A hearty helping for DOJ

September 17, 2007

An audit of the Justice Department released Friday shows it spent $7M to plan, host or send employees to ten conferences over the last two years.

Most of the dough was spent on … dough. Pasta, chips, sodas and popcorn – fuel for our hardworking government servants.

Among the story’s juicy tidbits:

-At one conference, The Office of Justice Programs provided employees with a sandwich buffet lunch ($44/person) and a themed “at-the-movies” snack ($25/person).

-At another, OJP spent $156 on 40 granola bars ($3.89 each) and $7,410 on 2,280 bags of potato chips ($2.50 each).

Anyone hungry for retribution? Or remorseful?

-JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor

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Posted by Jackie Sauter | Filed Under law | 1 Comment 

What, no Ford Ranchero?

September 14, 2007

In case you missed it, Hagerty Insurance Agency (a Michigan vintage automotive insurance company) released the results of a survey highlighting the top 10 most “questionable” car designs.

Its customers were apparently none too fond of the now-defunct AMC stable of vehicles, which had three vehicles on the list.

Chevys were well represented as well, with the unsafe-at-any-speed Corvair scoring a little better than its car-that-rusted-in-the-showroom brother, the Vega.

Other notables were the quintessential car bomb, the Ford Edsel, along with the literal car bomb, the Ford Pinto.

Unscathed in the survey is the Chrysler family of vehicles. Somewhere, the Diplomats, Cordobas and K Cars are chuckling to themselves. Also, surprisingly, the respondents failed to highlight the car/truck/station wagon combos so popular after Starsky & Hutch were in primetime — I mean, of course, the Chevrolet El Camino and its brethren the Dodge Rampage and Ford Ranchero (pictured above).

Outside of the lone Eastern European entry, the Yugo, the Old World car companies also were not on the list.

The first three of the dubious Top 10:

1. AMC Pacer – The Pacer’s interesting styling prompted one respondent to wonder “I’d like to know what planet the designers were from.”

2. Yugo – Mechanical flaws and poor quality put the Yugo near the top. “My Yugo improved my mechanic skills greatly,” said one respondent. “Somedays I miss that car, but then I remember the bad ride, poor brakes, no guts and bad interior.”

3. Ford Pinto – The majority of respondents cited a notorious design flaw that caused explosions in rear-end collisions. “Underpowered, cheap plastic, bodies prone to rust and, oh yeah, they blow up too,” said one.

BusinessWeek also featured a slide show of the cars, in case you need a refresher in their enduring ugliness.

How do they stack up against your vote?

—BEN MOOK, Assistant Business Editor
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Posted by Jackie Sauter | Filed Under cars | Leave a Comment 

Man’s best friend gets royal treatment

September 14, 2007

As I recently discovered in my quest for the perfect kennel, the time of cold, concrete dog runs and warden-style kennel owners has … well … gone to the dogs. Where once you would simply drag Fluffy to a prison-style cell while you vacationed on the beach, now dog owners — with the inclination and the budget — can find such amenities as puppy massage, hydro-sessions and even “pawdicures” in many kennels.

Of course, you pay for what you get — and this kind of care does not come cheap. But for peace of mind and ease of guilt, more and more “parents” are checking their “children” in for a week of fun and frolic.

The trend of pampering our pets has grown precipitously over the past few years. According to Newsweek:

As the demographics of America have changed, so too has the nature of pet ownership. It used to be that most pets were bought by families. Now, the majority of pet owners, 61 percent, are childless — singles, unmarried couples waiting to have kids, gay couples, empty-nesters.

Invariably, these owners tend to treat their pets like surrogate babies, and they spoil them accordingly.
Naturally, this has captured the attention of the expanding pet supply industry — ready to reap the benefits with organic dog food, salon-quality shampoo and diamond-studded collars.

Now dog kennels are following suit, with acres of indoor and outdoor play, “cageless” boarding, climate-controlled suites and even classical music during naptime. Many also offer Webcams, so you can always check in on your favorite furry friend.

Your dog has a request: Please go on vacation.

Who has a story or a comment to share about pet spas?
- EMILY ARNOLD, Special Publications Editor
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Posted by Jackie Sauter | Filed Under business, pets | Leave a Comment 

Who dares hang up on Captain Snooze?

September 14, 2007

I’m perusing the Web site of Snoozester, a Rockville-based startup company that provides wake-up calls to users who schedule them online. I’m thinking it’s a snore, until I land on the characters page.

Now that I know I can be awoken by a swashbuckling pirate, $3.99 per month for a job an alarm clock could do sounds more reasonable.

And as a 24 year-old, I’m close to the company’s target demographic: sleepy college students who have trouble making it to class on time.

Snoozester also has a corporate “arm:” you can use it to remind customers about appointments, invoices or upcoming promotions.

All that you’ve dreamed of, or a business nightmare?

-JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor
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Posted by Jackie Sauter | Filed Under business, maryland | Leave a Comment 

Breaking news: corporate boards lack estrogen

September 13, 2007

Network 2000 reported Tuesday that the number of women who serve on the boards of publicly traded corporations in Maryland has declined in the last year.

Down from 9.35 percent to 8.9 percent, Maryland dramatically lags the national average of 14.7 percent.

One of the reasons for the gap: Maryland’s industry profile doesn’t match the national one.

Our state has a larger percentage of bioscience/technology companies, which tend to employ fewer women; Maryland also lacks significant manufacturing and retail.

Another factor is the consolidations and mergers over the past year. Two board seats held by women were lost by the merger of Mercantile Bankshares. But that’s not the complete story – the fact remains that there are few women running companies.

I’m curious what others believe the reason is for Maryland’s lack of female representation on boards.

And (do I dare say) is it even important to be concerned about?

-NANCY SLOANE, Assistant to the Publisher

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Why isn’t this guy studying?

September 13, 2007

My (hollow) laugh for the day came in the morning e-mail, in the form of a video called “Law School Musical” — with, by the way, no apologies of any sort to Disney’s “High School Musical.”

Now, I’ve lived more than half my life since I was a first-year law student, but it looks like some things never change … Can I get a witness?

Sensitive viewers, beware - there is minor offensive language in the video.

-BARBARA GRZINCIC, Managing Editor, Law

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Posted by Jackie Sauter | Filed Under law | 1 Comment 

Uncontrollable growth?

September 13, 2007

The immigrant population in the Baltimore area grew by almost 40 percent between 2000 and 2006, the Baltimore Sun and the Census Bureau reported Wednesday.

In those same six years, the immigrant population in Howard County alone increased by a whopping 59 percent.

With all the talk of development due to BRAC, has the state been preparing for the infastructure changes that this increase in population demands?

Is the state of Maryland really prepared to handle this massive influx of new residents?

-JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor

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Posted by Jackie Sauter | Filed Under howard county, maryland, real estate | Leave a Comment 

HD Radio - what’s the big deal?

September 13, 2007

I see where iBiquity CEO Bob Struble, flush with success over his company’s alliance with Apple Inc.’s ubiquitous iTunes software, is predicting the end of analog radio.

Analog radio is what most of us still call radio.

“Five years from now, people won’t walk into a Best Buy and say, ‘I want to buy a HD Radio,’” Struble said. “They’ll just say, ‘I want a radio.’ This will be the standard, it will be everywhere.”

Really? Is this a prescient prediction or a wildly optimistic dream? What do you think?

-TOM LINTHICUM, Executive Editor

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Posted by Jackie Sauter | Filed Under technology | 1 Comment 

In the eyes of the law

September 12, 2007

University of Maryland police are treating the hanging of an alleged noose on the College Park campus last week as a possible hate crime.

But, before an act can be a hate crime, it has to be a crime.

Is putting a noose in a tree an actual crime under Maryland or Prince George’s County law? What are your thoughts?

-CHRISTINA DORAN, Assistant Legal Editor

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Posted by Jackie Sauter | Filed Under law, university of maryland | Leave a Comment 

A taxing matter

September 12, 2007

The governor has telegraphed his fiscal punch - a sales tax rate increase plus extending the tax to cover a host of goods and services not currently taxed.

What do you think? Is this the way to go? Do you have a better idea?

-TOM LINTHICUM, Executive Editor

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Posted by Jackie Sauter | Filed Under government, maryland, taxes | 1 Comment 

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