Surface

May. 18, Post Time: 10:45AM Entries and comments provided by the Maryland Jockey Club First - Purse $55,000, AOC $25,000-$20,000, 3 yo's & up, One And One Sixteenth Miles Post, Horse, Jockey, Trainer, Odds 1 Aussi Austin, Rosario, R.Rodriguez, 3-1 2 Bob's Gone Wild, Vargas, J.Lopez, 20-1 3 Jarrod's Commando, Karamanos, C.Garcia, 10-1 4 Warrensburg, Boyce, D.Barr, 20-1 5 Benny Or Local, Cruise, D.Kobiskie,...

Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Roy C. Clendaniel Jr. has graduated from the U.S. Navy's Nuclear Power School at Naval Nuclear Power Training Command in Goose Creek, S.C. Nuclear Power School is a rigorous six-month course that trains officer and enlisted students in the science and engineering fundamental to the design, operation and maintenance of naval nuclear propulsion plants. Graduates next undergo additional instruction at a prototype training unit before serving as a surface warfare officer aboard a nuclear-powered surface ship or as an electronics technician aboard a nuclear-powered submarine.

On the North Central Railroad Trail at Phoenix, where walkers, hikers, cyclists and runners go their ways, the Baltimore Road Runners Club staged its inaugural Ashland Trail 10K on Saturday.Steve Reid, 37, who usually runs on Saturday mornings, figured "Why not?" After finishing the northbound out-and-back course from the trail's two-mile mark, he was no worse for wear, finishing first in 39 minutes, 26 seconds."I usually run over at Loch Raven [watershed] on Saturday and Sunday mornings," said Reid, a program manager for AAI. "I figured I would come over here and do it with a time."

A 57-year-old Randallstown woman has been arrested after video of her abusing an intellectually disabled man in her care at a Columbia group home surfaced online, according to Howard County Police. Donna Everett, of the 9900 block of Cervidae Lane, was arrested after her employer, Emerge, Inc., brought the video to the attention of police after discovering it on the website YouTube, police said. Everett, a house manager at the home in the 6500 block of Quilting Way in Columbia, "can be seen striking the man in the head, face and neck, and spitting in the man's face," police said.

Laurel Race Course returned to near-normal operations yesterday, running a nine-race live card despite a track soaked by melted ice.It was the first live program conducted by the track since Jan. 14, a period embracing eight consecutive cancellations because of weather conditions.But while the show went on without any significant incidents on the track, management was hoping that the latest forecast -- for more moisture of some description in the next two days -- would not result in a repeat of last week's shutdown.

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. -- Floyd Shelton always had a pretty good idea there was something weird hidden in the gigantic Hughes Mining Barge at the Port of Redwood City.Mr. Shelton, executive director of the port, got his biggest clue one day when he found a heavy crane working on the dock over the heavily guarded barge. Puzzled that he hadn't been notified, he approached the workers. "This guy came walking up with his hand on his holster, saying, 'Can I help you, sir?' "Now, after 10 years of cloak-and-dagger secrecy about what's in the barge, the tantalizing secret is out: It's the Sea Shadow -- an awkward, hulking 560-ton ship that looks like a catamaran from hell, the U.S. Navy's seafaring version of the F-117 "stealth" fighter.

It is Christmas Eve, and if Santa is listening, he might want to bring the Blast a new carpet for the Arena playing field.In a letter from the Major Soccer League, and in a follow-up letter from MSL commissioner Earl Foreman, the Blast has been put on notice that its playing field is not up to standard.In fact, senior referee Toros Kibritjian Saturday said it is the worst in the entire league."It is true we're on notice that the carpet isn't acceptable," said Blast general manager John Borozzi.

Paint seems like one of the simpler elements in a house, but when it doesn't stick, it can be one of the more complicated things to fix.Case in point: A reader in Shaker Heights, Ohio, who had trouble getting touch-up paint to adhere to worn places on her metal kitchen cabinets wants to know how to refinish them completely.It can be done, but it's not a job for the faint of heart.The secret to successful painting, no matter what the surface, is good preparation. The surface must be thoroughly clean.

After orbiting the asteroid Eros for nearly a year, the Maryland-built NEAR spacecraft was to fire its thrusters today to begin a final series of low-altitude photographic passes over the bleak space rock, before ditching itself on the surface next month. If all goes well, NEAR will make five or six fly-bys over four days, the lowest, on Sunday, less than 9,000 feet above the surface. Scientists hope to get back detailed pictures that will answer their questions about poorly understood forces that seem to be eroding Eros' surface features.

NORTH EAST -- The day is gray and the wind is cold, but horse trainer-inventor Michael Dickinson has shorts on and his shoes off as he sprints around a half-mile synthetic surface track at his 200-acre Tapeta Farm. "I have 25 years of data in my feet," Dickinson, 57 and a native of England, said at the end of his run. "I can have people come in here with all kinds of scientific instruments for measurements, but no one knows what the resulting numbers mean. I'll take my feet. "I run on the track most days and train my horses on it the next.

You can make a case that the vases in "Triple Vision" are meant to be admired as much as used. The three artists showcased in this Columbia Art Center exhibit make vases, platters and other ceramic objects that often have whimsical shapes or surface decoration. Although Pam Hannasch and Dick Roepke generally make functional pieces, they also have playful tendencies. As for Scott McNabb, well, his nonfunctional ceramic art can be used to generate a smile. It's nice to walk around the gallery and see how these three distinctive artistic identities are shaped; however, some of their pieces are displayed on such low pedestals that it's rather awkward to try looking at them.

Today is a big day for Microsoft. The company is introducing its Windows 8 operating system, it's biggest makeover, some say, since Windows 95. Computers have changed dramatically since 1995, of course. Mobile devices, i.e. smartphones and tablets, have roared into common use over the past three to four years. People are doing a lot more computing tasks on such alternate devices. The influence of mobile has been seen in Apple's operating system updates, as it's integrated some iOS-like features into OSX. Now, we're going to see Microsoft's take.

If Dan Deacon's recent input hasn't moved you - previous single "Lots" felt familiar while his novelty remix of "Call Me Maybe" was just that - then his latest single, "True Thrush," might change your mind. The nearly five-minute jam patiently bubbles under the surface, with Deacon's subdued-but-still-warped vocals pushing the track forward.  "Spread those wings wide and take me along / Now show me the sky and tell me I'm on," he sings (I think - transcribing Deacon lyrics is futile, frustrating, sometimes unnecessary)

Microsoft wanted a tablet done right, so the company figured it'd give it a try. CEO Steve Ballmer announced the Microsoft “Surface” family of tablet devices Monday in Los Angeles, a move that sends a clear warning shot across the Apple iPad's bow. The device is currently slated to come in two versions, one running Microsoft's tablet-specific Windows RT and a power-user version that will run Windows 8. For comparison to the iPad, the 10.6”...

Microsoft on Monday unveiled a nice looking tablet computer called Surface , or rather, a pair of devices that are targeting the tablet market currently dominated by Apple and Android. Surface looks pretty cool. I like the thin tactile keyboard that also doubles as a screen cover. You get the impression Microsoft beat Apple to the punch by adding a keyboard with this design, which Apple first introduced with its own Smart Cover a couple years back. Microsoft is positioning the device as one that's good for both consumption and creation.

Harford County government will hold a public meeting later this month to discuss a petition to put a tar and chip surface on a dirt road in the northwestern part of the county. The petition is to modify a portion of Amoss Road in White Hall from a dirt to a tar and chip surface. The Harford County Department of Public Works, Division of Highways and Water Resources, will conduct the public meeting on March 27 at 6 p.m. on the third floor of the county office building, at 212 South Bond St. in Bel Air. Those interested who cannot attend the meeting can send written comments to H. Hudson Myers, III, deputy director of DPW at 212 South Bond St., Bel Air, Md., 21014, or by e-mail at hhmyers@harfordcountymd.gov .

Mayor Sheila Dixon and Baltimore County Executive James T. Smith Jr. plan to announce tomorrow that they support construction of an east-west light rail line that involves a mix of surface and underground tracks - an alternative that has won the support of Baltimore business leaders. The heads of the two metropolitan governments will urge the Maryland Transit Administration to choose what is known as Alternative 4C as its preferred design for the proposed Red Line from Woodlawn to Bayview.

NASA's Spirit rover has sent back the clearest, sharpest picture ever taken on the surface of another planet, a "spectacular" postcard from Mars that is two to three times as sharp as similar photos from the earlier Viking and Pathfinder missions. The photo shows about one-eighth of the Gusev Crater region around the lander, but it is already providing researchers a great deal more information than the black-and-white images returned a day earlier. It "is spectacular, but this is not the best this camera can do," said James Bell of Cornell University, who was in charge of the camera's development.

A Pasadena teenager pleaded guilty Thursday to two murders after prosecutors and defense lawyers belatedly learned that he admitted several months ago to a deputy sheriff that he had shot one of the victims. The plea by Vincent Ethan Bunner, now 18, ended his trial on first-degree murder and related counts in the Nov. 12, 2010 fatal shooting of Misael Flores during a botched robbery. Prosecutors said Bunner's disclosure to an Anne Arundel County deputy sheriff came as he was being transported within the courthouse for a pretrial hearing.

Moving through the Baltimore Museum of Art 's exhibit of work by the 2011 Baker Artist Awards provides an experience akin to that in the film "Pleasantville. " You start in living color and, before you know it, you're swallowed up in a black-and-white world. That cool, if slightly unsettling, transformation is achieved by an installation called "Interior/Exterior" by Gary Kachadourian, who has filled nearly every square inch of a gallery in the museum. "I've only done corners of rooms before," the artist said.