has an icon ever been more appropriate?

[aruan]

I love Slate. They raise interesting questions, take unconventional angles, and basically tell stories from the human interest perspective - no inside baseball, no corporate fluff, just how this affects you and me. It's useful journalism.

By far my favorite part is their Explainer column. Some people get sucked into the Internet following Facebook links to news sites to Wikipedia entries to blogs - I read endless back issues of the Explainer, with each column featuring related topics gathered into a summary at the bottom. Whether breaking news or pure frivolity, the questions are usually things I'm left wondering about that for some reason couldn't fit into conventional news stories.

Some recent highlights: what living in a windowless basement for 24 years does to your health, are "replacements" allowed under China's one-child policy for earthquake victims, do rehab centers have a refund policy if you relapse, where do polygamous sects get all those women, the distinction between porn and prostitution, should you drink urine in emergency situations, and how bathrooms in space work.