diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index aafeea1e..629d3c4a 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -4,10 +4,15 @@
 
 ** Release 0.9.9.x
 
+*** mu
+     - add 'mu stats' command to show statistics about your messages. Requires
+       guile 2.0, gnuplot
+
 *** mu4e
     - scroll down in message view takes you to next message (but see
       `mu4e-view-scroll-to-next')
-
+    - support 'human dates', that is, show the time for today's messages, and
+      the date for older messages in the headers view 
 
 * Old news
   :PROPERTIES:
@@ -24,7 +29,7 @@
     - support signing / decryption of messages
     - improve address-autocompletion (e.g., ensure it's case-insensitive)
     - much faster when there are many maildirs
-    - improved line wrapping  
+    - improved line wrapping
     - better handle attached messages
     - improved URL-matching
     - improved messages to user (mu4e-(warn|error|message))
@@ -76,8 +81,8 @@
     - fix sorting by subject (disregarding Re:, Fwd: etc.)
     - much faster handling when there are many maildirs (speedbar)
     - handle mailto: links
-    - improved, extended documentation  
-      
+    - improved, extended documentation
+
 *** mu
 
     - support .noupdate files (parallel to .noindex, dir is ignored unless we're
diff --git a/TODO b/TODO
index 677888b4..4e775308 100644
--- a/TODO
+++ b/TODO
@@ -22,12 +22,6 @@
   - new-mail warning
     ==> [ workaround available, using mu4e-index-updated-hook ]
   - custom header fields in headers-view, message-view
-    - 'human' dates
-  - guile integration
-    - statistics
-  - check if we can speed up mu4e-proc parsing by using search rather than
-    regexp search
-     ==> probably not
   - show maildirs as a tree, not a list in speed bar
   - review emacs menus
   - re-factor / separate window/buffer management
@@ -52,7 +46,9 @@
 
   - mu4e: scroll down –> go to next message
   - mu: add contact: as a shortcut for matching from/to/cc/bcc:
-
+  - guile integration
+    - statistics
+  - 'human' dates in the headers view
 
 * Done
   :PROPERTIES:
diff --git a/mu4e/mu4e-headers.el b/mu4e/mu4e-headers.el
index d51d8b0d..7c60087d 100644
--- a/mu4e/mu4e-headers.el
+++ b/mu4e/mu4e-headers.el
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@
   :group 'mu4e)
 
 (defcustom mu4e-headers-fields
-  '( (:date          .  25)
+  '( (:human-date    .  25)
      (:flags         .   6)
      (:from          .  22)
      (:subject       .  nil))
@@ -59,12 +59,18 @@ field. For the complete list of available headers, see
   :type (list 'symbol)
   :group 'mu4e-headers)
 
-(defcustom mu4e-headers-date-format "%x %X"
+(defcustom mu4e-headers-date-format "%x"
   "Date format to use in the headers view, in the format of
   `format-time-string'."
   :type  'string
   :group 'mu4e-headers)
 
+(defcustom mu4e-headers-time-format "%X"
+  "Time format to use in the headers view, in the format of
+  `format-time-string'."
+  :type  'string
+  :group 'mu4e-headers)
+
 (defcustom mu4e-headers-visible-lines 10
   "Number of lines to display in the header view when using the
 horizontal split-view. This includes the header-line at the top,
@@ -133,7 +139,7 @@ PREDICATE-FUNC as PARAM. This is useful for getting user-input.")
 
 (defvar mu4e-headers-sortfield :date
   "Field to sort the headers by. Field must be a symbol, one of:
-date, subject, size, prio, from, to.")
+:date, :subject, :size, :prio, :from, :to.")
 
 (defvar mu4e-headers-sort-revert t
   "Whether to revert the sort-order, i.e. Z->A instead of A-Z. When
@@ -324,48 +330,57 @@ show the from address; prefixed with the appropriate
       (concat (car mu4e-headers-from-or-to-prefix)
 	(mu4e~headers-contact-str (mu4e-message-field msg :from))))))
 
-;; note: this function is very performance-sensitive
+(defsubst mu4e~headers-human-date (msg)
+  "Show a 'human' date -- that is, if the date is today, show the
+date, otherwise, show the time."
+  (let ((date (mu4e-msg-field msg :date)))
+    (if (= (nth 3 (decode-time date)) (nth 3 (decode-time (current-time))))
+      (format-time-string mu4e-headers-time-format date)
+      (format-time-string mu4e-headers-date-format date))))
+
+  ;; note: this function is very performance-sensitive
 (defun mu4e~headers-header-handler (msg &optional point)
-  "Create a one line description of MSG in this buffer, at POINT,
+    "Create a one line description of MSG in this buffer, at POINT,
 if provided, or at the end of the buffer otherwise."
-  (let ((docid (mu4e-message-field msg :docid)) (line ""))
-    (dolist (f-w mu4e-headers-fields)
-      (let ((field (car f-w)) (width (cdr f-w))
-	     (val (mu4e-message-field msg (car f-w))) (str))
-	(setq str
-	  (case field
-	    (:subject
-	      (concat ;; prefix subject with a thread indicator
-		(mu4e~headers-thread-prefix (mu4e-message-field msg :thread))
-		;;  "["(plist-get (mu4e-message-field msg :thread) :path) "] "
-		val))
-	    ((:maildir :path) val)
-	    ((:to :from :cc :bcc) (mu4e~headers-contact-str val))
-	    ;; if we (ie. `user-mail-address' is the 'From', show
-	    ;; 'To', otherwise show From
-	    (:from-or-to (mu4e~headers-from-or-to msg))
-	    (:date (format-time-string mu4e-headers-date-format val))
-	    (:flags (propertize (mu4e~headers-flags-str val)
-		      'help-echo (format "%S" val)))
-	    (:size (mu4e-display-size val))
-	    (t (mu4e-error "Unsupported header field (%S)" field))))
-	(when str
-	  (setq line
-	    (concat line
-	      (if (not width)
-		str
-		(truncate-string-to-width str width 0 ?\s t)) " ")))))
-    ;; now, propertize it.
-    (setq line (propertize line 'face
-		 (case (car-safe (mu4e-message-field msg :flags))
-		   ('draft           'mu4e-draft-face)
-		   ('trash           'mu4e-trashed-face)
-		   ((unread new)     'mu4e-unread-face)
-		   ('flagged         'mu4e-flagged-face)
-		   ((replied passed) 'mu4e-replied-face)
-		   (t                'mu4e-header-face))))
-    ;; now, append the header line
-    (mu4e~headers-add-header line docid point msg)))
+    (let ((docid (mu4e-message-field msg :docid)) (line ""))
+      (dolist (f-w mu4e-headers-fields)
+	(let ((field (car f-w)) (width (cdr f-w))
+	       (val (mu4e-message-field msg (car f-w))) (str))
+	  (setq str
+	    (case field
+	      (:subject
+		(concat ;; prefix subject with a thread indicator
+		  (mu4e~headers-thread-prefix (mu4e-message-field msg :thread))
+		  ;;  "["(plist-get (mu4e-message-field msg :thread) :path) "] "
+		  val))
+	      ((:maildir :path) val)
+	      ((:to :from :cc :bcc) (mu4e~headers-contact-str val))
+	      ;; if we (ie. `user-mail-address' is the 'From', show
+	      ;; 'To', otherwise show From
+	      (:from-or-to (mu4e~headers-from-or-to msg))
+	      (:date (format-time-string mu4e-headers-date-format val))
+	      (:human-date (mu4e~headers-human-date msg))
+	      (:flags (propertize (mu4e~headers-flags-str val)
+			'help-echo (format "%S" val)))
+	      (:size (mu4e-display-size val))
+	      (t (mu4e-error "Unsupported header field (%S)" field))))
+	  (when str
+	    (setq line
+	      (concat line
+		(if (not width)
+		  str
+		  (truncate-string-to-width str width 0 ?\s t)) " ")))))
+      ;; now, propertize it.
+      (setq line (propertize line 'face
+		   (case (car-safe (mu4e-message-field msg :flags))
+		     ('draft           'mu4e-draft-face)
+		     ('trash           'mu4e-trashed-face)
+		     ((unread new)     'mu4e-unread-face)
+		     ('flagged         'mu4e-flagged-face)
+		     ((replied passed) 'mu4e-replied-face)
+		     (t                'mu4e-header-face))))
+      ;; now, append the header line
+      (mu4e~headers-add-header line docid point msg))) 
 
 (defconst mu4e~no-matches     (purecopy "No matching messages found"))
 (defconst mu4e~end-of-results (purecopy "End of search results"))
diff --git a/mu4e/mu4e-vars.el b/mu4e/mu4e-vars.el
index 574b16d0..69eea59b 100644
--- a/mu4e/mu4e-vars.el
+++ b/mu4e/mu4e-vars.el
@@ -460,6 +460,11 @@ headers)."
 	 :shortname "Date"
 	 :help "Date/time when the message was written"
 	 :sortable t))
+     (:human-date .
+       ( :name "Date"
+	 :shortname "Date"
+	 :help "Date/time when the message was written."
+	 :sortable t))
      (:flags .
        ( :name "Flags"
 	 :shortname "Flgs"
diff --git a/mu4e/mu4e.texi b/mu4e/mu4e.texi
index 3ea951f8..9d6a2355 100644
--- a/mu4e/mu4e.texi
+++ b/mu4e/mu4e.texi
@@ -703,6 +703,12 @@ Some notes to explain what you see in the example:
 @item The fields shown in the headers view can be influenced by customizing
 the variable @code{mu4e-headers-fields}; see @code{mu4e-header-info} for the
 list of available fields.
+@item By default, the date is shown with the @t{:human-date} field, which
+shows the @emph{time} for today's messages, and the @emph{date} for older
+messages. If you want to distinguish between 'today' and 'older', you can use
+the @t{:date} field instead.
+@item You can customize the date and time formats with the variable
+@t{mu4e-headers-date-format} and @t{mu4e-headers-time-format}, respectively.
 @item The header field used for sorting is indicated by ``@t{V}'' or
 ``@t{^}''@footnote{or you can use little graphical triangles; see variable
 @code{mu4e-use-fancy-chars}}, indicating the sort order (descending or
@@ -722,8 +728,6 @@ F=@emph{flagged} (i.e., 'starred'), N=@emph{new}, P=@emph{passed} (i.e.,
 forwarded), R=@emph{replied}, S=@emph{seen}, T=@emph{trashed},
 a=@emph{has-attachment}, x=@emph{encrypted}, s=@emph{signed},
 u=@emph{unread}. The tooltip for this field also contains this information.
-@item You can customize the date format with the variable
-@t{mu4e-headers-date-format}
 @item The subject field also indicates the discussion threads @footnote{using
 Jamie Zawinski's mail threading algorithm,
 @url{http://www.jwz.org/doc/threading.html}}.