Ireland

MICHAEL D. GOLDEN, managing director of communications for Maryland Public Television, lives in Millersville with his wife, Lisa, and three children. The 52-year-old Glen Burnie native also has a son in Texas. 1 A reservation with ZERO-G, which conducts weightless flights on its Boeing 727-200 "Since it doesn't appear that I'll be chosen soon for any of the remaining space shuttle missions, this is about as close as I'll get to experiencing weightlessness. What a rush!" 2 A pilot's license "I want to be able to experience the exhilaration of flight anytime I choose.

The jet carrying the Texas women's team got stuck in the mud when the plane rolled off the taxiway in Lincoln, Neb. No injuries or damage were reported. The No. 15-ranked team was on a charter flight from Austin on Tuesday night and played Nebraska in Lincoln last night. Team spokeswoman Barb Kowal was aboard and told the Lincoln Journal Star nobody panicked when the jet rolled off the pavement. "Most people were sleeping," Kowal said. There were 31 passengers and seven crew members on the Boeing 737, according to operator Ameristar Jet Charter of Dallas.

State fiscal analysts estimated that trips by Gov. Martin O'Malley to Ireland last year might have cost taxpayers as much as $17,000, but Warren G. Deschenaux, director of policy analysis for the Department of Legislative Services, said his office is still working on a final accounting of expenses. Howard County Republican Sen. Allan H. Kittleman requested the report on state money spent during the trips.

A business deal between two well-known adult entertainment entrepreneurs could bring a sprawling new club to Baltimore's Block, according to documents filed with the city's Zoning Appeals Board, which is set to review the proposal tomorrow. Peter Ireland, the owner of Norma Jeans, and Jack Gresser, a longtime Block landlord and businessman, have submitted paperwork with the city to expand Norma Jeans to two neighboring bars, the Glass Slipper and Mousetrap. Gresser owns the building where the bars are located, according to state records, and he wants the Glass Slipper and Mousetrap out by September 2008.

DUBLIN, IRELAND Those plump little cherubs smiling rapturously from the depths of dark baroque paintings have reason to be happy, I thought as I listened to tour guide Niall Stewart expound on "the angels' share," a term used to describe the amount of Irish whiskey that evaporates daily while aging in casks. "No one knows what the angels actually do with their share," said Stewart, as we began our tour of the Old Jameson Distillery here. "But we do know 6,000 bottles of Jameson are lost a day floating in the air."

Kristina M. Johnson is provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at the Johns Hopkins University. Johnson received her doctorate in electrical engineering at Stanford University and has served in a number of academic and administrative positions at Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland; the University of Edinburgh, Scotland; the University of Colorado and Duke University. Johnson found these books personally appealing for a variety of reasons: "The Great Hunger in Ireland" / by Cecil Blanche Fitzgerald Woodham-Smith / Penguin Group / $17 I read this as part of an Anglo-Irish course booklist I read while teaching at Trinity College, Dublin.

I'm never going to use my frequent-flier miles because of the hassles of getting a seat when I want it. Can I sell them? You can, although doing so will violate the rules of major airlines -- rules that you agree to when you join their programs. So we don't recommend doing this. If your carrier discovers you have sold miles, it can cancel your membership and any remaining miles you have in your account. How it works: When you sell miles, you go through a so-called coupon broker (you can find them on the Internet)

Annapolis : State House Pipkin letter chides O'Malley on travel State Sen. E.J. Pipkin, an Eastern Shore Republican, sent a letter to Gov. Martin O'Malley last week, questioning his trip to Ireland in the midst of the state's budget crisis and suggesting he check out that country's tax structure. O'Malley, who has called a special session of the General Assembly for Oct. 29, went on a trip paid for by the Dublin Chamber of Commerce. He planned to attend an event at the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland with Dr. Robert C. Gallo, director of the Institute of Human Virology and Division of Basic Science at the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute.

DAN KEATING, 105 Last veteran of 1919 Irish war Dan Keating, an IRA member and the last surviving veteran of Ireland's 1919-21 war of independence from Britain, has died, his nursing home and political party said. He was 105. Mr. Keating, who died Tuesday, joined the 1st Kerry Brigade of the Irish Republican Army in 1920 and, as a rifleman, took part in two major 1921 ambushes that left at least five police officers, four British soldiers and five IRA members dead. He joined the IRA faction that opposed the 1921 peace treaty with Britain, and fought against former IRA colleagues in Ireland's 1922-23 civil war. He was eventually captured by Irish Free State forces.

Ernest V. Day, a retired banker and former longtime Eldersburg resident, died Saturday of kidney failure at Oak Crest Village in Parkville. He was 82. Mr. Day was born in Memphis, Tenn., and was an infant when he moved to East Baltimore with his family. He attended City College and in the early days of World War II, dropped out to take a job at the old Glenn L. Martin Co. plant in Middle River. He enlisted in the Army and served in the European theater, where he attained the rank of sergeant.