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Text-only Slate

• Happy Birthday, Smokey Bear
  Firefighting bears, crime-stopping pooches, and more of history's greatest pedagogical animals.
  Josh Levin | recycled | Saturday, 6:53 AM ET
• Mystery, Alaska
  A summary of what's in the major U.S. newspapers.
  Kara Hadge | today's papers | Saturday, 6:02 AM ET
• Quitters Never Win
  In Sarah Palin's GOP, the leaders keep quitting and the troubles don't.
  Bruce Reed | the has-been | Saturday, 1:12 AM ET
• Independence Day?
  Sarah Palin picked the wrong day to resign as governor of Alaska.
  John Dickerson | politics | Friday, 7:20 PM ET
• Un-American Independence Day
  What are Fourth of July celebrations like abroad?
  Meredith Simons | explainer | Friday, 8:21 AM ET
• Back to the Futurists: Italy's First Avant-Garde Turns 100
  Diners, please don your blindfolds and rubber gloves.
  Kate Bolick | well-traveled | Friday, 7:12 AM ET
• The Great Barbecue Debate
  Is charcoal bad for the planet?
  Brendan I. Koerner | recycled | Friday, 7:09 AM ET
• Death by Cheese and the Dreaded Ruptured Stomach
  The past and future of competitive eating injuries.
  Jason Fagone | recycled | Friday, 7:08 AM ET
• Recession Redux
  A summary of what's in the major publications.
  Bernhard Warner and Matthew Yeomans | today's business press | Friday, 7:06 AM ET
• Jobless Rate Crushes Recovery Dreams
  A summary of what's in the major U.S. newspapers.
  Daniel Politi | today's papers | Friday, 6:51 AM ET
• Checks and Balances
  Who decides how much White House staffers get paid?
  Christopher Beam | politics | Thursday, 7:33 PM ET
• You Survived a Plane Crash! Now What?
  Don't move.
  Brian Palmer | explainer | Thursday, 6:01 PM ET
• Hipsters, Tempura Burgers, and Pets Who Want To Kill Themselves
  The allure of crowd-sourced, single-topic blogs.
  Farhad Manjoo | technology | Thursday, 5:27 PM ET
• Remote Roulette
  The fun new TV game that everyone is playing.
  Troy Patterson | television | Thursday, 5:09 PM ET
• Are All Civil Rights Special Privileges Now?
  Assessing the damage done by the Supreme Court in the New Haven firefighters case.
  Richard Thompson Ford | jurisprudence | Thursday, 1:19 PM ET
• Summer-House Lit
  On not owning a vacation home.
  Timothy Noah | recycled | Thursday, 9:40 AM ET
• Textual Infidelity
  E-mail, adultery, and Mark Sanford.
  William Saletan | human nature | Thursday, 7:26 AM ET
• Back to the Futurists: Italy's First Avant-Garde Turns 100
  Looking for the Futurists' legacy? Try Target or H&M.
  Kate Bolick | well-traveled | Friday, 7:12 AM ET
• Coming Soon: A Jobless Recovery
  A summary of what's in the major U.S. newspapers.
  Daniel Politi | today's papers | Thursday, 6:52 AM ET
• Fireworks Suck
  They really do.
  Troy Patterson | a fine whine | Wednesday, 8:01 PM ET
• "Let Me Tell You About the Time I Interviewed Michael Jackson"
  Why reporters won't shut up about their encounters with the dead pop star.
  Jack Shafer | press box | Wednesday, 7:03 PM ET
• Grave Concerns
  Is it legal to bury Michael Jackson at Neverland Ranch?
  Christopher Beam | explainer | Wednesday, 6:47 PM ET
• Steroids, Anyone?
  Tennis is one of the few sports that hasn't been tainted by doping scandals. Can any sport possibly be that clean?
  Bill Gifford | sports nut | Wednesday, 6:22 PM ET
• If Paul Krugman Were a Woman
  He would be Noriko Hama.
  Daniel Gross | moneybox | Wednesday, 2:28 PM ET
• Does Plastic Art Last Forever?
  Not even close. Can a generation of synthetic objects be saved?
  Sam Kean | art | Wednesday, 11:32 AM ET
• If You Live in a Glass House
  It gets quite hot in the summer. Visiting Philip Johnson's most durable architectural achievement.
  Witold Rybczynski | architecture | Wednesday, 10:04 AM ET
• Back to the Futurists: Italy's First Avant-Garde Turns 100
  In a city like Rome, where you can't avoid the past, it's easy to see why the Futurists raged against history.
  Kate Bolick | well-traveled | Friday, 7:12 AM ET
• Charity Muggers
  I avoid street canvassers for do-gooding organizations. Does that make me a jerk?
  Sandy Stonesifer | my goodness | Wednesday, 7:00 AM ET
• Mr. Franken Goes to Washington
  A summary of what's in the major U.S. newspapers.
  Daniel Politi | today's papers | Wednesday, 6:35 AM ET
• Keeping the Fizz in the Journalism Biz
  Thanks to technology, we may be entering a golden age.
  Jack Shafer | press box | Tuesday, 6:17 PM ET
• Roommates for Life
  How do prisons deal with overcrowding?
  Christopher Beam | explainer | Tuesday, 5:36 PM ET
• Gov. Sanford Is a Cheater. Is He Also a Criminal?
  Technically, yes.
  Meredith Simons | explainer | Tuesday, 2:51 PM ET
• You Are How You Camped
  What your enjoyment of sleep-away camp, or lack of same, says about your character.
  Timothy Noah | recycled | Tuesday, 2:16 PM ET
• It's Like eBay Meets Match.com
  Does peer-to-peer lending work?
  Ray Fisman | the dismal science | Tuesday, 12:18 PM ET
• To Do: Make To-Do List
  Trying to get organized with Web-based task managers.
  Chip Brantley | shopping | Tuesday, 9:59 AM ET
• Giving Journalists the Silent Treatment
  Why ignoring the media is a serious threat to press freedom.
  Joel Simon | foreigners | Tuesday, 9:25 AM ET
• Broken Is Beautiful
  Breaking your legs to make yourself taller.
  William Saletan | human nature | Tuesday, 7:38 AM ET
• Back to the Futurists: Italy's First Avant-Garde Turns 100
  F.T. Marinetti was known as "the caffeine of Europe," an animated cross between P.T. Barnum and Andy Warhol.
  Kate Bolick | well-traveled | Friday, 7:12 AM ET
• Marianne Moore's "Poetry"
  Why did she keep revising it?
  Robert Pinsky | poem | Tuesday, 6:53 AM ET
• Madoff Gets Life For "Evil" Crimes
  A summary of what's in the major U.S. newspapers.
  Daniel Politi | today's papers | Tuesday, 6:46 AM ET
• Morocco Makes Peace With Its Past
  Proof that an avowedly Islamic regime can move from authoritarianism to democracy.
  Anne Applebaum | foreigners | Monday, 8:00 PM ET
• Medical Errors
  Why is polling about health care reform so unreliable?
  Christopher Beam | prescriptions | Monday, 6:42 PM ET
• Why Did Madoff Get a Longer Sentence Than He Can Possibly Serve?
  Prison terms, explained.
  Daniel Engber | recycled | Monday, 5:42 PM ET
• Is It Easier To Grow Poppy Than Wheat?
  Yes, but it's a pain to harvest.
  Brian Palmer | explainer | Monday, 5:30 PM ET
• The Fantastic Firefox
  Why Mozilla's new browser augurs great things for the Web.
  Farhad Manjoo | technology | Monday, 4:58 PM ET
• Hog Heaven?
  Life is no picnic for free-range pigs.
  James E. McWilliams | food | Monday, 3:42 PM ET
• China's Marlboro Country
  The strange, underground world of counterfeit cigarettes.
  Te-Ping Chen | dispatches | Monday, 3:02 PM ET
• The Supreme Court Gets Ready To Turn on the Corporate Fundraising Spigot
  The case about the anti-Hillary ad got pushed back till September—and got bigger.
  Richard L. Hasen | jurisprudence | Monday, 3:02 PM ET
• Caught on Tape
  What the Nixon tapes tell us about the Republican Party.
  Christopher Hitchens | fighting words | Monday, 12:31 PM ET
• Can't Robots Press the Elevator Buttons?
  Japan, the world's most efficient economy, has lots of gas station attendants and elevator operators. Why?
  Daniel Gross | moneybox | Monday, 12:29 PM ET
• The Birth, and Death, of the Asian Babe
  The sordid history of the sexually exotic East.
  Johann Hari | books | Monday, 9:31 AM ET
• Back to the Futurists: Italy's First Avant-Garde Turns 100
  F.T. Marinetti was known as "the caffeine of Europe," an animated cross between P.T. Barnum and Andy Warhol.
  Kate Bolick | well-traveled | Friday, 7:12 AM ET
• Military Coup Shakes Up Honduras
  A summary of what's in the major U.S. newspapers.
  Daniel Politi | today's papers | Monday, 6:53 AM ET
• The Supreme Court Breakfast Table
  Confronting the confrontation clause.
  Walter Dellinger, Linda Greenhouse, and Dahlia Lithwick | the breakfast table | Monday, 7:22 PM ET
• Day of Rest
  A summary of what's in the major U.S. newspapers.
  Lydia DePillis | today's papers | Sunday, 4:29 AM ET