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There are a lot of things the World Wide Web can do for you, but healing you is not one of them.
Welcome to BenWoods.com
While there is a bounty of useful items on the Internet, there is also that vague area of things that serve some purpose, but by themselves, would be utterly useless.
An obvious example of this is a Web counter. Create a Web page by putting nothing on it other than a counter. Put it on the Web. What does it prove? If people actually go to your site, they are insane? True, but in a sense, we already know that everyone is crazy.
I hope you made it to my column today in one piece.
Surely there was no traffic on the trip to work, no wrecks to get in your way and no coffee to spill on that new "Dukes of Hazzard" tie your grandmother gave you for Christmas. Just like any other day, I bet you walked into your office or computer room, started up your computer and immediately accessed the Web, right?
HONK!!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?!?!? DON'T CUT IN FRONT OF ME YOU $#%#$@!!! HONK!!! HONK!!!
If this is you, and you also happen to find yourself saying these things often -- OK, every single time you drive more than 33 inches -- then you may be enthused to know I would like to do something about it.
Yes, soon there could be a way to get back at all of those people who pull up right on your bumper; who say using a turning signal is merely a fad; and who think the word "yield" means "go" and the word "merge" means "get outta my way."
I'm sure you've seen it: A Web site that has an amazing design, with bright
colors, animation and various neat effects. But after the awe goes away (10
seconds later) you begin to wonder: Where am I supposed to click?
A large portion
of Web designers have this problem. They think the more creative they
are, the better the Web site becomes. While uniqueness is key
to making a site design stand out, it is important to remember the end user.
That's you! Forgetting that Internet pages should be geared toward the
From the Archive
Just when you thought you understood something as simple as concrete, it has now been changed.
Researchers at the University of Michigan have developed bendable concrete, which according to an article on the university's news service, is 500 times more resistant to cracking and 40 percent lighter in weight.
Besides the Slap a Spice Girl game, the most useful things on the Internet are the various e-mail, street address and phone number lookups.
That's right folks! You can continue to stalk that high school sweetheart or the person at the gym until your fingers can't type anymore!
In another move toward 1984, Congress continues to endorse ISP snooping, which could attempt to keep tabs on everyone's online activities.
As reported on CNET, government officials are working toward determining how best to aid investigations into child pornography on the Internet. Allowing ISP snooping, however, would leave open the possibility of the government to track everyone's information.
One of the toughest things I have found as a new novelist is finding objective reviews. It seems that most friends and family members, as truthful as they may be, have insider information that makes it difficult to be unbiased. While I have received a few great reviews from people I did not know, I haven't received a large amount of bad ones. Which might be good, but then again, who wants to review a bad book?
As I begin scheduling stops on my summer book tour, I'm working on putting together a simple program that involves computers, charitable organizations and recycling. No, I don't have a cute name for the program, nor do I have any idea how it will even work. But I'm going to give it a try.