Item the First: 9/11 in Spain. Holy Hell, who saw this madness approaching? Could al-Qaida still be sore about the sacking of Jerusalem during the Crusades? Pause a moment, for the sake of civilisation and sanity.

Item the Second: The battle heats up. Actually, it's been hot all along, the only difference is that the two sides that have been fighting finally got around to actually declaring War on The Enemy. Many broadsides have been fired and are reloading in the Royal Republican Navy, and the Kerry task force is replying in kind, if not with quite as many guns. There's also the plucky Holy Armada of MoveOn, which can count on a certain amount of popular support and an almost equal backlash as they fire what cannons they posess.

Item the Third: I'm about to blow upwards of $70 smackers on this nifty little number, but why? I can't connect it directly to any computer I own except two old Macs that are barely good for typing. It's part of the Pack Rat instinct, and I should quash it immediately. If it becomes necessary to own a MessagePad 2000 in the future, I'm sure I can find one. For now, there's a leadership conference in Notre Dame that will require a small outlay of funds, and despite the tax return I ingested last week I shouldn't be spending more than I absolutely have to.

On the other hand, everyone treats themselves to some sort of rebate extravagance... damn damn damn.