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A L S O__T O D A Y I, robot? My robot! By Janelle Brown With Lego's new kit, you, too, can play God with a mechanical creature of your own design - - - - - - - - - - T A B L E _ T A L K How have you gotten the most out of your Palm Pilot? Exchange tips and ideas in the Digital Culture area of Table Talk - - - - - - - - - - R E C E N T L Y Play money By Andrew Leonard Is Silicon Valley talent souring on stock options? (09/30/98) Let's Get This Straight By Scott Rosenberg Story time -- can narrative save us from information overload? (09/29/98) Talk to our agent By Howard Wen In the rapidly consolidating world of computer gaming, you need more than a good idea to get ahead (09/28/98) The president as lab rat By Gary Wolf How much surveillance can one human being take? President Clinton is helping us find out (09/25/98) 21st Log Online petitions duel; Starr's "60 Minutes" quote; Laybourne's underwhelming "media revolution" (09/25/98) - - - - - - - - - - BROWSE THE 21ST CHALLENGE ARCHIVES - - - - - - - - - - 21st Log R.I.P., Netly News; a $1000 free-software conference; Linux on the rise _______

BY CHARLIE VARON AND JIM ROSENAU One week, we hear that the Net makes people a bit more depressed. The next week we hear it makes us more nervous. But what's the cure? Readers are invited to invent a drug that will cure Internet-itis, pager bursitis or other contemporary technological afflictions. Give us the name of the drug and a description of up to 100 words. - - - - - - - - - - - - E X A M P L E FileMaker ProZac: Is your database sluggish? Not up to the task? With the new FileMaker ProZac, you'll be back up to speed in no time. Caution: Discontinuation of this drug may result in loss of data. Micro/soft: For those caught in the grips of erotic downloads, here's quick relief. Apply liberally to tumescent regions and get back to work. Not to be taken internally without site license. - - - - - - - - - - - - R U L E S Send your submissions via e-mail only to salon21st@salonmagazine.com. Please include your full name and an accurate e-mail address so we can contact you if you're a winner. By submitting your entry you give Salon permission to publish it. Deadline for entries is Oct. 12, 1998. - - - - - - - - - - - - P R I Z E S The winning response this round will receive a copy of Salon technology correspondent Andrew Leonard's book, "Bots: The Origin of New Species." In addition, five entrants selected at random will receive complete sets of Nan McCarthy's"cybertrilogy" from Pocket Books: "Chat," "Connect" and "Crash." In two weeks we'll publish a winner and some selected entries -- then start over a couple weeks after that with a whole new challenge. SALON | Oct. 2, 1998 Charlie Varon is a humorist and playwright. His works include "Ralph Nader Is Missing" and "Rush Limbaugh in Night School." Jim Rosenau is a writer, editor and software designer in Berkeley, Calif. Jim and Charlie are also co-founders of the citizen group Californians for Earthquake Prevention and partners in Mockingbird Productions, which offers a full line of comic services.