As a worrywart news junkie, I continue to follow the activities in Iraq and the surrounding region with rabid interest. I've got CNN on the TV, NPR streaming through my computer, and I am reading newspaper web sites from all over the world. My hunt for varying news sources has gotten obsessive. I'm like Gollum looking for his Precious.

Is it possible that this conflict will not affect our world much from day to day? Don't count on it.

So we're not far from the average citizen of the United States being able to launch and maintain a website with little trouble and little technical knowledge. And what happens when we get to that point? The marketplace of ideas explodes with fresh information sources. And that's a good thing.

Wow, what a week it's been. Normally, there is so much floating around our industry sites, message boards, and email that it seems us buyers and sellers eat, sleep, and breathe a good debate. However, last week seemed to have been turned on its head a bit. There is no eloquent way to say it: Being prepared was weird.

I find myself in a quandary. Every Thursday, I write about a topic of note, or just something that is bugging me for Online Spin. Yet this is not a normal Thursday. I feel attention challenged.

In spite of my sincerest hopes, it looks as though war with Iraq is now imminent. What this is going to mean in terms of a cost of lives and impact on the economy is difficult to discern, one thing is becoming evident. It looks like the ad industry, specifically the online advertising industry, is picking up.

By the time you read this, there’s a good chance that we will be at War with Iraq. As I write this on Monday night, a couple of hours after the Bush proclamation that Saddam Hussein has 48 hrs to leave Iraq or face military action, I find myself wondering how the world will witness the evolution of the Middle East.

Dear National News Media:I just thought I’d write you a letter to let you know how disappointed I am in your coverage of world events. Ten years ago, I would have taken the word of CNN or The New York Times as gospel. These days, I’m a lot more skeptical.

Being Seana Mulcahy from Boston, I feel it’s my duty to spread a wee bit or Irish cheer to you today. I have to say today is a weird one. The Net is clad with open-ended headlines as Bush is due to make a statement about next steps in the potential war. The weekend news spills over to anti-war protests around the nation. I only heard two bits of news that seemed optimistic. One pertaining to our industry and one pertaining to the East Coast.

I know that we have had some bad times, but sometimes the press gets a little crazy. Google announces a new program featuring content–targeted ads. People suddenly become aware of a two-year old program from Primedia’s About.com called Sprinks, treating it as if it were a copycat of the Google program. I got more calls on this topic this week from the press than I have on any topic in months.