Flow

THE GREAT blackout of 2003 last month has pushed lawmakers and the Bush administration to fast-track needed legislation to ensure that electricity consistently flows to U.S. consumers. And a good thing, too. Because while widespread outages caused by disasters such as Hurricane Isabel may not be preventable, every effort must be made to ensure that the infrastructure can handle the nation's ever-increasing daily grind. In the two versions of the mammoth energy bill now before Congress, much that relates to improving the electrical grid is worthy, but one of the details is not. On the good side: Giving the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission real power to enforce reliability standards across the grid is necessary.

The girls stand together in their skates before taking the ice. They talk animatedly as they stretch and prepare for a long practice. "They haven't seen each other in a week," one of the mothers says in passing. The Sailors, the highest-level team in the Chesapeake Synchronized Skating club, compete nationally at the intermediate level. The girls come from counties around the state and see one another only at practice, but they're close-knit. "We're just like a family now," said Blaire Burgin, a tri-captain and a Pikesville junior.

For a few years in the 1980s and 1990s, the world was changing for the better and seemingly destined to keep doing so indefinitely. Back then, freedom resembled justice as described in the Bible - rolling down like waters. But in the last few years, various governments have managed to dam it up, and in some cases even reverse the flow. Between 1990 and 1997, the number of democracies in the world rose from 69 to 118, according to the human rights group Freedom House. In the past decade, though, the number has crept up by just five.

Related to the reply to my letter ("Yield to left at roundabout and to right at four-way stop," Catonsville Times, Jan. 4), I did not realize that drivers do not need to be courteous when using traffic circles. That writer's self-centered mentality would keep us "poor saps" stranded at one of other entrances to the circle when there is an unbroken queue of vehicles in one direction. This "poor sap," having learned the written rules for drivers approaching an intersection (with no stop signs or all direction stop signs)

Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. said yesterday that it earned $3.05 million, or 10 cents a share, during the second quarter, a performance an analyst said was on target considering that savings from recent acquisitions have not yet taken effect.The Baltimore-based owner or operator of 28 television stations, including Channel 45 -- the Fox affiliate in Baltimore -- and 34 radio stations saw its profit margins shrink considerably since the second quarter of last year, and most of its 37 percent gain in cash flow came from the sheer increase in size of the acquisition-minded firm since last year.

Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. reported gains in its third quarter yesterday, with broadcast cash flow - a crucial industry yardstick - increasing 4 percent to $79.5 million and net broadcast revenue going up 8.1 percent to $174 million. The company had net income of $18.85 million, or 18 cents per diluted share for the quarter that ended Sept. 30, compared with a loss of $11.34 million, or 14 cents a share, in the third quarter of 1999. After-tax cash flow per share went up 41.4 percent to 41 cents.

State engineers call it an innovative design that could save money and speed the flow of traffic along busy intersections. But Sherri Bennett, an auto parts store clerk who drives the "continuous-flow" intersection built in 2000 in Prince George's County, isn't so enthusiastic. "It's terrible. It's just very weird," Bennett said of the oddly shaped intersection of Routes 228 and 210, one of only two places in the country making use of the design. "I would not recommend it," she said.

An overflow at a pumping station caused millions of gallons of raw sewage to pour into Gunpowder Falls yesterday, prompting health warnings for the waterway from Perry Hall to the Bird River as county public works crews worked to stop the flow and determine the cause. County public works officials were alerted to the overflow at the Gunpowder pumping station in the 9300 block of Dundawan Road in Perry Hall about 2:30 p.m. By 10 p.m., more than 2 million gallons of sewage had flowed into Gunpowder Falls, according to Ellen Kobler, a county spokeswoman.

Adelphia Communications overstated both the number of its cable subscribers and its cash flow for 2001, people close to the company said yesterday. The number of cable subscribers has been overstated by at least 4.3 percent and perhaps as much as 10 percent, these people said, although the exact figure is still being determined. The company inflated its estimated $1.55 billion in 2001 cash flow by tens of millions of dollars and possibly by more, they said. The company also overstated its estimated 2001 cash flow - or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization - by tens of millions through a complex swap transaction on the purchase of digital set-top boxes from Motorola Inc. and Scientific Atlanta Inc., these people said.

NEW YORK - Bend, don't break. With an experiment of soap film and a short glass fiber, mathematicians at New York University have worked out some underlying principles of how something like a willow tree withstands powerful gusts. The same researchers showed two years ago in a similar experiment why flags flap in the wind. Years ago, biologists started observing how plants had adapted to the flow of wind and waves around them. Some, such as Steven Vogel, a professor of biology at Duke University, put sections of trees in wind tunnels and videotaped how leaves rolled up into tight streamlined cones when buffeted by high winds.

A blockage in a 12-inch sewer main caused 1.16 million gallons of sewage to overflow into a tributary of Herring Run, according to a statement Wednesday by the Baltimore County Department of Public Works. The sewer line is in the Anneslie-Idlewylde area near the border of Baltimore and Baltimore County, DPW said. The overflow occurred Oct. 12 but was not discovered until Tuesday after an odor complaint was investigated, according to the statement. The line was cleared around 6 p.m. Tuesday.

Something positive resulted from last month's battle with Mother Nature: more places to catch trout this fall. More than 27,000 trout will be stocked throughout the state starting this month. Most of the trout will be either rainbow or golden trout weighing an average of one pound each. There will also be about 1,500 brown trout weighing about a pound each, as well as 300 rainbow and golden trout weighing two to three pounds each. Approximately 1,000 additional trout will be donated by The Freshwater Institute in West Virginia, a research facility.

During a break in the action, my son's friend came into the kitchen, glass in hand, seeking some water to drink. He looked at the refrigerator door - but saw no dispenser there. He turned toward a corner where a water cooler might be, but saw no dispenser there. A bit confused, he scanned the room, glass still in hand, looking for something, anything, that resembled a spigot from which drinking water might flow. Finally, defeated, he asked me where, please, he might find some water.

The combination of music, food, seminars and a bit of the grape have kept the Maryland Wine Festival flowing for 18 years, and that same recipe will be on tap when the 2011 edition comes to the Carroll County Farm Museum, 500 S. Center St., Westminster, on Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 17-18. Hours are Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday 12 to 6 p.m. The festival is the statewide celebration of wine and wineries, and features tastings, seminars, amateur wine competition and the awarding of the Governor's Cup — awarded to the "best in show" wine at the festival.

Water woes in the area were noted in an article in the Sept. 2, 1911, edition of The Argus, which reported that storms had slowed progress on a busy Catonsville street. The heavy rains during the week have played havoc with the improvements of Newburg avenue, which is now in progress. Several weeks ago, the County Highways Commission regraded the avenue, and in order to conform with the roadbed, the Baltimore County Water and Electric Company was obliged to lower their water mains, causing a muddy condition of the road on the side, while the digging up of the avenue in the centre by the county has caused it to be almost impassable.

Imagine if one of our major automakers proposed a model line of gas-wasting, air-fouling vehicles that used 60-year-old technology. Unthinkable, of course. Yet it's little different than what homebuilders and developers propose when they plan most new rural subdivisions. Their outdated model lineup combines sprawl development - a hugely wasteful use of land - with septic tanks, the highest-polluting form of waste treatment, largely unimproved for more than half a century. Proposals to change this - most lately, Gov. Martin O'Malley's attempt to ban most development on septic tanks - are met with predictable cries from builders and land speculators.

Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. yesterday reported that operating cash flow -- a key measure for the broadcast industry -- increased 15.2 percent to $21.5 million in the first quarter.The fast-growing Baltimore chain of independent TV stations said the gain came on an 11.9 percent jump in revenues, to $47.8 million from $42.7 million in the same period last year.For the period ended March 31, the company reported a loss of $458,000, or 1 cent per share, compared with a loss of $2.5 million, or 9 cents per share, in the same period a year ago.Sinclair agreed last month to acquire St. Louis-based River City Broadcasting L. P. in a $1.2 billion deal that will make it the nation's seventh-largest TV broadcast group.

Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. reported yesterday that its broadcast cash flow and total revenue -- two significant benchmarks of financial strength in the broadcasting industry -- were down in the company's fourth quarter. However, Sinclair did reverse the quarterly and yearly losses that troubled 1998's balance sheet. "This is quite simply the best balance sheet Sinclair has had in a long time," said Patrick J. Talamantes, the company's chief financial officer. In the fourth quarter, the company enjoyed a net gain of $179.

If there's one thing George Clack likes better than grappling with ideas, it's sharing them online as "RasoirJ. " After retiring as head of publications for the U.S. Department of State in September 2009, Clack, then 63, figured he had the time to devote to writing an online journal. Little did the longtime Columbia resident realize he would end up devoting 20 hours a week to composing three insightful entries on such topics as literature and movies, new media and fiction writing for 317am.net, a site he co-authors with longtime friend and colleague Steve Altman.

Equestrian questions WSSC horse-trail restrictions For decades, the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission has been a world-class institution, recognized for sound science and public caring. And for decades, WSSC generously let equestrians enjoy their Rocky Gorge Equestrian Trail, which is environmentally contoured, minimally eroding and generally far from the water. The trail was partly designed by WSSC's previous watershed experts (including Paul Hancock, Butch Abbott and Latty Iager)