The growth in the internet, 24-hour television and mobile phones means that we now receive five times as much information every day as we did in 1986.

But that pales into insignificance compared with the growth in the amount of information we churn out through email, twitter, social networking sites and text messages.

…

Using the analogy of an 85 page newspaper, they found that in 1986 we received around 40 newspapers full of information every day but this had rocketed to 174 in 2007.

The full article has tons of interesting stats.

On a personal level, I’ve often felt overloaded with the constant stream. I’ve tried unsuccessfully at times to blackout certain days and weekends – always caving because of some legitimate need that requires I look something up. I gave up my iPhone last summer to get away from the always tethered feeling, but sadly, I traded it in for an iPad (wifi only) – which only created frustrating scenarios of not having internet access (needing map/directions) when I need it.

There’s a part of me that seriously wants to pull a Watterson and completely unplug.

For those interested, my day job is working for a company that specializes in providing eGovernment solutions (think registering your car, drivers license, or business license over the web). For the last 11 months we’ve been working on a major rework/redesign of Utah.gov (official website for Utah). When we set out to redo the portal we knew had to push the concept of what a government website could look like and function. We also knew the time was right to begin using some technologies that were commonplace in the private sector that are not used extensively on government sites. This was also the first time we had ever launched a product coinciding with a social media blitz which proved to be effective in spreading the word out and soliciting feedback.

You can see some of the new websites we unveiled yesterday:

• Utah.gov – the website and gateway to Utah’s official portal
• Utah.gov Connections – Access to our newly launched iPhone apps, widgets, official flickr, twitter accounts and multimedia portal
• Data Portal – a growing source of public raw data that citizens can “utilize and merge it in new and innovative ways”
• Mobile version of Utah.gov for smart devices (to view, simply go to utah.gov with your Blackberry, iPhone, etc.)
• In your Area – the first use of GeoIP tagging to push local information relevant to the citizen’s hometown
• Blogs – an aggregate of 27 blogs, over 100 Twitter written by Utah elected officials and agencies

Previously we launched a Transparency website that allows citizens to drill down into each agency’s funding and spending – right down to the dollar. Before that, a Public Meeting Notice site that requires all government entities at all levels, from the biggest to smallest, to post their meetings and agendas so that the public can be notified when a topic or meeting of interest will be held. We’re doing some groundbreaking things here in Utah and I’m proud to be apart of it.

Thanks again for your patience. Blogging resumes in earnest today.

Alan

A friend emailed me a link to a blog dedicated to bento (a japanese single portion box/package meal) proving once again, there’s a blog for every niche no matter how small. This particular blog post was a dedicated bento box to Calvin and Hobbes. See photo below. The blog has many more photos, plus the recipe for those do-it-yourselfers.

I think she did a fantastic job. Probably took her so long the potato salad she used is probably spoiled, but it could have been worse… she could have made a bento of Calvin peeing on Ford or Chevy logo.

UPDATE: Took a few more minutes to browse through her blog and I’m quite impressed. This is not a passing passion of hers. Check out her Where the Wild Things Are, Penny Arcade, Wall-E, or just check out the index of all her work. Quite impressive.

Another UPDATE: My apologies for Anna The Red for my quip that the potato salad was probably spoiled. It wasn’t meant that the food wasn’t edible, but that the intricacies and detail of such a creation had to take a LONG time. As I posted above, I am quite impressed. Sorry for the offense.

From an email I received earlier today:

I am a science teacher, and contacting you in the hopes that you could help provide me with a little guidance I could pass on to a student of mine. He is 16 years old, going into the 11th grade, and is known for sitting silently in class and flunking. Although he will barely speak and does no work, I have observed that he sits and does incredible drawings of what look to me like evil clowns. The drawings are mature and detailed. He does a couple each day in my class.

He probably will not graduate from High School. His parents are Spanish-speaking, but a relative explained to me that they are seeking both medical and psychological doctors to try to understand why he won’t talk or do school work. He will smile and listen to me when I speak, and sometimes respond with short answers, so I feel I have somewhat more of a connection with him than the other teachers do.

I would like to guide him toward a career in illustrations. I am a scientist and almost completely unaware of how to guide him. I searched for a book on evil clown drawings for him, and it seems this is an open market with none available. He has enough to fill a book, and his are better than most of what I have seen. Can he submit his drawings somewhere, or can his parents get him into professional drawing classes (with no HS diploma)? We are in the San Francisco Bay area.

As a scientist, I try to explain to the kids that they will be good at doing what they love to do. I am hoping this child’s skill can be used to salvage his life. He says he has no idea what he wants to do when he “grows up.” Any advice you would be willing to provide to me would be greatly appreciated, and utilized.

Because this is a cartooning blog, let me share a cartoon related example of how great my mother is. At the suggestion of a retired magazine cartoonist that I met in the late 80′s, I started to ink my cartoons with a brush – which of course required a bottle of ink. To this day, there are faded ink stains in the carpet of my old bedroom floor from knocking the bottle off the desk. I remember, after the first spill, feeling petrified of how my mother would react when she found out. As best as I could, I blotted out as much ink as possible, but it was impossible to clean up. It was one of those afternoons where I died a thousand deaths waiting for her to come home from work. When I showed it to her, she merely shrugged her shoulders and said that things like that happen and left it at that. I was shocked, but very grateful that she didn’t ban the bottle of ink. I think she knew how important it was to me to learn the art of cartooning.

So, Mom, I love you very much. Happy Birthday. Thank you for always being supportive of everything I do and please don’t be too embarrassed that thousands of people now know how old you are. :)

The Palm Beach Post food critic, Charles Passy, has written up a review of his recent experience eating there.

But the real appeal of Dagwood’s may be its signature Dagwood sandwich. It costs $9.69 – more than anything at Subway, I’m sure – but it’s worth every penny. The chain calls it a “skyscraper” of a meal and they’re right: the fillings include hard salami, pepperoni, cappicola, mortadella, deli ham, cotto salami, cheddar and provolone cheeses, red onions, green-leaf lettuce, tomatoes, fresh and roasted red bell peppers, mayo, mustard and the chain’s “secret Italian olive salad” Oh, and it’s held together with a giant “olive skewer.”

The thing is more than enormous. It’s ginormous! But quantity isn’t taking the place of quality – the meats are all top-of-the-line and the whole thing holds together beautifully, even if it’s a little hard to get your mouth around it. But isn’t that the point of a Dagwood sandwich?

The sandwich web site has a video of what to experience at the restaurant chain. There are currently three shops that are open with 10 more that are opening this summer.

Editorial: In light of this new information, I think Savarino is a victim of injustice. Cartoon statues should be able to take the stress of crazed huggers and Savarino should be praised for finding the flaw before Garfield’s head could fall off and crush a little wheelchair bound 4-year old boy or girl. Okay, so maybe he did try to cover up his crime by taking the head and throwing it away near a reservoir (next time, take a cue from any mob movie and put the head INTO the reservoir tied to a rock or something), but I’m sure that small act when, compared to what MIGHT have happened had he not discovered the structural mal-integrity, is inconsequential. People should have the right to hug their favorite cartoon character without the fear of its heading popping off. I suggest an independent counsel look into the Judge’s background and find out if he is a secret Garfield fan and may have had a personal conflict of interest.

Here is the pertinent post regarding his support for a Gates candidacy.

I think that in an election cycle or two you will see an atheist business leader emerge as a legitimate candidate for president. And his name will be Bill Gates.

By then, Bill Gates will have done so much good for the world through his charitable works that combined with his business success he’ll appear more qualified than any other candidate. His early bachelor life and some of his business practices will come back to haunt him if he runs, but he can still win with this simple slogan: “Who would you rather have on your side?” He’ll confess to all of his past imperfections and say that presidents are poor choices for role models. He’ll advise you to look to your parents for role models while you let him run the country.

I doubt Bill Gates is considering a run for president right now, largely because it’s so hard to make a difference from that job. His charities will have more impact. But I think he’ll someday realize that the world needs a rational thinker in the top spot and no one else can win.

At least you’d know he wouldn’t be in it for the money or to speed up the Rapture. He has my vote.

He’s followed up that post with another extended explanation of why Gates would be a welcomed leader of the free world.

Forget about whatever Bill Gates did in the past that made you curl up with your free copy of Linux and cry. In his first week in office he’d probably link Microsoft Virtual Earth to the government’s spy satellites so you can look for Osama yourself. I’ve always felt that terrorism is a technology problem disguised as a political problem. Bill Gates can fix that.

For my president I want a mixture of Mother Teresa, Carl Sagan, Warren Buffet, and Darth Vader. Bill has all of their good stuff. His foundation will save more lives than Mother Teresa ever did. He’s got the Carl Sagan intelligence and rational mind. He’s a hugely successful businessman. And I have every reason to believe he can choke people just by concentrating in their general direction. You can’t tell me that wouldn’t be useful at a summit.

As I said, the topic is getting some attention among other bloggers – especially of the tech variety. See comments from Brier Dudley, a tech columnist with the Seattle Times.

My take? Next time you have to reboot your Windows machine, think – do you really want this guy in charge of the free world?