People love babies. We love human babies, we love polar bear babies and we sure as heck love dolphin babies. That’s why when the National Aquarium in Baltimore announced today that a healthy, female dolphin calf was born last Sunday, just two weeks after a disappointing stillbirth to another expecting mother in the pod, only one question was on my mind: when do we get to see it?

Never.

No, that’s a lie. Can you imagine? But the truth is almost as painful to the animal enthusiast in me: almost never. According to Aquarium spokeswoman Jen Bloomer, it may be a couple of years before the new calf is weaned from her mother and free to leave the nursing pool, which is strategically located in the back of the amphitheater where visitors “may catch a glimpse of the baby as she surfaces with her mother for a breath of air,” the news release says, but don’t have any chance of seeing the tot up close.

The truth is, as much as I’d like to pet the slippery bundle of joy, the trainers seem to be doing the right thing by keeping the public at a distance.

“The natural pattern of the animals is to stay with their mothers, and we don’t disrupt that,” Bloomer said.

Sure, the Aquarium could use the calf as a marketing ploy to attract massive crowds of “Flipper fans” to the downtown tourist attraction, but I respect them for not taking that route. People may love babies, but they also love organizations that don’t sacrifice babies’ well-being for a buck (err, 29 bucks, the going-rate for an all-inclusive adult ticket.)

Of course, for those of us who REALLY love babies (and dolphins, and interactive tours and spending large sums of money), the Aquarium offers a Dolphin Encounter immersion tour, where, for a measly $195 per person, “bottlenose buffs” can actually touch the Aquarium’s most popular talent. And, according to Bloomer, “people that do our immersion tours — they get an opportunity to kind of see the dolphins in the back pool.”

For those of you who need help with the math, back pool = nursing pool = baby dolphin.

So what do you think? Is the Aquarium doing the right thing by not marketing the new baby, even if it could pull in an influx of visitors? And, while we’re at it, do you think it’s worth $195 to get a glimpse of the new calf?

ANNE RILEY, Business Writer

Powered by Bookmarkify™

Just when you thought the slumping housing market couldn’t sink any lower, a member of U.S. royalty has been victimized. Well, feline royalty, at least.

A 44-pound New Jersey cat who has been dubbed “Princess Chunk” was found wandering around the Garden State, apparently abandoned by her owner — whose house was foreclosed upon. Soon after hitting the media circuit and schmoozing with Regis, the cat was discovered to be a male, i.e. Prince Chunk, and his real name was revealed as Powder.

On top of the housing crisis that “Princess Chunk” is struggling with, much like the rest of the nation, it seems he also is facing an obesity and identity crisis.

Overweight, without a home, trying to cope with self-image in a superficial society. Is this the new face of our struggling nation?

FRANCIS SMITH, Special Publications Assistant Editor

Powered by Bookmarkify™

One of my coworkers recently attempted to break the workplace taboo against shorts. It was unsuccessful. (She asked me to note here that she believed the $60 price tag of the shorts would make them suitable for the office. So noted.)

And now she sends me a story from The New York Times, discussing whether the growing casualness of the workplace has finally opened the door for office shorts. The story gives some examples of the once-forbidden — sock-less loafers, tie-less necks and the entire concept of Casual Fridays — and a couple quotes from people who, I’m guessing, are painfully hip.

Then these few sentences bring us plunging back to reality:

“Yet none of the New York City banks, law firms, stock brokerages or hospitals contacted by a reporter last week considered shorts an acceptable part of a work uniform, and for reasons that varied from the need to preserve institutional decorum to hygiene (imagine a hairy leg in an O.R.)

Still, it is probably worth remembering that there was a time when politicians were seldom seen, even out of the office, without their decorous suit coats, and never in short pants (Nixon famously wore shoes on the beach). And it was only a short while ago that news anchors who ventured out on combat assignment did so in more protective khaki than a Victorian ornithologist braving the wilds of Borneo.”

So what do you think? Can you imagine a world where it will ever be appropriate to go to work at “banks, law firms, stock brokerages or hospitals” while wearing shorts?

JOE BACCHUS, Web Specialist

Powered by Bookmarkify™

It’s the end of an era — for the last three years, veteran Sun sportswriter Roch Kubatko has been entertaining Baltimoreans with his “Roch Around the Clock” blog and running commentary on Baltimore sports. Drawing more than 100,000 page views every week, Kubatko’s blog quickly became one of the most visited blogs at the Baltimore Sun and was often the most visited sports blog within its parent Tribune Co.’s newspapers.

But with The Sun’s recent overhaul of staff and content (dictated by the Tribune) and the second round of buyouts and layoffs since January, it appears as though Kubatko, who has been at the paper for 21 years, has had enough.

After taking the buyout offered companywide, Kubatko said “goodbye” in his last Sun blog posting today. Just hours later, the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network announced Kubatko will be joining its team officially on Friday and bringing his popular blog to MASNsports.com. It begs the question, how difficult was it to get Sun management to let him keep his blog, title and all, to a competing news medium?

Kubatko will also appear on MASN’s O’s Xtra and Ravens Xtra, the Orioles Hot Stove Show and the Anita Marks show. During baseball season, he will also co-host several pre- and post-game shows for the Orioles Radio network.

Kubatko is just one of the more visible examples of the longtime writers who will be soon leaving The Sun due to its staff cuts and paper redesign. How big of a loss is this for The Sun and how big of a gain is this for MASN?

LIZ FARMER, Business Writer

Powered by Bookmarkify™

When I moved to Baltimore in 2006, I was put off by an exchange with a carryout clerk in Charles Village. I had finished off a bottle of soda or iced tea or something, and I asked where I should put the bottle so it could be recycled.

The gentleman looked at me as if I had asked him to do a chore like mop the kitchen of my apartment or feed my fish. He pointed to the garbage can. “So that’s how it is here,” I thought. I’ve never really seen anything to change that view. The opportunities to recycle anywhere seem basically limited to a biweekly visit from the city’s public works department, though I have seen faithful participation around my neighborhood on that front.

So imagine my surprise today when I read the Washington blog DCist, which reports that Baltimore recycles a “very respectable 42 percent” of its refuse.

That beats Washington (22), Philadelphia (38) , New York (34), and Boston — where I came from (15). San Francisco recycles 69 percent of its waste! DCist gets its figures from a New York Times article and from the trade publication Waste News.

“It’ll be a dark day in a garbage-filled hell before Baltimore and Philadelphia can tell us how to deal with refuse,” the unimpressed DCist writes.

The Times article says recycling has been pushed by increasing public awareness campaigns in cities. I wonder how much Mayor Sheila Dixon’s Cleaner Greener Baltimore push has to do with our showing.

ANDY ROSEN, Business Writer

Powered by Bookmarkify™

The Princeton Review released its annual college rankings yesterday and two Maryland schools topped two of the categories—Loyola College for best dorms and University of Maryland at College Park for best athletic facilities.

As a recent college grad, I vividly remember sitting on a couch in a library for hours going through the books of college ratings. After all, I wanted to make the most informed decision possible.

Nevertheless, what it boiled down to was actually visiting the schools I was interested in. I was certain that I wanted to attend a huge university until I began visiting schools and ended up liking a very small, private college.

I attended Goucher College in nearby Towson, and even though I had read that it was ranked the “Happiest School” in Newsweek (2004), it took an actual visit to legitimize my pre-conceived notions.

I’ve set foot in several of the Loyola dorms (pictured at left) and never considered them to be outside the norm, but maybe I was in the wrong building.

Do you think any other Maryland schools deserve recognition (i.e. best classroom experience, most diverse student body)?

RICHARD SIMON, Multimedia Reporter

(image courtesy of Loyola Web site)

Powered by Bookmarkify™

Ever since Al Gore’s green opus “An Inconvenient Truth” hit theaters a few years ago, the former presidential candidate has been seen as one of the most reliable voices in the movement to stop global warming.

Lately, Gore has suggested that switching the nation’s electricity production to wind, solar and other carbon-free sources in the next 10 years is a reachable goal.

A new Rasmussen Reports telephone poll found that only a third of American voters agreed with him.

According to the poll, 62 percent of Republicans think Gore’s energy proposals would exacerbate the expensive energy problem by making it more costly. Republicans aren’t alone – 52 percent of independents and 26 percent of Democrats polled said they believed that Gore’s plans would drive up energy prices.

Rasmussen noted that the divide among Republicans and Democrats here is pretty evident: More than two-thirds of supporters of Barack Obama for president agreed with Gore’s environmental views, while 65 percent of those surveyed who support John McCain for president disagreed with Gore.

Coal is the leading source of energy nationwide, making up more than half of the supply. Alternative energy accounts for less than 10 percent of electricity provided in the country.

DANIELLE ULMAN, Business Reporter

Powered by Bookmarkify™

If you thought that affixing solar panels to your roof would reward you with cheaper electricity bills as well as a kickback from the state government, think again.

Those solar panels will eventually pay for themselves with energy savings, but it might take a little bit longer, now that the state’s solar and geothermal program well of grants has run dry.

The Maryland Energy Administration announced Thursday that it awarded a record $591,000 in grants to residents who installed solar water heaters, solar panels and geothermal systems, but now it’s out of money. Residents snapped up the grant money after it became available on July 1.

The state is looking for more ways to pay you back for going green, but until then, you’ll have to sit on the waiting list.

Grants still exist for the administration’s Windswept program, which gives up to $10,000 to residents who put up small scale turbines on their property.

If you’re looking for an immediate way to show off your green side and get some money in return, you can always be like eco-centric Ed Begley Jr. and install a wind turbine on your house.

DANIELLE ULMAN, Business Writer

Powered by Bookmarkify™

Consumers seem pretty tired of watching money flow endlessly out of their wallets and into their gas tanks.

I’ve read plenty of articles that say the sky-high cost of fuel has prompted some people to change their habits – that means more walking, taking public transportation, carpooling and downgrading from gas-guzzling SUVs to more eco-friendly options. (Check out this smartmoney.com article on why it actually may be smarter to hold onto that SUV).

Now reports are surfacing that the trend has spread to used economy cars, which makes great sense, but has had an unintended and expensive impact.

I’m all for buying a used car, but the increased interest in the market has made buying a fuel-efficient used car nearly as expensive as purchasing a new one, which seems to me like it’s really defeating the purpose.

DANIELLE ULMAN, Business Writer

Powered by Bookmarkify™

With my tummy rumbling and my pockets bare, Baltimore Restaurant Week — which kicks off Saturday — comes not a moment too soon. For just $20.08 a lunch and $30.08 a dinner (side note: what’s the significance of the $.08, besides, you know, the year?), diners can indulge in a three-course meal at almost 100 of the area’s top eateries.

In Baltimore, the event runs from July 26 to August 3. If you’re closer to the other beltway, the abbreviated Bethesda Chevy Chase Restaurant Week goes from July 28 to August 3. And if you miss both of those, D.C.’s mega-event, which trumps Baltimore’s by almost 100 restaurants, runs from August 11 to 17. If you like eating out in style — without overdrawing your bank account — as much as I do, the best news of all is that there’s nothing stopping you from going to all three. Multiple times.

And the good news doesn’t stop there. David Derewicz, manager of The Prime Rib, likes Restaurant Week so much that he’s extended it into Restaurant Month, an August-long (minus Saturdays) low-price promotion. This way, customers don’t have to compete for spots at the 120-seat landmark during one week, and can enjoy “a more relaxed atmosphere,” alongside a more relaxed dress code, Derewicz said.

“We found it to be a great way to welcome new guests and more importantly, it’s a way to thank established relationships that we’ve had with people over many years,” he said.

Restaurant Week/Month sounds to me like a great way for customers on a tight budget to have their steak and eat it too. Anyone not planning to partake?

ANNE RILEY, Business Writer

Powered by Bookmarkify™