Ignited

There's no time to mince words. Tonight, 16 speakers from different corners of the city's arts and culture scene will discuss a wide range of topics at a bar on North Avenue. The catch? Each one has to cram 20 slides into a five-minute minipresentation. The free event, called Ignite, takes place at the Windup Space in the Station North Arts and Entertainment District. Ignite may be new to Baltimore, but the idea has been around since 2006. Cities from Seattle to Paris have held Ignite events.

Maryland undoubtedly needs more and cheaper energy, but we're not going to do just anything to get it. We won't strip state forests for fireplace fodder. We won't reverse pollution controls on cars and power plants. And we shouldn't let ships carrying liquefied natural gas sail into the mouth of the Patapsco River. Importing small but potentially catastrophic industrial risks into highly populated areas may have been OK for the 20th-century economy. It doesn't work now. With hundreds of miles of coastline to accommodate freighters bringing gas from the Caribbean, why choose one of the few spots where an accident or terrorist attack could do grave damage?

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.

Mario and Fantasia, two standout talents in the overly calculated realm of modern R&B, have placed big hits on the pop and urban charts and sold millions of albums. But neither has fulfilled the promise of his or her talent. There's still hope, though. Mario and Fantasia, the marquee names at Friday night's African American Heritage Festival at Camden Yards, are younger than 25. So with time (and, with any luck, better material), both should soar artistically. But for now, the two are churning out mostly trite urban-pop tunes and albums brimming with rudimentary, trend-conscious production.

MENIEH, Lebanon -- After almost a week of street battles that left scores dead and threatened to push the country into open war, long-simmering Sunni-Shiite tensions here have sharply worsened, in an ominous echo of the civil conflict in Iraq. Hezbollah's brief takeover of Beirut led to brutal counterattacks in northern Lebanon, where Sunni Muslims deeply resented the Shiite militant group's display of power. The violence energized radical Sunni factions, including some affiliated with al-Qaida, and extremist Sunni Web sites across the Arab world have been buzzing with calls for a jihad to avenge the wounded pride of Lebanese Sunnis.

The political wars over Howard County tax policy pop up each spring, as evidenced by a County Council budget debate and the four people who came to the annual constant-yield tax rate hearing before the council's May legislative meeting. The constant yield hearing is required under state law to demonstrate to residents that rising state property assessments (and state legislators) are not responsible for their higher property tax bills. If local government officials would lower county tax rates, the amount of revenue would remain the same.

At a tire store the other day, I had the misfortune of coming face-to-face with the bane of modern society: the self-absorbed yakker. Let's face it, there's not a whole lot to do when they're putting new tires on your car except sit in the waiting room and drink bad coffee and read back issues of Motor Trend. Another man was waiting for his car, too. He said his name was Bill. So we started talking. No, check that. He started talking. First he talked about his job in sales and how well that was going and how he was pretty much rolling in dough.

No matter how well it's going, the Blast just can't escape the grip of the Detroit Ignition. In a game of furious offensive tempo, the Ignition ended the Blast's regular season on a sour note last night in a 22-21 thriller before an announced 6,713 at 1st Mariner Arena. Ironmen@Blast MISL quarterfinals, Game 1, Thursday, 7:05 p.m. 680 AM

Shine a Light has two maestros, Martin Scorsese and Mick Jagger, and once they begin to mesh, around the third or fourth song, they put on a display of showmanship that erases the line between art and entertainment. The great rock and roll bands of the 1960s and 1970s did so much to define popular culture and youth culture that pundits and critics tend to burden the few survivors with unfair questions. Have they reinvented themselves? Can they embody rebellion and effrontery as middle-aged or old men?

PLYMOUTH, Mich. -- With little else he could do at the time, goalkeeper Dave Kern dropped to his knees in frustration late in the Blast's 19-8 loss to the Detroit Ignition last night. The Ignition's Ryan Mack had just scored his second goal of the game to make it 17-8 with 9:11 left, and the home crowd roared its approval. Kixx@Blast March 7, 7:35 p.m., Fox Soccer Channel, 680 AM