Court reaffirms: Sex much worse than violence - Sex News, Sex Talk - Salon.com

Court reaffirms: Sex much worse than violence - Sex News, Sex Talk - Salon.com: Developmental psychologist James W. Prescott, formally of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, argues that there is a "preference for sexual violence over sexual pleasure in the United States." He says, "This is reflected in our acceptance of sexually explicit films that involve violence and rape, and our rejection of sexually explicit films for pleasure only (pornography)," he says. "Apparently, sex with pleasure is immoral and unacceptable, but sex with violence and pain is moral and acceptable."

'Upgrade' to a Nook, get 30 free e-books

'Upgrade' to a Nook, get 30 free e-books: Barnes & Noble is allowing anyone who currently owns an e-reader to simply show the device and buy a Nook to replace it to receive the free titles.

Diet Sodas May Contribute to Weight Gain and Diabetes Risk, Data Suggest - - TIME Healthland

Diet Sodas May Contribute to Weight Gain and Diabetes Risk, Data Suggest - - TIME Healthland: More bad news, diet soda drinkers: data presented recently at the American Diabetes Association's (ADA) Scientific Sessions suggest that diet drinks may actually contribute to weight gain and that the artificial sweeteners in them could potentially contribute Type 2 diabetes.

Books | Comics: Neal Adams overview illustrates his lasting impact | Seattle Times Newspaper

Books | Comics: Neal Adams overview illustrates his lasting impact | Seattle Times Newspaper: But those artists, while terrific, were basically cartoonists with excellent individual styles. Adams was something altogether different. He came from advertising, and was a master of the "photorealism" school. His characters had weight and texture. Instead of "spotting blacks" where convenient, his people and objects threw shadows as you'd see in real life. And all his superheroes were anatomically accurate, bursting with the kind of power you see in professional weightlifters.

Hands on with the HP TouchPad | Tablets | Macworld

Hands on with the HP TouchPad | Tablets | Macworld: I spent half an hour in a meeting, using HP’s new TouchPad tablet, before someone realized I wasn’t using an iPad. That says a lot about this product—due to be released Friday—and not just in superficial ways.

Symantec: Apple iOS offers ‘full protection,’ Google Android ‘little protection’ vs. malware attacks

Symantec: Apple iOS offers ‘full protection,’ Google Android ‘little protection’ vs. malware attacks: iOS, the mobile operating system that powers Apple's popular iPhone and iPad devices, offers better security than Android...

Mac 911: Last call for AppleWorks users

Mac 911: Last call for AppleWorks users: If you're still using AppleWorks (or know someone who is), it's time for an intervention. Here's how to convert your files to a more forward-looking form.

Pope Benedict uses his Apple iPad 2 for first tweet to launch new Vatican website (with video) – MacDailyNews - Welcome Home

Pope Benedict uses his Apple iPad 2 for first tweet to launch new Vatican website (with video) – MacDailyNews - Welcome Home: In a new video, Pope Benedict XVI uses his Apple iPad 2 to visit a new Vatican website. To launch the Vatican’s new news portal, news.va, Pope Benedict XVI sent his first tweet, “Dear Friends, I just launched News.va Praised be our Lord Jesus Christ! With my prayers and blessings, Benedictus XVI.”

"Transformers: Dark of the Moon": An American summer-movie masterwork

"Transformers: Dark of the Moon": An American summer-movie masterwork: "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" is too much in every direction -- too much action, too much plot, too much noise, too much destruction -- which is exactly what makes it the Wagnerian fulfillment of the American summer-movie tradition. It's a great and terrible film, in identical proportions and in all possible meanings of those words. It's got battling giant robots and hidden secrets of the American and Soviet space programs and feeble domestic comedy and random scenery-chewing shtick from an A-list supporting cast and an extreme close-up of a hot chick's bikini-clad bottom as she climbs the stairs. In 3-D! It's so massively and excessively vulgar that it doesn't just flirt with self-parody, but chews it up and spits it out, and I'm not even sure that's unintentional. In food terms, "Dark of the Moon" is like going to TGI Friday's and ordering everything on the menu and then going to Krispy Kreme and doing it again. It's not worth doing, it'll definitely make you sick and a lot of it will taste bad, but as a performance-art act of juvenile Id-fulfillment, it's magnificent.

The iPad Could Revolutionize the Comic Book Biz—or Destroy It | Magazine

The iPad Could Revolutionize the Comic Book Biz—or Destroy It | Magazine: American comic book fans live for Wednesdays. That’s the day the new issues arrive. Every major American comic book publisher uses a single distributor, Diamond, to ship boxes of their latest releases to roughly 2,200 comics retail stores across the country. The shop owners—or their minions—put that week’s crop of Batman or X-Men or Buffy the Vampire Slayer on the shelves, and then the fans arrive. A lot of them go to the same store every week, where they have a “pull list” on file, books they’ve asked to be set aside so they’ll never miss a single pulse-pounding issue. It’s a tradition.

To be more specific, it’s a dying tradition. The Wednesday crowd is the old-school audience, collectors who are willing to shell out $3 or $4 for a stapled-together pamphlet that they’ll put in a plastic bag with acid-free cardboard and store in a long white box. Those customers have been trickling away for years.

None of this would matter much at the mega-corporate level if comics were just a few hundred thousand readers and a few thousand retail stores. But North American comics have effectively become the R&D department for a whole lot of higher-stakes media, from movies and television shows to videogames and Broadway musicals. Without periodical comic books, there’s no The Walking Dead, no Thor, no The Dark Knight Rises, no Wonder Woman T-shirts or Spider-Man lunch boxes or Smallville soundtracks. The February issue of Green Lantern sold a mere 70,000 or so copies—but the franchise has also spawned a $150 million movie.

From app to meetup: A new kind of running route

From app to meetup: A new kind of running route: RunKeeper is taking a note from these other communities, but it's expanding the boundaries into the real world. The company recently launched meetups, which allow users to identify other RunKeeper runners in their communities and gather for group runs.

Arts & Letters Daily (28 Jun 2011)

Arts & Letters Daily (28 Jun 2011): Eco-ignorance. Up to 95 percent of organisms in the soil are unknown to science, and by the end of the century, one-quarter of them will wriggle off this mortal coil into oblivion... more

60GHz tech promises wireless docking, USB, HDMI | Deep Tech - CNET News

60GHz tech promises wireless docking, USB, HDMI | Deep Tech - CNET News: The technology, which uses the 60GHz band of radio spectrum and is designed to transfer as much as 7 gigabits of data per second, matches what many wired connections provide, either inside a computer chassis or through the profusion of ports that perforate laptop sides.

Rootkit Infection Requires Windows Reinstall, Says Microsoft | PCWorld

Rootkit Infection Requires Windows Reinstall, Says Microsoft | PCWorld: Malware like Popureb overwrites the hard drive's master boot record (MBR), the first sector -- sector 0 -- where code is stored to bootstrap the operating system after the computer's BIOS does its start-up checks. Because it hides on the MBR, the rootkit is effectively invisible to both the operating system and security software.

VIDEO Asteroid 2011 MD Narrowly Misses Earth - Irish Weather Online

VIDEO Asteroid 2011 MD Narrowly Misses Earth - Irish Weather Online: One of the earth’s closest encounters with an asteroid in recent years took place Monday afternoon.  But as NASA indicated in the days ahead of the ‘cosmic close call’, the encounter was so close that Earth’s gravity sharply altered the asteroid’s trajectory and prevented the space rock from impacting the planet.

2011MD, a newly discovered asteroid passed within 12,000 kilometres (7,500 miles) of Earth.   The asteroid was only sighted for the first time last Wednesday by a robotic telescope in New Mexico, USA. The International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center in Massachusetts, USA, put out an alert Thursday.

Roseburg City Council gets iPads | The News-Review - NRtoday.com

Roseburg City Council gets iPads | The News-Review - NRtoday.com: Roseburg city councilors have a new tool. Instead of flipping through 100-page packets at council meetings, they can pull out their iPads.

“We were trying to get away from the mail packets and sending out all that paper,” Councilor Tom Ryan said. “It will probably save money in the long run.”

After two councilors, Mike Baker and Ken Averett, recently tested the Apple tablet computers for two months and came back with glowing reviews, the city spent about $400 each to outfit seven councilors and the mayor with iPads, City Manager Eric Swanson said.

Four short links: 27 June 2011

Four short links: 27 June 2011: Nonetheless, Facebook has become the new millennium's AOL: keywords, grandparents, and a zealous devotion to advertising. At least Facebook doesn't send me #&#^%*ing CDs.

Self-propelled gut camera swims in your colon

Self-propelled gut camera swims in your colon: The Mermaid is a remote-controlled, self-propelled camera that can swim inside your guts to help doctors check for abnormalities.

NATO investigating possible data breach

NATO investigating possible data breach: Incident with NATO's e-Bookstore occurs after the global organization clashed publicly with online group Anonymous over the rising threat of "hacktivism."

The Beer Archaeologist | History & Archaeology | Smithsonian Magazine

The Beer Archaeologist | History & Archaeology | Smithsonian Magazine: “For the pyramids, each worker got a daily ration of four to five liters,” he says loudly, perhaps for Calagione’s benefit. “It was a source of nutrition, refreshment and reward for all the hard work. It was beer for pay. You would have had a rebellion on your hands if they’d run out. The pyramids might not have been built if there hadn’t been enough beer.”