Mini

MOSCOW -- Two Russian mini-submarines returned to the surface at the North Pole yesterday after diving to the sea bottom to plant a flag and collect geological samples. "It was so lovely down there," Artur Chilingarov, a prominent polar explorer who descended in the first mini-sub, told Russian news media after the dive. "If a hundred or a thousand years from now, someone goes down to where we were, they will see the Russian flag," he said, according to the Russian news agency Itar-Tass.

The Carroll County Planning and Zoning Commission will continue its review of the draft of the Freedom Area Mini Plan at 6: 30 p.m. today in the Liberty High School choir room.Topics to be discussed include public facilities, community character, environmental resources, economic development and citizen participation.The public is welcome to attend the meeting. The school is on Bartholow Road in Eldersburg.Information: 410-386-2145.FireGamber: Firefighters responded at 2: 31 a.m. yesterday to an auto fire on Bartholow Road at Cherry Tree Lane.

THIS JUST IN reader Paula Gallagher gives two thumbs-up to AXIS Theater's production of "Angels In America," despite a downright satanic effort by someone in the audience to ruin her evening. She apparently sat next to the theater patron from hell. According to Gallagher, this fellow:1. Arrived five minutes into the opening monologue.2. Slurped loudly from a bottle of juice.3. Made himself a cocktail by cracking open a small bottle -- apparently, a package store "mini" -- and pouring its contents into the juice.

World of WheelsFor three days, you'll be able to admire the extremes of customizing, trick trucks, street rods, muscle cars and classics at the 18th Annual Ocean City World of Wheels, Friday through Sunday at the Convention Center.Featured will be the "Long Ranger," the longest Ford Ranger pickup truck in the country, and "American Graffiti," a 1951 Mercury. Kids will enjoy Toy-A-Rama, a mini-car display showcasing a junior dragster, custom mini-Corvette and go-karts.You'll also be able to cheer on model-car builders in the "Fast Dreams Model Car Building Contest.

Best-selling author Tom Clancy met the press in Los Angeles yesterday to promote his first made-for-TV effort, "Tom Clancy's Op-Center," which will air on NBC Feb. 26 and 27.But many members of the television press corps left the session mainly confused as to who is the real author of the mini-series that bears Clancy's name.NBC gave critics a paperback book bearing the title "Tom Clancy's Op-Center." But underneath the title it says, "created by Tom Clancy and Steve Pieczenik."Created by?

Sidney Poitier deserves better than "Children of the Dust."The four-hour, two-night mini-series, which begins at 9 tomorrow night on WJZ (Channel 13), isn't the worst mini-series of the season. In fact, it has patches of splendid acting and moments of great emotional intensity.Furthermore, it reminds viewers that America had a race problem long before slavery, and, like it or not, we've been a multi-cultural society since the first European stumbled onto land.But "Children of the Dust" is so calculated that ultimately it feels like one of those old movie serials -- the ones that flash "to be continued" across the screen just as the cowboy hero is about to leap across a gorge on horseback to escape a herd of charging buffalo or a gang of no-good varmints.

Toyota to build mini-van in U.S.The Toyota Motor Corp. reportedly has decided to build a front-wheel-drive replacement for its Previa mini-van at its Georgetown, Ky., assembly plant starting in 1997.Production of the mini-van in Kentucky would allow Toyota to reduce reliance on imported vehicles; the company hopes that will soothe trade tensions and shift more of its cost basis to dollars, from yen. The Previa is imported from Japan.Toyota plans to build roughly 70,000 mini-vans annually, a small number compared with the production of the American Big Three, which sold nearly 950,000 mini-vans last year.

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- In a stark departure from the purple praise that usually accompanies the announcement of a new vehicle, the Chrysler Corp. said yesterday that it would build a mini-van that customers would surely spurn.The vehicle is an electric version of Chrysler's next-generation mini-vans. The No. 3 automaker said it would build the vehicle to comply with a California law requiring that in 1998, 2 percent of the vehicles offered there by major automakers emit no pollution.While Chrysler executives called their mini-van "state of the art" for electric vehicles, they declared that the art was miserable.

A man who held his hand inside his jacket as though he had a gun robbed a Laurel store Saturday night of an undisclosed amount of cash, county police said yesterday.The man walked into the Quick Start Mini Mart in the 3400 block of Fort Meade Road about 9:30 p.m., announced a holdup and demanded money from the clerk.The clerk gave him the money and the man told her he would kill her if she pushed any alarm or called police.He ran from the store in an unknown direction, police said.Western District officers using a K-9 dog searched the area unsuccessfully for the suspect, police said.

The best strategy off the tee was a short hop onto the fairway. This set up a long drive to the left, between the mahogany-lined mini-bar and black leather couch.With a little luck, a simple chip shot from there got you over the marble-topped Camden Club coffee table and onto the green, located in the middle of the owner's box at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Too strong a swing invited disaster: the ball could soar over the railing and onto home plate.And that was only the first hole of the 18-hole indoor golf tournament, the fifth annual such event for the Maryland Chapter of the Leukemia Society of America.

Baltimore County's busiest library will become its smallest this week as the Cockeysville branch undergoes a $2.2 million renovation that will add space, materials and equipment. The library, in a 23,000-square-foot building on Greenside Drive since 1982, will close Monday through Friday and reopen as a mini-branch Saturday in what had been its meeting room. The condensed space will offer basic services, allowing patrons to borrow, return and reserve items. Eight computer stations will be available, and patrons will have use of two self-serve check-outs.

Delphi steering division cutting nearly 800 jobs BUENA VISTA TOWNSHIP, Mich.: Nearly 800 jobs are being eliminated at the steering division of Delphi Corp. near Saginaw, Mich. The cuts announced yesterday are hitting 425 hourly workers and 350 employees who are on salary at the Delphi complex in Buena Vista Township. They will kick in March 1. "We've anticipated this for some time," said Mike Hanley, president of United Auto Workers Local 699. Delphi has had temporary furloughs since the start of the year, he told The Saginaw News.

Because of Magic Johnson, my all-time favorite athlete, my basketball allegiances have always been simple: Lakers purple and gold. This made for an uncomfortable partnership after Magic retired. Cheering for Anthony Peeler, Cedric Ceballos and Nick Van Exel during the lean years was not particularly uplifting and required a lot of feigned enthusiasm with little or no payoff. But when Kobe Bryant arrived, I felt like I had finally found a Laker I could embrace again. We were similar in age, we were both hungry to prove ourselves, and I loved Kobe's mini-afro and the ice water in his veins.

What's fashionable, as cool as an iPhone but just a tad bigger? In this case, an impossibly tiny vehicle called the Smart Fortwo that isn't even for sale in the United States until January, but its manufacturer says its limited production is sold out through much of 2008. A bubble-shaped two-seater, at 106 inches the Smart is more than three feet shorter than a Mini Cooper, and less than half the length of a Chevrolet Suburban. The Fortwo, following in the tracks of automotive icons such as the Toyota Prius and Mazda Miata, has developed the kind of buzz marketers dream about, managing to squeeze into its pint-sized cockpit several sales-friendly attributes: It sips gas, it's inexpensive and it has loads of personality.

MOSCOW -- Two Russian mini-submarines returned to the surface at the North Pole yesterday after diving to the sea bottom to plant a flag and collect geological samples. "It was so lovely down there," Artur Chilingarov, a prominent polar explorer who descended in the first mini-sub, told Russian news media after the dive. "If a hundred or a thousand years from now, someone goes down to where we were, they will see the Russian flag," he said, according to the Russian news agency Itar-Tass.

Dim bulbs. We know them and work with them or around them. You know the ones I mean. The incandescent bulbs the size of a grain of rice found at the business end of Mini Maglites that cheapen the workhorse flashlights. Nite Ize (www.niteize.com) has come up with a simple $10 upgrade pack that lets you replace the standard bulb with a cluster of three LEDs. The result is not only a brighter light but one the manufacturer claims will burn four times longer. The company also makes $10 upgrades for Maglite's C- and D-cell flashlights.

Summer is now official. The calendar might not say so, but the weather's definitely warm enough, and that's what matters. To celebrate, my girlfriend, Amie, and I escaped the city Monday night for a round of mini-golf - the official sport of summer. We drove to Night Hawk Golf Center in Gambrills, which has batting cages, a driving range, arcade games, and, of course, mini-golf. Between the mini-golf and arcade games, an hour at Night Hawk was a fun, semi-lazy way to fill a weeknight.

NEW YORK // SuNae Martz is a 10-year-old jetsetter who's crisscrossed the globe more than once. The catch: SuNae is a dog -- a fluffy white coton de tulear, to be exact. SPAIN FROM A BACKPACK Pearson Venture Group / $15.95 There are guidebooks, and then there are stories. This series (other books in the series include Italy From a Backpack and Europe From a Backpack) offers first-person accounts from mostly twenty- to thirty-somethings about their experiences -- good and bad -- while living, working, studying or traveling in Spain.

Rum Shack With leafy trees, running water and other island decor, this hangout on top of the Lodge Bar in Power Plant Live is an escape from the crush of bar- and club-goers below. Where --34 Market Place, above the Lodge Bar in Power Plant Live Web site --rumshackbaltimore.com Notable --A waterfall flows down from the ceiling, and tiki torches help light the Caribbean-influenced surroundings. There's also a four-hole mini-golf course you can play for free inside the building. Vibe --On a recent Saturday night, the outside area was laid-back and comfortably full, but the indoor mini-golf course was empty, with a DJ spinning loud hip-hop from two to three years ago. Crowd --Generally more people in their 20s than 30s What to wear --Dress as if you're going out to a college bar: designer jeans, button-downs and the like.

Lecture series -- St. John's College will present poet and author David Whyte this week in the Francis Scott Key auditorium at 60 College Ave., Annapolis. He will lecture on "Beyond the Familiar: Living the Edges of Your Life" in four sessions - from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. Friday; from 10 a.m. to noon and 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday; and from 10 a.m. to noon Sunday. A mini-concert will be given 20 minutes before the start of each lecture. The cost is $55 per session or $199 for all four sessions.