Spin

This week, the designers were brought to Spin, a ping pong social club owned by Susan Sarandon. The challenge is for each team (same teams) to design five looks for the employees of Spin. Three for female servers, one for a male server, and one for a ball boy (the poor guy who has to run around Spin and pick up stray balls). I'm gonna spoil it for you right now: YES, lots of balls jokes are made. No, none of them are particularly good. Dream Team is confident with Platinum Aussie saying "I'm a natural born leader" again.

I am personally bowled over by the not-so-proactive Gov. Martin O'Malley and his shrewdly-schemed spin on the catastrophic events at the Baltimore Detention Center ("Spinning corruption," May 1). The news of the goings-on at the BDC was such a pertinent item it was picked up by news agencies the world over. The prisoners were running the show under the big tent. How was Mr. O'Malley going to spin this one? First, he absolved himself of any involvement by placing himself outside the realm of accountability.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Even before debating vice-presidential nominees Al Gore and Jack Kemp had finished here the other night, a host of high-profile Democratic and Republican politicians and political operatives surged into the huge anteroom where a small army of reporters sat watching the end of the debate on television monitors.Those who were writing against deadline stayed at their computers, keeping one eye on the television screens as they pounded away at their keyboards. Others, however, scrambled to the front of the room for ''the spin'' -- the partisan wisdom being imparted to anyone who would listen about who ''won'' the debate and who ''lost,'' and why.What was going on was a long-practiced exercise in unabashed propagandizing by the ''spinners'' -- cabinet members, governors, senators, pollsters, media consultants and other varieties of political hucksters putting the debate in the best light for their favored candidate and casting doubts on the performance of the opponent.

"Bumps in the road. " - President Barack Obama on the unrest in Libya and elsewhere in the Middle East that included the deaths of U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens, an information officer, and two Navy SEALS. "Crude and disgusting"… "an insult"… "blasphemy"… "[its message] must be rejected by all who respect our common humanity. " - President Obama on the infamous anti-Muslim videotape that was originally blamed for the Benghazi terror attacks. Benghazi happened "a long time ago. " - White House spokesman Jay Carney on May 2, 2013.

I'm still holding my head after reading your scurrilous diatribe regarding historians' assessment of the presidency of George W. Bush ("Misoverestimating Bush," April 28). How can you write such words with a straight face? Whatever happened to "objective" journalism? Yet when it comes to President Barack Obama, do you even know the stimulus plan failed because of all the pork? Or the trillions of dollars Obamacare will cost? Did you hear that members of Congress are trying to exempt themselves and their aides?

Do you play "spin" nutrition?Did you panic when your produce department ran short of broccoli for a few days?Have you suddenly switched to red wine?Were you first in line for oat bran?Spin nutrition happens when nutrition science is reported with a RTC "consumer-y spin" that turns it into a magic cure.Don't get me wrong. It's about time we put some science behind nutritional recommendations.But context is crucial.There is no single food that can make up for a lifetime of continuing dietary indiscretion.

St. Louis Rams coach Mike Martz pulled a nifty reverse last week that would make even All-Pro running back Marshall Faulk envious if he weren't so wrapped up in the team's losing streak. In the aftermath of a 37-13 shellacking at the hands of the San Francisco 49ers, Martz questioned the Rams' effort and, in effect, heart. "I can honestly say the effort wasn't there," he said during his postmortem. By Monday, the Rams' 0-5 record notwithstanding, Martz saw a different world on his game tape.

Most radio-controlled aircraft are such serious affairs that no youngster under 14 is allowed to get near one, and certainly only a few youngsters under that age build them. Thanks to Spin Master Toys, children who may be prohibited from playing with more expensive, super-sophisticated RC aircraft can take the Air Hogs RC Sky Patrol helicopter ($100) out for a spin. And "spin" is a pretty accurate description because this baby has to spin to turn. Using a trigger-controlled RC remote, the user has precise control over power to the rotors but limited control over turns.

Keeping the washing machine happy is my responsibility.I care about its innards and its outards. Lately I've even had flashes of interest in its product, clean clothes. My curiosity in the clean-clothes area has been confined to strategic theories of fighting lint.I was recently introduced to the concept of classifying laundry either as "lint giving" or "lint receiving." These two groups must be kept apart.This concept has given me a whole new way of viewing the world. And it keeps me amused in my many idle moments.

Black & Decker Corp. plans to spin off PRC, its Virginia-based information systems and services business, in a public stock offering, the company said today. That move, combined with the planned sale of an additional 18 million shares of Black & Decker stock, would net from $331 million to $363 million, it said.Towson-based Black & Decker said it would use the money to reduce debt.Black & Decker acquired PRC, which is based in McLean, Va., as part of the 1989 takeover of Connecticut-based Emhart Corp.

I'm still holding my head after reading your scurrilous diatribe regarding historians' assessment of the presidency of George W. Bush ("Misoverestimating Bush," April 28). How can you write such words with a straight face? Whatever happened to "objective" journalism? Yet when it comes to President Barack Obama, do you even know the stimulus plan failed because of all the pork? Or the trillions of dollars Obamacare will cost? Did you hear that members of Congress are trying to exempt themselves and their aides?

No idea what sort of job might suit you? A Middle River software company that fuses applications and psychology has a personality test for that - one built around images rather than questions. Compass Lite, which went public last week and launched more officially on Monday, is tech firm Woofound's twist on the personality assessments taken by hordes of students, job candidates and online surfers. Woofound's app has participants rate 84 photos - of everything from artwork to a camping tent - as either "me" or "not me. " Then it spits out a personality type, such as "planner/inventor," along with career recommendations and information about those job possibilities.

This week, the designers were brought to Spin, a ping pong social club owned by Susan Sarandon. The challenge is for each team (same teams) to design five looks for the employees of Spin. Three for female servers, one for a male server, and one for a ball boy (the poor guy who has to run around Spin and pick up stray balls). I'm gonna spoil it for you right now: YES, lots of balls jokes are made. No, none of them are particularly good. Dream Team is confident with Platinum Aussie saying "I'm a natural born leader" again.

When Gwen Taylor turned 50 this month, she wanted to celebrate the milestone with something other than the typical dinner and drinks. So one recent Saturday afternoon she and about a dozen girlfriends and relatives headed to a Catonsville fitness studio to sweat and burn off some calories in honor of Taylor's half-century. Dressed in black fitness tights and brightly colored sport tank tops, they shimmied and shook at Taylor's Zumba birthday party. The women are part of a growing legion celebrating life's important moments with fitness.

While much is being made of Karl Rove's post-election return to the air this week on Fox, I don't think that's really the news that matters these days at Rupert Murdoch's channel. Reflecting in a way the very post-election GOP malaise that they discussed, both Bill O'Reilly and Rove seemed off their games Wednesday night on "The O'Reilly Factor. " Two of the most self-confident blowhards in American media and political life seemed less confident, less energized, less animated than I have ever seen either when it comes to saying bad things about President Obama.

For many people, kickball is little more than a child's game, a backyard sport played for about as long as it takes to reach adolescence. If you were to ask one of those individuals to play now, they might give a look of amusement before politely declining in favor of more mature activities. But dedicated kickball players would say that's just because they haven't tried it. "I would invite them to actually join us, check out a highlight video on thisiskickball.com, and just give it a try," said Matt Kemph, a player and founder of The Circuit.

LONDON -- Lord Hanson, who as chairman of Hanson PLC has built a reputation as one of the business world's great wheeler-dealers, said yesterday that he would spin off 34 of the conglomerate's smaller U.S. subsidiaries into a new, debt-laden company.The plan raised questions about whether Lord Hanson was trying to shed the company's underperformers and their debt. But Hanson executives insisted that the companies to be spun off include many that are growing strongly and could thrive under the added managerial attention and investment that the new structure could provide.

Human Genome Sciences Inc. said yesterday that it would spin off its CoGenesys division as an independent company that will focus on the early development of the Rockville biotech's gene-based research and leave the commercialization of later-stage products already in clinical development to the parent company. Human Genome plans to lend CoGenesys $10 million as startup money, but the move to create two companies is still contingent on CoGenesys finding investors and partners to fund the new company by May 31. Craig A. Rosen, Human Genome's president and chief scientific officer, will become CoGenesys' executive chairman and chief scientific officer.

SafeNet Inc., a Harford County cybersecurity company, said that it was selling off its government solutions business to an undisclosed buyer for an undisclosed amount. The Belcamp company said in an announcement that it was selling this part of its business -- which largely focuses on custom-made classified encryption products -- to focus on data protection and cybersecurity for its commercial and government customers. The company had acquired the government solutions business in 2004, according to Securities and Exchange documents.

Be glad you don't live in Ohio. It's a fine old state with pretty towns, friendly people and a fairly healthy economy. But over the last six months, its citizens have endured a volume of political advertising unequaled in the history of Western civilization. To watch the local television news, as I did in Columbus last week, means sitting through as many as six campaign commercials in a row. More than 58,000 presidential campaign ads ran in the state during the last month, according to a Bloomberg News study.