DANIEL TAYLOR of Dreaded Purple Master is back home from the hospital after a heart attack and angioplasty. He plans to find a beach chair by the Gulf and relax. Note to readers: don’t wait until after the heart attack to do this. And, by the way, remember that alcohol in moderation is cardioprotective. In light of Taylor’s experience, I’m not taking any chances. I plan to medicate with an excellent Shiraz later tonight.

IT’S GOOD TO BE ON VACATION: The Dow plummeted and rose again, and I didn’t know or care about it until it was over. (I probably wouldn’t have cared much anyway; my investment strategy is based on sloth and inattention, and it’s done pretty well even through the downturn, so why change now?)

We’ve been frolicking on the beach, cooking on the grill, and generally having fun. I finished reading Kim Stanley Robinson’s The Years of Rice and Salt, an alternate-history novel in which the Black Plague wipes out nearly everyone in Europe, instead of the 30-50 percent, leaving China and the Arabs as the world’s great power. Robinson’s a bit heavy on mysticism and conversation, but it’s still quite an interesting read and very timely. I hope that it gets a lot of readership in the Islamic world.