Fool's
Paradise
In the business world there
used to be deals or, sometimes, partnerships. These days, there are strategic
alliances. The term "strategic alliance" is intended to 1) sound glamorous and
forward-thinking; and 2) obscure the actual nature of the relationship. It can
cover anything from an actual merger to an occasional lunch. (It is an
entertaining parlor game to read about some new strategic alliance, especially
in the high-tech world, and try to guess who--if anyone--is paying whom. The
answer is often far from obvious.)
Slate, of course, wishes to
be glamorous and forward-thinking. So we are pleased to begin this week a
strategic alliance with the Motley Fool. The Fool, as many readers are aware, is one of the
most entertaining, illuminating, and successful online financial sites, with
outlets on both America Online and the Web. The Slate/Fool strategic alliance
will consist of lavish expressions of mutual admiration, cross-links between
our sites at even the least plausible opportunity, and exchanges of T-shirts,
baseball caps, and other logo paraphernalia. In addition, the Fool will be
providing, exclusively for Slate, a weekly business column. The column is not
about stock tips or breaking news, but rather is intended to be a discerning
backgrounder on business issues, somewhat in the style of Slate's "The Gist." (And who's paying
whom? Guess.) Slate's first "Fool" is about the corporate fashion for changing
names.
Next
week, by the way, we will continue to ramp up our business coverage with
"Maximum Wage," a monthly column by Graef (Bud) Crystal, America's leading
authority on CEO compensation. (His article on Mike Ovitz's notorious $90
million severance package from Disney appeared in Slate a few months back.) Each column
will analyze the pay of one or more top executives who are of interest for
being paid too much or (occasionally) too little. Graef's first column,
to be posted next week, will focus on one from each category--both women.
A Doctor
in the House
A common
complaint about Slate--and, indeed, about Webzines in general--is that we don't
write enough about castration. Like hang gliding and Albanian cuisine, this is
a subject most people would rather read about than try for themselves. We are
delighted, therefore, that our new "Medical
Examiner" columnist has chosen castration as the subject of his first
column. Medical Examiner will appear every other week in Slate. We cannot
promise that every column will be about castration. In fact, we can pretty much
promise that no more columns will be about castration. But they all will
deal with the general subject of health, science, and society. The author is
Atul Gawande, M.D., who wrote a fascinating Slate "Diary" a
couple of weeks ago about his life as a surgical resident in Boston. Atul also
worked on health-care reform as a White House aide during the first Clinton
term--an experience about which he has mixed feelings.
Playing
Post Office
We've had some complaints
from readers who say they've signed up for (free) e-mail delivery of Slate on
Paper, our weekly text-only print-out edition, but haven't started receiving
it. We think we've got the situation under control, but we would really
appreciate hearing from anyone who's had this problem. Please click here, or e-mail us at
[email protected]. And if you'd like to get e-mail delivery of Slate, click
here. (If you'd
rather just get a weekly announcement of what's in the new issue, click
here.)
By the way, for those who
have been enjoying our new daily feature, "Today's
Papers"--which summarizes and analyzes the front pages of five major
newspapers--you'll soon be able to get overnight e-mail delivery of that
column. Or at least you'll be able to sign up for it.
--Michael Kinsley
