CARNAL NATION

The idea that "print is dying" has become the conventional wisdom nowadays. If you want to play with the cool kids in the media pundit lounge, you have to chant that at least eight times a day. And who can blame them? In America, at least, newspapers are going belly-up almost on a daily basis, and Amazon and Barnes and Noble are making the move towards selling e-text readers. But Norway's largest daily newspaper, VG (Verdens Gang, or "The Way of the World"), still wants to show that there's some things that you can get from dead-tree publications that you just can't get from reading RSS feeds on your iPhone. In this case, VG can serve as a convenient place to hide when your daughter strips Barbie and Ken naked and makes them do the horizontal bop in the middle of the living room. Apparently, when it comes to sex, Norwegians aren't any more eager for "teachable moments" than Americans.