Invaders

In Kenneth Clark's Civilization, he describes the early invaders of the Roman Empire as "there for what they could get out of it, taking part in the administration if it paid them, contemptuous of the traditional culture, except insofar as it provided precious metals." The next wave of invaders didn't "destroy the great buildings that were scattered all over the Roman world. But the idea of keeping them up never entered their heads. ... They preferred to live in pre-fabs and let the old places fall down.

I am compelled to respond to George Fenwick's commentary ("The destructive invasive species purring on your lap," Feb. 26). He cites recent studies suggesting very high bird and mammal deaths due to outdoor cats. He then goes on to propose a Draconian solution that could accurately be described as a cat witch hunt. I do acknowledge the problem, particularly with feral cats (free-roaming, unowned). But Dr. Fenwick's attempt to demonize cats by use of terms like "invasive species," "invaders," "introduced predator," and "slaughter" invests his thesis with a hysteria usually reserved for al-Qaida sightings.

The celebration in Canton was short-lived, thanks to a chronic loser's awakening in Chicago.On their 12th try, the Canton Invaders became the first team in the National Professional Soccer League's 12-year history to win 300 games. With Marcelo Carrera scoring 10 points, including the game-winning goal, the Invaders defeated the Harrisburg Heat on Saturday.Canton won five of the first six NPSL championships but missed the playoffs the past three seasons and had dropped 11 straight games this year entering the Harrisburg game.

Ahoy dear readers, ye swash bucklers and mates, Pirates have invaded Havre de Grace and encamped at the Susquehanna Museum at the Lock House, this weekend, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Discover where the first act of piracy occurred in 1635 in Maryland, by visiting the pirate encampment, complete with cannon fire skirmishes, period clothing and demonstrations. Children's activities, guided tours and musical entertainment by "Scales and Crosstones" are also included. Admission is $3; kids under 12 are free.

CANTON, Ohio -- No matter how hard the Canton Invaders tried, the Baltimore Spirit wasn't about to let them back into their National Professional Soccer League game yesterday.Baltimore held on, despite being outscored 12-6 in the fourth quarter, for a 22-21 win over the Invaders.Kevin Sloan sealed the Spirit's second win of the season over the Invaders with a back post shot that sailed over the head of Canton sixth attacker Doug Swanson at 13:19.Carlos Ledesma hit an unassisted three-point goal 14 seconds later to pull Canton within one, but the Baltimore defense held for the final minute.

CANTON, Ohio -- Spirit head coach Kenny Cooper says you have to steal games when you play on the road.Defender Mark Lugris helped the Canton Invaders steal a win from the visiting Spirit last night.Lugris' goal with five minutes left in the game lifted the Invaders to a 17-16 victory over the Spirit before 1,379 fans at Canton Memorial Civic Center.The loss was Baltimore's first in eight games against Canton. The Spirit's six-game winning streak also came to an end.Lugris' game-winner, off an assist from defender Doug Swanson, came 1:03 after defender Mike Stankovic scored his second goal of the game to give the Spirit a 16-15 lead.

Forget the fact it's the hapless Columbus Invaders out there. Avoid complacency. Concentrate on simply playing well.That was Spirit player-coach Mike Stankovic's message to the ++ team before last night's game against the Invaders, one of the National Professional Soccer League's two worst teams."

Barry Stitz's game-tying goal midway through the third quarter typified the Baltimore Spirit's game against the Canton Invaders yesterday.Neither his goal nor the game was pretty, but the end result was positive, as the Spirit overcame a sluggish first half to defeat the Invaders, 9-6, before 5,195 at the Baltimore Arena.With the victory, the Spirit (21-7) increased its lead to three games over the second-place Buffalo Blizzard in the National Professional Soccer League's American Division, and reduced its magic number to four to clinch a playoff berth.

CANTON, Ohio -- The smoke from the halftime fireworks show didn't clear from the Memorial Civic Center last night.And the haze from a nine-point, second-quarter scoring flurry by Baltimore apparently didn't clear from the minds of the Invaders as the Spirit won, 17-15.Canton came back from a 17-12 deficit in the fourth period on an unassisted two-point goal by Carlos Ledesma.With less than five minutes left in the game, former Invaders player and now Baltimore midfielder Clark Brisson was penalized for boarding, which set up a power play for Canton.

President Clinton is running out of options to deal with the Haitian crisis. Either he invades, with all the risks involved, or he lifts the stringent sanctions that have wiped out jobs in Haiti, isolated the country from the rest of the world and caused the stampede out of the Caribbean island nation.If President Clinton takes the plunge into Haiti, what should he expect? Undoubtedly, the United States would quickly win. The 7,500-man Haitian army/police is no match for U.S. Marines.But in addition to fighting the Haitian military, who have started shedding their uniforms, the invaders will have to contend with ,, approximately 50,000 armed civilians throughout the country who have been trained by Haitians who either fought in the Vietnam War or who otherwise served in the U.S. armed services.

News Roundup •••• CNN published an extensive and interesting piece about the genre of game commentary videos and its most popular producer, “SeaNanners.” I suppose it depends on the game, but it seems this whole “video games as a spectator sport” thing is gaining some traction. We did it, America. [ CNN ] •••• Domain registration clues have lead folks to discern that box office smash “The Avengers” will get a console tie-in game called “Battle for Earth.” With summer blockbuster tie-ins having a dodgy track record, let's hope this is more than just a platform-style runthrough of the film.

News Roundup   •••• A trio of geniuses made an art installation that uses real-time traffic data to populate a “Frogger” arcade game. While obviously smacking of a classic “Seinfeld” episode , “5th Ave. Frogger” is a great exercise in “reverse gamification” (a term we possibly just invented). [ The Verge ] •••• ”Marvel's The Avengers” kicks off summer movie season next weekend, and predictably there are going to be multiple video game tie-in titles.

After two letters in attempt to justify himself and the invasion of Iraq ("Iraq's chemical weapons stocks were well documented," Dec. 28, and "Did Saddam have WMDs before the U.S. invasion in 2003?" Jan. 2) I still can't figure out what Michael DeCicco is trying to say in regard to the astonishingly stupid decision to go to invade Iraq in 2003. Clearly American citizens were in no danger from Saddam's stockpiles of chemical weapons even if they had ever been found or used on U.S. soldiers (which they weren't)

A home intruder died Tuesday afternoon in Edgewood after a struggle with a resident, police said. Joseph Augustine Breckenridge, 53, entered a home in the 2000 block of Rockwell St. — his own block — around 4:40 p.m., according to a statement by the Harford County Sheriff's Office. A woman in the residence ran to get her husband, who was visiting a neighbor, police said. The couple returned to the home with the neighbor and found Breckenridge still in the house. Breckenridge refused to leave and a struggle ensued, police said.

Ramblewood in Darlington has hosted a broad variety of events over the years, ranging from marching band camps to nudist conventions. The latest booking, however, may be the most unusual yet for the secluded 200-acre facility near the Conowingo Dam. This one, scheduled for Oct. 22, is a 5K race in which faux-zombies chase the participants over and around a dozen obstacles. And the inaugural event is being organized by a local company, Reed Street Productions LLC, started specifically to put on this race.

From The Aegis June 19, 1986: Harford residents who had never heard of thrip certainly did this week in Harford County 25 years ago. The small, tan insect was invading the county, from Aberdeen Proving Ground to Bel Air, by the tens of thousands. The bugs were being found on lawn furniture, clothes hung outside, swimming pools and even on people. The bugs, which were only 1/16 of an inch, would sting people when they landed on them, though the creatures preferred eating juices from leaves or grasses.

There is a certain stability in Kuwait. Whether Iraqi invaders or the royal family runs the place, the standard of justice stays the same.

Opponent: Canton InvadersSite: Canton Civic CenterTime: 2:05Radio: WWLG (1360 AM), WAMD (970 AM)Outlook: The Spirit and the Invaders have split two games this season. Canton is last in the National Professional Soccer League's American Division and last in the league in home attendance with a 1,845 per-game average. The Invaders' leading scorer is Marcelo Carrera. In the space of 48 hours last week, the Invaders were shut out by the Cleveland Crunch and winners with a team-record 34 points over the Chicago Power.

The banishment of U.S. players from the major online poker rooms has affected millions of Americans. With the exception of a few jurisdictions, such as Washington state, it is not illegal for Americans to play online poker. Instead, the Department of Justice contends that according to a bizarre 2006 law, it is illegal for financial institutions to transfer funds between U.S. residents and the foreign companies that offer online poker. In order to prove the obvious, that money was indeed exchanging hands, Homeland Security set up a phony payment processing company in Baltimore to facilitate these transactions so that it could indict the executives of the online poker companies and seize their funds.

A week and a half before the United States launched a war -- or whatever euphemism the administration is currently using while dropping bombs -- against Libya, General David Petraeus and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates joked around about invading the country. The administration is adamant in saying the bombing isn't a war, while the military is joking around about invasions. I guess not everyone is getting the talking points memos.