Don’t go hungry when disaster strikes
October 24, 2007
Have the wildfires in California and the recent drought gotten you thinking about impending survival situations?
Want to show your support for the troops by sharing their diet?
Whether you’re worried about earthquakes, tornados or blackouts, the Survival Food Store is your one-stop shop. There’s even an Armageddon Pack, which provides 30 days of food for a family of four.
Caution: the MRE (military-style Meals Ready-to-Eat) includes a Flameless Ration Heater, a water-activated chemical pack that can heat the food up to 100 degrees.
Careful, though — they sound an awful lot like Wolfgang Puck’s self-heating (and explosive) lattes.
Even campers and RV lovers like Clarence Thomas might be interested in the canned butter (no refrigeration necessary).
-JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor
Sphere: Related ContentFingerprints: no longer good enough?
October 24, 2007
Baltimore County Circuit Court Judge Susan Souder threw out fingerprint evidence in a fatal shooting case last week, saying it doesn’t make the cut when a defendant’s life is at stake.
Reporter Caryn Tamber searched for the decision’s ramifications and found that some attorneys worry that Souder’s decision could raise questions about all physical evidence.
“It has huge impact on this case individually, but more importantly, where does it end?” Baltimore County State’s Attorney Scott D. Shellenberger said. “Fingerprints have been considered the gold standard of forensic evidence for 100 years. … If not fingerprints, what’s next?”
Shellenberger said the state cannot appeal the ruling prior to trial, but his office is considering whether to ask Judge Souder to reconsider.
Do you think the judge should reconsider? And what do you think about her ruling? Should fingerprints still be the gold standard?
-JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor
Sphere: Related ContentProud to be a Firstborn
October 23, 2007
I did a quick poll today and realized that the overwhelming majority of those near and dear to me are “firstborns,” like me. And, according to Time, I’m in good company.
Not only are firstborns traditionally high achievers (just think Jimmy and Billy Carter - although he did bring us Billy Beer) but they’re often CEOs, too.
As Time puts it, “Firstborns do more than survive; they thrive.”
A poll by Vistage turned up these results: 43% of CEOs are firstborns, compared to 33% middle-borns and 23% last-borns. The same skew appears when surgeons and MBAs are polled, reports a Stanford psychologist. And, whether or not we firstborns want to be associated with them, the U.S. Congress has a statistically-significant proportion of firstborns.
An economics professor at UCLA even discovered that older siblings earn about 1% more than their younger sibling, though she questions the underlying cause: “I’d be interested in whether it’s because the second child is taking the riskier jobs,” she says.
Perhaps the most fascinating parts of the article were the findings by NYU professor Ben Dattner, who studied how firstborns and later-borns approach their work.
Firstborn CEOs, for example, do best when they’re making incremental improvements in their companies: shedding underperforming products, maximizing profits from existing lines and generally making sure the trains run on time. Later-born CEOs are more inclined to blow up the trains and lay new track. “Later-borns are better at transformational change,” says Dattner. “They pursue riskier, more innovative, more creative approaches.”
Score one for the later-borns.
Does this fall in line with your experience?
Anyone know if Under Armour’s Kevin Plank or Constellation’s Mayo Shattuck are the eldest siblings?
-JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor
Weighty talk for lawyers
October 23, 2007
Talk about finding — and filling — a niche!
We received an announcement of the opening of Leventhal Weight Loss Inc., which describes itself as “the first in the nation executive weight loss coaching service for attorneys by an attorney.” According to the Washington-based company’s literature, “Lawyers in the Washington, D.C. area will now be able to lose weight even though they have briefs due, trials coming up, depositions to take, and clients coming in from out of town.”
Founder and President Mark Leventhal says he “lost over 50 pounds while practicing international trade law in a Washington, D.C. law firm and has since run and completed eight marathons, earning him the moniker Marathon Mark. … As an attorney, he fully understands the hurdles that attorneys must overcome in order to lose weight.”
Do attorneys really need an attorney to teach them how to lose weight?
Could the same be said for engineers, teachers, doctors or journalists? What do you think?
-PAUL SAMUEL, Associate Editor
Sphere: Related ContentMontel hosts crowd at Lexington Market
October 23, 2007
Montel Williams’ message to citizens of his native Baltimore? Help is Here.
At Lexington Market this morning, the talk show host addressed uninsured Americans’ access to prescription medicines.
He rolled up with the “Help is Here Express” national bus tour, which launched in April 2005 and has visited 1,500 cities to deliver information on patient assistance programs. (Williams has toured since January 2006).
One such assistance program? The everpresent State Children’s Health Insurance Program. According to the release:
“America’s pharmaceutical research companies support the reauthorization of SCHIP, and more than 40 of the assistance programs through PPA (the Partnership for Prescription Assistance, which is responsible for the bus tour and for which Williams is national spokesman) focus on the medication and healthcare needs of children.”
Your thoughts?
-JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor
Photo by Eric Stocklin.
Sphere: Related ContentSome companies find it easy to be green
October 23, 2007
Last night, the EPA honored 17 organizations and businesses that are voluntarily purchasing power from renewable resources.
To put these organizations’ contributions in perspective, the EPA estimates that their contributions will avoid the equivalent amount of CO2 emissions of 450,000 vehicles each year.
At the top of the EPA’s “Partners of the Year” list - surprisingly - I found a municipality: the city of Bellingham, Wash (you’ll find it practically in Canada). New Jersey’s own Johnson & Johnson, Texas-based Whole Foods, Massachusetts-based Staples and California’s Wells Fargo & Co. were also “partners,” as were New York’s Pepsi Co. and Mohawk Fine Papers. For the full release click here.
I perused the EPA’s Web site for Maryland interest, and discovered Montgomery County’s wind energy purchases landed it a #4 spot on the Top 10 Local Government list.
A few Maryland companies are also listed as 100% green power purchasers, including Cheverly-based MOSAIC (a print communication company), Rockville-based My Organic Market, and Annapolis’s Rockfish Bar and Grill.
What are some other local companies that you think deserve recognition? And how important is it for businesses to invest in green power?
-JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor
Sphere: Related ContentLet’s all retire in Mount Vernon
October 22, 2007
A tip of the hat to WJZ for noting on its Web site Sunday that Money Magazine has named our own Mount Vernon area as one of the top 35 places in the country to retire.
Huh? I love Mount Vernon, but is it really a mecca for migrating senior citizens? I know retirees who have come here to enjoy elder hostels at the Peabody, but they didn’t move here afterward.
So what makes Mount Vernon so hot with the retired class? Money points out that a host of cultural attractions are within easy walking distance, not to mention lots of restaurants and pleasant places to walk.
Then I suppose there’s the Flower Mart in the spring and the lighting of the Washington Monument at Christmas. And now that I think about it, global warming is making our climate feel more and more like Florida’s every day.
After that, I’m fresh out of reasons, folks. How about you? What reasons can you think of for retiring in Mount Vernon? Let us hear from you and let’s be creative!
-TOM LINTHICUM, Executive Editor
Sphere: Related ContentLaw blog round-up 10/22
October 22, 2007
KipEsquire’s post on A Stitch in Haste this morning confirms an important fact: reading our Web site is legal.
For all those fender-bender attorneys out there, would a procedural tweak like this one in Washington, D.C., annoy you as much as it seems to bother this blogger?
Two hundred years ago, an elite group of private attorneys, including such men as Daniel Webster, argued regularly before the U.S. Supreme Court. For most of the 20th century, the solicitor general and his staff (representing the federal government) were the only lawyers who routinely appeared before the high court, with even high-powered private attorneys only appearing a handful of times in a career.
Recently, Georgetown University Law Center Professor Richard J. Lazarus writes (hat tip to the Legal Profession Blog), Supreme Court specialists have re-emerged, and their experience seems to be paying off for their (big-business) clients. What are the pros and cons of a specialized bar for Supreme Court cases?
-BRENDAN KEARNEY, Legal Affairs Writer
Sphere: Related ContentWho has time to blog? Presidential cabinet members
October 22, 2007
It’s Monday morning, and as usual, I’m rounding up ideas for posts. (I’ve been known to grumble about finding time to blog when other tasks seem more important).
But this morning, the AP tells me that two members of the presidential cabinet have MADE time to launch their own blogs, and I’ve got metaphorical egg on my face.
Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt and Michael Chertoff of Homeland Security are the first of President Bush’s cabinet to contribute to the blogosphere.
Well, I had to see this for myself, so I logged on to Leavitt’s first.
I was impressed.
He writes the posts personally. He responded to comments from his original post on SCHIP and even links to a WaPo article about a Nobel prize winner (not Al, though). And he performed his own six-week evaluation as a blogger. He also has an amusing entry that compares “personalized medicine” to purchasing new golf clubs. (“The golf professional said to me, “now that we know how you align your clubs (medication) with your game (ailments), we can fit you properly.”)
Then I browsed to Michael Chertoff’s.
It’s certainly not as easy to navigate, and Chertoff isn’t the sole contributor - he has help from Customs & Border Protection and the Transportation Security Administration.
The first post I saw was on IED attacks, which the Post covered with a front-page story recently (no link to that article … ).
Although the majority of the posts seem to be rehashed speeches with a clear agenda, “An American Story” breaks from that mold. Chertoff links to an Op-Ed piece about legal immigrants who work for the U.S. government while praising government servants.
But don’t take my word for it - check it out for yourself. And let us know what you think.
-JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor
Sphere: Related ContentTop this
October 22, 2007
I’ve got a story in today’s paper about lawyers’ and judges’ favorite funny courtroom moments.
Read it to find out what article of clothing criminal defense powerhouse Margaret Mead lost in open court and how Judge Darrell Russell’s choice of words completely stumped a defendant.
Then post your own funny courtroom moments in the comments section.
Can you top the ones I found?
-CARYN TAMBER, Legal Affairs Writer
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