Thermometer

To kill the salmonella organism, the temperature of an egg or egg dish must reach a temperature of 160 degrees (or be held at 140 degrees for 3 1/2 minutes). A quick-read thermometer provides a quick, easy way to measure the internal temperature of egg dishes. -- Cole's Cooking A to Z

During baseball season I spend a fair amount of time thinking up work-related excuses to attend a game. For several years now, I have marked the start of the season by carrying a digital watch and an instant-read thermometer to Oriole Park at Camden Yards. I use the devices to record how long I wait in line at concessions stands and how hot or cold my food is when I get it, and then I write about my findings.This year I added a new wrinkle. I also timed how long $20 lasted me as I bought ballpark eats and drinks.

New York. -- You are short of time. Technologists know this and are trying to help -- in their fashion. First, your symptoms:* A 60-second television commercial -- these dinosaurs do turn up on some obscure cable channels -- feels like a full-length feature film. You can't believe how it goes on and on.* Before you reheat leftovers in the microwave, you plan an activity to fill the 90 seconds that might otherwise be spent watching your food through the little window.* You keep your wristwatch within a minute of the correct time.

A roundup of new products and servicesA cool thermometerIt's hard to say whether a baby's having a temperature is worse for the baby or for the parents who have to monitor it. Now Questech has introduced a thermometer that will make the experience less traumatic for both. The Wee Care Digital Pacifier Thermometer looks like a baby's pacifier but has a temperature-sensing device inside the rubber nipple and an LCD display window on the front. A gentle beep at preset intervals lets parents know it's working, and a series of beeps sounds when the reading is complete.

100 Years Ago* The thermometer in Annapolis registered 96 degrees today. The midshipmen were given liberty because of the heat and having concluded their examinations. The graduation class will number 41. -- The Sun, June 1, 1895.* The Annapolis City Council granted the Potomac & Chesapeake Telephone Co. of Washington the privilege to erect poles and use the streets of Annapolis for the purpose of a telephone exchange. -- The Sun, June 2, 1895.* John DePeysien Darew reached Annapolis today from New York on a bicycle, a distance of 240 miles, in three days, two hours and 50 minutes.

The thermometer is back on in Baltimore.After five months without official weather data for the city, meteorologists at the National Weather Service have replaced the damaged, 50-year-old measurement equipment on the roof of the Custom House at South Gay and Lombard streets.The new thermometer, which has a significantly smaller margin of error than the old one, went on-line at 5 p.m. Monday, according to Jose Marrero, a weather service forecaster. At 1:30 p.m. yesterday, that thermometer hit 92 degrees, he said.

The beer was colder, the hot dog just as hot and the crab soup was served faster. Boog has added a smoked turkey sandwich to his lineup. And, hold onto to your metaphor, you can now eat apple pie at the ballpark.That, in box score form, is my report from my annual Opening Day trip to Oriole Park at Camden Yards. I stuck a thermometer into food and drink served at the ballpark concession stands. I also timed how long I waited in line.Like a lot of baseball fans, last year's strike made me angry.

If you're searching for a respite from the heat and humidity, don't look in Maryland.From the steamy heart of Baltimore to the Atlantic beaches and even in the usually cooler western mountains, the story's the same -- temperatures in the upper 80s to mid-90s and wilting humidity.The thermometer could hit 100 degrees in the city later today, the National Weather Service predicts.Meteorologist Ken Shaver, speaking from his air-conditioned office at Baltimore-Washington International Airport, attempted to lend perspective.

Like most baseball fans, I want my hot dog hot, my beverage cold, and my time in line short.For the most part, that is what I found yesterday as I chewed and sipped my way through Oriole Park at Camden Yards.The food and service were good. I have the stop-watch times and the temperature data to prove it. Moreover, I have testimony from fellow eaters and drinkers.When I got in line at a concession stand, I timed my wait with a stopwatch. When I got my food and drinks, I recorded their temperatures with a thermometer.

Like most baseball fans, I want my hot dog hot, my beverage cold, and my time in line short.For the most part, that is what I found yesterday as I chewed and sipped my way through Oriole Park at Camden Yards.The food and service were good. I have the stop-watch times and the temperature data to prove it. Moreover, I have testimony from fellow eaters and drinkers.When I got in line at a concession stand, I timed my wait with a stopwatch. When I got my food and drinks, I recorded their temperatures with a thermometer.

On Sunday, we listed a high temperature of 80 for Saturday in downtown Baltimore. That puzzled reader Fred Weiss. "My thermometer barely made it to 70 ... Where and what time was that 80-degree reading?" Darned if I know. Our data vendor claims it came from The Baltimore Sun's station at Calvert and Centre, but we never got that warm, either. All future "downtown" readings will come from the Maryland Science Center.

Question: : The other day, I had a fever and was taking my temperature. When I was shaking my thermometer, the bottom broke off, and it spilled down the sink drain. I was too sick to do anything about it that day. Today, I am feeling better, and when I searched the Web for ideas about disposal, I got freaked out. What should I do about the mercury that went down the drain? Answer: : This is a serious situation, because liquid mercury from a thermometer can release mercury vapors that are toxic.

L ou Borowicz of Baltimore dialed the weather line April 26 and heard that the downtown temperature was 101. A friend in Hamilton had 99.7, but the next day's Baltimore Sun reported just 91. "Can you explain these differences?" Lou asks. Sure: location. We reported BWI's high. The Science Center reached 93. Here on Calvert Street, it was 95. The phone company's rooftop thermometer often records the highest temperature of all. Up-to-the-minute local weather data and radar at MarylandWeather.

Whether you have a fancy gas grill or a humble charcoal kettle, nothing is more key to the success of your grilled meat than its temperature when you take it off the fire. Remove your beautiful steaks, dogs or chicken too soon, and you've got an unappealing raw center that's not safe to eat; let your food go too long, and dinner is dry and tough. An accurate thermometer can be your best friend. With that in mind, we fired up the backyard Weber and tried out three thermometers, each with different attributes.

Hugh Silcox of Baltimore installed a wireless thermometer in the concrete back "yard" of his rowhouse. Last Saturday it read 110 degrees. "Clearly the thermometer was basking in a direct beam of sunlight," he said. "Should I place the thermometer under an upturned flowerpot? Seems too cool to me." Keep looking, Hugh. Your yard's a solar furnace. Shade the sensor from direct sun and mount it away from brick or concrete, which absorbs and re-emits solar heat. It also needs air circulation.

Fred Scott of Waldorf is troubled by his outdoor thermometer. "On mornings with frost, it is often 6 or 7 degrees higher than 32," he says. "Since it must have been at least 32 degrees to form frost," he believes it's defective. "When I replace my sensor ... where would the best location be?" Slow down, Fred. Some materials (metal, glass) radiate heat faster than the surrounding air, reaching 32 sooner. Your sensor may be fine. If you go wireless, install it five feet high in a grassy area.

My husband and I want to start a family, so I take my temperature every day before I get out of bed. The record I keep lets us know when I have ovulated. The problem is the thermometer. It is an old-fashioned mercury thermometer we "borrowed" from his parents. He's very sweet about shaking it down and bringing it to me, but I am afraid he might break it. I worry that being exposed to mercury just before I get pregnant would be dangerous for the baby. He says other thermometers aren't as accurate.

Behind every famous number lies a story. And in this season of sickness, when the thermometer frequently emerges from the bathroom cabinet, few numbers in medicine are as familiar as 98.6 - the normal temperature of the human body. Celebrated in song and enshrined for more than a century in schoolbooks and medical texts, 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit is the benchmark many of us use to determine who goes to school or work and who stays in bed. There's just one little problem: 98.6, it turns out, is a medical myth.

I MADE a list of small kitchen gifts that I would be happy to receive on Christmas morning. List making is a holiday tradition in our household. It is the only way you have a chance of getting what you want. If you leave gift selection up to the intuition of your gift givers, you are gonna be surprised, and not always happily. This is especially true when dealing with your offspring. Dropping hints to them usually doesn't help. Writing down specifics does. List making also helps to keep things in the proper price range.

HAGERSTOWN - In the blink of a neighborhood called Huyetts Crossroads, the man's house seems alive. A garden hose seems ready to water. A double-bowled cat dish appears ready to feed. The lawn looks recently mowed in customized lines. The Sunbeam thermometer - with a deer's likeness on the big dial - displays a temperature of 100 degrees. By the back door, a sticker says, "Active Supporter of Maryland Fraternal Order of Police." John Roy Ward lived on this dead-end street until June 30. On July 1, he was found dead on his kitchen floor with multiple wounds to his back and the back of his head.