It was clear to everyone within the first days after the war on Iraq (#2) began that searches for news organizations had gone up significantly. But when the news organization becomes the news story, the searches can really skyrocket. Thus was the case this week with Qatar-based news channel Al-Jazeera (#1).

Last week, when the war started, searches for Al-Jazeera climbed our list as Lycos users sought the opinion of the other side in this war. But over the weekend, Al-Jazeera began showing the video of American prisoners of war (#3), and that's when the searches went through the roof.

How many searches did Al-Jazeera get? For the week, Al-Jazeera gets more searches than Lycos 50 terms #4 through #10 combined. Al-Jazeera, in its myriad spellings, receives three times more searches than that always-popular three-letter combination, SEX.

As we learned last year when kidnappers released a video of kidnapped reporter Daniel Pearl on the Internet, newsworthy video really drives searches. It especially drives searches when that video is discussed on American television, and then not shown. Those who wish to see the video must seek it out, and the place to find it is the Web, and the site is Al-Jazeera (although many searched for Iraqi television (#13) in an attempt to see the video straight from the source).

People also searched for Al-Jazeera's new English-language website, to get their perspective on the war. All the interested Web surfers actually overwhelmed Al-Jazeera's servers, making the site more difficult to access, which in turn sent more surfers to Lycos to search for Al-Jazeera so they could make sure they had the correct URL.

Lest anyone think that interest in the prisoners of war is purely voyeuristic, let it be said that the specific searches make it clear that much of the interest comes from Americans who are worried about the horrible treatment of POWs by Iraq. Searches were high for both Red Cross (#71) and Geneva Convention (#95).

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED: Well, if film director Michael Moore (#22) was trying to provoke Americans into exploring his political viewpoints, he sure succeeded. The day after the Academy Awards (#4), Moore was getting twice as many searches as Saddam Hussein (#12), and for the week Moore is more popular online than Pamela Anderson (#23) or Jennifer Lopez (#26). Many of the queries specify Michael Moore Oscar speech or something close to it.

Also getting plenty of searches after the Oscars: Best Actor Adrien Brody, Brody kissing victim Halle Berry, and Pianist director Roman Polanski -- the last because of searches looking into the statutory rape indictment that kept Polanski from coming to the United States for the ceremony.

HIT MISSES: The Oscars aren't the only indication that searches for pop culture continued alongside the heavy traffic in war-related queries. Can you believe this is the first time Miss USA (#37) has ever made the Lycos 50? Of course, more than 10 percent of searchers confused it with Miss America, which has never made our list either. Miss World and Miss Universe, on the other hand, have made the Lycos 50.

BREATHE: Would you believe that the war isn't the only news story making our list either? SARS (#41), or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, enters onto the list at #41. This is that strange disease that has spread across Southeast Asia and now into Canada. Searches for Centers for Disease Control are also up, though short of the Lycos 50.

DON'T FORGET: Could the war be distracting people from paying Uncle Sam? Tax searches (#24) are less than half what they were last year at this time, while searches for the IRS (#6) are down 8 percent. The deadline is still April 15, folks, war or no war.

SHORT SUBJECTS: Torrie Wilson (#47) follows Sable and Chyna as the third wrestlin' babe to make the Lycos 50 as a Playboy covergirl... Celine Dion (#58) almost makes the list after opening her lavish new Las Vegas show... The war is close to pushing Harry Potter (#49) off the Lycos 50 for the first time in three years... Hot rumored couple according to Lycos searches: actress Nicole Kidman and rapper Q-Tip.

NEW THIS WEEK: Prisoners of war, Iraqi television, Michael Moore, Linkin Park, Miss USA, SARS, U.S. Marines, American flag, Torrie Wilson, golf.

DROPOUTS: Lord of the Rings (after 37 weeks), Good Charlotte, George W. Bush, Baghdad, Nostradamus, MOAB bomb, Elizabeth Smart, NIT tournament, Homeland Security, St. Patrick's Day.

ONE YEAR AGO: It was the end of an era, as longtime #1 topic Pokemon fell off the Lycos 50 for the first time ever. Pokemon has actually rebounded recently thanks to the release of the new video games Pokemon Ruby and Pokemon Sapphire, and it is #36 this week.

TOMORROW: Why have file-swapping searches dropped recently?

NOTE: Nothing in this column is an April Fool's joke, as the author was too busy celebrating two-homer day by Corey Patterson to think of humorous asides.