Very desolate around here in recent days isn't it? Here's a bit of Friday entertainment courtesy of some b3ta link or other. Prank calling ASDA. Now the prank itself may not be the cleverest, funniest or most inspired action but how the flipping heck ASDA staff managed to fall for it is beyond even the care-nothing-about-work mind of the Poorhouse - assuming it wasn't an inside job.

Whilst we're laughing at things, let's get on to the subject of terrorism.

What is it about iPods and toilets? This site has previously documented a connection via peripherals, but now brace yourself now for a story that involves iPods, toilets and everyone's favourite bogeymen - potential terrorists.

Last month, on a flight from United aeroplane flight from Chicago to Ottawa, everyone's worst nightmare happened. The toilet got blocked. The stewardesses called out in panic "There's something in the toilet that's preventing it from flushing. Run some water!". That last desperate attempt didn't work, so she stuck her face and hands into the bucket of people-filth for a more manual attempt. It failed.

Whilst the ubiquitous iPod does hold most of the techno-world in its strong grip, there are places here and there where usage is less common. One such place is the bathroom. Toilet-goers entertainment has so far largely been restricted to boring old magazines and short books with half-funny "trivia" in.

Fear not though iUsers - from July 21st 2006 you will be able to procure the iCarta. You'd never guess from its name, but think of a rather oversized toilet roll holder, except this one has a slot for you to inset your iPod into.

It then becomes a fully featured quad-speaker stereo with moisture-resistant speakers and recharging capabilities, allowing to listen to your 9 squillion downloaded music tracks as you luxuriate in the personal comfort of toiletry activities.

Modernising the churchThe somewhat miraculous-in-itself takeover of the world by iPods comes one step closer to its fulfilment. The Pope, leader of however-many-million Roman Catholics throughout the world, now owns an iPod nano.

He popped down to visit the guys at Vatican Radio and, amongst other Vati-delights, was presented with a white iPod nano, engraved with the legend "To His Holiness, Benedict XVI". Their budget presumably not being full-to-bursting, he did have to settle for the cheap(er) 2GB one.

It is unknown at this stage whether his music collection will fit into the 500-song limit. What is known however is that it came preloaded with such classic iTracks as Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky and of course multi-language editions of the Vatican Radio podcasts. There has been some speculation that this form of filesharing is just as illegal as the old-skool swapping Metallica tracks via Napster so it is possibly the case that the RIAA will be popping round for a swift visit and arrest.