The announcement last week from the Port of Baltimore that it had “launched a Twitter page” tripped a social media alarm bell for me.

The venerable state agency came off a little like a dad trying to look cool to his kids, talking about listening to hippity-hop music and updating his Bookface status. But credit where it’s due: @portofbalt used the platform very effectively Tuesday in getting word out about a 9/11 memorial to be built at the World Trade Center in Baltimore.

“POB is very honored to be the home of selected pieces from the WTC NY’s North Tower,” read the tweet, posted at about 2 p.m. “Formal ceremony to take place at WTC Balt on 9-11-11.”

Not to suggest that I’m Ashton Kutcher when it comes to Twitter (though, hey, if you want you can follow me here), but that’s a highly effective use of 140 characters.

Read the rest of this entry »

Powered by Bookmarkify™

U.S. Customs and Border Protection says it intercepted a Chinese shipment that contained Asian Longhorned Beetles bound for Baltimore. If you don’t know what these are, pray you don’t find out. These bad boys are seen as a pretty big threat to trees everywhere, and they’re not supposed to be here.

Typically, they get into the States in wooden packing materials, so that’s why the authorities were on the lookout. I can’t find any documentation that these things have actually shown their horrific faces in Maryland yet, but the Nature Conservancy says we’re ripe for the picking. And you thought the gypsy moths were bad…

So far, the worst infestations since the mid-1990s have been in Chicago and New York. There was one in Massachusetts too. The only way to get rid of these ugly fellas is to destroy the trees they’re living in. Apparently, CBP caught another beetle-infested shipment from China in 2005.

Powered by Bookmarkify™