George Kerevan reviews Christopher Duffy's <I>Through German Eyes: the British and the Somme 1916</I>, which sounds like a corker. In the first 24 hours of that battle, Britain lost more men than in the Crimean, Boer, and Korean wars combined.
Maybe so. I think I prefer Michael Dibdin's solution in <I>The Last Sherlock Holmes Story</I>, but fiction is frequently more fun than fact.
Over at <I>The Independent</I>, Jessica Duchen lists her favorite works of literature that prominently feature music. Mirroring Heine, she starts out, "Music begins where words end," which is more or less true—after all most writing about music sucks the juice right out of it.
Jeff Wong passed along this obit, which I find interesting for all kinds of reasons. Mickey Spillane, the creator of Mike Hammer, was a Jehovah's Witness?
<i>Feeling uninspired — burned by the heat and wearied by spreadsheets — Kristina fights off a case of the Monday Blahs while searching for her mechanical eye.</i><br>
–SM
<b>From:</b> Mejias, Stephen<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Saturday, July 08, 2006 5:53PM<br>
<b>To:</b> Jay Rein, Bluebird Music<br>
<b>Subject:</b> Exposure 2010S system
Well yes, obviously—but Mexican epidemiologist Rodolfo Acuña-Soto thinks that the 16th Century plague that reduced the Aztec population from 22 million to 2 million was <I>not</I> smallpox brought over by the Spaniards. Aztec historians of the time referred to it by a different name than smallpox, with which they were familiar(!), and, after 12 years of research, Acuña-Soto concurs.
Okay, no list of 50 could be perfect, but this one's pretty good. I could probably come up with a list of 50 that <I>also</I> changed music without any overlap, but that's one of the pleasures of the list game.
Pat Metheny on Kenny G. First we use fairness and logic, <I>then</I> we kicks 'em in the yarbles.
What happens if the Earth switches magnetic poles? It <I>could</I> happen—and soon.