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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

Olympics start before they begin

I thought the Summer Olympics started Aug. 11, but I visited the official Athens 2004 Olympics site, and it says there are two days until it begins. On the home page, it proceeds to tell me the first soccer (or football outside the U.S.) matches are Aug. 11. How can the Games start before the Olympics start?

Nevertheless, the official site has a lot of options, including a schedule, news, results, biographies and about a billion other things that I left out. I was disappointed, though, at the coverage of synchronized diving.

Gift ideas never out of season

For some people, Christmas is the time of year that

most people never want to end. More importantly, Christmas

isn't over until you've gotten every item on your wish

list.

At first, I thought I had received everything I wanted.

Then I opened some junk e-mail and looked through a

few catalogs to realize all the things I didn't have.

Computer programming is not just for geeks anymore

Instead of saying, "Look at this cool thing I found on the Internet!" what if you could say, "Look at this cool thing I made on the Internet!"

On top of that, you don't have to have an extensive history with programming languages, either.

Book featured at recent Owensboro club meeting

I recently found out that a friend of mine, Fred Miller, used "The Developers" as a topic of discussion at the March 17, 2006, meeting of the Investigators Club of Owensboro, Ky. According to Miller, it is a literary club (the oldest in Kentucky as far as he can tell) that has been meeting once a month since 1892. Every two years each of its 24 members is responsible for presenting an "Original Topic" paper, a "Scientific Topic" paper, a book report and host the meeting. He thought it would be a neat idea to review a book written by a local author.

Watch for extra charges at the Waverly post office branch

While the United States Post Office seems to be losing money each month, at least one Baltimore branch has decided to take matters in its own hands - by charging extra postage at random intervals.

The Waverly branch of the Baltimore United States Post Office charges an additional 17-44 cents for an article of mail that can be sent from the USPS Hampden branch for just 44 cents. It's pretty shocking that one would receive a different rate from various post office branches. Before compiling this story, I had to check with my own eyes to make certain this was accurate.

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