It's Friday! And a three-day weekend for some of us (including those of us at Folderol HQ).

From Julie: Neanderthals may have worn makeup, Mona Lisa may have had high cholesterol, and if you're terminally ill, the BBC wants you to donate your body for mummification. (Well, just one person, not everyone who's terminally ill. That might get interesting...)

From Satori: Dannie Flesher, the co-founder of Wax Trax Records, has died. (We made a pilgrimage to Wax Trax ages ago. It was a very, very cool place.)

From Cassandra: one stereotypical picture can overwhelm a thousand words, and Wagner, for all his many faults, had an intuitive understanding of how to write for language and pitch.

Have a spiffy weekend, everyone! We'll be back on Tuesday.