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Updated: 1 hour 2 min ago

An online guide to following today's floor action on health care reform.

6 hours 40 min ago
Health care reform has arrived on the floor of the House of Representatives, with a final vote that could come as early as 6 p.m. today. The proceedings (live C-span stream) aren't easy to follow without quick access to government documents, blog updates, academic studies, news sites, and public statements from interested parties. Slate has gathered links to the most important of these, with summary descriptions of their significance.

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Health care - United States House of Representatives - Health - Health Policy - Government

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6 hours 40 min ago

The Slatest: Weekend Edition

9 hours 13 min ago
Medics with Iraq experience treated wounded at Fort Hood; Abortion foes get major concession on health care; Even Afghans aren't sure Afghanistan would benefit from more troops.

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Why Arby's is so low on the restaurant food chain.

11 hours 35 min ago
Some companies came through the recently ended recession with flying colors. In the fast-food realm, we've argued, McDonald's was a victor. But in a time of pinched consumer spending, business has frequently been a zero-sum game. In every sector, it seems, if there's a winner, there's got to be a loser. And in the fast-food industry, it sure looks like Arby's has been one of the losers of this recession.

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McDonald - Business - Fast food - Restaurant - Hospitality

How does the government keep track of job-loss numbers?

11 hours 36 min ago
The Labor Department announced Friday that the unemployment rate hit 10.2 percent in October, the first time since 1983 that it has been in the double-digits. Two government surveys suggested that the month's job losses reached 190,000 and 558,000, respectively. That's not far off from the results back in August, when the economy lost about 300,000 jobs. In an "Explainer" column first published two months ago, and reprinted below, Brian Palmer goes over where these numbers come from.

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Government - Unemployment - Economy - Employment - United States

Profit not Satanic, says wealthy banker.

11 hours 39 min ago
A summary of what's in the major publications.

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Research - Education - Colleges and Universities - Canada - Simon Fraser University

On Denialism and the role of science in America.

November 6, 2009 - 9:54pm
Let Truth and Falsehood grapple.

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Educational Resources - Denialism - Philosophy - Philosophy of Logic - Truth Definitions

Can you carry a concealed weapon on military bases? And other Fort Hood questions answered.

November 6, 2009 - 9:37pm
Army psychiatrist Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the only suspect in Thursday's lethal spree at the Fort Hood, Texas, military base, reportedly killed 13 people and wounded 30 before a civilian police officer shot him four times. The incident raises many questions, a number of which we try to answer here.

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Fort Hood - Military base - Army - Police officer - United States

Slate's Farhad Manjoo answers your questions about Facebook, Gmail, and more.

November 6, 2009 - 7:03pm
If you've got a tech problem you want solved, please send a note to farhad.manjoo@slate.com, with "I've got a tech question!" as the subject line. (Your question may be edited.)

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Farhad Manjoo - Facebook - Slate - Gmail - Business

A Christmas Carol reviewed.

November 6, 2009 - 6:56pm
Robert Zemeckis may have found the way to spend his late career: making 3-D motion-capture versions of literary classics that, while they threaten to vulgarize their sources, wind up remaining curiously true to them in spirit. His adaptation of Beowulf wasn't perfect, but it barreled along with admirable energy, fueled by Zemeckis' notion that the oldest poem in the English language was a predecessor of the superhero comic. With A Christmas Carol (Disney), though, Zemeckis (who also wrote the screenplay) treads on more perilous ground. Rollicking though it is, Beowulf is known to most of us as a high-fiber offering in high school or early college English classes. Dickens' A Christmas Carol is one of the most-read and best-loved short stories in the English language, adapted for the screen some 20 times (depending on whether you're counting Ghosts of Girlfriends Past), and its iconic phrases—"I wear the chain I forged in life." "Bah, humbug!" "God bless us, every one!"—are as familiar to speakers of English as the 23rd Psalm.

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Christmas Carol - RobertZemeckis - Motion capture - Ghosts of Girlfriends Past - The Walt Disney Company

What do "stable," "critical," and other medical conditions mean?

November 6, 2009 - 6:29pm
Maj.  Nidal Malik Hasan, a U.S. Army psychiatrist, killed 13 people and injured 30 yesterday at Fort Hood before a civilian policeman shot him four times. An Army spokesperson has announced that Hasan is in "stable" condition while of some of the victims are listed as "critical." But what does that mean? In July 2001, the Explainer probed vague medical conditions after an 8-year-old boy was listed as "critical but stable" following a shark attack.

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Fort Hood - United States Army - United States - Military - Psychiatrist

Why was Berlin the key to the Cold War?

November 6, 2009 - 6:14pm
The Berlin Wall came down 20 years ago, but few of the news stories marking the anniversary have explained the event's full significance. The Cold War had been raging for a quarter-century before the wall went up on Aug. 13, 1961. How could its collapse, on Nov. 9, 1989, have heralded the Cold War's demise?

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Cold War - Berlin Wall - Berlin - Germany - History

If women can defend Fort Hood, they can defend America.

November 6, 2009 - 6:11pm
Fort Hood, Texas, hosts tens of thousands of men who are trained to fight for their country. But none of them stopped Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan as he blew away 13 of their colleagues Thursday afternoon. It was a civilian police officer, Sgt. Kimberly Munley, who shot him. For her trouble, Munley took a bullet in her leg. Maybe the president will also pin a medal on her.

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Fort Hood - United States - Police officer - Military - Texas

Reviews of: The Men Who Stare at Goats, Precious, and A Christmas Carol

November 6, 2009 - 5:30pm
A daily video from Slate V.

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Christmas - holiday - People and Society - Kids and Teens - Holidays and Special Days

The week's most interesting Slate stories.

November 6, 2009 - 4:24pm
1) "Bachmania: Michele Bachmann invites tea partiers to Washington for another swig," by Christopher Beam. Thousands of fringe Republican protesters attended a health care reform protest at the Capitol and were embraced by many congressional Republicans.

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Michele Bachmann - Republican - Washington - United States - Politics

A journey through the Travel Channel.

November 6, 2009 - 4:03pm
The big TV-business story of the week reached its resolution yesterday with news of a deal valuing the Travel Channel at $975 million. The only justification for such a price tag is that network's modest audience—about 370,000 households in prime time—represents the kind of niche market advertisers can't resist pandering to. In a week of flying the network frequently, I caught commercials for online travel agencies and chain restaurants—and also tourism-themed ads for LensCrafters, Subaru, Wal-Mart, and Dulcolax stool softener.

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Wal-Mart - Travel Channel - Advertising - Business - Chain store

On Denialism and the role of science in America.

November 6, 2009 - 2:35pm
We need scientists to step up.

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Educational Resources - Denialism - Science in Society - Science Fair - Science and Religion

Bidenisms: A collection of the vice president's gaffes and head-slappers.

November 6, 2009 - 2:22pm
The vice president did not produce any new Bidenisms this week, but a 2006 interview with GQ has provided us with an emergency supply. Please continue to send your nominations (with a link, please) to slatebidenisms@gmail.com. For more, and our stab at a definition, see "The Complete Bidenisms."

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Gmail - United States - History - GQ - Vice Presidents

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November 6, 2009 - 2:22pm

Slate V: The Men Who Stare at Goats, Precious, and A Christmas Carol

November 6, 2009 - 2:16pm
In this week's Summary Judgment, Mark Jordan Legan sums up what critics are saying about the big weekend movies: The Men Who Stare at Goats, Precious, and A Christmas Carol.