Machines

Amit Evron looked down at his creation yesterday with admiration. There was his robot, M&M, fulfilling his classroom assignment by designing works of art. Competing against eight other robots, M&M won top honors, the People's Choice Award, with its multicolored spiral designs splashed across white poster boards. "I don't think I could do that," the Johns Hopkins University senior said of the efforts of the robot, which he created with partner Alican Demir. Perhaps he can't. But Evron and Demir created something that could, merging academic areas that are often considered opposites: art and science.

The throbbing metal-cutting machines fill the cavernous factory in Glen Arm where Grumman Corp. makes airplane parts.Some of the 200 workers man the huge machines, while others use small power hand tools to do finishing work. Bill Emge makes white sparks fly as he polishes a titanium bulkhead for a Navy F-14 fighter that will be completed at a plant in Calverton, N.Y.Emge has worked at the northern Baltimore County plant four years, making him a "kind of newcomer," jokes plant director Paul F. Causey.

The Columbia Athletic Club hosted a public showing Saturday of 28 new, electricity generating stationary bicycles. The machines, installed in November, were then modified by Green Revolution, a company that specializes in installing generators on bikes and hooking them to an inverter, which allows energy to flow back into the grid. Company representative Mike Curnyn says that over the course of a year, a standard installation of 20 generators, used 20 times per week, could potentially generate 3600 kWh – enough to light 72 homes for a month.

Despite warnings from three computer experts -- including two hired by the state -- about widespread security vulnerabilities in a new electronic voting system, Maryland's top elections administrator said yesterday that she sees no reason for concern about proceeding with the planned statewide use of voting machines. Linda H. Lamone testified in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court that some of the experts' recommendations are unworkable, unnecessary and illegal. A voters group is trying to force Lamone's elections department to implement recommended security fixes before the November election.

The future of voting in Maryland is stored in warehouses across the state, including one in Glen Burnie, formerly Anne Arundel County's animal shelter, where new touch-screen machines inside small hardtop suitcases are stacked in bays where dogs and cats used to live. Even before the machines have been turned on, though, they are at the center of a growing chorus of criticism about whether the results they will provide in the March presidential primary, and beyond, can be trusted. While election officials say they are happy with the new system, critics worry that hackers might be able to rig the machines to record votes differently from how they were cast, and that there is no mechanism to detect that.

The quarter goes in, and then the magic begins. Lights flash, bells ring, balls roll, flippers flip. David Silverman is in pinball heaven. And he barely had to walk out his back door. For some 25 years, Silverman has been buying arcade pinball machines, those gaudily colored, delightfully cacophonic games of skill that involve a steel ball, a bunch of rubber bumpers amid a sea of flashing lights and a pair of electronic flippers that serve as the only thing between million-point success and hole-in-the-floor oblivion.

A deal that sounded too good to be true may end up being just that for some 3,000 people in the Baltimore-Washington area.In an attempt to get people to use its service, Docunet Inc. offered a $25 or $50 rebate on airline tickets secured through its machines at Giant Food stores in late November and December.Rick Malmgren of Severn thought the offer looked great, so he used Docunet to get tickets to Las Vegas in late March. Then he mailed a form to get his $50 back. He got $25, but is still waiting for the remainder.

VICTORIA L. SCHADE just paid $9,750 to find out that she undeniably lost her seat in the Maryland House of Delegates to Democrat Mary Rosso in the 31st Legislative District last month. Ms. Schade did learn one fact for her money: She lost not by 18 votes, as originally believed, but by 6. The recount did not change the outcome, but it was instructive nonetheless.We like to think that voting machines make election tallies less subject to error, but the recount demonstrates that machines, like humans, are capable of mistakes.

CUMBERLAND -- Slot machine gambling is against the law in most parts of Maryland, but you would never know it here.Throughout Allegany County, bars, restaurants and fraternal clubs feature video poker machines that produce cash payouts for lucky players. The machines bear signs "For Amusement Only," but everyone knows that winners can collect their money -- anywhere from $10 to $300 or more -- at the bar.Such illegal electronic gambling is not unique to the county and can be found in many spots across the state.

Jim Austin wanted something sporty, something that would turn heads and handle his speed-demon demands. After months of study and deliberation, Austin, 43, became the proud owner of a Voodoo Egad, an intimidating machine with a window displaying its Ferrari-red interior and neon lighting. Friends visit his Wylie, Texas, home just to gawk at the $5,500 computer system. "There's nothing wrong with having a high-end Dell or a high-end Gateway, but nobody's going to come over to your house and want to see it," Austin said.