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STATE OF KANSAS
Revised license law irritates students
BY DANNY LUPPINO
Christina Blandon had planned on going out of town for her birthday. But because of a new law requiring people to renew their licenses on their 21st birthdays, Blandon, Leawood junior, will have to stay home and go to the Department of Motor Vehicles instead.
"A lot of people want to go out of town on their 21st birthday, which I was planning on doing, but now I guess I won't." Blandon said.
According to the law, which went into effect July 1, a person's license expires on his 21st birthday and will cease to be acceptable as legal identification after that day. Twenty-year-olds are not able to renew their licenses before their 21st birthdays. This means that a person must renew his driver's license on his birthday in order to it remain valid.
The law is an extension of the policy of issuing a vertical license to people younger than 21 and a horizontal license to everybody else.
Bonnie Brown, administrative specialist at the division of vehicles, said the value of having all 21-year-olds have horizontal licenses was worth the inconvenience to students.
"For law enforcement purposes, yes, it is important," Brown said. "You don't want to carry the wrong permit because the reason that was implemented in the first place was so they could look at it visually and determine if somebody is underage without having to read the birth date."
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Brown said those who turned 21 before the policy was implemented and still use a vertical license should switch to the horizontal license as soon as possible. The DMV only charges $4 for the photo fee.
The only exceptions to the policy are for people who turn 21 on a day when the DMV is closed. Brown said these people would be permitted to renew their license on the next possible day. She said people who are out of town on their birthdays would be evaluated on an individual basis.
Though students might not like the policy, bar owners think it is a step in the right direction to curb underage drinking.
"i suggested that three years ago," said Rob Farha, owner of the Wheel, 507 W. 14th St. "From a bar owner's
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TECHNOLOGY
Podcasts help students learn Recorded lectures useful
BY DAVID LINHARDT
The University of Missouri has something that the University of Kansas doesn't.
Journalism students there can download lectures directly to their iPods and listen to them whenever they need to. The University of California at Berkeley has a similar program, as do numerous other universities.
The University of Kansas doesn't, though — at least not yet.
Rob Walch, the guru behind www.podcast411.com, said it's easy to record a lecture and post it online for students. A podcast is an audio recording that is saved to a computer and accessible through an Internet connection. It doesn't take an iPod, either — anyone with a computer can listen to a podcast.
Walch, whose podcasting tutorials are referenced by several universities, said making a podcast from a lecture basically only takes two files: a simple recording of the lecture into an MP3 audio file, and then an RSS feed that directs Web surfers to the correct spot to download the MP3 file.
"Many lecture halls are equipped already to record audio," Walch said. "It's just a matter of the professor wanting to have the lecture available to students."
Walch said professors tended to worry that students would become disengaged from class if they could just download the day's lecture and slide shows online. But with so much information available whenever a student needs it, there's no excuse for missing information.
Walch will hold a podcasting tutorial at 7 tonight at Signs of Life, 722 Massachusetts St.
Bill Myers, director of Information Services and Libraries, agreed that the technology was already in place. A
professor might need to plug in a microphone, but that's about it.
Myers said the University doesn't currently have a plan to promote podcasting because its current focus is expanding wireless Internet access.
Pradeep Natarajan, graduate teaching assistant, said two electrical engineering classes at the School of Engineering used online lectures and tests. He said it was a good idea for higher-level classes where learning takes place in a non-classroom setting.
Susan Zvacek, director of instructional development and support, said podcasting could become a staple of KU classes if faculty wanted it to be. Right now, most instructors don't seem to be interested, she said.
However, "students will tend to look for the information they need for a quiz and skip through the rest of the lecture," Natarajan said.
"The question becomes how valuable it is to just listen to someone talk," Zvacek said. "The real key is to engage students in thinking and doing things with the content."
Kevin Wiedenmann, Olathe senior, said any additional information was a plus, especially while studying at night when a professor wasn't available.
Wiedenmann, who studies aerospace engineering, said the level of math required in a couple of his classes was so high that even a few extra notes from an instructor became key. A recorded lecture would be even better.
"When you're a senior, you realize that skipping class just wastes your time and money," Wiedenmann said.
Kansan staff writer David Linhardt can be contacted at dlinhard@kansan.com.
Edited by Brett Bolton
See Spot swim
Rvan McGeeney/KANSAM
Angela Moss, Lawrence, lets her Yorkshire Terrier, Tigger, take a rare swim Tuesday during the Lawrence Outdoor Aquatic Center's fourth annual Pooch Plunge. "She likes swimming." Moss said, "but terriers aren't the greatest swimmers, so she needs something to keep her head out of the water." The Pooch Plunge is the last event of the outdoor pool's season, which runs from Memorial Day to Labor Day. After the event, the pool is drained, cleaned, and closed for the year.
ENTERTAINMENT
Cartoon previews released online
Three KU students released one-minute prequel shorts of a new cartoon series, called "Zook Mayhem and the Bandits," on the Internet Monday after spending the past seven months working to create and animate it.
Nolan T. Jones, Pittsburg senior, who originally thought of the idea for the cartoon, said the "standalone funny" episodes, which are available to view on www.zookmayhem.com, were designed to give viewers a preview of what the characters will look and act like and keep them interested until the first episode is released in October.
After the first episode premires, new episodes will be launched directly to the Internet in full-length installments about once a month. Jones said a full 13-episode
season and eventually a DVD are part of his plan. He has outlines for a few seasons and a movie, but no definite plans for how far the project will go.
Jones said he thought of the idea for the series when he was in eight grade and it has evolved through several different versions, including a project for film class and an animated talk show that he was unsatisfied with.
"It it was horrible, so I found something that managed to be more true and absurd all at once," Jones said.
The cartoon really took off when Jones involved his friends, Richard Zayas, Smithville, Mo., junior; and Riley Dutton, Arma sophomore. The two agreed to help Jones with the project if he could prove to them that it was funny. They were convinced that it was when they
read a five-page script Jones wrote last winter.
Twenty students helped lones and his friends with the animation of the cartoon, which is still underway.
Dutton estimated that it takes five to 10 hours to make one minute of animation. The process involves recording the voices of the characters, drawing the characters and props for the episodes by hand, scanning them into a computer, animating the episode and editing video. That estimate doesn't include time spent writing scripts and making other preparations.
Courtesy of Nolan T. Jones
Jones received a $1,000 undergraduate research award from the University honors program, given to encourage research by undergraduate students, to support his work.
The crew is relying on word of mouth to spread news about their
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project and using Google Analytics to track how many people visit their Web site. Jones said that the Web site had received about 4,000 page-views as of Monday.
Kansan staff writer Darla Slipke can be contacted at dslipke@ kansan.com.
Edited by Mindy Ricketts
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