Grid

A gargoyle, an antique chair leg, an ornate iron grid -- these are elements in Scott Ponemone's watercolors. Like bits of glass in a kaleidoscope, they tumble and turn, sometimes appearing only once, sometimes repeating themselves, always forming a splendidly colorful whole. Ponemone draws upon the monuments, buildings or homes of Baltimore for inspiration. Weaving together meticulously rendered architectural and decorative details, he creates handsome paintings layered with history and meaning.

Managers of the Mid-Atlantic electricity grid repeatedly silenced a supposedly independent watchdog who was concerned that power generation companies could reap outsized profits in newly deregulated electricity markets, internal memos, e-mail and other documents show. Executives at PJM Interconnection, which runs wholesale electricity markets in Maryland and a dozen other states, blocked Joseph E. Bowring from issuing critical reports, pressured him to accept changes advantageous to power companies and worked to reduce his influence and resources, according to a sworn statement Bowring gave federal authorities on June 12. On one occasion, after determining that a generation company earned $20 million in "excess payments" over two weeks because it faced little competition at the time, Bowring wanted to formally complain to federal regulators, only to be thwarted by his PJM bosses, the statement said.

Metric HasslesHaving read George Will's complaints about the metric system ("Going Bananas Going Too Far Going Metric," Aug.31), I wish to add a few of my own. Because of my trade, I have been equally familiar with the both the English and metric systems for most of my life.But the inch is divided in binary fashion for good reason. Mark an inch on paper and divide it in half by eye and then in quarters, eighths and sixteenths. Now try dividing a centimeter into tenths by eye. If we had it all to do over, we might well use a base eight number system.

BOWERS BEACH, Del. - In the pitch-black night of a deserted beach, J.R. Futcher shines her flashlight on the unsuspecting lovers. She's interrupting a private moment. But the horseshoe crabs appear not to notice. Several helmet-headed males cluster around one plump female, forming a mating circle that's kicking up quite a froth of sand. Futcher lays a one-meter-square plastic grid atop the crabs, does a quick head count and repeats the process. "Twelve males, one female!" Futcher calls out. The annual mating dance of the horseshoe - a prehistoric creature that is more spider than crab - has again arrived on the shores of the First State, where it has perplexed and fascinated scientists for decades.

The first of 70 new energy-efficient locomotives destined for Amtrak's East Coast service rolled off Monday morning from a Sacramento, Calif., assembly line. The locomotives, called Amtrak Cities Sprinters and built by Siemens Rail Systems, will replace Amtrak equipment that has been in service for more than two decades and has logged an average of 3.5 million miles. The new engines, costing $466 million, will be used on the Northeast Corridor between Washington and Boston and on the Philadelphia-to-Harrisburg Keystone Corridor.

Lorraine Washington, 76, of Baltimore's Forest Park section, is precisely the kind of consumer policymakers wished for when they deregulated electricity years ago and told Marylanders, "You Use It. Now Choose It." She learned about electricity alternatives. She shopped for the best deal. She even educated neighbors and got them to switch kilowatt suppliers, away from Baltimore Gas and Electric's standard product. Now she seems ready to give up on the whole mess.

Amtrak will acquire 70 new power-saving electric locomotives as part of a plan to rejuvenate its aging fleet on the Northeast Corridor, the manufacturer Siemens AG is expected to announce Friday. The company has been awarded a $468 million contract to provide the new generation of locomotives over a six-year period. The engines are expected to eventually replace all of Amtrak's AEM-7 and HHP-8 locomotives — breakdown-prone models used by both the national passenger railroad and Maryland's MARC commuter service.

PHILADELPHIA -- It was 1951 when the father of Retin-A first came to Holmesburg Prison.The 1,200 inmates of Philadelphia's gloomiest jail were plagued by an outbreak of athlete's foot, and the prison pharamacist had asked Dr. Albert M. Kligman, a University of Pennsylvania dermatologist, to take a look.Imagine the researcher's thrill as he stepped into the aging prison, hundreds of men milling around."All I saw before me were acres of skin," Kligman told a newspaper reporter in 1966. "It was like a farmer seeing a field for the first time."

I am fascinated by the revelations experienced by Kathleen McCarty (''Fireflies,'' Opinion * Commentary, July 2) during a recent power outage at her Baltimore home.Ms. McCarty and her son delighted in the secrets of the technologically imposed darkness: not just magical fireflies, but such wonders as urban silence, crescent moonsets and the long-forgotten comforts of family and neighborhood companionship.Perhaps Ms. McCarty would not be too surprised to learn that some other not-too-distant neighbors have chosen an ''unplugged'' lifestyle, not just for an hour a day, but for every delightful hour of every wonderful day.Our family has chosen to live ''off the grid.

Last month, the Public Service Commission rejected Baltimore Gas & Electric Co.'s "smart grid" proposal. From start to finish, the whole affair demonstrated everything that is wrong with Maryland's socialized electricity industry. To begin with, BGE's plan was a dud. The whole idea of "smart grid" is to inform customers how much electricity costs in real time so that they have an incentive to use less electricity during times of peak demand (usually hot summer afternoons), when electricity is expensive to generate and transmit.