Welcome to BenWoods.com

You made it! Thanks for visiting.

The radio song game

Does anyone even listen to the radio anymore? My kids and I invented a game that we play during school trips and road trips and anywhere in between (and even listening to the radio at home).

The game originated primarily because our local radio stations kept playing Sabrina Carpenter's "Espresso" two years ago. There were a few other newer hits that received roughly the same amount of play, so each person could select one new song. If your song was played on the radio, you would receive $1.

How about a new article

It has been way too long since I added an article and upgraded my site. On the heels of returning from Drupalcon Chicago, I'm looking forward to trying to keep up with the latest and greatest options in Drupal these days. I have been rapidly building new sites at my new gig over at the University of Maryland. At least one of my daughters has taken a mild interest in programming, so maybe I can eventually get her to add some items on the site!

Winning, but before a true prize even existed

This year, 2024, marks the 42nd year (should be 43 years in a row since the tournament was canceled in 2020 due to COVID) that I have picked at least one NCAA men’s basketball bracket. I have copies of many of them, including the one from 1981, when I picked my Louisville Cardinals to win the championship. That was the year they lost their first game on a halfcourt shot. Some people might be deterred after that jarring experience, but not me! Then again, I was only 5 when it happened.

Figs are fun

figs are fun

It is really remarkable that after writing online stories for 25 years, I have a topic today that I’ve both never written about and something I know more about than almost anything else.

That thing is figs.

How did we get to this point? My uncle had a fig tree in his backyard, and we lived at his house 16 years ago. Coincidentally, my father-in-law also had fig trees, so when we bought a new house 14 years ago, we accepted a gift of a fig cutting and planted it in an auspicious backyard location.

Book review: "The Genesis Machine" by Amy Webb and Andrew Hessel

Great book that runs the gamut of synthetic biology

The term "natural" used to be substantially easier to apply to basic items like fruit and animals. It is both exhilarating and frightening to consider "improving" genetic material, but humans have a knack for putting their marks on everything imaginable.

From the Archive

A place for those old business cards

Are you one of those people who have boxes of old business cards sitting around, hoping that someday they might be worth something on eBay? Of course not, that would be insane. Unfortunately, I'm not here to tell you today that they are worth something, because they aren't.

That is, unless you are Steve Patterson of Knoxville, Tenn., a certified cardeologist. He has almost reached the 100,000 plateau of business cards, and he's heading toward 1 million.

Take a whiff of this!

Close your eyes and think of two of your favorite smells.

NO WAIT! Close your eyes for three seconds and think of two of your favorite smells (I just thought "What if you never open your eyes ... you won't be able to read the rest of this."). For our hypothetical situation, I've decided to use my favorites: the smell of newly popped popcorn and regular scented Pine-Sol.

John Wooden, Ted Allen and ... Ben Woods?

The Purdue University Liberal Arts featured myself and The Developers in its spring issue. I had communicated with a representative in Alumni Relations about sending information for the magazine, but little did I know that they would devote more than a quarter of a page to me. I shared the page with Ted Allen, the cook from "Queer Eye For the Straight Guy," who is also a Purdue grad. On the preceding page, basketball great John Wooden, yet another Purdue alum, is spotlighted for receiving a reward.

First Mac viruses met with uncertainty

Regardless of whether or not you're a PC or Mac person, recent reports of the first Mac viruses have definitely been intriguing to the computing world.

There have been numerous stories mentioning the Mac OS X's security issues, and even more recently, a third virus for the operating system has appeared.

The thing is, Apple and most Mac users would be the first to admit that a virus has always been plausible, not unthinkable as many PC users have described Mac addicts.

Plagarism wasn't just invented yesterday

I thought about writing an article about plagarism, then I decided I would first see if I could copy it from someone else.

HA! That was supposed to be funny ... or maybe just sad.

There is a recent report from the BBC saying that the Internet has made copying sources easier. Furthermore, the professor quoted in the story says that the new generation of students see nothing wrong with copying material found online.

Powered by Drupal