Reality

andrear@herald-mail.com Reality can bite - and its teeth leave a lasting mark when your reality is captured on video, edited for dramatic effect and broadcast on national television. But starring in a reality TV show also can make you a stronger person - and land you a cool new wardrobe and other material perks. Just ask Jordan Erlich, who spent 10 weeks on camera during the taping of the MTV reality show "Sorority Life. " Erlich, 22, was one of six Sigma Alpha Epsilon Pi sorority pledges that five MTV camera crews and six directors followed 24 hours a day from April through mid-June 2002 at the University of California at Davis.

Richard Dawkins must surely be one of the most prolific writers of modern times. While his forte is evolutionary biology, he comfortably ventures into other fields of science. His newest publication, “The Magic of Reality: How We Know What's Really True,” is another gem for one's library. It is, without a doubt, one of the best illustrated science books to be written. Dawkins deals in a masterful way with a very slippery word, “reality.” Dawkins, at the same time, might surprise those who are certain they know “reality.” The pattern followed throughout this book is to tell the mythological origins of each topic and then to show what scientists have found using the tools and methods of science.

Reality is all the rage these days. It seems that most everyone wants to “keep it real,” … maybe that's how we arrived at the concept of reality TV. Be it a creation of society's lack of creativity or a “you can't make this stuff up” attitude, just plopping a camera in a room full of people is all the entertainment most people seem to need these days. Outside of television, we have one other place where you can find drama, comedy, challenge, anxiety, trepidation, amazing real-life characters and the “man vs. whatever” situations.

I, like the rest of my colleagues, are feeling the sting of the mid-summer blahs. There isn't very much going on in the local area and the national sporting scene is less than captivating. There is more fodder for Outside the Lines than there is for This Week in Baseball and NBA Inside Stuff these days. And let's not even get into summer TV ... there are either repeats or reality. So it got me thinking. With the way the world is spinning and television is filling its time slots, why not make an offer or two for new shows networks could run in the fall season.

Wednesday, July 30 8 p.m. on NBC "Race to the Altar" Never mind that old advice about not rushing into marriage. They didn't have reality shows in those days. 9 p.m. on ABC "The Family" Only three episodes aired before ABC interrupted this reality show last spring. Highlights from those programs are being shown tonight so everyone will be ready to watch the remaining six episodes, starting next Wednesday.

Tuesday, March 15 9 p.m. on Bravo 'Project Greenlight' The reality series that gives fledgling filmmakers their big chance returns for a third season, moving over to Bravo from HBO. This year's winning project is a horror movie, with veteran director Wes Craven lending his expertise. 10 p.m. on Pax 'Cold Turkey II' Once again, 10 "unsuspecting" smokers are lured onto a reality show only to learn that its real purpose is to get them to quit.

As nature's glory sings to me And bells ring up on I find myself trying to If I could ever Through clouds and Up through the Like the ever soaring But yet I find that I still Like the ever barking beagle.

Somehow, I don't think this is the way it's supposed to be. I don't understand how in the name of Bear Bryant anyone who loves football can get wrapped up in something like this. I was kicked back for an intimate 12-course meal at the Dargan Diner and Deer Weighing Station with my girlfriend LuSydna to celebrate another magnificent prognostication column. LuSydna was yammering about something while I was elbow deep in my yam, ham, lamb and Spam entree when I sort of faded out trying to imagine all of this.

HALFWAY - Washington County had a cameo in a TV personality's cross-country bicycle ride on Monday. Phil Keoghan, the host of the CBS reality show "The Amazing Race," stopped at Valley Mall Monday morning to start the next leg of his bicycle trip from Los Angeles to New York City. He was in Washington County as his trip hit its final stages. He said he expects to be in New York on Thursday. Through his ride, he's raising money and awareness for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, while also promoting bike riding and a food product called NOW One Square Meal bars.

Philosophy, as an academic subject, does not hold the esteem it had in earlier times when education had a more classical complexion. It therefore came as a surprise to find references to the ideas of Plato in two recent publications not related to philosophy. In "The Family," an investigative study of an obscure style of fundamentalism, there is a reference to the allegory of the three metals used by Plato in the third book of "The Republic. " This symbolism applied to Plato's idea of a three-layered society governed according to natural rank.

A brochure describing a section of the Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail says the pathway is a braided network of trails, open space and natural areas winding through a corridor “linked by land, water and history.” The Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail is the only one of 11 in the federal system that includes “Heritage” in its name, said Donald E. Briggs, the trail's superintendent and its only full-time employee. Briggs, 60, has been a National Park Service employee for 26 years, including 12 as trail superintendent.

Reality is all the rage these days. It seems that most everyone wants to “keep it real,” … maybe that's how we arrived at the concept of reality TV. Be it a creation of society's lack of creativity or a “you can't make this stuff up” attitude, just plopping a camera in a room full of people is all the entertainment most people seem to need these days. Outside of television, we have one other place where you can find drama, comedy, challenge, anxiety, trepidation, amazing real-life characters and the “man vs. whatever” situations.

Name of business: The Tipson Firm Owner: Sylvanus Tipson Address: 38 S. Potomac St., Suite 301, Hagerstown Opening date: July 31, 2012 Products and services: Taxes, accounting and audits Target market: Start-ups and small businesses How did you get into your business, and what motivated you to start it? I have always envisioned myself owning a professional firm. I chose accountancy because of my love for entrepreneurship and the pivotal role accountants play as business advisers.

There were no non-contact practices for the North Hagerstown football team in 2012. From the time the Hubs were able to put on their pads and hit in the preseason, they hit. And they kept hitting until their season ended. And they wouldn't have had it any other way. North coach Dan Cunningham wanted to make practices as realistic as possible. And why not? The Hubs dealt with large helpings of reality off the field before the season began. But North overcame an early nonconference loss and that off-field adversity to rattle off eight straight wins and qualify for the Maryland Class 3A playoffs.

Teenagers are stupid. This amazing bit of news comes to us courtesy of the reality TV geniuses who are now filming a new show to be set in West Virginia, which will be very similar to “Jersey Shore,” but with more groundhog. Seeing as how MTV is now talking about my homies, I figure I better represent them in a way that will convince the public at large that this show is, in actuality, about as far from reality as you can get. Speaking for myself and my friends, we were never, ever, that genteel.

Hagerstown's Christian Binford is taking a break from living the dream he hopes carries him one day to the major leagues. A graduate of Mercersburg Academy and a new product of the Kansas City Royals farm system, Binford recently returned home from Arizona to take a break, rest up, and get ready for spring training in March. Binford, drafted in the 30th round by the Royals in the June draft, bypassed attending the University of Virginia and signed with the Royals. He started his professional career in the rookie  leagues with Surprise, Ariz., before being assigned to Burlington, N.C., another Royals Rookie League team.

A fight filmed on the steps of the historic Berkeley County Courthouse played out on televisions across the country Sunday night as part of TLC's “My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding.” Two young Romanichal gypsy women shoved and punched each other following a wedding in the reality series that depicts the everyday lives of families like Mellie Stanley's. She was charged with disorderly conduct after the brawl. Cameras caught Mellie and the maid of honor, Diamond, in what Mellie called “a huge argument.” It centered around comments allegedly made about the bride's mother-in-law.

Richard Dawkins must surely be one of the most prolific writers of modern times. While his forte is evolutionary biology, he comfortably ventures into other fields of science. His newest publication, “The Magic of Reality: How We Know What's Really True,” is another gem for one's library. It is, without a doubt, one of the best illustrated science books to be written. Dawkins deals in a masterful way with a very slippery word, “reality.” Dawkins, at the same time, might surprise those who are certain they know “reality.” The pattern followed throughout this book is to tell the mythological origins of each topic and then to show what scientists have found using the tools and methods of science.

Word of a possible state sales-tax increase added a dose of reality Wednesday to the fanfare of the opening day of the Maryland General Assembly's 2012 session. Gov. Martin O'Malley said that he's considering proposing another penny on the state's sales tax, increasing it from 6 percent to 7 percent. O'Malley, a Democrat, said the state has to figure out how to fill gaps in the state's operating budget, its Transportation Trust Fund, and water and wastewater infrastructure. Many legislators are expecting the governor to propose increases in the state's gasoline tax and the tax on sewer and septic use this year.

As 2011 draws to a close, we are expected to take stock of the previous year and look to the future with resolve. What do we regret from the past 12 months? What do we hope to do differently this coming year? Whether the needed changes pertain to relationships, careers, spending, saving, eating or exercising, we need to be willing to face reality. Altering a lifestyle is no easy task. A major change will not happen overnight. We need to be satisfied with baby steps forward and perhaps a few steps backward.