alk about a slow newsweek. While the daily papers droned on about the UPS strike, police brutality, and embittered cosmonauts, many newsweeklies turned their sights inward, reporting on specific local matters that wouldn't have much appeal in Weekly Wire.

ike Vasily Tsibliev after a long, arduous stay aboard Mir, I too became bitter: How could I fill up this web page with universally appealing stuff when everybody was writing about their friendly neighborhood legislators? I was beginning to think the web just plain sucked, and this was all a sham!

ncredibly, last-minute salvation arrived in the form of this fine article about the Web. The paradox was that while it assuaged my hopes for Weekly Wire's news section, its contents also confirmed my worst suspicions: the Internet has become a sinkhole for useless info, overstuffed search engines, pyramid schemers, busy signals, and lame personal sites. The depression thickened.

efore I ran out to find someone who could help me commit Net hari-kari, though, I read this death-defying analysis of the pros and cons of assisted suicide. It made all the difference. My deathly feelings were further alleviated by Margaret Renkl's Home Brood column, which demonstrated how a baby's first birthday could symbolize the liberation of a parent's mortal fears. As always, I loved the way Renkl used a few simple life events to comment on universal themes.

nd then I arrived out the other end of that dark tunnel: this Weekly Wire news section would be as relevant as ever. In the same week that the Associated Press reported that "Some blacks see school success as a 'white' thing," we've got a review of John Hoberman's book Darwin's Athletes, which claims that the overemphasis on blacks' sports acumen is damaging to their social progress.

ur latest Brave New World column details exactly how Microsoft stands to benefit from their $150 million deal with Apple, and a special report about cash-advance businesses in Memphis decries the legitimization of what basically amounts to loan sharking. Finally, Odds & Ends supplies its usual cadre of bizarro news stories, which touch on everything from rat kidnappers to penis-shrinking sorcerers. Slow newsweek? Not hardly.

Talk Back
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www.the.net.sucks
The Information Superhighway? The Internet is more like a parking garage full of trivia, inaccuracies and useless personal home-pages. [2]
Mel Parkinson

Deal With the Devil?
Apple sells itself to Microsoft. Is that such a good idea? [3]
David O. Dabney

Black, White, and Unequal?
A Univ. of Texas professor's new book argues that the current domination of sports by African Americans is actually pushing them to the back of the bus again. [4]
Robert Bryce

Easy Money in Hard Times
Memphis has the highest bankruptcy rate in the nation, and many lenders are cashing in on the business of poverty. [5]
Jacqueline Marino

Is There a Good Death?
A friend's death puts society's views of death and suicide into perspective. [6]
Karen Denton

Death-Defying
Taking stock of life's terrors. [7]
Margaret Renkl

Odds & Ends
Timed-release news capsules from the flipside. [8]
Devin D. O'Leary

Now What?
Can't get enough news? You're in luck -- more news is created every day. Our Now What? page offers a plethora of recommended links to help keep you living in the present. [9]

Build your own custom paper. To find out more about this feature, click here.

Sin Buddhism
Zen Buddhism looks like a religion, walks like a religion, and talks like a religion -- but according to Comptroller John Sharp, it can't be tax-exempt like a religion. [08-11-97]
Kevin Fullerton

Captain Opinion
Is it goofy, insane or dumb? Go for it! [07-08-97]
Cap'n O

Captain Opinion
Education and free choice kick the habit. [06-20-97]
Cap'n O