what $$%@$ is causing all this io?

sudo su -
sharrow:~# /etc/init.d/sysklogd stop
Stopping system log daemon....
sharrow:~# echo 1 >  /proc/sys/vm/block_dump
sharrow:~# dmesg | gawk '/^[^( ]*\([0-9]*\): (READ|WRITE|dirtied)/ {activity[$1]++} END {for (x in activity) print activity[x],x}' | sort -nr | head -n 10
502 amarokcollectio(358):
3 amarokapp(359):
2 mysqld(18448):
1 io(358):
1 bash(31560):
sharrow:~# echo 0 >  /proc/sys/vm/block_dump
sharrow:~# /etc/init.d/sysklogd start
Starting system log daemon....