Welcome to BenWoods.com

You made it! Thanks for visiting.

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.

Super Recognisers unite!

During high school and college, I worked at Kentucky Kingdom amusement park in Louisville, Ky. Besides battling racuous crowds and the blazing heat, one thing that was interesting to me was trying to keep track of the different people I was seeing throughout the day. As a games attendant (a.k.a. carnival barker), I would attempt to personally say things to people that I saw multiple times, whether at different games or at different parts of the park. This was mostly just a sales tactic, and I think the customers likely thought I was training to have my own magic show.

Knitting

I did this. It is fun.

From the Archive

I'm not the only one looking for ridiculous websites

For Christmas, I received one of those Page-A-Day calendars to keep on your office desk. Normally, when I have one of those, I pull off about two months' worth at the same time because I completely forget about it. And I still do that for the newest one I own, but this one is a little different. This calendar is full of odd and wacky websites, which of course, is great research for my columns. I'll highlight some of my favorites here, and try to give a little bit of info when necessary.

Excerpt from new book

I still have a few more chapters to write, but I would like to share with my readers an early excerpt from my new project. It's a workplace humor memoir (the working title is Polos to Ties) that is based on a job I had two years ago. Let me know what you think!

Instead of finding a new job, which of the following would you rather be doing?

1. Watching the documentary - "The History of Sun Dresses."

2. Watching the story of heterosexuals in the fashion industry, "Pinking Sheers are for Straight Guys too!"

Your phone number might MEAN something

It's a sad state of affairs when people no longer have to remember telephone numbers. I remember a handful, but it's no longer a necessity with my cell phone. This becomes a problem when you lose your phone, however, or have some other phone malfunction. If you have a cell phone, I'm sure you're familiar with malfunctions, as they seem to happen just about every 48 minutes.

First 2009 book stop: Baltimore CityLit Festival

In 2007, I had my first taste of the Baltimore book scene at the CityLit Festival. Last year, I was a part of the event, so I figured I might as well join in again! The festival takes place 10 a.m.-4 p.m. April 18 at the downtown branch of the Enoch Pratt library. I'll be there with colleagues Sean O'Connor and Brad Samuelson.

Not everything in science makes sense

Your local (or not-so-local) scientist is currently busy trying to figure out many things, including cures to terminal illnesses, ways to make the environment safer and the reason why reality TV is so popular. But on top of that, there are numerous other things that have researchers scratching their heads, wondering basically why the universe doesn't collapse on itself and why aliens keep playing peekaboo.

Powered by Drupal