Windows

Few police officers carry light meters, so what they do when they spot a window on a car that appears to have been tinted too much? Maryland law is very specific: The amount of light transmitted through the glass cannot be less than 35 percent. But as with many issues, it can come down to a judgment call. And since this one can be quantified, if the officer is wrong, it should be a fairly easy ticket to get thrown out. But Ravens running back Ray Rice didn't get a ticket.

Jeremy Gardner is getting lucky with first-time horse gambles, and he isn't planning to stop anytime soon.  Gardner, who recently moved to Baltimore with his fiancée Tracey Richter fromLlos Angeles, turned $100 in bets into $700 in wins by 2 p.m. "I'm going to bet until it's gone," he said giddily. "I'm only betting on the long shots. " "I'm having so much fun," he added as he waited to make more bets at the infield windows.  A steady stream of bettors put down cash at the open windows, next to a tent sponsored by The Daily Racing Form and horseplayernow.com.

Windows at several businesses in Bel Air - two banks and one restaurant - have been shot at over the past 10 days, town police say. Windows were shot at on Feb. 29 at NBRS Financial and PNC Bank, both in the 100 block of North Main Street, according to Bel Air police reports. On Sunday, a window at Friendly's in the 300 block of South Main Street was also shot at. The same day in the upper end of town, back in the 100 block of North Main Street, a front door at NBRS, was reported shot.

Baltimore County police are investigating a "possible bias incident" after a rock was thrown through a window of a Muslim community center in the southwest neighborhood of Riverview. Police spokeswoman Detective Cathy Batton said a rear window was reported broken at the Bab E Mustafa Community Center on Hollins Ferry Road between Monday evening and noon Tuesday. The cost to repair the damage was put at $100, she said. She said police were looking into the possibility of bias as a motive chiefly because no other buildings in the area were damaged, and because the person making the complaint said that in the past, young people have shouted slurs at the building during prayer sessions.

With windows for their canvas, Parkville High students put their creative talents to work during the local business association's fourth annual window decorating contest. Their assignment at Hohne Pool and Spa offered them some of the largest glass spaces on Harford Road. They checked sketches, drawn in their classroom, and set to work on a blustery, cold afternoon. Standing in raised but empty flower beds, they could extend their brushes to the tops of the tall windows. The falling temperatures and gusting winds Thursday had Ed Pinder, a contest organizer, wondering if the Parkville students could complete the task.

WASHINGTON -- In a case that echoes earlier fights over terms like "Light Beer" and "The Pill," the federal government has issued a preliminary decision denying Microsoft Corp. a trademark for the word "Windows" on its hugely successful computer program by that name.If it is upheld, the decision by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, which Microsoft will appeal, would be a blow to the software giant. Microsoft dominates the market for programs that provide the basic instructions on IBM-compatible personal computers.

Vandals broke windows in nearly 30 vehicles in the Westminster area Friday and Saturday, city police reported. Investigators said the damage amounted to about $2,000.Officers said the vandals apparently drove around the city and randomly shattered windows.In one of the incidents, a resident of Wimert Avenue found a ball bearing inside her auto after a window was broken. She estimated the damage at $100.Seven of the vehicles vandalized over the weekend belonged to the state and were parked at various locations, police said.

Not all sports collectibles are cardboard or baseball-related. They are not always small, either.A case in point is an unusual item available from the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass.For $500, plus a maximum shipping charge of $150, the dedicated basketball fan can own one of the "windows" that once hung in the Hall of Fame's Honors Court.There were 140 "windows" in the original Hall of Fame, one for each inductee. When the Hall of Fame moved to its present quarters in 1985, its new Honors Court did not have windows.

If you're shopping for a computer this season, you'll find a lot of machines with labels that say "Windows Media Center Edition." If you buy one and don't know what you're getting, you could be in for a surprise - good or bad. Windows MCE, as it's known in the trade, is software designed to turn a suitably equipped PC into a friendly, family room multimedia center that can play video and music through a TV or home stereo. It can also serve as a digital video recorder, much like the well-known TiVo.

Old windows always pose a dilemma in a rehab.Windows get a lot of wear. If they're original to the house, they may be battered, broken, warped or cracked, and they're almost certainly drafty, energy-wasting monsters. But replacing them with new, energy-efficient designs will destroy a major element in the historic fabric of the structure.And if you live in a designated historic district, you may not be allowed to replace them anyway.So what do you do? You rebuild them.At least that's what we are doing to the eight windows that adorn the facade of the 19th century townhouse we're working on. It's not just that the windows are old, they're also special.

Baltimore County police are searching for a 48-year-old man charged in a series of burglaries targeting office buildings throughout the county. Authorities identified the suspect as Billy Evans, who frequents North Avenue in Baltimore, Police said that he is a suspect in the April 3 break ins at two businesses on Frederick Road in Wilkens -- Step Well Podiatry and Advanced Hearing Centers, where electronic equipment, money and postage stamps were...

Standing in the driveway of Arleen Dvorine's Lutherville property, it is clear she has successfully realized her dream of converting an old carriage house into an office and home. The 240-year-old, one-story structure served as the stable for the long-ago gentleman farmer and owner of White Manor, a mansion still standing and still occupied further down the winding road. A gently sloping roof flows into the exterior's cedar shake siding. Multi-paned windows — colonial in style and with cream trim — are symmetrically placed on either side of a portico, also in a cream color.

A toddler fell three stories from an apartment building window Friday evening in Owings Mills, police said. The 2-year-old boy sustained life-threatening injuries in the fall and was flown to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center. The fall occurred around 7 p.m. on Willow Bend Drive, police said. There was no update on the child's condition as of 10:15 p.m. steve.kilar@baltsun.com twitter.com/stevekilar

Windows at several businesses in Bel Air - two banks and one restaurant - have been shot at over the past 10 days, town police say. Windows were shot at on Feb. 29 at NBRS Financial and PNC Bank, both in the 100 block of North Main Street, according to Bel Air police reports. On Sunday, a window at Friendly's in the 300 block of South Main Street was also shot at. The same day in the upper end of town, back in the 100 block of North Main Street, a front door at NBRS, was reported shot.

I've had several readers ask the same question: What are degree days? The statistic is a measure of heating and cooling. It comes from the difference between the day's average temperature and 65 degrees. A high degree days value means your heat or air conditioning is cranking; zero means it's time to open the windows. Because this winter has been so mild, you shouldn't be surprised to learn that degree days to date are running lower than normal and lower than a year ago. That's good news for your heating bill.

In the previouslies, Jeff points out that the men have won all the challenges thus far. Yup, the women have really not been doing well at anything. Fingers crossed that this episode will change that? I can hope, right? (And it's not that I'm all that big of a fan of Salani, it's just downright embarrassing for them at this point.) Once the women are back from Tribal Council, the men come over and invite them to their camp (the one with the tarps) because a nasty storm is coming in. The women claim that they will be fine, but they've obviously never camped during a storm.

Over the years, Microsoft has loaded PCs with programs that have nothing to do with Windows' main function as an operating system. Riffle through the Start menu and you'll find a word processor, a painting program, calculator, Web browser, music and video player, movie maker, sound editor and, of course, a solitaire game. Stroll through the software department in any big box retailer and you'll find more programs that Microsoft has spent decades and hundreds of millions of dollars to develop - Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, Outlook, Publisher, Works and even Age of Empires (one of the game industry's great simulation-exploration titles)

Vandals smashed the windows of several Anne Arundel County businesses late last week and over the weekend, police said.Managers of at least nine businesses along Baltimore-Annapolis Boulevard and Crain and Ritchie highways in Glen Burnie reported that their windows had been shattered overnight Thursday by vandals who used pellet guns.Friday night, windows of five businesses along Fort Smallwood Road in Pasadena were shattered. It appeared the vandals might have used a slingshot or a pellet gun, police said.

So maybe it was just a coincidence. Maybe it was just a fluke. A few short days after my last column went to press, where I discussed chasing kids who beat on the windows of businesses, I walked out to my car after work and discovered an unfortunate new expense - the rear window of my car had been smashed out. This wasn't a theft. Nothing was stolen. It was nothing like that. It was either just a random act of a window giving way, or someone committed vehicular vandalism.

Is the window closing for the Ravens to win a Super Bowl? It definitely is for stalwart linebacker Ray Lewis and free safety Ed Reed. But Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti believes the window is wide open for his franchise. “I don't see age as being a window closing, not when you have a franchise quarterback coming up that's entering his fifth year,” Bisciotti said at Wednesday's news conference. “We got great contributions this year from three of our seven draft picks, and I know that we are very excited about the other ones.