Businesses are mostly closed down, millions are at the beach including politicians (always hot chat, and just that, here), why bother? Let people relax, right? Here come the inevitable fillers. What do they look like? Let's line them up:

Sardinia, Mike Tyson trying to rape yet another chick and not making it but sends her straight to the E.R. He'll get a speed ticket tomorrow and what not the day next. In the news he's mercilessly referred to as "an animal".

A couple, disappearing in early July in northern Italy and still at large, including their cases and wallets. This is the object of major investigations. Why so much obsession about the single occurrence stays unclear. Normally they find them in Costarica, owners of a pizza place and quite successful, from 2 to 5 years from the disappearing act.

Judges/prosecutors questioned for the illegal release to press of phone call tracing investigation materials dealing with several massive banking transactions and insiders trading. The whole, very detailed package, released to defense and, procedurally, perfectly legal and public. The contenders, politicians and prosecutors/judges never declare anything orally to the press, instead they write each other "letters".

King-Kong, the movie, is being remade for the 7th or 8th time. Trailer available.

Museums: big news, they'll stay open this year, under an implacable sun, discounts and even free admission on certain dates. This announcement is made EVERY year.

The case of an ATR (a passenger aircraft) sunken between Bari and Palermo 2 weeks ago with several people reported killed on impact. The only thing we do not know is the color of the pilot's socks. We know everything else about JP4 and JP5 grade fuels, water residues in said fuel (never found), state of the flaps (after impact, duh!), the EP program that did not work (not yet demonstrated) and the brand of antibiotics prescribed to the survivors. We still do not know what happened or why. So-called super-experts from some fancy location are on their way to site.

Soccer teams taking foreign players (non-EU) under contracts. This is perfectly legal, what is wrong is that in a year from now most of them will be found that never obtained a standard permit-to-stay, papers every immigrant is required to request and obtain. Teams will get fines.

Brazilian president (whatever they have at the moment, either sponsored or not by the U.S.) making public confession of widespread corruption, involving trafficking of narcotics and parallel secret accounting throughout the whole governmental body.

And finally, updated price of the cost of renting a beach umbrella in Rimini, a pearl we just can't live without.

A recurrent one is also George Bush finally speaking his mind (a temperature-induced event like pollination) about whatever country he does not have money to invade next, with Mrs. Rice patiently standing right behind him in support in concrete-face-mode.

What we are ignoring right now is a bunch of interesting ones, that we'll hear about in September:

The oil price going thru the roof and breaking the very dramatic psychological quote of 2 USD a gallon in the USA, (averaging 1.3 Euros per liter here, not a joke and certain to affect the whole economy)

Inflation on the rise for the first time in 4 months in Italy (see oil price) despite an increase of the forecasted GNP (but by a mere 0.7 percent in over 12 months :-)

70.000 people stuck in Heathrow due to the cancellation of some 550 flights (British Airways employee protesting against changes in the policy for catering)

Dell Inc., the world's largest maker of personal computers, registering the biggest decline in four years after second-quarter sales rose at the slowest pace since 2002

Radical preacher Omar Bakri Mohammed (deported by Saudi Arabia) barred from Britain, reaching the iconic state to millions of raving young muslims...

A variant of a very virulent chicken pox disease identified in Kazakhstan that can infect humans and, guess what, spreading fast there as it did in Vietnam weeks ago.

What can we do? August is for vacations and we know it, we can recap all of this when we come back, can't we :-? Just, oh why can't Italy have a boring, boring, boring equivalent of PBS? That is just what we need, second in priority after a good, honest, necessary enema.

UPDATE: This is creeping towards the twilight zone:
Version 1: around 8 in the morning -- On a highway near Cassino, car hit by a rock launched by a group of kids down from a bridge, driver killed, car smashed.
Version 2: around 10 in the morning -- Car hit by a MASSIVE rock, 41 kilos, rest same as above. We are approaching a size that would require a forklift, as you can see. (these bridges are even fenced by a 2 meters high metal meshboard!)
Version 3: around 11, after the police have screened area and dynamics -- A MASSIVE rock, 41 kilos in weight, rest as above, smashes on the floor and an incoming car hits it. 4 occupants in serious/critical conditions. The development is the engine of the car got detached due to the collision and flew backwards to hit ANOTHER CAR, some hundreads meters behind and smashed (the engine) the second car frontally, killing the driver.

Words used in the article (la Repubblica, today, in italian): sasso, masso, pietrone.

This needs a frame. If you remember the Warren Commission on JFK assassination and the trascript describing the trajectory of the famous 3rd (magik) bullet, here we are dangerously close to divine intervention.