Six Billion, the new "online magazine of narative journalism," rocked my powerbook.

The first issue, Obituary was solid, with a great if slightly baffling interactive profile of the dead Tajik mujahideen Ahmad Shah Massoud, who's fight against the Taliban has made him a legend in death; photos of Tibetan exiles and ruined monestaries; and a great essay on Romania's drift towards the European Union.

But the second issue, up now, positively sparkles, with a stunning interactive essay on the transformation of two slain Palestinians into martyrs, a photo essay on army recruiters in North Carolina, a memoir of life in London at the outbreak of World War Two, and a William T. Vollman bit on the All-American Canal running between the US and Mexico.

This is the kind of good, smart stuff that makes me love the Net. Highly recommended, with an eagerly awaited future.