Smart

A proposal to modernize the electricity grid by coupling "smart" meters with a new pricing system for the hottest summer afternoons will lower operational costs, create incentives to reduce demand and benefit the environment, a Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. executive told state regulators Tuesday. "This is an exciting juncture for BGE customers," said Mark D. Case, BGE's senior vice president for regulatory affairs, as he described the company's "smart grid" proposal before the Maryland Public Service Commission.

When Joppatowne football coach Karlis Larson finishes talking about all that went wrong this season, it seems a wonder the Mariners went 8-4 and made it to the state semifinals.But Larson has an easy explanation. "I attribute the success of our whole season to the kids,"he said. "This is a very smart, talented group. On their own ability, they went 8-4."The Mariners advanced one step further than they did a year ago by reaching the state Class 1A semifinals. They lost to Smithsburg, 37-6, last Saturday.

Do you shred? Does the sound of razor-sharp blades slicing and dicing paper make you gleeful? Are you finding yourself shoving all manner of things into your shredder just to see what happens, whether it's paper, plastic or metal (darn those paper clips!)? Do you breathe a sigh of relief after you watch that MasterCard bill from 1989 transform into confetti? If so, welcome to Club Shred, fellow destroyer of all things tangible that could do us harm. It's not an exclusive club. Anyone can join.

We had a homework crisis in the making, the other night. Despite our best efforts at organization and time management, a shortened school week had brought both boys to the computer on the heels of each other with written assignments that, of course, were due the next day. Detente was proving elusive, until I remembered the Alpha Smart. "Go get your keyboard," I told my older son. "I don't need to take notes," he began in exasperation, then he caught the thread of his not-so-dim mother's thinking.

The bell's hollow rattle pierces the heavy stillness, and then here comes Mom. The blind mare, Raging Smart, keeps her foal in range by the bell hanging on his halter. This is the way it's been since 45 minutes after Raging Smart gave birth April 25, and Joyce and Ray Jones slipped the halter and bell onto the filly's neck. Motherhood completed the regeneration of Raging Smart, a former one-eyed racehorse who lost her second eye in her 43rd and final race, and then ran upon hard times in neglected retirement.

Gov. Parris N. Glendening is proposing to spend $3 million over three years on gun safety research in an attempt to win support for his child-proof guns legislation. The funding proposal is likely to benefit Maryland's only handgun manufacturer, Beretta USA Corp., which some legislators worry would be threatened by Glendening's "Smart-Guns" bill. That legislation would require all handguns sold in the state to be equipped with built-in mechanical trigger locks and, eventually, a high-tech system to prevent anyone other than the owner from using them.

Howard County police are investigating a crash Sunday night that claimed the life of a star athlete from Glenelg High School. James Thomas Smart, 17, of the 15000 block of Roxbury Road in Glenwood was killed when the 1999 Pontiac Grand Prix he was driving slammed into a telephone pole at Carrs Mill and Frederick roads. Police said the accident occurred after Officer Jeremy Perkins attempted to pull over Smart for speeding as the teen-ager traveled eastbound on Frederick Road shortly after 11:30 p.m. Sunday.

As her schoolmates dashed outside to play hula hoop and tag, Haylee King, 9, and two dozen other pupils filed into the Linthicum Elementary School computer lab, set down their lunch boxes and logged onto the Internet as "secret agents." Logic puzzles flashed onto the computer screens, and a countdown clock started ticking. Haylee wore a look of intense concentration as she sparred with classmates in a game that involved fitting odd shapes together. "They really challenge you," said the serious-looking fourth-grader (code name: sportsgirl)

EXETER, N.H. -- Sensing homicide detectives closing in on her, police say, Pamela Smart nervously confided to her student intern last July."I'm afraid one day you're gonna come in here and you're gonna be wired by the [expletive] police and I'm gonna be busted," according to transcripts of a tape recording played yesterday for a jury.Smart was right on both counts. Her words were taped by a concealed recorder worn by the intern, Cecelia Pierce, 16, of Seabrook, N.H.Much of the most damaging evidence against Smart when she was charged with being an accomplice to the murder of her husband was in four secretly recorded conversations between her and Pierce, who had turned police informant.

Don't pray for any more rain, lest your prayers be answered some five inches at a time by a mischievous god.Rising gasoline prices will do more to brake the economy than anything Greenspan could think up.Smart guns are good but won't reduce crime. Maryland has smart thugs.Seasonal tourists are welcome. Permanent residents, no. Canada geese go home!