Panic

Don't panic. That's what Wall Street is telling Main Street. Those same guys who are photographed almost daily with their faces buried in their hands - there is even an Internet photo gallery called "The Brokers With Hands on Their Faces Blog" - are telling us not to panic. So, I have been wondering. What does "don't panic" mean? If we shouldn't panic when the Dow drops 600 points in a single day, when, exactly, should we panic? When it drops 400 points the next day?

Is the American body politic suffering from an autoimmune disease? The "hygiene hypothesis" is the scientific theory that the rise in asthma and other autoimmune maladies stems from the fact that babies are born into environments that are too clean. Our immune systems need to be properly educated by being exposed early to germs, dirt, whatever. When you consider that for most of human evolutionary history, we were born under shady trees or, if we were lucky, in caves or huts, you can understand how unnatural Lysol-soaked hospitals and microbially baby-proofed homes are. The point is that growing up in a sanitary environment might cause our immune systems to freak out about things that under normal circumstances we'd just shrug off. Hence, goes the theory, the explosion in asthma rates in the industrialized world, the rise in peanut and wheat allergies and, quite possibly, the spike in autism rates.

The Orioles have won seven of their last 10 games and still hold onto the first American League wild-card berth, so why does it suddenly feel like they are stumbling around in the dark as they enter the final week of the regular season? Well, maybe because they have lost three of their last four and not looked particularly good doing it. Last night's 4-0 loss to the supposedly uninspired Toronto Blue Jays featured an offensive performance so anxious and inept that it left room to speculate that the young hitters are starting to see the finish line and want to get there too quick.

Maybe you think Ozzie Newsome has lost his mind this time. Now it's hard-hitting Bernard Pollard who's been shown the door by the Ravens' general manager, joining the mini-parade of Anquan Boldin, Paul Kruger and Dannell Ellerbe as salary-cap casualties. I know, I know . . . since the start of free agency, it's felt like "Ozzie Gone Wild" over at the Castle as the re-making of the Super Bowl champions gets underway. But Ravens fans need to chill. Before the mass freak-out gets out of control, let's remember that it's still early in free agency.

IN THE wake of Tuesday's terrorist attacks, some suggestions: Don't panic and dump your stocks and mutual funds; our great companies will be around for a long time. Continue contributing to 401(k), 403(b) and other retirement plans; they provide tax-deferred income in any market. Don't blindly follow the crowd; the crowd is often wrong. MONEY MATES: How should engaged couples and newlyweds manage their money? Black Enterprise, October, suggests: "Before saying `I do,' every couple should count the costs of marriage.

MEXICO CITY -- At least 42 people died and 30 were injured yesterday as panic overtook Ash Wednesday worshipers at a crowded Roman Catholic church 30 miles southwest of here, the Red Cross reported.Nicanor Mercado Velazquez, a radio dispatcher for the Red Cross, said that the death toll could go has high as 50 or 60.A spokesman for the state of Mexico said the tragedy occurred as thousands of worshipers attempted to push their way into the church in Chalma, crushing the victims in their haste.

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia -- Milan Panic, the Serbian-born American millionaire invited here to take over as prime minister this year, has decided to run against the man who had brought him home to shore up his own image, Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic, and Mr. Milosevic's ruling ex-communist Socialist Party.Mr. Panic said his program of reconciliation and economic recovery has been undermined by Mr. Milosevic's "obstructionist policies.""I'm convinced that we will succeed only if Slobodan Milosevic is replaced," Mr. Panic said .The only other candidate for the Serbian presidency, Vuk Draskovic, leader of the largest opposition party, announced later yesterday that he would bow out of the Dec. 20 contest and throw his support behind Mr. Panic.

"Crises like these are buying opportunities, but they don't come the moment trading reopens," says Tom McClellan's Market Report. "Sellers have to exhaust their panic while buyers build enough courage to come back in. We've reached the bottom of this sell-off, and we'll have a strong rally," the industry newsletter adds. "Decisions made under panic conditions are usually regretted," says Wright Investors' Service. "We will now become more conservative. This is not the time to panic, but to judge quietly as facts are known."

Do you panic in a bad market, and dump your blue-chip stocks? Not so fast. Business Week says, "Keep a cool head in a bear market. Here's why you shouldn't panic: "Smart-money players are waiting to scoop up your shares at a bargain price. Don't fall into that trap. "Markets often snap back within several weeks after a sharp sell-off. If you panic you may wind up rebuying your stock at a higher price. "If you sell at a gain you'll pay taxes -- money that could otherwise earn more money in the future.

RECENT comments about your investments: "The greatest risk following the terrorist attacks is panic," says Deborah Allen, corporate consultant. "Panic could trigger wholesale dumping of stocks and mutual funds, causing investors to sell near the bottom and possibly miss the upcoming Wall Street recovery." "Ninety percent of today's investors entered the market after 1990. Until recently they've never seen a market go anywhere but up. Now they've learned that bear markets are natural parts of the investment cycle."

Salisbury's 7-6 double-overtime loss to Washington & Lee Wednesday might raise the panic meter surrounding the 10-time national champion, which is 1-2 for the first time and under .500 for the first time since 1989. But coach Jim Berkman said that the Sea Gulls' two-game losing streak is just a minor hiccup for the program. “There are 17 games in the lacrosse season. We just played three, and we've lost two games by a goal - one in double overtime. I don't panic,” Berkman said Thursday morning.

When almost everyone else thought the team was coming apart, Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome thought his team was coming together. It's hard to see a turnaround when a team fires its offensive coordinator during a losing streak late in the season, but Newsome didn't blink after the 34-17 loss to Denver on Dec. 16th, the team's third straight. "I think there were two turning points in the season," Newsome said. "In the Denver game, we were just starting to get healthy again for the first time.

No matter how the Ravens spin this one, the firing of offensive coordinator Cam Cameron with just three games left in the regular season smacks of panic. Panic and desperation. There's no other way to read it. We'll probably never know for sure exactly what got Cameron fired in his fifth season running the Ravens' offense. But we can guess at some of the factors. The inconsistency of the offense is obviously the main factor, especially after two dismal losses in a row to the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Washington Redskins.

It's late November and all is relatively quiet on the Orioles front, which has got to be frustrating for a still-wary fan base that has watched the Toronto Blue Jays undergo a startling competitive transformation over the past few weeks and knows that the checkbooks will be coming out in New York and Boston any minute now. There's no need for alarm, at least not yet. This is pretty much standard operating procedure for baseball operations chief...

Random thoughts as the Orioles go into tonight's game against the Rays with their backs against the wall, one game behind the Yankees for the AL East crown with two to go: ** Was that a great scene in the O's dugout last night after Chris Davis hit that two-run shot in the ninth off Ray's reliever Kylle Farnsworth, the one that hit the Tropicana Field catwalk? Davis himself had no idea what happened, that much was clear. When the ball smacked what's called the C-ring of the roof's catwalk, he practically stopped in his tracks around second base, wondering why the ball had suddenly landed 100 feet or so in front of the outfield wall.

The Orioles have won seven of their last 10 games and still hold onto the first American League wild-card berth, so why does it suddenly feel like they are stumbling around in the dark as they enter the final week of the regular season? Well, maybe because they have lost three of their last four and not looked particularly good doing it. Last night's 4-0 loss to the supposedly uninspired Toronto Blue Jays featured an offensive performance so anxious and inept that it left room to speculate that the young hitters are starting to see the finish line and want to get there too quick.

BELGRADE -- Yugoslav Prime Minister Milan Panic yesterday narrowly survived a parliamentary attempt to oust him from power.The upper house of the Yugoslav Parliament blocked a no-confidence vote engineered against the Serbia-born U.S. millionaire by Serbian hard-line president Slobodan Milosevic.The narrow 18-17 vote was just enough to overturn an overwhelming vote Monday night in the lower house, where Mr. Panic was denounced as a stooge of Washington selling out Serbisn interests in his efforts to end the Balkans conflict.

BELGRADE -- "The ad is great -- keep that mouth on, keep it talking, it's fantastic." American voices shout back and forth on the seventh floor of Belgrade's swank Hyatt hotel. Presidential election campaign '92 is on.The American millionaire who is challenging Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic has brought a team from the United States to produce a U.S.-style election campaign. Serbian-born businessman Milan Panic is determined to end the Bosnia war and bring democracy American style.His campaign headquarters in Belgrade's only international class hotel is a surreal oasis in the midst of nationalistic Balkan chaos and encroaching civil war. The team has produced a slick and sophisticated television ad to put across Mr. Panic's "message for change."

Much to the chagrin of my boss, I recently posted about my lack of  organizational skills. After posting, I walked home considering what baked good I might whip up to help him forget about my admission, and while Rolodexing my favorite food websites in my head, a thought burst through my brain clouds: If I can steal recipes from the Internet, why can't I steal some organization? I asked Google for wedding excel spreadsheets, and spent twenty minutes scrolling through hundreds of hits.

After watching another TV reporter broadcasting from the great outdoors during the latest "blast of snow" we recently experienced, I think it's time we viewers said enough is enough. I realize that local weather is the life's blood of our local news stations. After all, if it wasn't for numerous forecasts, warmed over national news, and the latest "Sky Team" view of the nightly traffic accident, the local news hour would barely exist. But that doesn't excuse the constant gross exaggeration, screen crawls and teasers suggesting the need to "stay tuned" to hear about the approaching Armageddon - which frequently amounts to a snow shower somewhere in Cumberland.