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&mdash;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 &#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>
&#150SM

<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.