The Alderdice household is a big fan of Jeff “Action” Woods, sportscaster extraordinaire, good pal, and just a generally great guy.

Jeff isn’t a fan of the fact that I’ve nicknamed him “Action” and petitioned him on several occasions to adopt the moniker on air.  Friends and gentle readers, I believe we can make that and more happen for old Jeffrey.

I sent myself an email reminder exactly one year ago so I wouldn’t forget about this. Nominations have begun for the 2010 Best of Bowling Green.  The contest recognizes favorite restaurants, stores, and individuals in the city of Bowling Green, Kentucky.

Most of all, I want to see Jeff “Action” Woods as a finalist for Category #104 — Best Local TV Personality.

Do you know who won this category last year?  Radar the Weather Dog.  I’m not even kidding.  A dog beat out a real-life human being for best local tv personality.  Had Jeff been nominated, this would not have happened.

Never again.

Here’s why I’m asking you to do this: Jeff has been one of my dearest friends since he helped me move into my dorm room sophomore year–when I didn’t even know him.  He was my roommate in college and suffered all manner of degradation at my hand.  For some reason, he even agreed to be a groomsman in my wedding.  He’s one of the nicest guys in the world, honestly.

I am asking all of my friends to participate in the nomination process.  There are lots of categories; however,you need only vote for 104. BEST LOCAL TV PERSONALITY. Please enter Jeff “Action” Woods in field number 104. You will have to cycle through a few pages to get to the page with this category.  It’s kind of annoying, I know, but there is no direct link for the page.

It’s that simple.  Please vote early and often.  To make the final voting round, Jeff must be one of the three vote-getters during the nomination phase.

Look how happy the little fella is in the photo below.  Imagine how happy he’ll be if he wins.

Most of our friends have joked about the likeliness of me “live blogging” the birth of our first child.

Most of our friends have been correct about this assumption.

Tomorrow, I’ll tweet updates throughout the day.  We go in for induction at 5 a.m. (CDT).  Who knows how long it will be from then until Elliott’s arrival, though.  My tweets will include a #lbrday hashtag.  If you’d like to pass along a message to us or the little fella, you are welcome to use the tag as well.  All #lbrday tweets will appear in the timeline below so you can see what’s going on if you’re not on Twitter.

It’s going to be an exciting day!

Update: You can read the #lbrday transcript of tweets via What the Hashtag.

Like all good memes, Dodson quickly became a product line.[twitter

Ah, the local news.  As mainstream, national journalism gives way to the power of the internet and the blogosphere, it seems as though local media is the only traditional avenue that maintains some form of relevancy.  After all, local media know their audience, stories, and needs in a way that a national media outlet is simply unable to provide.

Granted, there are numerous professionals working in television and print in newsrooms across the country who are consummate professionals.  Every now and then, though, you have a Chris Allen fondling a breast cancer graphic on camera.  Media professionals make bad decisions all the time.  Even after serving as the Dean of the White House Press Corps, Helen Thomas found herself forcibly retired after inflammatory comments.

Thanks to the internet, a highly local story can become global internet fodder in a matter of hours.  Take the story of Antoine Dodson, the latest example of a local news story gone viral.  When an intruder allegedly broke into his sister’s apartment and attempted to sexually assault her, Antoine helped scare off the attacker.  A story such as this meets the “smell test” for local news: it’s timely, it’s interesting, and there’s a human angle.

Here’s the problem.

Consider you are the reporter, editor, or producer of the nightly news.  What should you do in this instance?  To the best of our knowledge, the story was not made up.  Second, they interviewed the parties directly involved in the event.  Given the fact that an attacker could be on the loose in a local neighborhood, the station has a responsibility to inform their audience of any potential danger.  The question I have to ask, though, is should they have aired the story as is?

Checking out the comments section of the original video, it comes as no surprise there is a large African-American audience and native Huntsville audience who feel as though the video casts their populations in a less-than-positive light.  It’s understandable.  Think about those times where a tornado rips through a local community.  Why is it that nine times out of ten that it goes through a trailer park?  Why is it always a trailer park?

The station could have simply reported the story as part of a block of news.  They could have used clips solely from the young woman who was attacked.  There are any number of ways the station could have covered the story; however, they went with the one that would have the most bang.  While I do believe it falls into a gray area, the station reported the story, with the major players, and in a timely manner.  Dodson was obviously and understandably upset.  The statements were his feelings and opinions in the moment.  He was, perhaps, neither sensible or eloquent.  That’s the risk you run when you talk on camera, though.  Perhaps you simply chalk it up to a lesson in awkward.

That doesn’t mean you go back to the buffet for a second helping.  After Dodson’s comments (and the station’s video) went viral, the station did a second interview with him.  This second time, the story focused on his newfound internet stardom.  Check it out.

Props to Antoine for cleaning up and portraying himself in a more positive light.  Shame on the station for doing a story about their story.  At this point, the station’s actions become self-serving and promotional.  The almost self-righteous tone of the reporter as she explains the justification is more than off-putting.  It’s as if to say, “we probably shouldn’t do another story on this but, forget it, let’s go ahead.”  She plantively justifies the station’s follow-up story despite objections from the community: “To that I say, censoring people like Antoine is far worse.”

Maybe, but exploiting people like Antoine is far, far worse.

Before having Gatton Academy students in my life, I had never really heard of XKCD, the crudely drawn though almost always head-nod worthy bit of internet miscellany. Heck, Gatton Academy students even went so far as to stage an elaborate riff on one of its most famous cartoons. (Search “Justin Howell” on the page.)

It should come as no surprise, then, that this little jewel showed up in my Twitter feed this morning. What’s particularly funny is that this Venn-Diagram comes along just as WKU is planning and executing a major revamp of the main university website. Take a moment to study the cartoon diagram below and meet me after the jump.

University websites are generally terrible affairs thanks to the myriad interests that must be served and the quite literally thousands of pages of information found within those websites. Have a look at the current WKU homepage, which has been more or less the same for the past five years.

It’s all there, folks. Consider for a moment that 80% of the column space of the page is dedicated to extraneous information that serves very little purpose to an outsider. In may ways, I find I’m able to navigate the website because I’ve been doing so for the past several years. I think it would be extremely helpful to share the diagram with the folks in the Public Affairs office on campus. This is by no means something that is exclusive to WKU. I’d wager it’s a concern for 90% of higher education websites.

University websites are no longer placeholders on the Internet or simple news websites. They have to be everything to everyone, which is often the major cause of confusion and strife when it comes to managing the site. Creating a new website on this scale is a task that I do not envy. However, the state of Texas recently mandated that the University websites serve a much more important role: accessible information clearinghouse.

Texas House Bill 2504 (2009) includes several measures that mark higher education’s full transition into the information age. Under the law, state universities are required to post professors’ course syllabi, vitas, publications and salaries. Institutionally, cost of attendance and departmental budgets must also be easily available (defined as a searchable database no more than three clicks away from the university website homepage). In a time of calls for greater transparency in the use of public funds, the system seems somewhat innocuous. Most of this information is already viewable in one venue or another; however, objectors within faculty ranks insist the move is an attack on academic freedom.

Despite faculty resentment, ease of information is not a simple luxury among the current economy, it’s an outright necessity. While the Commonwealth of Kentucky may not be anywhere near close to mandating such a program, I think universities can take away some useful information about how to better serve their students not only in online classes but also on the homepage of their university website.

No matter what you think about casting choices, there is a certain amount of thought that goes into why an actor is chosen to play a particular hero, villain, or supporting character.  Sometimes, that choice is based purely on the star power attached to the lead.  There’s one case where this has really gotten the in way.

Marie Simon, you are woman and I hear you roar.

I too, am the owner of a small dog that probably looks like a T.G.I.Friday’s Puppetizer to most large predators. Usually when I come home I’m greeted with bounding energy and a wellspring of affection. But not yesterday.

When I returned home to a lethargic dog that preferred to lay on the frozen ground than run around outside, I grew concerned. I called the vet’s office. Nothing says good times like, “Wait around for vomit or diarrhea, then call us.” Still, she’s lumbering around looking pathetic. Corey pointed out that perhaps the giant Busy Bone I gave her for her birthday the day before was a bad idea. I waited her out. We sat on the couch, mostly motionless until Corey returned from class at 9 p.m.

Naturally, the little monster ran like a toddler on a 5-hour energy drink binge to the door when Corey returned home, catapulting off the side of the couch and acting like nothing had been wrong. I gave her the side eye for making me sound crazy. She’s been all over Corey over the past few months. Go figure. I’d still punch a coyote for her. But when it comes to the rabbits that taunt her during the summer? She’s on her own.

In other canine related news, I ran across this poem by Jack McCarthy the other day and it made me melt. Read through to the end…and try not to drip on your computer. He’s wonderful. If you agree…go buy his stuff. Support the arts!

WHAT I SAW ON MY WALK THIS MORNING by Jack McCarthy

What did I see on my walk this morning?
I saw no bears or cougars,
though I did see flyers, (though I sometimes think
they post those more to attract than to discourage).

I didn’t see any hawks or eagles—
not that I expected to, at that hour;
the early bird might get the worm, but he won’t
catch many thermals at first light.

And this morning I didn’t see any coyotes.
I thought I would; later than I was out today,
I’ve seen them hunting for mice in the meadow
that runs alongside the Centennial Trail,
hunting in that cartoonish way they have
of leaping up and coming down with all
four feet together to try to crush the mouse
or mole or shrew or vole or whatever little thing
it is that’s on their coyote breakfast menu.
We’ve seen them doing that even
while they pay absolutely no attention
to the roosters crowing and the hens
clucking in the pens anent the meadow.

So no, this morning I didn’t have one of those
eerie visions of coyote crossing the trail
in front of me just barely visible through
the morning mist like a ghost predator;
nor one of those eye-locked silent interactions
in which I try to reassure psychically that I am
not a credible threat while coyote gazes back
at me and seems to ponder whether
I’m decrepit enough to be edible yet.
This morning I saw no coyotes.

What did I see on my walk this morning?
One rabbit, and him I almost missed,
he was far enough off the trail
not to be spooked as I strode past
whispering silent prayers to myself
and to whom or whatever else might be
attending; not religion any more, nor yet quite
superstition; someone friended me yesterday
who’s coined the term “spiritual suspicions,”
and I now see that my prayer
falls in that general area.

And I did see a deer, a big one,
must have been a buck, but that wasn’t
technically on my walk, I was already
in the car en route home when I spotted him
in the field across the road just north of where
the trail crosses. There was nobody behind me
so I pulled over and parked on the shoulder
and got out to look at him. He was on
the far side of the field, maybe fifty yards away,
which he must have felt was a safe distance,
because for two minutes or so
he just stood there, very still,
and we eyed each other.
Then the traffic picked up
and I went back to the car.

What did I see on my walk this morning?
That was about it, for wild things.
There was one other thing
you’d probably like to hear about;
along the lines of that old swayback horse
that every time we see it out in its pasture you say,
“Somebody must really love that horse.”

There was this old woman—
when I say old, I’m saying my age,
give or take a few; possibly as young as you,
but I thought not, but in that range.
The old woman had a leash in one hand
leading a retriever, no longer golden, clearly older—
in dog years—than either of us, laboring
a little, but enjoying, as goldens so obviously
do, every aspect of this morning constitutional.

The old woman with her other hand
was pulling a child’s red rusted wagon
in which rode a second no longer
golden retriever, this one even older,
perhaps the mother of the one she led,
and able to do not much more than
lift its head and smell whatever cinemascope
high definition three-D summer blockbuster
olfactory spectacle it is dogs so enjoy—

and I knew
this woman understood as well as I
dogs gets their kicks from their sense of smell
and she had somehow lifted-prodded-cajoled-
maneuvered-leveraged her no-longer-golden retriever
up into her car and from there down into that little
red wagon, so that even though it couldn’t
walk any more, and—who knows—
maybe couldn’t even see or hear—
it could still smell the rabbits and coyotes,
rooster and chickens, the birds and other dogs—
maybe even deer and cougar and black bear—
all those smells that were about all the pleasure
that old dog was still capable of.

What, my darling, did I see on my walk
this morning? I saw love.

Not so much. At least not yet.

Upon returning to the office on Friday, the question everyone wanted to ask me was “Are you buying an iPad?” I’ve been an early adopter of the iPhone–twice sneaking away from camp to procure the new device. Despite the hype and the potential the iPad presents, I will not be giving Steve Jobs $500+ this Spring. Keep reading to find out why.

The iPad is a device about consumption not production.

Jobs heralded the iPad as a new, third class of Apple products that exists somewhere between the iPods and the MacBooks. Does the world need such a device? Not really. The notion of single or even tri-functional devices is so 20-aughts. Jobs also came out swinging against netbooks, speaking about the limited capacity the devices have. The world needs neither promises. Here’s the deal, though: the iPad has less functionality than many netbooks. This is especially true when you consider the absence of multitasking and webcams–features found in even a $200 refurbished machine running Linux.

What the iPad wants you to do is simply consume information, not produce it. The internet, movies, music, television, and ebooks are at the heart of the device. Take in every bit of information you can (as long as it doesn’t involve Flash), but don’t bet on producing much. Despite the fact that part of the announcement included the unveiling of specialized versions of the iWork suite of apps and even a fully-functioning hardware keyboard, Apple doesn’t want you to get anything done while using the iPad.

What I think the market was expecting was something more MacBook than iPod. I guess what I really wanted was a MacSlate rather than the iPad.

It lacks the one thing I wanted it have.

After spending 10 days in Greece earlier this month, I became particularly fond of the power to have face-to-face conversations via Skype. Being able to connect with friends and family through this use of technology is a small update to offer. In fact, many teardowns of similar devices peg the cost of adding such a camera around $10. Despite my comments of hesitate about the device, I can do everything the device offers through a combination of my iPhone and netbook. As such, even the nice form factor and access to apps means that I’ll be saying no. Just today, the developing community began to share that the code exists within OS 3.2 to offer video chat. That’s something for which we can look forward–maybe even as soon as this summer.

We still don’t know what OS 4.0 will allow us to do.

As I’ve said on Twitter and Facebook, the most conspicuous absence from Wednesday’s event was not anything hardware related but software. When reports ran around the internet in the days leading up to Wednesday about devices running OS 3.2 in the wild, many in the tech community speculated this was a part of the misinformation machine working to confuse what might be legitimate information showing up in the rumor mill. Not so. Everyone simply assume we’d see OS 4.0 as part of the rollout.

Apple has been fairly clockwork about sharing major integer updates on its iPhone OS each Spring. Perhaps Wednesday was just too soon to let the cat out of the bag. Maybe big things are the in works; however, it would have seemed that Wednesday would have been the perfect time to let the cat out of the bag. Maybe, instead, Apple wants to save the real fun for this summer’s updated iPhone. Maybe not.

We mere mortals can only speculate about the mind of Steve Jobs.

Am I excited about the iPad?

Yes. I think the comics community will be one of the biggest winners as a result of the device. A color e-reader with a dedicated bookstore means we should see graphic novels or trades from Marvel and DC in the iBookstore by the end of the year. Is this the kind of device I can give my mom, a person how hates the very thought of computers? You bet.

The challenge with early adoption of any kind is that all the pieces are not in place at launch. Many of my gripes will likely be fixed with software. With Apple’s newfound love of dongles and cords for the iPad, there’s even the possibility that an iSight camera could be added to the device…probably at a $50 premium.

I guess I’ll have to wait until next January to find out. Or the 2010 Holiday season if sales don’t take off.

Until then, enjoy this video of my childhood hero Pee Wee Herman getting his hands on the iPad.