Every week we feature a set of comics created exclusively for WDD.

The content revolves around web design, blogging and funny situations that we encounter in our daily lives as designers.

These great cartoons are created by Jerry King, an award-winning cartoonist who’s one of the most published, prolific and versatile cartoonists in the world today.

So for a few moments, take a break from your daily routine, have a laugh and enjoy these funny cartoons.

Feel free to leave your comments and suggestions below as well as any related stories of your own…

Know your personnel

Take a note

Designer’s Santa

Can you relate to these situations? Please share your funny stories and comments below…

Learn how to use WordPress in one hour without reading a word

Make it a March (and April) to remember by joining us for these great events coming soon:

Admissions Receptions
Various Dates

Are you a proud Retriever Believer? There are a variety of ways alumni can volunteer to give back to the UMBC community. One unique opportunity is to attend one of our many spring Admissions Receptions. These events are offered through Alumni Relations and the Admissions Office. The first two receptions will be held in March:

• Tuesday, March 11, 7 – 9 p.m., Baltimore (Hilton)
• Tuesday, March 25, 7 – 9 p.m., North Bethesda (Rockville/Strathmore)

Get more details and volunteer through our website.

Dessert & Discussion: Family Voices
Wednesday, March 12, 6:30 p.m.

Join us for a spring Dessert and Discussion with Professor Wendy Salkind (theatre) and two fellow alums for a reading of Harold Pinter’s early radio play, Family Voices.
Following the reading of this short play, Professor Salkind will informally respond to audience reactions to Pinter’s characters, and his Absurdist techniques in theatrical form. RSVP now!

Early-Bird Ticket Sales!
Wine Tasting and Silent Auction
Friday, April 25, 7 p.m

This is no average trip to the library. Get dressed to the nines and join fellow UMBC alumni and guests for an elegant party in the beautiful and historic George Peabody Library. Located in picturesque Mt. Vernon, the George Peabody Library will be a studied backdrop to an evening filled with jazz, excellent company, refined refreshments and fine wine. Your attendance and participation in the silent auction will benefit the Alumni Association Scholarship for current UMBC students. This event is brought to you by the UMBC Chapter of Young Alumni.

The ticket price includes unlimited wine tastings and heavy hors d’oeuvres. Purchase your tickets now until March 7 for the early bird price of $30.

In a recent article in The New York Times blog “The New Old Age,” author Paula Span wrote about the Office of Inspector General’s report on Medicare payments for vacuum pumps. The report stated Medicare was paying “grossly excessive” prices for the devices.

Ann Christine Frankowksi, senior research scientist for UMBC’s Center for Aging Studies in the department of sociology and anthropology, was quoted in the article commenting on ageist perceptions of sexuality.

“The general concept is that older people are asexual, that they don’t have, or shouldn’t have, any thoughts about sex,” said Frankowski, whose research has included sexual behavior and policies in assisted living. “There’s a bias against it.”

You can read the full article in The New York Times here.

The photography exhibition currently on display in the Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery, N. Jay Jaffee Photographs from Public to Personal, 1947-1997, received praise this week in the Baltimore Sun.

The review discusses the personal background and career of Jaffee, in relation to his “visceral” and “compelling” photographs of New York City life. The author Tim Smith states that, “N. Jay Jaffee might not be among the best known American photographers of the 20th century, but a sizable and engrossing exhibit of his works at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, makes it obvious that he deserves much wider recognition.”

Read “UMBC presents exhibit of N. Jay Jaffee photos: New Yorker had keen eye for scenes of the city and its people” at the Baltimore Sun‘s website.

N. Jay Jaffee Photographs from Public to Personal, 1947-1997 is on display in the Library gallery though Sunday, March 23. Learn more at our Arts and Culture Calendar.

Interdisciplinary Studies at UMBC invites undergraduate students of engineering, visual arts, environmental science, journalism, and interdisciplinary studies to submit a design proposal for a kinetic sculpture (a bicycle powered work of art).

Interdisciplinary Studies will offer a $250 prize to the winning design for a kinetic sculpture that will be built by a UMBC team of students and entered into the Baltimore Kinetic Sculpture Race. To explore themes of sustainability, the working title for the kinetic sculpture is the “Trashmonster Upcycle.” Our goal is to put the notion of upcycling ("converting waste materials or useless products into new materials or products of better quality or for better environmental value") into motion by collecting discarded materials (also known as trash) that could be used as part of a bicycle powered sculpture.

For more information, please visit the UMBC Kinetic Sculpture Race blog at http://kineticumbc.blogspot.com and the Baltimore Kinetic Sculpture Race web site at http://www.kineticbaltimore.com/.

RFP guidelines:

Please submit a description of up to 300 words and a detailed sketch for a kinetic sculpture powered by either 2 or 4 cyclists. The narrative must address the following questions:

1. What are the overall dimensions?

2. What are primary construction materials?

3. Do you propose incorporating regular bicycle frames or starting from “scratch” in a recumbent rider position?

4. How will the vehicle navigate roads, water, and mud?

Materials that could be used for aesthetic, structural or flotation purposes include:

• water cooler bottles
• buckets
• PVC pipe
• discarded lumber or shipping pallets
• old bicycle frames/wheels/ gears
• renewable materials such as bamboo