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.

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.

You know how sometimes TV Guide will put out a week’s issue with a series of 4 different covers with different cast-mates of [Current T.V. show]. On the inside – it’s the same T.V. Guide. Same times. Same shows. It’s just the cover that’s different. With a comic book variant – there will be something sparkly and super duper special about a cover that is different from the one that’s in mass production. So say – out of 10 issues of T.V. Guide – 9 of them have Hurley on them, and only one has Sawyer. Sawyer is the variant. Got it? Easy peasy. Comic book with an insert about Spiderman saving Obama at the inauguration. Easy. Right?

Wrong. SO wrong. Because the one variant is invariably worth more than the regular issues.

But the thing about this variant: it was an [Edit: Super special screwy] incentive plan for Marvel. Marvel tells the comic book shop, “Say you ordered x-number of Spiderman issues last time. For every, say, 20 extra issues you order, we’ll give you a variant.” Not a big deal for your gigantic comic book stores, they can easily order more, somewhat difficult for your lower sized chains. There’s the first print ultra-limited edition with a blue background, that’s the one that came out today. So folks were lining up all over the place today to get their hands on the Obama variant of Spiderman.  Here’s how I spent the most terrifying morning of 2009.

So – my resident comic book geek hubs – has been feverishly asking me to go pick up a copy of the variant for like, the past week. There’s only one comic book store in town and it opens at 10 a.m.

Hubs: “You have to get there early. Get there before 10.”

Moi: “Yeahyeahyeahwhatever.”

Hubs: “No. I’m being serious. You really need to get there early.”

Moi: “Mmmkay.”

So I get there at 9:55 and there are three middle aged men, god bless ‘em, standing in line outside the door. Part of me wanted to say, “If there are only three of you – you probably don’t need to be in a line.” But this was the Whopper Virgin in me coming out because, as I learned, fewer people does not mean less insanity.

Strolling like rockstars clad in olive colored trenchcoats and weathered Magic the Gathering tournament t-shirts, the comic book store employees unlock the store. I follow behind the three line guys who obviously were in the know because why else would grown men be lined up outside the comic book store at 10 in the morning. We pass by the back wall with all of the new issues out there. No Obama variant.

Employee 1: We have the Obama variants up here behind the counter. One per customer.

We get up there. There are only five copies. I’m number four in line.

So as I stand in line, a couple comes in asking where the Spiderman Obama comics are located. Employee 1 tells them they’re in the back. They look, and its the regular Spiderman issue. The Hurley, if you will. They return to the front saying that they were there yesterday and reserved a copy.

Now – with these variants, the store doesn’t reserve copies. It’s a first come – first serve basis. And with lil ole me standing number four in line, there was only one left. I think they were saving the last copy to put on display or mark-up for later. But as the couple proceeds to grow increasingly angry – the manager tells them,

Manager: The distributors only gave us five. This is the last one we have – but it’s yours.

Now – another customer comes in saying that they called to reserve the special Obama cover. Same story – you can’t reserve the variant, it’s a first come first serve basis. Only this time – all the issues are sold out. And it’s like, 10:05 a.m. So – say you set your clocks 5 or 10 minutes slow…you just screwed out of your book. Now – I can understand a lot of people’s frustrations. If you didn’t know how limited they were – you would think it would be like getting jeans at the Gap or asking Barnes and Noble to set aside a book for you, wouldn’t there be more in the back?

Angry customer:”What do you mean you only had five? I called and asked to have some reserved yesterday!”

At this point it seems as though some hapless employee was answering the phone all day yesterday and telling folks, “Yeah, we have the Spiderman/Obama book in stock” when what folks were asking for was the variant cover that’s been all over the news. Now – you just opened your store and will be spending the entire day dealing with pissed off people who got there at 10:07 a.m. only to have it sold out. Well – at least you weren’t in NYC or another major metropolitan area…where folks lined up outside for hours.

As I left, I told them, “Hope your day gets better.”

Later – the hubs and I did a good deed and bought a small Spiderman cake to take to the comic book store folks. He’s been a regular customer for years and wanted to be nice. He went inside and told them that I was the one in the pink hoodie that was there earlier to get the variant. They were pretty excited about getting the cake.

So – they got their cake. Hubs got his comic book. Everyone was happy.

Adweek:

“The fast-food chain has released the Whopper Sacrifice application on Facebook. The app rewards people with a coupon for BK’s signature burger when they cull 10 friends. Each time a friend is excommunicated, the application sends a notification to the banished party via Facebook’s news feed explaining that the user’s love for the unlucky soul is less than his or her zeal for the Whopper.

The effort crafted by Crispin Porter + Bogusky came about after agency creative staffers confronted the too-many-friends scenario themselves on Facebook.

“We thought there could be some fun there, removing some of these people who are friends [but] not necessarily] best friends,” said Jeff Benjamin, executive interactive creative director at Crispin, and friend to 736 on Facebook. “It’s asking the question of which love is bigger, your love for your friends or your love for the Whopper,” he said.

The app also adds a box to user profile pages charting their progress toward the free burger with the line, “Who will be the next to go?”

Really, Burger King? REALLY?

Now – I can buy the sacrificing part. In a way – it’s kind of clever. But sending a message to the sacrificee about their “less-than-Whopper-like” status among the sacrificer? REALLY? Most folk I know take that shit PERSONALLY.

On the bright side, when you’re laid up in the hospital from your coronary from consuming too many Whoppers – that’s ten less people crowding up the place during visiting hours.

Then again – this is all the King really wants. Free advertising and publicity. (Shakes fist in air) I’ll get you next time – marketers!

As a lover of all things internet, I just wanted to direct more attention to Boing Boing’s post about the Ada Lovelace Day pledge that’s going on for March 24th this year. Put yo’ bloggin’ pants on and git to goin’!

From the pledge via BoingBoing

Ada Lovelace Day is an international day of blogging to draw attention to women excelling in technology. Over 300 people have already signed a pledge to publish a blog post, video blog or podcast episode about a woman they admire on 24th March 2009. We need 700 more people for the pledge to be successful.

Recent research by psychologist Penelope Lockwood discovered that women need to see female role models more than men need to see male ones. But in the tech world women’s contributions often go unacknowledged and role models are hard to find. Ada Lovelace Day is a chance for us to sing the praises of the women who make tech tick: entrepreneurs, innovators, sysadmins, programmers, designers, games developers, hardware experts, tech journalists, tech consultants… The list of tech-related careers is almost endless and we want to see examples from all of them!

If you’re a non-smoker, non-drinker, non-user of an appropriate weight – you also know all too well how the arguments go. You watch someone you know and care about begin to slip out of control. They seem to get sloppy too much too often. Their waistline continues to widen despite proclamations of being on a diet, weaning off nicotine or not having had a drink in a while. They’re blowing more literal smoke than a politician’s figurative. It’s frustrating because it’s so obviously harmful.

Inevitably – both arguments boil down to key factors: genetics, environment, willpower or addiction.

And most of the time – the arguments never really come to a satisfactory conclusion. One side may submit (with an exasperated, heavy sigh) to change for the better, yet only for the short term. The other, may reluctantly retreat from the subject matter until a later date.

Psychology Today published a list of the seven hardest addictions to quit. While love topped the list (because swooning is a natural high) and cigarettes, alcohol, heroin and cocaine also made the list – the second most difficult addiction to break was food.

I find this to be an intriguing inclusion – if for no other reason than the sheer topicality of the issue. It’s no secret that rates for childhood and adult obesity are on the rise, officials have struggled to pinpoint the exact reason for the sky rocketing rates. The prevalence of fast food, the lower price for nutritionally devoid food, less time exercising, reliance on automobiles, genetics, environment, convenience, marketing and countless other factors have been blamed for Americans packing on the pounds that threaten diabetes, high cholesterol and heart problems. Granted, there are those who question whether Food Addiction is a possibility, let alone a causal factor for obesity. This makes the concept of Food Addiction (or Food Abuse) an interesting topic to discuss – if not strongly consider. A few key points and inks for further examination:

1. Dr. Susan McQuillan, author of Breaking the Bonds of Food Addiction noted in the Psychology Today blog Craving: “Neuroscientists have found that food affects brain chemistry in ways that might lead to an addiction in some people. In fact, the brain chemistry and physiology of an obese person has been shown to be very similar to that of a drug addict.”

2. There are some habits and behaviors that have been linked to food addiction, including: using food to cope with unpleasant emotions, a mental fixation with food (thinking about what you’re going to eat and planning life around meals), secret binges, guilt and eating until the food is gone.

3. There are networks available for those who believe they are suffering with Food Addiction, such as Food Addicts in Recovery.

The holidays are tough for a myriad of reasons. With a staggering economy, struggling environment and shocking national and international political events compounding the natural stress of being with or without family members – it’s no wonder that some of these addictions are more difficult to kick than ever.

Ugh. It still didn’t help.

The price of beauty has always been, well…pricey. Since the Egyptians’ use of lead to whip up new compounds to lather on their faces, humans have had vanity in our veins no matter how “skin deep” its purported to be. While the folks over at Web MD assure us that the government is diligently monitoring the cosmetics industry, the writers at Bitch beg to differ.

Currently, the government is *barely* keeping an eye on the self-regulating industry in a move tantamount to leaving fraternity members to chaperon a high school prom. Sure, there are some that will act responsibly but the arrangement still makes you squirm a bit. Additionally, it appears that the few regulatory measures it *does* have only opens the door for more misleading marketing. Between federal loopholes regarding chemical testing, minimal safety requirements and dodgy standards for what qualifies as “organic” and “natural” (that same Bitch article points out that a product can advertise itself as ‘organic’ if it contains 1% certified organic ingredients).

More scary info from Bitch :

Makeup menaces are nothing new: Some Elizabethan enchantresses died for their love of white lead–laced face powder, and Victorian vamps used deadly nightshade to lend their eyes an alluring glow. But today, when a $50-billion cosmetics industry has replaced apothecaries and home brewers, we expect the FDA to protect the public from dangerous beauty aids. Yet while its name might lead us to think otherwise, the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act gives the FDA far more regulatory power over food additives and drugs than over cosmetics; the agency isn’t authorized to approve cosmetic products or ingredients before they hit the shelves. Manufacturers are under no legal obligation to register with the FDA, file data on ingredient safety, or report injuries caused by their products. The European Union has banned 1,132 known or suspected carcinogens, mutagens, and reproductive toxins from use in cosmetics, but only 10 such chemicals are banned in the United States, leaving us with mercury in mascara, petrochemicals in perfumes, and parabens in antiperspirants. And just as none of the offending lipsticks’ labels indicated the presence of lead, the FDA allows potentially hazardous chemicals like phthalates—industrial solvents linked to birth defects in boys’ reproductive systems and premature puberty in girls—to slip into ingredient lists under the umbrella term “fragrance.”

[...]

It gets worse. Only 11 percent of the 10,000-plus ingredients used in personal care products have been assessed by the Cosmetic Ingredient Review, the safety panel established and funded by the Personal Care Products Council that—conflict of interest be damned—is the primary source of information for the FDA’s Office of Cosmetics and Colors. The industry touts the CIR as a scrupulous safeguard that renders outside oversight unnecessary, but in the more than three decades since it was founded, the panel has deemed a scant nine ingredients unsafe. And manufacturers aren’t even under any obligation to follow the CIR’s recommendations—one of the nasty nine, the likely carcinogen hydroxyanisole, is still found in Porcelana skin cream, for instance.

For what it’s worth, the author does recommend the Cosmetics Database for anyone wanting to make sure their body glitter won’t spontaneously com bust when mixed with hair spray.

Read up on it. This isn’t one of those “Argh – quit using make-up and go au naturale” deals. Yes – everyone should feel confident and comfortable in their own skin – but I don’t believe putting on a little lip gloss makes you patriarchy’s hand puppet. This is just one of those, “Hm. I didn’t know they put anti-freeze in deodorant. How ’bout that?” sort of deals. Ultimately – I figure it’s better for folks to know that concerns have been raised – and allow the consumers the right to dismiss or investigate the claims to make their own choice.

Better to be informed about the products than deformed later because of them – right? Right.