And, once the sun sets ...

Clicking on the map above will display points representing each homicide in Baltimore City. Click on a point to get details about that homicide.

14 homicides so far this year.

- The Baltimore Sun


2008 above, 231 homicides


2007 above, 282 homicides


Iraq- January 2009 US Combat deaths to date: 3 (source)
Afghanistan- January 2009 US Combat deaths to date: 5 (source)

LOST recap starts in 15 minutes

Here's a quote from Sawyer:

"Kids are like dogs.  If you kick them around enough, they'll think they did something to deserve it."

-ABC TV at 8 PM

Plain, Pure and $imple

"The fact is that until a Christ follower learns to put God first in their finances their walk with God will always contain a limp!"

- perrynoble.com

"Help" note leads to police shooting

City police shoot man outside Northeast Baltimore 7-Eleven

By Gus G. Sentementes | gus.sentementes@baltsun.com

6:37 AM EST, January 13, 2009

City police shot a man this morning in Northeast Baltimore after his female companion passed officers inside a 7-Eleven a note that said "Help," a city police spokesman said.

The incident happened about 4 a.m. outside the convenience store at Belair Road and Nicholas Avenue, said spokesman Anthony Guglielmi.

(Baltimore Sun photo by Gus Sentementes / January 13, 2009)

The officers followed the woman to a car, where the man inside refused to comply with their commands to get out of the vehicle, Guglielmi said. The man would not show his hands to the officers, and he began to fumble around the interior of the car, leading officers to shoot him, Guglielmi said.

The man was in surgery [at Johns Hopkins Hospital] this morning.

- The Baltimore Sun

Pure evil

Md. father accused of killing children heads to court

Tuesday, January 13, 2009 - The Associated Press

The trial of a father accused of drowning his three young children in a Baltimore hotel bathtub is set to begin.

Mark Castillo is charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Anthony, 6; Austin, 4; and Athena, 2, whom he confessed to drowning one by one at the Marriott Inner Harbor hotel in late March. Police said Castillo then tried to kill himself.


Castillo is scheduled to appear in a reception court on Tuesday, where his case will be assigned to a Baltimore City Circuit judge if he does not plead guilty. Castillo's trial could begin as early as Tuesday if a courtroom is available.

- The Baltimore Sun

14

-January 13, 2009

A teenage boy has died after being found stabbed.  17-year-old Shawn Green was stabbed in the chest in the 1600 block of 32nd Street in Northeast Baltimore.  He died at the hospital. Police have no suspects. Green's death marks the 14th city murder this year.

-from WBFF Fox News 45

Macs n' Mormons

-computer humor

Regular readers might suspect I'm no Mac fan, but that's a gross under-misrepresentation: Put simply, my position is that the world would be a better place if the globe was 100% Apple-free.

Why?  Largely because of the transformation that occurs once folks become a Mac-owners. 

Mac-ness is all about attaining True Believer Status in the one true Apple cult.  Owning a Mac actually means being owned by Mac, and devoting one's entire life to participating in and achieving the complete Mac image.

Now that I think about it, being owned by a Mac is like belonging to a cult ... a lot like, well, like what we see here:

Being Mac. Being Mormon. It's Quite Similar.

Topic	Apple	LDS/Mormon
U.S. Marketshare:	6.1% (IDC)	2-3% (Mormon.org/US Census)
Large Installed Base:	22 million (est.)	13 million members
Growing Membership	37% growth y/y	Cited as 2nd-fastest growing religion in the U.S.
Worldwide Translation	18 Mac OS X Languages	Church materials in 178 languages
Focus on Conversion	Get A Mac Campaign	50,000 active missionaries
Monotheistic Culture	Steve Jobs	Jesus Christ
Corporate Face	Steve Jobs	Gordon B. Hinckley
Extended Leadership	Board of Directors	The 12 Apostles
Retail Locations	More than 200 Apple stores	More than 120 LDS temples
Annual Meetings	2 (MWSF & WWDC)	2 (Semi-Annual General Conference)
Second Coming	Steve Jobs (1997)	Jesus Christ (still waiting)
Some Think It's a Cult	Wired: Cult of Mac	Mormoncult.org
Vocal Detractors	Microsoft, Linux	Southern Baptists, Evangelicals, Fundamentalist Christians
Standard Uniform	Black Turtleneck, Blue Jeans	White Shirt and Tie
The Color White	Mac Books, iPods, etc.	White Shirts, Temples, etc.
Music Sources	iTunes	Mormon Tabernacle Choir
Youthful Actors	Justin Long	Jon Heder
Presidential Candidates	Steve Jobs (unofficial)	Mitt Romney (not church-endorsed)
Large Cash Reserves	$15.4 billion	$30+ billion (estimated)
Controversial History	The Newton, Apple III, Licensing	Polygamy, Priesthood, Martyrdom
Stance on Cloning	Against	No position on stem-cell research
Stance on Tithing	One new OS X Release a Year ($129)	Members pledge 10% of income
Ongoing Revelation	Next Macworld!	General Conference, Doctrine & Covenants
Common Misconceptions	No Microsoft Office, Lacks Software, Not Good for Business	Plural Marriage, Not Christian, Book of Mormon Used Instead of the Bible
Actual Reality	15 Reasons You'll Love a Mac	The Articles of Faith

- from louisgray.com

Hey, I can see my house from here!

-satellite images from Google Maps

City Lights

Found a forum this morning that had a pretty lively debate underway: "Which city has the best skyline ... Pittsburgh or Baltimore?"

So I googled around a bit for skyline photos of a few other U.S. coastal cities, for comparison.

Presented alphabetically below are my favorites (and yes, I think we have a clear winner).


Baltimore, Maryland

Charleston, South Carolina

Miami, Florida


New York, New York

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Seattle, Washington

Tampa, Florida

Local 24-hour News

2009 Spike in Murders has Police Reacting
Last Update: 1/08 5:17 pm
"The homicide recently, we're experiencing a spike.  11 murders over the past seven full days of the year," said Baltimore Police Commissioner Fred Bealefeld.

They are alarming numbers but the department says they've already made one arrest from a 2009 killing and have very promising leads or warrants on several others including the shooting death of 20 year old Lougene Williams.

"We need people, religious leaders, community leaders talking to people in the city saying you got to knock it off, you just have to knock this off.  It can't just be the mayor and police commissioner." - source

Baltimore mayor indicted on theft, perjury charges
Jan. 9, 2009

BALTIMORE – Mayor Sheila Dixon was indicted Friday on charges that she accepted illegal gifts during her time as mayor and City Council president, including travel, fur coats and gift cards intended for the poor that she allegedly used instead for a holiday shopping spree.

A grand jury indicted Dixon on 12 counts, including four counts of perjury and two counts of theft over $500. She was also charged with theft under $500, fraudulent misappropriation by a fiduciary and misconduct in office.

The State Prosecutor's Office, which has been investigating corruption at City Hall for nearly three years, said Dixon received holiday gift cards for four years from several people. Prosecutors said the gift cards were to be distributed to needy families, but were instead used by Dixon to buy electronics — including an Xbox, a PlayStation 2 and a camcorder — clothes and other merchandise and also handed out to members of her staff. - http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090109/ap_on_re_us/baltimore_mayor_probe

Unintended Victim

In just the first 9 days of 2009, now we're up to 11 homicides:

(AP) -- Baltimore County police have released the name of a woman who was fatally wounded by gunfire while speaking with family members outside her home in Middle River.

Police say officers responding to a report of a shooting Wednesday evening found 58-year-old Shirley Worcester on the ground outside the home on Whitethorn Way in the Hawthorne neighborhood. She died a short time later at Franklin Square Hospital Center. Police believe Worcester may have been struck by gunfire intended for someone else.

-source

For someone special ... and worth saving

God had to send His Son to die for our sins*, but I still keep wondering what Jesus thought, knowing the choice was up to him.

How could Christ willingly sacrifice himself for the sins of all those people ... billions of people ... he didn't know?

I couldn't do it ... and neither could you.*

So what made Jesus know the sacrifice was worth it?

--   ---   --

Christ was willing to die in our place because he did know us.  Jesus knew that we were imperfect, sinful and unworthy ... and suffered crucifixion knowing we could never do anything to save ourselves or earn our own salvation ... much less anyone else's.  

Christ knew us ... just as he knows our sinfulness ... yet his love was so perfect that he still willingly took the cross in our place.  

Please don't miss this: knowing us so completely, better than we know ourselves ... Christ loved us.  Regardless.

Christ saw something in us that we can't ... not one single exception ... that made every one of us special and worth saving.  Not because of anything we've done or achieved, but so that we could live ...  and have the abundant life, according to God's purpose, that he intended.

By turning away from our smug, conceited opinions of our ourselves ... to trust, know and love him.

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, 
       before you were born I set you apart; 
       I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."

-Jeremiah 1:5

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

- Romans 5:8

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.

- Ephesians 2:8-9