Of note in Slate

There are two fairly amusing articles of note in Slate.

The first: about the Segway and its image problem. Apparently, guided city tours on them are now "ubiquitous", and "help fulfill one of the iron laws of tourism: Thou shalt do things one would never do at home (eat tripe, smoke a water pipe, listen to French pop)." I am curious to try them at least once.

The second: William Saletan has a go at finding a loophole in the Catholic Church's official negative position on masturbation. Was there ever a teaching that was less followed in the history of the church? A much more realistic Christian approach to the topic - at least in the context of teenagers - can be found at this site, which appears to be written by an Australian youth worker associated with the Assemblies of God. However, the number of photos of boys plastered through the site (even though it is just their faces) works against it: it gives the feeling that the author has just a little too much interest in boys, even though his advice is pretty reasonable (if you're Christian, at least.)