Economist , April 18
(posted
Saturday, April 18)
The
cover editorial warns that American stocks are severely
overvalued. The Federal Reserve Board should raise interest rates now to
prevent a horrible crash later. "Ominously, merger mania is usually associated
with the final stages of a bull market." (Click here to read a
Slate
"Dialogue" between Robert Bork and Eleanor M. Fox on
megamergers.) ... A story claims the cellular phone boom is the bane of
radio astronomers. Cell phones interfere with radio frequencies and force
scientists to develop complicated countermeasures, wasting precious research
time and funds.
New
Republic , May 4
(posted
Friday, April 17)
The cover
story says we can't stop global warming, so we should just adapt to it. One
problem: Environmental groups are so obsessed with alternative fuels that they
"pressure against any research that would render fossil fuel use benign."
... A story uncovers a new real-estate scheme. First, buy
environmentally sensitive land and start raping it. Then, wait for eco-friendly
groups to pressure the government into buying the land--at an inflated price.
It's worked for redwood groves, land in the Utah desert, and forests next to
Yellowstone. ... An article discovers a new literary enfant
terrible : Muammar Qaddafi. The Libyan leader's new Escape to Hell and
Other Stories rants at a fictional land called "Amelica" in prose that is
"turgid." Who wrote the introduction? TWA 800 conspiracy-theorist Pierre
Salinger, who thinks economic sanctions against Libya are unfair.
New
York Times Magazine , April 19
(posted
Thursday, April 16)
The cover
story reports on Serbian war-crime trials in The Hague, Netherlands. Serb
defendants' excuses: 1) they weren't aware of the concentration camps that
killed and tortured Muslims; 2) the camps started out innocently and then got
out of hand; or 3) they killed prisoners because they anticipated a murderous
onslaught by Muslims. Hazy international law makes the tribunals "the legal
equivalent of gathering people from all over the world to put on a play in
Esperanto that no one has really learned." ... A story says the
fast-food industry no longer innovates--the only way to grab market share is to
steal competitors' specialties (e.g., the Big King replicates the Big Mac, and
McDonald's forthcoming MBX burger copies the Whopper). ... An essay
urges New Yorkers to adopt pro-civility measures instituted by the mayor of
Bogotá, Colombia. Bogotá drivers flash cards with a thumbs-up or thumbs-down
logo at fellow motorists, and government-hired street mimes mock litterers and
jaywalkers.
Vanity Fair , May 1998
(posted
Thursday, April 16)
The cover
profile makes Jerry Seinfeld seem quite charming, if a tad immature. Post-show,
Seinfeld plans to take time off, swim with dolphins, and then start an ad
boutique (he wrote his own American Express ads). The article is supposedly an
"exclusive ... behind-the-scenes report on the final episodes": Someone should
tell Newsweek (see below). ... A piece describes the alarming
world of executive kidnappings. Latin American gangs routinely kidnap rich
foreign executives and demand multimillion-dollar ransoms. A counterkidnapping
industry now exists--you pay insurance, they handle negotiations and the drop.
Some execs pay a $60,000 "vaccination" directly to the gangs to avoid a future
kidnapping. ... An essay mourns feminists' sellout to Bill Clinton.
Feminists ignore Clinton's heinous behavior because they belong to the
establishment and are friendly with Bill and Hillary. The bar on male behavior
has been substantially lowered, and this is feminists' own fault.
Time and Newsweek , April 20
(posted
Tuesday, April 14)
Time 's Easter-pegged
cover: the Shroud of Turin. Yes, it's still fake. But many
believers, including some scientists, continue to deny the carbon-dating
procedures that identify the shroud as a 14 th century product. A
counterclaim: Bacteria growing on the shroud throws off the dating process.
Shroud tidbit: The person wrapped in the shroud was crucified through the
wrists (consistent with Roman practice), not through the hands. ...
Newsweek puts Seinfeld 's cast on the cover. An "exclusive" behind
the scenes look at the filming of Seinfeld 's final episode reveals
little, since Newsweek 's writers signed nondisclosure agreements.
Both Time and Newsweek explain the new breast cancer
drug Tamoxifen. It drastically reduces breast cancer rates but increases the
chance of blood clots and uterine cancer. The drug only makes sense for those
already at high risk. Time does a better job of explaining how the drug
works.
Time says Excite is trying to challenge Yahoo! as Netizens'
"portal" of choice. Both companies want to provide news, shopping, chat rooms,
and entertainment. Both also fear Microsoft Start, a portal site to be launched
later this year.
U.S.
News & World Report , April 20
(posted
Tuesday, April 14)
The
cover story hypes the impending arrival of high-definition
television. Digital HDTV really is a technological breakthrough, featuring
incredible images and audio, but the sets cost $7,000 to $12,000. The
government requires a wholesale switch to digital broadcasting by 2006,
rendering your current TV set useless (or, at least, more useless). ...
Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, D-N.Y., pens a piece explaining his new Social Security plan. Moynihan favors
letting people move up to 2 percent of their wages into private accounts but
wants to maintain the "basic structure" of the program. ... A story covers the emerging science of cargo drift studies.
Oceanographers predict where and when goods lost at sea will wash ashore.
Recent treasures: hockey gloves, shoes, and Legos.
The
New Yorker, April 20
(posted
Tuesday, April 14)
An
appreciation of Norman Mailer--pegged to the release of The Time of Our
Time , a 1,300 page Mailer anthology--calls him the "most lavishly gifted of
American postwar writers." He lost favor in the '70s because he rejected "irony
and postmodernist play" and "remained a Balzacian social chronicler." At 75,
he's still tough and barrel-chested, but he drinks and brags less. ...
An essay about Israel's 50 th birthday warns that the country is
dividing against itself, fragmenting into Orthodox, Russian, Ethiopian, Arab,
Sephardic, and Ashkenazi interest groups. But it's still the only place where
Jews can really belong. ... In "Talk of the Town," more conspiracy
theorizing from the child of an assassinated '60s icon. A week after Martin
Luther King Jr.'s children petitioned the Justice Department to reopen the
James Earl Ray file, Sean Lennon alleges that the 1981 murder of his father
John may not have been the work of lone gunman Mark David Chapman but the
result of a U.S. government plot. "It was in the best interest of the United
States to have my dad killed."
Weekly Standard , April 20
(posted
Tuesday, April 14)
The cover
package slams the tobacco deal and the persecution of both smokers and the
tobacco industry. The deal essentially raises taxes on working-class Americans,
with the proceeds to fund unspecified social-spending programs. Smokers make an
individual choice that hurts no one else: The risk of secondhand smoke has been
exaggerated and smokers actually save Social Security costs by dying younger.
An accompanying piece says schools waste huge amounts of time indoctrinating
students about tobacco's evils. Kids are now routinely assigned classwork on
the horrors of smoking. ... A story argues that Russia has never been
"less imperialist, less militarized, less threatening to its neighbors and the
world, and more receptive to Western ideals and practices than it is in 1998."
Russian leaders must continue to fight the temptations of nationalism.
The
Nation , April 27
(posted
Tuesday, April 14)
The cover
story identifies the latest drug to endanger kids: caffeine. Youngsters drink
huge amounts of highly caffeinated sodas (Coke, Mountain Dew) and hang out at
local Starbucks (which serve all ages), getting hooked on the drug. Caffeine
makes kids hyperactive and moody and can weaken their bones. ... An
editorial blasts public-school uniforms. Uniforms discriminate against girls
(who must wear impractical skirts), cost money to parents (who still must buy
play clothes) and schools (who must provide uniforms for poor students), and
have not been shown to improve academic performance or behavior.
--Seth
Stevenson
