Department Index
Explainer 2002:
Answers to your questions about the news.
If you'd like to sort this department listing by headline, author or date, please use the Slate search.
- How Do Super-Intelligent Billboards Spy on Your Car Radio?
Dec. 31, 2002 - What—and Where—Is the Strategic Petroleum Reserve?
Dec. 26, 2002 - Why Does the Ku Klux Klan Burn Crosses?
Dec. 17, 2002 - How Do You Get Rid of the Senate Majority Leader?
Dec. 13, 2002 - What Does the Treasury Secretary Do All Day?
Dec. 12, 2002 - What Is Sodomy?
Dec. 10, 2002 - What Happens When a Church Goes Bankrupt?
Dec. 4, 2002 - How Do You Pronounce "Qatar"?
Dec. 4, 2002 - What Is the Cosmic Radiation That's KO'ing Our Astronauts?
Nov. 26, 2002 - What Is Ovaltine, Please?
Nov. 22, 2002 - Which Country Signed Off on the Sunken Oil Tanker?
Nov. 20, 2002 - Did the United Nations Authorize "No-Fly" Zones Over Iraq?
Nov. 19, 2002 - How Do You Authenticate a Sound Recording?
Nov. 15, 2002 - What's the Most Powerful Political Job in China?
Nov. 15, 2002 - Why Does Louisiana Have Such an Odd Election System?
Nov. 13, 2002 - What's Up With John Lee Malvo's Guardian?
Nov. 12, 2002 - How Do You Become a Weapons Inspector?
Nov. 8, 2002 - How Do You Stop a Lava Flow?
Nov. 1, 2002 - What Kind of Rifle Training Did John Muhammad Get in the Army?
Oct. 30, 2002 - Who Gets To Prosecute the Sniper Suspects First?
Oct. 29, 2002 - Did Criminal Profilers Blow It in the Sniper Case?
Oct. 25, 2002 - How Hard Would It Be To Trace the Sniper's Phone Calls?
Oct. 24, 2002 - Can You Sue a Journalist for Fraud?
Oct. 22, 2002 - Why Can the Army Help Cops Catch the D.C. Sniper?
Oct. 17, 2002 - Serial Killers and Spree Killers: What's the Difference?
Oct. 17, 2002 - What Is International Law?
Oct. 15, 2002 - What Happens to Recalled Meat?
Oct. 14, 2002 - Where Do Tarot Cards Come From?
Oct. 10, 2002 - Did the United States Expose Iraqi Civilians to Radiation?
Oct. 7, 2002 - How Many Palaces Hath Saddam?
Oct. 3, 2002 - How Does a U.N. Security Council Resolution Get Passed?
Oct. 2, 2002 - What's the Deal With the Bright Light You See Before Dying?
Oct. 1, 2002 - Is Barbershop Right About Rosa Parks?
Sept. 27, 2002 - What Is an Irish Traveler?
Sept. 24, 2002 - Can Private Citizens Negotiate With Saddam?
Sept. 19, 2002 - Why Does Bush Go "Nucular"?
Sept. 18, 2002 - How Do the Pentagon's "War Games" Work?
Sept. 17, 2002 - What Is a Person of Interest?
Sept. 10, 2002 - Did Mohamed Atta Meet an Iraqi Spy in Prague?
Sept. 3, 2002 - How Will Michael Kopper's $12 Million Get Divvied Up?
Aug. 22, 2002 - Why Do Busted Companies Always File for Bankruptcy on Sundays?
Aug. 16, 2002 - Horses Have a West Nile Vaccine; So Why Don't We?
Aug. 14, 2002 - Will Charlton Heston Have To Give Up His Guns?
Aug. 9, 2002 - What's a Reverse Stock Split?
Aug. 8, 2002 - Inmates can't vote. So why can they run for Congress?
Aug. 5, 2002 - Explainer Mailbag: Does James Traficant Get To Keep His Pension?
Aug. 2, 2002 - Why Did That Amtrak Train Jump the Tracks?
July 30, 2002 - What Are Civil Service Protections?
July 29, 2002 - How Do You Figure the Odds of an Asteroid Hitting the Earth?
July 26, 2002 - What Are Terroristic Threats? Why is an NBA star charged with making terroristic threats?
July 12, 2002 - You Have the Right To Remain Silent. But How Silent?
July 9, 2002 - How Will the Palestinian Elections Work?
July 2, 2002 - What's the Name of the South Korean Soccer Team?
June 27, 2002 - When Can You Make a Reporter Testify?
June 25, 2002 - When Can a Judge Throw Out a Jury's Verdict?
June 20, 2002 - How Did the Afghan Loya Jirga Elect the Country's New President?
June 14, 2002 - How Does a Fire Burn for 92 Years?
June 12, 2002 - How Do You Dump the FBI Director?
June 11, 2002 - Can New York Bowdlerize Elie Wiesel?
June 4, 2002 - Can You Violate Copyright Law With a Magic Marker?
June 3, 2002 - Is Zacarias Moussaoui Really the 20th Hijacker?
May 30, 2002 - Can the FBI Punish the 9/11 Whistle-blower?
May 29, 2002 - Can a Witness Who Fails To Out a Murder Defendant Be Charged With a Crime?
May 25, 2002 - How Do You Identify a Dead Body?
May 23, 2002 - Did the Media Misreport Zacarias Moussaoui's Suspicious Activities?
May 21, 2002 - How Can Accused Terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui Refuse a Psych Exam?
May 17, 2002 - Why Does Jamal Mashburn Have Ear Rocks?
May 16, 2002 - Can Americans Travel to Cuba?
May 14, 2002 - Can a Likud Party Vote Prevent a Palestinian State?
May 13, 2002 - What Is a Palestinian Refugee Camp?
May 10, 2002 - Did Thomas Jefferson Father a Child With Sally Hemings?
May 8, 2002 - Can Someone Under House Arrest Host a Dinner Party?
May 6, 2002 - Explainer Mailbag: Who Is That Missing Osbourne?
May 3, 2002 - Cardinal Bishop, Cardinal Deacon, Cardinal Priest: What's the Difference?
April 29, 2002 - What's the Difference Between France's President and Prime Minister?
April 26, 2002 - What Is the Church of the Nativity?
April 25, 2002 - What Are the "Special Circumstances" of the Robert Blake Murder Charge?
April 24, 2002 - Can Arafat's Nobel Peace Prize Be Revoked?
April 19, 2002 - What's Next for Convicted Felon Rep. James Traficant Jr.?
April 17, 2002 - What Did Al Gore Mean by a "Side-Wind"?
April 16, 2002 - Can a Company Be Charged With a Crime?
April 12, 2002 - Why Do British Royals Wear Military Uniforms?
April 11, 2002 - What Is the Islamic Group?
April 11, 2002 - What Are the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia?
April 8, 2002 - What are the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades?
March 29, 2002 - How Do You Pronounce That AtlanticWriter's Name?
March 28, 2002 - Why Don't Movie Studios Advertise During the Oscars?
March 27, 2002 - What Is the Arab League?
March 26, 2002 - How Does a Pentagon "Background" Briefing Get Posted on the Web?
March 20, 2002 - Can I Really Copy DVDs?
March 14, 2002 - Do Tonya and Paula Need a License To Box?
March 13, 2002 - Why Is Napster Shut Down but Grokster's Still Running?
March 8, 2002 - Why Is Andrea Yates Charged With Three Drownings Instead of Five?
March 7, 2002 - Why Are Bush's Steel Tariffs Legal?
March 5, 2002 - How Did the "Louima" Defendant Win a New Trial?
March 1, 2002 - Explainer Mailbag: Department of Corrections
March 1, 2002 - Song, Record, Album of the Year: What's the Difference?
Feb. 28, 2002 - Can You Trademark the Phrase "Let's Roll"?
Feb. 27, 2002 - Explainer Mailbag: Medalling Kids?
Feb. 22, 2002 - Why Isn't Boston's Cardinal Law in Jail?
Feb. 20, 2002 - How Did Colin Powell Insult the French Foreign Minister?
Feb. 19, 2002 - Explainer Mailbag: Ad It Up
Feb. 15, 2002 - Does Your Spit Have Fifth Amendment Rights?
Feb. 15, 2002 - Why Is Jennifer Connelly a Supporting Actress?
Feb. 12, 2002 - Where Did the Fifth Amendment Come From?
Feb. 12, 2002 - Who's Drilling Enron on Capitol Hill?
Feb. 8, 2002 - Explainer Mailbag: Free Base?
Jan. 25, 2002 - Can John Walker Be Stripped of His U.S. Citizenship?
Jan. 25, 2002 - What Is the Symbionese Liberation Army?
Jan. 24, 2002 - How Did the U.S. Get a Naval Base in Cuba?
Jan. 18, 2002 - How Is the Enron Scandal Like Whitewater?
Jan. 17, 2002 - No Relation No. 17: John Whitehead
Jan. 11, 2002 - Write-Offs, Write-Downs, Pretax Charges: What's the Difference?
Jan. 10, 2002 - Is Spending Money Good or Bad?
Jan. 9, 2002 - Abdullah? Or Abdullah Abdullah?
Jan. 4, 2002
View My Network on Slate
»
TODAY'S PICTURES
TODAY'S CARTOONS
TODAY'S DOONESBURY
TODAY'S VIDEO
-
The United States of Inequality: A new series on Slate by Timothy Noah http://slate.me/bP5Lxl
-
Google's Earth, William Gibson op-ed in the NYT http://slate.me/aviKHb
-
Teen accidentally texts sheriff asking to buy pot http://slate.me/aitSoj
featured advertiser links













