spin continues," May 12). What is known is that a murderous crowd attacked the U.S. consulate and killed our ambassador and three other Americans. Whether there may have been al-Qaida thugs in the crowd or not appears to be a distinction without meaning. It seems ironic that the same crowd that dragged us into an unnecessary war in Iraq based on non existent WMD are now making a big deal out of a contrived issue.

As in any other field of collecting, there are plenty of fake powder horns. William H. Guthman notes there are more examples with historic maps, scenes and personages than carvers who worked during the period in which the depicted events took place could have made. Some are old horns whose 18th-century dates were carved in the 1820s to 1840s to convince officials their owners were veterans entitled to pensions or land bounties. Others likely were carved at the end of the 19th century to "establish" that ancestors had participated in the Revolutionary War so the family could join newly formed patriotic organizations like the Sons of the American Revolution.

A well-known London dealer has brought a lawsuit against a Buckinghamshire antiques dealer and potter for the return of ZTC 34,000 pounds (about $55,000), paid for pottery he claims are modern fakes.The suit was filed in High Court by Alistair Sampson Antiques Ltd., of Brompton Road, against Guy Davies of Frith Hill, Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire. Mr. Sampson says he bought a salt glaze bear, a redware taper stick and an agateware cat said to be 18th century originals, but claims they were fakes made to reproduce as nearly as possible the appearance of originals.

Miami -- If all that glitters is not gold, you can bet that a whole lot of what sparkles isn't diamonds, rubies, sapphires or emeralds, either -- especially in these recessionary times.When it comes to flashy gems, "faux" is no longer "pas." Paste is anything but passe.Just ask Nat Hyman, 28, founder N. Landau Hyman Jewels in Boca Raton, Fla..Four years ago, the former real estate developer and architect from Allentown, Pa., opened his first boutique on Worth Avenue in Palm Beach. As fast as the economy slid down the tubes, he says, his sales climbed through the roof.

PITTSBURGH -- On a night of rather offensive football, the offensive play of the night belonged to a wide receiver just trying to please his mom.And she probably made a better move on the play than her son.The Pittsburgh Steelers' Yancey Thigpen, whose 130 yards on a half-dozen catches Sunday night nearly surpassed the Ravens' 136 on 15, registered the only score of a 37-0 Pittsburgh romp that wasn't a 1-yard plunge or a field goal. His nifty contribution was a 52-yard, fake-and-streak pattern down the left sideline in the third quarter.

The formation: I-formation, pro right.Action: At the snap, the offensive linemen lock into their pass-protection sets. Fullback Ty Hallock (49) leads through the hole and running back James Allen (20) fakes taking a handoff from quarterback Steve Stenstrom on a play-action fake. Tight end Alonzo Mayes (85) runs a 10-yard pattern and cuts across the middle. Both outside receivers run stutter-step routes to freeze the cornerbacks, then try to jet by them on go routes.Stenstrom can throw to flanker Curtis Conway (80)

The first time Nick Shevillo saw Tom Marechek play lacrosse, the Syracuse attackman did wondrous things with the stick."Things I had never seen," Shevillo said. "I thought he had thrown the ball three times, but they were just fakes. He still had it."Shevillo, a Johns Hopkins senior defenseman, has played against Marechek three times, but never in the role he will fill today. When the No. 3 Blue Jays take on No. 1 Syracuse at 2 p.m. at Homewood, Shevillo will have the assignment of trying to contain Marechek one-on-one.

A woman shot Saturday in Pikesville by a Baltimore County police officer - after the officer thought she had pulled a weapon - turned out to be holding a replica of a semi-automatic handgun, according to police. Police had responded to the 3100 block of Northbrook Road in Pikesville just before 2 a.m. for a call about a suspicious person. When the officer arrived, he saw a woman standing in front of the house and saw her throw a large rock at the house, which broke a window, police said.

Ace, a youthful Labrador, bounds across his lawn, fielding tennis balls and hurrying them back to his owner. His tail wags. His coat is thick and shiny. He barks with enthusiasm. To the naked eye, Ace is a strapping example of dogdom. Who would guess that he's had work done? An eye job, in fact. Ace is one of thousands of dogs who've had plastic surgery. A little nip. A little tuck. Eye lifts. Nose jobs. Exactly the sorts of procedures people get. But unlike cosmetic surgery for humans, dogs and cats aren't doing it to look better at their high school reunion.

The man who avoids paying his restaurant tab by faking a seizure is back in prison, according to the office of Baltimore City State's Attorney Gregg L. Bernstein. Andrew Palmer, 46, has been convicted more than four dozen times, Bernstein's office said, mostly for a unique spin on the classic dine-and-dash: Palmer would eat at a restaurant, then fake a seizure, be taken to a nearby hospital, only to be released when medical personnel found nothing wrong with him. Meanwhile, the restaurant would be stuck with an unpaid bill.

A Perry Hall man was sentenced Friday to 121/2 years in prison and ordered to pay more than $42 million in restitution after being convicted of selling $9 million worth of fake biodiesel fuel credits to oil companies and commodities brokers. Rodney R. Hailey, 34, was found guilty in June of eight counts of wire fraud, 32 counts of money laundering and two counts of violating the Clean Air Act. Hailey operated Clean Green Fuel, a company that purportedly created renewable fuel from waste cooking oil but sold credits for more than 23 million gallons of biodiesel he never made.

Ravens veteran free safety Ed Reed has never embraced a conventional approach. So the Louisiana native wasn't keen on the idea of retiring after a Super Bowl victory in front of his family and friends. Following the Ravens' 34-31 victory over the San Francisco 49ers at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, Reed declared in the locker room emphatically that he has more football left in him. "This is not it," Reed shouted. "This is not it. I'm not done. " Reed, 34, has battled multiple health issues, including a torn shoulder labrum and a nerve impingement.

Dick Van Dyke brought his characteristic charm to the SAG Awards this weekend, and Internet users dutifully searched for all sorts of details on him -- anything to distract us from the icy weather that caused school closings from here to Ann Arbor.  Another top distraction this weekend was this year's edition of the Royal Rumble , covered for The Baltimore Sun from Arizona by blogger Arda Orcal. Links to full details are below. || ONLINE TRENDS || School closings (Google search, Twitter)

Just after 2:30 p.m. yesterday, an investigator from the Anne Arundel County state's attorney's office walked in the front door of Paul Wiedorfer's Northeast Baltimore home with a white and red box. Inside sat the Medal of Honor that Mr. Wiedorfer won in World War II but wasn't sure he'd ever see again."

SAN FRANCISCO -- A year ago Jacqui Rogers, a retiree in southern Oregon who dabbles in vintage costume jewelry, went on eBay and bought 10 butterfly brooches made by Weiss, a well-known maker of high-quality costume jewelry in the 1950s and 1960s. At first, Rogers thought she had snagged a great deal. But when the jewelry arrived from a seller in Rhode Island, her well-trained eye told her that all of the pieces were knockoffs. Although Rogers received a refund after she confronted the seller, eBay refused to remove hundreds of listings for identical "Weiss" pieces.

The CIA is probably smug and triumphant about its duplicitous vaccination drive in Abbotabad, a mission hatched to catch and kill Osama bin Laden ("A tainted polio program," Jan. 7). As a doctor, I cringe to think of this unscrupulous use of medicine for murder. While the London Guardian investigated the matter and revealed its unethical intricacies, it is amazing that not one American newspaper thought the CIA's vaccination plot was worthy of further scrutiny. The vaccination drive was against Hepatitis B, a deadly and common disease in the Third World, spread by contaminated needles, surgical instruments and tainted blood.

Is it any wonder America is distrusted and held in contempt around the world? I was unaware my tax dollars were paying for fake polio vaccination programs in Pakistan (and no doubt elsewhere). What a dreadful way to "win the hearts and minds" of a population ("A tainted polio program," Jan. 7). A further affront to conservative societies is the manner in which our culture promotes out-of-wedlock pregnancies and adulterous entanglements like Kim Kardashian and her boyfriend Kanye West ("Kim and Kanye, the latest to put marriage last," Jan. 7)