ONE SMALL STEP Periodic, apparently, meant once. I'll be meandering over the weekend, but plan to catch up with myself here by Sunday. Regular service resumes on Monday. Possibly. It's August. Watch a sunset.

THE ANSWERS MY FRIEND I'll be one of the first in line when it comes to being underwhelmed by the current Saudi government, and to being overwhelmed by the demographic and economic crisis' looming in Saudi Arabia's future. But as this summary of world opinions demonstrates, the Bush Administration's mixed signals on their official stance on ye olde House of Saud creates more anxieties abroad than may be healthy. I continue to hope -- with Saudi Arabia and a dozen other countries -- that some wise egg in Washington will remember the concepts of clear objectives, quiet diplomacy and coherent policy. But I remain afraid that all the wise eggs broke long ago.

GONE FISHIN' II Well, in the studio for the rest of the week, which is just as genteel. Posts will be spare, lean and infrequent. It's August. Chase yellowjackets.

TODAY, BY TOMORROW Tom Tomorrow (yah, yah, he's just a cartoonist) now has a weblog. Keep up with his keen political gleanings and peruse the funny pages, all in one sitting.

WE WUZ ROBBED! In which the utterly irascible Andrei Codrescu pops his spleen over the markets and consumer confidence and patriotism and robber barons and droughts and why Ken Lay stole his money, his mistresses and his island paradise.

THE EMERGING STORIES TIME's cover story generated a lot of press over the weekend -- for the wrong reasons. This isn't a story of an Administration who got it wrong, or missed the cues (though there was a fair share of both). The TIME story is a picture of a series of events that couldn't be threaded together until after-the-fact. It's the sad tragedy of September 11. Still, the cover story on how the al Quaeda ball was passed from the Clinton team to the Bush team is solid reporting, and worth reading.

IN CASE YOU WERE WORRIED... ... the $2 billion a year in foreign aid we give our friend Egypt has really helped that country become a rock-solid friend of democracy. Just ask human rights activist Saadeddin Ibrahim. Between the Saudi and Egyptian governments, I'd say the United States has really made some dramatic strides in using our influence in the region to affirm our national values.

BLAME IT ON SIR LAWRENCE Whether you agree with Phillip Knightley's arguments, the history lesson he presents here in regards to Iraq is a useful one. The origins of the current crisis have its roots in the first significant re-ordering of the Arab world by the West when, at the conclusion of World War One, the French and British received mandates over the entire Arabian peninsula. British Petroleum was one happy camper...

THE GENIE'S ANNIVERSARY Today marks the anniversary of the first use of a nuclear device against a populated area. An atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945; at least 220,000 people died, and tens of thousands lived with the aftereffects, as this piece in Pakistan's Dawn reveals. But this photo of a Japanese woman praying for peace says it even better.

MISS. MISS. MISS. BINGO! After a solid streak of yawners, Kate escapes from Minneapolis and returns to the City of Angels and proves that, at the very least, the lingering goodness of the Gopher State is in control of her penhand.

SO CRAZY IT JUST MIGHT... NAH Peter Maass flips his own wig today with a suggestion that wacky Donald Rumsfeld and male pop performer of the year Colin Powell swap jobs. Maass' theory is that Rumsfeld is an out-of-the-box initiator who can really jolt the diplomatic world, and that Powell's steady, managerial hand could help guide Defense in a time of crisis and transformation. The way I see it, Rumsfeld would deplete State of employees (who would all flee to Canada) and Powell would be duct-taped to his desk by a bunch of innovative yahoos eager to build space-based lasers that can pinpoint individual terror suspects and incinerate them.

GUBERNATORIAL SISTERHOOD By this winter, there could be 14 new women leaders in statehouses across the country. In fact, by 2003, there could be a record number of female governors.

WE'RE ALL WET The CSMonitor takes a look at why Americans pay more for a gallon of water than for a gallon of gasoline. Today's tip: the price drops substantially if you refill your little plastic bottle yourself.

CHOO-CHOO CHAMPIONS A new national Washington Post poll shows that the American public generally favors continued federal support of a national train service. Which is good since Amtrak is almost out of money again.