Hustler Publisher Asks Authorities to Pardon His Shooter

Larry Flynt, paralyzed by a shot 35 years ago, doesn’t want his attacker to be executed; Eminem’s latest hit number is homophobic; meanwhile, London plutocrats have been banned from bending building regulations to construct luxurious basement homes. These discoveries and more below.

On a regular basis, Truthdig brings you the news items and odds and ends that have found their way to Larry Gross, director of the USC Annenberg School for Communication. A specialist in media and culture, art and communication, visual communication and media portrayals of minorities, Gross helped found the field of gay and lesbian studies.

Paralyzed Porn Mogul Wants Attacker’s Life Spared Porn mogul Larry Flynt urged US authorities Thursday to spare the life of a man sentenced to death for shooting him 35 years ago, leaving him paralyzed and wheelchair-bound.

Surprise! Eminem’s New Hit Song Is Homophobic Seems like the real Slim Shady is at it again.

The Extraordinary Promise of the New Greenwald-Omidyar Venture Make no mistake, news that Glenn Greenwald is leaving The Guardian to start a new publication funded by eBay billionaire Pierre Omidyar is giant news—a bigger deal, than Jeff Bezos buying the Washington Post.

The Best Free Data Mapping Tools As the trend for data visualisation and mapping increases, so does the demand for tools that allow you to put this trend into action and produce content that portrays statistics in a more accessible and visually interesting way.

The Book: Its Past, Its Future Roger Chartier, a professor at the Collège de France, examines the upheavals of the digital age which now confront us with an unprecedented question about the future of the written text: in its electronic form, should a text be fixed and immutable like a printed book, or can it open up to the potentialities of anonymity and unbounded multiplicity?

Helping Professors Use Technology Is Top Concern in Computing Survey As professors step out from behind lecterns to stand beside laptops or in front of cameras—or both—the top concern for campus information-technology departments across the country is how they can help faculty members move smoothly into the digital age of learning.

This Is Your City Underwater Sea levels are rising – what will that mean for your city?

Just How Much Neighborhood Transformation Can You Get From an Art Project? Since 2005, Jeroen Koolhaas and Dre Urhahn (“Haas and Hahn”) have organized three large-scale painting projects in Rio de Janeiro’s slums, or favelas.

A Fond Farewell to London’s Insane Luxury Mega-Basements Pity the average London plutocrat searching for a decent home.

The Case for Cul-de-Sacs In a weird way, Thomas R. Hochschild Jr. actually first encountered the social cohesion of cul-de-sacs in his latest research when he wandered into one in Connecticut with his clipboard and polo shirt, and someone called the cops.