Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist

Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist
Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Md Troopers Assoc #20 & Westminster Md Fire Dept Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist

Saturday, May 10, 2014

Westminster Hydrants scheduled to be flushed in the Greens May 12th through the 21, 2014

Westminster Hydrants scheduled to be flushed in the Greens
 May 12th through the 21, 2014

WESTMINSTER SCHEDULED HYDRANT FLUSHING
Hydrants scheduled to be flushed in areas of the City

Westminster, MD – The City of Westminster Public Works Department hereby announces scheduled fire hydrant flushing for the following areas:

The Greens of Westminster

Hydrant flushing will take place from 8:00 pm to midnight on Monday, May 12th through Wednesday, May 14th and then will continue on Monday, May 19th through Wednesday, May 21st. Public water system customers may experience discolored water during this time, this is normal. As a precaution, it is advisable to draw water for consumption prior to 8:00 pm each night.

For more information, please contact the City of Westminster Utility Maintenance Department at 410-848-9565. 

http://kevindayhoffwestgov-net.blogspot.com/2014/05/westminster-hydrants-scheduled-to-be.html

Labels: Water Sewer, Water Sewer Hydrant Flushing, Water Sewer Westminster - See more at: http://kevindayhoffwestgov-net.blogspot.com/2014/05/westminster-hydrants-scheduled-to-be.html#sthash.5vBw00Gc.dpuf
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The City of Westminster Public Works Department is located at 56 West Main Street. The department is responsible for overseeing the Water and Wastewater Treatment Plants, and the Utility Maintenance and Street Departments. For more information, call 410-848-9000 or visit www.westminstermd.gov.
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Kevin Dayhoff is an artist - and a columnist for:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevindayhoffTwitpic: http://twitpic.com/photos/kevindayhoff
Kevin Dayhoff's The New Bedford Herald: http://kbetrue.livejournal.com/ = www.newbedfordherald.net

Tumblr: Kevin Dayhoff Banana Stems www.kevindayhoff.tumblr.com/
Smurfs: http://babylonfluckjudd.blogspot.com/
Google profile: https://profiles.google.com/kevindayhoff/

E-mail: kevindayhoff(at)gmail.com
My http://www.explorecarroll.com/ columns appear in the copy of the Baltimore Sunday Sun that is distributed in Carroll County: https://subscribe.baltsun.com/Circulation/
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Friday, May 09, 2014

Proposed law would clarify who gets access to a deceased person’s digital accounts | Pew Research Center

Proposed law would clarify who gets access to a deceased person’s digital accounts | Pew Research Center:

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/05/06/proposed-law-would-clarify-who-gets-access-to-a-deceased-persons-digital-accounts/

[...]

The Uniform Law Commission, a body of lawyers who produce uniform legislation for states to adopt, recently drafted the “Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (FADA).” It would grant fiduciaries (a catch-all term for the various types of people who can be legally appointed to hold assets) broad authority to access and control digital assets and accounts.

FADA is considered by many attorneys to be an improvement over existing law because it would clarify and expand who can access a deceased person’s online accounts.

The proposal would create four categories of fiduciaries who would be able to take over these accounts in the event of a death: a personal representative of a deceased person’s estate; someone carrying out a power-of-attorney; a trustee of a trust; or someone appointed by a court to act on behalf of a protected person. Existing laws typically only apply to personal representatives... http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/05/06/proposed-law-would-clarify-who-gets-access-to-a-deceased-persons-digital-accounts/

'via Blog this'
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The strange liberal argument that thin-skinned religious minorities should listen to sectarian prayer.

The strange liberal argument that thin-skinned religious minorities should listen to sectarian prayer.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2014/05/the_strange_liberal_argument_that_thin_skinned_religious_minorities_should.html?wpisrc=newsletter_jcr:content&mc_cid=32c24ff91c&mc_eid=b27361148d

Why are some liberals conceding that it's theirfault for objecting to legislative prayer? By  and 
Early reactions to the Supreme Court’s decision this week to uphold sectarian legislative prayers in Town of Greece v Galloway have beenmostly critical from the left. That is not surprising: One might expect the political response among pundits and academics to be as predictable as the 5–4 split between the justices. But it turns out that some liberals, including some prominent progressive thinkers and, for that matter, the Obama administration, are eithersanguine about or affirmatively happy with the decision. For example, Noah Feldman, a professor at Harvard Law School, has endorsed Justice Kennedy’s plurality opinion on the grounds that only government coercion should trigger a violation of the Establishment Clause. As long as the government does not force you to do or say anything religious, he says, and provided that it does not proselytize or denigrate other religions, the government can endorse whatever religious messages the majority prefers...
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2014/05/the_strange_liberal_argument_that_thin_skinned_religious_minorities_should.html?wpisrc=newsletter_jcr:content&mc_cid=32c24ff91c&mc_eid=b27361148d
'via Blog this'
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Chromebooks looking to replace PCs by going offline | PCWorld

Chromebooks looking to replace PCs by going offline | PCWorld:

Agam Shah @agamsh May 7, 2014 10:30 AM

Google is adding more features to Chromebook applications so that they can be used without accessing the Web, addressing a common complaint among users who want the laptops to function more like traditional PCs... http://www.pcworld.com/article/2152281/chromebooks-looking-to-replace-pcs-by-going-offline.html#tk.nl_today

'via Blog this'
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Reflections of a Newsosaur: Average visit at newspaper site: 1.1 minutes

Reflections of a NewsosaurAverage visit at newspaper site: 1.1 minutes

http://newsosaur.blogspot.com/2014/04/average-visit-at-newspaper-site-11.html

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 30, 2014

Average visit at newspaper site: 1.1 minutes
Even though two-thirds of American adults visit the digital media published by newspaper companies, the average time spent in each session is an anemic 1.1 minutes per day – notably below the engagement enjoyed by competing media.  

 The good news for publishers, as reported this week by the Newspaper Association of America, is that the number of unique visitors accessing newspaper websites grew to a record 161 million in March.  This represents a 19% increase in unique visitors over the prior year and 66.6% of all adults in the United States, according to data provided to the industry organization by the comScore analytics service.

 The bad news for publishers is that the average visitor in March spent only 1.1 minutes per day at a digital newspaper venue, according to supplementary data supplied to Newsosaur by comScore.  The data show that the engagement rate at newspapers falls well under the time spent at competing digital destinations... http://newsosaur.blogspot.com/2014/04/average-visit-at-newspaper-site-11.html

'via Blog this'

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Snapchat, agreed to settle charges by the Federal Trade Commission that messages sent through its app did not disappear as easily as promised.

QUOTATION OF THE DAY

"The Internet is forever, and people don't realize that."
NICO SELL, a security expert, on Snapchat, which agreed to settle government charges that messages sent through its app do not disappear as easily as promised.

Off the Record in a Chat App? Don't Be Sure

By JENNA WORTHAM


The popular mobile service, Snapchat, agreed to settle charges by the Federal Trade Commission that messages sent through its app did not disappear as easily as promised... http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/09/technology/snapchat-reaches-settlement-with-federal-trade-commission.html?emc=edit_th_20140509&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=45685287

Success breeds another Prettyboy Day By Pat van den Beemt

Success breeds another Prettyboy Day By Pat van den Beemt

Public invited to learn about the dam, health of watershed

April 16, 2014 


Some communities have festivals in early May to sell plants and flowers for Mother's Day. Others celebrate the start of kids' baseball and softball seasons. Only North County would hold a festival for a dam.



The public is invited to attend Prettyboy Day at the dam on May 10 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. …

[…]

"Last year's Prettyboy Day was quite a success. There were cars parked on either side of the dam as far as the eye could see," said Kurt Kocher, Baltimore City Department of Public Works public information supervisor. He estimates 1,000 people attended last year's festivities…

[…]

The nonprofit Alliance, formed in 2003 to protect and restore the land and streams draining into the reservoir, will have several displays, said the group's president, Sharon Bailey.

[…]

The event will be held rain or shine. Prettyboy dam is at 18100 Prettyboy Dam Road, Parkton.


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When cows type: the power of the written word | Poynter.

When cows type: the power of the written word | Poynter.by  Published May 1, 2014 

[...] Read more: http://www.poynter.org/how-tos/newsgathering-storytelling/249828/when-cows-type-the-power-of-the-written-word/ 

Just this week I addressed a group of college writers at the University of South Florida in St. Petersburg and decided to use my 10 minutes to read them “Click, Clack, Moo.” When I announced my intention, I was surprised when a little voice in the middle of the crowd exclaimed, “I love that book!” 

It was a young girl named Isabella, a first or second grader, sitting on her mom’s lap. I invited her to sit next to me so she could enjoy the images in the book along with the text.

In the story, some cows find an old typewriter in a barn and learn to type. 


Farmer Brown hears them typing and talking: “Click clack, moo…clickety clack, moo.” The cows deliver a note to the farmer: that it is too cold in the barn and that they want electric blankets. He is outraged as the protest spreads from cows to chickens. Unless demands are met, there will be no more milk and no more eggs...

Read more: http://www.poynter.org/how-tos/newsgathering-storytelling/249828/when-cows-type-the-power-of-the-written-word/ 

'via Blog this'
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Thursday, May 08, 2014

HOW MANY YEARS DO YOU HAVE LEFT?

HOW MANY YEARS DO YOU HAVE LEFT?
Watch your age in the upper right corner!
Kinda fun to watch your age go up and down as you  answer the questions.
Now this is interesting, give it a try.
How long will you live?
This is a calculator that estimates your life expectancy.
It was developed by Northwestern Mutual Life.
It's interesting that there are only 13 questions.
Yet, they can predict how long you're likely to live.

Before the landslide, residents struggled to describe sinking street to 911 operators - baltimoresun.com

Before the landslide, residents struggled to describe sinking street to 911 operators - baltimoresun.com

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/north-baltimore/bs-md-landslide-911-calls-20140508,0,6759741.story

Some callers, transferred from 911 to 311, also sought to warn those nearby

By Kevin Rector, The Baltimore Sun 6:58 p.m. EDT, May 8, 2014

With the street buckling in front of her, Evelyn Cannon called 911 as cars teetered and then began to sink, their wheels becoming less and less visible. 


But Cannon felt unable to convey the gravity of the situation, she said. About 45 seconds into the call, when the operator asked her if anything was damaged, Cannon became exasperated.

"The street is damaged," she said into her phone, in one of nearly a dozen 911 recordings released Thursday by the Baltimore Fire Department. "I know this sounds crazy." 


 The collapse last week of a retaining wall holding East 26th Street in Charles Village above a railroad line started slowly, the street subsiding before finally giving out. Several residents and passers-by watched the shift as it occurred, and some called 911. 

 When they got through to emergency operators, according to recordings of their conversations, some had trouble explaining what they were seeing." http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/north-baltimore/bs-md-landslide-911-calls-20140508,0,6759741.story

'via Blog this'
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Kevin Dayhoff is an artist - and a columnist for:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevindayhoffTwitpic: http://twitpic.com/photos/kevindayhoff
Kevin Dayhoff's The New Bedford Herald: http://kbetrue.livejournal.com/ = www.newbedfordherald.net

Tumblr: Kevin Dayhoff Banana Stems www.kevindayhoff.tumblr.com/
Smurfs: http://babylonfluckjudd.blogspot.com/
Google profile: https://profiles.google.com/kevindayhoff/

E-mail: kevindayhoff(at)gmail.com
My http://www.explorecarroll.com/ columns appear in the copy of the Baltimore Sunday Sun that is distributed in Carroll County: https://subscribe.baltsun.com/Circulation/
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Marlin K. Hoff Memorial Log Barn circa 1794 at the Carroll County MD Farm Museum

#KED

Plowing fields with mules at the Carroll County Farm Museum Westminster Maryland

#KED

Wednesday, May 07, 2014

Del Nancy Stocksdale speaks Shepherd's Staff as Comptroller Franchot gives award

#KED

Brenda Meadows accepts Schaefer Award from Comptroller Franchot at Shepherd's

#KED

MD Comptroller Peter Franchot presents Schaefer award to Shepherd's Staff

#KED

Folks gather Shepherd's Staff for Comptroller Franchot give Wm D Schaefer award

#KED

Obamacare cost shockwave hits local schools equals bad news for Congressional Democrats

Americans for Limited Government:

Obamacare cost shockwave hits local schools equals bad news for Congressional Democrats
By Rick Manning
Calvert County, Maryland is a small, wealthy exurban enclave of Washington, DC, wedged between the Chesapeake Bay and the historic Patuxent River. 
A tradition rich locale whose county flag features a tobacco leaf symbolizing the historic crop that dominated the landscape even into the 21st century, the County school system is one of the best in the state.
But now the school system has a problem – Obamacare. 
The system faces a 13.7 percent increase in health care costs next year, as previously uncovered substitute teachers get covered and the overall policy costs are higher.
A Southern Maryland News article by Sara Newman spells out the bad news for everyone in the school system.   Victoria Karol, the District's acting director of human resources explains that there is hope that the County will be able to deal with the costs through negotiations with the teacher and administrator unions.
"We're going to have to work closely with those other unions and develop a health care committee," Victoria Karol said. "We're going to have to open a health care article next year in negotiations to help with this."
Newman quotes Nancy Highsmith, the newly appointed interim superintendent for the Schools as predicting, "There's no doubt we have got to bring health care on the table next year during negotiations. We cannot sustain this."
But Highsmith is not just looking toward the teacher's union, but also is targeting taxpayers who fund the District through taxes paid to the Calvert County government saying, "These are going to be very serious conversations we have to have with the county commissioners."
Calvert County Commissioner Evan Slaughenhoupt responds to these school administrators saying, "We've been able to stretch during this economic downturn and could be at the precipice of where discussions about reducing services could become a reality. Both the school system and the county employees performed extraordinarily at high standards while we have absorbed reduced revenue and increased costs. Time is of the essence now to prepare for the upcoming fiscal years."
This is the exact type of discussion that school districts and local governments are having across the nation as the reality of Obamacare hits their budgets.  How do they pay for it?
Should teachers and administrators be forced to pay the additional costs through increased deductions in paycheck deductions, should taxpayers pay higher taxes, or should there be budget cuts that impact the education, police, fire and social services that local government provides their constituents?
At a time when Obamacare supporters, like Calvert County's U.S. Representative Steny Hoyer, double down in support of the law, this new reality and the choices being forced upon local elected officials hit home for their constituents. 
As former House Speaker Tip O'Neill famously noted, "all politics is local."  Now that Obamacare is impacting local schools and public services, that truism promises disaster for those who foisted it upon the public and continue to refuse to repeal it.
Just a small lessen from the geographically smallest county in the deepest blue state of Maryland.
Rick Manning is vice president of public policy and communications for Americans for Limited Government and a resident of Calvert County, Maryland.
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Tuesday, May 06, 2014

‘A Fragile Trust’ exhibits irresponsibility behind Jayson Blair plagiarism scandal - The Washington Post

‘A Fragile Trust’ exhibits irresponsibility behind Jayson Blair plagiarism scandal - The Washington Post:

By Published: May 5


http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/a-fragile-trust-exhibits-irresponsibility-behind-jayson-blair-plagiarism-scandal/2014/05/05/596aca28-d45d-11e3-95d3-3bcd77cd4e11_story.html

[...]

I’d awakened absurdly early in Miami, where I was The Washington Post’s Southern bureau chief, to catch a flight to Texas. I was supposed to write a piece about the family of the last missing U.S. soldier after the fall of Iraq, a 24-year-old Army mechanic named Edward Anguiano. But when I fished the New York Times off my front porch and sleepily scanned the headlines, there was my story — my story! — on the front page of the competition. I barely recognized the byline.

It was some guy named Jayson Blair.

My lousy day got lousier once I arrived in Anguiano’s home town of Los Fresnos, a speck on the map near the Mexican border at the southern tip of Texas. Anguiano’s mother, who had earlier agreed to an interview, blew me off. While I waited at a gas station for her to call me back, I flipped through a folder of background reading. Something bothered me about one of the articles: a San Antonio Express-News piece about Anguiano. But I couldn’t figure out why... http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/a-fragile-trust-exhibits-irresponsibility-behind-jayson-blair-plagiarism-scandal/2014/05/05/596aca28-d45d-11e3-95d3-3bcd77cd4e11_story.html

'via Blog this'


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William Donald Schaefer Helping People Award

The Shepherd’s Staff to Receive the William Donald Schaefer Helping People Award for Carroll County
The Shepherd’s Staff was selected to receive the William Donald Schaefer Helping People Award for Carroll County for best exemplifying William Donald Schaefer’s lifelong commitment to helping people.  The award will be presented by the Comptroller on Wednesday, May 7th at 2:30 pm at 30 Carroll Street, Westminster, MD 21157.

Winners are selected on their demonstration of: Improving the community, swiftly solving a citizen problem through effective government intervention, directly aiding the most vulnerable in society or creating a public/private partnership to improve the lives of Marylanders.

There will be a short presentation and tour of the facility followed by light refreshments.
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William Donald Schaefer Helping People Award


Back for a third year, the William Donald Schaefer Helping People Award will be presented by the Comptroller to the individuals and organizations in each county and Baltimore City best exemplifying William Donald Schaefer’s lifelong commitment to helping people.

Winners will be selected based on their demonstration of: improving the community, swiftly solving a citizen problem through effective government intervention, directly aiding the most vulnerable in society or creating a public/private partnership to improve the lives of Marylanders.

Back for a third year, the William Donald Schaefer Helping People Award will be presented by the Comptroller to the individuals and organizations in each county and Baltimore City best exemplifying William Donald Schaefer’s lifelong commitment to helping people.

The following people/organizations received the 2013 William Donald Schaefer Award:
Charles & Joyce Smith – Allegany County
Seeds 4 Success – Anne Arundel County
Franciscan Center – Baltimore City
Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Maryland & Delaware – Baltimore County
Bernie Fowler, Jr., Farming 4 Hunger - Calvert County
Sister Jeannette Murray - Caroline County
Human Services Programs of Carroll County, Inc. – Carroll County
Christmas in April*Cecil County, Inc. - Cecil County
Future Next Corporation – Charles County
Chuck Kelly, Craig’s Drug Store - Dorchester County
Jason Mecler, Founder, JoAnn Garrett Classic - Frederick County
Duane Yoder, Garrett County Community Action Committee – Garrett County
Harford Family House - Harford County
Committee to End Homelessness - Howard County
Chestertown Mayor Margo Bailey - Kent County
Trio Galilee - Montgomery County
Erwin Mack - Prince George’s County
Susan Ponchock, Founder Bosom Buddies Charities, Inc. - Queen Anne’s County
Hospice House of St. Mary’s – St Mary’s County
Crisfield Lions/Lioness Clubs - Somerset County
Rabbi Peter Hyman – Talbot County
Franklin P. Erck, III – Washington County
Art Cooley, Lower Shore Parkinson’s Support Group - Wicomico County
Worcester County Veterans Memorial at Ocean Pines – Worcester County
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Kevin Dayhoff is an artist - and a columnist for:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevindayhoffTwitpic: http://twitpic.com/photos/kevindayhoff
Kevin Dayhoff's The New Bedford Herald: http://kbetrue.livejournal.com/ = www.newbedfordherald.net

Tumblr: Kevin Dayhoff Banana Stems www.kevindayhoff.tumblr.com/
Smurfs: http://babylonfluckjudd.blogspot.com/
Google profile: https://profiles.google.com/kevindayhoff/

E-mail: kevindayhoff(at)gmail.com
My http://www.explorecarroll.com/ columns appear in the copy of the Baltimore Sunday Sun that is distributed in Carroll County: https://subscribe.baltsun.com/Circulation/
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Powell joins distinguished club of former Carroll County Chiefs of Staff Eagle Archives by Kevin Dayhoff May 5, 2014

Powell joins distinguished club of former Carroll County Chiefs of Staff Eagle Archives by Kevin Dayhoff May 5, 2014


The recent resignation of Steve Powell, chief of staff for the Board of Commissioners for Carroll County, brought back memories of other distinguished individuals in county history who have endured that arduous position: Richard "Pat" Hill, Robert A. "Max" Bair and George A. Grier, to name a few.

In full disclosure, this writer had the honor and privilege to have worked with every county chief of staff — executive assistant — since the position was created in 1959.

[…]

Whether you agreed or disagreed with them, those who have held the position deserve a special place in our hearts and prayers for their service and commitment to Carroll County; for it is a wonder they are able to retire and not be committed: On any given day, the chief must keep the wheels of government running smoothly.

[…]

Often, my visits to the office of the chief of staff reminded me of the lyrics to the 1970 David Bowie song, "All the Madmen": "Day after day / They take some brain away / Then turn my face around / To the far side of town / And tell me that it's real / Then ask me how I feel." http://youtu.be/jb7Xdu7STx8 Read more: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/carroll/westminster/ph-ce-eagle-archive-0504-20140505,0,6364637.story

[…]

Meanwhile, it is only fitting that Powell will be leaving to take a job in a retirement home — as vice president of finance for Carroll Lutheran Village. Join me in wishing him the best.

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