Tool

- Twitter can now let the world automatically know your whereabouts as well as your thoughts and activities. A new feature unveiled Thursday gives Twitter users the option of including their location with the assorted musings posted on the Internet messaging service. Locations won't be included unless users turn on the tracking tool. The technology, which shadows people through Web browsers, can be turned off at any time. Twitter is responding to other Internet services, such as Foursquare and Loopt, that broadcast people's locations.

In the four years since he made history at the Beijing Olympics, Michael Phelps concedes losing his focus. But with the London Games looming, the Baltimore swimmer told "60 Minutes" in an interview that will air Sunday that he has gone all-out recently and says he is now approaching the shape he was in before Beijing, where he won an unprecedented eight gold medals. His coach, Bob Bowman, predicts Phelps will again win multiple gold medals for the United States this summer.

Stanley Black & Decker announced Thursday that it had acquired CRC-Evans International, a supplier of specialized tools, equipment and services for the construction of oil and natural gas transmission pipelines, in a $445 million cash deal. The Connecticut-based company bought CRC from a group of investors led by private equity firm Natural Gas Partners. Houston-based CRC, with fiscal revenue of about $250 million, will allow Stanley to immediately capitalize on favorable trends in the oil and gas infrastructure arena, Stanley said in a statement.

State economic development officials have launched an online tool to help companies interested in relocating to Maryland or local businesses in need of new space. The Maryland Business Properties database lets users search available sites by type, size, location, zoning and rail service. More than 400 properties and 1,400 buildings are listed, the state Department of Business and Economic Development said Tuesday. The tool, which also has market data such as household income and workforce information, is at http://choosemaryland.org/moveyourbusiness/Pages/PropertySearchForm.aspx.

Working as a librarian has taught former blacksmith and Vietnam veteran Walter Rave that the public often acts like a spoiled brat and that real librarians are servants possessed of virtue and valor.In a field that typically demands a master's degree, Mr. Rave has never taken a course in library science. And, though the public library he runs in Takoma Park has more than a few books, it really exists to lend tools -- belt sanders, drain snakes, lawn mowers, electric drills and long-handled spades.

SAWING, IN A WAY, is antithetical to carpentry, which is mostly joining. Sawing separates, admittedly often for eventual joining, but not always. Firewood is sawn, and split -- divided, divorced.Sawing offers none of the satisfaction of hammering, none of its violent thrill. Like digging, sawing is arduous. It delivers pain to the shoulder that reveals itself the next day when you pick up the toothbrush.These days most men prefer power tools. Chain saws. Chain saws remind me of firearms. They embody violence.

Editor's Note: Today Jerdine Nolen introduces a valuable writing tool: lists. When this column began several years ago, I had envisioned it as a way to connect with other parents and caregivers of children. Since we are ultimately responsible on the home front for teaching our children to read, it is necessary for us to have tools and support toward that goal. I think we know what to do to support our young people. Sometimes we need the world to stop for a moment so we can think about what it is that we do, and there are times we need the extra push or a little nudge.

My friend Victoria is pretty handy with a hammer. And she has acquired a reasonably large collection of tools over the years. There are gaps in her tool box, but these don't faze her. When she needs a piece of equipment she doesn't have -- an extension ladder, let's say, or a jigsaw -- she strolls over and checks it out at the library.The tool library, that is.You see, her Seattle neighborhood of Phinney Ridge has a tool-lending library. It was started some 15 years ago, and it has contributed to every kind of home repair and remodeling job since then.

Comedian Tim Allen, the fool for power tools, can't get excited about his new TV show.It's "like trying to tickle yourself," he says. "It's just taken so long to unfold."Mr. Allen, 37, is being groomed as the next stand-up comic to make the transition to TV sitcom stardom, following Bill Cosby, Roseanne Barr and Jerry Seinfeld. His sitcom "Home Improvements," in which he plays a character he describes as "Bob Vila on steroids," debuts this fall on ABC at 8:30 p.m. Tuesdays as a lead-in to "Roseanne."

Anthony "Tony" Baikauskas, a retired Martin Marietta Corp. tool and pattern maker who designed parts for the Gemini 2 spacecraft and found a unique way to experience the world after two paralyzing strokes, died Thursday of congestive heart failure and pneumonia at Fallston General Hospital. He was 91.At Martin Marietta, where he worked from 1942 until his retirement as a tool and pattern supervisor in 1972, Mr. Baikauskas designed aircraft parts that had to be accurate to the millimeter. He received many certificates of excellence for his superior work.

Let's turn to baseball to sum up the Maryland legislative session's impact on consumers: It had a few singles but no home runs. "We made a lot of progress on some really critical issues," says Marceline White, executive director of the Maryland Consumer Rights Coalition. "But there is a lot of work left to do and in some places we had some setbacks. " Last year's legislative session was strong on consumer protections, with Marylanders still reeling from the foreclosure crisis and weak economy, White says.

Dr. Ernst Friedrich Lepold Niedermeyer, who was a leading researcher, author, clinician and pioneer in the field of electroencephalogy and its use in epilepsy and other brain research, died Thursday of colon cancer at Gilchrist Hospice in Towson. The longtime Towson resident was 92. "He was one of the senior people in his field at his passing and widely respected. His textbook, 'Electroencephalography,' is the standard in the field," said Dr. Ronald P. Lesser, professor of neurology and neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital.

The following is compiled from police reports from the Cockeysville Precinct. Our policy is to include descriptions only when there is enough information to make identification possible. Parkton Old York Road , 21100 block, between 6 p.m. March 17 and 6:05 a.m. March 19. Two chainsaws and two chipping hammers stolen from Vachino Masonry storage units after padlocks were cut after forklift blocking one unit was hot-wired and moved. Bond Road , 1600 block, between March 12 and March 18. Golf clubs and split firewood stolen from property.

He stands on a grassy slope, right arm extended upward with an alfalfa treat, addressing his 4-ton companion in the tones of a tender friend. "You're a sweetie, aren't you? You're special," Mike McClure says. And Dolly plucks the treat from his hand, curls it into her mouth and emits a guttural rumble. That's the sound of a pachyderm purring, says McClure, the director of animal programs at the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore and an internationally known handler of elephants.

Update: A spokeswoman for Suze Orman says NerdWallet has it wrong. Jill Zuckman says the monthly fees for the year don't add up to $39, but $36 because the first month's fee is waived. She also adds: "Also,it's fine to mention the MoneyGram cash loads, but you have no mention of the fact that there are no fees for people who do a minimum direct deposit of $20 a month and stay within the Allpoint Network. " This is a good time to remind readers to look closely at the fees.     One of the big complaints about prepaid cards is all the fees, some not so transparent.

By the end of last week, Ravens cornerback Lardarius Webb was hearing teammate Ed Reed's voice in his sleep. If it wasn't Reed critiquing Webb's technique or positioning, it was him giving pointers about dealing with Houston Texans wide receiver Andre Johnson , Reed's college teammate at the University of Miami. "He was on me all week," Webb said. "Sometimes I'm mad and I want to curse him out, want to tell him, 'Get off my back.' But it all pays off during the week.

AN EARLY childhood lesson that I keep relearning is the benefit of using the right tool for a job: not necessarily required, but always quicker, cleaner, better, clearer, easier, whatever.My latest acquaintance with the rule came last week, when I sat at my desk and, for the first time in months, could see the computer screen and my paperwork with no squinting, no double image and no headache.I had graduated to trifocals about a year and a half ago, and found them great for general living, but increasingly unsatisfactory for what I actually do all day.With the help of a colleague I measured the real distance from my eyes to desktop and screen, took the measurements and a bunch of money to the eye doctor and then the mall and presto!

Instead of a hammer, one woman used the plastic handle of a screwdriver to pound a nail into a wall. When the handle shattered, one of the plastic shards hit her in the eye and blinded her.In another incident, a man used a screwdriver instead of a pry bar to rip boards off an old deck. The screwdriver snapped under the strain, and the man fell forward, breaking his two front teeth.These injuries reported in Family Health & Safety magazine illustrate some common problems that result from using the wrong hand tool or using the right one improperly.

Residents across Baltimore have plenty of ideas for how to turn blighted lots into something green. Some people want to plot vegetable patches and fruit bushes. A neighborhood group thinks plants would complement a public mural. A drug rehab center wants to create a meditation garden for clients. A collection drive Sunday at the Parks & People Foundation office garnered dozens of tools to help make those plans happen. By late afternoon, organizers had collected a pile of rakes, shearers, drill kits, weed whackers, utility brooms and about 60 pairs of work gloves.

Officers have returned to the scene of the crime, where last year they pulled up miles of illegal nets filled with 12.6 tons of striped bass from the frigid waters off Kent Island. This year they are armed with new weapons: side-scan sonar to detect underwater nets, new laws passed by the General Assembly that expand their authority and public sentiment that has demanded a halt to poaching of the state's signature fish. "It was just a few bad apples, but they almost ruined it for everyone," said Natural Resources Police Cpl. Roy Rafter as he prepared to board a waterman's boat Wednesday near a spot known as Bloody Point.