My prison is a series of tubes.

One of my favorite things to read on the web is Slate's Explainer column, in which they take up provocative questions that are tangential to the news of the day. Questions that would never be answered by news articles themselves. Questions like, "Why does Quinnipiac University have such a respected political polling operation?" or "Where did the government get $85 billion for AIG?"

Today's Explainer asks: Now that he is a convicted felon, can Alaska Senator Ted Stevens vote for himself in next week's election?

This was the first thing that popped into my brain when Stevens' conviction was announced, and right then, I emailed my question to Explainer. That's right, they answered my question! Now, they don't provide attribution for the questions, and I'm sure they get lots of duplicate questions from different people. But I'm just going to enjoy this one for me.

P.S. He can vote for himself, because Alaska's division of elections ruled that Stevens will not technically have been "convicted" until his February sentencing. Right now I guess he's just sort of a "felon-elect," and therefore he's allowed to vote.