I do agree with you there... there are some violent acts that will burn a much more painful and vivid image in your mind. I had a similar experience. In my original post, I was thinking more of say, shooting people in Halo. Most mainstream movies and games tend to glaze over the horrific physical and emotional pain, which is why I think most people can probably stop thinking "Hey someone's having their life taken away" and focus more on the plot of the movie/game. Although I do know exceptions, most people are able to keep movie violence and reality separate.

It just takes discernment. Superman's violence isn't the same as, say, Hostel.

I think you are misunderstanding the motives. Christians are not giving excessive violence a thumbs-up as an acceptable lifestyle. Rather, they are concerned by the effect a video game has on the viewer in real life. As a Christian myself, I don't think forcefully imposing my belief on anyone is right or effective, even though I do believe there is a defined absolute morality; it's a choice you have to make yourself. I also do think parents need to police their own children. I'm just trying to explain why sex is a bigger deal than violence to those who consider sex and sex-related purity of thought sacred.

Which is most likely to cause a responsive change in the viewer: watching violence, or watching sex/nudity?
We've had article after article on here about how violent video games are not shown to produce violent individuals.
I know Slashdot isn't exactly a bastion of Christian ideals, but surely you can understand that people who hold sex to be sacred don't want their children to be exposed to it in a disrespectful or objectifying context. Images of nudity are often burned into an individual's mind; that's a purely biological response. You don't have to agree that it's wrong to expose children to sex in video games, but surely one can understand that -- barring some exceptional cases -- violence doesn't have nearly the same kind of effect on the mind.

Although I live in the region listed as having the lowest salaries for IT, I think it's worth noting that I also live in a state with no income tax and a very appealing income to cost-of-living ratio. I was recently researching a job position in Chicago, and spent some time determining how my salary would need to change in order to maintain the same standard of living I have in east TN. Long story short, I hit the salary ceiling for the job in question before reaching an income offering the comforts I have now.

Procrastination is a lot more enjoyable with an empty bladder.

Forget the iPad. The Blackberry Playbook is obviously the right choice for a playbook!

You might think that I would enjoy a technology-rich driving experience; I'm a software developer, after all. However, my ideal driving experience involves a close connection between me and the road. I want to be in control, and I don't mean I want a lot of LED readouts telling me what the car is doing for me... I want the smooth mechanical feel as I change the gears. I want to feel the engine roar responsively as I press the accelerator. And why would the need for great handling even be questioned?

I definitely don't want another big gadget to keep synchronized with my others.

Considering I haven't seen it (as evidenced in my comment), I don't think it's too much of a silly assumption. It's how Skype for PC handles low-bandwidth connections (scaling down quality rather than framerate, hence pixelation and artifacts). But, it's a joke, so I don't mind if it looks silly. :)

...to see live pixelated video of my friends' nostrils courtesy of AT&T.

There were classes I took in college in which the only way for me to take notes fast enough was to type them. Even if that wasn't the case, it was much easier to organize and share notes that are in electronic form. Sure, it may be distracting if someone in front of you is browsing on Facebook, and sure, that may be an abuse of their use of a laptop in class. However, this is a fairly minor distraction for those around. Just wait until you get a job where your cube mates are all arguing about and sending you constant email updates while you are just trying to finish your bread-winning work for the day.

I'm conservative and I fully realize this. Very large organizations are freezing or removing Assange's assets with a response time very unusual for large companies. To me, this points to extreme government pressure (like the acts mentioned in some of these cables). It's pretty obvious the rape charges were probably dug up from nowhere, and it's making a joke of interpol and national judicial systems. It's obvious that there is unprecedented government pressure to catch this guy either on a bogus technicality or through brute force that blatantly ignores international law. It does scare me that governments are willing to bypass justice at an international level when a real danger to politicians is present. I hold beliefs that not everyone agrees with, and I hope that there won't be a time when holding an unpopular believe gets me labeled as an "international threat to peace" not worthy of personal freedom.

However, with that said, I think Assange could have been much more careful about what he exposes to the public. Exposing information such as locations important to U.S. security is irresponsible, offers no real benefits, and just paints an easy target on the back of his head.

Sounds like fun, but the first few times you take it out on the water, you'd probably get pestered by the Coast Guard and prompt several 911 calls from unknowing observers. As time passes, people might get used to seeing your half-sunken hull, after which someone else's yacht ACTUALLY starts sinking and goes unreported because it's such a normal sight (thanks to you!).

I sincerely hope Google continues to improve its services in a similar fashion. Although I know Google is funded primarily by advertisement fees, it certainly feels like I'm getting something great for free. I just hope that Google continues to receive heavy competition on all fronts, preventing them from ever achieving a complete monopoly. Lack of competition is the enemy of innovation.

That's quite an ambiguous term. For instance, my hand can probably hold about 1/3 of my brain matter.

However, my girlfriend hand (which is considerably smaller than mine) could probably hold several brains the size of her own.

Now this joke is really getting out of hand...