?

As with herpes, one of the peripheral embarrassments of contracting a computer virus is that everyone has a pretty good idea of what you were up to when you got it. Oh sure, it’s possible you just chastely pecked a misleading email link. But odds are you picked it up because you were dallying on one of those shady, fly-by-night websites that people visit when they’re seeking fulfillment. You know—religious sites.

Also in Slate: Listen to our interview with Wes Anderson, in which he explains his obsession with childhood fantasies and his love of pop music.

It’s an open question who’s more obsessive: Wes Anderson or his most ardent fans.   The director’s meticulously crafted, off-kilter features have won over legions of filmgoers who now get to go to town on a new Anderson movie.

Dharun Ravi, the Rutgers student convicted of invasion of privacy and other charges after the suicide of roommate Tyler Clementi, was sentenced to 30 days in jail, 300 hours of community service, sensitivity training, and $11,000 in fees on Monday. Ravi could be released from jail after just 20 days if he does his chores and maintains “good behavior.� What constitutes good behavior in jail?

As Pinterest racks up new users and generates buzz, it’s fair to ask what exactly is the difference between the visual social sharing site and Tumblr? That was one of the questions Slate readers had for Tumblr vice president Andrew McLaughlin, who recently sat down for an interview with Jacob Weisberg.

Somewhere in North America, there is a place where little girls don’t give the slightest thought to what kind of wedding dress they’ll wear one day. A place where young men have never heard the expression: “why buy the cow when you can have the milk for free?�—because the milk is always free. A place where no one asks an unmarried couple expecting a baby if they’re getting hitched.

Imagine a used car salesman who learns that the shiny Mercedes in his lot has a busted engine. He tells his friends not to go near the lemon, but when he notices a long line of people coming in to see the car, he decides to add $10,000 to the sales price. And when you hand him your check, he grins and runs to the bank. That’s essentially what happened with Facebook’s IPO: In the weeks before its offering, Facebook seems to have told its bankers that its revenue this year would grow more slowly than it had previously estimated. Analysts at these banks relayed the new numbers to some of their top clients, but most investors never heard a word about Facebook’s bum engine. Then, despite the lower numbers, when Facebook and its underwriters saw “extreme� interest in its IPO, they decided to increase the price of the company’s shares—because, hey, if everyone wants in, why not?

Also in Slate: Amanda Marcotte on why Gallup's flawed abortion questions make America seem more conservative than it is.

According to the latest Gallup polls, public opinion on issues of sexual and reproductive freedom has become steadily more liberal. In 1977, Americans were evenly split on whether gay sex should be legal. Now they support its legality by a 2-to-1 margin. In 1996, the country opposed same-sex marriage by 68 to 27 percent. Now it’s a dead heat. In 2002, a 50-to-45-percent plurality said it was morally wrong to have a baby outside of marriage. Now a 54-to-42-percent majority says it’s acceptable. Birth control, as an issue of private morality, is a nonissue: 89 percent of Americans say it’s OK.

Listen to Episode 12 of The Afterword:

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