Economist, Feb. 14

(posted Saturday, Feb. 14)

The Valentine's Day cover story notes the globalization and professionalization of the sex industry. The explosion of the sex trade in eastern Europe has driven down prices for prostitution and pornography worldwide. The real money is still in upscale strip clubs, high-class call-girl rings, and well-produced X-rated videos. Good news for porn fans: The Internet makes it possible to learn which brothels and strip clubs are reliable. ... A piece frets that Boris Yeltsin's illness is damaging Russia. His government has no coherent economic policy, the budget is a joke, and Yeltsin is likely to be succeeded by a hard-line authoritarian like Alexander Lebed. ... China hasn't escaped Asia's economic crisis, warns the magazine. Bad debts may total 70 percent of the country's GDP, and government control over private enterprise is increasing. Unless China manages to dismantle its gigantic, interfering bureaucracy (which is unlikely), it too will face economic disaster.

New Republic, March 2

(posted Friday, Feb. 13)

The magazine bad-mouths its longtime friend Al Gore in a three-story cover package. One piece raps the veep's technorationalism: Gore believes that expert analysis can solve any problem (environmental degradation, nuclear proliferation, etc.) and doesn't understand emotionalism and power politics. This blind spot could handicap his presidency. A second piece berates Gore for supporting affirmative action and accuses him of grossly distorting the views of affirmative-action opponents. (For more on Gore, see Paul Krugman's "Algorithms.")

New York Times Magazine, Feb. 15

(posted Thursday, Feb. 12)

The cover story predicts that memory-enhancing drugs are only a decade away. Scientists have already figured out how to give a fruit fly a photographic memory by manipulating a genetic switch called CREB. They are now seeking a similar mechanism in humans. Drugs will be marketed initially to Alzheimer's patients, but expect aging baby boomers to grab them too. ... An article rejects the notion that the Internet is distorting news. The Web has sped up the news cycle (just as the telephone did at the turn of the century), but good reporting is still good reporting. Americans will quickly learn to separate reliable online journalism from garbage. (Full disclosure: Slate Deputy Editor Jack Shafer wrote the piece.) ... A column by Internet guru Esther Dyson argues that Silicon Valley has too many entrepreneurs and not enough managers. Startups can't sustain themselves because they lack talented chief operating officers, chief financial officers, and salespeople. Why does no one seem to care? Most venture capitalists and company founders are hoping to make a short-term killing, not long-term profits.

Time and Newsweek, Feb. 16