O Clock

The T-shirt arrives in the mail, and what makes it so weird -- so, as we used to say, far out -- is that it comes via the sales division of the Nixon library, which nobody wanted to build in the first place because, well, it was the Nixon library. Anyway, the shirt has this picture of Tricky Dick himself, posing with his thumb up, and says, "Nixon in '96. Tan, Rested & Ready!"Swear to God.Yes, barely dead, Nixon's already back. There's a hit off-Broadway Nixon play. There was the made-for-TV Nixon-Kissinger feature.

Facing a midnight deadline to sign last year's first-round draft pick, Adam Loewen, the Orioles' front office spent Memorial Day cloistered in the B&O warehouse, hoping beyond hope they could work out a deal with the 19-year-old pitcher. Then it happened. At about 11:55 p.m., the Orioles struck a major league deal with Loewen that will make him the new centerpiece of an organization trying desperately to rebuild. Loewen is a 6-foot-6 left-hander who went 6-1 this season with a 2.47 ERA at Chipola Junior College in Marianna, Fla. The Orioles made him the fourth overall pick in last year's draft but failed to sign him last summer and weren't allowed to negotiate with him again until his season ended on May 10. Had Loewen not signed by midnight, he would have gone back into the June 3 draft, and the Orioles would have received a supplemental-round pick (No. 37 overall)

Thankfully, the Orioles will never know. Ben McDonald disappeared into the visitors' third base dugout after six innings last night, taking with him a chance at history that will forever remain an open question.Exiled to Milwaukee, the former Oriole (8-6) held his ex-teammates hitless before a stiff right shoulder forced him from what ended as a 3-1 win for the Brewers and a not-so-subtle hint that he'd be willing to return to the organization that once made him a No. 1 draft pick. The Orioles tumbled to a fourth consecutive loss with only three hits.

It used to be that the Maryland Film Festival was just a cool neighborhood event for Courtney Knipp - a bunch of obscure movies being shown just up the street from her home in Mount Vernon. Not anymore, not with thousands of film fans massing in and around the Charles Theatre , watching movies - 127 this year - - and comparing notes with hundreds of filmmakers from all over the world. This tiny corner of the Station North Arts District becomes the center of the film universe for one weekend every May. And that is so cool by Knipp.

"Only God and the sea know what happened to the great ship. " — President Woodrow Wilson The last anyone heard of the Cyclops as it steamed in a voyage that began in Bahia, Brazil, on Feb. 22, 1918, en route to Baltimore with 10,000 tons of manganese ore in its bunkers, was in a telegram to the West Indian Steamship Co. in New York City. "Advise charterers USS CYCLOPS arrived Barbadoes Three March for bunkers. Expect to arrive Baltimore Thirteen March. Opnav.

Throwing from the field by the clock: * Start with the ball in your hand at 9 o' clock. * Drop the throwing hand to 6 o'clock. * Raise it up and back to 12 o'clock, your upper arm parallel to the ground and forearm pointing upward at 90 degrees. * Step and throw forward, releasing the ball at 3 o' clock. * Follow through, your hand moving at your target.

Dani Mazzilli is talking on the phone and the melodic b-l-i-i-n-n-g-g in the background betrays the fact that she is also online, instant-messaging someone else. Suddenly, her cell phone rings, adding to the chorus, and she interrupts two conversations to begin a third with one of her three teen-aged children. Yes, she will bring the equipment bag to school that the child left at home that morning. She will be at school anyway, she says, working on the '70s dance. "Now where were we?"

"B.J., what are you doing?" Polly Surhoff calls from a seat in the shade by their backyard swimming pool. It's not a question. What Polly is really saying is, "B.J., please don't do anything that might require a trip to the emergency room." The Orioles' elder-statesman outfielder has been standing on the diving board, letting daughters Kendall and Jordan -- ages 10 and 8, respectively -- jump off his shoulders, the ones he uses to make a living by batting and throwing a baseball. Now he has 12-year-old Mason by the arm, trying to coax him into the water.

The woods along Poplar Hill Road in Cockeysville are lovely, dark and deep, the workshop of poets and painters.Days pass in eerie stillness just three miles from bustling York Road. At night, startled deer vanish into the black labyrinth of trees, when couples stop to park and kiss.Detective Ken Ziegler doesn't like the area. It gives him the creeps."It feels real cold and impersonal up here," says Ziegler, his eyes riveted on the woods. "I really love the outdoors. And I like to walk in the woods.

The three major TV networks planned live coverage of the Senate vote at 6 o'clock tonight on Clarence Thomas.The Senate was scheduled to begin debate at 10:30 a.m. NBC planned live coverage throughout the day. CBS and ABC said they would broadcast portions of the debate.