Thirst

I just read your column on water. You mention just about everyone - athletes, women, kids, etc. There is no mention of seniors like myself. I'm 80 years old, ride a stationary bike every day and am in good health. How much water should I drink? Your exercise program sounds great, and I'm glad to hear you are in good health. To answer your question, I turned to one of the best sources in the area - Dr. William Greenough, professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Greenough is a specialist in geriatrics, but don't think he's any young know-it-all.

Perhaps you remember when Dr. Doom conquered the world. Or perhaps you don't. Sadly enough, even in this day and age, not everyone is comic book literate. Suffice it to say, then, that back in the 1980s, Marvel Comics published a graphic novel in which the villainous Victor von Doom achieved his dearest goal: to rule the world. And he made it a better place, too. Famine ended, the stock market climbed, crime fell, occupying armies withdrew, racial oppression vanished. Doom turned the planet into a paradise, and the only cost of his beneficence was free will.

It's hard for me to imagine a more refreshing thirst quencher than iced tea. But a friend took me recently to Gordon's International Cafe on Reisterstown Road in Pikesville, where I found some interesting competition for my own favorite summertime drink. Chef-owner Mansie Gordon loves the foods of his native Jamaica -- and the beverages as well. Each day he offers a selection of three fresh and healthful juice-based concoctions. His standard drink, a cucumber-lime juice sweetened with honey, is a standout.

Stop by the Red Rooster, a 10-seat joint just off Main Street in this rural community an hour west of Baltimore, and you can order a burger, some barbecue or the fried chicken that some locals claim is the best on the East Coast. But don't bother asking for a beer to wash it down with. The Red Rooster, like every other business here, is barred by law from selling alcoholic beverages. And that suits co-owner Kevin Miller just fine. The lifelong Damascus resident says the local ban has helped preserve the quiet character of this unincorporated corner of northern Montgomery County.

I drink at least eight large glasses of water every day to maintain good health. When I play soccer or tennis, I force myself to drink a lot more. I recently heard that you can drink too much water. What are the consequences? People have been led to believe that they need to drink a lot of water to stay healthy, especially if they are exercising vigorously. But new research suggests that there are hazards to overdosing on fluids. A study in the New England Journal of Medicine (April 14, 2005)

Now and then one of them comes along so spectacularly malevolent that you can but wonder at the presence of an evil that transcends the concept of scale. And they have been around for a long time.The original Bluebeard, for example, was a French nobleman named Gilles de Rais who in the 15th century is said to have murdered not wives, as the folk tales insist, but boys, in the hundreds. The original Dracula, on the other hand, was a 14th century Romanian nobleman known to history as Vlad Tepes, or Vlad the Impaler.

TuitionIf the cost of going to collegeContinues to rise day by day,Education will cost more than ignorance,A price that no one should pay.* * *AmbitionHe who harbors a thirst for fameHas a lofty aim, he thinks.But it could be an endless climbWith a long time between drinks.

Last month's rain was great, says Charles Grene of Westminster, "but I wonder ... how much depth is added to the reservoir for every 1 inch of rain?" Simple question; no simple answer. An inch of rain delivers 17.4 million gallons per square mile. That's 8.13 billion gallons across our 467-square-mile Baltimore reservoir watershed. It would slake our thirst for 30 days if it all entered the reservoirs. But the fraction reaching the lakes varies with plant uptake, evaporation, soil saturation and groundwater levels.

150 years ago in The SunJune 14: A Lady Run Over -- A young lady was run over yesterday about noon, at the corner of Fayette and Calvert streets, by a one-horse carriage, the driver of which appeared to be but little concerned at the result of his carelessness, in making a rapid and abrupt turn around the corner of the pavement. She was knocked down and thrown under the horse, from where she was rescued by a gentleman.100 years ago in The SunJune 14: A DRINK ON SUNDAY -- Police Force Endeavoring To Prevent Liquor Selling During Prohibited Hours -- Yesterday was just the kind of day to cause thirst in heated humanity, but in most sections of the city it was difficult to get the wherewithal to quench a thirst requiring something more tangible than water, lemonade or the numerously exploited "soft drinks."

The Ellicott City Senior Center, 9401 Frederick Road, will offer Thirst 'n' Howl Musical Productions' Rosie The Riveter, an original revue honoring the women of the 1940s who supported the home front during World War II, at 1 p.m. Tuesday. Admission is free. "Heart Health for Women," a free program presented by Marilyn Smedberg-Gobbett, volunteer coordinator with the National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease, will be presented at 10:30 a.m. Thursday. She will discuss prevention, early detection, diagnosis and proper treatment.

Though the LPGA schedule might remain in rebuilding mode for another year or two, it certainly has no shortage of majors. The tour announced a fifth major will join the lineup in 2013, when the Evian Masters completes an overhaul that encompasses a new name, date and course. The tournament, renamed The Evian, will be in mid-September as the season's last major. By then, Evian Golf Club in Bains, France, will have completed a redesign, including amphitheater seating along its final four holes.

The Ellicott City Senior Center, 9401 Frederick Road, will offer Thirst 'n' Howl Musical Productions' Rosie The Riveter, an original revue honoring the women of the 1940s who supported the home front during World War II, at 1 p.m. Tuesday. Admission is free. "Heart Health for Women," a free program presented by Marilyn Smedberg-Gobbett, volunteer coordinator with the National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease, will be presented at 10:30 a.m. Thursday. She will discuss prevention, early detection, diagnosis and proper treatment.

The U.S. is about to become one big Twilight zone. That is, if it isn't already. With more than 8.5 million copies sold in this country - and 17 million worldwide - Stephenie Meyer's four-volume tale of vampire love among the high-school set is already a bona fide cultural force, especially among the young girls who hang on its every word. But tonight, with the midnight premiere in select theaters of Twilight, based on the first book of the series, the mania may really go big time. "It's just a big mixture of all this drama and romance," said 12-year-old Leia Cunningham, a student at Hereford Middle School who was one of about 50 teen and preteen girls attending a movie prerelease party Saturday at Borders Books in Timonium.

College athletic directors and presidents can be downright shameless when it comes to finding new ways to generate revenue, and nowhere is their naked ambition more obvious than when it comes to scheduling games on weeknights. It's a trend that has grown exponentially in recent years thanks to the thirst for television exposure, and now there are schools that would play on a Tuesday at 2 a.m. on an abandoned oil rig in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico if you guaranteed it would be on ESPN2.

If a shrill, high-decibel squeal suddenly disrupts the Sunday peace and quiet from sea to shining sea, blame Stephenie Meyer. Probably every teenage girl you know (and more than a few of their mothers) started reading Breaking Dawn, the fourth and final volume in Meyer's vampire saga, when it was released at midnight Saturday. So these 3.2 million fanatical readers are about to discover whether the heroine, Bella, ends up with the unearthly beautiful vampire, Edward, or with the devoted werewolf, Jacob.

101 Sangrias and Drinks By Kim Haassarud Wiley / 2008 / $16.95 Sangria - punch made with inexpensive wine mixed with liquor and fruit such as mangoes, peaches, pineapple or raspberries - invites the kind of improvisation provided by Kim Haassarud, who heads a consulting firm that creates signature beverages. The book offers many sangria options, with regional variations and flavors. Although sangrias should be made at least 24 hours in advance so the flavors can blend, Haasarud offers some shortcuts - mashing the fruit slightly or sauteing it in simple syrup over low heat to soften its skin.

College athletic directors and presidents can be downright shameless when it comes to finding new ways to generate revenue, and nowhere is their naked ambition more obvious than when it comes to scheduling games on weeknights. It's a trend that has grown exponentially in recent years thanks to the thirst for television exposure, and now there are schools that would play on a Tuesday at 2 a.m. on an abandoned oil rig in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico if you guaranteed it would be on ESPN2.

I have suffered with insomnia for years. My doctor prescribed Ambien, which gives me eight hours of restful sleep. Then the pharmacist switched me to generic zolpidem for under $15. He said it was identical to Ambien. It wasn't! I haven't had a decent night's sleep since switching. If I do fall asleep I have horrible nightmares. I cannot afford $130 for regular Ambien. What else can I do? I need my sleep to be alert at work. Dozens of other readers have also reported problems with generic Ambien (zolpidem)

GARMSIR, Afghanistan -- For the Marines fighting in southern Afghanistan, a shortage of drinking water turned out to be nearly as big a concern as Taliban insurgents. When Marines of Alpha and Bravo Companies, 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, pushed into Garmsir, a Taliban stronghold, before dawn Tuesday, each toted 18 half-liter bottles of water plus two liters in his pack. Their staggering 100- to 150-pound loads - including weapons, ammunition, mortar base plates, radios, flak vests and helmets and other gear - had troop commanders worried even before the operation began.

I have suffered with insomnia for years. My doctor prescribed Ambien, which gives me eight hours of restful sleep. Then the pharmacist switched me to generic zolpidem for under $15. He said it was identical to Ambien. It wasn't! I haven't had a decent night's sleep since switching. If I do fall asleep I have horrible nightmares. I cannot afford $130 for regular Ambien. What else can I do? I need my sleep to be alert at work. Dozens of other readers have also reported problems with generic Ambien (zolpidem)