Lend me your ears
October 29, 2007
In an assault case involving a severed ear, the Court of Special Appeals has reversed the conviction of a defendant who was prohibited from presenting testimony regarding his peaceful character.
Last week the court reversed the conviction of Rhashid Nutter, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for biting off his ex-boyfriend’s ear.
This case evokes parallels to other episodes involving ear assaults:
There is the infamous Mike Tyson assault during his heavyweight fight against Evander Holyfield. The ear bite seen around the world can still be seen in all its wince-evoking glory in this YouTube clip.
There is also oft-told story of the tragic life of famed painter Vincent Van Gogh. In one account, Van Gogh argued with his friend, and fellow painter Paul Gauguin and threatened him with a razor. In a fit of remorse, Van Gogh later cut off a piece of his own ear — the evidence of which can be seen in the famous “Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear.”
Not romantic, but tragic in its own right, is one of the odder European wars of the 18th Century — The War of Jenkins’ Ear. England and Spain went to war after British sea captain Robert Jenkins claimed the Spanish coast guard had cut his ear off after boarding his ship in violation of the Treaty of Seville. Eight years after the incident, in 1738, the pickled ear in question was brought to Parliament and reportedly gave legislators the smoking gun they needed to proceed with a war.
The War of Jenkins’ Ear lasted until 1742 and produced no clear winner. Fighting continued, however, as the hostilities expanded and became the War of Austrian Succession.
Any other famous incidents involving ear assaults I’ve missed?
—BEN MOOK, Assistant Business Editor
Sphere: Related ContentFirst responders to fire… an insurance company?
October 26, 2007
Wildfires are ravaging homes in southern California this week, but there are a select few homeowners who may be able to rest easy.
They are clients of American International Group, Inc., which offers a Wildfire Protection Unit for 150 ZIP codes in California and Colorado.
The unit has six trucks armed with fire retardant and hoses that respond whenever a fire comes within three miles of a client’s home.
As Bloomberg reports, “such protection doesn’t come cheap. It’s available only to customers of AIG Private Client Group, which serves affluent individuals and their families. The average customer spends $19,000 a year on the insurance, which may also cover yachts, art collections and ransom demands.”
It’s worth repeating: ransom demands.
About 55,000 customers are with AIG Private Client Group in the U.S.; and about 150 homes have been helped this week.
How much would you pay for this service?
Is it right that some homeowners may lose their house, while a neighbor’s home is protected?
-JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor
Above: Nick Atkins, of the U.S. Dept. of Forestry, hoses down a burning cottage near Running Springs, Calif., Tuesday, Oct. 23. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
Sphere: Related ContentThe art of the power breakfast
October 26, 2007
You hear a lot of talk these days about the importance of breakfast. It’s not just for nutrition’s sake anymore; it’s key to business success.
The WSJ published a review of the best power breakfasts earlier this week, and the descriptions were enough to get my mouth watering. Raymond Sokolov enjoyed lemon souffle pancakes and oatmeal brulee while eavesdropping on the hurried conversations of movers and shakers, coast to coast.
He writes:
For one, the power breakfast is the least exclusive, easiest reservation to cop in the whole frenzied universe of fine dining. In fact, you don’t need a reservation (except perhaps at the Regency) and you absolutely don’t need to spend the night in the hotel where you consume your gilt-edged lox.
Other people with my lack of star quality have also figured this out, and you will see many of them, along with normal and subnormal hotel guests in Los Angeles’s Bel-Air and Peninsula hotels, at Boston’s Langham as well as at the Hay-Adams in Washington and New York’s Regency.
Our sister blog also dug into the topic, recently adding a weekly “Freshly Squeezed” post from one of Long Island’s hot breakfast spots.
To you, I ask: do you dine out for breakfast? If so, where do you choose to start your day in Baltimore?
-JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor
Sphere: Related ContentJust what does DLLR do?
October 26, 2007
Many Maryland residents don’t have a very good idea of what else the state agency that certifies elevators does, according to Department of Labor Licensing and Regulation Secretary Thomas E. Perez.
Perez says this doesn’t work very well, especially for a consumer protection-focused department (fun fact: also the state’s third largest tax collector behind the Maryland Comptroller and the Federal Government).
“If people are victims of mortgage scams but they don’t know to call us, then we’re not doing our jobs,” Perez said at a meeting at The Daily Record Thursday.
So what’s he doing? Well, he’s going to the very source of much public awareness of his department: the elevator certification tag. The department is now listing facts about its activities on the certificates for all to see. Here are some examples:
Did you know? Last year DLLR’s Division of Labor and Industry investigators recovered more than $1 million of unpaid wages earned by hard-working Marylanders.
Did you know? Each year DLLR’s safety unit inspects almost 1,400 miles of railroad track, 3,800 amusement rides, nearly 6,000 high-pressure boilers, and more than 18,000 elevators to keep Marylanders safe.
But seriously, DLLR’s worth knowing about because it contains the state’s top financial regulator, oversees the horse racing industry, and manages unemployment claims among many other things. How does your business interact with DLLR?
-ANDY ROSEN, Business Writer
Sphere: Related ContentMarylanders Thinking Green?
October 25, 2007
Who wants to help support the cleanup of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries?
A new poll suggests most people in Maryland do. Better than four in five of the 500 residents polled on behalf of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation said making the nation’s largest estuary cleaner should be a state funding priority, the group announced Thursday.
The results come as the foundation pushes for a new fee on hard surfaces to support a “green fund” to the tune of around $85 million per year. The money would help the state meet commitments it made with other states in the watershed to reduce pollution by 2010.
But it may be tougher to get businesses and large property owners to pay 1 cent per square foot of hard surfaces. Those who own big houses (more than 3,000 square feet) in the state would pay $40 per year into the green fund, while a warehouse owner could pay up to $5,500 per year.
One side says this is fairer than previous green fund plans that would tax new construction — and say the bay needs the money.
Others say it’s still to costly, especially for folks like food retailers — given other taxes that are on the table right now. What do you think?
-ANDY ROSEN, Business Writer
Sphere: Related ContentA lawyer walks into a church…
October 25, 2007
The St. Thomas More Society’s 49th annual Red Mass, otherwise known as the “Lawyer’s Mass,” will be held today at 5:30 p.m. at the Baltimore Basilica.
The mass, which has been celebrated since the mid-13th century, “mark[s] the annual opening of the courts and seek[s] the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit in court deliberations,” according to the Archdiocese of Baltimore.
Its name is derived from the practice of the celebrating priest, along with judges of the High Court of England, wearing red robes to the mass.
What are your thoughts on this tradition?
Will you be attending?
-CHRISTINA DORAN, Assistant Legal Editor
"Dad, call a lawyer… I wrecked a BMW"
October 25, 2007
What a fun phone call to make to your father.
A loving parent posted on World Law Direct today that his teenage son, a Maryland college student, wrecked a brand-new BMW on a test drive. He’s wondering whether his son or the dealer is liable… dealer apparently didn’t ask for drivers license or insurance until after the crash.
Attorneys, can you help the poor guy out? Let us know what you think.
-JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor
Sphere: Related ContentWildfires bring to light new multimedia efforts
October 25, 2007
Even though the SoCal wildfires aren’t a local story, they have been on everyone’s mind these last few days. With the latest advancements in interactive technology, we are able to stay informed on even microscopic news. Here’s a roundup of what’s happening online.
Quick links to user-generated content: LATimes.com; CNN’s I-Report; MSNBC First Person; FoxNews.com uReport and ABCNews.com’s i-Caught.
| View Larger Map |
The Google map embedded on this page, originally built by San Diego’s KPBS, is one of the most complete maps out there. You can see where evacuations are occurring (red crosses), where volunteers are needed (the green horsemen) and which areas are safe to return to (green homes).
You may not have heard of Twitter, but it’s an increasingly popular site that allows users to sign up for alerts in the form of text or instant messages as well as desktop alerts. John Edwards’ presidential campaign made headlines when it began using Twitter to update supporters. Now, the LAFD is twittering users with traffic and fire updates. LATimes and KPBS jumped on the bandwagon, too.
On Achenblog, WaPo’s Joel Achenbach addresses the link between the wildfires and global warming that NBC made last night. His take:
“Climate change didn’t force people to build homes in dangerous places. Climate change didn’t inspire the U.S. government to suppress fires for decades in places that have traditionally been prone to brush-clearing wildfires.
That doesn’t mean we’re not sympathetic to the plight of Californians, or folks in the Deep South who are wondering if they’re going to run out of water next year because of the recent drought.”
-JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor
Sphere: Related ContentI vote for more vacation days
October 25, 2007
Our executive editor pointed me in the direction of a provocative OpEd (”Making a better world, one office at a time“) by Traci Fenton that ran recently in The Baltimore Sun.
Fenton’s workplace democracy platform has been gaining national attention by way of The Wall Street Journal and The Christian Science Monitor and through WorldBlu, her company, and its blog.
WorldBlu’s mission: to convince businesses that democracy isn’t just for governments.
As Traci wrote, “Democracy is … understanding that the traditional hierarchical workplace structures that operated on disengagement and the delusion of control are now a recipe for defeat in today’s collaborative world.”
She also adds that democratic organizations trim “unnecessary layers of management,” improve employee morale and increase innovation.
WorldBlu named the Most Democratic Workplaces for 2007, and you’ll recognize several: 1-800-GOT-JUNK; Bethesda’s Honest Tea, Linden Lab (creator of virtual world Second Life), GE Aviation’s Durham Engine Facility.
Our question for you: Can a workplace function without the traditional chain of command? What decisions within a company would be better made democractically?
-JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor
Sphere: Related ContentIs $18 million too much?
October 24, 2007
The new Maryland Insurance Commissioner, Ralph S. Tyler, said Wednesday he will convene a hearing to see if the $18-plus million severance package for former CareFirst CEO William L. Jews (at right) is too much.
Tyler is specifically looking to see if the $17.6 million plus $800,000 in interest package violates state insurance law requiring payment to former employees be “fair and reasonable.”
The company, which saw $5.5 billion in revenue in 2006, says it did not just come up with the figure out of thin air and claims it is in line with other nonprofit Blue Shield and Blue Crosses.
“The $17.6 million referenced in Commissioner Tyler’s release is made up of about $12.6 million in retirement benefits and deferred compensation earned over 13½ years as CEO and about $5.0 million in severance payments,” CareFirst said in its statement. “Further, several expert compensation consultants retained by our board have independently concluded that the benefits due Mr. Jews are reasonable compared with those provided by similar not-for-profit Blues Plans.”
Who’s right?
—BEN MOOK, Assistant Business Editor
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