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 (posted Tuesday, Feb. 10) Time runs its third consecutive Lewinsky cover ("Trial by Leaks"). Newsweek cuts back on the scandal, putting the Nagano Olympics on its cover. In Time 's cover package, an essay by Lewinsky attorneys William Ginsburg and Nathaniel Speights claims that: 1) Ginsburg's media campaign is "designed to demonstrate that my client is a responsible young woman who speaks the truth." 2) Starr's office was "very pleased" with the contents of Lewinsky's oral proffer and wanted to offer immunity but, for unspecified reasons, would not put the deal in writing. 3) Starr's office said of Lewinsky, "We've blown the opportunity to wire her. She's radioactive because of the Drudge Report ." The cover package also wonders who's leaking information to the press. (Why don't they ask their reporters?) An article traces the path of the "semen-stained dress" story: It bounced from the Drudge Report to countless news outlets without ever being substantiated. Newsweek 's scoop of the week: Lewinsky told her story to White House colleague Ashley Raines, who has met with Starr's investigators. Raines reportedly heard messages from Clinton on Lewinsky's answering machine. Both Time and Newsweek run profiles of Betty Currie (here's Time's), more maps of who was where in the White House, and updated scandal time lines. Newsweek adds profiles of Clinton adviser Bruce Lindsey and Democratic donor/Lewinsky patron Walter Kaye. Newsweek says Nagano wants to stage a humble "Zen" Olympics, avoiding the glitz of Atlanta's 1996 games. The Olympic package profiles Elvis Stojko, the most exciting male figure skater. Stojko's problem: He lacks artistry because he's afraid of seeming effeminate. (Tactless comment: "I don't have a feminine side. Maybe if I were gay, but I'm not.") An essay claims skating's quadruple jump (Stojko's specialty) is overrated, and shouldn't be a prerequisite for the gold. An article explicates curling (shuffleboard on ice with brooms), "the one game in all the world wherein the human participants move faster than the object they put in play." Time excerpts a new book on Princess Di's last days. Revelation: Di might have been saved had the ambulance rushed her to the hospital, rather than treating her at the site. U.S. News & World Report , Feb. 16 (posted Tuesday, Feb. 10) The cover story says IBM is back on track thanks to CEO Louis Gerstner. Gerstner scrapped IBM's dress code, bought Lotus Notes and popularized it, and is planning big things for Java. Bill Gates feels IBM is Microsoft's biggest competitor. ... An article claims the Christian Coalition is in trouble. In the wake of Ralph Reed's departure, donations are down, and other groups (notably the Family Research Council) have become more influential. The coalition recently laid off one-fifth of its staff. ... A report from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, says foreign officials are marveling at America's near-complete economic, military, and cultural domination of the world. Foreigners remain baffled by the Clinton scandal, however: One attendee joked, "The French ask why he hasn't had more women; the Africans ask why he didn't make her pregnant; and the Russians wonder why the girl is still alive." The New Yorker, Feb. 16 (posted Tuesday, Feb. 10) A piece enters the peculiar, charming world of Civil War re-enactors (or "living historians," as they call themselves). The hard-core ones spin their own clothes, subsist on hardtack and salt pork, speak in 19 th -century dialect, and starve themselves in order to attain the gaunt look of Confederate troops. (Gross detail: Soaking uniform buttons in urine gives them a distressed, Civil War look.) ... An article says President Clinton owes his high approval ratings to our celebrity-oriented culture. Politics is diversion, not serious business, and the president is "Entertainer-in-Chief." Americans had been bored by this season of the Clinton administration: Thanks to Clinterngate, they're watching it again. ... Jack Palladino, Clinton's "sex detective," is profiled. His job is to stifle "bimbo eruptions" by uncovering dirt about the accusing women. A former '60s radical, he's worked for Black Panthers, Hell's Angels, and Courtney Love. Right now he's evading a subpoena from Paula Jones' lawyers. Weekly Standard, Feb. 16 (posted Tuesday, Feb. 10) A cover piece upbraids Clinton's generation for its wanton attitudes about sex. Baby boomers tolerate his lying and deception about Lewinsky because their reprehensible "central dogma" is that consensual sex "ought never to be subject to moral scrutiny." ... A former colleague of Linda Tripp's says she is "friendly, funny, reliable" and "believed in the integrity of public service." She taped Lewinsky to defend herself from the slurs of Clinton's lackeys. ... Also, yet another editorial declaring that the United States must remove Saddam Hussein, not just bomb him. Despite bipartisan consensus for toppling the dictator, Clinton's too "wobbly" to do it. Vanity Fair , March 1998 (posted Tuesday, Feb. 10) Lots of art news. A pair of articles probe the weird, sinister Wildenstein family, the richest art dealers in the world. Among many creepy details: 1) The family, which is Jewish, probably bought and sold art for the Nazis. 2) Jocelyne Wildenstein, who's in the midst of a bloody divorce with family scion Alec, has had countless plastic surgeries in order to look like a jungle cat. The photos of her are truly strange. ... An article investigates the $200-million Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum robbery of 1989. The suspected thieves are dead, and the suspected mastermind, an art thief named Myles Connor, is in jail. Now a sleazy associate of Connor is trying to return the paintings in exchange for a $1.5-million reward. The author claims to have seen the stolen artwork in a Massachusetts warehouse. ... Carl Bernstein profiles Tommy Boggs, who used his family connections--father Hale was House majority leader--to become Washington's über lobbyist. Banal conclusion: He's a fun-loving, good-hearted guy, but he has done as much as anyone to build a system where money buys political power. ... Madonna's on the cover. Photos with her baby inside. Accompanying article says she's finally learning to express her deepest emotions in public. God help us. --Seth Stevenson