Will Stink Bugs Meet Their Match?

"If 1 in 10 people had stink bugs in 2010, 9 in 10 people will have them in 2011." - Michael Raupp, Entomologist, University of Maryland.

Is the answer to one invasive species, another invasive species? USDA researchers think so. The potential predators, parasitic wasps from Asia, are being raised in quarantine in a lab in Delaware and appear to be killing off 80 percent of the little stinkers. If the wasps are proven effective and selective in their embryo destruction, researchers are hopefully they will be released in 2013. Read the entire Baltimore Sun article on stink bug research updates here.

Spring March of the Stink Bugs!

These last few days of warm weather have been lovely, but for many Marylanders the warm sunshine has brought an increase in brown marmorated stink bug sightings along with it. And the more we see, the stranger the places they tend to pop up. My sister came upon one resting confidently under the shampoo cap during a morning shower. I've heard stories of 'em hitchhiking on vehicles for hours, crawling into beds, and surviving spin cycles - but perhaps the most heebie-jeebie inducing is mentioned in a recent baltimoresun.com post by Frank Roylance, aptly titled "they're baaaack." Breakfast, anyone?

Can you have your tech gifts and buy local too?

According to our fave BaltTech expert and writer, Gus G. Sentementes, quite a few hardware, software, accessories and games that may be on your list originate in Maryland so you can shop tech with a slightly smaller footprint after all. The money spent with the companies on this list will also help to support Maryland's technology entrepreneurs and businesses. Find links to Gus's finds below and read more about the items and "Cyber Monday" on baltimoresun.com.

• Polk Audio is a Baltimore-based company that produces speaker systems for cars, boats and the home.

• M-Edge, of Odenton, Md., and ZeroChroma of Baltimore, Md., make cases for the Amazon Kindle, Apple iPads, and electronic readers by Sony, Borders and Barnes & Noble including: the Latitude Jacket for Kindle and the iPad case/stand.Bethesda Softworks, based in Rockville, makes a lot of video games for PC, Xbox and Playstation, and even the iPhone. Extra fun fact: "Fallout 3" was designed by a Loyola University graduate. Firaxis Games, makers of the popular "Civilization" video games is based in Sparks, Md.

• Hunt Valley-based Oculis Labs makes some very cool "Private Eye" software that uses a computer's webcam to detect when someone other than the computer owner is looking at the monitor and blurs the screen when it detects an eavesdropper or if the user turns his head away. (This one gets Just Saying's nod for being the coolest in the bunch)

• Baltimore Audio Tours sells a CD or digital download for an MP3 player that delivers an auditory tour of the city.

• Baltimore-based, interactive design agency Fastspot created Jumbalaya: a $1.99 word game for sale in the Apple App Store.

• Ellicott City-based company, GiftCardRescue.com sells rescued, discounted gift cards to Cheesecake Factory, Bed Bath & Beyond, Radio Shack and more.  

Commercial Wind Turbine Developments on the Maryland Coast

Timothy B. Wheeler for The Baltimore Sun reports:

"The federal government on Monday invited bids from wind power developers to place turbines off Maryland's coast, taking the first step toward what could be the nation's largest offshore commercial wind project to date.

The Department of Interior identified a 277 nautical-square-mile area off the state's 31-mile coast for possible leasing, largely accepting the recommendations of a state task force that has been studying offshore wind prospects since early this year. The turbines nearest to shore could be placed 10 nautical miles off Ocean City and 20 nautical miles off Assateague National Seashore."

And while we're on the subject of wind, I'd like to remind everyone to check out the incredible ideas born from the GE Ecomagination Challenge. Winners and new partners will be announced on the official site on Tuesday November 16th, 2010.

Black bear, Black bear

Photo submitted to The Baltimore Sun by10-year-old Jack Ferguson in Westminster

Apparently these little fellas are popping up all over the state of Maryland. The Baltimore Sun reports:

"...The latest sightings began Saturday in Federal Hill, in north-central Harford County. That was followed by a call from Freeland, in northern Baltimore County, and a third on Sunday from Shiloh Road outside Hampstead in northern Carroll County. On Tuesday the bear was sighted near Wheelers and Belfast roads in Sparks. And on Wednesday, the DNR took another report from Cockeysville...

...Total reports of Maryland bear sightings (outside of Garrett County) have increased from 82 in 1998 to 121 in 2009, Spiker said. The number of reports outside the four counties where bears breed has also gone up, from 6 in 1998 to 86 in 2008. As many as 72 of those 2008 reports can probably be accounted for by multiple sightings of just two bears – the one captured in Arbutus, and the New Jersey bear caught on Maryland's Eastern Shore. But the numbers do reflect the increasing frequency of bear-human encounters in the suburbs, occasions that can delight, or imperil, all concerned. And if (or when) bears get established in Baltimore's suburban counties, those encounters would surely increase. But it will likely be a few years before the bears become permanent neighbors. The Pennsylvania counties that adjoin Carroll, Baltimore and Harford counties have the lowest bear densities in the state. And female bears breeding in Frederick County will be slow to find dens farther east..."

40 for 40 Earth Days

Baltimoresun.com put together a great interactive of 40 tips gathered from local environmental organizations in honor of the 40th annual Earth Day coming up on Thursday. Find it here. Tips touch upon the food you eat, the home/lawn you keep, the products you purchase and the energy you consume.

Quite a Quandary...

The Baltimore Sun reported this morning that the Department of Natural Resources is all set to execute the less than 500 remaining mute swans said to be an aggressive and environmentally hazardous invasive species. From the article:

Mute swans have been a flash point in the management of Maryland wildlife, pitting bird lover against bird lover and putting animal advocates on opposite sides. Over seven years, the battle has been waged in federal court, in Congress and in Annapolis, as each side has tried to block the other. Even the task force report and the minority opinion show the deep divide. The majority concluded the birds are "aggressive" and an "environmental hazard" that should be eliminated, if possible. But Grandy and Joseph Lamp, a member of the state's Wildlife Advisory Commission, called them a "beautiful, engaging and captivating part of the Chesapeake Bay" that should be "treasured and maintained for the enjoyment of citizens."

Biologists say adult swans eat up to 8 pounds of underwater grasses daily, eliminating critical vegetation that filters bay water and controls erosion. Ornithologists complain that the non-native swans push native birds such as least terns, black ducks and tundra swans out of nesting areas.

Like many, I am torn on this issue. Particularly after reading just how the birds would be eradicated:

...That means shooting adults or snapping their necks, and coating eggs with vegetable oil to suffocate embryos.

Definitely check out The Sun's article and this previous post for a little history about how these swans came to be such a "menace" and the debates surrounding them.

New Farmers' Market: Downtown Baltimore

Every Tuesday between now and October, from 10:30am to 2:30pm, local farmers will be selling fresh veggies, fruit, cheese, eggs and more along the Paca Street sidewalk in the park in front of the University of Maryland Medical Center. This is great news for the many employees at the center and for residents in the area who otherwise would have to make the trip across town on Sunday mornings before noon. Bay & Environment blogger for The Baltimore Sun, Tim Wheeler, reports:

The medical center, University of Maryland Baltimore and the local community have teamed up to bring fresh, locally grown food to the workers, patients, visitors and residents of that busy corner of downtown. Local food reduces the energy and air pollution caused by long-distance transportation, according to advocates, and the types of food offered are generally pretty healthy.

Weeds = Superfood?

I believe I have mentioned that weeds are naturally high in antioxidants due to the simple fact that they flourish without human aid, but I will admit that tossing weeds into the salad mix hasn't been a top priority for me until now. Baltimore Sun reporter, Julie Deardorff, points to Dandelion greens as an excellent source of vitamin A, calcium, iron, folate and potassium, in this great interactive on the newspaper's website. Talk about turning a negative into a positive, huh? Dandelions taking over your lawn? As you yank 'em, pull off those leaves!

Raising Kids & Tomatoes - by Rob Kasper

I just added this book to my recommendations list. Like so many others, it should have been there all along but I only just discovered it.

Raising Kids & Tomatoes, published back in 1998 by The Baltimore Sun, is a collection of columnist Rob Kasper's musings about food and family. It's delightfully sprinkled with recipes, food-lore, and all things Maryland (think crab cakes and ducks). Most stories/columns are less than three pages long so it is an easy book to explore at your leisure.

And although I am not a beer drinker, if you are, I highly recommend stopping by Rob's blog, Kasper on Tap.

clever little critters...

Indiana woman opens car hood and finds trove of black walnuts left by a crafty chipmunk

Guess I am not the only one with a love/hate relationship with my chipmunk neighbors.

Dangerous Mussels in Maryland Waterways

Remember the devastation brought about by Zebra mussels that I mentioned in a past post? Well, I have some bad news. Despite the more than $3 million dollars Maryland has spent on precautionary measures, a fish survey team on the Susquehanna River discovered a single half-inch zebra mussel inside a water intake pipe upstream from the Conowingo Dam.

The Baltimore Sun's Candus Thomson reports:

The zebra mussel is native to Europe's Black and Caspian seas. The mussels entered the Great Lakes in the mid-1980s in the ballast water of an oceangoing freighter. Since then, the mollusks have spread to waters that border or cut through more than 20 states, Quebec and Ontario. This month, they were discovered in a high-mountain lake in Utah.

Zebra mussels reproduce rapidly and attach to structures and each other, building dense layers up to a foot thick. They spread by traveling in the bottom of boats or by attaching to propellers, bilges and anchors or floating docks.

In addition to clogging reservoir ducts and hydroelectric dam intake pipes, the mussels upset the balance of nature by removing nutrients needed by other species.

Find the full article here, on baltimoresun.com

thirty six to one half a bushel the other...

The Baltimore Sun's Timothy B. Wheeler reports on the "perilously low population of blue crabs" in the Chesapeake Bay (article found here) and how government regulations are affecting local watermen. State officials have decreed that female crabs may not be caught after October 22nd. Mark Somers, featured in the article, is one of many facing hardships in order to protect the population.

From the article:

...Annual surveys have indicated the bay's crab population has been depressed for years and was in jeopardy of declining even more. So Maryland and Virginia agreed to reduce the harvest of female crabs by one-third. To rebuild the stock, officials said, it was necessary to curtail the catching of females so more of them could survive to bear their young."We're not in the business of putting watermen out of business," says Frank Dawson, an assistant secretary of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. "We're about providing a sustainable stock for a sustainable [seafood] industry." But sometimes, he says, "you don't do that without pain."

M'm Hmmm...

Recently, Campbell's put an enormous (and expensive) ad in the NY Times (above). Today, a similar one appeared in The Baltimore Sun - announcing 124 MSG-free soups and continuing their attack ad campaign against Progressive. It certainly got my attention... and possibly that of undecided swing voters! I guess it's that time of year. Good grief.



The smaller text below the cans says:

For over 100 years Campbell's has led the way, creating soups with more of the stuff you want - like farm grown vegetables - and less of the stuff you don't - like MSG. Thirty-eight of our condensed soups have no MAG. New kids varieties are on their way to stores now, with no MSG and healthy sodium levels. Our Healthy Request soups have been free of MSG since we introduced them over two decades ago. Our Select Harvest soups are not only MSG free, but set a new standard for ingredients that you can understand. So while nearly two-thirds of Progresso soups contain MSG, the majority of our soups do not, and we're introducing more all the time. Enjoy!

Read more about the campaign err... competition in this article from Brandweek.

(thnx Holly)

***UPDATE***

How did I miss this?!?! Progresso's rebuttal (also in The Sun today - A section actually):

The copy reads: Campbell's has over 90 soups made with MSG. Progresso has 26 soups with no MSG. And more to come. We are removing MSG from all of our delicious soups. And don't worry, we promise to keep the same great taste you've always loved.

Spider Season

Baltimore Sun columnist, Susan Reimer, weaves some familiar fall images into her piece about spider identification and web run-ins as she explains which spiders we may be seeing more of and why. Enjoy the article here.

Just saying... I have spotted and dodged the enormous webs of at least a dozen spiders around our house and done so with a mix of fascination and the hee-bee-gee-bees. When they are on dancing along their weightless webs - fascinating. When they are waiting for me on the doorstep just after dusk looking far more like a tarantula than a "oh relax, it's just a wolf spider" - hee-bee-gee-bees.

Fascinating:

Hee-bee-gee-bees:

Again: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. -MP

You all know how I feel about "nutritionism," right? And isolated-vitamin pushers? In case you don't, I consider most vitamin-of-the-month club news to be clever marketing and cringe when I share a meal with someone who a) notices that I haven't ordered a dish with meat and comments/questions me about it, then b) tells me about the importance of protein and iron with no study to source and c) then offers their expert advice on which vitamin/supplement I should be taking.

Anywho... Baltimore Sun reporter Kelly Brewington wrote an article last week about the $9.7 billion dollar vitamin/supplement industry in the U.S. ($ total from 2007) and what advice, if any, may be worthwhile. To give you a few highlights:

- There isn't enough evidence against the practice to tell people to stop taking vitamins but there also isn't really enough to tell people to start taking them.
- Many experts agree about the benefits of Iron for women at childbearing age and calcium and vitamin D for post-menopausal women.
- A lot of the "evidence" can be biased because the vitamin-takers are already leading a healthier lifestyle.
- The bottom line however, is that eating whole, healthy, local and seasonal foods and exercising will serve your body better than any vitamin/mineral supplement.

Check out the article at: www.baltimoresun.com/news/health/bal-to.hs.vitamins08sep08,0,4530283.story

*Note: This post of course reminds me of a devastating fact about one in seven children in Africa either going or being born blind from a Vitamin A deficiency (that I will have to look up to report and source properly). I mention this because I'd like to point out that I understand the devastating consequences of a limited diet in certain parts of the world and in no way intend to diminish the importance of a balanced diet. What I am blogging about, and what Kelly Brewington is reporting about, is the supplement industry targeting the health-conscious market in America: a supposedly undernourished yet clearly over-fed population.

Excellent story about The Baltimore Sun

City Paper reporter John Barry does an excellent job in this accurate portrayal of The Sun. With interviews from breaking news reporters and veterans on their way out, coverage of Sam Zell's visit and the recent protest, and a clear description of the ever-emptying space on Calvert Street, Barry clearly spent quite a bit of time looking at the situation.

Read the article here: http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=16177

It is a shame that CEO Zell has little grasp of the magnitude of journalistic expertise lost with the departure of Sun reporters Doug Donovan, John Woestendiek, John Fritze, Jonathan Bor and so many others. I remember Jonathan Bor's visible disappointment as I sat with him during Zell's visit. An analyst at The Sun took Jim Collins' book "Good To Great" to Zell after the meeting and asked if he had read it. If you haven't read it, the message of the book is that the worst strategy during a time of industry-wide struggle is to cut critical jobs (like journalists). Zell had the nerve to say, "Read it? I live by it."

Sure, Sam.

Farmers' markets in and around Baltimore

The Baltimore Sun put up a great interactive map of local farmers' markets. Check it out here

(Photo from The Sun by Algerina Perna / May 4, 2008)

A little bit about me...

...and why I am blogging.

I'm interested in everything and I find that the best way to learn is to research and study a subject so much that you are comfortable writing about it, and therefore teaching it to others. Right now, I'd say I'm just getting started. Here are some links to writing I've done so far:

http://www.militarymoney.com/spouses/1212525675

http://www.brijit.com/profile/3345/Deborah-Dramby

http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/features/mutts/blog/2008/07/lily_lulus_lunchtime_rendezvou.html

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/howard/bal-ht.ho.fitness18mar18,0,2813784.story

http://www.militarymoney.com/home/1180468631