Buzz

He did it! Aaron Brooks, a 9-year-old from Hagerstown, MD. has set a new world record for bench pressing!

Here's an excerpt:

"Earlier today, Aaron Brooks of Hagerstown, Maryland, smashed the world record in the bench press for his age and weight.

The previous bench press record for eight and nine-year-olds in the 88 pound weight class was..."

Read the entire post here.

As cities around the U.S. fight to pull themselves out of ditch dug by the global economic downturn, Baltimore, Pittsburgh and other cities that were built up by a bevy of industrial industries may fare better than those with economies rely heavily on more vulnerable sectors like the housing market.

Here's an excerpt:

"At a recent London School of Economics symposium on U.S. and European cities, Katz said American bubble cities are characterized by "real estate economies built on consumption and excess."

More mature industrial centers, he said, tend to have strong universities and a history of research, innovation and making things. If America is going to "rediscover our innovation mojo," as Katz put it, traditional industrial metros are best equipped to lead the way..."

Read the entire article here.

It's taken two years, but the bust of Frank Zappa is finally on its way to the city of the quirky rock icon's birth. The statue, a replica of a bust located in Lithuania, was gifted to the city by fans in that country in May 2008.

Here's an excerpt:

"The copy of the original bust, which is standing in central Vilnius, was made two years ago with the thought of bringing it to Baltimore. Zappa, weighing more than a tone, will be taken to US by a sea transport by UPS company. "Our mission is simple � this is not even close to the risks that were taken by French, when they presented the Liberty sculpture to US," said UPS representative to Lithuania Vladas Lasas.

It is planned that Zappa will reach its hometown within a month. The opening of the bust will take place in Baltimore on 18 of September..."

Read the entire article here.

You can't see it but the air around Baltimore is teeming with bandwidth. PC Mag's Sascha Segan has been traveling from the Big Apple to Charm City for the past few years, testing out the city's bevy of mobile WiFi networks.

Here's an excerpt:

"Baltimoreans are lucky to have lots of choices, with AT&T, Cricket, Sprint 3G, T-Mobile, Verizon and Sprint 4G all available in Charm City. Of the 3G networks, AT&T pulled the best speeds but had problems with consistency. Verizon offered..."

Read the entire article here.

If you haven't been able to cop a ticket to a Stew dinner, here's a peek at a recent dinner and the trend that is spreading across the country.

"A Stew meal is not elaborate. The main course is soup; tonight it's a choice between vegan spring onion and rabbit with dumplings. Tickets to the event are $10 each. But there's more to this meal than the composition of a plate of radishes, or of the next course: spears of roasted asparagus, pleasantly salted, arranged to form squares that overlap at the corners.

Stew is the brainchild of the Baltimore Development Cooperative (not to be confused with the Baltimore Development Corp.), which was started in 2007 by three recent MICA graduates, all artists now in their late 20s: Scott Berzofsky, Nicholas Wisniewski and Nester. They wanted to use food to foster community and stimulate activism."

Read the entire article here.

The all volunteer organized and operated music festival happens in Baltimore July 22-25. The four-day event, presented by Wham City and devoid of corporate sponsorship, takes place at various locations throughout the city with music, theater, and video performances from hundreds of artists and bands from the Baltimore area and beyond.

Here's an excerpt:

' *Sniffle* Whartscape has really grown up, guys. This year the Baltimore music fest celebrates its fifth birthday with a sprawling lineup of approximately 435 bands over three days. See the almost complete lineup..."

Read the entire post (scroll down to the bottom of the page) here.

If you haven't made it to one of the many farmer's markets in the Greater Baltimore area, you don't know what you've been missing...

"Vendors at farmers' markets in Baltimore, Howard and Carroll counties can only sell what they produce or what they make from something they grow, such as soap or baked goods. Goods travel no further than 50 miles to get to market.

The only drawback of shopping at local farmers' markets is you will only find foods that are in season.

"When you go to the markets in May, you won't see corn because corn isn't seasonal in this area until summer," Zimmerman says..."

Read the entire article here.

There're 600 miles of alleyways in Baltimore. Trash, rats and drug pushers frequent the majority, but a growing movement helmed by Community Green aims to help these spaces reach their true potential.

Here's an excerpt:

"In the 25 years that Mayo has lived in Baltimore's Washington Hill neighborhood, a short drive east of the city's Inner Harbor, nearby blocks succumbed to poverty and neglect. The ensuing tumult overflowed into her alley. Although she and her husband installed motion-sensor lighting and called police frequently, as did neighbors, nothing improved.

But about a year ago came the sounds of change, as artisans wielded a power drill to install graceful, wrought-iron gates at either end of the narrow passageway. It was the culmination of a 2-year effort to reclaim the troubled alley, abutted by the tiny back yards of eight rowhouses on one side and perpendicular to a single rowhouse on the other."
 
Read the entire article here.

John Waters, the man whose films based in Baltimore helped give the city it's quirky reputation, has a new book out. He stopped to answer a few questions about "Role Models" and bad taste in America.

Here's an excerpt:

"It has been more than a generation since your films "Pink Flamingos" and "Polyester" established you as a champion of the trash-into-art aesthetic. But now that bad taste is so prevalent in America, does it still carryan artistic charge for you?

Bad taste per se does not, because today it's reality television and gross-out, big-budget Hollywood comedies. Everything we export � it's all about bad taste, so it's not new anymore. You have to know the rules to break them with happiness, and thank God my mother taught me proper table manners."

Read the entire Q&A here.

Baltimore director, Matthew Porterfield, whose second film "Putty Hill" was featured at this year's Maryland Film Festival in May, will soon make its way into theaters around the U.S. thanks to a newly signed distribution deal.

Here's an excerpt:

"It's good to start the day with good news: in this case, word that the young Baltimore director Matthew Porterfield's extraordinary second film, "Putty Hill," has been acquired for theatrical and home-video distribution."

Read the entire post here.

He hasn't been in Baltimore long -- just three years -- but Gaia is already adding to and changing the City's street art scene, according to Elizabeth Evitts Dickenson.

Here's an excerpt:

"Like other street artists, Gaia straddles the line between indoor and outdoor, between the street and the gallery. His delicate posters become victims of the elements and city clean-up crews, but the work is immortalized in an extensive online gallery on his Flickr page. He recently had a show at Gallery Heist, in San Francisco, and this June he will have a solo exhibition at Irvine Contemporary, in Washington, D.C."

Read the entire article here.

A new bill signed by Gov. O'Malley lets electric car drivers travel in HOV lanes regardless of how many people are -- or are not -- in the car. It's another incentive to get Marylanders to give up their gas guzzlers.

Here's an excerpt:

"If there was ever a sign the US is taking the whole concept of electric vehicles seriously, it is the recent news the State of Maryland has mandated free access to high-occupancy lanes for plug-in models.

State governor Martin O'Malley (D) has put his signature to a bill that not only gives EV access to HOV lanes, but crucially allows their use regardless of the number of passengers.

That's a pretty important distinction - the whole point of HOVs after all is 'high occupancy' but it sends a clear message that EVs will be given preferential treatment no matter how full.

The EV sector in Maryland will also benefit from fairly generous tax breaks - namely a $2,000 excise motor vehicle credit..."

Read the entire article here.