It's mildly amusing to me how people -- the media, your next-door neighbor, the waving chicken mascot on the corner of your street -- will make it a point to remind you how right they were about something they predicted. Maybe they picked Florida to win the men's NCAA basketball championship, or maybe they picked Taylor to win "American Idol." But it's interesting to note how hardly anyone reminds you about a wrong prediction.

If you're a fan of "Fight Club" or "Choke," you won't want to miss Chuck Palahnik's appearance at 7 p.m. June 7 in The Clifton Center Reception Hall (2117 Payne Avenue). Carmichael's Bookstore is hosting the event, but due to the expected crowd, the venue has been moved just down the road. Palahniuk will be reading from his new book, "Haunted," and will be signing books as well.

I owe a bit to Palahniuk because after reading "Choke," I realized that maybe I could write "The Developers." Not that my stuff is as good, but it's a similar style ... at least, I'd like to think so.

Stop by any Krispy Kreme and pick up a free doughnut. If you need to figure out where to find a Krispy Kreme location, visit the website for additional details.

One of the best things about the summer is amusement parks. Maybe I'm slightly biased, since I worked at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom for eight years. Even still, I suspect most other people have fond memories of their trips to amusement parks. Unless, of course, you hurled every time you got off any spinning ride.

I finally have an RSS feed for my site available. In the near future, you will notice an RSS button just below the navigation on benwoods.com as well as thedevelopersbook.com for The Developers. For now, however, you can also pick up the feed by clicking here.

Sure, you could argue that attending a public school essentially excludes you from having privacy. But is it really necessary to add tracking chips to IDs for San Antonio students?

I had expected this note would give you an exact date, preferably in December, to announce the launch of "Corporate Ties." Unfortunately, it will have to wait a bit longer. I've been slightly busier this fall than anticipated … we purchased a house, we're preparing for a baby in March, among other things. The good news is that once I have a decent block of time to devote to the book, I should be able to finish it.

Until then, here's a new excerpt from the book.

Humans have tried for years to figure out this World War II encrypted cipher:

"NCZW VUSX PNYM INHZ XMQX SFWX WLKJ AHSH NMCO CCAK UQPM KCSM HKSE INJU SBLK IOSX CKUB HMLL XCSJ USRR DVKO HULX WCCB GVLI YXEO AHXR HKKF VDRE WEZL XOBA FGYU JQUK GRTV UKAM EURB VEKS UHHV OYHA BCJW MAKL FKLM YFVN RIZR VVRT KOFD ANJM OLBG FFLE OPRG TFLV RHOW OPBE KVWM UQFM PWPA RMFH AGKX IIBG"

A rarity on the Web is a site that can keep one entertained for longer than 20 minutes. The only chance most sites have at this is by spending 18 minutes loading some cool program that can do your laundry while you wait.

(We interrupt this regularly scheduled program to give you information about the only important thing going on this weekend ... the Louisville Cardinals in the Final Four)

University of Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino is currently in the process of pulling off the greatest magic trick of all time.