Ben's Journal

Captured after a run through the DC Mall .

Let's say you've got a whole heap of paracord but aren't quite sure what to do with it. Well, I've got your answer: 101 P...

I'm not really a body modification guy. I cringe at the thought of getting my ears, or any other body part pierced. And tattoos are a ...

Back when I was commuting, I was pretty rigorous about the books I'd listen to. I had an explicit cycle: Non-Fiction, Fiction, Self-...

A few weeks back, after much nagging, I upgraded my Windows 8 laptop to Windows 10. The results so far have been pretty underwhelming. Fo...

The humble Swiss Army Knife: jack of all trades, master of none. It may not be the perfect tool for all jobs, but its compact size and vers...

Don't you wish that more media attention went to people making a positive difference and not just those who are super rich, super athle...

Over the weekend we hung out with our friends Erin and Ryan (as well as their adorable kids) and played a heated game of Taboo . In Taboo ...

After going for what seems like years without seeing a movie in a proper movie theater, we've now seen three nearly in a row. First the...

I'm a big fan of always carrying a compass and for years I've had one on my key chain . An old school compass is truly an object o...

We had some crazy Christmas weather in DC: 70°F and foggy. Like pea soup foggy. While our neighbor's little ones were no doubt tearing...

[SPOILER ALERT - SPOILER ALERT - SPOILER ALERT - SPOILER ALERT - SPOILER ALERT] Two nights ago I watched Star Wars: The Force Awakens ,...

I really enjoyed Malcolm Gladwell's David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants . To help crystallize the po...

The first time I picked up Malcom Gladwell's David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants I promptly put it d...

I explained to my little buddy Nathan, that traditionally, we played dreidel with M&M's, like our ancestors surely did. But we did...

My Galaxy Note 5 has a built in step counter. However I find that every time I want to check it, I have to bring up the S Health App and d...

Before I dive into another AutoPebble programming example , I suppose I should take a step back and explain why I think all this matters. ...

Last night David and I took a random'ish walk through the US Capital area of DC and I was treated to not one, but three new (to me) an...

I finished reading Danny Gregory's blog entry on Zork and was inspired to drop him a quick dude, well written! type comment when I ra...

I've always been fascinated with the challenge of being able to 'read' the current time without looking at a watch. Heck, why s...

I'm always psyched when I discover a new section of biking/walking trail in the area. Yesterday, Shira, Dawn and I did a section of Hol...

Here's another trick a $10 Software Defined Radio dongle can do on Android. You plug in the dongle , and kick off ADSB Receiver , a f...