News from this here neck of the woods:

I was watching TV today and first a game show host and then a TV newscaster mentioned Mel Gibson, and of course both of them pronounced his surname "Jibson," with the "soft" sound. That sounds slightly obscene to me. "Ooh, gross, you got jibson all over my leg."

The Supreme Court ruled that Jarrai, ETA's youth brigade, is a terrorist organization. 23 of their leaders received a six-year sentence for belonging to a terrorist group; they were already under a two-and-a-half-year sentence for conspiracy, but for some reason were not in prison. The roundup has begun. Good. Lock them up and throw away the key.

40 people have been killed in a nasty winter storm that swept across northern Europe. Gusts of wind reached--get this--100 mph. Nasty, yeah, but no real big deal by American standards. If anything Katrina-size ever hit Europe the devastation would be immense, since most of Europe is even less prepared for really bad weather.

Catalonia got 15 million tourists last year, which is approximately 2.167 tourists per Catalan. Folks, admit it, we live well here in Barcelona, and tourism is a large part of our income. Yes, part of downtown Barcelona has become touristy. No, this is not necessarily a horrible thing.