Friday, March 21 5:40 p.m. As war broke out in Iraq, people gravitated downtown. "Plaza is packed," an officer informed HQ.

6:17 p.m. Following "multiple reports of protesters hitting vehicles with signs, food, jumping on cars parked at 9th/G," officers waded into the swirling energy on the Plaza. Cops hung out till homeland security improved.

6:48 p.m. Alcohol helped kindle moral outrage in inflaming one Plaza protester's passions, police believe.

6:56 p.m. Things got a little pushy-shovy between the lord of a Frederick Avenue manor and a room renter, but it was the landlord who called police from a neighbor's home. Prosecution and assistance was declined, but the tenant got 30 days notice.

9:06 p.m. A patient who left the emergency room against medical advice wasn't hard to spot. Naturally, he sported the mandatory dark pullover sweatshirt, accessorized by a sports bag and an IV tube attached to his arm. Found near the school next door, he returned to the hospital and agreed to stay for the duration of the drip.

10:51 p.m. In an incident cloaked in ambivalence, a person either suffering with or enjoying a state of "elevated behavior" was reported either screaming or yelling.