http://austinist.com/ Austinist is a news and culture website about Austin, Texas. We publish Monday through Friday, and also maintain a guide to local arts and entertainment events that we call the Weekly IST List. Editor: Paige Maguire Publisher: Gothamist en Copyright 2012 Fri, 10 Feb 2012 14:01:40 -0600 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/?v=4.31-en http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss http://austinist.com/2012/02/10/snakes_at_the_capitol_elsewhere.php http://austinist.com/2012/02/10/snakes_at_the_capitol_elsewhere.php http://austinist.com/2012/02/10/snakes_at_the_capitol_elsewhere.php#comments "Rattlesnake Roundup" held in Sweetwater, Texas [warning: this website is bananas], a group called the Sweetwater Jaycees brought a bunch of rattlers to the Capitol to hiss and bite their owners and pose for pictures. [ more › ] ]]> News 2012-02-10T14:01:40-06:00 http://austinist.com/2012/02/09/nerve_dating_launches_in_austin_tod.php http://austinist.com/2012/02/09/nerve_dating_launches_in_austin_tod.php http://austinist.com/2012/02/09/nerve_dating_launches_in_austin_tod.php#comments changed just a bit over the last few years. While meeting in bars, religious functions, or being set up by your mom's friend are still great ways to find your one and only True Soulmate Forever, the field has been expanded by more interest and regionally-specific online presences. The socially wanting have for some time bumped foreheads awkwardly at Nerd Nite's Austin Speed Dating events, held once a month, and many of you reading probably have a lapsed or crazy-active OKCupid profile. Joining the Austin dating fray is - from the people at Nerve.com - Nerve Dating, a (currently, but not forever) free service launched at the end of last year that is opening up to our market just today. [ more › ] ]]> News 2012-02-09T12:15:36-06:00 http://austinist.com/2012/02/08/dont_outsource_insource_with_taskra.php http://austinist.com/2012/02/08/dont_outsource_insource_with_taskra.php http://austinist.com/2012/02/08/dont_outsource_insource_with_taskra.php#comments TaskRabbit work? [ more › ] ]]> News 2012-02-08T10:53:34-06:00 http://austinist.com/2012/02/07/mondays_federal_court-dictated_dead.php http://austinist.com/2012/02/07/mondays_federal_court-dictated_dead.php http://austinist.com/2012/02/07/mondays_federal_court-dictated_dead.php#comments more › ] ]]> News 2012-02-07T14:30:36-06:00 http://austinist.com/2012/02/07/unveiled_yiying_lus_2012_sxsw_inter.php http://austinist.com/2012/02/07/unveiled_yiying_lus_2012_sxsw_inter.php http://austinist.com/2012/02/07/unveiled_yiying_lus_2012_sxsw_inter.php#comments Yiying Lu. The designer of the Twitter fail whale (which she originally made for a dearly missed friend overseas)came to the festival for the first time last year where the amazement kept her up for days and said the experience to her "felt like [being] one of those whack-a-moles." And so here it is, artistic angle and all: the 2012 SXSW Interactive Big Bag. [ more › ] ]]> News 2012-02-07T09:00:45-06:00 http://austinist.com/2012/02/06/more_money_same_amount_of_problems.php http://austinist.com/2012/02/06/more_money_same_amount_of_problems.php http://austinist.com/2012/02/06/more_money_same_amount_of_problems.php#comments Associated Press reports that “Rick Perry about as popular in Texas as Obama after failed bid for GOP presidential nom,” and the Tribune says that Perry's campaign cost all of $16 million, with most of that money going toward “TV ad buys." Which, in turn, means a whole lot of cash going toward what is pretty clearly the most “...the fuck?” ad of this campaign season. [ more › ] ]]> News 2012-02-06T15:29:56-06:00 http://austinist.com/2012/02/03/everyones_favorite_dotty_uncle_aust.php http://austinist.com/2012/02/03/everyones_favorite_dotty_uncle_aust.php http://austinist.com/2012/02/03/everyones_favorite_dotty_uncle_aust.php#comments more › ] ]]> News 2012-02-03T14:03:46-06:00 http://austinist.com/2012/02/03/stratford_one_month_after_total_mel.php http://austinist.com/2012/02/03/stratford_one_month_after_total_mel.php http://austinist.com/2012/02/03/stratford_one_month_after_total_mel.php#comments Stratfor began on Christmas Eve, when the hacker collective Anonymous hacked their servers and posted 4,000 stolen credit card numbers. And now, a suit has surfaced against Stratfor for $50 million, directed to the 2.7 million customers whose information was hijacked. Stratfor has, in return, offered the plaintiff a firm $349, the cost of Stratfor's services. This huge dismissal may have something to do with the fact that the lawsuit was filed in New York, something Stratfor disagrees strongly with (we assume because they make terrible salsa?). They filed a countersuit Monday to have all hearings moved to Texas where the hack "occurred." [ more › ] ]]> News 2012-02-03T11:23:22-06:00 http://austinist.com/2012/02/03/we_think_the_travis_county_tax_offi.php http://austinist.com/2012/02/03/we_think_the_travis_county_tax_offi.php http://austinist.com/2012/02/03/we_think_the_travis_county_tax_offi.php#comments Travis County Tax Office, most of them related to various painful monetary procedures. The bloodletting starts at property taxes, expands to vehicle registration (where you are charged $3.00 extra for using your credit card) and veers into more benign (if dull) territories with services related to vehicle titles, voter registration, and other hallmarks of democracy that are nonetheless stultifying. [ more › ] ]]> News 2012-02-03T09:49:16-06:00 http://austinist.com/2012/02/02/susan_b_can_take_but_not_give-_anot.php http://austinist.com/2012/02/02/susan_b_can_take_but_not_give-_anot.php http://austinist.com/2012/02/02/susan_b_can_take_but_not_give-_anot.php#comments when will Komen part ways with Bank of America? [ more › ] ]]> News 2012-02-02T13:30:52-06:00 http://austinist.com/2012/02/01/republicans_order_journalist_arrest.php http://austinist.com/2012/02/01/republicans_order_journalist_arrest.php http://austinist.com/2012/02/01/republicans_order_journalist_arrest.php#comments more › ] ]]> News 2012-02-01T15:33:08-06:00 http://austinist.com/2012/01/31/sxsw_accelerator_invites_six_austin.php http://austinist.com/2012/01/31/sxsw_accelerator_invites_six_austin.php http://austinist.com/2012/01/31/sxsw_accelerator_invites_six_austin.php#comments more › ] ]]> News 2012-01-31T14:19:32-06:00 http://austinist.com/2012/01/31/beef_prices_on_the_rise_waistlines.php http://austinist.com/2012/01/31/beef_prices_on_the_rise_waistlines.php http://austinist.com/2012/01/31/beef_prices_on_the_rise_waistlines.php#comments grazing lands for cattle have dried up and the cost of feed has skyrocketed necessitating the sale of over 600,000 cows. With fewer cows in Texas today, that means fewer calves tomorrow. According to the Agrilife Extension, there was a 12% decline in beef cattle nationally with next year's decline being forecast at 4%. [ more › ] ]]> Food 2012-01-31T13:26:11-06:00 http://austinist.com/2012/01/31/kuts_john_aeilli_back_in_the_hospit.php http://austinist.com/2012/01/31/kuts_john_aeilli_back_in_the_hospit.php http://austinist.com/2012/01/31/kuts_john_aeilli_back_in_the_hospit.php#comments a heart attack earlier this month, but we received news that Aielli is in the hospital this morning. Our contact at KUT says, "We are in touch with John and he is alert and in typical good spirits...The main thing is he’s OK, we’re in contact with him and we hope he returns soon." [ more › ] ]]> News 2012-01-31T10:30:45-06:00 http://austinist.com/2012/01/31/details_of_fetus_required_for_women.php http://austinist.com/2012/01/31/details_of_fetus_required_for_women.php http://austinist.com/2012/01/31/details_of_fetus_required_for_women.php#comments more › ] ]]> News 2012-01-31T10:00:18-06:00