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Employing the famous maxim of 15th-century diplomat Niccolo Machiavelli, "the end justifies the means," may serve real estate and other professionals well. 

Thanks according to the studies of Morgan State University Associate Professor Abdul Aziz, who developed a personality test to determine Machiavellian tendencies, the Wall Street Journal writes. 

"A Machiavellian person, Prof. Aziz explains, is emotionally detached, prone to deceive and believes that the end justifies the means, even if it is not morally right," says the Journal. "Real-estate agents who exhibited more Machiavellian traits tended to see higher sales, meaning Machiavellian behavior and performance were found to be highly correlated," the paper writes. 

You can read the rest of the story here. 

IdeaMensch is a community that shows people how to bring their ideas to life and it is helping the fine folks in the Free State. 

"Whether your idea is an app, a nonprofit, a book, a website or an invention – what matters is how you bring it to life. Who matter are the people who bring those ideas to life," the IdeaMensch site says. The Los Angeles-based organization is going on a four-month road trip and is hitting every state. 

It makes its stop in Maryland Sept. 25 at the Loyola Columbia Graduate Campus, starting at 6 p.m. Speakers include Social Toaster CEO Brian Razzaque and PointClickSwitch CEO Phil Crowskey. Read more about the Baltimore event here. 

Berger cookies' expansion into Washington, D.C., and Northern Virginia can only be a good thing, right? 

Not according to a Baltimorean who says the cookie is so linked with Baltimore, it can't possibly be truly appreciated by non-natives. 

"Can a city like DC boasting so many five-star restaurants really value this simple cookie?" Andrew Reiner asks in the September issue of GO:AirTran Inflight Magazine. 

"First, there's the look of the Berger, as it's often called, with its leviathan mound of hand-dipped fudge icing atop a cakey wafer. 'A chocolate delivery vehicle,' is how one cyberspace foodie refers to it. The fudge icing is just that ponderous— and inconsistent."

Read the rest here. 

BloombergBusinessweek recognizes the expansion of Baltimarket, a virtual grocery shopping solution for the one out of five Baltimore residents who live in food deserts.
 
Baltimarket originally took food orders in public libraries when it opened in March 2010 but now targets the 16 public housing developments located in food deserts, especially senior centers, BloombergBusinessweek says.

The project allows residents with low incomes and no vehicles, to order groceries, including healthy meal options, without paying a hefty taxi fee to travel to grocery stores across the city.
 
Read more here.

Fans of the hit TV show Seinfeld might remember that certain foods got special attention on the comedy. 

There was the soup from the "Soup Nazi," black-and-white cookies and muffin tops. 

Actor Larry Thomas, aka the "Soup Nazi," has featured all of these foods and more on a food truck that visited different cities, including Baltimore Aug. 6. The Seinfeld "No Food For You" food truck gave away the food for free at the Maryland Science Center.

It already stopped in Chicago, Philadelphia, New York and Boston. Read more in the Baltimore Sun and USA Today. 

Michael Phelps isn't the only Olympian from Maryland. 

Baltimore Fishbowl recently listed eight athletes from our state who are competing in the London games:

Julie Zetlin, born in Silver Spring, lives in Bethesda – rhythmic gymnastics
Bobby Lea, Easton – cycling
Keli Smith Puzo, University of Maryland  - field hockey
Sandra Uptagrafft, Annapolis – shooting
Andrew Gemmell, born in Columbia, lives in Wilmington, De. – swimming
Katie Ledecky, Bethesda – swimming
David Banks, Churchill High alum – rowing
Matt Centrowitz, Broadneck High alum – track and field

And last month, the online magazine ran a feature on Maryland Olympians, mentioning locals competing in sailing, field hockey and kayaking. 

Baltimore came out on top in more than one Battle of the Beltways. 

Not only did the Baltimore Orioles beat the Washington Nationals but the city bested its rival at A Taste of Two Cities, a food truck competition held Saturday at the Westport Waterfront. It was organized by food truck owner Damian Bohager. 
 
First place went to Baltimore’s Gypsy Queen food truck, followed by the Red Hook Lobster truck of D.C. in second and Baltimore’s Miss Shirley’s truck in third.
 
A panel of six judges, three from each city, determined the winner. Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, a big supporter of Baltimore’s food trucks, presented the Mayor’s Cup to Gypsy Queen.
 
The People’s Choice awards, which were decided by competition visitors via text, went to D.C.’s the Cajunator and Baltimore’s Souper Freak. 

Read more about it in the Baltimore Sun and the Washington Post. 

Baltimore isn't a bad place to be if you're a woman in America. 

That's according to a report from the Measure of America, a project that analyzes the distribution of opportunity in the U.S.

The report ranks Baltimore No. 8 on a list of the top places for females. Women's Well Being: Ranking America's Top 25 Metro Areas measures life expectancy, education and earnings. 

Washington, D.C., San Francisco and Boston are listed in the top three. You can see the full report here. 

Johns Hopkins University dedicated its new $1.1 billion hospital this month and Hopkins alum and major donor New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg was on hand for the ceremony. 

"The 205-room Charlotte R. Bloomberg Children’s Center features 10 surgical suites, a 45-bed neonatal intensive care unit," the Wall Street Journal writes.

"Bloomberg, 70 years old, graduated from Johns Hopkins in 1964 with a degree in engineering," the Journal writes. "He is the single-largest donor in the university’s history, giving more than $800 million since 1965 and contributing $120 million to the construction of the hospital."

Bloomberg Philanthropies funded 500 works of art, the paper writes. You can read the rest of the story here. 

The American Visionary Art Museum has gotten plenty of national attention for being one of Baltimore's cool, quirky and offbeat attractions. 

But the Washington Post has also declared the Federal Hill site a great museum for kids, citing pieces like a dinosaur made of trash, carved plastic foam cups and a sculpture made of 100,000 toothpicks. 

"The American Visionary Art Museum has a sense of humor," the Post writes. "Kids wouldn’t want to miss some of the non-art elements at the museum, such as the flatulence machine by the restrooms downstairs, the fun-house mirrors upstairs near the restaurant and the wacky and inexpensive gift shop where someone is almost always walking around doing magic tricks."

You can read the rest here. 

Construction began this month on the nation's largest museum devoted to African American history. 

And the $500 million Smithsonian museum will feature a number of Maryland artifacts, writes the Baltimore Sun. This includes a Harriet Tubman's silk shawl and a long house built by freed slaves from Montgomery County. 

"These are among 20,000 objects collected by the National Museum of African American History and Culture, which will open on the National Mall in 2015 as the 19th Smithsonian Institution museum," the Sun writes.

"Local experts on African-American history say it's appropriate that Maryland will be featured prominently, since many key figures come from the state."

You can read more about the museum here. 

Baltimore nonprofit Humanim has redeveloped the former American Brewing Co. headquarters into a job training center in East Baltimore.

Fast Company highlighted the $24 million transformation in a slideshow and story on the magazine's website. The piece is featured in Co.Exist, a section devoted to innovative ideas and groundbreaking use of resources. 

What makes photography good enough for Good? 

It seems that Baltimore librarian knows the answer. His pics of Baltimore's streets and architecture are highlighted in the magazine. 

"Joust's photographs are united by a cinematic sense of style. A librarian by day, Joust traverses the city and surrounding counties at night, playing with long exposures and teasing out rich tones from the landscape," the magazine writes. 

Here's a link to Joust's blog where you can see more of his photos and notes on Baltimore. 

It's not often that cities get praised for tearing down buildings. 

But Next American City credited Baltimore for tearing down more than 300 unsafe structures last year. It joins Detroit and Youngstown, Ohio in the movement to demolish vacant buildings. 

"What Baltimore, Detroit, Youngstown and an increasing number of U.S. cities with shrinking populations have in common is a problem Americans are unused to solving: How to creatively and safely deconstruct our cities," Next American City writes. "In places like Baltimore—which has lost a third of its population since 1950 and where, depending on who you ask, almost 20,000 properties sit vacant—this breaking down and reinterpreting of place is already happening."

You can read the full article here. 

For decades, Edgar Allen Poe fans would gather at his grave on the eve of the late writer's birthday to spot a mysterious man. Known as the Toaster, he would leave roses and a half-full bottle of cognac.

Well that tradition appears to have come to an end, according to the Wall Street Journal and other news sources. For three years now, the Toaster has not appeared.

You can read more about the end of the tradition in the Journal story.