Wash

It's World Water Day today. What will you be doing to preserve and conserve this precious resource? Several fashion brands will be celebrating the 19th annual event pioneered by the United Nations with challenges designed to bring awareness to crucial water issues. Employees at Levi Strauss & Co. in San Francisco are wearing the same jeans five days straight without washing them as part of the company's weeklong World Water Day Challenge. To aid its employees in sticking with the program, the company has set up cleaning stations around its office for spot-treating denim.

RUMKE: Zachary Rumke, 18, graduated from US Air Force Basic Military Training on Feb. 8, at Lackland AFB in San Antonio, Texas. He is stationed in Spokane, Wash., where he is pursuing a career in the NAVY as a SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape) Instructor. Rumke is the son of Elaine and Jeffrey Rumke and the brother of Nicholas. Rumke graduated from Harford Technical High School in 2012.

It's amazing how quickly months of caked-on tunnel grime can be whisked away with a jug of Soot-B-Gone and a $250,000 Mercedes-Benz. The potent one-two punch is how the Maryland Transportation Authority keeps tiled walls in the Fort McHenry and Baltimore Harbor tunnels glistening from the beginning of April through Thanksgiving. For the overnight scrubbing operation, workers mix the anti-soot soap with hundreds of gallons of water and place the solution on the backs of two bug-eyed, German-engineered trucks called Unimogs.

Marylanders will face a couple more days of gloomy weather before things brighten up again toward the end of the week, according to the National Weather Service. On the plus side, the stretch of drizzle and rain should wash away some of the masses of tree pollen that have afflicted allergy sufferers for the past few weeks, weather service meteorologist Greg Schoor said. Schoor said a high-pressure weather system near New England is responsible for the rain and high temperatures in the 60s. "If you can manage through today and tomorrow and even into Wednesday, Thursday and Friday will be a little improvement," Schoor said Monday.

A waterfront state park in Southern Maryland has been temporarily closed after several pieces of military weaponry washed ashore, authorities said Friday. Over the past few days a few "military ordnance" items were found on the waterline of Newtowne Neck State Park in Leonardtown in St. Mary's County, according to a statement from the State Fire Marshal's Office. A photo of a rusted shell found along the shore was released by the Department of Natural Resources. The shell was about the width of a dollar bill and twice its length.

Most people say they wash their hands after using the bathroom. But a new study suggests that many of them are not telling the truth. The researchers demonstrated that people were not as conscientious as they say they were by comparing answers given in a telephone poll with observed behavior. In the nationwide poll, conducted Aug. 19-22 by Harris Interactive, 1,013 adults were interviewed about their hand-washing habits. Then the researchers sent observers into public restrooms to see what actually happened.

With flu season and the MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) staph infection upon us, we are urged to wash our hands frequently, usually "with warm, soapy water." My memories of Bacteriology 101 aren't clear, but I can't recall that warm water kills anything. Soapsuds, on the other hand, do carry nasty things away. Is there any science behind the "warm water" suggestion? You are absolutely right that warm water is no more effective than cold for removing germs. Soap and water don't kill germs, but only wash them off the surface of the skin.

The world needs many things besides (but still including) that "love, sweet love" thing. The world needs poets rhetorically nimble enough to articulate the breadth of our anxieties and hopes. The world needs leaders who can guide us through the perils of this scary new world with wit and assurance. What the world doesn't need is a remake of Car Wash, especially when it's as moronic as The Wash. The original Car Wash, from 1976, though not a classic, was openhearted and funny. It may have meandered too much, but what didn't meander in the 1970s?

Warren K. Milner, owner and operator of a power-washing business, was killed Friday when his Harley-Davidson motorcycle was hit by an automobile on Smith Avenue in Mount Washington. The Homeland resident was 55. Born in Baltimore and raised in Pimlico and Randallstown, he was depicted in the newspaper's old Sun Magazine as the Koontz dairy Baby of the Month. Family members said his parents carried that advertisement in wallets for decades. "Warren was never a religious person," said Rabbi Joel Tessler, a family friend who gave the eulogy Sunday in Pikesville.

The members of Boy Scout Troop No. 75 thank everyone who participated in their "car-a-thon" fund raiser, especially the men from Howard County Fire and Rescue Fire Station No. 9 who provided the space and water for the car wash.The boys washed 136 cars and collected pledges that varied from 2 cents to 10 cents a car. The money will be used to purchase camping equipment and each Scout received "camp credit" for his time.*East Columbia resident Kay Plaskowitz reports that this year's Russian Festival, scheduled on Oct. 16 and 17, from 11 a.m to 5 p.m. at Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Church, will be bigger and better than ever.

Josh Vecchiolla, 26, is poised to open a new business in Bel Air called LUSTRE Mobile Detailing Parlour, and to herald the start of the operation he is organizing a charity bikini car wash, car show, and BBQ at the Main Street Tower restaurant on May 5. Planned for 2 to 8 p.m., the event will feature women washing cars, and anything else with a motor. The Tower will provide all the eats, with a BBQ pit beef stand serving various pit meats and drink specials all day. Local bands will start the event's soundtrack from 2-4 p.m. followed by live DJ performances by Harford County natives Kimzl, Logun, Jigga and DJ Doido taking event goers into the early morning hours.

Keller Curtis of Fallston and his father, Richard Tibbetts of Bel Air, participated in the first "Wall Washing" of the year April 13 at the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C., to pay respect to those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. The event was sponsored through New Day USA, a Maryland-based mortgage lender that is the exclusive lender for the VFW. They help veterans with their housing needs.

When it opened a few years ago, the Abbey Burger Bistro was the first restaurant in Federal Hill to offer upscale burgers with odd meats. (Wild boar, anyone?) But it quickly became a neighborhood favorite of Ravens fans and the post-college set. The restaurant and bar is down a short alley off East Cross Street. On your first visit, you might walk right past it without realizing it. There are two floors - if the downstairs bar is slammed, you might have better luck upstairs. And because it's within walking distance of M&T Bank Stadium, you're in the heart of Ravens territory.

Et cetera Towson football trio honored by Phil Steele Towson sophomore running back Terrance West (Northwestern) senior free safety Jordan Dangerfield and junior offensive tackle Eric Pike were named to the Phil Steele Magazine Football Championship Subdivision All-America team. West, who led the Colonial Athletic Association in rushing with 1,046 yards in 10 games, earned second-team honors. Dangerfield and Pike, a Landover native, were named to the fourth team.

Sophie Pruden scored a career-high 23 points to lead the visiting St.Mary's women's basketball team to an 87-82 triple-overtime win over Division II Washington Adventist on Tuesday night. Pruden shot 10-for-19 from the field, grabbed 10 rebounds and blocked a career-best three shots.  The Seahawks (5-3) outscored the Shock 10-5 in the third five-minute overtime period to seal the win and end their three-game skid. Aura Payne (Severn) made the first of two free throws to keep it at a two-possession game with 24 seconds left in the third overtime.  Washington Adventist took two shot attempts in the final 15 seconds but both were off the mark.

College football Navy LB Wetzel chosen as FBS Independent Player of the Week Navy senior linebacker Keegan Wetzel was named Football Bowl Subdivision Independent Player of the Week for games played Nov. 24 to Dec. 8. Wetzel set a career high with 11 tackles Saturday, including 1.5 tackles for loss, helping the Midshipmen to a 17-13 win over Army at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia to clinch the Commander in Chief's Trophy....

SEA ISLE CITY, N.J. - Ed Blaine rubbed his hands together in the cold, salty wind. The wind was milder than he had expected for the week. It tossed his hair and ruddied his cheeks, but it hadn't brought the waves and erosion that were expected. Storms can ravage shore towns such as Sea Isle City, but they also can make lifelong commercial fishermen such as Blaine and David Kielmeier grin. That's because big storms churn the water, washing up conchs - in demand by seafood restaurants in New Jersey and Philadelphia - onto the sand.

Voting is live for Ultimate Baltimore Blowout! The following categories — spa, hair salon, bakery, gym and car wash — are for the best services. Voting ends 5 p.m. May 25. The poll is set up for one vote per I.P. address per day. Any questions/comments/requests for rules should be sent to contests@bthesite.com .          

My apples looked good until recently. Now they have tiny black spots and gray blotches that look like mildew but are dry. Are they ruined? Rains last month created conditions for two fungi: flyspeck and sooty blotch. Both of these fungi can be washed off. Soak and scrub off or just peel the apples. Fortunately, they don't affect eating quality. The leaves of my rhododendron are getting rough and brown patches. Is this a fungus I should spray? This time of year, those symptoms would be caused by the snowy tree cricket.

Most people know that hand washing is the most important method of preventing the spread of germs. Yet another new study says people still aren't doing it enough. They also aren't washing for long enough. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends singing “Happy Birthday” twice while washing, the equivalent of about 20 seconds of washing. But 57 percent of respondents to a national survey said they wash for just 5 to 15 seconds. About three quarters also don't ramp up hand washing during germy flu season, which peaks in February, according to the Bradley Corp.