Good journalists are like buzzy bees. Publishing is pollination. We create a sweet, healthy product (best consumed in moderation). A queen bee leads the newsroom hive. Snoopiness is a stinger (and we die if we lose it).

And, like bees, journalists are a dying (b)r(ee)d. But it's not cell phones, fungi or pesticides that kill us - our demise lurks in the World Wide Spiderweb. Good thing I've been tangled up in the Internet since pizza.com was an available domain.

Most of my college courses have revolved around writing. Indeed, I very much like the writing lifestyle, minus the times when I'm bee-littled by the hive queen. Har har.

But I'd think that prospective employers would look past my ability to write and focus on other traits I have: video, music, pictures, graphs, galleries, blogging, RSS.. I dig learning new webby presentation tidbits.

I can even work an Intertube! Take that, 1996!

And if that's not enough for you, just check my officiation ad:

Currently marrying and burying folks as they please! Can oversee baptisms, circumcisions, wedding ceremonies and funerals! Bi-lingual and flexible. Can also double as the wedding photographer and reception band.

A good web guy is moot without a keen writing education and versatile multimedia background. Lucky for me, that's the hive in which I was bred. And even though the hive is crowded, hectic and smelly, it sure can be sweet.

I don't keep up with Jayhawk basketball as much as others do. But now that we've made it to the national championship, I'm both proud and weirded out by all of the pandemonium in town.

Seriously, male streakers on Mass. Street? That shit is messed up. I guess a good victory deserves a good flopping around the city.

What kind of stories do you have from the NCAA tournament? Final four craziness or post-title game shenanigans? (Seriously, if you were dinging your dong around the streets of Lawrence, I wouldn't judge.. too much.)

Here's a video that my good friend ...

The beginning: an info-graphic that the blog template won't let me embed.

If somebody told me that I’d be gathering infoberries instead of hunting meaty stories, I would have stopped sharpening my arrowhead (pencil) years ago.

Such is the new journalism trend: newspapers are merely supplemental information providers. People go to the source’s blog for information. (With this in mind, I'm trying not to say goodbye to my journalism education!)

Wait a minute, isn’t the information highway full of some shitty drivers? Who’s to say if these info-speeders are any good behind the wheel? If somebody creates e-roadkill, ...

How did I snag my dose of silly satisfaction yesterday? I stood outside Wescoe Hall during a fire alarm fervidly shouting "Peanut butter space monkeys!"

This spurt of senseless words was all part of The Kansan's master plan: propagate the Vid for All. Think of it like a Free for All, but with a picture of your beautiful face.

The gist: You get 30 seconds to be as clever as possible. Your noggin and vocal chords produce the diction, which picks up on our (maybe) state-of-the-art handheld digi-box. We'll post the recorded segments every Thursday on Kansan.com, and ...

I recently read a story in the Lawrence Journal-World about Lawrence's road salt shortage. Sure, less salt means snow-packed side streets, but the shortage isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

I called the street maintenance division of Lawrence Public Works and learned that Lawrence uses rock salt as a deicer (sodium chloride, or NaCl, as you may recall from your chemistry class). When the snow melts, this sodium chloride gets washed down the drain.

Now, I’m not an environmental researcher. I’m not a plumbing expert. I’m not a doctor, and I didn’t even stay at a Holiday Inn Express ...

Greetings! I've had a busy couple of weeks. Here's something for your gnawing pleasure: an excerpt from a short story I wrote called "Emmett Clown, Upside Down." I hope you think it's OK. If you don't like it, just tell yourself it's based on a true story.

Emmett threw off his paper blanket, lolly-popped out of bed and waddled to his dresser where a red round nose and face paint awaited him. Ornamenting himself with a saggy hat and lamenting clown-frown, he marched out of his pod and let out a honk-honk and a meep-meep, interpreted by some as ...

Allow me to put forward a couple of definitions:

(From American Heritage):

Friend, n.

1. A person whom one knows; an acquaintance.

2. A person with whom one is allied in a struggle or cause; a comrade.

(From me):

Jim, n.

1. A person who adventures through caterpillar-ridden Ithaca forests; bears resemblance to Daniel Stern.

2. A city-stricken person who criticizes televisions, et al.

Originally, “Friends of Jim” served as a clever pseudonym for a group of five KU journalism students (four Neitsches plus myself). In a summer project, we attempted to produce innovation for the ...