Rods

While many of us were hunkered down post-Christmas, nursing our expanded brain pans, practicing writing "2005" and adjusting the horizontal hold on our football television, Ethan Sherkey and Adaline Fair were out fishing. Santa gave the kids new rods and a tackle box filled with circle hooks, weights and bobbers, and they weren't going to wait around until spring thaw to try them. The siblings begged their grandpa, Capt. Kevin Farrell, to take them fishing. The Dec. 28 outing was not the fishing debut for Farrell's grandchildren, who live in Newark, Del. Last fall, the kids got "My First Fish" certificates from the Department of Natural Resources after a successful outing with grandpa.

Local TV news ratings in Baltimore are rarely news. The market has been dominated for a long time by a back-and-forth battle between WJZ and WBAL. Since the mid-1990s, most years ended in some version of a split decision, with both stations claiming victory. It was all mind-numbingly predictable. Then, last week, came a set of Nielsen numbers for January showing WJZ (Channel 13) scoring a clean sweep over WBAL (Channel 11) - winning every competitive news time period. That defines dominance.

SEOUL, South Korea - With negotiations about its nuclear program expected to resume in weeks, North Korea said yesterday that it had completed reprocessing 8,000 spent nuclear fuel rods and was using the plutonium to make atomic bombs. But with an eye to a "red line" unofficially drawn by the Bush administration, a North Korean diplomat said in New York that his impoverished nation would not export its bombs or its bomb-making capacity to other countries. "We are in possession of nuclear deterrence and we're continuing to strengthen that deterrence," Choe Su Hon, North Korea's vice foreign minister, told reporters at North Korea's mission to the United Nations in New York, the New China News Agency reported.

Donna Hamilton will be joining Rod Daniels at the 11 p.m. anchor desk at WBAL-TV  (Channel 11) starting Super Bowl night, General Manager Dan Joerres confirmed Wednesday. Daniels has been anchoring the flagship broadcast solo since July when WBAL decided not to renew the contract of Marianne Banister. Banister had been co-anchoring since 1995 when she arrived at WBAL from station KABC, the ABC owned station in Los Angeles where she anchored early morning and 6 p.m. newscasts in the nation's second largest TV market.

Around the house* When eating steamed crabs or barbecued chicken, keep a supply of baby wipes nearby to clean hands.* Store coffee beans in an air-tight container in the freezer up to three months. Refrigerated beans can be stored from three to four weeks.* Paint ends of curtain rods with colorless nail polish. This will avoid snagging sheer curtains when threading them onto the rods.* Clean high chair. Take outside and wash off food spots with soapy sponge; rinse with garden hose.In the yard* Make a quick sand box for your toddler.

Q: Is Norplant safe for teen-agers? How does it work? I have trouble remembering to take my birth control pills.A: Studies of Norplant use by teen-agers are just getting under way, but the information we have available suggests it should be safe for them. Norplant consists of six slender progesterone-containing rods that are inserted under the skin of the upper arm during a minor surgical procedure. The person inserting the rods has only to make a tiny incision in the skin with a small amount of local anesthetic.

Hauling elongated gear around isn't easy. Fishing rods, skis and snowboards have a bad habit of getting in the way of brute force, whether it's exerted by users of the great outdoors hurrying to load the car or airport baggage handlers hell-bent on creating more combustible material for the gear-to-energy plant. Sportube looks like the case a bazooka might come in. The hard shell adjusts from 48 inches to 83 inches (the snowboard case adjusts from 42 to 72 inches), making it perfect for my two-piece rods.

After tracing the outline of his hand onto a picture filled with a repeating pattern of frogs, 8-year-old Jonathan Grazaitis began to count just how many of the little amphibians it took to fill the outline.Earlier that evening, the North Harford Elementary youngster and dozens of other second- and third-graders from 11 Harford County schools arranged and rearranged multicolored tiles in a variety of shapes to design their own repeating patterns."I'm so good," Jonathan said, adding and subtracting with a handful of colored blocks of varying lengths called rods.

North takes key step toward nuclear arms, South Korea reports SEOUL, South Korea - South Korea said yesterday that the communist North has reprocessed a small number of spent nuclear fuel rods, an important step in making weapons. Meanwhile, North Korean envoys warned that the "black clouds of a nuclear war" are approaching. The developments are likely to escalate the crisis over North Korea's suspected development of nuclear weapons. South Korea's National Intelligence Service said in a report to the National Assembly that it believed North Korea has reprocessed "a small portion" of the 8,000 spent fuel rods at its nuclear facilities at Yongbyon.

UNION BRIDGE -- After repeatedly wresting flushed underwear from aging sewer pumps, the plant operator is airing the town's dirty laundry in public.Hoping to shame the "flusher" into discontinuing the dastardly deed, Fred Haifley is hanging the recovered rags for all to see. A least a dozen sundry undergarments dangle from rods above the dry well in the pump house."

All of the beautiful (and rich and famous) people must vacation in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Baltimore's own Stacy Keibler and beau George Clooney are there, and they brought Keibler's good friend Torrie Wilson and her new boyfriend, Alex Rodrigez, according to deadspin.com . Wilson, who reportedly befriended Keibler during their professional wrestling days, and A-Rod, the Yankees' star slugger, were together over Christmas, according to...

A-Rod. K-Rod. F-Rod. I-Rod. B-Rob. We are not living in the Golden Age of sports nicknames. J-Roll. O-Dog. T-Mac. D-Wade. These are not nicknames; they're contractions, abbreviations. Crowned "King James" at the outset of a career that has yet to see him win a championship, Lebron James was dubbed so because that version of the Bible is common parlance. It had - and has, given that he's ruled nothing yet in the NBA - no relevance. Mr. James might as well be nicknamed "Vulgate.

Can't just ignore it Joseph Schwerdt Sun Sentinel Major League Baseball will have to punish Alex Rodriguez, not necessarily because he did anything wrong but because he did something stupid. It would send an unsettling message to fans if MLB determined Rodriguez was involved in high-stakes poker games but took no action. Gambling is poison to baseball, and this is the second time Rodriguez has been investigated for being involved in illegal games. But there's a fine line here.

Marianne Banister, one-half of the longest running anchor team in Baltimore television, is leaving WBAL-TV after more than 15 years as co-anchor of the 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts at the top-ranked station. Her last day at the station will be Wednesday, WBAL General Manager Dan Joerres said. She will say "goodbye" to viewers at the ends of the 6 and 11 p.m newscasts, he added. Banister came to WBAL in 1995 from station KABC, the ABC owned station in Los Angeles where she anchored early morning and 6 p.m. newscasts in the nation's second largest TV market.

We have countless awesome sports photos in the archives here at The Baltimore Sun , and I have decided to share one with you each week in a regular feature called "Throwback Thursday. " It's All-Star week -- aka the most boring week on the sports calendar -- so I'm going with an Orioles All-Star memory this time. Perhaps the most memorable All-Star moment in Orioles history was Cal Ripken Jr.'s last All-Star Game in 2001. Ripken was named the starting third baseman for the American League, but shortstop Alex Rodriguez, then with the Rangers, offered to switch positions with Ripken, who was baseball's best shortstop in his prime.

They thundered across the long green, with the tips of their rifles pointed at the enemy. "Company halt!" About half a dozen elementary school-age soldiers, mostly in T-shirts, one in a Todd Heap jersey, were trying to surprise combatants at the second annual Civil War Day at Redeemer Lutheran Church in northern Baltimore County on Saturday. The stopped and waited for further instructions. "Fire!" yelled the commanding officer to his troops. Silence. "I didn't hear anything.

WASHINGTON -- The agreement reached this weekend between the United States and North Korea keeps a potent weapon pointed at the West and Asia until Washington starts to deliver on promises of billions of dollars worth of new technology and better relations with the isolated Communist regime.The weapon is 8,000 spent nuclear fuel rods removed in late spring from a nuclear reactor and which, if reprocessed, could yield four to five nuclear bombs in addition to the one or two North Korea may have already.

The TV weatherman predicted 3 to 5 inches of snow for the evening -- not the most exciting news for a fair-weather fisherman. I wandered down to the pier to check out my charter boat, the Catherine M.The sleek lines of the 37-foot Robbins were completely hidden by two lengths of blue tarp, draped over a jerry-rigged frame and held down by water-filled plastic jugs. Catherine M sat quietly at the pier. She was winterized by a professional this year. Will Hild, of Hild's Marine Service, takes the time to do the job right when our schedules won't permit.

When he wasn't busy hitting grand slams and chowing down unsatisfactory meals at P.F. Chang's with Cameron Diaz , Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez found some time during his recent weekend getaway in Baltimore to discuss shortstop Manny Machado , the Orioles' top minor-league prospect. "If I was an Orioles fan, I would be really excited to see what this kid has to offer for the next -- at least for the next -- decade or so," Rodriguez told MLB.com. "It's going to be very exciting.

Saturday's drama between the Orioles and New York Yankees peaked in the late innings, when the Bronx Bombers completed a home-run cycle, witnessed their superstar make more baseball history and then watched as one of their hottest players got drilled in the back with a pitch after homering twice. The game itself, though, was basically over after 10 pitches. Paced by another gem from ace CC Sabathia, the Yankees embarrassed the Orioles 15-3 on Saturday night in front of an announced crowd of 39,054, the majority of which was wearing pinstripes and chanting, "Let's Go Yankees.