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<i>Feeling uninspired &#151; burned by the heat and wearied by spreadsheets &#151; Kristina fights off a case of the Monday Blahs while searching for her mechanical eye.</i><br>
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<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&mdash;but Mexican epidemiologist Rodolfo Acu&#241;a-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, Acu&#241;a-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&mdash;and soon.

Pimp your crapper.

Some days I feel like <I>Stereophile</I>'s designated audio antichrist. After all, I wrote an automotive audio column for the magazine about 10 years back&mdash;a feature that prompted more than one reader to send the pages carrying my column back to Santa Fe as "not what I subscribed for"&mdash;<I>and</I> I reviewed the <A HREF="http://stereophile.com/mediaservers/934/ ">iPod</A>. So, not really being a glutton for punishment, I wasn't wildly enthusiastic when Edelman account executive Stefani Gudis tendered an invitation to hear the Infiniti/Bose "Studio On Wheels" model G35 sedan. It wasn't that I didn't think that car audio could be a valid musical experience, I simply had been disappointed too many times by car manufacturers touting "audiophile" sound packages, which, upon examination, were probably more about preventing aftermarket add-ons by car audio installers. BTDT, as the kids text-message.

Even though the European Commission okayed the merger of Sony and the Bertlesmann Music Group (BMG) in 2004, Europe's second-highest court&mdash;the Court of First Instance&mdash;annulled the merger on July 13. The decision came about because of a challenge from independent record labels that claimed the EU regulators shouldn't have approved the merger in the first place. This is the first time a European Commission decision has been overturned and it requires the commission to examine the complex merger again.

Answer this one at your own risk: If you had to choose, which would you dump, your spouse or your audio system?