Sticker

Washington.--The encouraging news from the U.S. Postal Service is that despite a $1.3 billion deficit this year, it's managed to scrape up $7 million to put a new organizational emblem on its nearly 40,000 post offices, 180,000 vehicles and millions of mail boxes.The old emblem, which made its debut in 1970, displays an eagle astride the words U.S. Mail, enclosed in a ring composed of stars and the words ''United States Postal Service.'' The new one consists of what appears to be the snout of an eagle facing the words ''United States Postal Service.

The Obamacare critics were no doubt gleeful this week when CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield proposed average rate increases of 25 percent for its individual HMO customers next year, when it will be required to follow the requirements of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. But before we give in to conservatives' "I-told-you-so" moment, it's worth unpacking the details of what's going on in Maryland's newly created insurance exchange. Like the sticker price on a car, CareFirst's proposal is likely not going to be the final word on what Marylanders pay for health insurance.

If you're among the legions of Harford boaters that haven't receivedyour U.S. Coast Guard 1991 boating sticker yet, you are not alone.Three weeks ago, I mailed a check for the newly required sticker tothe Coast Guard office in Atlanta. The Sept. 1st deadline came and went and still I hadn't received the sticker.Almost every boater I've talked with recently said they had ordered the sticker weeks ago, but have yet to receive it. According to the enforcement schedule outlined in the USCG information packet, citations will be issued if the sticker is not displayed on your boat.

In a story that includes the phrase "he asks between squirts of deer antler," Sports Illustrated brings the fascinating story of two men aggressively marketing a line of health care supplements -- hologram stickers, the aforementioned deer antler spray, powders, underwear drenched in liquid (seriously) -- to college and pro athletes. The company's name explains the concept: S.W.A.T.S., which stands for Sports with Alternatives to Steroids. At the center of the story is none other than Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis, who is in New Orleans preparing to play the final game of his NFL career on Sunday.

HAIRY MEN making news: Conrad Bladey, TJI's eccentric-of-the-year, will drive his bumper sticker-covered art car, Sticker II, up to Baltimore from Linthicum tomorrow to take part in the Charles Village Celebration Parade. Believe me, you won't miss Conrad, his beard and hair so long and flowing, or his car. Readers of TJI contributed dozens of bumper stickers during the winter, and Conrad used every one of them, in part or whole, to create Sticker II out of a 1989 Dodge Shadow. You won't see the Shadow.

Conrad Bladey had been coming to Artscape in Baltimore for several years, never thinking he would be one of its featured artists. But when he read that this year's festival would include a car exhibit, he said he decided his "sticker" car deserved a chance."

Pick a pear at the grocery store -- or an apple, tomato or banana, for that matter -- and you'll notice that it wears a little sticker containing a mysterious number such as 4035 or 94035. The numbers on produce are a code that tells if the fruit or vegetable is bioengineered, organically grown or conventionally grown (with pesticides or herbicides). Here's the key: A four-digit number means the fruit or vegetable has been conventionally grown using pesticides or herbicides. An organically grown fruit or vegetable has a five-digit number beginning with 9. Genetically modified produce has a five-digit number beginning with 8. (There are not many of these around, though.

The Baltimore Police Department wants a curfew for cars.In a new effort to combat auto thefts, police officials are offering free stickers that, when displayed, allow officers to pull over vehicles between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., even if the driver does nothing wrong.Here's how it works: If you normally don't drive those hours and fear possible theft, get a sticker to put in the rear window. Police may stop the car when driven during the designated hours.The stickers, a large badge with the state flag in the middle along with the name of the initiative -- Stop Thief Owner Protected (STOP)

More than 1,000 Baltimore residents, including a former judge whose Toyota has been stolen four times, have given city police permission to pull over their cars as part of a project aimed at curbing auto theft.Since the program began in November, district stations throughout the city have been reporting heavy interest. Many people, it seems, don't mind being stopped by police occasionally if it can save their car from being stolen."I would feel that the program is really working if I was pulled over," said Alisa Lovera, 26, who lives near Fells Point and parks her Toyota Camry on the street each night.

You're not voting? Are you sure? Because if you do: Cantler's Riverside Inn in Annapolis is throwing an Election Day party with all-you-can-eat crabs for $22.99 and returns watching on big TVs. Fleet Street Market in Fells Point is giving ten percent off to customers who take an oath that they've voted. Midtown BBQ & Brew is offering 20 percent off the entire check for patrons wearing an "I Voted" sticker. Gino's Burger and Chicken in Towson will give you a free entree with the purchase of a side and drink if you're wearing an "I Voted" sticker.

You're not voting? Are you sure? Because if you do: Cantler's Riverside Inn in Annapolis is throwing an Election Day party with all-you-can-eat crabs for $22.99 and returns watching on big TVs. Fleet Street Market in Fells Point is giving ten percent off to customers who take an oath that they've voted. Midtown BBQ & Brew is offering 20 percent off the entire check for patrons wearing an "I Voted" sticker. Gino's Burger and Chicken in Towson will give you a free entree with the purchase of a side and drink if you're wearing an "I Voted" sticker.

From time to time, two competing technologies exist in parallel situations for an extended period prior to one dominating, and supplanting, the other. Back in the tape age, there was a great debate among tech heads as to whether Beta or VHS was the better format for videotape. For a while, both were available at Blockbuster and other video stores. Beta supposedly had superior sound quality and equally good picture quality, and the tape cassettes were smaller, so that style of videotape had a loyal following.

In the far corners of Maryland, cars from Harford County, especially eastern Harford County, as well as Cecil County (the western parts, notably) can be picked out in any crowded parking lot. They're the ones that have the large grocery store-style bar code stickers affixed to their drivers' sides. In some cases, half a dozen or more stickers are visible; other folks are more judicious and placed new stickers over the old ones. The stickers made possible unlimited crossings of the Route 40 bridge over the Susquehanna River.

I have to agree with letter writer Howard Bluth ("Ehrlich's talk of Obama's radicalism strains credulity," July 25). If he wants to be taken seriously as an opinion-maker,Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.needs to do more than just spout the usual right-wing clichés about the "left-wing mindset" and "European Social Democrat economic model. " His columns always make my eyes glaze over. As it is, Mr. Ehrlich just comes off as a hack. He sounds like somebody who aspires to writing slogans for bumper stickers.

This weekend I visited all the usual hot spots in Ellicott City: the YMCA, the library, a grocery store, a gas station and a pharmacy. In each and every parking lot my car was the only vehicle with a Human Rights Campaign equality sticker. I can't possibly be the only person in Ellicott City who thinks it's wrong to deny one specific group of people their basic civil rights. I can't possibly be the only person in Ellicott City who thinks it's wrong to discriminate against others because they are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.

One can hardly blame the boating public for feeling a bit of sticker shock at news that the Maryland Department of Natural Resources wants to triple registration fees for most boaters. The recession has hit the boating industry hard, gas prices are up, and the General Assembly is already considering a number of taxes and fees to balance the state's budget next year. But there's only one thing the legislature could do to Maryland boaters to make life on the water even worse, and that would be to do nothing at all. Like Odysseus, the DNR is trapped between Scylla and Charybdis with no pain-free choices available.

Peyton Hillis stepped into the locker-room mass interview area looking like a Ron Paul campaign worker. The Browns running back wore a Ron Paul bumper sticker on his baseball cap and a Ron Paul button and sticker on his T-shirt. The accoutrements were courtesy of right tackle Tony Pashos. As the media circle pressed close, a man holding a tiny clip-on microphone said to Hillis, "Is it OK if we pin this on you?" Hillis didn't miss a beat in responding: "Why not? You've pinned everything else on me this year.

Lesbian Avengers target delegates who killed equal rights billLegislators who helped kill an equal rights bill for homosexuals have been targeted by a group called The Lesbian Avengers, which has distributed posters accusing them of being bigots.Most of the 14 state delegates who voted to kill the bill in committee say posters were mailed to them or plastered around their legislative offices and homes over the past week.The posters contain a picture of each delegate with the word "bigot" printed in capital letters across the forehead.

Peyton Hillis stepped into the locker-room mass interview area looking like a Ron Paul campaign worker. The Browns running back wore a Ron Paul bumper sticker on his baseball cap and a Ron Paul button and sticker on his T-shirt. The accoutrements were courtesy of right tackle Tony Pashos. As the media circle pressed close, a man holding a tiny clip-on microphone said to Hillis, "Is it OK if we pin this on you?" Hillis didn't miss a beat in responding: "Why not? You've pinned everything else on me this year.

It was in early September 2010, and I was serving in Afghanistan, helping to plan our mission to support that country's parliamentary elections. Offhandedly, a colleague asked whether I was going to return to my civilian job when I returned home. I replied, "I don't think so. " Surprised, he asked what I planned to do instead. Confidently, I shrugged him off, "I don't know. I'm sure something will shake loose. " We returned to the Unites States in December 2010 and were assured that we were not going to be forgotten.