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(790 words; posted Friday, Nov. 1)
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The E-lection
Don't forget to vote--not just at your local precinct, but on the Web. SLATE and several other Web sites are participating in Mindscape's WorldVote 96, an online, simulated presidential election. Voters from around the world will be casting their ballots for Clinton, Dole, Perot, Nader, Browne, and others, simultaneously demonstrating the feasibility of electronic elections and gauging the political temperature of Web users like you.
To vote, register at the Mindscape site prior to Election Day. Polls will open at 9 a.m. EST on Nov. 5, and real-time results will be posted throughout the day.
After you vote, make sure to fill out the SLATE exit poll at the WorldVote site and then come back to SLATE and join "The Fray," where readers will be interpreting the returns.
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Sex by the Numbers
In SLATE's second issue, our "Everyday Economics" columnist, Steven E. Landsburg, wrote an essay called "More Sex is Safer Sex"--arguing, based on economic theory, that promiscuity may slow the spread of AIDS (and monogamy may increase it). The New York Times has taken up this theory and, on its own Web site, built a computer simulation to test it. You can plug in any figure you wish for number of sexual encounters and so on, and your computer runs the orgy for you. The ultimate in safe sex, perhaps, though lacking a certain, er, romance. Anyway, we're delighted to be supplying grist for the Times, and take back anything nasty Jacob Weisberg may have to say about that fine newspaper, which happens to be the subject of his "Strange Bedfellow" column this week.
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Correction
In last week's "Strange Bedfellow" column, we unaccountably anointed Bob Barr a congressman from Texas. He is, in fact, a congressman from Georgia. We apologize to the state of Texas.
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New This Week (or Next)
Remember when we said we were going to start running summaries of other reviews along with our own critics' opinions? Well, forget it. Instead, we've started a new feature summarizing the reviews of the big new movies, books, etc., regardless of whether SLATE deems them worthy of comment. The feature is called "Summary Judgment," and it will include links, where possible, to the full reviews themselves. It will be updated every Tuesday. We hope you like it and find it useful. If you liked--or hated--Stuart Taylor Jr.'s article in the current SLATE about Paula Jones' sexual harassment suit against President Clinton, look for a new "Dialogue" to begin next week between Taylor and Susan Estrich, professor of law at the University of Southern California. Also next week, we begin a new column on parenting by Ann Hulbert, already a regular SLATE book critic. The column is called "Home Fires."
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After November Fifth
The staff of SLATE, like patriotic Americans everywhere, will not be sorry to see the end of the 1996 election campaign. But we, and perhaps our readers as well, will miss our two special election features, "The Horse Race" and "Varnish Remover." But pine not. William Saletan will be merging his "Horse Race" pundits analysis into "The Week/The Spin," which he also writes. And "Week/Spin" will be updated several times a week, beginning after the election, instead of once, as now. As for "Varnish Remover"--our analysis of political TV spots--it will move into new territory, analyzing TV commercials for regular products (as opposed to politicians) and political spots from outside the United States. There's always an election going on somewhere.
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Do Us a Favor
Have you signed up for our weekly e-mail announcement and/or e-mail delivery? (If not, click on the appropriate words in the previous sentence.) If you get the e-mail announcement of what's in SLATE this week, and find it useful, please feel free to forward it along to friends. It would be a favor to them, and a favor to us. Thanks.
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Trouble in "The Fray"
A number of Fraysters are calling for a contest (no prizes awarded) to predict the winning number of electoral votes and the House/Senate gain, hold, or lose margins in Tuesday's election. It's clear they will have this contest whether management cooperates or not. What should we do about this mini-rebellion? Bill Gates had a crisp, three-word recommendation, which we have decided to ignore for the moment. Instead, our Director of Fray Relations Cyrus Krohn has volunteered to create and manage a one-day thread, beginning Monday morning, with an arbitrary cutoff of midnight PST. The date of entries will change at this time, automatically closing the door on Monday predictions. "I also plan on creating a thread Tuesday so the Fraysters may compare/discuss results, etc.," said Krohn magnanimously. We may even announce the winners in next week's "Readme." If you're good.
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Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum
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