Baby
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Sarah
Lyall, of the New York Times London bureau, wrote in Slate's "Diary" three
weeks ago, with more charm than enthusiasm, about the experience of being
eight-plus months pregnant. We are pleased to report that Sarah's ordeal is
over (or possibly just beginning): Alice McCrum was born Feb. 2--8 pounds, 4
ounces. Mother and laptop are doing fine.
Now Is
the Winter of Our New Contents
If you're here, and reading
this online, you probably got here by way of our new home page and "Table of
Contents." We hope you like it. For a site as packed with contents as this one
(and we speak only of quantity here), designing the contents page is a constant
trade-off between packing the information tightly, to minimize scrolling, and
presenting it attractively. This latest version--not a finished product, but
just another way station on a journey who-knows-where--offers two ways to
review Slate's current offerings. If you click on the word "Date" just below
the Slate logo on the contents page, you'll get a straight list of current
articles in reverse chronological order, with the most recent additions on top.
To revert to Contents Classic, click on "Page Number." And let us know what you
think, at [email protected].
We
previewed the new opening sequence for Bill Gates, who studied it for a few
seconds and said impatiently, "How do I find the place where I have people
killed every week?" We answered, It's usually buried somewhere in a column
called "Readme." "Buried? But it's my favorite part. Whose idea was burying
it?" We mentioned the name of a dispensable subassistant to the deputy
assistant editor in our Bogotá bureau. "Have him killed," he said.
Boycott
AutoSummarize
In this
issue of Slate, Karenna Gore has some fun with a new feature of Word 97, the
latest upgrade of Microsoft's word-processing program, called AutoSummarize.
(See "Cogito Auto Sum.") She tests the product on texts ranging from
the Ten Commandments to a recipe for cooking salmon by Martha Stewart, but she
leaves it to the reader to decide how good the summary is. As journalists
working for Microsoft, we have mixed feelings about AutoSummarize. Naturally we
want our employer to thrive. (And doesn't everybody, really, wish the best for
Microsoft?) On the other hand, this nefarious bit of software--if it
works--threatens to allow computers to replace editors. Editors are not
ordinary people. We are skilled artisans, backed by centuries of tradition, who
pursue the noble calling of making writers miserable by insensitively slashing
their lovely prose. It is one thing for machines to replace textile makers (the
original Luddites), or industrial workers, or even--if it comes to
that--writers. But when the incomes, er, we mean professional talents of
editors are imperiled, it is obvious that the technological revolution has gone
too far. Editors of America, arise! We may have to go on strike before
AutoSummarize can be perfected, and we become powerless. But rest assured: a
few days of being forced to read unedited copy will bring this country to its
knees.
Waiting
for Harry
For
reasons too vitally important to bore you with, Harry Shearer's dispatch on the
delivery of the O.J. Simpson civil-trial verdict wasn't on the Web until
Friday, Feb. 7. The trial actually ended Feb. 4. For three long days, Slate
readers may have been wondering how it all came out. We could have told you, of
course, but we didn't want to ruin the suspense. We knew you'd rather wait and
hear it from Harry.
-- Michael
Kinsley
