Negotiations have been set in motion for a replacement show in 2010 for the Air & Sea show that has been a Florida tradition for the past 13 years. But since we have to do without it for two years, you can get your fix with this paper airplane garage. Learn about aircraft, how planes fly and design your own paper airplane.

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Who says you can't have fun with politics?

If you recall, last week I posted a graphic word cloud (or is that graphic cloud??) of sorts summarizing the Democratic National Convention. This week, I have a word cloud summarizing both conventions (sorry, there wasn't one specifically for the Republican convention — I checked).

Based on the number of times certain words were said in the presidential and vice-presidential candidate speeches, one set focused more on issues than the other.

Still can't get enough? Check out these word clouds generated by 10000words.net for the GOP and DNC conventions. Or, as I said last week, try making your own!

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I love word clouds. You know what I'm talking about: the little graphic made up of different sized words, based on the number of times they're spoken in a speech.

Well, already we're seeing word clouds circulating on the Democratic National Convention. In fact, here's an analysis I found on 10000words.net.

But I found this today as I was poking around in the Associated Press' graphics wire, and I love, love, love their take. Check it out, and if you have time ... make your own!

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Surfers are known to ride the waves from stormy weather but it can be fatal. Take the man who was injured during Tropical Storm Faye and is now in critical condition.
To prevent from being blown around, read up on our News Illustrated about the basics of kite boarding here.

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Above is an interactive that I did which allows you to go through the voting process in Broward and Palm Beach counties. New optical scan machines will be used in Florida this year, but the machines and ballots do not all look the same.

There always seems to be some kind of voting process issue surrounding election day. Use this simulator to help prepare yourself for voting day so that there will hopefully be no confusion this year.

Also, check out our elections page to view other helpful information and articles about voting and the candidates.

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Looking for the latests trends to wear back to school without breaking the bank?
Check them out here. We'll tell you how much they cost and where to find them.

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I’m a stranger in this place.

It took this print reporter three weeks to learn Flash and create the video gamer package you see here.

Here’s the story: about a month ago, I approached Len to see if the graphics department could throw together a flash page to tie together all the multimedia elements I had gathered (two videos, a slideshow, lists, etc.) for a story I was working on.

He turned me down. The department was bogged down with other higher priority requests, he said.

Damn! Couldn’t they just throw together something small and basic? Maybe use the template used in the Rip Currents flash package, ( ) another project I had gathered multimedia for? No and no.

I was distressed. Instead of a slick, user-friendly experience, people could only access my multimedia through ugly links buried below the middle of the screen, out of a reader’s line of sight like a pair of old sneakers hanging high on a power line.

I had to make it myself. And here’s what it took:

Three weeks:
• Two for learning from a book and a class with Belinda and a week to create from scratch.
•Adobe’s Classroom in a Book and Mindy McAdam’s Flash Journalism to learn basics and concept for visual story-telling
• Guidance and patience from graphics/flash team for great feedback, help iron out kinks, provide crazy coding.
• Support from my editor to help me block off my schedule to focus on this project.
• Seemingly endless tweaking perfecting fonts, adjusting layers, making stuff fit.
• Crash course on design philosophy.
--key is consistency
--take out anything unnecessary or flashy, much like writing
• Troubleshooting
--It took almost as much time to troubleshoot it as it did to design.

My editor and I are thinking long-term use with this knowledge.
We’re going to see how we can create Flash templates to tie together the deluge of info that pours in during big breaking news stories. I can't wait to get started. Give us three weeks.

Andrew Ba Tran

Staff Writer
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

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So here it is, Hiram Henriquez's last News Illustrated page. It's a
good graphic explaining how our staff makes 3-D illustrations. The
only problem is that Hiram finished this page a year ago before
leaving to work at National Geographic.

So why did we wait so long?

Sometimes, the topics we pick don't need to run for some time. Other
topics, such as voting, need to coincide with major events and
anniversaries or they accompany other stories in the
paper. So Hiram's page didn't run for a year because the topic was
something we could run at any time. And as it happened, we just didn't
have an opening until this weekend.

So we hope you enjoy this and at least learn a little something about
how we do what we do best.

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The HBO movie Recount premiers this weekend.

We expected to find a better explainer of the infamous Palm Beach County Butterfly Ballot on their Web site but didn't. Fortunately for you, we reproduced the actual ballot back in 2000 to let readers see if they would have voted correctly. Try it out, if you dare.

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After more than 10 years, the Air & Sea Show has come to an end. It's a shame, if you ask me. It was fun and was always good fodder for graphics.

For example, a few years ago, our competitors to the south were sponsoring the event so we decided to try and steal their thunder. We created a special section with a cut-out paper airplane, built an interactive graphic so readers could build and print planes online and produced a News Illustrated page explaining the aerodynamics.

The research and development was particularly fun. At one point, our Managing Editor walked by the department and was nearly struck by a test plane that sailed through the door. Talk about not safe for work.

So if you really miss the Air & Sea Show, hold an event at home. Build some planes and throw them in the air. We thought it a fitting farewell.

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Here is an interactive game that I made to go along with my News Illustrated page running in the Outlook section of the Sunday paper. I did the page to go along with an event happening this weekend in Kendall. It's the 25th Annual Sunrise Community Hot Air Balloon Race. More than 40 balloons will be taking off and it's FREE! That is always a plus. Here is a flyer with more information about the activities, such as Laser tag and crafts. It should be a fun event and a great way to see hot air balloons in action.

If you want to see a copy of the full page, click here.

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It's only April and I already miss football. Anyone for a game of the paper variety? In fact, let's start a league. Oh wait, one already exists.

The interactive graphic above was created by Multimedia Director R. Scott Horner for last year's football preview. Enjoy.

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Last night on "Dancing with the Stars", Jason Taylor used these basic fox trot steps to wow home viewers.

To learn more about ballroom dancing check out www.ballroomdancers.com. The site has diagrams, videos and other instructional information on all types dances, including the waltz, tango, cha cha, rumba, paso doble and the jive.

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