Seemed So Much Simpler Then…

By Todd Holden

My Mom used to cut chicken, chop eggs and spread mayo on the same cutting board with the same knife and no bleach, but we didn’t seem to get food poisoning.

My Mom used to defrost hamburger on the counter AND I used to eat it raw sometimes too, but I can’t remember getting E-coli.

Almost all of us would have rather gone swimming in the lake instead of a pristine pool (talk about boring), the term cell phone would have conjured up a phone in a jail cell, and a pager was the school PA system. Continue reading Seemed So Much Simpler Then…

Police Survivor’s Story to Air on Fox 45, Legislators Ask Governor O’Malley to Fund Scholarships for Fallen Heroes

Prompted by information first made public on The Dagger, Fox 45 News (Channel 15) will air a story on tonight’s 10 p.m. broadcast about the plight of Lynne Parry, widow of Baltimore Police Detective Sergeant Mark F. Parry. Lynne’s son was denied college tuition assistance intended for police survivors when the Edward T. Conroy Memorial Scholarship Fund ran out of money, leaving a total of 40 deserving families out in the cold. Continue reading Police Survivor’s Story to Air on Fox 45, Legislators Ask Governor O’Malley to Fund Scholarships for Fallen Heroes

NYC Is Just A Hop, Skip And Train Ride Away From Aberdeen Along the Rail Line

We get to the park and ride at 6:06 a.m. Wednesday, June 25. It costs nothing to park. Printing out tickets is a breeze - swipe your card, confirm, print. Departure is at 6:35 a.m. and it is ON TIME. Yay!

We sit in the café section of the Amtrak that has big open booths. My niece Paula sets up her iPod. I set up my laptop on the spacious table and plug it in - not wasting the battery. I’m on wireless so now I just have to get it working. When we begin to move, she looks around and takes it in, her eyes wide and that smile is just brewing. “This is amazing,” she says. I haven’t heard this 14-year old say much of anything with a 5 a.m. wake up call. We are in for a treat alright. Continue reading NYC Is Just A Hop, Skip And Train Ride Away From Aberdeen Along the Rail Line

A Memorial To My Dad

May 2004, just a week before the WW II Memorial in Washington D.C. was to be dedicated, I took my Dad down to see it. At 85, he was a little unsure on his feet so I borrowed a wheelchair so I could push him around the Mall. My Dad was excited to be going and was even looking forward to the ride in on the D.C. Metro.

It was one of those perfect May days; bright sun, warm and not a cloud in the sky. On top of the perfect day we had a perfect tour guide with us. My friend Tom knew the Washington D.C. landmarks well, and ever the teacher, would regale us with bits of history and trivia that we weren’t aware of.

A little about my Dad: Born in St Louis, Missouri on November 7, 1918, he was drafted into the Army soon after the attack on Pearl Harbor. He was stationed at Aberdeen Proving Ground. The buildup to D-Day was in full gear, although as my Dad would say many years later, that no one knew the extent of the Normandy invasion because it was kept so secret, for obvious reasons. From APG, my Dad was transferred to Ft. Jackson, South Carolina for further training and then to Ft. Dix for processing before being shipped out to Iceland from the Port of New York. His MOS (Military Occupational Specialty), that he was assigned to, was ordnance supply and specifically ammunition. He thought that he was placed there because he had worked in a car repair garage prior to being drafted and the Army thought that he had some mechanical ability. That the Army recognized this in my Dad was a benefit to both him and the Army. Continue reading A Memorial To My Dad

Where There’s Water, There’s Life

Bob Pappalardo’s drive to work used to take about 20 minutes, and ran along the quiet, winding North Foothills Highway from Boulder, Colorado to the small town of Lyons and the sandstone buildings of the University of Colorado. It was a fine commute, except when it snowed. Today, Pappalardo, a senior research scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, monitors the Los Angeles traffic - “quite a sport,” he says - before heading out from his home near Santa Monica for the trek up to Pasadena; there are days, Pappalardo says, when the 25-mile drive lasts an hour and fifteen minutes.

So what got Pappalardo, a planetary geologist, and his girlfriend to leave the rambling serenity of the Eastern Rockies for the bustle of L.A.? It was a no-brainer: the search for life beyond Earth.

As study scientist for NASA’s burgeoning Europa orbiter mission, Pappalardo is working with a group of Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientists and engineers to deliver a plan for return to the icy moon of Jupiter, where the Galileo spacecraft, working in the late 1990s and early 2000s, recorded evidence of a vast, subsurface, saltwater ocean. Such an ocean, many scientists believe, could support the type of single-cell organisms that emerged as the first life forms on Earth. Continue reading Where There’s Water, There’s Life

1,000 Words About a Picture: Harford County Councilman Dion Guthrie and Sen. Hillary Clinton White Marsh Photo-Op

Perhaps as a last-ditch effort to help drum up support for the sinking presidential candidate, or maybe just to show it off before it became completely irrelevant, Harford County Councilman Dion Guthrie unveiled a photograph last week showing him and Sen. Hillary Clinton meeting, shaking hands and evidently discussing the state of the Union while she was campaigning in Baltimore County.

Guthrie, a Democrat representing the Edgewood and Joppatowne area, passed the picture along to a small group of associates and, upon further inquiry, explained the photo opportunity came in mid-February when Sen. Clinton made a stop at the General Motors Allison Transmission Plant in White Marsh. Continue reading 1,000 Words About a Picture: Harford County Councilman Dion Guthrie and Sen. Hillary Clinton White Marsh Photo-Op

For Sale: One Kidney, Used But Not Abused

Does anybody out there need a kidney? Sure, it’s not a question you hear everyday, but apparently Iran has a few we could order up if you answered “yes” . What do you say?

Iran is not usually a country we look to in order to draw ideas from, especially fiscally driven ones. But it seems that they have an incredibly successful organ vendor program.

Transplant nephrologist Benjamin E. Hippen out of North Carolina recently published a paper called “Organ Sales and Moral Travails: Lessons From the Living Kidney Vendor Program in Iran.”

If you are shaking your head at this point asking if I am serious, indeed I am. Here are some excerpts from Dr. Hippen’s paper… Continue reading For Sale: One Kidney, Used But Not Abused

Cancer Fears Me: Putting A Positive Spin On A Negative Diagnosis

“Cancer Fears Me.” These three words strung together have the audacity to put the “C” word in its place. It’s original and pretty simple really: Cancer Fears Me.

Powerful words for a mother of three to come up with as she shuffles her children to and from various activities. This is not just any mother though. This is Sharon Perfetti, Executive Director and co-founder of the Cool Kids Campaign. Her mission and that of the Cool Kids Campaign is about helping and giving. It’s about working with kids who’ve been given a diagnosis of cancer. It’s about always thinking and doing, even if and when that light bulb moment hits her in the car.

“It just came to me. I spend so much time seeing these families and fear is an over-riding emotion,” Perfetti said, lamenting the many concerns and issues that are suddenly thrust upon the families she deals with day in and day out. “What’s going to happen, how quickly is it going to spread?” It’s hard to even imagine, let alone happen to a child. Continue reading Cancer Fears Me: Putting A Positive Spin On A Negative Diagnosis

A Guilty Catholic’s Hope For How The Pope Can Change The World

When I was a kid I remember going to church. I think Christians, despite their current commitment or denomination, remember how impossible it was to sit still in church. It got easier through repetition and maturity. Once you got to be about eight or nine, we all started to pay attention and things got easier. After all, the whole mass was a story with a moral. Say what you will, interpreted correctly the Bible (or Torah, Koran or any other theocratic tome) truly is a great tool to learn from and apply to your life. It teaches lessons.

But as the world has taken leaps and bounds from the “god-fearing” people we once were the whole concept of church can seem a little archaic. That, however, is not an issue to be tackled now. Do I sound like a lapsed Catholic? Well, I guess I could be termed that way. I believe in God. I believe in the teachings in the Bible. Do I follow them to the letter? No, because to err is human and I am very human.

The Catholic Church is not what it used to be. The good intentions are there and there are a lot of good priests and parishioners left, but the scandals and politics get in the way. It has been like that for too long. The messages and teachings in the Bible are weighed down and drowned out by the structure and unadapted rules of the church. That is what causes people like me to drift away from attending mass every Sunday (heck, even every day… that is how it used to be). Continue reading A Guilty Catholic’s Hope For How The Pope Can Change The World

There’s a Doctor in the House: Ron Paul Visits Goucher College

Standing in line in the Rosenberg Gallery, (the Gallery makes up the lobby for the Kraushaar Auditorium at Goucher College) I was waiting for a friend. A friend I had made just two weeks earlier at the same venue, while listening to former General Counsel of the U.S. Navy, Alberto Mora.

I was one person of approximately 1,000 people, made up of Goucher Students, young professionals, older couples and blue collar workers of all ages. I saw Jews and Gentiles alike. Young married couples with kids in tow and a few individuals that I guessed to be of Middle Eastern descent. We were all waiting for the same thing. The doors to open to Kraushaar Auditorium so we could begin filing in to hear the speaker.

That person being the Republican Congressman from Texas running for President of the United States, Dr. Ron Paul. The free Ron Paul event at Goucher College Monday night, was as hot a commodity as any concert ticket could have been. There was a line formed next to will-call for those not having a ticket but hoping that all of the tickets may not have been spoken for. Continue reading There’s a Doctor in the House: Ron Paul Visits Goucher College

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