You made it! Thanks for visiting.
Welcome to BenWoods.com
July 9, 1999
Nomads have wandered through cities during the last two weeks, sold their goods and departed for lands of milk and honey.
They don't leave a trail, but their wares do – usually ashes, perhaps a foul-smelling odor but always a glowing experience.
Fireworks salespeople have rigorous lives. I recently caught up with one such seller, Smokin' Joe Romancandle. What follows is his normal day:
6 a.m. Wakes up, sings the "Star-Spangled Banner," eats a Pop-Tart and brushes his teeth.
July 3, 1999
Last month I was in Wal-Mart, and I aimlessly wandered into the vitamin aisle. There were hundreds of nutritional supplement items, but one caught my attention – shark cartilage.
Unfortunately, the label contained little information pertaining to what the product actually does, such as make one lose weight or grow a dorsal fin.
As a kid, I used to see "Jaws" on my wall at bedtime. Now I see health companies trying to withhold routine information on Jaws' cousins.
June 25, 1999
Can you keep a secret?
Last week, I met with a special agent from the Department of Defense. I had my shrubbery costume ready (luckily, there were no dogs around), but it wasn't necessary. The agent led me into a room in the Crawfordsville Armory, looked both ways and closed the door. The questioning was ready to begin.
June 18, 1999
Anyone fed up with the government? Ready to turn in your "Made in the U.S.A." clothing? You could have a chance to do just that — if you move south.
Southern Party organizers have registered with the secretaries of state in Florida, Georgia, Texas and Virginia, according to the Associated Press. The party hopes to establish ties in all former Confederate States plus six border states and eventually secede from the Union, a la the Civil War.
June 16, 1999
Last weekend, I was tangled in a crazy game of H-O-R-S-E with my cousins.
For those of you unfamiliar with the game, or think it is somehow tied to the Kentucky Derby, the game is simple. Make a basket (shoot, don't weave), and if the person behind you misses, they get a letter. You keep playing until you spell "horse." There are many versions of the game, including H-O-R-S-E-S, P-I-G, and a personal favorite, D-R-O-M-E-D-A-R-Y.
But which is more important to the game – athletic skill to make a shot, or being able to spell?
From the Archive
November 27, 2006
One thing I've become accustomed to while working with computers is that they rarely show emotion. I almost said they never show emotion, but my computer got mad and wouldn't let me type that. Overall, however, computers are nice in that they don't attempt to influence you by giving you puppy-dog eyes. The computer usually lets you do what you want to do, or it closes the program and shuts down. But rarely does it laugh, at least in a way that you can see it.
January 2, 2005
Building a playhouse/fort out of a cardboard box used to be a chore enough. Now, Australian researchers and architects have created something that goes beyond that: a fully sized and usable cardboard house that can be completed in six hours by just two people.
August 7, 2004
The Good Advice Committee's first task was to determine whether or not it was appropriate to download songs for free from the Internet. Good arguments were made on both sides, but in the end, the committee voted no, 4-1.
NATE: NO
I find nothing wrong with downloading music off the internet. Most of the songs that are being downloaded are from artists who already have more money than they know what to do with. The last time I watched "Cribs" on MTV, it doesn't look like Jay-Z was losing out from everybody downloading his songs for free.
November 29, 2007
I recently found a new blogging site looking for featured columnists. I figured that it couldn't hurt to perhaps add my articles to the site, and they were gracious enough to allow it. Now, a majority of my writing can be found on EnterTo Entertainment. Overall, I'm not sure what this will be worth, but the way I see it, I don't think it can hurt. More exposure can't be bad, right?
January 3, 2007
I've played my fair share of board games, and I'm pretty up to speed with a majority of newer games. I have to say that the basic version of Apples to Apples is one of the best. You can play it with a group of adults or kids, and it's fun to play at any level.