1.  I don't agree that including a link to a name authority record is
preferable to including the name in the MODS record.  Those of us who have
ever implemented integrated library systems offering full linked authority
have really suffered enough, I think.

However, I do think there should be a way to optionally indicate a direct
tie to the corresponding authority record.  This could be done via XLINK or
by providing as attributes the name of the source file, and the identifier
of the authority record. (This is done in the EAD, with attributes "source"
and "authfilenumber".)

2.  The MARC to MODS mapping (THANK YOU FOR DOING THIS!!)  shows 1xx/7xx
subfields $a, $b, $c, $d, $q mapping to <name> with type=personal.  I am
kind of uncomfortable not delimiting dates.  Maybe this is because,
although a date is an integral part of a (LC) name heading, it is not
actually part of a name.  Could <component> be used with personal as well
as corporate names, specifically to delimit dates?

This might also be useful when providing names from other authority
schemes.  For example, if I understand this correctly, in ULAN, artists are
disambiguated not by their name headings per se but by an additional item
of contextual information, e.g.:

 Abrams, Michael
 (American artist, 20th c.)

Mapping this to MODS I'd want to include "American artist, 20th c." in
<name> but delimit it separately from the name proper.

p