Tag Archives: stltoday

Hot enough to fry an egg? Bake cookies? News outlets try

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The heat wave of the past few days has led many in news organizations to ponder just how hot it has been. Hot enough to fry an egg? Hot enough to bake cookies?

They’ve tried these experiments, with varying results.

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STLtoday.com/St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Erica Smith shared a video by Huy Mach in which they tried to bake cookies in Erica’s car.

To watch the fun video and learn whether they were edible, go here. Music by Kevin McLeod.

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indystar.com/Indianapolis Star

Online Editor Amy Bartner and Columnist Erika Smith went outside to fry an egg. The first surface they tried?

The hood of a car. They ended up testing other surfaces, too. To see their video, go here.

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lancasteronline.com/Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era

In Lancaster, Pa., the experiments were carried out by the staff at Lancaster Science Factory. In one experiment, they used a frying pan covered in Saran Wrap to keep the egg white from evaporating.

A second experiment used a pizza box lined with foil.

To see how these worked, go here.

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EastBayRI.com/East Bay Newspapers

East Bay Newspapers in Rhode Island tried with a skillet and again with foil.

To see how those experiments turned out, go here.

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I ate my fair share of eggs this weekend, but I cooked them inside. And they were delicious.

Any other examples I missed? Send ’em my way.

Remembering St. Louis Cardinal Marty Marion

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Former St. Louis Cardinals shortstop Marty Marion, who played on three World Series championship teams (1942, ’44 and ’46), died Tuesday night of an apparent heart attack. Read the St. Louis Post-Dispatch story here.

Marty Marion (No. 4) joined the celebration after the St. Louis Cardinals won the 1946 World Series. Others who turned around their jerseys to mark the occasion were Whitey Kurowski (1), Enos Slaughter (9) and Stan Musial (6). (Post-Dispatch photo)

I grew up in St. Louis, but most people my age wouldn’t have known his name. I’m fortunate that I got to know him as a person, as he was my neighbor. It wasn’t until I got older and started researching that I realized how legendary he was.

He had been known as the Cardinals’ greatest shortstop until Ozzie Smith played for the team in the 1980s. He was one of the best players on the team from the ’40s, an era when the Cardinals won the National League pennant four times and the World Series three times. He was a teammate and friend of Stan Musial, considered the greatest Cardinal to ever play and a larger-than-life hero in St. Louis.

According to the Post-Dispatch story, Marion indirectly influenced another great shortstop: Cal Ripken. According to Tony LaRussa:

“I heard that [former Baltimore Orioles manager] Earl Weaver said the reason he thought about moving Cal Ripken to shortstop is that [Weaver] grew up in St. Louis watching Marty Marion. That’s a helluva compliment.”

Marion’s Baseball-Reference.com statistics are interesting, specifically during the World War II years when some of the players were, ya know, fighting in the war. Marion’s stats look odd with modern stats in mind, but the game was different then. (For starters, no andro.)

To see a Post-Dispatch/STLtoday.com gallery of Marty Marion photos, go here. Here’s how the Post-Dispatch played the story on A1 on Thursday:

And how it played on the front of sports:

Snowpocalypse bingo!

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I have long loved Erica Smith of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and stltoday.com, so anytime she posts something, I’m on top of it.

My hometown of St. Louis was hit by a lot of snow Monday night and Tuesday morning, resulting in days off school and horrible commutes. So, Erica put together this snowpocalypse Bingo card using words used by meteorologists. If you’re watching TV and a meteorologist uses that term, you get to cross that off.

The beauty of this is that you can regenerate the card as many times as you want, never getting the same one. Here’s a screen grab of the Bingo card I got:

The frozen Weatherbird is my favorite part.

SND in St. Louis only a year away!

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So, you probably already saw this, but in case you didn’t…

The promotional video for next year’s Society for News Design annual workshop in St. Louis has been posted, and it’s super adorable. Credit goes to St. Louis Post-Dispatch staffers Brian Williamson (animated illustrations) and Christopher Ave (music).

I’ve been excited about this workshop ever since I found out about it a few years ago. I’m from a suburb of St. Louis, and will never turn down an opportunity to return to my hometown. My parents, aunts and uncles are all still there, as are some of my closest friends from high school.

As someone who knows St. Louis, I find this video particularly rewarding. All of the things you see in there are based on real landmarks. That “Design” sign in the style of the Amoco logo? That’s based on the Amoco sign near Forest Park. The original Amoco sign in the location was built by my great-grandfather’s company. The thing in the video that looks like a power plant is the original St. Louis Science Center, which is connected to the “new” Science Center via a bridge on the highway. (The “new” Science Center is more at least 15 years old by now, but then again, the “new” cathedral is way older than than that, and is still called “new.”) And even the Schafly Bottleworks is referenced in this video. If you go to SND in St. Louis, a trip to the Bottleworks is in order. And the Taproom, which will be closer to the workshop.

I could go on and on, but the point is this: this workshop looks like it will be a lot of fun, and will be worth checking out because of its connection to Brian Williamson and Erica Smith alone, not to mention all the other great things sure to be there. It’s a year away, but you can be sure I’ll give you suggestions between now and then. And maybe a few web comics on the topic.

August 30: In case you missed it…

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In case you missed these graphics, interactives and overall awesome goodies in the last few week:

“Star Wars Uncut”

Andrew DeVigal posted something awesome on Twitter this weekend: A scene from “Star Wars” reshot by fans, in which every 15 seconds is shot by a different group of fans. The scene is part of Star Wars Uncut, which includes just about every scene from “A New Hope” shot in segments lasting 15 segments. Some people used toys, others used dogs and others used their kids. And even others used stranger things. Quite enjoyable.

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Albert Pujols’ road to 400 home runs [stltoday.com]

Albert Pujols, in his 10th season, has reached the 400 home run milestone by age 30. Only Stan Musial has more as a Cardinal. In this look at Albert’s regular-season career home runs, you can sort the home runs by season, stadium, team and batting conditions. By Erica Smith and Brian Williamson.

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Muppets Name Etymology [College Humor]

Not sure if it’s because of GraphJam or I Love Charts, but I’m seeing all sorts of Venn diagrams lately. And this one is one of the best.

August 8: In case you missed it…

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In case you missed these graphics and interactives in the last few days:

States that allow same-sex marriage vs. States that allow marriage between first cousins [I Love Charts]

Charles Blow tweeted this yesterday. It is, as you might guess from the title, a look at the states allowing same-sex marriage compared to the states allowing marriage between first cousins.

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Back to the Future timelines [Sean Mort, via FlowingData]

This chart breaks down the timelines from the “Back To The Future” trilogy. Compared to this, the various “Lost” timelines were totally followable.

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The Brett Favre Retirement Curve [Slate]

Dubbed “an interactive visualization of the quarterback’s annual off-season waffling,” this chart is a fever chart of sorts showing his waffling between “comeback,” “not sure” and “retirement.” And, the colors match those of the teams for which he’s played.

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Missouri’s sexually transmitted disease rates [stltoday.com]

The topic might not be pretty, but that’s why this chart is all the more important. It allows you to search by county, zip code, year and STD. My home county, St. Louis, has consistently ranked among the nation’s worst for at least two of the diseases, chlamydia and gonorrhea. This was put together by Brian Williamson, who consistently does great graphics databases. See this, like, now.

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Got some stuff we missed? Send ’em our way.

In case you missed it…

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In case you missed these stories and interactives in the last few days:

  • Bedrooms of the dead: Preserving the memories of slain loved ones [Florida Times-Union/jacksonville.com]
    Reporter Jim Schoettler and photographer Jon M. Fletcher tell the stories of families of four Jacksonville murder victims who have chosen to remember their children by maintaining their bedrooms. Jon’s portraits of the rooms uses a technique I’m not sure I’ve seen in a newspaper before: the pictures from various perspectives have been pieced together to form a panoramic view.
  • To be continued: Real stories with StoryCorps [Florida Times-Union/jacksonville.com]
    Columnist Mark Woods reflects on StoryCorps, a project which archives personal stories told by the interviewee not to a journalist but to a loved one such a spouse, a child, a friend.
  • Video of suspended Nassau County administrators now public, in sheriff’s hands [Florida Times-Union/jacksonville.com]
    A video showing a Nassau County administrator stumbling naked on a balcony and some poolside partying at a South Florida hotel has thrust Sheriff Tommy Seagraves to the epicenter of the county’s notoriously contentious politics. Roughly 90 minutes of surveillance footage is now in the sheriff’s hands as he contemplates whether criminal charges are warranted against four top administrators. The county is investigating whether the four cheated taxpayers by skipping sessions they’d signed up for at a hurricane preparedness conference in May and billing the county $3,850 for lodging, food and vehicle mileage.
  • Homecoming for Herzog [St. Louis Post-Dispatch/stltoday.com]
    Hall of Famer and former Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog had his number 24 retired at Busch Stadium Saturday before the Pirates game. Players from the 1985 season were there, including one of my favorite all-time players: Ozzie Smith.
  • Celebrity Mug Shots Trivia Quiz [stltoday.com]
    This quiz shows blurry mug shots and asks you to guess who they are. If you follow Perez Hilton, Gawker, Huffington Post or The Smoking Gun, then you should be fine. I got 10 out of 10.
  • How long will the Blagojevich jury deliberate? [stltoday.com]
    What a cool interactive graphic. This compares the length of the Blagojevich trial to other well-known jury trials. The chart allows you to compare how many days these trials lasted to how long (or short) the deliberation process was. There are so many layers to this graphic. Another home run by the stltoday.com staff.